ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
-CHAPTER SEVENTEEN-
BETA:tammy
INFO: www. livejournal. com /users/ draycious
OTHER: Heads up for a new (completet) little story that will come out soon. On adult. ff net
MEANWHILE DOWNSTAIRS
"Lucius!" Snape said once people had gotten out of his way. He didn't really trust his old friends Lucius and questioned the announcement. Still he couldn't quite figure out why he still couldn't believe in it, since it had been veritaserum he had made himself. Yet he trusted his instincts since they seldom proved him wrong. He didn't think Lucius was any immediate threat, if he would have thought so he would already have collected his son and left, but something fishy was definitely going on and he was determent to finds out what exactly it was.
"Hello Severus. Enjoying the party?" Lucius asked nonchalantly as he surveyed the room. He was every bit the aristocrat and nursed a glass of champagne in his hand, the most expensive and pure brand out of his own collection of course.
"What are you playing at?" Severus hissed to him in a low voice while he stood only half turned to Lucius. The rumors about him being a death eater was worse enough as they were, and he didn't want the students to report any kind of relations between him and Malfoy sr.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Lucius and looked over at some already drunk Slytherin students. A fond smile played on his lips; he remembered when he and Snape had been in that age. Those were the times.
"You know very well what I'm talking about. Both you and I know that you're not some bloody spy, you never have been!" Snape spat to him. Snape considered himself extremely skilled in his spying, and if Lucius would have been a spy he reckoned he would have known about it long before anyone else. Lucius sighed. He knew that Severus would be difficult to convince at once. He had had a lot of practice dealing with the man throughout the years, even if their relationship had been frosty at its best the previous fifteen years or so.
"Severus, I found out about you ages ago. I could have turned you in but I didn't because I knew that you worked for the order," Lucius said seriously, in a very low voice since some people were getting nearer to them. Snape looked gob smacked at that piece of revelation. He had obviously thought his act had been foolproof.
"Pull yourself together," said Lucius out of habit but with an air of indifference. He had been brought up that way since he was a pureblood and he knew Snape had been trained in the same way. Loosing control over the emotions could sometimes be fatal for a spy. "The reason why I didn't turn you in to neither the Ministry or the Dark Lord was because you did a good job. You worked for the right people, and for the best intentions. I admire that. There are others that haven't been loyal and I've turned them in, because they worked for their own benefit. When I first found out that you were a spy I didn't know for whom you worked for. So I observed you and I soon realized that you worked for someone inside Hogwarts. My guesses were Dumbledore. I have monitored you all these years, in case you would switch sides again. This year I came in contact with Raven. He confirmed my suspicions and told me about the Order of the Phoenix. Master decided that I shouldn't tell you that I knew..."
First now Lucius really looked at Severus but Severus had hidden his thoughts and feelings just like he had been told to earlier. Nothing gave away what he thought about this.
"Who is this Master you all talk about?" Severus asked sharply and very curiously. He really wanted to know, and he would use any means to get that piece of information as soon as possible. However, Lucius was saved from answering the question because his son came racing down the stairs with Raven furiously chasing him.
"Father! Father! Si-Ough!" Draco yelled but was interrupted. Raven had jumped on Draco like a puma that strikes its prey and they both fell down on the floor with a thud. The air briefly left Draco and Raven hurried to quiet Draco with a hand over his mouth.
"Lucius, I think your son has had a tad bit too much to drink. He is hallucinating about dangerous ape's running wild in the room opposite from his. He is in the belief that they are trying to kill me. Perhaps you could talk some sense into him?" he asked meaningfully and made a quick silence charm on Draco so he could safely remove his hand since Draco tried to bite him. Lucius understood precisely and dragged his son away even if Draco did everything in his power to stay in the room. Some people thought the whole scene was hilarious and laughed heartily at Draco.
"So how's the party? Wanna dance?" Raven yelled out in the room and everyone went back to dancing instead of staring at him. The others seemed to enjoy their night out of Hogwarts and he couldn't be happier. He just wanted people to relax and have a good time. Satisfied with everything so far he walked over to Remus who was one of the few who didn't dance.
"Remus, Would you like to dance?" He asked confidently. He wasn't afraid of dancing anymore he could dance now. He had gotten lessons from all kinds of people inside Dracula's castle and also from Blade. Remus looked at him surprised. Raven could imagine Remus didn't get many requests like that since he was a werewolf.
"Uh, sure," Remus replied a bit stunned. Raven wasn't the only one dancing with a guy. It was very mixed couples out on the floor. Many danced with their friends just for the heck of it. Nobody cared about their reputation since most people knew each other, and besides that homosexuality wasn't frowned upon in the wizarding world.
"Raven, you knew that I'd like Lucius when he is looking and behaving like this!" Remus suddenly moaned and dropped his head onto Raven's shoulder. Raven grinned when he caught a glimpse of Remus' blushing cheeks. Apparently this had been eating Remus since they had gotten here tonight.
"No I didn't know you would like him," he confessed and Remus looked up with surprise. "But I had my suspicions and you just confirmed them!" he added cheekily and Remus laughed and hit him on the shoulder playfully, a side that Raven could picture Remus showing off more when he was younger and still in school. Remus was by no means boring as adult, only slightly more reserved, and even more so now when most people knew about his werewolf condition.
"What shall I do? He's nothing like we thought!" Remus said despairingly once they had laughed a bit. He really did look like he didn't know what to do with himself and Raven felt for him. It couldn't be easy to be Remus.
"Why don't you go and talk to him?" Raven suggested. It was an obvious thing for him even if it didn't seem all that obvious for Remus at the time. He was really confused over Malfoy's change. Raven felt a bit sad that people treated Remus like dirt for things he had no control over. Remus eyes widened when he heard the suggestion.
