Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.
A/N: Thanks to Live25k8 for the review!
Sorry that this was a little delayed! My sister got married Saturday and we had tons of family in town so I had hardly any time! But I'm back now!
Chapter 12
"So...what's this plan again?" Regulus asked. I sighed and glanced at the door to the Three Broomsticks before I answered,
"We need to get Draco and Harry to be friends, at least on a first-name basis. They're going to be working closely the next few weeks, months, years, however long this lasts, and they need to learn to at least pretend to get along. This won't work if they don't, believe me."
"Right," Regulus said, obviously doubtful that it would work. "And how do you plan to do that?"
"Show them how similar they are subtly," I said, glancing at the door again. Regulus sighed and shook his head.
"I can see the door, it's right in front of me, I'll tell you when one of them gets here, stop turning around," he said, smiling. "I just...I don't see how you think they're so similar. Besides, don't opposites attract, not...similars?"
"You and I attract and we're not opposite. And just wait, you will see how they're so similar," I said, turning back to face him. "Believe me. I realized it earlier, and now I keep coming up with more and more ways of how similar they are. It's like you and me – we're supposed to hate each other since you were in Slytherin and I was in Gryffindor, but instead we realized how much we're alike and fell in love." I frowned. "Although I hope Draco and Harry don't fall in love...Actually, maybe I hope they do – I love them both – not like that!" I added when Regulus' eyebrows shot up at me saying I loved Draco. " – and that'd be cute!"
"Isn't Harry with Ginny, though?" Regulus pointed out. "So obviously he's straight." I made a face.
"Technicalities!" I said, annoyed. "Still, it'd be cute."
"I don't think so," Regulus muttered. I frowned at him. "I was kidding," he said quickly, even though I knew he wasn't, holding up his hands in a surrender position. I continued to glare at him, but he distracted me by looking behind me and nodding at something for me to look at. I turned around and saw Harry entering the door.
"Just you wait," I said to Regulus. "Before long, they're going to be the best of friends. Not lovers," I said quickly. "I was kidding!" Regulus rolled his eyes but I ignored him by standing up and waving Harry over to our booth. He sat down beside Regulus as I said, "Hey Harry. How're you?"
"Nervous," he answered honestly. "Had a hell of a time convincing Filch to let me come. Finally McGonagall told him to let me leave."
"You should've taken one of the secret passageways," I pointed out. He shrugged.
"That's too hard." I rolled my eyes and saw Regulus, once again, nod to something over my shoulder. I turned around and saw Draco entering.
"I'll be right back," I said to Harry and Regulus as I stood up and rushed over to him.
"Hey Drake," I said, alerting him to my sudden presence, "How're you?"
"Nervous," he replied, following me to our table. I couldn't contain my smile – he had the same answer as Harry. I pulled him to a stop beside our booth and slid in. He stopped as soon as he saw Harry.
"What're you going here, Malfoy?" Harry asked suddenly.
"I could ask you the same thing, Potter." They both turned to glare at me. I smiled innocently.
"What? I didn't do anything." Regulus snorted. I shot him a quick glare and he tried to pass as a sneeze – to be honest, it didn't really work. Harry turned to Draco.
"Malfoy, who invited you here?" Draco looked pointedly at me. Harry turned to me. "She invited me here too. It's obvious you did something."
"Look," I said, sighing in defeat. Harry was too damn smart. "You two have got to learn to get along if you want to convince Voldemort that you're in league with him."
"But I thought Dumbledore said we had to pretend to hate – ?" Draco started, but I cut him off by grabbing his wrist and pulling him down beside me on the booth.
"Look, did you know that at first Severus and I were supposed to pretend we hated each other? And we thought, hey, this should be easy; we never really got along to begin with. But somehow we ended up acting like, well, not necessarily friends but like allies and then we became, like, best friends in real life." While Draco and Harry stared at me, digesting this new information, Regulus gave me a look. I could read exactly what he would've said if Draco and Harry weren't there,
"I didn't know you and Severus were supposed to pretend to hate each other." And I returned with a look that said,
"We didn't! I made that crap up to see if they'll try to get along!"
"Yeah," Harry said suddenly, "But you and Snape didn't hate each other like Malfoy and I do – "
"No," I said suddenly, shaking my head. "No Malfoy and no Potter. Here, today, it's Draco and Harry. And I will enforce that."
"How?" Draco asked, skeptical.
"You know I can," I said, my eyebrows rose. "I've use the Imperious curse before." Regulus snorted, but this time didn't cover it up as I turned to him.
