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Consequences	By : Aline Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 33797 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
Chapter 12. Prefect�s Duty.

Harry was waiting for Hermione
in the common room, he still didn�t know exactly what to tell her, but he
supposed a direct approach was the best. He only wanted to make sure that she
was alright, he had already guessed that she didn�t want to commit to a serious
relationship with Ron, though it would have been nice to see both of them happy
together, he wasn�t about to convince Hermione to do something she didn�t want
to.

It was Saturday and Hermione
always was one of the few early risers on weekends, so Harry was truly
surprised when Ron came downstairs, and the girl had yet to make an appearance.
Ron had wanted to wait for her with him, but Harry insisted that he had to talk
with Hermione alone; Ron conceded after a while and left for the Great Hall
with Seamus and Dean.

Harry was sure breakfast was
about to end when Hermione finally appeared, she looked surprised to see him
there.

�Oh. Hi Harry. Were you waiting
for me?�

�Yes, I was about to try and call
for you from the entrance to the girl�s dormitories.� said Harry, approaching
his friend and watching her attentively. She didn�t seem ill, maybe a little
tired, but the sad look that had been in her face the previous days had
disappeared.

�Oh, I�m so sorry Harry. I was
pretty tired last night and I overslept a little.�

�It�s ok Hermione, don�t worry.�

�Well, shall we go?�

�Mmm.
Actually, I want to talk with you.�

�Really?� Hermione arched an eyebrow in question, though she had an idea of
what Harry wanted to talk about, she hoped it was not about the map that was
presently forgotten in the secret room in the dungeons. They both took a seat on
the armchairs.

�Um, yes. You know, lately you have seemed a little upset. Something
happened?�

Hermione almost sighed in
relief; she smiled to her friend and answered.

�Nothing to worry about Harry,
really, I�ve just been doing a lot of thinking.�

�Mmm. Something about Ron and his �proposition�?�

Hermione blushed
a little, but answered none the less, for some strange reason she felt more at
ease talking to Harry about this than to Ginny.

�Well, actually I had decided
that I don�t want to hear his proposition. You see, I like you both being my
friends. I really don�t want that to change. And I don�t know how to tell that
to Ron. Ginny kind of freaked out and is totally convinced that I�m confused
and that I am deeply in love with her brother. I�m not eager to see how Ron
will react if his sister�s response is any indication.�

�Yeah, I know what you mean.
Listen, I can talk with Ron and try to ease him, maybe get him into the idea
that you both are better of as friends, if you like.�

�Oh Harry, that would be
helpful, thank you.�

�You�re welcome �Mione. Maybe we can still catch the end of breakfast.�

�Sure, let�s go.�

They both stood, and Harry,
without thinking twice, did a very Harry-like thing. He hugged Hermione
tightly. And this time he felt it. She tensed. It was only a second, and then
she relaxed and almost reluctantly returned the hug, but Harry noticed it
wasn�t as she used to give them, she almost felt insecure. Harry released her
and eyed her warily.

��Mione? What�s the matter?�

She blushed and tried to put
herself under control.

�What do you mean Harry?�

�You tensed; you never get tense
when someone hugs you.�

�Oh, it�s nothing Harry; you
surprised me that�s all. Come on! Or we won�t have
breakfast today!�

Before Harry could open his
mouth again, she turned on her heels and left the Gryffindor common room. Harry
frowned and followed her. He was really missing something; he hoped it wouldn�t
turn out to be something really bad.

Hermione�s mood seemed to
improve over the next few days, and Harry�s worries eased somewhat. Ron wasn�t
happy when Harry advised him to wait a little more to make an advance with
Hermione, let her relax and finish school without other worries. Ginny wasn�t
happy either, she had expected kisses, hugs, and romance, but eventually Harry
managed to get her agree that they mustn�t pressure Hermione, she was well
capable of handling her own life, and she would know when she wanted to get in
a serious relationship.

