Welcome back! Certain very silly references will be made in this chapter. Malfoy's motives will be murky. Umbridge will continue to be insane. Just another day in Slytherin house.
Summary: In the trio's fifth year, they come across a little band of Slytherins who want to make their own stand against Voldemort. Their leader - the sharp and unconventional Gold - has something Harry wants. And Hermione... well, she'd like to call it a mind-crush. An exploration of culture, class structure and exclusion in the wizarding world with shades of Hermione/OC tossed in.
By the time Gold reached the dungeons he could not stand unaided. Good, he decided. If telling them wouldn't suffice, he would show them how wrong he could be. He made his agonizingly slow way along the well, leaning his weight against the stone. He could hear footseps in the hallway beyond, coming towards him fast. Gold found himself hoping it was one of the snakes, come to find him.
No. Just his luck. It was Malfoy. Gold set his teeth and reached for his wand. He would not attack first this time - but he wouldn't hesitate to defend himself from Malfoy's curses.
Malfoy got closer and closer and still they didn't come. Fine, thought Gold. Let Malfoy enjoy his moment of triumph. Let him gloat. But Malfoy didn't look much like he was enjoying himself. Unlike Gold he had clearly been to the hospital wing, but there were still long, crimson slashes across the pale skin of his face. Both boys stared at each other, struck by the aftermath.
"The common room's sealed off," said Malfoy. "Somebody warded it shut."
"I know."
"This is your doing, isn't it."
Gold didn't directly answer. "I'm going to fix it."
Malfoy frowned. He seemed to be thinking something over. "That, I'd like to see."
"By all means," said Gold, keeping his face carefully impassive. The last thing he wanted was for Malfoy to play witness, but he couldn't keep him from it without resorting to magic, and he wouldn't risk another firefight. Of course, Hermione Granger might have been the brightest young witch of her age, but David Gold was no intellectual lightweight. An idea presented itself. "One moment, Malfoy. I need to do something and I can't cast this spell while I'm looking at your face."
Malfoy's hand went for his wand, but he didn't attack. Gold turned away from him, focused his mind. The first image that came to him was Hermione grabbing him by the collar with that look of heated insanity in her eyes. She'd wanted something he had to offer. Didn't really matter what. "Expecto Patronum."
A silver shape bloomed from his wand - a squat animal, bristling with sharp quills. It approached him. Gold whispered to it for a moment, then flicked his wand, and it moved like a ghost through the corridor's stone wall, disappearing from view.
Malfoy was scowling at him. "What did you do that for?"
"It cheered me up," said Gold. It wasn't, strictly speaking, a lie. He wished he could have kept the Patronus close to him. It dulled the pain and made him think of better times. Rosh Ha'Shanah with his brothers in London. Wizards' chess with the snakes on the train home for summer. Arriving for the first time at Hogwarts, where nobody knew about the ticking time bomb in his brain and nobody treated him with pity. He was so tired of pity.
He kept moving, putting his weight against the wall with every limping step.
"Would you hurry it up?"
Gold raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, you know, I was only limping to pass the time," he drawled.
Malfoy said nothing. Instead, he moved between Gold and the wall and shouldered Gold's arm, bracing his weight like a human crutch. Gold stared at him. Malfoy glared back. "What? I'm not waiting for you to crawl along here for another hour before you clean up your bloody mess. It's my common room. I want to sleep."
Gold wanted to say I don't bloody need your help. He held his tongue. It wasn't a great deal faster - Malfoy was struggling - but it took far more strain off his injured rib than the wall did. Charity, from Draco Malfoy?
"Merlin, you're heavy," grunted Malfoy.
"Congratulations, you went three seconds without acting like a tosser. Personal best."
"Shut your fat mouth and move."
"You shut your mouth."
"Fine."
"Fine!"
The banging on the door had gotten louder. Pettyfer could hear shouts. Angry spells in a high girlish voice. The wards held. Inside, a Muggleborn named Combeferre was singing a rousing song about a revolution. Some of them seemed excited. Others were quiet.
