Draco's Demand

At lunch—Parvati had just loaded her plate with a huge portion of spaghetti bolognese that she would never finish—the dark brown owl that she had sent to her parents two days ago came flying to her table. It carried a large narrow parcel that must not have been easy to transport. At the end of its strength, the poor animal let its burden plop directly into the huge pot of bolognese sauce, while crash-landing itself between Harry and Neville's plates, sweeping Neville's water glass off the table.

"Oh dear!" Parvati quickly dived into the sauce to save her mail, but only scalded her hand and caused the package to sink for good. "Ouch—shit!" She frantically pulled out her wand and hissed, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

And indeed, the red-soaked parcel immediately rose from the tureen and was directed by Parvati to the place next to her plate, where she made an effort to clean it. In doing so, she tried hard not to look at the teacher's desk, where this embarrassing action had for sure not gone unnoticed and uncommented.

And she certainly wouldn't turn to her sister, whose curious glances she could already feel right at her back. But she knew, Padma would rather bite off her tongue now than ask about Parvati's extraordinary mail.

As a consequence, there had some commotion arisen at the Gryffindor table. Several students hurried to clean up the mess of sauce, feathers and spilled juice that the exhausted owl had caused. Lavender had taken charge of the owl, which had picked itself up dazedly, and was feeding it a piece of bread. As she did so, she skimmed, frowning, the contents of a small parchment scroll that her barn owl Athene, almost unnoticed in all the trouble, had delivered to her in a more discreet manner. "From your mother?" asked Parvati.

"Yeah. The usual drivel, like every week!" Lavender grimaced and rolled her eyes. "I'm supposed to try hard and take the chance they've given me, not dissapoint anybody, take good care of myself, blah, blah …"

Carelessly, she stuffed the letter into her pocket, then pointed to the damaged package next to Parvati with a curious expression. "Do you have any idea what's inside?"

"Um," Parvati said, but then she remembered the resolution she had made yesterday. No more secrets from Lavender—or at least not so many …

In the dormitory, in the presence of her friend who was already shivering with excitement, she opened the parcel. Several music books were revealed; in addition to the desired preludes by Chopin, Parvati's parents had added the waltzes by the same composer and the sonatas by Mozart. There was also a short letter from her mother:

"Tuesday, 24 September 1996

My dear Parvati,

I am so happy that you have rediscovered the joy of playing the piano and now have the opportunity to do so at Hogwarts. I'm sure Padma will be very happy to finally have an accompanist! Say hello to her from me, and have fun with your notes! And take good care of yourselves!

Seni seviyorum,

Yours,

Anne" [Note: Turkish for "I love you, your mum"].

Padma. Parvati pinched her lips together and lowered the letter. Padma again. Companist, my ass! She can go on fiddling all by herself!

"What kind of tomes are these?" exclaimed Lavender. "No wonder the poor owl had to carry such a heavy load!"

"My parents don't know that much about it," Parvati said apologetically, then took a deep breath. "By the way, these are piano notes!"

Lavender's eyes grew wide. "You're playing the piano again? Here at Hogwarts?"

She hasn't forgotten?, wondered Parvati, who had once mentioned the discontinued piano lessons to her at the very beginning of first grade. "I happened to discover a piano on the seventh floor last week. I never thought there was one here!"

"Why? Do you think magicians don't know what a piano is?" Lavender leaned forward curiously. "May I?" She began to leaf through one of the notebooks. "Can you read this?" she then asked, almost in awe. "And play?"

"Reading yes," Parvati said with a grin. "On the latter, I'm working right now!"

"Then you must play something for me!" demanded Lavender. "Right after Divination! Please, okay?"

"Of course!" Parvati was moved. She hadn't really expected such a reaction from Lavender, who was sometimes quite disinterested in things that didn't concern her.

"Now you just have to tell me what you were doing up there in the first place!" said Lavender. "That wouldn't have been last Tuesday by any chance, when you came back so late?"

"Yes, you're right!" said Parvati. "And you were right about Padma too! She is … I dunno …" Parvati broke off because the tears were coming again.

Lavender took her hand. "Tell me about it," she said softly. "Do you think I didn't notice anything?"

And Parvati told Lavender everything. Everything she was allowed to know. About Padma and their increasingly cooling relationship, the nagging feeling of inadequacy she had towards her sister, and their pointless arguments. And about how she had found the piano that had given her so much comfort in the last few days.

Every now and then she burst into tears, but she kept talking while Lavender handed her tissues, stroked her arm and listened. It feels so good to get something off my chest. Why didn't I do this much earlier?, Parvati thought. Was I always so afraid of being laughed at or ignored?

