Let There Be No More Curse | By : lexiatel Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 61015 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 10 |
Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to Jk Rowling, I do not make any profit in writing this story what so ever, I am just having some fun. |
Things went rather smoothly after Draco's return. Hermione made to keep herself close to him so he wouldn't feel left out. He didn't partake in many conversations as he probably felt out of place with the people that were once considered his enemies, but he appeared happy enough with holding Hermione's hand just the same. She'd give him a faint smile whenever he squeezed it. Hermione wasn't sure if Draco did it because he was in comfort or needed the comfort— either way, she hadn't been able to tell.
There were a few times when she would try to ease Draco into a conversation here and there, but it deadpanned quickly. The whole 'trust Draco Malfoy' thing was something that would need a bit of work. It wasn't something that could be done hastily. Hermione knew this herself. It had taken her a week to even talk to him, and many more weeks after that to realize that he had changed for the better. He had changed enough to fall in love with, and that was a huge deal. Maybe her friends would eventually see what she did. She hoped they would.
Hermione hadn't been the only one to make an effort to include Draco in the party. Harry also made several attempts, but everything just ended up in an awkward silence, with a lot of uneasy scratching and throat clearing.
"Well, you could discuss your favourite Quidditch teams," she had finally suggested in a matter-of-fact. Secretly, she congratulated herself on her brilliance. Quidditch was always a conversation starter. It never failed.
Of course then it lead into a 'friendly' argument on whose favourite player was better, and even Neville (who was not one to get heated over a pointless thing) had joined in.
Thankfully, George took note when it was time for a subject change and intervened with the topic of a new product of his.
"Aye, Malfoy, I got something for you to try!" he cut in with over-excitement, waving his wand and summoning a couple case of potions. "If you end up liking it, you can spread the word to your mates. You'll want to drink these just before you settle down with your other half," he explained, sending a grin at Hermione, and she immediately began wondering what the potions was.
"Why are you giving me one?" Draco asked uncertainly when George held it out for him.
"You are a guest of this party," George replied with a wink. "Everyone here is getting one. You'll love it, you can trust me on this, Malfoy!"
"And just what is it?" Draco took the potion in obvious politeness but he remained skeptical.
Ron shifted in his place near Hermione. "Erm, George, I'm not sure if Malfoy would like—"
"I think Malfoy should be the judge of what he would like and wouldn't like, little brother," George said, brushing Ron off and smirking slightly.
"So, what does it do?" Hermione asked curiously. Draco had popped the cork off already and was sniffing it. He offered it to her when she leaned in to do the same. It smelled a bit like apple juice.
"Don't drink it now!" George reminded Draco hastily. "When you're home and relaxed. Only then."
"It's great," Seamus said with a wide grin. "You definitely need a second person though — if you know what I mean?" He elbowed Dean next to him who gave a sheepish grin.
"It's some adult thing, isn't it?" Anthony Goldstein asked (he was a Ravenclaw that had fought in the war and had become close friends with Neville since then).There was a moment of silence as a few of the guys shifted eyes with each other, unwilling to make a verbal affirmative. "Okay, you just have to tell me what it does!" Anthony insisted at the same time Hermione hissed, "There are children here!"
"It does seem a bit inappropriate..." Draco mildly agreed with her. He tapped the vial with a finger, watching a bubble form in the clear liquid and float to the top of it. "I must admit I am quite curious what is going to happen if I drink this though," he said with his eyes heavily focused on the potion. "I don't have to worry about a certain member of my body increasing in size, do I?" At this, he looked at George for an answer. "Because if so, I'm quite equipped, I can assure you that. I have no issues getting the job done. Scorpius being proof, of course."
Hermione felt her face heat up with embarrassment. How Draco was able to say such a thing with a straight face, Merlin only knew.
"It's nothing like that," Seamus assured. "Just give it a try when you're ready."
Draco gave a small shrug and pocketed the potion into his fancy vest.
"Has anyone told you how out of place you look?" Neville gently asked Draco when the crowd had dispersed into smaller groups. "Here, the rest of us are all casual, and you're... dressed up like some Muggle film star at the Red Carpet event."
