A/N: I am so sorry about the wait of over a month and a half! I've been practically been bombarded with school work and revision! Then, of course, that lovely pest called Writer's Block came along. This is quite possibly the second to last chapter, although in the future I may possibly do a sequel if you guys want it! I'd like to get on with some original writing and maybe write some other fanfiction stories. Anyway, on with the chapter!

Chapter 17

"I think I love you, you know." It was his final morning in the Hospital Wing, and Draco was going over the events of the previous evening in his mind like a perplexing film. He had always known Luna was a little bit mad, although not necessarily in a negative way. He had gotten used to her quirks, and her terse, unintentionally tactless comments, but nothing could have prepared him for that. Should he have said it back?

Did he feel the same way?

He hadn't had much time to dwell on the offhand confession, as Luna was soon shooed out, and Draco had realised another erratic thing had been said. Pansy had whispered in his ear that she would: "Help him, no matter what."

He had distinctly told her not to help him, so there must have been a reason she was suddenly making innocuous promises. Knowing Pansy, this was rather nerve-wracking.

"I think you're ready to leave now, Mr Malfoy." Madame Pomfrey said, shuffling into the room, carting around a flock of closely packed medicine bottles on a cart which rolled along by itself. "Now, make sure you don't exert yourself in any way, unless you want to go through excruciating pain, of course. That means no quidditch, no duelling, nothing like that."

Draco nodded, he was just glad to be escaping his incarceration to the stuffy alcove of medical treatment. He peeled himself from the bed, feeling echoes of agony in his muscles and joints, and writhing in the scars which were like whispers of the torture he had gone through just a couple of weeks ago.

After getting changed into his school uniform behind an opaque screen, unfortunately having been told to return to his normal lessons, Draco decided to return to the Room of Hidden Things. He wondered if the mysterious figure he had seen peeking into the outcome of his hard work had returned. He hoped not, otherwise all his industrial diligence to get the bloody thing fixed would have been for nothing. It was his only plan to really be able to help the students of Hogwarts, especially since his role of teacher at the DA had spiralled into detriment.

On his journey, Draco passed some of the extensive windows, and took a moment to delight in the feel of the winter sun penetrating the cool smog to find its way onto his pallid face. The sky was a paint palette of whites and greys, dripping swirling mist onto the world below. His footsteps had taken the path towards the seventh floor so many times that it was with visceral ease that he arrived in front of the colossal oak doors. The appearance of the doors meant someone was in there. They meant something sinister and chillingly not right was transpiring.

However, instead of the terrifying shadowy figure Draco had envisioned, it was Pansy Parkinson who was toying with the freshly impeccable mechanisms of the vanishing cabinet.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Draco vociferated.

"Before I left the Hospital Wing, I told you I would help you. And that's what I'm doing."

"Really? And how would you be doing that, may I ask?"
"This is what you've been working on this whole year. This is why you keep disappearing for the task. I know what you're doing. I wasn't sure when you'd be out of the hospital wing so I wanted to make sure it's ready. Your plan is going to work, it's happening."
"How do you know what my plan is?"
"I've known you for six years, I know how to think like a death eater."
The last statement left Draco with a feeling of unease. This was not good, at all. It was with difficulty that he finally managed to speak.
"I don't need your help."
He expected Pansy to take on the hurt, rejected look he was so used to, but instead she just smiled. It was unnerving.
"Whatever." She smirked.

Was Pansy Parkinson really ignoring his advice? The same Pansy Parkinson who had fawned over him for the past six years?

She lifted her arm and brought her hand round to the back of his head and suddenly pressed her lips firmly to his. He shuddered and pulled himself off her.
"I thought you would have gotten the fucking message by now Pansy. I don't give a shit about you." He said, molten anger burning through his veins.

"Yes you do." She sneered. "Imperio."
Draco tried to resist the curse, but it was unbelievably strong. Pansy must have been practising. He felt his conscious; his memories; his control, slipping slowly away, leaving a blank page to be filled by Pansy Parkinson. And, under the influence of the curse, he felt himself liking the thought.

"Come with me." Pansy whispered softly in his ear, her gentle tone caressing his eardrums. Draco nodded, a smile haunting his lips as he took her calloused hand. They stepped back into the Room of Requirement and Pansy led him towards the vanishing cabinet. "Show me how it works."
Draco willingly did as she asked; a sense of fulfilment winding through him as he meticulously followed her orders, his feelings completely disparate to those felt by his normal self. Pansy grinned at him, making his heart stutter. "Brilliant." She beamed, her voice dropped to a whisper. "When I'm done with this, I won't have to use the imperius curse for you to do whatever I want."
"Imperius curse?" He asked, his eyes wide with curiosity like a small child's; his mind void of true emotion confused as to why Pansy would put such a curse on him.

