-1A Final Chance

By: Shadowedheart89

Disclaimer: I don't not own Harry Potter or any of the characters

Chapter 10: A Softer Side

"Draco, what's wrong?" I asked hurrying to him. His hair was messy, his clothes were disheveled, and he was paler than usual. If he was in this state, then there must be something very wrong.

He looked at me with wide eyes. "What are you doing here?" he asked, panting.

"I had lunch with Dumbledore. What's wrong?" I asked, raising a hand to brush the hair out of his face, but he grabbed my arm before I could touch him.

"I need to talk to Dumbledore," he said, "Alone." His voice was serious and there was a tremor just beneath. His eyes flashed with an emotion dangerously close to fear.

I looked to Uncle Albus as if asking him permission to stay. His eyes were fixed on Draco, appearing to be seeing within him, reading his mind. "I think you should go to class Marlene. Tell the Professor that you were in a meeting with me, and you shouldn't have any problems. And kindly notify them that Mr. Malfoy here will be late to class as well."

"But Uncle Albus," I started.

"Marlene go," he told me in that quiet yet final way of his.

I looked at Draco again, and saw how shaken he was. I wanted to stay and comfort him, all anger from the argument earlier gone, but there was nothing I could do. If I tried to argue, I would just make things worst, and if Draco needed some real help right away, all I would be doing is delaying it. So I did the only thing I could do. I put a comforting hand on Draco's shoulder, noticing him flinch away from my touch, and then I left the office, and headed down the stairs. When I got to the corridor, instead of heading to my next class, I sat down and waited, determined to be there when Draco came out.

My plan was thwarted shortly after though when Severus came hurrying down the corridor towards me. He came to an abrupt halt when he saw me. "What are you doing here, Ms. Wizadore? I do believe you ought to be in class right now."

"I had lunch with Uncle Albus. Draco came hurrying into the office, looking really upset and saying that he needed help. I'm waiting here to make sure that he is okay," I told him quietly, not trying to start an argument.

"And may I ask, exactly what purpose does it serve to be sitting out here waiting instead of in class, where you can be learning something in the meantime?" he asked coolly.

I sighed. "I just want to make sure he's okay. If I'm too worried about him to concentrate on the class, its not going to be all that much better. In fact I could cause a disturbance in class, which would in comparison be worst, so I think I should just wait here," I told him.

He studied me with those cold black eyes of his. After a few moments, his demeanor softened almost imperceptibly. "I'm sure he will be fine. Draco is much stronger than you would believe. Whatever might have happened, will be just fine. Now, I would suggest you get to class, unless you would like to serve another detention with me next weekend as well."

"Severus, I'm worried. There has been something really bothering him lately, but he won't talk about it," I told him in a last ditch effort, knowing that if Draco were to find out that I was telling him all of this, he would be extremely mad at me. Snape looked at me skeptically for a moment. "I know I haven't seen him in years, but I just know something is wrong. I have to do something to help, I'm going crazy not knowing and not being able to do anything."

He sighed, "I believe you, Marlene, but at the moment, there isn't anything you can do. If you want to help just wait for him to come to you if he needs you. He'll be okay, just let him be. You have enough to worry about without taking on his problems. Now go to class before you start to fall behind before the year has even really begun."

I sighed in defeat, and slowly began to stand. "Severus," I said softly as I stood before him, "I'm sorry for what happened in class yesterday. I know it was partly my fault. I shouldn't have disrespected you. I'm glad I didn't get you into trouble again with Uncle Albus. He told me that you came and told him what happened," I told him quietly.

He looked slightly taken back for a moment, but quickly recovered. "What's done is done," he said simply.

I waited a few seconds to see if he was going to say anything else. I wasn't really holding my breath for an apology on his part, but I thought he might like to lecture me some more. When it was clear he wasn't, I nodded and started my journey to my next class. I barely took a few steps when Severus called out to me. "If I thought that Draco was in serious trouble, I would let you know. You're not the only one who worries about him."

I smiled at him. "Thanks Severus. You know, you're not as bad as you like to pretend you are."

He scowled at me. "And you make me regret every kind thing I've ever done for you."

I laughed. "Well, we can just pretend that they were mistakes. No one would believe the truth anyways."

Something dangerously close to a smile crossed his face for the briefest of moments before he scowled at me again. "Get to class now, Ms. Wizidore, or I will give you detention."

"Yes, Professor," I said in an overly sweet voice giving him a little curtsy, before continuing down the corridor. My next class was Herbology, so I took my time to get to the greenhouse, hoping that Draco might catch up to me.

Unfortunately he didn't, so when I reached the greenhouses, I walked in alone. All of the other students stopped what they were doing, and turned to stare at me. "May I help you?" asked a squat little woman, in robes caked with earth, and dirty dragon skin gloves on.

"I'm Marlene Wizidore. I'm supposed to be in this class," I told her.

"Where have you been? Class has been in session for over a half an hour," she asked sternly.

"Well, I was in a meeting with Professor Dumbledore. He said that I should just let you know and there wouldn't be any problems. Is everything okay, or should I go back to him and get a note?" I said taking a few steps towards the exit, hoping to be able to leave class and maybe run into Draco.