Hermione was grateful that some
of the stress coming from Ron�s part had lessened considerably. Both boys
returned to leave her to her studies when she wanted to be alone; the only
thing they plainly refused was to let her go study with Malfoy all by herself.
It was annoying. For the potions project Harry had to be there anyway, but she
was sure that Ron would have stayed in her Arithmancy
class if he could. The first time she and Malfoy tried to get started on their
project had turned into a shouting match between the blonde Slytherin and the
two Gryffindor boys, more exactly, Ron had done an enormous amount of the
shouting while the other two engaged themselves mostly in a glaring match.
Oddly enough that had resulted in Hermione and Draco starting the project over
the blankets of their secret room. Next time they had to meet with the imposing
presence of Harry and Ron together, Draco had made sure it was in the library,
and he had dragged along Goyle, Zabini and Bulstrode
with him, so the Gryffindors were outnumbered and he and Granger could actually
get something done.

Ron and Harry soon realized that
Malfoy was as addicted as Hermione to get good grades, both boys were horrified
to see that, not even the perspective of being stuck with his three most hated
Gryffindors, would stop Malfoy from spending hours in the library in said
company, if that meant his grades will be outstanding. For Harry it was double
torture because of the potions project, and he discovered, to his dismay, that
the Ravenclaws were even worse than Malfoy and
Hermione together. By the middle of the month, the Boy-Who-Lived was convinced
that soon he�d have to ask Dumbledore for a bed in the library, seeing that he
seemed to get out of it only for meals, classes and Quidditch
practices; he was sure that the Ravenclaws had a
secret passage from their tower to the library, and that they would be happy to
spend the rest of their lives imbibed in books.

All in all, things seemed to
have returned to almost normal. The Daily Prophet continued to report a variety
of minor Death Eater�s attacks, and the new Minister of Magic had decreed some
kind of martial law. The majority of the first and second years from all the
Houses were removed from school, but the rest had stayed, some parents,
realizing that Hogwarts was a lot safer than their own homes, had even refused
their children�s petitions to go back to them.

The atmosphere in the castle was
still tense, but the absence of the majority of the Slytherins had been
somewhat comforting, to the point that many students were convinced that
Hogwarts was now positively free of any Dark Lord�s supporters; many others
still suspected Malfoy and his friends to be the only rotten eggs left. Harry
and Ron were among that last category, but much to their disappointment Malfoy
so far hadn�t done anything for which they could openly point their wands at
him, their only �proof� to Malfoy�s loyalties was the bandage of his left arm,
that sometimes could barely be seen below his shirt, and that the two
Gryffindors were sure concealed the Dark Mark, but no one seemed to think their
suspicions were important and that frustrated them to no end.

Draco and Hermione continued
their nightly meetings without accidents, and the boy was highly satisfied
about that. He had also managed to pay back Marshall for the attack to his person without
leaving a single thing that could be traced back to him. So far, he and Granger
had achieved a certain routine, which now included a lot of studying in the
library, with the added bonus of making Potter�s and Weasley�s
lives miserable without lifting a finger.

Malfoy was aware that his
attitude towards the Gryffindor girl had changed in public, it had been subtle,
more like civility towards each others, but it was a change nonetheless. Over
the month he had received a good amount of suspicious and surprised glances
from his housemates, who were the only ones that had registered his and
Granger�s barely noticeable change; Draco was sure that some of the Slytherins
were only waiting for him to make a more friendly move towards the Gryffindors,
so they could officially have free rein to start making their own alliances
with them. He didn�t worry too much about his housemates� surveillance, he was
pretty sure that no one suspected the true nature of his recent civility to
Granger, which didn�t extend to the rest of the golden trio, they were under
the impression that he was starting to prove the ground for his own alliances.

Little they know that his actual
concerns had nothing to do with alliances, crazy Dark Lords or stupid wars, his
only worry was to keep things with Granger the way they were at the moment, and
making sure no one suspected them of having anything, not even akin to friendship,
and thankfully the covert of Dumbledore�s �Unity Project� had proven to be very
helpful. It was more for her safety than anything else. He had been thinking
things over and had concluded that he actually didn�t care if all the school
discovered they had been sleeping together, but he had finally acknowledged the
fact that he didn�t want Granger to get hurt. She still had hope that the Dark
Lord would be defeated, and foolish as he saw it, he didn�t want her to lose it
yet, it was part of what she was, and if they suddenly went and told the world
they had a liaison, all the junior death eaters that still were in the school
would be after her, hoping to get to him.

