Draco walked in the halls, seeing Colin, a bundle of photos in one hand, his camera taking pictures in the other. He shoved the boy's shoulder, a sly remark on the tip of his tongue, when Colin fell over. He jumped back as photographs scattered the floor, the boy rigged and unmoving. Draco's eyes widened, and he looked around. "Colin? Colin!" Draco shook the boy who stayed perfectly still, the camera against his eyes. He called down the hall, "Someone! Help!" Draco looked down at the photos on the ground, seeing himself next to Harry, their faces smiling knowingly at each other. He snatched it along with the others that Colin had in the bundle, tucking them away so no one could see.
Severus was first, then Dumbledore. Draco was sent away, but he watched as they carried the boy to the infirmary.
He shook his head laying in bed, looking at the photos now. It had been a week since that incident, and Draco didn't know why he had thought of it now, after seeing Snape and Lockhart tonight. Something stirred in him when he looked at the picture of them talking. The figures in the picture, were moving, Draco whispering to Harry, then them both laughing like good friends. They were so secretive about their friendship, only meeting in secure locations. This must have been taking at the time under the Quidditch benches.
The next afternoon, was the Dueling club, and Draco took a spot near the Slytherin area, his eyes locking with Harry's who was immediately across him.
Gilderoy Lockhart was walking onto the stage, resplendent in robes of deep plum and accompanied by Snape, wearing his usual black. The hooked nose man, glanced down at Draco and nodded a hello.
Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions — for full details, see my published works."
Gilderoy gave a little twirl, as he waved his hands over to Severus. "Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry — you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"
Severus visibly darkened, his Slytherin students backing away slightly from the waves of anger coming off the man.
Snape's upper lip was curling. Harry wondered why Lockhart was still smiling; if Snape had been looking at him like that he'd have been running as fast as he could in the opposite direction. The truth of what transpired between the professors was never told to Harry, though.
Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.
"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."
Draco looked at Snape, and saw evidence to the contrary.
"One — two — three —"
Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!" There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor.
Draco and some of the other Slytherins cheered. Severus gave a short smile to his house, taking pride in his obvious win.
Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end. "Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm — as you see, I've lost my wand — ah, thank you, Miss Brown — yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy — however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see…"
Snape was looking murderous. Possibly Lockhart had noticed, because he said, "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me —"
They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape reached Harry and Ron first.
"Time to split up the dream team, I think," he sneered. "Weasley, you can partner Finnigan. Potter —"
Harry moved automatically toward Hermione.
"I don't think so," said Snape, smiling coldly. "Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger — you can partner Miss Bulstrode."
Draco gave a coy smirk at Harry, who in turned gave a short glare. They circled around each other sizing the other one up, making a grand show of their duel.
"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform. "And bow!"
Harry and Malfoy barely inclined their heads, not taking their eyes off each other.
"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents — only to disarm them — we don't want any accidents — one… two… three —"
Draco gave huge smile, Harry's face falling in surprise at 'two' when Draco began casting a spell. Harry swung his wand high, trying to block the spell, but it hit Harry so hard he felt as though he'd been hit over the head with a saucepan. Harry stumbled, but everything still seemed to be working, and wasting no more time, Harry pointed his wand straight at Draco and shouted, "Rictusempra!"
A jet of silver light hit Malfoy in the stomach and he doubled up, wheezing. Draco shook it off, their eyes locking once more, a genuine smile on both their faces, at the prospect of beating the other. They had always competed, but never had they thought they would get a chance to really fight one another without recourse. A few more spells went back and forth at each other, but this time each was ready and they blocked or dodge it.
"I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouted in alarm over the heads of the battling crowd, as Malfoy sank to his knees; Harry had hit him with a Tickling Charm, and he could barely move for laughing.
Harry hung back, with a vague feeling it would be unsporting to bewitch Malfoy while he was on the floor, but this was a mistake; gasping for breath, Malfoy pointed his wand at Harry's knees, choked, "Tarantallegra!" and the next second Harry's legs began to jerk around out of his control in a kind of quickstep.
"Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart, but Snape took charge. "Finite Incantatem!" he shouted; Harry's feet stopped dancing, Malfoy stopped laughing, and they were able to look up.
A haze of greenish smoke was hovering over the scene. Both Neville and Justin were lying on the floor, panting; Ron was holding up an ashen-faced Seamus, apologizing for whatever his broken wand had done; but Hermione and Millicent Bulstrode were still moving;
Millicent had Hermione in a headlock and Hermione was whimpering in pain; both their wands lay forgotten on the floor. Harry leapt forward and pulled Millicent off. It was difficult: She was a lot bigger than he was.
Draco was still out of breath, and he touched the sore spot that Harry had hit with his first charm. He looked up to see Severus was snapping his fingers for Millicent to stop her fighting.
"Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you go, Macmillan…Careful there, Miss Fawcett… Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second,"
"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," said Lockhart, standing flustered in the midst of the hall. He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away. "Let's have a volunteer pair — Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you —"
"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," said Snape, gliding over like a large, magnificent bat. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Neville's round, pink face went pinker. "How about Malfoy and Potter?" said Snape with a twisted smile.
Draco looked at Harry, the pain in his torso leaving at the anticipation of fighting Harry once more.
"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Harry and Malfoy into the middle of the hall as the crowd backed away to give them room.
"Now, Harry," said Lockhart. "When Draco points his wand at you, you do this."
He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action, and dropped it. Snape smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up, saying, "Whoops— my wand is a little overexcited—" Harry thankfully already knew how to block spells.
Snape moved closer to Malfoy, bent down, and whispered "incantate Serpensortia, as you draw your wand like a sword." Draco smirked, the two boys finding this as a fun way to get out their frustrations with each other.
Harry, wanting to catch Draco off guard turned to Lockhart, "Professor, could you show me that blocking thing again?"
"Scared?" muttered Malfoy, so that Lockhart couldn't hear him.
"You wish," said Harry out of the corner of his mouth.
In a whisper, so that Harry could barely even hear him, Draco said, "Good Luck, Golden Boy."
Lockhart cuffed Harry merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did, Harry!"
"What, drop my wand?" Harry rolled his eyes, Draco laughing at his snarky comment.
But Lockhart wasn't listening.
"Three — two — one — go!" he shouted.
Malfoy raised his wand quickly and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"
The end of his wand exploded. Harry watched, aghast, as a long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between them, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor. Draco looked between the Snake and Snape, a look of wonder on his face. He could summon creatures?
"Don't move, Potter," said Snape lazily, clearly enjoying the sight of Harry standing motionless, eye to eye with the angry snake. "I'll get rid of it…"
"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike.
"SSSaayyia Hayid, Sssucfieyd." Harry became rigid, his eyes glued to the snake. He walked towards it, "SssaaSssheee!" The Snake coiled and moved closer to Justin, it's forked tongue flicking in the air. The snake turned back as Harry repeated the words even louder, his voice wispy and ominous. It coiled it's self on the ground nestling with in it's body, looking about ready to strike.
"Harry!" Draco yelled, trying to get the boys attention off the Snake. Harry broke his concentration and turned to Draco who had a confused look on his face.
Snape stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke. Snape, too, was looking at Harry in an unexpected way: It was a shrewd and calculating look, and Harry didn't like it. He was also dimly aware of an ominous muttering all around the walls. Then he felt a tugging on the back of his robes.
"Come on," said Ron's voice in his ear. "Move — come on —"
Draco watched as Ron dragged Harry away.
"Uh- Well, that ends today's lesson! I do hope to see you all next week! Do bring your friends!" Gilderoy yelled out to the leaving students.
Draco looked to Severus and asked, "Was he… talking to the snake?"
"It seems so." Severus said coldly, his anger still evident.
Draco stayed in the upper halls, he found the secret room that seemed to always be exactly what he needed. It had a fireplace that burned in the corner, as he sat by the cold window, watching the coming storm. The snow began to roar outside, but it somehow gave him peace to feel the cool glass against his face, and hear the roaring winds outside. He took out the photos, looking through the others that Colin had taken. He saw one of Harry sleeping by the Lake, a textbook on his chest, his glasses askew. Another was of Crabbe and Goyle, who looked like they were about to kill who just took their picture. He chuckled at that. He then came to a photo of Ginny Weasley, writing in her diary, her face looking pale, her face distant. Draco crushed it, throwing it into the fire.
By next morning, however, the snow that had begun in the night had turned into a blizzard so thick that the last Herbology lesson of the term was canceled: Professor Sprout wanted to fit socks and scarves on the Mandrakes, a tricky operation she would entrust to no one else, now that it was so important for the Mandrakes to grow quickly and revive Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevey.
The castle was darker than it usually was in daytime because of the thick, swirling gray snow at every window. Draco liked the way it felt, it was almost like being down in the dungeons all the time now.
The buzz of Harry being the Heir was buzzing even more then usual, and Draco had no ideas as to how to stop the rumors. Even his own housemates were beginning to suspect the Gryffindor as to being a possible candidate for the heir. He watched as some of the older housemates were betting on who would be the next muggle-born to be petrified.
The news would come that it was the man in third place, Justin Finch-Fletchley.
A/N: I really love how the original writing had so much Snape/Lockhart angst, which had made me question, why isn't Gilderoy more scared of the Potion's Master. The only thing that came to mind for me, was that Gilderoy had some kind of control or hold over Snape. Just thought this chapter was a good way of showing a direction she could have gone with, and hoping I captured a different POV for the story. Thanks!