"Maybe you should tell her about the piano too," Lavender finally said a little hesitantly. "She has her violin after all … then maybe you'll get closer again …"

Parvati could tell that Lavender was not comfortable making this suggestion. There had always been her fear of being left out with the sisters; of not being able to keep up with things they had in common from an early age. "I can't imagine it at the moment, to be honest," she replied. "It's really never been as bad as yesterday. Sometimes I feel like we're drifting further and further apart …"

Lavender thoughtfully brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "And you don't have it easy with your ascendants either," she remarked earnestly. "You can see that hers is Capricorn, ambitious and strict as she is. That doesn't match Aquarius at all!"

Parvati grinned wryly. "Well, I guess I shouldn't have dawdled like that during birth!"

Both girls laughed, although Parvati's sounded rather shaky. Finally, she told Lavender how she had been caught by Snape at the piano. Sooner or later she would have to provide an explanation anyway for where she had been all evening last night; besides, she just wanted to talk about it.

Lavender was open-mouthed. "And he was standing there the whole time?" she asked, stunned. "Oh God—I'm getting goosebumps! That's … super romantic! Tell me, what were you wearing? Too bad I wasn't in your place …" she then remarked enviously. "It doesn't really matter to you anyway …"

You think, thought Parvati, realising that she was already reaching her limits again, about what she was allowed to reveal and what she was better off keeping to herself. So she hid from Lavender how strangely Severus had looked at her at times, as well as the compliment he had paid her when he left; yet these words burned most on her soul.

But it would have made Lavender sick. She was the one who wanted something from Severus and had been honest about it from the beginning. She actually deserves him more that way, Parvati thought. Even if it hurts …

"Woah, and whelks again! Twenty of them!? He really lost his marbles! You poor thing …" said Lavender sympathetically. "Now I don't wanna be caught by him anymore! On the other hand—he'd probably never let me into his lab!" She grinned mischievously.

"Probably not," Parvati said, grinning too, at the thought of what a mess Lavender would create in Snape's well-sorted system with her slightly chaotic manner. You would probably even have been caught eavesdropping!

Another topic like that: tomorrow's Death Eater meeting and Draco's horror about it. In principle, Lavender knew that Severus went to the Death Eaters as a spy—Parvati had started telling her back then what she herself had learned from Harry. But Lavender had apparently felt so uncomfortable about it that after a few sentences she had decided to spare her the rest.

Any further tentative attempts to talk about the subject in general had been blocked by Lavender, and it was only then that it had dawned on Parvati how much her friend feared the dark side.

As the daughter of two pure-blooded wizards, Lavender had already absorbed the fear and horror spread by Voldemort and his Death Eaters with her mother's milk—she had always been sensitive to his name at least, especially since he had regained his full power more than a year ago and, together with his loyal henchmen, had begun, in an insidious manner, to ply his dreadful trade.

Lavender's reaction was repression. She had been only too happy to believe the slanderous articles that had appeared in the Daily Prophet at the beginning of the last school year, portraying Harry as a busybody—until every idiot had realised that Voldemort was really back.

And although wizards and witches had inexplicably disappeared or been found dead time and again since then, Lavender, like many other students, continued to frantically pretend that the world was intact—which really wasn't much of a problem within the protective walls of Hogwarts. Very few students read the newspaper regularly, and Voldemort or the Death Eaters were hardly ever discussed, not even in class.

It would not have surprised Parvati if Lavender had already completely erased Severus's connection to the Death Eaters from her mind.

So her friend's reaction to the latest news could include anything from panic attacks, under the influence of which she would stir up the whole school, to making foolhardy plans on how to dissuade Severus and Draco from attending the meeting. And in the end, she even managed to run to Severus, begging him on her knees not to put himself in such danger and confess her love to him! In any case, completely unpredictable. There was no way Parvati could say anything to her about it.

Which brings us back to the question of whether I should tell anyone at all, she pondered as she lay on the floor in Divination between Lavender and Harry, so close that she could feel the warmth of both of them against her bare arms, staring up at the artificial starry sky above them.

Firenze, meanwhile, as he did at the beginning of each hour, gave a brief outline of what was currently going on with the celestial bodies. This week, it was clearly the upcoming lunar eclipse, including the position of Venus and Mars in Leo and their opposition to Uranus in Aquarius.

"This very tense constellation is often associated with great events," Firenze explained, his soft voice taking on a strange overtone—as if he already knew exactly what he was talking about. "Venus here represents love and the soul of each individual—Mars represents things that happen in the world. Its position in Leo and opposition to Uranus ensures that hidden feelings, instincts and desires come to the surface—truths come to light, processes are set in motion.

