Yeye new Chappie D
Thanks to my beta cause I love her and she's the best -hugs Hollee- and to the guys who are reviewing since you keep me going :D and even to you, ghost reader, for at least reading this thing lol
JK owns them / (OMG she wrote a Harry Potter prequel!! Go check it out, omg! XD)
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"Can he even do that? It's got to be illegal!" Ron said, gaping.
Harry chuckled softly and shook his head, tracing a finger over the scars on his hand, left by the detentions with their dear DADA teacher.
"These days, Ron, nothing around here works like that anymore. The rules have changed…" He said vaguely.
Hermione looked at his hand too, understanding his meaning and sighed sadly. "Well, at least this is not as bad as…err other things."
"Not as bad, Hermione? He was tied to Draco Malfoy! What could be worse?" The red-head ranted.
"As a matter of fact she's right, mate." Harry said, to his friend's surprise. "I mean, yeah it stinks, having to do those dammed essays and having to waste two hours in the library when I have enough on my mind already with those dreams I've been having," he sighed, "But Malfoy just kept his mouth shut during the whole thing."
Ron arched an eyebrow, "You're saying you guys shared a table for two hours and you didn't kill each other?" He asked skeptically.
"Well, Ronald, it's kind of hard for two people to argue while one of them is quiet." His girlfriend said matter-of-factly.
Harry shrugged. "I don't know why he suddenly decided to ignore everything, but I'm not about to complain."
"Maybe, as I have suggested many times before, he just grew out of it and maybe-"
"-You should too." Ron finished for her in a mocking way; she just threw a look at him.
Harry laughed, but shook his head. "I don't think so, 'Mione, not after what he pulled just this Thursday. He just looked… tired, I'm sure as soon as he gets his beauty sleep he should be as insufferable as always." He said, in a mock-sweet voice.
"Anyway," She changed the subject with a tone that said she knew she was right. "Now you've got to study for this too, Harry, so if I were you I'd try to focus on the tasks you have at hand… Making this potion is going to be really hard work."
"Yeah! And it has to be perfect, mate, or that greasy bat will make you drink it." The red-head reminded.
"I know, I know, now can we please just go to sleep and forget about all of this? I've still got to owl my parents, ya' know?" He said, feeling too tired to argue.
It took another ten minutes before he could actually go up to his dorm and write the letter home, filling his fathers in on everything that had happened.
--
Everyone else was in their beds sleeping, he assumed, but even so he couldn't get himself to trust that enough that he'd lift his sleeve. Instead, he kept running a finger softly over the skin that was still healing.
He was pondering again about the same thing he had been when he first woke up on the dungeons' floor back at Malfoy Manor. Every time he took another step further down this road he learned of cruelties he hadn't imagined. And at his 'initiation' he understood too that physical pain was nothing compared with injury to one's mind. He kept wondering exactly how much pain could be inflicted on a person…
The marking ceremony he had gone through, it had been somewhat like he had imagined and somewhat completely different. He'd guessed right when he thought the mark would hurt like bloody hell and that, like his father, the Lord would ask him if he wanted to continue. But the spell that was cast with it was the worst for the Malfoy heir.
It made him, not relive his worst memories, but it created situations in his mind. Situations he would most certainly not appreciate having to go through again, mind you. It messed with his greatest fears; it mocked him, making him live them. Funny enough, but not much surprisingly, most of them included his father, towering over him as though he wasn't worthy of sharing the same air as the man.
Draco kept thinking it was absurd to subject himself to such things, he was a Malfoy, not a bloody house elf! But at the same time he understood the Dark Lord's need to test and choose his followers carefully; still, the two concepts were battling inside of him…
He sighed and shook his head. He was wasting his time worrying like this; everything would make sense in the future!
Or at least that's what he willed himself to believe.
--
Ok, so maybe some things weren't making sense, maybe he was doubting his actions and changing his attitude towards some other, but Merlin did Potter still annoy him just the same!
