A/N: Greetings once again! The joys of weekly updates will probably now be at an end, as I go on holiday now for two weeks and then it's straight back to school, and unfortunately year 11 which means lots of exams :( I will still be updating but at a lot more, shall I say, steady, rate.

I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thank you for all your reviews/follows/favourites, whenever I log on and see a new one it really makes me smile. I hope I don't sound like a broken record ;) Now onto the story! - Misha,x

Chapter 13

Luna watched serenely from the teacher's box as the large batch of students swamped towards the Quidditch Pitch, their brightly coloured scarves and banners giving the impression of a canvas splattered with four different colours of paint. She was excited to be commentating on the match, something she had been yearning to do since third year, although the thought of speaking in front of so many people sent an unfamiliar tingle of nerves shivering through her body. She couldn't recall ever feeling nervous before, not even when she had been waiting to be sorted in front of the whole school. Part of the minor anxiety was probably due to the fact that today's match was between tempestuous rivals Slytherin and Gryffindor and when they were put head to head it rarely ended without injury.

When the stands were full Luna couldn't help but think of pizza. The stuffed crust of cheering supporters surrounding the pitch of pure green, dotted with various toppings of different positions and balls and goals. I like pizza, she thought to herself. The chuckles of the crowd told her that she hadn't in fact thought it, but said it aloud and right into the microphone in front of her. She decided to continue the accidental opinion she had voiced and extend it into a bout of viewers taking part. "What is your favourite topping on a pizza?" She said. She expected a half-hearted response, if anything, and was pleasantly surprised to be answered by a raucous of shouted responses. She giggled quietly. "Miss Lovegood, this is a Quidditch match not a quiz show." Professor McGonagall sighed.
"That doesn't mean you can't have some audience participation, Professor." Luna smiled. The teacher merely raised her eyebrows and turned her full attention to the players waiting below.

Draco couldn't help but feel nervous about Luna's commentary; she was painstakingly honest and that could lead to some unwanted pointing out of his team's cheating. He looked up towards the teacher's box and saw her beaming, her azure scarf cradling her neck, and her blonde curls twirling around her face in the wind. The rosy flush in her cheeks made her look even more beatific than usual. She had looked positively rapturous when she'd bounded up to him just before he'd gone into the changing rooms, wishing him luck and showing him her emerald hair bow in the shape of a snake, which wriggled in a very serpentine manner and, she had told him, emitted tiny green fireworks from its forked tongue when Slytherin scored a goal. He was surprised she was supporting Slytherin, considering the team of bastards he played with, but the fact that she was doing it just for him made him want to wrap her up in a hug and kiss her until they were both dizzy. Unfortunately he had to just hug her quickly and whisper thank you in her ear, because Crabbe and Goyle were walking out of the changing rooms, their beater's bats in hand. "Why were you hugging Lovegood?" Crabbe asked, wrinkling his nose. "Was Blaise right about you two?"
"No, she said if I hugged her she'd give a good commentary to Slytherin." Draco said quickly.
"Doesn't seem worth it, you get her blood traitor germs on your clothes." Goyle said, looking disgusted. Draco's hand viscerally flew to his wand, anger like a vicious earthquake raging through him, tearing all sense apart. He reluctantly rescinded his hand from his wand and nodded. "I think I was just having a moment of stupidity. We all know she's a Gryffindor lover, probably lying to me." He said, letting out a breath which he hoped contained all his anger. "And don't say those things about her, she's a person too. I'd rather have her germs than your cretin ones." Nope, the ire had remained.

"What?"
"I need to go get changed." Draco said quickly, changing the subject. "Now piss off." He said jokingly, making sure to add a laugh, even though he had mainly said it to provide self-satisfaction.

Once he was out on the pitch, waiting for Madame Hooch to give the signal that play had started, Draco felt nerves began frantically buzzing through his mind. He had learnt to ride a broom at a young age and was a fairly talented seeker, but he barely ever took time to practice anymore and never went to team practises. He knew this game was going to be difficult, especially since he was against Potter. 'The youngest seeker in a century' as he had heard about ten million times, he was no more impressed now than he had been when he'd first found out; which was not at all. Of course Potter had to be good at everything. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the shrill sound of a whistle, triggering him to instinctively push off the ground and into the air and for his heart to momentarily stop beating.

