Chapter 8 – Friends and Family
Draco was cozy in his bed, replaying every second of bliss he experienced in that bathroom stall with Hermione, and a smile spread across his face. He never expected himself to even hold a civil conversation with her let alone mess around in toilet stall. He needed to find the right antidote, and he hoped that one of the dozen he'd written down would work just so he didn't have to pretend anymore. How would she react, and what would happen with everyone that knew? Only Blaise knew what really happened, and since everyone believed the lie he told, how odd would it be that they would randomly break up, and what if Hermione can't remember anything?
He checked the antidote they'd left brewing the following evening, and he bottled it up, after re-reading the final instructions a few more times. Hermione met him in the bathroom some time later, and he asked her to try it.
"What is it an antidote for?" She was definitely smart, but Draco knew she'd ask and he was prepared.
"It's not an antidote. I found a book in the manor that has a list of potions disguised as other potions so they won't be detected. It's really just like a Pepper-Up Potion, but it says it has no giggling side effects," Draco had rehearsed this a few times in his head, and knew how to get her to take it, "Please? For me?" He kissed her cheek.
"Oh, alright," she grabbed the phial, and drank it down. Draco waited nervously for her to suddenly ask why she was with him or what they were doing, but nothing changed.
"I don't feel any different," she shrugged.
"Damn!" Draco wanted to pound his fist against the stall, but thought it would be suspicious. That was one failed attempt, and only eleven more to try.
Halloween came up fast, along with a frost that covered every blade of grass upon the Hogwarts grounds. Draco and Hermione both shivered as they made their way down to Hogsmeade for the day. They met Harry, Ron, and Ginny this time and Draco was prepared to receive a barrage of dirty looks, which started the moment he sat with Hermione at their table.
"Hey Hermione," Harry said looking up from his butterbeer. Hermione smiled back, and then looked at Ron, who seemed very interested in the fire burning in the grate next to him.
"So, my I ask why?" Harry asked bluntly, looking Draco straight in the eye.
"Harry, don't," Ginny warned him.
"No, I want to know! How does a slimy bastard like him go from calling her rude names to dating her out of the blue?"
Draco felt the anger rising; Harry and Ron were still enemies to him, and now his patience would be tested. He realized now that Ron started staring him down as well.
"I don't really know how it happened either, to be honest. We had nothing to do on vacation, set our differences aside for while, and liked what we found out. Is it hard to believe that I'm a person with feelings, too?" Draco tried to sound offended, and it seemed to have worked.
Harry waited a few long seconds before answering, "No, Malfoy, I know you have feelings, but it's just weird that you suddenly fancy Hermione. I mean, who says it can't just be a trap to exterminate muggleborns for You-Know-Who?"
"How can you even say that Harry?" Hermione finally spoke up, appalled, "He's my boyfriend, and even if you don't see good in him, I do, so just drop it!"
Draco gulped, not expecting Hermione to defend him, even if it was just the love potion speaking for her. During their time together in the pub, Draco kept quiet as the rest of the group talked, excluding Ron who was still being stubborn. Draco noticed that Ron looked absolutely miserable, then again, who wouldn't be if the girl they were after went for their enemy? There was actually a tiny glint of pity for Ron, though very dim.
They left after a few more mugs of butterbeer, heading up to the castle to await the Halloween feast that everyone was excited for. Draco sat with his usual Slytherin group who stuffed their face full of candied apples and treacle tart while Draco couldn't stop thinking about trying another antidote.
In the common room that night, everyone decided to tell scary stories to stay in the Holiday spirit and Draco joined in, finally enjoying the company of his own house. It wasn't until the wee hours of the morning that students started trickling off to bed, and Draco was one of the first to go.
He was under his blankets staring into the darkness of his closed eyelids when he heard the faint whistling sound of the moth. He was instantly awake, and his hand lunged inside the drawer beside his bed to grab the moth. He was on his back once more and he looked at the moth that felt freezing cold to his touch; it was also fluttering its wings faster than Draco had ever seen.
Snape told him to keep it locked away, but Draco couldn't help himself when it called out so loudly. The door to the dormitory opened, and Draco expected to see one of his friends entering the room, but instead it was the dark, bearded man once again. Draco sat up in an instant, ready to grab his wand if the man made any sort of move.
"Who are you?" Draco asked with a strong, authoritative voice.
"You'll never have her, Malfoy. She never loved you, and you can't live with that can you?" The man moved forward slowly, "Stay away, and you won't get hurt."