"Will you just stop it?! Or are you purposely trying to annoy me?" Draco demanded, hitting the desk loudly and receiving a reprimand from Madam Pince because of it.
"Keep it down, Malfoy, or we'll be thrown out!" The boy said in a hushed voice, as though he wasn't the one causing Draco to yell in the first place!
"Then stop the bloody tapping!" The Slytherin ordered in the same tone.
He had learned that the Boy-Who-Lived had this annoying habit of taping his quill over and over again on the desk when he was trying to understand something. And since he was a daft Gryffindor who mostly understood nothing, one could just imagine what the blonde boy had to put up with for the past hour.
"Fine." The raven-haired one said sharply, placing his quill down.
The silence lasted for a few moments but then, there it was again. Tap. Tap Tap Tap.
"Damn it, Potter! Control yourself!" He said, enraged, repetitive noises drove him mad! So much that he actually yanked the thing from his archenemy's hand.
"I'm not doing it on purpose, you know?"The messy-haired teen defended. "Now give it back or I won't finish this in time."
"If you make that noise again, I swear I'll throw it out the window." He threatened, tossing the quill over Harry's essay.
It was this sort of attitude that made Harry want to outright punch Malfoy sometimes, ok, most of the time.
He went back to his research, concentrating on not making any more noise, he didn't need Snape to give them more detention for not turning in an essay due to being thrown out of the Library.
As the time passed, Harry become more and more nervous for seeing that the blonde was furiously writing on his parchment just like Hermione used to do and he was still struggling on the first paragraph. He skipped to the next property of the Valerian Roots just to realize that to understand it he'd have to understand the previous one.
He bit his lower lip and looked at Malfoy, who was still writing away, surely the boy could just…
"…Ma…" he breathed in, thinking how inconceivable it was to be asking him for help "… Malfoy." He called in a low voice and through gritted teeth.
The silver-eyed one didn't lift his head one inch and continued on his task as though the boy hadn't said a thing.
"Malfoy!" he called with a much louder voice, annoyed at being ignored.
"I heard you the first time, Potter." The blonde said matter-of-factly, his voice drawling in an obnoxious way. "I just didn't feel the obligation to drop what I was doing just to tend to your needs. The world doesn't evolve around you, you know?" He dramatized, "What do you want?"
Again that little innocent urge to murder the blonde…
"Never mind." Harry said sharply.
"No, now that you have already interrupted me, say it."
Harry breathed in heavily trying to calm his temper, he would not snap.
"I can't make heads or tails of this." He admitted defeated, dropping his quill over his parchment.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Draco said in his oh so pleasant voice. "Morons like you and The Weasel shouldn't even be admitted into potions."
"If you don't wanna help me then just say no, you arse." The boy snapped. "But then you're going to be the one re-doing the essay with me when I don't turn mine in." He said with a fake smile.
"Well, Potter, I can't possibly help you when I don't understand what could be so complicated about copying properties to a parchment, care to enlighten me?" He asked, arching his eyebrow and keeping a calm poise.
Harry frowned and watched him for a second, that had been the greatest impression of Snape he had ever seen and Malfoy hadn't even been trying.
"Well? We don't have all night you know." The Slytherin pressed, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes.
"Fine." Harry pulled his chair a bit closer and put his work in between them, "Here, I don't get how it can even have this property! I mean, if you add Sopophorous Beans to something like this, the whole thing would just explode! And the Wormwood would make matters even worse." He explained in a frustrated way and grabbed another of the books that was scattered across the table. "I tried looking the beans up to see if there was a logic, but I can't even find it!"
Draco rolled his eyes, refraining from calling the other seeker a collection of names that would fit well with the occasion.
"Look, you idiot," Ok, he didn't resist, "If you had paid any attention to potions class at all instead of playing the martyr you'd know that the properties of the Asphodel Root cancels the explosive properties of the beans when in presence of an infusion of Wormwood. So, no, it would not explode. As for the Sopophorous Beans, " He brought the book Harry had opened last closer to him, "Maybe you should try finding it in the right book." He said, closing the one in his hands with a loud thud and pointing to the cover meaningfully. "Since it's obviously not a fungi!"