Draco lightly scoffed. "Just how much Muggle television do you watch, Longbottom?"
"Loads... Luna and her father are quite fascinated with it. I had to ask for assistance from Daniel to help me purchase one for them. Good news for me is that they have programs on gardening, and I've discovered a few techniques that prove to be promising on some magical plants."
Draco nodded. "I've read about a few myself."
"Yeah, Hermione got me a book or two on plants. I've not had the chance to read through them yet, but I plan to soon."
Draco smirked. "Mine's almost half read," he boasted. "And I have a kid."
Neville, noting Draco's bragging, tilted his head and called out to Dean and walked off to start a new conversation with him. Hermione knew Draco had unknowingly chased him off.
"Must you always brag?" she asked Draco quietly.
"How else will they accept me into their little den?" he asked with a bit of sarcasm. "This whole thing's a joke. They don't like me and I'm not going to lie and say I like them— so what's the point in this?"
"I went to your mother's party, it's only fair you stick it out through Harry's," she pointed out.
Draco scrunched up his face and crossed his arms over his chest with a grunt. "You enjoyed my mother's party much more than I am enjoying this one."
"Only once after we started dancing," she reminded.
His eyebrows raised up teasingly. "We could dance here— if that's what you want."
Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed. "There's another reason though," she said, grabbing one of his arms and looping hers around it. "You can prove to these people how much you have changed."
His eyes shifted down to hers before they quickly darted away. He chuckled. "You've been spending too much time with me, Mione, don't you think for a minute that I didn't hint your cunning tone."
Hermione smiled and let her head rest against his shoulder. "I've learned that I can be very persuasive when need to be."
Draco kissed the top of her head. "Good," he whispered to her. "I like it when you let the Slytherin side of you out. In fact, I love it."
"Are you going to show my friends the lion side of you?" Hermione asked seriously.
He let out a snort. "Yes, my soul is as ferocious as a lion!" he muttered in sarcasm.
"Your heart is nearly all lion," she told him gently. "You just don't know it yet."
The look he gave her told her that he doubted what she had said, but by the way he tugged her snug to him let her know that he appreciated the words.
"When do you want to try George's potion?"
"You actually want to do it?" Draco asked warily. "I mean, we're talking about a Weasley product here. We don't know what it is capable of."
Hermione shrugged. "I figure if it was anything outrageous I'd have heard of it by now. Secrets are hard to be kept with George's inventions."
"From what I hear, he didn't invent it," Draco informed. "Some anonymous person he and his brother call, 'The Flamethrower' invented it."
"Oh, I have heard the name mentioned here and there."
"He came up with the idea of the ClickCap."
"Yes, an amazing product." Hermione nodded. How many times had she used her own? Nearly everyday since it have been given to her. "Took George a while to produce it though. I remember Ron grumbling about how uptight George was during the last few weeks of development. Ron even had doubts he'd be able to produce it."
Draco grunted. Hermione looked up at him, trying to read what he was thinking. "What?" she finally asked, unable to make out his emotion.
"Nothing," he shrugged nonchalantly. "Only that it took them three years. It makes me wonder why the Flamethrower guy didn't just go to a different manufacturer." He put his hands in his pockets and set his eyes to the ground at his feet.
"It's a complicated product," Hermione defended her friends' invention abilities.
Her boyfriend burst out laughing— almost mockingly. "Complicated!" he gasped out. "I would have figured with their 'experience' it would have taken about six months! Maybe a year."
"Draco!" Hermione scolded, eyeing those who had looked their way at his laughing.
"I apologize!" he said through his laughter. It was almost hysterical now. "But three years, Hermione! Three years!"
"Is he alright?" Ron called out across the room.
"Yes..." Hermione said, although she was uncertain of her answer.
"Oh, yes! I'm fine!" Draco said with a giggle. "Just terrific!" He took a deep breath and his amusement ceased completely.
"What was that all about?" Harry directed at Hermione.
She shook her head in confusion. "I... don't know."