It wouldn�t matter to them the
fact that it was only an affair, based almost entirely in convenience, and that
there were no deep emotions involved; they would only want to make clear that
anything Draco touched would be in danger, and since the Crabbe
incident they realized that they couldn�t do a thing to the Slytherins, they�d
go for any other prey that seemed more available. Draco wasn�t even sure of how
many followers of the Dark Lord were still in the school, and those idiotic friends
of the bushy haired girl would never believe that someone not Slytherin could
be a dark wizard in disguise until it was too late.

It frustrated Malfoy to no end
the fact that Potter was so immersed in catching him doing something
suspicious, that he didn�t put enough attention to the rest of his fellow
students. All of them could be in real danger, Hermione could get hurt in any
moment and the stupid fool was focused in petty rivalry!

To make things better, Draco had
realized that Granger had suddenly became Hermione in his mind. It was
annoying. He had no business thinking about her in first name. It unnerved him
that he had started to see her more and more like a real person, instead of the
convenient lay she was supposed to be. He didn�t want to acknowledge it, but
deep inside him he knew he was starting to feel real affection for her. It
wasn�t right, he tried to deny these new feelings and bury them deep in his
mind, but the entire world seemed to be conspiring against him.

It had started with professor
Snape, the man had initially been furious over Draco�s
near death experience, Crabbe had been given permanent
detention with his Head of House, and Malfoy suspected that his godfather had
something to do with the fact that he could take his revenge from Marshall, who
was a Ravenclaw, without further consequences; but
Snape had been watching his godson more closely since then, and it was starting
to get on Malfoy�s nerves.

It had been a surprise when the
Potions Master had made Malfoy and Granger stay behind after one class, to name
them responsible of the potions project advances, and after that the man had decided
that the class should work mixed, so he put all of them in pairs, making sure
that each one had a partner of a different House, somehow Malfoy had ended
paired with Granger, much to Blaise�s amusement and
Potter�s wrath. Draco was starting to suspect that his godfather knew
something, but he dismissed the thought, if Snape really knew about his affair
with Granger, Malfoy was sure that the man would be doing anything within his
reach to get them apart from each other, not making them spend more time
together.

Also, they had the prefect�s
meetings, which had been increased due to the recent new security means, and
the constant surveillance they had to do over the rest of their schoolmates.

And finally, Weasley seemed
determined to get more annoying each day. He just couldn�t stop teasing Malfoy
about the Dark Mark, it was starting to have the, obviously unwanted, effect of
Hermione sitting beside Draco every time they worked in the library, saying
that they should make an effort and put an example to the rest of the School,
so the other students saw that House Unity could be possible, it was starting
to drive Weasley mad.

All things considered, the end
of the month caught Draco doing serious thinking about the mess his casual
affair was in, but he still didn�t want it to end, Hermione was turning out to
be the sexiest and most intelligent girl he had ever laid eyes on; he didn�t
want to give her up, especially when the next available option for her was a
Weasley, she deserved better. Malfoy was starting to think that they could have
both done pretty well together; it really was a pity that their time was
running out fast. Damn the Dark Lord and his useless war.

Draco was thinking about the
utter unfairness of the world, while he waited outside of the prefect�s meeting
room for the rest of the House�s prefects to arrive. It was Saturday, and the
new security rules specified that Saturday afternoons the prefects should have
a meeting with the Heads of House, to give them their reports. Personally Malfoy
thought it was useless, but Snape had agreed to it, and as the Slytherin Head
boy he had the obligation to support his Head of House and keep his opinions to
himself.