"You wouldn't use it again," he said. "You told me you hated the feeling of it." I shrugged.
"You don't know what I'll do."
"Look, fine, I'll call him Draco. Whatever, it's just a name," Harry said. "But you can't expect us to become as good of friends as you and Severus in a single day."
"Don't sound so thrilled, Pot – Harry," Draco grumbled.
"Me? Thrilled? In your dreams." Draco glared at Harry but didn't say anything back.
"What makes you think we want to get along? We're so very different that it wouldn't work," Draco said after a moment.
"We'd probably only hate each other more," Harry agreed. I rose my eyebrows at Regulus, who seemed to finally realize what I was talking about when I said they were very similar and was staring from Harry to Draco to me and back again with wide eyes and a smirk on his face.
"You'll have to learn to at least get along." I sighed. "Look, I know it seems like it, but I'm not doing this to torture or annoy you guys," I said in a much more serious voice than before. "Or because I think you guys are cute together," I whispered so only Regulus could hear me. He laughed, and Draco and Harry exchanged confused glances but ignored it. "I'm doing it because you don't know what not working well together could do to you guys."
"How could it hurt us, though?" Draco asked. "I mean, if we're supposed to pretend to hate each other, wouldn't it be...beneficial if we really did hate each other?"
"That doesn't matter," I said forcefully, keeping my voice low so as not to be overheard. I saw Regulus quietly cast mufliato but ignored him as I continued. "You don't get it! The problem is you have to be able to work well together whether or not you have to pretend to like each other. If you don't work well together, then your secret is bound to get out. Even if you have to pretend to hate each other around Voldemort and the Death Eaters, you will have to work together privately and if you can't get along, you'll blow everything."
Harry and Draco stared at me, their eyes wide. I suppose they hadn't thought about the fact that probably would have to work together no matter what.
"We...we really have to work together even if we have to pretend to hate each other?" Harry asked. I nodded and smiled slightly.
"Unfortunately." They both sighed.
"Then, I suppose we can try to become at least allies or acquaintances. Or even friends if we can," Draco said quietly. "I don't want to blow our cover just because we couldn't get along. And, essentially, if we blow our cover, we blow your cover. At least, if we blow my cover we blow your cover. And that would suck."
"You're telling me," I muttered.
"But I don't see how you expect us to become friends in one day," Harry said quickly. "It's not like you became friends with Severus in one night." I shrugged.
"You could at least stop hating each other in one night," I said. "And then you could slowly become friends, or at least acquaintances, as you start to work together. That's not all I wanted, though," I added. "Have either of you two had any lessons with Dumbledore to learn stuff that you'll need to learn to do?" I saw them both glance at each other apprehensively and I sighed, rubbing my forehead.
"What do we need to learn to do?" Draco asked quietly.
"Occlumency," I answered without even pausing to think. "You can't go undercover without that. Otherwise it's so easy for them to find out that you're undercover as well as the fact that the other one of you is undercover and that I am undercover. Legilimency would help too, but it's not a necessity. And the ability to lie and act, which I know you both have, and – oh! A Patronus message!"
"Okay, I can do Occlumency pretty well, and that Patronus thing, but not Legilimency," Draco said.
"Me too," Harry added.
"What about Unforgivable curses and memory charms?" The two stared at me with wide eyes.
"Why – Why would we have to know how to do those?" Harry asked, sounding confused and worried. "Dumbledore never told me that I would have to know how to use them."
"Dumbledore hasn't ever gone undercover though, has he?" I added. Harry glanced down at his hands, not looking pleased at the thought of using any of those four spells. "Unforgivables sometimes are necessary. I swear, before I went undercover, I cringed at the thought of using any of them. But now I understand the reasons why they sometimes are needed."
"Which are...?" Draco asked, skeptical.
"What if a Killing Curse is aimed at an ally?" I asked. Draco shrugged.
"Then you just have to let them figure it out or die and try to fight to avenge them?" he asked. I shook my head quickly.
"No! You never let somebody just die because you don't think you can save them in time," I said forcefully. "Never! You have to be versatile and cunning and think quickly. Try this scenario – a Killing Curse is headed at your best friend, we'll say it's me, and I don't see it, and, even if I did, I wouldn't have time to move. You're standing closer to me than anybody else. What do you do?"
"Er...jump in front of it?" Harry asked just as Draco said,
"Push you out of the way?"
"Neither," I answered quickly. "Well, I suppose both of those are somewhat true."
"What do you mean?" Draco asked, confused.