She and Tasker were drawing up a list of demands. The complete removal of the blood quill punishment, which, according to British Law, constitutes a human rights offence. The expulsion of Draco Malfoy, Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe for the serious injury of a fellow student. The segregation of all those intolerant of Muggleborn witches and wizards from the remainder of Slytherin house. The addition of global magic to the curriculum. The removal from office of Severus Snape and Dolores Jane Umbridge, who have shown clear bias and sadism towards disfavoured students.
"We're never going to get those last two," Tasker pointed out.
Pettyfer rolled her eyes. "Haven't you ever been in a negotiation with the authorities? You start by over-demanding and then you haggle."
"Have you?"
"No, but I've read about them," said Pettyfer, primly.
Lucas Speck approached them, clearing his throat. "Um - Didon- has Harry said anything about this? And the rest of the D.A.?"
Tasker butted in. "The Gryffindors aren't involved in this. Nor is any other house. Your loyalty is to the snakes first, isn't it?"
"Yes, but-"
"Remember when Blaise Zabini got you in a Levicorpus and tried to hex 'Muggle-lover' onto your skin? Where were the Gryffindors then? Gold was the one who took on Zabini for you, not Potter."
Lucas hesitated. He seemed to swallow his words. "What do we do if they break the wards?" he asked, after a moment.
"We fight," said Pettyfer.
And then the porcupine came through the walls.
It was silvery and insubstantial, practically made of light. Pettyfer had never seen a real porcupine, but she doubted they were as big as this one, or as heavily defended - its quills made it seem twice its real size. It was nowhere near as handsome as many of the Patroni the others had summoned in the room of requirement. There was nothing noble about it. But that was how Pettyfer had always seen him. Not romantic, not idealized, but fierce and fearless.
It spoke with the voice of David Gold. "Hide the candles. Go back to your dorm rooms. Leave the wards up so they don't catch you as you go, but otherwise, make it so that none of this ever happened. This is the last time I will ever ask you to trust my judgement. Just do as I say."
Pettyfer was bewildered and disappointed. She wanted to ask why, but the animal had already vanished into wisps of light.
Malfoy moved away from him just before they rounded the final corner and came into view of the common room. Gold understood that this was never to be spoken of again. He leaned against the wall again, and hobbled round the corner.
There stood Snape, Umbridge and Filch, their wands out. The moment Umbridge spotted him her expression turned predatory.
"This is all his fault," said Malfoy.
Gold didn't know whether Malfoy had been trying to trick him into walking right into their laps or not. He didn't particularly care. Gold made eye contact with Snape, who had fixed him with a look that was subtly disappointed. Trust me, professor, this time I know what I'm doing.
"What have you done?" demanded Umbridge. She looked quite insane, her hair flying around her face, her bow askew and her eyes fiery.
"Nothing at all," said Gold, lamb-innocent. "May I go to my dormitory, ma'am?"
She sputtered for words, but said nothing. Gold edged past her towards the common room's entrance. He spoke the password aloud, then added, in the faintest of whispers, "Dalet bakah."
The entrance slid open, revealing a long stone tunnel. Silently, Ubridge, Filch, Malfoy and Snape followed him inside, down the corridor. Gold found himself praying. Let them be gone. Let them be safe.
The common room was deserted. The only sign anyone had been here were the hardened droplets of wax on the floors.
Umbridge was about to implode. She rounded on him, her want perilously close to his throat. "How- what did you- You're responsible for this! Tell me what you did!"
Snape cleared his throat. "Professor Umbridge, while I agree that Mr. Gold is, generally speaking, up to something, in this instance I can see no reason to believe he is to blame for the wards."
"Mr. Malfoy said he was!" Umbridge turned to find him - but Malfoy was already gone.
Gold smiled very sweetly at her. "How could I be responsible, ma'am? I'm a fifth-year. How could I possibly raise a ward that you, and Professor Snape - both highly experienced and skilled wizards, I am quite sure - couldn't break through?"
Snape's mouth twitched in amusement. Umbridge just stared, her mouth open and gaping, as if unwilling to believe any of this was happening.
"He was, however, out of bed after hours, and so I will require of him a further detention. Go to bed, Mr. Gold," said Snape, with a finality in his tone. "And consider yourself extremely fortunate that cunning is a virtue in my eyes," he added, in a whisper that only Gold could hear, when Umbridge had turned on her heel and was storming away.