"No, no, no, Professor Dumbledore mentioned something about this. It's fine. Why don't you just find and group, and you can help them for the rest of the class. We are just tending to some of the plants that went a bit untamed over the summer holidays," she told me kindly.

I began to walk away to find a group before I stopped. "Oh Professor, I almost forgot. You are supposed to have a Draco Malfoy in this class as well. He is meeting with Professor Dumbledore now, and will be to class later."

"Thank you, I'll be sure to remember that," she told me.

I nodded and joined Harry, Ron, and Hermione in their group. "What are we doing exactly?" I asked, sitting next to them.

"Where have you been? You really shouldn't be late to class," Hermione asked.

"I had lunch with Dumbledore, remember? It ran a bit late."

"Well you missed the show. Something happened with Malfoy. Towards the end of lunch, he just got up and ran out of the Great Hall," Ron told me, obviously happy at the prospect of something bad happening to Draco.

I felt my temper flare, but controlled it, remembering that Draco was horrible to them and they hated him. "Do you guys know what happened?"

"No, not even the Slytherins seemed to know," Hermione said.

"Yeah, we could hear them talking as we were walking to class. They were wondering if he had finally lost his marbles," Harry added.

"They think that he's going crazy?" I asked surprised. I know Draco acted a bit strangely sometimes, but I never doubted his sanity.

"I don't think so," Hermione told me. "Although they did comment about how strangely he's been acting lately."

I worked quietly, for awhile, just following along with whatever the others were doing and not really paying attention. I kept glancing at the greenhouse entrance, waiting for Draco to come in. Finally, when class was about to end, he came sauntering in. He spoke quickly with the professor, then joined a group of Slytherins.

Are you okay now? I asked him telepathically.

He casually looked around the greenhouse, until his eyes found mine for a second, and he turned back to his group. What would make you think that I'm not okay? he asked.

You looked pretty upset in the Headmaster's office.

I felt the coldness radiating from him through the telepathic connection. It was a momentary lapse in composure. Nothing more. I am fine.

Well what was wrong? What happened?

Nothing I can't handle. Just don't worry about it Marlene, he told me coldly.

"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked, startling me out of my focus on the conversation with Draco.

"Oh yeah, I just have a lot on my mind. Why do you ask?"

"You have been tilling the same spot for the last 15 minutes," she told me, looking concerned.

I felt myself blush, and moved to a new spot. I looked over at Draco, who sat in a stony silence among his friends. I figured trying to talk to him at the moment would be pointless , so I decided to change the subject. "Have any of you had detention with Snape before?"

Harry laughed. "Oh yeah. It's not too fun, but I've had worst," he said flexing his right hand. I looked at him, confused, but before I could ask what he was talking about, the professor announced that it was time to clean up, and I forgot the question in the hustle that followed.

By the time we were making our way to our final class, Divination, I was talking happily with Harry and Ron, as they told me about how one of the two teachers, Professor Trelawny, had the habit of predicting Harry's death every few classes. My laughter at the stories died though when we reached the other teacher's class. It was made to look as if it were a part of the forest, complete with a dark, starry sky, and trees and tree stumps that were obviously meant to be the students seats.

On one of the stumps sat Draco all by himself. I glanced at Harry, and he motioned for me to go by Draco. I nodded, and sat on the stump.

He refused to acknowledge my presence at first, so I decided to break the silence. "So how has your first few days been going?" I asked.

He glanced at me and scowled. "Aren't you supposed to be mad at me and not talking to me?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry about earlier. You were just acting so different, and it pissed me off," I told him as kindly as he could.

"It's fine," he told me. "If you don't like the way that I act, then your right, you shouldn't be around me, you should just stick with Potter and his friends. You seem to really enjoy their company."

"That's not what I'm saying, Draco and you know it." He remained silent, refusing to look at me. I sighed, "Okay, I understand what you were saying before though. You have a reputation and you want to keep it. It's important to you, I get that. But sometimes you just act so cold, like I don't mean anything to you. I know you're not used to open sighs of affection, but sometimes I just want to be able to touch you without you recoiling away from me if someone might be able to see," I tried to take his hand in mine, but he pulled away. "You see what I mean?" I said sadly. "I'm supposed to be your girlfriend, but you will barely touch me, unless we are either alone or you are trying to prove to someone that I'm yours."

"We've been together for what? Two days? Maybe I just need to get used to this. Besides this morning when I was just to show you affection, you wanted to act more like we don't know each other. It seems like I'm not the only one who is having problems with knowing how to act," he told me coldly.

"Your right Draco. I don't know how to act," I said wrapping my arms around myself, feeling oddly vulnerable.

"It's not easy, is it?" he asked with a slightly sad tone in his voice.

I smirked at him, "Nothing ever seems to be."