"You have three options here," I replied. "One: You can use some sort of spell, like stupify, to knock me out of the way. Two: You can find some object, like a bench, nearby, or transfigure something into one, and levitate it in front of the curse. It will burst into flames and the curse will stop. Or three: You can use the Killing Curse itself to block the curse."
"How do you do that?" they both asked at the same time.
"Come on guys," Regulus said suddenly. He was looking at them in disbelief. "You really don't know how to do that? Very quickly, you figure out where to shoot the curse to where it will collide with the other one, or the other one will collide with it. You have to be good at guessing where to shoot it to make them collide, though."
"Oh, well, that doesn't sound to hard," Harry said. "I'm sure we could do that."
"Yeah, but you have to be able to do it like this – " I snapped to prove my point. "No hesitations. Or else I'm dead. Could you do it then?" The two of them blanched and exchanged worried looks. "But you don't have to worry about me. I'm too advanced to not notice the curse," I joked. Neither one of them cracked a smile. I sighed. "Look, I didn't mean to scare you. But you have to be prepared."
"Well, okay, so I understand why you would have to use the Killing Curse," Harry said suddenly, "and maybe the Imperious, but why would you ever have to use the Cruciatus?"
"That's the only one, I believe, that isn't ever necessary," I agreed. "But remember, if you want to truly convince them of your loyalty, they may ask you to torture somebody with it. And you're going to have to. And remember – you have to mean it. Pour all of your hatred for the person you hate most – not each other," I added when I saw them look at each other jokingly. They both laughed slightly. " – and try – I use Voldemort. You're going to have to. I know it sucks, but that comes with being a spy. You gotta do what you gotta do."
"What about memory charms?" Draco asked. "Why do we need to know how to use those?"
"Remember when Regulus was caught last time? When Severus and I got into Malfoy Manor to save him? And we had to have Malfoy – Lucius," I added, "to take the spells off so we could get out?"
"Oh, yeah, I remember." Draco said, suddenly remembering, "you and Severus gave yourselves away because you had to use the Imperious Curse to get Father to take the spells off of the Manor so you could Apparate away, but you didn't wipe his memory so he figured everything out."
"Exactly," I agreed. "See, there are reasons why you'd have to do things you never thought you'd do before when you're undercover."
"Well, we can do memory charms," Harry said, "we were taught how to earlier this year."
"Good. That's something. And I can't really teach you how to do the Unforgivables, that's something you have to figure out for yourself. Just...remember, if you absolutely have to use them, you – have – to – mean – them! Remember to pour all of your hatred for the person that you hate the most into it."
"Is that it?" Harry asked after a moment. "Or is there even more?"
"I think that's it," I said quietly, trying to think. "I think you're ready."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
It was the next day, and Draco and I were ready to leave soon. Harry had already left, but Draco was to bring me with him just about half an hour before Voldemort was brought back. The Room of Requirement was empty aside from Draco, who was standing by the fireplace – we were going to floo there – and Regulus and I. He had me pulled up against him, his arms around my waist, mine around his neck, and our foreheads touching.
"Be safe, alright?" he whispered. I nodded slowly.
"I will. I know – "
"You know what you're doing, I know," he said, cutting me off. "But you always say that." I smiled but didn't say anything more as I took one of his hands in mine and pressed something small into it. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at it. "Why are you giving me your ring?"
"Because they're bound to take it," I answered quietly. "I made a worthless copy of it and – " I held up my left hand to show him the fake ring on my finger. "They'll never have to know." Upon him staring blankly at me, I added, "I'm still going to marry you, you know."
"That's not it," he said quickly. "It's just that I'm worried about you, is all. I know what these people are capable of. And with Voldemort being there...it's dangerous. I still want you to reconsider."
"And if I do, I'll give Draco away," I said softly. "I couldn't do that to him. To anybody." Regulus nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I know. I'm still worried though."
"I know," I replied. "And you have every right to be." Regulus didn't respond. Instead, he kissed me, long and gentle, before I pulled away, keeping our foreheads touching.
"I have to go." Regulus made a face but let me go slowly. I walked over to Draco, who threw some floo powder into the fireplace and stepped in, shouting, "Malfoy Manor." I threw some floo powder in and started to clamber in.
"Nicki," Regulus said suddenly. I was more than halfway in the fireplace and turned around just before I left. He looked about ready to cry. "Please be safe. I know you think you're invincible, but you're not."
Before he could really cry, and I would have to stay and comfort him, I said quietly, "Malfoy Manor" and closed my eyes tightly, blinking back tears.
A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want. Please review!