Chapter 28

If there was one matchless pleasure which the return to Hogwarts brought to Draco Malfoy, it was the chance to get back out on to the Quidditch pitch.

The previous year he had been sure that he was going to miss it. As it was, he had barely had the chance too. They had all got so caught up in the tournament, that the thought of getting out on a broom stick had been at the back of his mind.

But now, at long last, the Ravenclaw's were more than able to get their heads back into the game with a new captain leading them to what was going to be a hopeful victory. The score board had been wiped clean. They had just as much chance as anyone else. After so long of only being able to support a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff, it was going to be nice to be able to support his own house once more, Draco thought. Not only that, but as ever, he had an active chance to help gain that victory as the seeker.

"I want all of to get out of here, at least once a week," said Roger Davies once his team was out of the pitch.

Draco was suddenly very aware that this was there captain's last chance to win and he was going to do everything he was able to gain it.

It was what every seventh year's captain wanted for their team no matter what they said. The Ravenclaw's in the past had been said to not be so bothered by it... after all, they had the foresight to know that one last flash of glory on the Quidditch pitch was not going to have any real effect on the rest of their lives, unless they wanted to play professionally.

But their house played as hard as any of the others... and they were as good as any of the others. And to say that they did not want to play and win was a lie.

The training session, as the first one back from summer, went as well as any one could expect it to go. They were all a little out of practise and needed to get back in to the swing of things.

And they all needed to focus, which went for Cho Chang most of all.

Her devastation was still written all over her face. The night they had come back people had seen her red eyes and seen just how much she was still struggling with death of Cedric Diggory. For her, summer break had changed nothing. Her boyfriend was still dead, Voldemort was still back... and there was nothing she could do to change those facts.

But she did not seem so sad when she was up in the air. When she was distracted from everything she felt. When she did not have to think so much.

Draco could relate to that.

When he was up on a broom, there was no Order, there was no Umbridge and his father and Jane were safe at home.

If only.

X x x

"So when are we going to get to turn this theory into action?" Terry Boot was the one who in the end said what they were all thinking.

It felt as if the class had been going on for ages. For days instead of hours.

And it had all been from books...

They did not come to a school of magical learning to not learn magic.

"Mr Boot, why would you want to learn the practical elements?" asked Umbridge in a sickly sweet voice.

"Because this is a Defence Against the Dark Arts class," he insisted.

He looked around him for support. There was not a lot coming forth from the Slytherins but his fellow house mates all had his back.

And they were going too continue to do so.

As a group they had been together for four whole years now. They may not have grown up together from children, but there was something about teen years so far which seemed to bond them all together.

"Mr. Boot, I do not see what that has to do with my lesson plans, which is in line with ministry regulations, I assure you."

"Ministry - " Terry fumed under his voice.

Draco could not help but smile on his friend with pride. He had not been with the Order over the summer, but he was one of those people who would join that day if they could.

Seeing that his usually articulate friend had been rendered silent for a moment, Draco knew he had to speak up. Not only would it serve to show the new so called teacher that as far as he was concerned, she could go and stick her lessons plans where the sun didn't shine, it would also be the final nail in the coffin for any plans Pansy might have which was fine by him.

"What Terry means to say is that when we are out in the big wide world, it is not going to do us a lot of good, just knowing the theory." Draco pitched in.

"And what do you imagine is out in the big wide world?"

This was the point in the conversation Harry had got himself a week's worth of detention or so Hermione had said. It was when he had come out with it. Voldemort was in the big wide world. And he was waiting for them.

But that answer was going to cut him no slack when Severus heard what he had said.

And Draco knew it was going to get back to him. It always did.

"Plenty of other witches and wizards who know the practical."

He suddenly wished he was not his father's son but one of his sire's peers.

At last they were taught properly.

"To that, Mr. Malfoy, I can only say they are not the sort of people you should be mixing with."

"I do not think that we get to chose who attacks us," Draco pointed out.

From across the class room he heard somebody laugh. He was glad that some one was finding this amusing.

"Mr. Malfoy, it is time to get back to work," she said as she looked at his text book. "And please stay behind after class."

Draco shut his eyes. That was the very last thing in the world that he wanted to do.

Pointedly, he held his tongue and the rest of the class was spent in silence apart from the odd moment when Umbridge spoke to them.

Spoke to them, though Draco... more like patronise them. That was all she ever did and was ever likely to do. It was all she was capable of.

"Mr. Malfoy, from what I have been told you are intelligent, even by the standard of your house," said the defence teacher once his fellow class mates had left the room.

"Who ever told you that is far too kind."

She carried on as if she had not heard him. "But then it is not a surprise given your heritage, is it? The son of two old and noble families. You must be very proud."

"I hope to ennoble my ancestors."

That was all he was going to say and he did not think he was wrong to do so.

"I have met your father and he is a credit to your family."

No. You think you have met my father. And if you knew who he really was then you would not think that he was a credit to Malfoy's past and present.

Even if he is.

"If you say so."

"I have heard that the two of you are not quite on what one might call peace with your father. It is a crying shame when there is a war going on within a family."

"Professor, I am much more concerned with wars in the wider sense of the word. And I do not think that what goes on with in the Malfoy manor can be called any of your business."