"Don't look at me like that!" Draco demanded indignantly, tugging down at his vest. "A man can laugh, can he not? Or are Slytherins denied to do that too?" he challenged Harry.
Harry's eyes narrowed a little before he nodded. "I encourage everyone to laugh, which is why I'd love to ask you to share the joke with us. If it made you laugh so hard, maybe it'd make the rest of us too?"
Draco's lips pressed together. His eyes scanned the room, once again the center of attention. "It's... too dirty for the little ones." A smug smile spread across his face, knowing he had pulled a fast one.
Harry accepted that, but Hermione was sure that he didn't believe Draco.
"What was the laughing about?" she asked Draco quietly.
Draco's smile faded and his lips scrunched up into an ugly sneer. "Nothing," he muttered.
Hermione reached up and covered his mouth with her hand.
"What—" he muffled a protest and swiped her hand away. "Don't do that!"
"If they see that look on your face they will never believe you've changed," she huffed.
He nodded in understanding and relaxed his face. "I don't even know why I'm bothering with this rubbish of a party."
"For me," Hermione said. "And your son." She pointed across the way to see Scorpius crawling around after Teddy who was playing with him and Ron's son with a red and yellow ball.
"Eight years old or not, how he can have purple hair is beyond me!" Draco said, speaking about little Teddy's very short, grape purple-tinted hair.
"His mother's favourite was pink," Hermione told him, remembering Tonks's pink hair.
"It's so... artificial!"
"I think it's magical," Hermione argued. "And unique."
Draco rolled his eyes. "And the Ravenclaw comes out. It's where all the strange ones go, Hermione; Ravenclaw." His comment made her giggle, finding a bit of validity in it.
A baby's wail cut through the crowd and everyone stopped what they were doing to see what had happened. Hermione and Draco knew instantly that it belonged to Scorpius and had started pushing through the people, following the sound of their son's cries of agony.
Draco got to him first, lifting the baby into his arms. Scorpius was clutching his head with a hand. "What happened?!" he demanded to no one in particular.
Scorpius answered with an ear piercing scream, "Mina! Mina!" He dove into his mother's chest to seek comfort. Scorpius was now halfway in each of his parents' arms, and people were gathering around him in curious worry.
"I got him," Hermione told Draco, and he let her take over.
"Well?!" he demanded again, his breathing picked up. "What happened to my son?!" His eyes fell onto Teddy as he was the last one to be with Scorpius.
"Erm..." Teddy squirmed and looked away. His purple hair faded into a light blue colour.
"Draco, please don't jump to conclusions," Hermione warned him.
"Do you know what happened, Teddy?" Harry asked gently.
"It was an accident," the boy mumbled.
"What was?" Draco pressed above Scorpius' wails.
"I didn't mean it!" a tiny voice spoke up. "It wasn't Teddy, Daddy!" James inched his way into the scene, his shoulders were sunken down.
"What did you do?" Harry's jaw was set firmly, looking down at his son.
"You were doing something you're not supposed to, weren't you?!" Ginny scolded. "I know that look very well, Harry," she hissed.
Harry nodded in agreement. "Me too."
"I only meant to kick the ball!" James shrieked. "I... missed..." He hung his head down. "I didn't mean to hurt Scorpy!"
"You kicked my son in the head?!"
"Draco, don't." Hermione held out an arm to keep Draco from lunging at the young boy. "You heard him, he didn't mean it."
"I'll handle it," Ginny said, giving her son a narrowed look. "You are in serious trouble, mister!"
"Gin—"
"He needs to be careful around the babies!" Ginny interrupted Harry. "We'll be having another baby very soon, one much younger than Scorpius! He could snap her neck!"
Harry winced at the thought she put into his head. Hermione noticed Draco's face pale a little, as he, too, gave that a thought over.
"We are going to have a little talk!" Ginny snatched James's hand and led him out of the room down a hallway.
"I'm sorry," Harry said to both Draco and Hermione. "Let's make sure there's no lasting injuries," he said grimly, eyeing his godson.
Scorpius had settled down in Hermione's arms and was noticing the sudden attention he was getting. "Daghah!" he said and laughed.