"Talk to him? Are you mad? I can't do that!" Remus cried and a few other couples looked over at them curiously and Remus calmed down.
"Why not? I'm sure he'd enjoy a little chat. As it is there is very few people that dares to talk to him at this moment," he said and thought that that would be a great connection point between Remus and Lucius. They were both outsiders at the moment, albeit their situations were different, they were still outside the crowd. With that thought in mind they had something in common.
"I don't know what to talk about with him!" Remus said and Raven almost sighed. Remus was so gifted and clever, he knew a lot of things and he was well educated. So was Lucius, and he was convinced they enjoyed reading about the same stuff. There had to be something. Raven decided not to bring that up now, they would have to find that out for himself. He didn't want their conversation to sound formal and forced. He wanted it to flow and evolve on its own. So instead he suggested something relevant and something that was "the talk" right now. It was an easy and fairly neutral subject, but yet Remus would learn something about Lucius' family, and it would lay close at heart for Lucius without it being too deep. Therefore it was neutral in the sense that Lucius didn't have to talk about himself, nor did Remus have to. Often it was easiest to ask talk about people you both knew or were curious about. It was a great opener for a conversation.
"Tell him that I implied that his father Ancius gets up to much funny business. Ask him about it. Lucius will be happy to share a few of the many crazy stories involving Ancius. Our dear vampire is a troublemaker and notorious among everyone for that. Lucius won't be offended," Raven assured him.
"Oh...OK, I'll do that," Remus said and sounded like he tried to cheer himself on. The whole determination seemed to crumble in the next second. "How can I go and do this? Lucius is married, he won't be interested in me!"
"Lucius is Bi sexual. Narcissa let him have male relationships. She doesn't mind. Everybody knows that one person could love more than just one. The question is if you are willing to share."
"I think that I would if I loved the person," he said slowly. They were quiet for a while; Remus seemed to think things through. He glanced over at Lucius who was alone by now, and Draco had returned to the room as well. Raven decided to encourage Remus, or nothing would ever happen.
"Go over there and try!" Raven encouraged him. Remus nodded, took a deep breath, gulped and hesitated but after that he was finally off. Raven shook his head amusedly. Sometimes he thought he was the only adult in the room. As Remus left Draco came.
"That went quick," Raven commented dryly.
"I'm sorry! I really thought that he was a threat to you," Draco said sheepishly and blushed. His head hung and he looked really ashamed of his behavior. He knew he could act rash and dramatic, but this had really taken the price. Draco could only imagine what a scandal it would have been if this party had been a pureblood dinner invitation instead. His family used to host them every now and then.
"It's OK Dray. Just don't spill the secret. Cheer up now! Wanna dance?" Raven said quickly and tried to lighten the mood. He just wanted to forget the whole thing, besides, it hadn't been that bad, nothing to cry or hide over.
"Yeah… Why do you call me that?" Draco asked as a slow song began and they had their arms intimate around each other.
"Call you what?" Raven asked puzzled.
"'Dray'... not that I am complaining or anything. I'm just curious I guess," Draco admitted and blew some hair out of his eyes. Raven laughed when it fell right back and Draco mock glared at him.
"It comes naturally. I sort of like it," Raven responded and went back to the original track. He and Draco danced many times that night and the mood was light and happy. Raven was very pleased with the party, and he saw that even his father looked content, or perhaps that was because the man had found himself one of the best bottles of whiskey in the whole Malfoy household.
Since the party had been on a Thursday, Friday was a pure hell for those who had attended. Everyone had a horrible headache and many were feeling sick too. Madam Pomfrey couldn't help them much because she had run out of hangover potions and the only one able to brew new ones were Snape and he wasn't feeling very co-operative since he too wasn't feeling very well.
Ron was in a horrible mood all day long.
"How could you dance with him? He's a guy!" Ron yelled in the Gryffindor tower and Raven winced when his head hurt. Snape hadn't given any potion to him either. He really is a sadist, Raven thought sourly.
"So? I'm pretty sure that I saw you dance with Dean a couple of times! What does it matter? Did you fail to notice when I shoved my tongue down Jessica Down's throat?" Raven asked sourly. He was fed up with Ron's attitude. He had done nothing wrong, and Ron knew it.
"Raven, I don't think anyone missed that!" Hermione said brightly. She was in a good mood today, she had flirted at the party and for her it had been a total success. Raven had been very drunk when he did that stunt with Down, he didn't even remember all of it, just bits and pieces.
"Would you lay of his back Ron? Every guy danced with a guy yesterday. I danced with a girl but that doesn't make me gay. Besides, Raven did say that he wasn't gay during the hearing with Fudge the other day, didn't he?" she reasoned and took Raven's side. Raven was surprised since Hermione seemed so relaxed about the whole thing, she was usually very uptight but now Hermione and Ron's roles were reversed. He wondered if they ever could agree on something. Ron went red in the face at hearing that.
"Still! Maybe Malfoy's gay! We don't know that!" he argued. Raven groaned. This was getting ridiculous.
"You know what, think whatever you want. I'm going to visit my dad!" he said and stormed outside, well as good as anyone could storm with a big fat hangover.
Raven was stopped by an anxious looking Draco in the dungeons before he reached his fathers office.
"What's the matter?" Raven asked. He wasn't used to see Draco in that state. His hair and clothes were in disarray.
"Come with me. We'll have to floo to Malfoy manor. Dracula is waiting for us. Blade is already there."
"Why? What happened?" Raven asked concernedly. He could tell this was something big and serious, or else Draco wouldn't look that way. Draco looked at him with a dark look.
"I don't know but I have this very bad feeling. It's bad. Real bad," he said ominous.