"Who said anything about that? Shall we go down to dinner?" Pansy soothed.
"Okay."

On the way down the stairs Draco bumped into Luna, and he immediately took on a brackish expression at the sight of her. "Get out of my way, filthy blood traitor." He spat, the lack of control over his mind making him unable to realise the internecine effects his comment would create.

"I suppose that's a joke." Luna smiled, she really felt she was beginning to understand the sarcasm and playful jests often recited by teenagers. Her expression then became more serious. "I received a really awful threat letter, telling me that horrible things would happen to my family if we didn't stop defending Harry and Dumbledore in our articles in The Quibbler. What do you think I should do?"
"Why do you think I would care, Loony?"
Luna looked into his blank grey eyes and she realised what was going on.
"Oh, Pansy, your pestilential efforts are really not pleasant. Perhaps if you were a nicer person, Draco would like you without the addition of the imperius curse?" She turned from Pansy to Draco. "I think this letter is serious, they have someone in the Ministry who has banned searching for magical beasts, which is what The Quibbler thrives on. They clearly want our magazine shut down, and I fear mine and my father's lives are in danger."
Something seemed to shatter in Draco's gaze.

"Shut up, Lovegood." Pansy growled through gritted teeth. "Come on, Draco."
"You go on, I want to sort her out myself." He said, anger darkening his appearance.
Pansy shrugged, clearly confident in her curse, and began to walk away. "Make sure she never bothers us again." She called cheerfully over her shoulder.

"Your lives in danger, eh?" Draco said once Pansy had disappeared, slightly less angry but a drop of distaste still poisoning his voice. "And why do you expect me to care?"

"I doubt anything I say will convince you. Just read the letter, at least."

Draco wrenched the letter from her fingers, his eyes scanning quickly over the parchment, his hardened face softening before contorting itself into a look of horror.

"Bloody hell."

He choked out the words. His gaze was no longer empty, but his usual fondness for her wasn't there. The imperius curse was strong, and desperately clinging onto him like a strong odour resisting a determined cloud of air freshener.

"I need to destroy the vanishing cabinet." He said, fear alighting his features. "I don't know why, but I need to destroy it." His voice was quick, frantic, and as he propelled into a sprint his body language mirrored his frenzy.

Luna considered going after him, but decided it could be dangerous with him under the imperius curse, which was finely tuned to make him hate her. She looked wistfully after him and then made her way to Ravenclaw Tower, desperately hoping he would break the unforgivable curse soon.

Nearing the door of the Room of Hidden Things, Draco was met by Pansy. She was flanked by a mass of smug Death Eaters, looking eager and near delirious with excitement. "What…" He began.
"I told you I would help you, Draco. I used your vanishing cabinet to bring the Death Eaters here. You can finally carry out your task." She savoured the last word as if her whole life had been leading up to a duty which didn't even belong to her.

"I thought you had gone to dinner?" Was all Draco could say.

"It was quite convenient that you wanted to talk to Lovegood, it meant I could get away to prepare this wonderful surprise for you.

Bellatrix looked bored as she regarded the younger girl, and with a flick of her wand, Pansy fell unconscious. The psychotic look which resided within Bellatrix's piercing irises returned and she turned towards Draco pityingly, "So boring! You really need to find yourself a better girlfriend Draco, dear. I'm sure there's an interesting, pureblood girl out there just dying to become a Death Eater, who would be much better for you." She pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side. "This one proved useful, but we just can't have her getting in our way, can we?"
Draco realised he was meant to look pleased, what he had meant to be preparing for all year was finally here. He smiled at her, "Of course not, Auntie Bella. Now who wants to go kill that decrepit, blood traitor crackpot who runs this zoo of a school!"
Bellatrix looked pleased, and Draco grinned at her, trying to make his spurious joy clear in his eyes.

The imperius curse shattered, hit by a sledgehammer of fear.

He tried to pretend he was thinking about how great it would be once Dumbledore was finally dead, but all he was thinking about was how if Dumbledore died people, children, he had known since the age of eleven or twelve would be murdered mercilessly. Including Luna.