"She's only with you because she's afraid of living the life of luxury. She's just afraid of what she wants," Draco lips moved and his vocal chords were working, but it wasn't his brain telling him to say these things, and apparently it was no longer controlling his body either as he got up out of bed, "I will have her. You hold no threat to me, and you never will. If you don't stay out of her life, you won't have a life of your own," he smirked evilly, swelling with power.
"Don't threaten me, you swine!" The man yelled, and Draco swung his arm for a punch, but his wrist was caught, and Draco looked at the hand that stopped his blow, noticing it was Blaise who'd stopped him.
"What the hell?" Draco was shaking.
"Were you dreaming?" Blaise let Draco's arm go, and looked down at the moth that had been dropped on the floor.
"Yeah, I guess so," Draco didn't know what was happening, and now he knew it was the moth that he was now picking up off the floor.
"You look pale, mate," Blaise was concerned.
"I've always been pale."
"You look sick."
"I'm fine, it was probably all the sweets," Draco crawled back into his bed, putting the now silent moth back into the drawer.
Sleep that night was nearly impossible; all Draco could think about was the visions he'd been having and why whoever he was acting as wanted the dark-haired man dead.
The next morning, Draco decided to write his mother, asking for the remainder of the potion supplies he would need. He also thought it would be smart to ask Dumbledore about the moth; even though Snape told Draco to lock it away, he still wanted to know what it was, and he couldn't see any other way.
It was Sunday once again, and Snape would surely be in his office at this time of the day so Draco ventured to the office by himself with the moth in his pocket. Knocking twice on the door and waiting for Snape to answer, Draco rolled the moth between his fingers, feeling for anything unusual (at least anymore unusual than it already was).
Snape opened the door, raising his eyebrows at the sight of Draco.
"Morning, Professor."
Snape didn't say anything, but just moved aside, allowing Draco to come in. Draco sat across from his mentor who was now behind the desk, and made to take the moth out of his pocket like he did at their last meeting.
"I know why you're here; it has been bothering you, has it not?"
"Yes, I've been having weird visions whenever I hold it or have it with me and I don't know what they're about or who the people are in them, but it's really freaking me out," Draco admitted everything without taking a breath.
Snape looked at the moth that was now sitting on the table like before, but this time he picked it up and held it closer to his face to observe it, "I can hold onto it to test it's magic, see what it is," Snape said, turning it over and looking at it from all angles.
"I was actually going to ask you if Professor Dumbledore could help me, I mean, he usually knows everything so it could be possible he knows what this is, too," Draco could feel the rejection coming.
"I would advise you to do so, but he's traveling at this time. I'll keep it until he gets back and show him as soon as I can," Snape shut it away in his desk, and Draco had the urge to ask for it back, but knew better. Why did he want is anyways? It gave him questionable dream, strange visions, and Blaise said it changed his attitude as well. Even with all of this, however, Draco wanted it near him at all times, like it was a child.
"Thank you, Professor," Draco got up to leave.
"Mr. Malfoy," Snape called his attention once more.
"Yes, sir?" Draco faced him.
"Good luck with the game next weekend; I hope you can help Slytherin finally win the cup this year," he smirked.
"Thank you, Professor."
Without the moth burdening him, Draco decided to start work on the second antidote on his list, and just like before, Hermione was right at his side to help.
"I'm surprised your friends are so understanding; especially compared to Ron. I can't believe how's he's been acting."
"I can't believe Potter would actually assume I was helping the Dark Lord," Draco shook his head. He was finding easier to talk with Hermione comfortably as the weeks went on. He stirred the last few ingredients into the potion (with Hermione watching over his shoulder), put a small sample into a phial, and handed it to Hermione.
"What am I, a guinea pig?"
"Of sorts," Draco winked, trying to be playful enough so she wouldn't be threatened.
"What is this one, then?" she swirled the potion around as if it were a glass of wine.
"It's the same as before, just a few things added. Hopefully it works this time."
Convinced, Hermione tipped the phial into her mouth and gulped. She grimaced a little at the taste, and waited for something to happen, but just like before, nothing did. Draco wanted to scream in frustration; nothing was working, and it was getting more and more difficult to handle the disappointment.
"Are you sad?" Hermione asked, emptying the failed potion into the toilet.
"No, I just wish I could get these potions right."
"I'm sure you'll get it eventually, and I'll help you with them," she reached her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss.
"I have an essay to finish," Draco lied, not being in any kind of mood to be lovey-dovey.
