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Harry Potter isn't my idea, but the arrangement of this story IS.
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"Has the map ever made a mistake before?" Draco asked as he sat between Fred and George. They were busy filling their faces for breakfast, and had to finish with what they had already in their mouths before they could answer him.
"No of course not. Whoever the Marauder's were, they knew their magic." Fred said, he leveled Draco a look.
"Why do you ask?" George spoke what Fred was thinking. Draco gave a small shrug.
"I've just been noticing some weird stuff." Draco said offhandedly. He didn't want to say anything until he figured out what was going on. Fred and George exchanged a glance behind Draco's head, then they turned and caged him by propping their elbows on the table next to him and then putting their other hands on each other's shoulders.
Draco glanced from brother to brother.
"So. What's going on with you and Hermione?" They asked. Hermione had been adopted into the Weasley family by Fred and George, way back when she was a first year (to hell with Ron, they'd be happy to trade), and were pretty protective of her. They had no problem getting a few detentions to smack down on those that gave her problems. Take Bletchley for instance, the Slytherin who started trouble and got her that detention with Lockehart...they had fun getting revenge on him.
Did Hermione know about this?
Hell no.
But still, they loved her like a little sister and took care of her, from the sidelines. Draco laughed faintly.
"I...uh well I don't really know. I mean of course I like her, but she's so confused about her own emotions I don't think she knows what she wants. And that's fine. I mean we're young. I can wait." Draco smiled faintly and hoped they liked his answer-his completely honest and from the heart answer. Fred and George thought this over.
George locked Draco into a headlock and rubbed his knuckles into Draco's head. "You keep in mind to treat her right or the consequences will be severe."
"Like Hermione wouldn't kill me herself." Draco replied, muffled by George's arm. They laughed at that and Draco was released.
"Good."
"Hey, back about the map. You don't have any idea who made it do you?"
"Naw, we tried finding out, but those nicknames aren't mentioned anywhere in the Library. We checked several times." Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Draco glanced towards the professor's table, where James and Sirius had sat last night. Maybe it was just a strange coincidence, Sirius having the nickname Padfoot. Draco wanted to get to the bottom of it, but he also didn't want to start problems with his family.
"Hmm. That's too bad, I'd like to know how they made it." Draco shrugged and bid them good-day. He sat at his usual seat on Ravenclaw table.
"Hey Draco." The girl next to him called his attention, which gave him a start. The Ravenclaw's in general left him alone. It was a friendly sort of thing, but Draco was used to it. Hell, he wasn't sure what the girl's in his year were named. She might have been in his year, but he had no idea.
"Hello...uhm...good morning?" He asked her, trying to be friendly. She grinned and punched his arm. He rubbed the spot and glared at her. "The hell was that for?!" He barked.
"Oh yeah! I forgot. Doi!" She rolled her eyes and her facial features changed and suddenly the blond haired Ravenclaw became Tonks. Draco rolled his eyes at her.
"What are you dressed as a student for?" He asked as he got himself some breakfast. She shrugged.
"The other aurors don't want me doing anything 'dangerous' on my own, so they've given me the sleuthing job. To listen to the student body for anything suspicious." Draco shrugged.
"Won't you stand out? I mean I know I didn't suspect you, but surely others will notice a random Ravenclaw no one has seen before."
"You'd be amazed at what others take for granted." Tonks replied as she tweaked his nose. He slapped her hand away and glared again. She was back as the Ravenclaw girl.
"I think I'll be Sarah, in this body." Tonks gestured to herself and Draco nodded faintly.
"Whatever Sarah." He played along, "enjoy your sleuthing." She smiled sarcastically at him and stood from the table and walked off, twirling her hair between her fingers.
"So Lockhart, who would you like for the next match?" Snape gestured to the magical board that kept track with all of the matches of the students in each group. Towards the right are all the names that have advanced into the next round, the ones on the left are the ones yet to duel. If a name was not on the board at all, that meant they lost.
"Potter." Lockhart started, his eyes roaming over the names still on the board, "and Zabini." Lockhart smiled at each student as the boys climbed up onto the table. Potter didn't look fazed, but the only student to face Zabini and win was Hermione, and Harry wasn't as quick witted as her. Harry steeled his spine as the two bowed.
"Rictusempra!" Zabini wasted no time in getting started and Harry ducked instead of dodging.
"Stupefy!" Harry countered. Zabini flicked his wrist and the spell bounced of his shield, he looked bored. Harry grinned. He took the offensive and started throwing spell after spell; Jelly Legs, Bodybind, Bat Bogey...etc Harry wasn't really aiming either, just throwing.
James watched, hidden among the students.
Zabini defended against them all easily, but a Stupefy nearly caught him off guard. He couldn't allow that. His tight reputation was at stake here. He couldn't lose to someone so sloppy as Potter.
"Serpinsortia!" Harry watched as the snake sprouted from the end of Zabini's wand and Harry cursed himself. The snake was the only thing he was really afraid of. He stilled his shaking hand and drew in a deep breath. What had Hermione done to get rid of the snake? He couldn't remember.
He could only watch as the snake got closer and closer to him.