Simultaneous events like total lunar or solar eclipses, by the way, can be very reinforcing in these processes because they intensify the forces and the resonances in people—both the good and the bad …"

Parvati felt Lavender reach for her hand and squeeze her fingers briefly. Parvati knew that her friend, as always, believed every word of Firenze's speech and tried to apply it to her own situation. She herself loved listening to the centaur as much as she loved stargazing; although her opinion about esoteric subjects of any kind had been rather ambivalent for some time.

But now her arms were suddenly covered in goose bumps and she swallowed hard. It all fitted so well! And Voldemort had surely not chosen a lunar eclipse as a background for his night of all nights for nothing—had he?

Do I tell Harry?, she asked herself for the hundredth time. And what would happen then?

Parvati didn't quite know how to judge her classmate, but she could picture the worst scenario: Harry trying to keep her out of this dangerous business, but failing to sit idly by himself while Voldemort and his disciples took their pleasure in abusing people. This monster had killed his parents—that and his still fresh grief for Sirius Black would probably not make him approach the matter with a cool head.

If he wanted to dash off death-defyingly, she would hardly be able to hold him back. Ron, of course, would be in on it, probably Hermione too, who was certainly clever enough to find out where the Valley of the Marsh Ghosts was in the first place. She had a phenomenal overview of the library's holdings and would certainly not have to search for long.

They would have their adventure. And me?, thought Parvati. Couldn't sit idly by while they cooked up some reckless stuff either. If I tell Harry about it, I'll be responsible for everything that happens. If anything were to happen to them … it would be my fault! And no one will be able to stop him anyway. The Dark Lord …

No matter how Parvati twisted and turned it—it was becoming increasingly clear that she couldn't tell Harry either. It would simply be pointless to upset the apple cart, as her mother liked to put it.

After Divination, she was only too happy to make good on her promise to show Lavender her grand piano—it was practically on the way to the Gryffindor rooms—and to play the prelude for her, which went as smoothly for her today as it had yesterday. When she had finished, she turned expectantly to Lavender, who had been standing diagonally behind her the whole time. "Hey, this is beautiful," she breathed dreamily. "It reminds me so much of … enchanted gardens, old walls … things like that!" She smiled dreamily. "And of Severus," she added softly.

"Of Severus?" asked Parvati hoarsely.

"Yes, because it sounds so sad. And I think this person is quite sad."

„Yeah, maybe …"

The two of them had often pondered over this. And Parvati, as always, did not know what to believe. Perhaps there really were things Severus Snape was grieving for, but her common theory was that his past had simply made him hard and bitter over the years, and that he carried around a lot of hatred on top of that, which vented itself in occasional, universally feared outbursts of rage. She knew Lavender's counter-argument for this: "Underneath the rough shell, he must have a soft core!"

Yes, somehow Parvati had always believed that, too—or at least hoped. But Lavender did not know what she knew. And even she could at best guess what remained of a man's soul who had to witness again and again such terrible things as Severus.

Definitely enough to pay you compliments!, it flashed through her mind immediately afterwards, and once again, a telltale gooseflesh covered her arms. The sound of his voice came back to her, and the look in his large black eyes—so completely without irony …

Parvati quickly turned to her music book because tears were coming again. Unbelievable—he thought it was beautiful … and even admits it …

"Yeah, right, play it again," Lavender immediately urged her. "I'm sure it'll be much more atmospheric with fresh air!" She went to one of the large windows on the west side, pulled it wide open and leaned out.

And again the melancholic sounds filled the room, took both girls for a short while from their realities, as they could not be much more different at the moment.

Afterwards, Lavender went to Quidditch practice in a good mood, Parvati slipped into the dormitory with leaden limbs to write in her diary. She hoped it would help her sort out her thoughts, which were racing wildly and almost impossible to grasp in her head.

Never in her life had she been in such a situation. She would have to keep her knowledge about the Night of the Blood-red Moon to herself—it was impossible to burden anyone with it, because it wouldn't save anyone anyway. But would she be able to just sit quietly and let it happen?

After only a few sentences, Parvati closed her diary again with a sigh; she could not find the words for what was to come the next night. So she completed her Arithmancy tasks, happy to hold on to sober, cool facts, and then immersed herself in Potions.

But when she wanted to continue her essay for History of Magic, she again couldn't get a word down on paper. Why should she care about any goblin family trees from the fifteenth century?

With another heaving sigh, Parvati rose from her bed. "Okay, I'll do something now instead of sitting around!" She waved her wand and replaced her school uniform with jeans and a bright, long-sleeved top that swung wide around her hips. Then she grabbed her pad and pen and made her way to the library. Only just before the entrance did she pause—what do I actually want here?