So, now there he was, waiting
with the rest of the Slytherin prefects for the door of the meeting room to be
opened, which would happen when the four Heads of House arrived. So far only
Snape and McGonagall were present, neither seemed particularly happy this
afternoon, in fact, Draco noticed that McGonagall�s lips were pressed so tightly
they were practically invisible. He supposed she was annoyed because her
precious Gryffindors hadn�t arrived yet. Professor Snape was watching the lot
of them contemptuously, and avoiding eye contact with the Gryffindor witch.
Draco was starting to wonder if something had transpired between them when the Ravenclaws arrived, followed by the Hufflepufs.
Professor Flitwick arrived too, and moments later the
Gryffindors.

Draco automatically searched for
the bushy haired girl, and had to stop himself from going to her. The weasel
was at her side as always, not happy at all for having to waste a perfect
Saturday afternoon in a meeting, but then, no one really looked forward to
these meetings. Granger was rolling her eyes at his behaviour; the girl had
always wished that her friend would act a little more mature, at least in front
of the school faculty. Draco had said to her earlier in the month that it was
clearly impossible for the weasel to be mature. Malfoy smiled to himself,
remembering how she had been affronted at his comment, when he noticed the way
professor McGonagall was watching him. Almost as though she had caught him
doing something inappropriate, he straightened himself and looked at her
coldly. She huffed and then turned to the two seventh year Gryffindors, and she
looked worried. Malfoy arched an eyebrow, suddenly intrigued by this. He turned
towards Weasley and Granger, trying to see what had worried their Head of
House, when professor Sprout finally arrived and all of them had to enter the
meeting room.

The reunion was utterly boring;
Malfoy spent it thinking about homework and Quidditch
manoeuvres, occasionally sending suggestive glances to Granger, which the girl
ignored. It wasn�t until the end of the meeting that Malfoy was startled to
attention, as he heard his name in McGonagall�s voice.

�We have a final announcement.
Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger, this will concern you both.�

Malfoy narrowed his eyes at Gryffindor�s Head of House, she had that odd look of worry
in her eyes again; this couldn�t be good.

�Professor Dumbledore has been
pleased to see that our efforts towards House Unity are starting to show
results�. Many of the prefects smiled at the announcement, those results were
mostly homework groups and some new inter-house couples. �And he wishes to give
it stronger push.�

Malfoy winced, he didn�t like
the way that sounded; he definitely didn�t like the apologetic look McGonagall
threw to Hermione.

�So, we are establishing new
extracurricular activities, and the Head Boy along with the Head Girl will be
responsible of the organization and implementation of them. That would be Mr.
Malfoy and Miss Granger; obviously the task would mean that both of you have to
take part in said activities, together.�

Malfoy could hear the silence
around him and he mentally started to count. One� two�

�WHAT?!�

Weasley�s yell of incredulity made McGonagall narrow her eyes; all the
Gryffindors were visibly distressed.

�Professor, you can�t be
serious!!�

�Ron!� Granger tried to placate
her friend to no avail; Weasley�s temper was already
up.

�Why him?! You can�t make Hermione try to get along with that�!�

�Mr. Weasley, that�s enough!�
McGonagall interrupted the red head�s rant with an angry shout, Ron�s face was
all red, Malfoy smirked at him maliciously and Granger threw him a warning
glare. McGonagall tried to continue.

�Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger are
the top students of the Seventh year, their grades are exceptional, also we
hope that seeing them both working as a team would encourage others to do the
same, not only in homework or study groups.�

�But professor�!�

�Mr. Weasley, I really believe
that there should be no problems with the Headmaster�s decision.� said
McGonagall through gritted teeth, clearly warning Ron to shut up. The boy
seemed oblivious to it, much to Granger�s clear embarrassment.

�I have a problem with it
professor! To let Hermione spend time with him would be endangering her!�

�Ron stop!�
Hermione was truly worried now; Malfoy could see McGonagall fighting to not
agree with her student. All the other prefects were trying very hard to
disappear. The Slytherins were starting to put their guards up.

�And why do you think the girl
would be in any danger around my student Mr. Weasley?� Said Snape dangerously,
McGonagall was trying to stupefy Ron with her glare, but the boy ignored the
warning signals.

�Come on! You know why! He�s a�!
Mmmmph!�

Hermione practically jumped over
her friend and silenced him forcefully with a hand over his mouth, she looked
at the Slytherins apologetically and then to professor Snape.