"Oh, okay. I'll see you tomorrow in class," Hermione said sadly. He walked her to the Grand Staircase and said goodnight, sulking down to the dungeons, feeling defeated.
Blaise was in a nosey state when Draco sat down in the common room, looking crabby.
"Nothing working, eh?"
"No."
"I thought Granger was helping you with it," Blaise scowled.
"She is; it's the potions that aren't working. That stupid ancient potion is too strong," Draco said with extra emphasis on the work 'stupid'.
"How many more are there left to try?"
"Ten."
"Well, don't get so pissed about it yet, there's still some hope. I don't see why you're so adamant on reversing it thought, she's bloody hot."
"Oh, come on, Blaise!" Draco knew Blaise would perv on Hermione sooner or later.
"What? She is! Have you, uh, you know…" Blaise smirked.
"No, Blaise, and it's none of your business anyways. Besides, if I did and we actually do find a potion to reverse this, don't you think she'll believe I took advantage of her?"
"True, but she doesn't seem like a kiss-and-tell type of girl. It could just be between the two of you."
"I'm not taking my chances."
"Oh come on, Draco, you're not even the least bit interested in sex?" Blaise was notorious for being one of the few non-virgins in the sixth year.
"I never said I wasn't interested, I just don't want to mess things up worse than they already are, okay?"
"Okay, fine, whatever mate," Blaise put his hands up is surrender to Draco ending the conversation. Crabbe and Goyle both sat down a few minutes later, but Pansy was nowhere to be seen. In fact, Draco hadn't seen her since she stormed out of The Three Broomsticks almost two weeks before.
"Where the hell has Pansy been hiding?"
"I think she's been in the dorm a lot," Blaise said, not really caring. As annoying as she was, Draco still didn't want her to do anything stupid over him, and he was worried. He waited for her presence until after midnight, but she never came down from the dorms, and he finally gave up and went to bed.
Time raced by as Draco failed at yet another attempted antidote, and heard no word from Snape or Dumbledore. He had, however, finally seen Pansy outside of class lurking in the back of the library alone. His pity for her washed away quickly due to the tidal wave of nerves that came with the first Quidditch game only a day away.
Their last practice on Thursday night went better than any other pre-game practice, but it didn't keep Draco from being close to vomiting the day of the match. Hermione walked down to the pitch holding Draco's hand the whole way down, receiving all types of confused looks from the other students. They kissed and she set off into the stands with Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Neville, and Draco wondered who she would cheer for. The game was against Hufflepuff, and no Gryffindor in their right mind would cheer for Slytherin, except perhaps the potion-induced Hermione.
The team shared a nervous silence in the locker room before grabbing their brooms and stepping out onto the pitch to an uproar of applause and chanting. Both teams mounted their brooms, and the snitch and quaffle were released simultaneously. The game whistle was blown, and Draco sped off in search of the snitch, casually moving out of the bludgers' paths. Not fifteen minutes went by and Slytherin was already ahead sixty to ten. It wasn't until the score was two-hundred to ninety that Draco saw the glint of the snitch, and unfortunately, so had the Hufflepuff seeker. They raced towards it almost side-by-side and Draco could hear Hermione screaming for him to go faster when he swooshed by the Gryffindors' stands.
Both seekers were reaching out for the tiny golden ball, closing in on it, but Draco knew how to play dirty, and angled his broom just enough so their legs touched; then Draco pushed towards the other seeker in a jerking motion, hooking his foot onto his opponent's foot-rest, causing him to spin out, and giving Draco the small window of opportunity to catch the snitch for his own team. He caught it and held in high for everyone to see while circling the pitch and the Slytherin stands erupted into screaming and applause as well as some singing.
The team left the field in a rowdy, playful and triumphant mood, many of them slapping Draco a little too hard on the back, or jumping on each other in excitement. They had all talked about the match while they washed up and started to change into their regular clothes. Once everyone else left, Blaise was waiting at the door of the locker room for Draco to follow.
"I'm going to wash my face; I'll see you in the common room."
Blaise turned and left, and Draco ran the tap to splash warm water on his frozen face. The door opened again as Draco grabbed blindly for a towel from the rack beside him.
"I said I'll meet you there, mate, you can go without me," Draco said, muffled, into the towel that was now pressed against his face.
He finished drying and looked into the mirror before whipping around in shock; it wasn't Blaise who had entered the locker room. Instead, Draco turned around to see his father smirking about his son's victory, but there was a menacing look in his eyes that Draco had never seen there before.