The Gryffindor's mouth turned into an 'o' shape and his frown dissipated.
"Now finish it already, we've got less than hour." He said, turning back to his own work.
Harry's retort at being ordered around died in his throat as Hermione's words echoed in his head and he felt childish for wanting to fight all the time. He didn't say 'thank you' either though, it'd sound alien coming from him and being directed at the blonde boy.
They were soon completing their individual essays and heading to the dungeons once again. It was awfully tiring, for Harry at least, having to go up and down so many steps, at least Malfoy stayed in the dungeons when he got there, the Boy-Who-Lived had to climb all the way back to the seventh floor.
"Go on ahead, I'll be right back." Harry said all of a sudden somewhere around the second floor.
"Ok, Potter, I'll just tell our bond to take a break and we're all set." Malfoy answered sarcastically as he kept walking.
The Gryffindor had almost forgotten about the whole thing since they had spent most of the time sited. Right, he couldn't even go to the bloody bathroom without the other boy tagging along.
He muttered something, annoyed, and followed the other boy, deciding that he would just have to wait a bit.
Suddenly the depth of what was going on hit him hard; he was tied for two hours every day to Draco Malfoy, the son of a known Death Eater. And if Ron was really right about Snape's loyalties -which he himself doubted - then this whole innocent detention issue seemed much more complicated. If they were to use these two hours to carry out some plan, Harry would be completely defenseless, he wouldn't be able to run or get away since Malfoy would keep him in place.
He looked at the boy and frowned, he didn't know what to make of him. He was a git, yeah, but was he a Death Eater on top of it? Did he have any idea what his father did? Was he a part of it? Maybe Harry should tell someone about these detentions… Remus, his father would certainly make sense of it!
"…maybe I'm becoming too much paranoid…" He murmured to himself.
--
When he finally reached the common room he found himself being stared at by, at least, half of Gryffindor. All he could do was frown and suddenly everyone just went back to minding their business as though that weird moment had not happened.
Before he could go in any further, there was a voice sounding next to him and a hand on his arm.
"Harry." Hermione called softly, with that voice the boy only heard when she was very disturbed about something.
"…What? Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked.
Merlin it seemed that every second something different happened to add problems to his life!
"It's… ahm, wait, we better go to a quieter place." She said, pulling him away from the other students and closer to where Ron was standing by the boy dorms' stairwell.
"Hey, mate." Ron greeted in the same way his girlfriend had done, which made the Boy-Who-Lived want to roll his eyes as being treated like he was made of glass.
"Are you guys going to tell what's going on…? Is there any particular reason, besides the one of me being delusional and making up the whole 'Voldemort-is-back' story, that everyone is staring at me?" He asked.
Hermione just looked at her boyfriend as though expecting him to help her, but then sighed and said finally, "It's… Mr. Lupin. It seems he's missing."
"What? Dad's missing? Who said that? It's night, the Prophet's not in until the morning."
"Who's reading the Prophet anyway?" The bushy haired witch asked bitterly, "We don't know if it's true, but everyone's talking about it… said they overheard a teacher saying it…"
"What teacher?" he demanded, his heart beating faster "Ok, I'm gonna look for Professor McGonagall now." He said at once.
"Wait, Harry, calm down." She said touching his arm to stop him from moving. "I've thought about what they're saying and… I think they got it all wrong."
"… what do you mean?"
"Dumbledore hasn't been around much and… I think he's planning something and maybe Mr. Lupin is on a job, you know." She said meaningfully, clearly speaking of the Order.
"But why didn't he tell me anything about it?" Harry asked, knowing he would only be calm now when he spoke to his father.
"… he probably didn't want to worry you, it's most likely nothing." Hermione reckoned.
Oh, how he'd been hearing that all summer!