"All is forgotten in his little world," Draco summarized with a chuckle.
"Is he okay, Uncle Harry?" Teddy asked after several diagnostic spells were cast on Scorpius.
"He's fine," Hermione assured the boy, kissing the gurgling Scorpius on his cheek.
"Good." Teddy sighed in relief. He then ran off to play with Albus.
"James knows he's not allowed to kick the ball around the house— for that very reason," Harry said. "Unfortunately, that wasn't his first time accidentally kicking someone."
Draco scrunched up his upper lip. "Kids do... unexpected things," he muttered reluctantly.
"I'm just making sure you're not going to hold this over my son's head for the rest of his life," Harry told him rather bluntly and waited for a response to that.
Draco looked at his happy son. His scratched the back of his head a bit before replying. "Scorpius seems to have put it in the past, I may as well too."
Hermione smiled, proud that Draco was able to do such a thing. "See?" she said to her friends. "I told you he's not a prat anymore!"
Everyone laughed. Even Draco got a tickle of amusement from her comment.
*/*
Everything appeared to be fine to Draco. People weren't looking at him like he was going to curse them if they turned their back on him. This was quite relieving to Draco, and actually a bit hopeful to him. With little time, maybe he would be able to convince these war heroes that he wasn't some criminal anymore.
Right now, those who wanted to play Quidditch were lined up outside in Potter's Quidditch Pitch, mounted on their brooms. Potter was going to captain one team, and Ron Weasley the other. They only had to pick their teammates before the game started.
Well, all were lined up except for Draco. He wondered how this was going to work. There were so many people that wanted to play that there was enough for practically four different teams. Some people wouldn't get to play once the captains would pick the players they wanted on their team. Then what? Everyone else would have to sit out? Watching the game in envy because they weren't picked to play?
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, coming up to him after noticing he was still on the ground. "Why aren't you up there with the rest of them?"
Draco looked up toward the near thirty men, women, and children who hovered high up in the sky, waiting patiently as Potter and Weasley privately discussed who was going to be on their team.
"Do you really think they are going to pick me to play— when they can just pick one of their best mates instead?" he asked. He was trying to hide how he really felt, which was a feeling of being left out (it had been ages since he played Quidditch. Since school, really, and he had been looking forward to this). By the frown on his girlfriend's face though, Draco could tell that he hadn't applied much effort in hiding his emotions from her.
Merlin, am I just getting that soft?!
"You're a good player," she told him. "Of course they'll pick you!"
Draco sighed. "There are 29 people up there, Hermione... None of which are my friends or family... A Quidditch game only needs 14. I can do math. 15 people won't get to play..."
Hermione giggled making him scowl. "How is that funny?!" he snapped.
She grabbed onto the arm of his robes and started pulling him toward the Pitch. "I did warn you about Gryffindors, Draco Malfoy."
Draco let her lead him, wondering what she meant by that. "They won't let me play," he insisted quietly to her, looking straight above him, squinting his eyes from the bright lights that lit up the Pitch, since it was now nighttime.
"Get on your broom, Draco." She rolled her eyes when he refused to. "Just get up there and see what happens, will you?! Stop automatically assuming the worst!" With that, she playfully smacked him a good one on his rump.
His jaw dropped, scandalize. "What was that for?!"
She laughed. "I learned it from your mother! And if you don't get up there, you'll get another!" She stomped her foot as a warning.
"I'm going! Merlin!" He quickly mounted his broom, praying that the guys above him hadn't seen what she had just done. Thankfully, no one was laughing or snickering his way. They were too busy with their friends.
Hermione gave him one last taunting look before he kicked off in fear that she may just do exactly what she had threatened. He didn't want her doing that in private, much less in public.
"Have fun, Draco!" she called up to him in a series of giggles.
Yeah, right...
"Thought ya chickened out," Finnigan said when Draco stopped next to him.
Draco chose to say nothing and waited with the rest of them.
"Are ya done yet? The New Year will ring in soon if you don't hurry it up!" Finnigan called out. An echo of agreement followed.