The crowd started to realize that Harry had froze up. Snape grabbed Harry by the scruff of his clothes and threw him back. Snape pointed his wand at the snake, now only three feet away, and vaporized it. "Zabini that is the third time you've used that spell while dueling. You will not do it again."
"Yes Professor," the grinning boy replied. Some Slytherin's laughed as Blaise left the dueling platform. As Harry left, he spotted his father in the crowd and he flushed with embarrassment. But James wasn't disappointed-not at all. James had been the one that had found Harry in the back yard after that snake had bitten him, when he was five. Harry had been terrified, even though it wasn't poisonous. That terror never left him.
James was expecting Harry to make his way over to him, but James lost sight of him in the crowd, and realized after a moment that Harry didn't want to talk to his dad right that second.
Lockhart watched from the corner of his eye on the platform the expressions passing over Mr. Potter's face. Seeing that Harry Potter was afraid of snakes was intriguing to say the least.
Christmas break. Hermione stood in the Great Hall with a small smile on her face. Draco wrapped his arms around her. "You'll write?" He asked.
"Of course." She replied, muffled against his shoulder. She was returning home while literally all the rest of their friends were staying at Hogwarts (sans the Weasley's they had a family trip to Romania planned). Draco hadn't liked it when she had told him she was going home, but she owed it to her parents for breaking her ankle and trying to keep it from them. Which she didn't really MEAN to, and wasn't PLANNING on it, but that was just how it happened.
Secretly though, Hermione was looking forward to taking some more self defense classes. They were fun and she planned on doing as much as she could over the break.
Draco kissed her on the cheek, "I'll miss you a lot." Hermione smiled with a faint blush on her cheeks. Their relationship was still in the incubation process, but she was a bit more relaxed and less nervous when it came to feelings and expressing them. She gave Draco a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Same. Stay out of trouble, okay?" She asked, Draco looked at her mischievously but nodded. Hermione grinned and they hugged one last time before she gathered her things around her and walked out the doors to the carriage that waited. Draco sighed sadly, already missing her, (how sad was he) and joined the others in the Great Hall. Harry had saved a seat for him.
"It'll be weird not having our conscience around, huh?" Harry asked, referring to Hermione, The Voice of Reason. Draco chuckled faintly as he sat down and shrugged.
"We can seriously investigate what's going on around here now." Draco admitted, looking at the bright side. Harry nodded faintly.
"So, how do you plan to do that? I mean we can just leave it to my parents and the rest of the aurors. That's why they are here."
"Yeah but I've got something they haven't got." Draco said, referencing the Map. This got Harry's attention, he arched his brow at the blond boy.
"I'll show you later, but you must swear you won't tell anyone about it. Specifically your parents, but anyone else either. NO one can know. Not even Neville. Or Hermione." Draco almost winced at saying her name. Each time he looked at the map or thought about it was like a stab of betrayal towards his relations with Hermione.
But they were necessary, he always told himself, because Hermione wouldn't be okay with the map. No way in hell.
"Jeez. This is serious. Yeah, I swear. Unless it's dangerous and you're being too much of a moron." Draco snorted.
"Of course not. I could never act like you." Draco replied with shove on Harry's shoulder. Harry grinned, but his eyes held a bit of reserve, as did Draco's. The boy's were friends, no doubt about it, but they were still rivals from time to time.
"Good one, Malfoy," Harry shot back, but it was his warning for Draco to back off, which he did. The two ate breakfast and were soon joined by Neville and Rose.
"Morning Draco," the twelve-year old girl greeted him, as she sat down across from Draco, her eyes lingered on him as she did so. He mumbled his greeting.
"Oh, hello Rose. Little-sister-of-mine. Quite lovely to see you this morning," Harry carried on in a grande fashion. Rose flushed from embarrassment and glared daggers at him.
"Shut up." She seethed. Harry grinned at her. Everyone knew about her terrible crush on Draco, even Draco himself, but on one really had it in them to put her down. Surely, they thought, she would catch the hint on her own and still keep her dignity. That was becoming less and less of a reality.
"Well, anyway..." Neville changed the subject, "what's the first order of business now that classes are out of the way for the next few weeks?" The two boys shrugged and exchanged a glance.
"That's no fun. How about we go fly some at the Quidditch field?" Neville suggested, to which Rose enthusiastically nodded her head.
"Ah, good morning boys, and Rose." Sirius came up behind them and patted Draco on the shoulders with his hands. The students returned his greeting.
"I've just popped over here to inform you, Draco, that Sybil has left Hogwarts for a while, it seems that as Lily is just about ready to give birth, she'll be there to help her. Also, she misses Cissa and will get her from Andromeda." Sirius smiled faintly, and Harry and Rose perked up at the notion they will finally have their little brother or sister (Harry wants a brother, and of course Rose wants a sister).
"Ah, thanks for telling me." Draco was still closer to Sybil than Sirius, but progress was progress, right? "So, Mr. Potter sometimes calls you Padfoot?" Draco asked curiously. Sirius grinned and nodded.