�I�m so sorry professor; he�s
not himself right now. He and Harry had been trying some suspicious candies
from his brothers� shop. I think they are a little toxic.�

�Yeah, as if the stupid boy
needed poison to make his brain works any slower.� muttered Millicent at
Malfoy�s side, the Slytherins that heard her smirked in appreciation.

Draco scowled at the red headed
boy, and then looked worriedly at Granger; she was blushing with embarrassment
but accepted the task professor McGonagall was giving them, much to Weasley�s anger. Malfoy could see the Gryffindor was going
to have another rant, when his Head of House stopped him; she deducted ten
points from Gryffindor and sent him to his common room. Weasley left fuming and
with that the meeting finished, everybody went out, gossiping about the scene
they had just witnessed, Malfoy and Granger stayed behind to accompany their
Heads of House to the Headmaster�s office; Dumbledore would tell them
personally what their new duties were and the new activities they�ll have to
organize.

Hermione and Draco entered
Dumbledore�s office followed by professors Snape and McGonagall. The Headmaster
gestured for them to take a seat and offered them tea and lemon drops, which
they politely declined; Dumbledore smiled and started to get to the point.

�I think that your Heads of
House have already told you what this is about.�

�Yes sir.� Hermione answered,
Draco was looking thoughtfully at the Headmaster.

�Excuse me sir, I have to ask
you a question. Why us?� Malfoy would never admit it,
but he agreed with Weasley in that making him and Hermione work together was
dangerous for her; they were bound to start being friendly and attract unwanted
attention from some suspicious students and, although they�ll be spending an
awful lot of time together, they would also be closely watched, and Malfoy
didn�t like to be watched for. Dumbledore smiled knowingly at him and
explained.

�Mr. Malfoy, I�m aware that this
seems strange, but you know very well that Gryffindor and Slytherin are the two
Houses that hold the strongest rivalry against each other, thus they are the
ones that we need to join publicly if we want the House Unity project to work
fully.�

�Yes, but why
us? Why not Weasley and Bulstrode?� Even Snape rolled his eyes at that, and
Draco pouted. �Ok, that was not very intelligent, but someone of the other
years?�

�Mr. Malfoy� This time it was
Snape the one who talked. �We both know pretty well how Slytherin House works,
and you know they won�t follow any lead apart from yours now.�

Draco huffed, and looked at
Hermione. She was doing her best to not seem happy with the turn of things and
was barely succeeding, but Draco could still see her eyes gleam with mirth. He
sighed in resignation and listened to Dumbledore�s words.

�Good. Now, we have considered a
wide variety of different activities, and I want to hear your opinion on them.�

They went over numerous
activities, both muggle and wizarding
alike. McGonagall got a floo call from the hospital
wing and had to left after a few minutes, Snape stayed and gave his opinion
about some things, and how this development would affect the students� grades.

Finally they agreed about doing
a Quidditch group for those that didn�t belong to the
official House teams; a dance group, a gardening group and to reopen the DA as
a dueling club. Dumbledore said he already had talked
with Harry Potter to guide the group again, so Draco�s
job was to make the Slytherins join in it. For the gardening group they were
going to get Neville�s help; Granger would lead the dance classes and Malfoy
the Quidditch.

Hermione tried to get out of the
Quidditch group, saying that she was completely
hopeless at it, and Malfoy complained at having to be in gardening, but
Dumbledore insisted in that he wanted both of them to be active participants of
all the groups, even if they weren�t guiding them, and the two youngsters had
to comply.

�One last thing, we are going to
dissolve the House boundaries a little. From now on, starting tomorrow, there
will be only one table in the Great Hall in the weekends; it would be nice if
you two sit together at it.�

It was not a suggestion;
Hermione opened her mouth and closed it, not sure if she wanted to object.
Malfoy narrowed his eyes; this situation was highly suspicious already. Why
them? Draco didn�t believe that Dumbledore only wanted to have the Houses
united. And how in hell would he manage to keep his hands off Granger, if they
were being practically thrown together all the time?