"To hell with that, Hermione! Dumbledore and you guys and now my father! You are all keeping things from me, things I want to know. It's not helping, you know?! I just wish you guys would stop sparing me. It's frustrating." He snapped suddenly, pretty aware he was probably over reacting or just venting out his frustrations at the closest person.
"Mate, you don't need to yell, you know? She's just trying to figure this out," Ron, defended at once, not liking in the least the way his friend was treating her. "And we don't even know if it's true! There are loads of rumors going around and a bunch of them aren't true."
"I know…" He let out a heavy sigh. "I know, alright? It's just… everything is…" Another frustrated sound escaped his throat and he shook his head. "I'm going to send another owl to my dad right now, hopefully he knows something… tomorrow I'll talk to Professor McGonagall."
Both his friends just nodded, but said nothing, it was best to let Harry be. Ron, especially, knew what it was like to fear the loss of a father… he just wished Hermione was right and everything was really ok.
--
He didn't write in the end, he was tired by the time he got to his bed and so all he managed to do was throw himself on top of it and stare at the ceiling, curtains closed already.
He couldn't explain where this sudden aggressiveness kept coming from, he wanted to apologize sometimes, but those words too died on his throat. It seemed like no one understood how he was feeling at the moment!
Ever since the beginning of the year, what with the rumors and lies being spread, what with Cedric's death, with his near arrest and expelling, that dammed Umbridge woman and her decrees, nearly being kicked off the Quidditch team, being denied information, being neglected by the Headmaster, and serving detention every damned day… He was feeling the walls closing in…
It seemed like he was expected to act like any other boy his age while, at the same time, he had to deal with things that even adults didn't have to…
Now with the sudden mass break out from Azkaban, the dreams and surges of alien happiness he was experiencing, he knew it: Voldemort was up to something, he was on the move and they were just wasting time. And knowing that was slowly making the Boy-Who-Lived paranoid, if what he began to speculate today was anything to go by.
To top it all off, the one person who could help him sort out his troubles was now missing and Merlin knew what was really behind the werewolf's disappearance. Yeah, forgive him for snapping…
"Maybe the prophet's right; I'm a bloody nut case." He murmured before drifting off.
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A.N:
The HP Lexicon is the love of my life, let me tell you. You guys don't notice, I'm sure, but there's a lot of hard work I put into making my HP world as cannon as possible. I keep damned timelines opened and facts about god-knows-everything too.
The potion I'm using is real (I mean, canon lol) and its ingredients too, but I'm messing around with the properties for the fun of it XD
So thanks to the Lexicon for existing \o/
-Harry is on full - rant- mode, I'm aware :P but I just had to spice thing up a bit for reasons yet unknown (to you guys anyway :P)
Anyway,
Answer to Reviews:
Fantasyfan4ever: I'm glad :D Yeah, he's sort of gonna feel alone, the poor thing / Huuunnn we'll see about that ;P heheh
Nenifer121: Heheh I loved putting them like that hehe XD Romione is cuuute XD :) Thanks!
Miss-Janine: I know right? -smacks Draco- Heheh :P thanks!
Moony73: Ohh -grins like an idiot- thanks XD. Funny you should say you identify yourself with Draco :) I do too, in fact it really influences the way I write him :). I wanted to keep Harry more 'on the edge' like he is in book 5, but a bit more... normal since not as many bad things happened to him, but yeah he's a bit dark right now :P Draco, on the other hand, is just turning into this mature, quiet, and analyzing person(unless he's around Harry, cause then he acts like an arse anyway XD) which is so much fun XD. Thank you very much :D I'm writing at the pace I can, what with another top-secret-plot-idea I'm writing alongside with this one, but I won't take that long between a chap and another, so hold on :D Thaaankks, I'm glad to hear from you again :D
Ok, so to my readers: REVIEW!!
I need to know people are liking this story! -.- If you review, I'll write faster (really, I will) so doooo it! Kisses!