"And he has since our Hogwarts days. Our group had our own little nicknames. James' is Prongs. Remus is Moony." Draco somehow managed to only nod his head, even though his heart was pounding. That left him curious though, who was Wormtail?
"Oh, any particular reason?" Draco asked. Sirius shrugged.
"Fit our animagus forms I suppose, and we've never stopped calling each other them since." Sirius patted Draco on the shoulder again before he dismissed himself.
"Harry, I'll meet you in the Library, in like an hour?" Draco asked, causing Harry to look curiously at him but nod all the same.
Draco sprinted up to his bed and tore his trunk apart until he found the Map hidden at the bottom. Draco took out his wand and tapped the map. Instead of saying the mantra to get the map to show he asked,
"Who are you?" Four different scripts appeared on the map.
It's none of your perfectly blond head's business.
I would be more concern about your vitamin D intake, you are absolutely, dreadfully pale.
Being a Ravenclaw, one would have to believe you'd be able to figure it out on your own, but it appears you are a moron.
It doesn't really matter now, does it? We are the Marauder's!
Draco sat back onto his heels as he read the writings. There were four different types of handwriting, but Sirius had only mentioned three of them. Their nicknames matched, so there was no doubt in his mind that his godfather was a part of the Marauders.
"I solemly swear that I am up to no good." Draco tapped the map again and he watched as the ink blossomed into the map. The complex beauty of it always took his breath away.
"Where are you?" Draco mumbled as he started to look around. He saw Lockhart in his office as always (funny he isn't at breakfast like he had been when Draco was down there), and most of the aurors were still eating as well. His friends were there also.
He spotted Professor Snape in the dungeons, it appeared like he was on his way to his office. Draco spotted that Barty Crouch Jr. fellow again, in the ingredients closet.
"Mischief Managed." Draco stowed the map away in his trunk again and sprinted out of the Ravenclaw tower.
Draco was going to find out who this character was, dammit.
"What," Snape began in his slow drawl as he toed open the door, "do you think you are doing?" Snape's arms folded across his chest as he leveled his gaze upon the blond man.
He stuttered for a moment before he placed the bicorn horn back onto the shelf, "I spotted a student walking quickly from the dungeons and as I had them turn out their pockets, they produced a few ingredients that I knew to have only come from you, Snape." Lockhart smiled a dazzling smile and tried to move passed him, but Snape compensated for his movement and blocked his path again.
"Then it seems..." Snape said with a curious tilt of his head, "that I ought to thank you, as it seems they took some very...expensive and difficult to come by ingredients. Do you know what bicorn horn and lacewing flies are used for?" Snape asked curiously.
"Haven't the foggiest," Lockhart replied with a ruffle of his perfect hair.
"Polyjuice potion." Snape's eyes narrowed at the other man, who laughed faintly.
"What would a student need with a potion like that?" Lockhart asked, as he tried once again to move around Snape-who once again blocked the exit.
"Who was it you said took the ingredients?"
"Oh. I don't rightly remember. My memory isn't what it used to be, I tell you. Just this morning I went all the way up to the astronomy tower and when I got there, I could not recall why I had gone up there! I still don't!" He chuckled, "but if I remember which student it was, you will be the first I inform. Now excuse me, Severus, I have next term to plan."
Snape finally turned his shoulders and let him pass.
Draco passed Lockhart in the dungeons and Draco faltered. "Now, Mr. Malfoy, you ought know better than to run in the halls." Draco gapped at the man. Lockhart had been in his office.
"Y-yes." Draco stammered, and Lockhart lifted an eyebrow at Draco's suddenly gaunt expression.
"Feeling a bit down, Malfoy? Perhaps you should visit the hospital wing."
"Y-yes. Of course." Draco murmured, but he went in the direction he had been heading; Snape's office.
Snape was seated behind his desk, flipping through a book in front of him. "I do hope this interruption is important, Malfoy." He didn't lift his eyes from the text.
"Professor." Draco said as he sat himself down in front of the desk. "I...I don't really know what is going on, but something isn't right."
"If you insist on speaking in riddles, please right them down so I may puzzle over them later. I have things to do." Snape shut his book and looked at Draco. Draco looked down at his hands.
"I...I can't tell you how I know this, but...Professor Lockhart always seems to be in his office...and...and there is someone in this castle, who...well I don't know who it is. A student...I suppose, but I don't know. They've been in your ingredients closet a few times." Snape's face showed surprise for only a moment but then he went to a blank mask again.
"Well?" Snape asked, "out with it, boy?"
"It's a Barty Crouch, Jr." Draco said. Snape stood, and leaned forward, his eyes glaring at Draco. "This is not some prank? Some jest?" Draco swallowed at the menacing look in Snape's eyes, and he shook his head.
"No. Of course not professor. I don't even know who that is."
"My boy, it is impossible for him to be in the castle. He died several years ago." Snape remembered hearing of the death perfectly. Dumbledore had told him over tea. The man had died in Azkaban.
Draco furrowed his brows and looked at his hands. "Oh..." Draco cleared his throat. "I am sorry to waste your time." Snape nodded his dismissal and his eyes tracked Draco out of his office. He had some thinking to do.