Snape coughed meaningfully to
the Headmaster, and the old man�s face brightened in a way that nearly gave
Draco the scare of his life.

�Oh, yes! We are going to have a
ball at the end of the School term, much like a prom for the seventh years, I
would like for you two to open the dancing.�

Draco could feel his mouth
hanging open in astonishment. This wasn�t prefect�s duty; this man was up to
something else! Malfoy turned to see the impassive mask of indifference his
uncle had in place, and for a clear moment had the horrid certainty that both
professors were together in this.

Hermione was blushing furiously,
completely speechless, her first thought was that the Headmaster knew what was
happening between her and Draco, but she dismissed it readily; if that were
true then they both should have been in deep trouble. It was against the rules
to have sex inside the school compound, but then why was the Headmaster trying
his best to couple them? Draco felt compelled to say something.

�You can�t be serious. I can�t
go on a date with her!�

�Why not Mr.
Malfoy?�

�Because she� I�!� Draco was at
a loss of words, for a moment he thought about calling her a mudblood, but that would be getting into more trouble with
the Headmaster. Hermione came to his rescue, seeing that he was still shocked.

�Malfoy and I don�t get along
too well Headmaster. It would be a miracle if we manage to work together in the
group organizations without killing each other.�

�My thoughts
exactly.� Said Draco, awfully relieved,
Dumbledore however wasn�t about to give up.

�It doesn�t have to be a date;
you only have to open the dance, as a symbol of peace and unity.�

Nothing they said could have
changed the Headmaster�s mind, so they resigned themselves to their doom and
Dumbledore dismissed them happily.

As soon as they were outside the
door and the revolving stairs started to carry them down, Hermione sighed in
exasperation.

�Well, at least he�s not making
us live together. Almost.�

�Mmph�
Malfoy had narrowed his eyes, clearly not liking the situation at all.

�What do you think Draco?�

�I have the impression that we
are being set up, but I can�t phantom why.�

�I don�t think professor
Dumbledore has reason to do it.�

�Please Hermione! The man is a
manipulative bastard!�

�Draco! Don�t call him that!�

�But he is! I don�t know why he�s
doing it, but I know he�s hopping to stick us together, and he must have a
reason to do it.�

�You think like a Slytherin, but
not all people has to have a hidden motive to do something�

�I�m totally convinced of the
contrary.� They noticed that they were almost down; they could see the secret
door already opening to let them out.

�We should talk about this
later.�

�Tonight?� asked Hermione
hopefully.

�Yes. Meanwhile, I�d let you
break the news.�

�Break the news? To whom?�

They were getting out to the corridor,
and Malfoy gestured in front of them at two worried looking Gryffindors.

�Them.�

�Hermione!�

Harry and Ron immediately
surrounded their friend, pulling her apart from Malfoy. Ron was still pretty
pissed off and he started ranting.

�Tell me you made him see reason
Hermione! Tell me Dumbledore isn�t making you work with the ferret!�

�Ron! Would you calm down?
Please?� Granger was a little embarrassed, she didn�t want to tell them
everything, especially the part of the dance, she believed Ron was capable of
getting into the Headmaster�s office and yell at the professor. Harry was
glaring at Malfoy, but he turned to look at his friend and asked her,

�Hermione, then it�s true what
Ron told me? Dumbledore wants you both to work together at some crazy thing?�

�How very specific of you
Potter� snarled Malfoy, Ron wanted to strangle him.

�Shut up ferret!�

�Ron, don�t make a scene here!
We�re outside of the Headmaster�s office! And it�s not some crazy thing Harry;
it�s the organization of some extracurricular activities, to encourage inter
house friendships.�

�But why does it have to be you
and him?�

�I asked that same question
Potter; the answer was not very encouraging.�

Harry ignored Malfoy and kept
watching Hermione, the girl sighed and answered what she suspected was an
excuse from Dumbledore�s part.

�Because we are the top Seventh
year students and��

�But Hermione he�s Malfoy and
he�s a Slytherin!!� Ron interrupted her, clearly frustrated.