"Alright, alright!" Weasley waved them off without even a glance their way. He and Potter were still turned away from the line up.
"Come on!" George shouted, eagerly spinning his broom in circles. "Getting dizzy here!"
"We're done!" Harry announced as he and Ron approached them. "Everyone here knows the rules. Be gentle around the younger players—" he nodded to a few teenagers and Teddy. "To be fair, we've given them the Beater positions—"
"So we don't even get to pick what we get to be?" Draco interrupted. "What's the fun in that?"
"You'll want to take my word on this, Malfoy, it's safer this way."
Draco kept his opinion to himself. It was Potter's game after all. And as long as he was Seeker, he didn't care who was what.
Everyone was called to a team then. Draco was surprised when he was told that he'd be on Potter's team. He was still confused though, since there was still the matter that there were too many players for the game.
"I suppose I'm just here in case you get knocked from your broom by the tiny beaters?" he asked Potter when he was informed that he would be the Seeker.
"Coming to conclusions again, Malfoy?" Potter asked him cockily. "Come here, and I'll explain it to you, alright?"
So Draco joined his team of Quidditch players. Many of them he didn't even know. Perhaps they were people who Potter and his friends had met after the war. Some were even older than he was; middle aged men and women. Besides Potter, Teddy and Percy Weasley were the only ones Draco physically knew of. He didn't even know Percy Weasley could play Quidditch, but Percy had been a know-it-all in school, and his siblings had all been players at one time or another, so he probably had played some in his youth.
Potter explained how things went with this Quidditch match, mainly for Draco's sake, because he'd never played at a Potter-Weasley Quidditch game. It was actually easy, and Draco was surprised he hadn't thought of it in the beginning.
Team positions were just doubled-up. Simple.
Yes, simple it was, but also extremely chaotic, and he learned why Hermione had teased him earlier, and why she had said that Gryffindors knew how to party. They really had no self-control or organization. As Draco observed his fellow players, he learned that they played more for fun than anything else. The Pitch was so busy with activity and movement, Draco doubted that anyone really knew what was going on (there wasn't even a real referee). He watched kids mindlessly chase each other around with bludgers. A wrestling match happened between six Chasers over the Quaffle, looking more like an American football match than Quidditch. The Keepers at each end were bellowing out to the Chasers to get a grip.
Ron Weasley's wife flew past Draco, catching his attention and pulling it from the wild game. She was an opposing Seeker, and her quick pace told him that she had spotted the Snitch. Potter was breaking up a fight between two fighting teenagers, which left the 'seeking' up to Draco.
Draco whipped his broom around to chase after the woman, his eyes flew this way and that, looking for that golden little flutter of wings. Blindly, he followed her around the Pitch until he was neck to neck with her.
Where is it? he asked himself, intent on finding it. He dodged the Quaffle that flew just inches from his ear. He was now half a broomstick ahead of the other Seeker, but still hadn't seen a single glimpse of the Snitch.
"Game's over! Anthony's caught the Snitch!" George hollered out in triumph.
"We won!" Ron cheered.
How?
Draco was puzzled. Anthony was on the other side of the Pitch. Surely the Snitch didn't make it over there that fast? Besides, Susan hadn't even been looking that way.
"Congratulations!" Harry said. "Thomas and Brad decided to have a punching match." He tossed his head down to the previously fighting teenagers who were sitting on separate benches in an obvious time-out.
"Yes, good game..." Draco said, still absorbed in how his team had lost.
"Have fun?" Hermione asked when he had lowered back down to solid ground.
"It was okay," he admitted.
"You're not upset that Susan tricked you, are you?" She bit her lip in worry, hiding a grin.
"What?" Draco stole a glance at Susan who was grinning ear-to-ear, hugging her husband. "She faked me out?"
She finally exposed the grin she had been biting back. "With Harry busy, that only left you. She and Anthony are quite a pair of Seekers."
"I can't believe I was tricked by a Hufflepuff!" Draco gasped out in shock.
"There's a reason they and the Ravenclaws had a serious competition between the two houses. The Claws knew better than to underestimate the Hufflepuffs, and the Puffs knew that they knew that!"