He opened his mouth to say something, but my attention was diverted as a centaur appeared within the trees. The chatter that had evolved within the room as we waited ceased, and everyone stared at him. "The stars and heavens above us, can show us the history of the world. To those skilled enough, they can help reveal the past, the present, and at times, even the future…"

Class was fascinating to say the least. I've had some interesting teachers before, but never a centaur. They are always so secluded from wizards and usually refuse to help them, that I wonder how Uncle Albus managed to convince him to teach. His teaching style was both fascinating and frustrating. He hinted at amazing things that could be read in the stars, but wouldn't really tell us what they were or how to read them. The abstractness of it all drove me crazy.

After class, Draco and I went back out by the lake. We were silent for a while, just staring out over the water, enjoying each others company. "Do you trust Dumbledore?" he asked after a while breaking the silence.

"With my life," I told him, looking him straight in the eye to emphasize how much I meant it.

"That's good," he told me.

"Why?" I asked, taking a few strands of his silky hair in my fingers.

"It's nice to have someone to trust," he said absently.

"Who do you trust?" I asked.

He looked at me, and his gray eyes were so dark, they mimicked the sky right before a disastrous storm. "No one," he said a bit sadly.

I took his hand and he flinched a bit. "Hopefully one day that with change."

He smirked. "I doubt it." He pulled me close and put his arm around me.

"Why not?" I asked, burrowing closer to him.

"People betray you, whether they mean to or not. Why put yourself within their power? You should be in control of yourself," he said simply.

I turned and looked at him sadly. "You are too young to be so cynical."

He smirked at me. "I believe you are the one always saying how we older than our age, or something like that."

"Well you need to have more fun. Relax sometimes, just go crazy," I told him.

"What are you talking about? I have lots of fun," he told me indignantly.

I gave him a skeptical look. "What exactly do you do for fun, besides pick fights with Harry and his friends."

"I play Quidditch," he said matter of factly.

I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Where are you going?" he asked watching me wearily.

"Just by the water," I told him.

He got up and followed me. I knelt down by the water and waited until he got close, and then I splashed him.

"What did you do that for?" he asked furious.

"Just having fun," I told him, laughing.

He eyes blazed, "You are going to pay," he told me, and started splashing in the water too.

We had a huge water fight. We were laughing and splashing, and at one point we both fell into the lake, trying to get one up on each other. When we finally stopped, we were both laughing and soaked. He looked down at himself and scowled. "I'm soaked," he said in distaste.

I laughed, "It's just water."

"It's lake water. Who knows what's in it?" he said plucking his wet robes from his skin looking utterly disgusted.

I rolled my eyes at him and pulled out my wand. I muttered a drying spell, and instantly, my robes and hair were dry. I looked at him and smirked. "Nice huh?" I asked.

"Yes, now would you mind drying me?" he asked a bit grumpily.

I ran a finger down his cheek, "But I like you all wet. You look so cute while you sit there seething like a wet cat."

He growled and pushed my hand away. "Come on Marlene."

"Fine, you are no fun," I told him drying him with the same spell. The spell didn't have the best effect on his hair, which stood up a bit fluffily. I laughed and attempted to pat his hair down, not to much avail. He looked at his reflection in the water and glared at it.

"Great, now I'm having a bad hair day too," he said grumpily.

I laughed. "You looks so cute, especially when you are pouting," I told him kissing him.

He scowled, "I'm am not 'cute' and I don't pout," he told me indignantly.

I rolled my eyes, "Of course, what was I thinking?"

I led us back to the tree and sat down. "Am I going to be having a guest tonight?" he asked sliding his arm around me.

"I'm not sure. I'm kind of hoping for a whole night's rest, but I must admit it's worth waking up in the middle of the night to end up sleeping in your arms," I told him, cuddling against him, and then kissing him.

"You are such a girl," he told me, although he voice held a bit of warmth.

"Would you have it otherwise?" I asked him smirking.

"Never," he told me kissing me. While we were kissing I felt someone watching us. I pulled away and found Harry, standing a few feet away from us, looking quite a bit uncomfortable.

"Enjoying the show?" Draco almost snarled at him.

"I was looking for Marlene," Harry replied through clenched teeth.

"Well you found her," Draco said, keeping a firm grasp on me.

"What's wrong?" I asked Harry.

"I was wondering if we were going to practice today, but I see that you are busy," he said starting to back away.

"No, it's fine. It's a great idea," I told him turning to Draco, to see if he would get the hint and leave.

You want me to leave don't you? he sent me, looking deep into my eyes.

I just have to teach him some stuff. Dumbledore asked me, and it could really make things better, I sent back.

What exactly does this stuff entail? he asked suspiciously.

I couldn't help but to grin. Meditation, clearing the mind, relaxing, making out, you know boring stuff.

He glared at me. You aren't funny. If Potter's lips come any where near you, I will personally kill him myself.

I kissed him yet again. Don't worry about it. Your lips are the only ones I want near me.

He rolled his eyes. You are so corny. "Well Potter, you are in luck. I have to some things to do, so I'll leave you two alone," he said aloud. He sounded cordial enough, but you have to be completely stupid to not sense the subtle hostility in his words towards Harry. "Have fun," he said, caressing my cheek, before getting up to leave.

I watched him walk away, and when I was sure that he was out of earshot, I turned to Harry, "So shall we begin?"