"And there's Vaisey of Slytherin with the quaffle," said a dreamy voice, resonating across the stands and pitch in lilting waves. "Oh, Ginny Weasley flew into him; I think it may have been on purpose. I don't blame her; he was saying some rather unpleasant things about Gryffindor."
Draco laughed to himself, and he could see Ginny visibly trying not to get angry with her friend.

"He's lost the quaffle, Ginny really is a good player, I'm glad she's my friend." Luna said, looking distinctly proud of her friend. Next to her, Professor McGonagall was looking slightly uncomfortable, like she was itching to grab the microphone and commentate the game herself.

Half an hour later Slytherin were losing badly. Draco hadn't spotted the snitch and Luna was distracting him. "One hundred and ninety-thirty" to Gryffindor." McGonagall barked, interrupting Luna's obscure comments.

"Is it already? Yes, I can see the Slytherin team is suffering from Loser's Lurgy, especially Urquhart the captain. And Draco Malfoy seems to be rather annoyed that he hasn't yet spotted the snitch even though Harry Potter is currently chasing after it." She said, her voice turning even dreamier at Draco's name. Draco immediately started darting his eyes around the pitch to look for Harry. When he eventually found him, he saw that he was indeed after the snitch.

"Vaisey tries to score but is stopped by a brilliant save by Ron Weasley. I do hope he makes up with Hermione soon, it's upsetting seeing them arguing." Luna said, watching as Ron's face reddened to match his hair, and Lavender was fuming so much that Luna wouldn't be surprised if smoke drifted from her ears.

Draco, meanwhile, was chasing after the snitch, which was just more than arm's length away from Harry, who was desperately reaching for it. Draco knocked him off course so that he was now closer to the snitch. "Draco just knocked Harry out of the way, is that allowed? It seems a little too aggressive. Speaking of unnecessary aggression, Crabbe and Goyle seem to be using those bats in a way I'm not sure is normal for Quidditch."

McGonagall looked horrified and grabbed the microphone, "Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, if you do not stop throwing those bats at people's skulls you will get a match ban for the rest of the year! Those bats are made of goblin forged metal and will induce horrific pain, as I'm sure you know."

Draco suddenly felt a sharp hit against his left side. He had been hit by a bludger and Harry was once again closest to the snitch. "Oh dear, that looked painful. Is that supposed to happen?" Luna said, looking sympathetic.
Draco swore as he clutched his aching side, which felt like it was being dipped in a hurricane of dragon flame. He suddenly swooped in front of Harry and grabbed the snitch. This was something he had never experienced before, holding the fluttering gold object in his hand as if a live bird was enclosed in his palm. He began to smile but then he heard, "Draco Malfoy catches the snitch, but Gryffindor win. Perhaps he should have paid more attention to the scoring." Luna said.

His smile fell, and he looked at the snitch in his hand. He furiously threw the snitch to the ground and swore loudly. "Better luck next time." Harry said in mock rapport. Draco wanted to punch him in the face. "What the hell were you doing Malfoy?!" Urquhart shouted at him. "Did you not realise how badly we were losing?"
"It's just fucking quidditch, no need to get so angry." Draco muttered.

"If you don't care, why are you even on the team?"
"I don't know." Draco said, and walked away, ignoring the calls of his teammates.

He felt a small hand slip into his, "That was amazing the way you caught the snitch! I don't think anyone's beaten Harry when he's fully concentrating." Luna beamed, overflowing with pride.
"We still lost." Draco said monotonously.

"But it's a personal victory for you isn't it! Slytherin may have lost, but Draco Malfoy beat Harry Potter for the snitch! I'm very happy for you anyway."
Luna had a way of making him feel good about everything and Draco suspected it was as effortless for her as taking a step forward.
"Thank you." Draco smiled, the expression feeling good on his face. He could feel the crowd swarming around him and hear the loud chatter of the excited students but suddenly none of that mattered, he kissed Luna in front of everyone, feeling her hair tickling his face and her arms wrapping around his neck. She kissed him back with a fervour he would never expect from the erratic fifth year.