"But they still always lost," Draco added with a shrug.
"And you never noticed why that was?"
"Never actually cared..."
"That's really sad, Draco," Hermione told him with a frown.
"Why? What really matters why a team loses? A loss is a loss. No excuses."
"Hufflepuffs lost a lot of games due to them caring more about players than the game. Didn't you ever notice that in the games? When you, or Flint, or Harry was hurt during your game against them? When anyone was hurt?"
Draco tried thinking back to his games of Quidditch at Hogwarts. All he could remember was his snide moments with Potter though.
Merlin, he had been obsessed with Potter!
"My mind was on other things," he confessed evenly.
"It makes it easy to score when your opponent is more worried about the players' health than the game. I'm honestly surprised you Slytherins didn't pick this up. It would have been an easy way to gain points."
"As I said, we didn't consider Hufflepuffs a threat to the game. So we didn't need to pay them any attention. We won against them without even trying."
"Well, if they hadn't been so caring and kind, you would have thought a lot differently about their playing strategy," she told him. "By far."
"Probably," he admitted carelessly. It wasn't his fault Hufflepuffs didn't take the game as serious as every other house did.
*/*
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
The noise of the fireworks was too much for Draco. The flashes weren't all too great either. Potter had warned the party guests that if they had an issues with loud sudden noises and flashing lights that the house had charms on it to block the outside noise. So five minutes into the celebration, Draco told Hermione that he was going inside. The loud, cracking sounds were making his head pound in agony.
The good news was that Scorpius seemed to enjoy all the different coloured lights, and had a lot of fun with the child safe firework toys that the Weasleys had designed. All Scorpius had to do was pull a string and give the pouch of paper a toss. When it was safely away (George had assured all the parents of the kids who were still awake to experience the event that it wouldn't activate until it was ten feet away from any human and animal), the paper unfolded and released two quick snaps before shooting off multi-coloured balls of fire straight up into the sky where it went on and on until the naked eye could see it no more.
"You alright?"
Draco nodded. "Just fine," he answered Hermione.
"Do you want to go home?"
"No, you finish up. Enjoy yourselves."
He sighed in instant comfort as soon as he closed the door. Potter was right about the house blocking out the noise of the firework display outside.
"Are the fireworks bringing back too many memories?" a soothing voice asked.
Luna Lovegood stared at him in her odd, usual way. She looked at everyone this way, so Draco wasn't going to think much of it.
"No," he simply said and grabbed himself a bottle of Butterbeer from the drink table. "What about you?" he asked conversationally.
Her eyes shifted to the door where they stayed while she spoke, "A person can only handle so much."
She didn't elaborate and Draco wasn't going to push it, but even with her blank, hollow look, he could sense something different with her. Not that Lovegood wasn't already different from other people to begin with, but with the cheering and the laughter he saw tonight at the mostly-Gryffindor party, he had thought anyone who were friends with Potter would be the happiest people of them all.
"Why have you come in?"
"If you really must know, I've a headache."
"Would you like to join the rest of us?" she offered. Her smile was small. Draco wondered if it was forced.
"Do you want me to or are you just trying to be polite and forgiving?" He was rather blunt about it, but he was sick of the pussy-footing and he knew that she wouldn't take offense of it.
Her eyes widened a little and she took a few moments before she answered. "Both." She gestured for him to follow her. "Let's join the others."
"Others?"
"We're not the only ones sitting out," her dreamy voice said.
He reluctantly followed her up a staircase of steps and stopped at the first door on the left. They stepped inside a sitting room with soft music playing. There were eight adults there, two guys (one was Longbottom), the rest were women, and there were also four children. Susan was there with the baby Edgar. Draco remembered that Weasley's son didn't like the fireworks one bit and Susan had hurried the boy inside to soothe his cries.
Some of the parents were here just because of that: their kids weren't ready for the abrupt, scary noises, but Draco learned that Longbottom had a problem with flashing lights, and that was why he was here. It was only after Longbottom explained his reasoning that Lovegood said that the fireworks brought back the sad memories of all those who were lost in the war, and sometimes, she wasn't strong enough to handle the weight of it all.