For a while, she stood indecisively leaning against the cool stone wall, while a few students walked past her in or out, her eyes fixed on the large oak tree in front of the opposite window, which leaves were moving slightly in the wind.

And finally she did go in, and among all the yellowed, dusty books and parchments on the numerous shelves, she went in search of something she didn't want to know at all.

Since the snogging fiasco with Ron, Quidditch practice had been a double-edged thing for Lavender. He didn't even ask how I was doing, she thought as she mounted the broom with the other team members and drifted to game height. I felt totally sick, it really could have been the wine … how can one be so offended right away! In any case, we have practised enough for now!

But that didn't apply to Quidditch. It certainly wasn't easy for Ron to catch balls from Lavender and look past her indifferently—that's why he let many in. Too many for Harry's taste.

"Focus!" Ron was constantly admonished by him. "We have the game against Slytherin in eleven days—I don't intend to lose to those douchebags!" He was putting quite a bit of pressure on Ron, and somehow Lavender felt sorry for him. But it couldn't be helped in that case; Ron didn't seem to understand any other language in his condition.

Lavender herself had no problems, fortunately; she met all the requirements for a Chaser—good throwing power, agility, quick reactions, and perfect control over her broom. Lavender might be clumsy in normal life, but on the Quidditch pitch, she was in her element.

After training, she went with the boys to the changing rooms. In the little house at the edge of the pitch, she separated from the others and went alone to the girls' cabin. The first few times after practice, she had flown straight to her room in her sweaty sports clothes to take a shower, but in the now somewhat cooler temperatures, she preferred to forego that and change on the spot. There was no way she could catch a cold now and miss the important game next week.

Lavender took off her sports clothes, pinned her long plait on her head and went under the team shower, which was hidden behind a partition. As the water ran warmly over her skin, she thought back to the day with a satisfied feeling.

She had long since put her mother's admonishing letter out of her mind—what mattered were the good things: Harry had praised her more than once during practice; she had survived another hour of Potions without setting a table on fire and driving Severus up the walls with it; and most importantly, Parvati had finally confided in her! After her friend had been shutting down more and more lately, she was finally coming out of her shell a bit. Maybe it's the piano, Lavender mused. She really plays beautifully …

When she emerged from behind the partition again, wrapped in a towel and still completely lost in thought, she hardly could believe what she saw. In the middle of her changing room stood Draco Malfoy in his Quidditch uniform, grinning coldly at her.

"What do you want here?" asked Lavender, aghast.

"You," Draco replied.

"Me," Lavender repeated, raising her eyebrows in disbelief. "Tell me, is everything alright with you, Malfoy? Get out of here or I'll scream!"

Draco just grinned and pulled out his wand. "I know a good spell against that!"

Lavender became frightened and wrapped her arms around her body. She was standing here completely defenceless, dressed only in a towel; her wand, which was of little use to her anyway, was buried somewhere in her pile of clothes, and her broom she cleverly had left outside in the corridor. And Harry, Ron and all the rest had surely gone back to the castle long ago.

"Looks great on you, by the way, that towel," Draco now said in a casual voice. "But I'd like you a thousand times better without it!"

Lavender gasped for air. "GET OUT!" she yelled, slowly feeling panic rising inside her. What is this sick guy up to!, she thought. Oh God, why didn't I fly to my room after all? But how could I have known that he would in broad daylight …?

Draco watched her from half-closed eyelids. "Will you take it off for me?" he asked in a purring voice.

"Say, who do you think you are—"

"I am Draco Malfoy! Take it off or I will!" Eyes flashing, he slowly raised his wand, opened his mouth—

"No!" cried Lavender, clutching her hands in the towel.

"Accio!" said Draco, and the next moment the towel flew towards him.

Lavender stood naked in front of him and couldn't believe it. The cool air immediately caused goose bumps on her still damp skin and made her nipples hard. The girl let out a scream of terror and tried to cover her breast and pubic area with her arms and hands. What is he up to?

She began to shiver with fear and cold, but her cheeks grew hot with shame. She had never felt so exposed in her life; it was an absolute nightmare to stand naked in front of the Slytherin, who now let his eyes wander slowly from top to toe over her body, casually dangling his wand in his hand.

Lavender swallowed and slowly tears came to her eyes. I don't have a chance. He can really do what he wants now …

"Let your hair down," Draco demanded in a hoarse voice.

Lavender stared at him, stunned. "Any other requests? A bow around my belly, perhaps?"