"Mr. Malfoy, I do not think - "

But it was too late. He had turned on his heal, and he was walking away.

"Your father is a good man. You should look up to him, and nor should you walk away from me."

It took all his strength to not ask why he shouldn't walk away. What was she going to do? Set him another bit of reading?

But he did not want to make another enemy. Not when they had enough of those to be getting on with. If he turned back then he was not going to be making life easy on himself: he had to face Severus. As well as keep Jane happy. And he was not going to do that if he was pissing Umbridge off.

Hold your tongue. That was what Eliza would day too, he thought to himself. And odd hole came in to his stomach when he thought of the woman who had brought up his father.

She would be sad to see what their family had come to. The family she had seen through so many storms.

Draco stalked off to the library. He already had home work to do. hen he had to go and find Hermione and make sure that she did have a plan for the way that they were going to work Defence Against the Dark Arts that year.

Because there had to be a way. And it was up to them to find it.

X x x

Jane yawned.

She had been thrilled when she had got told she was going to on a mission she had been so very, very happy. But by the end of the night all she was able to say she was very, very tired.

And ready for bed.

The night itself had not been too bad. It was going to get a bit of time to get used to a bit of war work. It had been interesting experience to be in the ministry when there were so few others there.

Every little sound she had heard she had thought... well her heart had raced a fair bit.

All in all she was ready to get back to Grimmauld Place. It was only when she saw Tonks come into the corridor that she let her grasp on her wand loosen.

"Are you here to take over from me?" she asked and the cousin of her young charge nodded.

"You will be glad to know I am. How did it go?"

"No trouble," she said lowly and that was all that the two women were going to say to one another. They could discuss it in further depth when they were safe and out of a place where ears could be extended and unfriendly.

Jane gave a nod to Nymphadora and then walked back the way she had come the night before.

It had been a very rare thing for Jane to find herself in the ministry. She had been once or twice when she had been a very young girl but certainly not since she had begun to work for Lucius. She had left that all to him for she had been a true home bird. She had had to rasied Draco while he had been off working.

That had been her role.

Now it was a little different.

Standing before the lift at the end of the corridor she thought about what she was going to do when she got back to Grimmauld place. She was sure there was a bath and a cup of tea with her name of it. She could almost feel her shoulders unwinding.

"Come on," she sighed as the lift well and truly took its time.

She did not like being all the way down in the Ministry of Magic on her own. She knew her tiredness did not help the situation and she knew that sleep was not so very far away. But it was then that her mind begun to play tricks on her.

What if she was never going to get out of there? What if the roof fell in on her?

All such thoughts that were prone to play on a mind that had not had enough sleep. For the life of her, she was unable to remember when she had last literally been up all night.

It was then that, thankfully, the lift came down for her.

But she got the shock of her life when she saw who was in it.

"Going up?" asked Lucius.

She nodded dumbly.

"If we are going to go up then you are going to have to get in."

"Sorry," Jane shook her head. She moved forward and got in.

"Long night?" he said knowing.

"Are you kidding? I do not think I have been up all night since Draco was a boy, unwell," she said with a laugh. "But I know I have nothing to complain about around you. Are you ok?" he asked as the doors shut.

Lucius looked just beyond exhausted from what she was able to see. He gave her a warning look, which was stern but not unkind. She could ask some questions but not others and she had to be careful of her tongue.

"I am well. How is your mother?"

"Still sick," she played the game better than she had before. "I am going to have stay with her for the foreseeable future."

"You'll still get your pay."

She had been about to say no, but she had no other income and had no real prospects. She was a member of the Order now and as long as she was living in the same house as Sirius Black then that had to be her main priority.

"I would be most grateful for that," she nodded as the two of them went up a level.

"You are much missed in the house. It is going awry without you there to keep the ship tight," he told her as he put his hand on her lower back.

She did not mean to, but she jerked away.

If he had been better at hiding the way he felt then she would not have felt how hurt he was by that simple move.

"No, Lucius. The two of us can't. Not now," she told him on no uncertain terms.

The two of them had flirted with something that could bring a lot crashing down. Even when she had given him what he had needed to see him through it all she had known it was the wrong thing.

And as long of the two of them were involved in a war and living in different houses then it was even more wrong.

Yet that also gave her a chance to break away before things became too serious.

"I love you but we cannot. You are my brother. And that is the way it has to stay."

It was then the door opened. Having taken his hand in her own she squeezed it before she went on her way and got lost in the crowds of those coming to work in the ministry.

X x x

"You have to admit he has the credentials," said Hermione as she held Draco's hand on the way to class.

Ever since Umbridge had got to Hogwarts all of them had been trying with all their might to think of a way they were going to learn Defence with her at the helm.

"To be honest, I thought that Harry was ready for a quiet year," he said to her, even though he knew that was not going to happen. Harry did not get to have quiet years at school. That was not the way that it worked.

"I think even he has given up any thoughts of that. If he can lead some defence club then we can pick and chose what we learn... we can make our own curriculum and we can get what needs to be done... done," she said as she looked at him.

The two of them shared a smile.

"Well, if this is going to work then, then you had better get the ball rolling," he said, nodding to Harry who was up in front of the two of them.

Hermione nodded. Draco was right. There was no time like the present.

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