The next day, nobody saw him at all. But a letter appeared in the pocket of Didon Pettyfer's robes. That night, she gathered them together in the room of requirement and read it aloud.
Snakes,
Firstly, do not think me ungrateful. I am more grateful than my pride will allow me to say. But you are all idiots. Wonderful, wonderful idiots.
I have seen your list of demands (next time, don't lock your trunk with a spell I taught you, Pettyfer. Your diary was very funny. No, he's not cute. Don't date him. Don't do it.) and in principle, I agree with each one of them. But did a single one of you consider the consequences before you showed solidarity in the most reactionary way possible? There is a war coming. Don't hurry it along with a fruitless rebellion.
We are Slytherins. We don't show loyalty without thought like Hufflepuffs and we don't rush blindly into danger like Gryffindors. Draco Malfoy was wrong, but I was more wrong to attack him for it. And you declared your support for me without knowledge of my motives. I am a bastard, fellow snakes. Never forget it. The moment you stop questioning me, you become a danger to yourselves and to the world. You must question authority - even and perhaps especially your own authority.
I am not telling you to stand idly by, theorizing about morality, while atrocities of inequality and prejudice happen in our own common room. We are not Ravenclaws either. Slytherins, at our best, can change the world as nobody else can. We are cunning, strategic, determined and pragmatic. We think for ourselves. But if your time in the D.A. has taught you nothing else I hope it has taught you that each of us has different virtues to bring to the cause. You are not all fighters. Some of you are leaders. Some of you are planners. Some of you are better suited as spies. Do not think you have to rebel loudly and viciously just because I do - I have my reasons and I sincerely hope none of you share them. Choose your own way. Be tactical and smart. It could be that our position in the midst of the enemy is to our advantage.
One final thing. We're children.
Before you object on grounds of your stolen innocence, think of our 'sworn enemies', the muppet baby Death Eaters. Have they been marked? Have they killed? No. And it is not too late for them to change their fates. Even Malfoy may not be wholly worthless as a human being. Don't be so arrogantly certain of your own moral rectitude that you view the world as a chessboard of right and wrong. One day soon we may be forced to divide the world into good and bad for the sake of defending the good. But until that day comes, let nobody be 'them' and everybody be 'us'.
Don't visit me. I'm fine, but my hair is a wreck.
-Gold
Hermione brought the week's Arithmancy homework to the hospital wing. She also brought news. Gold seemed to appreciate that far more than the sweets the snakes sent him, which inevitably got confiscated by Madam Pomfrey, with clucking noises and murmurs of blatant disregard for his own wellbeing, honestly.
"Hospitals are cages," groused Gold. "Whatever happened to patient autonomy? The dignity of free will?"
"You consider eating chocolate frogs to be an expression of free will?"
"Duh."
Hermione shook her head and smiled. "Vector says I ought to stop bringing you notes. Give you a chance to rest and give myself a chance to get ahead."
"Ah, but what would be the fun of that?"
"Well, she also says she's glad we worked out our 'unresolved intellectual tension.'"
Gold laughed, and winced a bit.
"And Harry's teaching the D.A. Mandarin spells now. I think it's partially a convenient excuse to flirt with Cho Chang, but not totally. This languages thing - he really likes it. He says we need every tool we can get."
"Good. He's right. You-Know-Who doesn't acknowledge the value of a lot of things. Other languages, other cultures..."
"Muggles. Muggleborns. House Elves."
"Exactly. That's his mistake and our advantage. How's Spew?"
She made a face at him. "Dobby's written us some pamphlets. He wasn't too pleased when I reworded them into first person."
"Change them back. Elves consider the use of first person to be a gesture of arrogance. It'll alienate them."
"I will." She tilted her head at him. "Are you going to be okay?"
Gold shrugged. She had a feeling he wasn't telling her everything, but that was alright.
"I'll come back tomorrow," said Hermione, getting up, and kissed him on the cheek before she went.
Almost to the end! Please do R&R. I'd love to know what you all think.