"Original idea!" Draco pointed his wand at her again. "Fancy a little Imperius unit, Brown?" he asked, eyes glittering. "You know … either obey me willingly or I'll just make you do it! No problem at all!"

"Okay, okay," Lavender said quickly. Her heart raced with fear. An Unforgivable curse? Is he maybe just bluffing? But what if he can do the others too?

Slowly, she lifted one arm to untie the plait from her head and then undid it. In doing so, she continued to try to cover her nakedness, which of course she could no longer do with one arm. Great trick!, she thought as the first tears rolled down her cheeks. When she was done, she spread her long hair over her breasts and crossed her hands in front of her abdomen. "Like this?" she asked saucily, but with a trembling voice.

"Perfect," Draco said, walking slowly towards her. His grey eyes shone brightly in the incoming sun.

Lavender involuntarily took a few steps back and hissed, "Well, then you can finally leave!" He can't really do that now, can he? Here in the dressing room—and outside his team is waiting—

With one bound, Draco was with Lavender and grabbed her head with both hands, his thumbs pressing against her cheekbones. For a moment they stared wordlessly into each other's eyes, then he leaned down and kissed her hard, almost like a drowning man.

Lavender stood paralysed for a moment. Then she tried to pull away with all her might, whereupon Draco pulled her close and continued to kiss her, one hand buried in her thick hair.

What, if someone comes now!, Lavender involuntarily thought. Only then did she realise that for a moment she had forgotten her fear; that it wasn't just panic and horror that was pumping adrenalin through her veins.

"Draco!" they heard a voice call from far away. "Did you fall in the toilet?"

With a jerk, Draco broke away from Lavender and stared at her, breathing heavily.

Lavender ran the back of her hand over her tingling lips, then hurried to cover her nakedness again as best she could. "I guess you're missed," she finally said, and Draco gruffly brushed a strand of blonde hair out of his face.

"I want a night with you, Lavender Brown," he said hoarsely.

"All right, Malfoy! Now I think you've gone completely megalomaniac!"

Draco raised the wand he had been clutching tightly the whole time and Lavender sneered, "Without it you're nothing!"

"And with it I can finish you off if I feel like it!" replied Draco in a silky smooth voice. "I can make you do things … after which I guarantee you'd wish you'd never been born!"

"Now I'm really getting scared!" said Lavender, trying not to let the fright Draco's threat had given her show.

"Come to the sixth floor tonight at two, in the left corridor, the third door on the left!" ordered Draco curtly.

"You must think you can get away with anything!"

"Yes." Draco looked at her from narrow eyes. "I can! And you can sneak on me all you want, I am not getting expelled from this school!"

He bent down for the towel lying on the floor and flung it at Lavender, who immediately wrapped herself in it. Then he turned to go.

"What if I don't come?" shouted Lavender from behind him.

Draco turned and mockingly pursed his lips, which were still red from kissing. "You don't wanna know!"

"Draaaacoo!" the voice rang out again from the pitch. "Where are you?!"

"Show-off!" said Lavender, who was already visibly more comfortable with her towel. "You can't scare me!"

"Oh no? Not even on the Quidditch pitch? Like the other day? That was quite a scream you made!"

"You didn't?"

"If you don't come, I'll finish you off at the game," Draco whispered. "And your mudblood girlfriend is actually still doing far too well either, don't you think?" Draco's eyes flickered in a way that Lavender didn't like at all. Fear came up in her again and clenched around her heart like a cold hand. "Leave Parvati out of this!"

"Why should I?" asked Draco coldly. "She's scum anyway!"

"Why won't you leave us alone?" cried Lavender in exasperation, new tears streaming down her face. "Have you forgotten what we discussed at Dumbledore's the other day?"

"You haven't left me alone either, Brown," Draco murmured. "Eyes speak louder than words."

"What the fuck do you mean?"

"You gave me the signals, you little hussy," Draco explained calmly. "And now you wonder why I want to go to bed with you!"

"My God, I was just joking!" cried Lavender, stunned. "I mean, you've been signalling to me for years that you want me to smack you in the mouth, and I've never hit you either!"

With that, she had obviously gone too far with Draco again. "That's enough!" He rushed towards her with a furious expression and an almost insane look in his eyes, waving his wand wildly, and Lavender looked around the room frantically, as if a possibility of escape could open up out of nowhere.

"DRAAAACOOO!"

Draco winced, his face returning to some semblance of normal. "Okay, I'm going now," he said in a tightly controlled voice. "And for you, I can only advise: Be—there—tonight!"

Finally he left the room and Lavender made sure she got into her clothes. Then she jumped on her broom and sped off as if the devil was breathing down her neck.