�How very
observant of you Weasley.� Malfoy said in
sarcasm, Ron glared daggers at him, and Hermione started to feel frustrated
herself.

�Please, could we at least try
to be civil? If you let me finish Ron, I was about to say that, what we are,
it�s precisely the reason why professor Dumbledore wants the two of us to be together
in this.�

�What?� said Harry, a little confused. �Because he�s Malfoy and a Slytherin and you
are�?�

�Hermione Granger and a
Gryffindor, yes Harry.� Said Hermione looking at him calmly.
The look in Harry�s eyes changed as he pondered the implications of this. Ron
looked them both with a frown on his face.

�What? I don�t get it. What does
it have to do with this mess?�

Hermione looked at him with
tired eyes, and Malfoy sighed in exasperation.

�Merlin! Why did I think there were other options apart from me?�

Ron was about to make a rude
comment, but Harry talked first.

�You don�t seem to have made
much effort to get yourself out of this Malfoy. Why are you agreeing with it?�

�Look Potter, I did voice my
objections, especially to the gardening thing and� some other activities, but
it�s not as if the old coot really gave me a choice in the matter. In fact he
was very� insistent, in some odd kind of way about it.� Malfoy carefully
avoided mentioning the new table arrangements or the dance; he wasn�t in the
mood for more of Weasley�s anger. The red haired boy
made a disgusted face.

�Gardening? What the hell are you talking about?�

�You are going to do gardening
Malfoy?� said Harry, disbelievingly.

�Don�t laugh too soon Potter.
You are going to see me at that DA club of yours also.�

�What!!� Ron was sounding closer
to desperation; Hermione grabbed his arm to stop him from putting his hands on
Malfoy.

�I�ll let Granger explain it to
you weasel. I�m not in the mood to threat with dumb heads like you. Excuse me.�

Malfoy turned away from them and
started to retreat. Harry glared at his back, silently fuming and cursing
himself for not having suspected that Dumbledore wanted to make the Slytherins
join the DA. Ron was in near shock.

�Will somebody explain to me what
is happening?!!�

�Come on Ron, I�ll explain it to
you in our way to the common room.�

And the three friends walked
together to Gryffindor tower, to do some homework while they waited for dinner
time.

As soon as Hermione and Draco
left the office, Dumbledore sighed and looked at the Potion�s Master; he was
pleased at the meeting�s results, even if the two youngsters were in total
denial of what they felt for each other, which had been clear like water to the
Headmaster�s accurate eyes.

�Well Severus, it seems you were
right, this could be a huge advantage to us, if we handle it carefully.�

�Yes, if Mr. Malfoy indeed
changes his alliances, and we manage to get rid of Malfoy senior.�

�I don�t think young Mr. Malfoy
would be a problem, they really do look well together.� said Dumbledore, his
eyes sparkling joyfully.

�Mmph. It�s still a delicate
matter, I know they�re having an affair, I�ve seen them. But the boy is known
to have meaningless affairs too often. This could simply be a pastime.�

�Oh, no Severus, I really doubt
it. It�s serious. However, they don�t seem to know it yet. I think a little
push would be very useful for them. And don�t forget we need him.�

�There are many powerful wizards
that would aid Potter in his task.�

�Yes, but none of them is a
Malfoy. And you know how important names are in our society, mostly in
politics. However foolish it is, that is the way of things now. If Voldemort looses Malfoy�s support he will automatically
loose any chance he has to turn the pureblooded
wizards that are still neutral, to his side, and many of the half-bloods. He
might even loose some of his followers. Malfoy is a powerful name Severus, and
we need as many supporters as we can achieve; we must have him with us.�

�Then, perhaps we have to make
things go faster?� Said Snape, arching an eyebrow, Dumbledore smiled to him.

�No, it won�t be necessary. I�m
confident that, with what we�ve already done, they will work it out by
themselves. We must focus on other pressing matters, and on Malfoy senior.�

�If you say
so.� Severus seemed unconcerned, but Dumbledore
knew that he will be watching over his godson; the Headmaster smiled again.

�Of course Severus, don�t worry yourself. Tea?�
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Consequences