Luna felt his heart racing against her chest from the Quidditch match and he was hot and flustered from his exertion of energy. She decided she wanted him to do Quidditch before he kissed her every time. It was impulsive and ardent and intense and it was something she had never experience before.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Draco heard a familiar, irritating voice shriek. A hand clawed at the back of his jumper and pulled him away. Luna almost fell back and he put an arm around her waist just in time to pull her back up. The look of shock on Luna's face as she fell made him even more furious. "What the bloody hell did it look like Pansy?" Draco snapped at Pansy's ire marred face.
"Lovegood, Draco? Luna bloody Lovegood? She's out of her mind, and she's naïve and stupid. She probably didn't even know what kissing was before your little interaction there. I thought you liked me Draco. I thought you broke up with me because you were trying to protect me." Pansy said, disgust and hurt mingling in her irises.
"Actually, I'm not naïve and stupid, the things I believe, I have proof for. I'm not a senseless little girl who believes everything she hears, I have reasons." Luna said, her voice a lot louder than usual.

Draco realised that for once she was angry, spitting her words out like fire, her normally calm grey eyes blazing like a storm. "You can call my crazy, or weird, or loony, but I refuse to be called stupid and naïve because that is just not true in the slightest." Luna said, her voice laced with poison. And suddenly it returned capriciously back to normal. "I'll leave you two to talk alone." She said calmly, and skipped off.

"See, out of her mind, the stupid bitch." Pansy smirked, her eyes piercing Luna's retreating form. "Are you going to explain or not?"

"Don't call her that. If anyone's a bitch, then it's you." Draco snarled, his fists clenched so hard he could feel his fingernails biting into his palms, and his hands shaking so hard he wouldn't be surprised if they exploded. "If you really want to know, then fine. But promise me you won't tell anyone else."

"I think after all your lies, I don't have to promise you anything." Pansy said venomously.

"Fine. Look, I like Luna, a lot, and do you want to know why? She tried to help me when no-one else noticed anything was wrong. She makes me forget all the horrible things going on in my life and she makes me laugh and she makes me happy, which is something most people can't do." Draco said, trying desperately to make Pansy understand.

"She's out of her mind, Draco." Pansy pleaded.

"No, she's different. And you know why I broke up with you, because I didn't want to have to lie to you. Me pretending that I'm in love with you is something that I didn't want to do because it would hurt your feelings, and mine, and Luna's."
"And instead you decided it would be best to just hurt my feelings."
"What was I meant to do Pansy?"
"Forget about Lovegood, and focus on me! I expect all those times you've been working on the task you've been with her. Are you even trying to kill Dumbledore?"
Draco's voice lowered to a whisper, desperation and urgency palpable in his voice this time. "Pansy we've been friends for years, and I trust you, but you can't tell anyone this."
"What is it, Draco?" Pansy whispered back, knowing this was different, her anger forgotten and the love and care she still felt for him taking its place.

"Do you promise?" He whispered, looking around him to make sure that no-one was around them, but all that remained were a sea of footprints in the mud and squashed grass, muddy vestiges of the populous crowd that could still be seen on their way to the castle.

"I promise."
"I'm finding it really hard to carry out this task; I don't want to kill Dumbledore. I may be a death eater, but I'm not a murderer. I can't do it, I've tried but I just can't."

"I can help-"

"I don't want anyone to help me, I don't want anyone else I know to become a murderer, but if I don't kill him, I'll be the one who's dead. I just felt it was right to tell you Pansy, don't tell anyone, don't do anything, just know." Draco said, and without another word began his trek back to the castle.

Once there he headed straight to the potions classroom. "Yes, Draco?" Snape said, not looking up from the stack of essays he was presumably marking, a tower furnished with the desperate scribblings of students hoping for good grades. In the case of most of the Gryffindors, this was a fruitless attempt. "I am going to attempt the moonseed poison." Draco said calmly.
"And why might that be?" Said Snape, finally looking up, his eyebrows raised and attempting a perplexed expression but the small smirk tugging at his thin lips suggested otherwise. He knew that Draco knew that he knew why Draco was attempting the moonseed poison, but he had been trying to get him to open up about the task Voldemort had set him throughout the year.
"I think you already know the answer to that, Professor Snape." Draco said, through gritted teeth. A sudden realisation hit him. "What are you doing in here anyway? I expected the classroom to be vacated, and if anyone was in here it would be Professor Slughorn would it not."

"Do you think I can't hear your hushed telling of plans as you walk towards the common room? You need to learn how to be more successful in your secrecy. Now tell me what you plan to do with a moonseed potion." Snape said venomously.
Draco didn't feel comfortable telling him of his plans, he had a suspicion that Snape's allegiance resided with Dumbledore and he didn't want the headmaster to find out what he planned to do as he would almost certainly try talk him out of it. He couldn't afford that, not with his family's lives at stake. "I plan to mix the potion with mead and swap it with the bottle Slughorn had so proudly proclaimed in our lesson last week that he was reserving for Professor Dumbledore." Draco said quietly, so that it was barely audible in case there was someone spying on them outside the door.
"You'll probably need this then." Snape bent down and opened the bottom drawer, taking out a key and levitating it across the room into one of Draco's hands. "That is the key to the most dangerous stores. Be careful with them. Some, if spilt on yourself will cause your skin and bone to melt away as easily as molten candlewax, others, if smelt a little too closely will fill your lungs and windpipe with gas, and cause you to drown on your own breaths. Enjoy." Snape muttered and went back to marking the essays.

Draco opened up the cupboard and a metallic hand gripped his neck, squeezing his throat as if he were an unsightly blemish, eviscerating him of air. "Password." A voice from within the cupboard lost in darkness leered.
"Venomous Guatemalan bullfrog." Snape called. The hand retracted and Draco let out a relieved and necessary breath. He collected his ingredients: moonseed, of course, a bright white collection of opaline seeds, which grew in a single night if under the light of a full moon; dragon blood, Chinese fireball to be exact; poisonous mushroom, a fleshy grey-pink fungus that reminded Draco eerily of diseased skin; the powdered shell of a poisonous orange snail, which smelt like burning akin to the element of the same colour; and a large amount of juices from crushed moonseed berries, which unlike their solid brethren, were dark dahlia, like blood, Draco thought, feeling ill.

As Draco made the potion, Snape remained in the room mainly without interference, although occasionally he looked up at bluntly corrected him on his methods. Draco had always thrived in potions, due to the fact that he hung onto every word Snape had said in the first five years of his magical education. Now, with Professor Slughorn obsessing over Potter, it was hard to have respect for him and therefore to listen carefully to his instructions. When he was done, he summoned a mead bottle, which he had magically duplicated from the one that now sat innocently in Slughorn's office, from the Slytherin dungeons. He was surprised when he heard the infernal racket of the bottle slamming against the closed door, due to the fact that he didn't think it would be able to get out of the Slytherin dormitories. He hurried to the door and opened it, catching the bottle as it attempted to smash against his hand. He carefully poured the poison into the bottle, watching through the tinted glass as the fiery red liquid fused with the dark mead within to create a bubbling drink of burgundy. He then snuck into Slughorn's office, replaced the safe bottle of mead with his poisoned one, and rushed back through the corridor, feigning innocence as he stared unblinkingly at the panelled floor, imagining falling through the obsidian cracks into an abyss of nothingness. Supposing it would be a fair punishment for what he had just done, he walked into the potions classroom, and upon seeing Snape had already gone during his absence, he used his wand to quickly tidy everything away and decided to take the mead back to the common room instead. Hoping it would distract everyone from asking him questions about what he had just done. Hoping he wouldn't receive words which would increase the guilt which was a tenacious force, pushing him lower and lower until he felt he would be under the earth, which was sure to be the fate of whoever took that potion. Hoping that Dumbledore would know the antidote, and that therefore he wouldn't have become a murderer.