A couple of the people, who Draco didn't know, had the same reason as he did. They just couldn't stand the noise or the flashing, bright lights. They didn't say if it was linked to the war or not. Draco didn't think his was. He was just tired and wanted to go home soon. It had been a long day.
Draco sat at the end of an ancient looking sofa (likely a Black family heirloom), and silently listened to the small crowd take turns telling each other what was going on in their lives. Lovegood and Longbottom were getting married soon. Susan vowed that Edgar was going to be her only child, as he was a bucket load of energy and mischief. And a guy named Albert Paneedle was looking to get promoted in the Ministry.
"What about you, Malfoy?" a woman asked. Draco didn't even know who she was. He readjusted into his seat as the entire room's eyes looked to him.
"Yes, what do you and Hermione have set for the future?"
"Are you going to get married?" Longbottom asked a bit too eagerly.
"I'm not interested in discussing my life goals. I don't even know most of you."
"You two are very private people," Albert said. "I'd say you have a chance for happiness."
"They are bonded, Berty, of course they have a chance."
"Yeah, the magic wouldn't have sealed them together if they weren't compatible."
Thankfully, Potter entered the room before Draco lost his cool and told these people to stop gossiping about he and his girlfriend— all the while in front of him! "Malfoy," he called from the doorway. "I want to talk to you."
Draco sent the room a cold look, letting them know how he felt about their choice in topic before he stood up and met up with Potter.
He waited anxiously to hear what Potter had to say to him. Maybe he was going to praise him for keeping his cool with his pathetic friends.
Draco stopped himself from rolling his eyes at his private thoughts. As if Potter would ever congratulate me on anything.
Potter lead him up yet another staircase of steps and down a hallway to a door on the very end. "It's time you learned," Potter said, twisting the knob, and swinging the door inward.
The room was furnished old-fashionably, looking almost like a normal room in Malfoy Manor. It was large (in comparison to the rest of the house anyway), with countless of still portraits. Most were of the Black family ancestors, but some were of recent times, like Professor Lupin and his wife, Sirius Black, and many others who had died.
Several moved too, and some grumpily voiced their opinion of being awakened at an 'ungodly' hour. Draco saw Professor Dumbledore's portrait and quickly looked away when he met his twinkling, knowing eyes.
"Why am I here?" he asked Potter after an uneasy clearing of his throat.
"Fulfilling a request," Potter said with a careless shrug.
"Of whose? Dumbledore's?" Draco swallowed hard. He didn't want to speak to the dead headmaster that he had been ordered to murder.
"No," a dry voice spoke up. "Mine."
Draco's mind stalled. His eyes flew up to the spot next to Dumbledore's portrait to see an exact copy of his own portrait of his godfather's. Black, glittering eyes looked back down at him, shining in amusement at Draco's gaping mouth.
"And now you know." Professor Snape tipped his head forward to his godson. Without waiting for Draco's reaction, he wrapped his cloak around him and disappeared from the portrait, leaving behind a hazy cloud of magical smoke.
Review Responses from the Last Update:
ssdawning: Thank you. Characterization is one thing that I get little complains about :)
Tassana_Burrfoot : Thank you for reading and commenting. I am so happy to hear you have liked it so far! :)
While AFF and its agents attempt to remove all illegal works from the site as quickly and thoroughly as possible, there is always the possibility that some submissions may be overlooked or dismissed in error. The AFF system includes a rigorous and complex abuse control system in order to prevent improper use of the AFF service, and we hope that its deployment indicates a good-faith effort to eliminate any illegal material on the site in a fair and unbiased manner. This abuse control system is run in accordance with the strict guidelines specified above.
All works displayed here, whether pictorial or literary, are the property of their owners and not Adult-FanFiction.org. Opinions stated in profiles of users may not reflect the opinions or views of Adult-FanFiction.org or any of its owners, agents, or related entities.
Website Domain ©2002-2017 by Apollo. PHP scripting, CSS style sheets, Database layout & Original artwork ©2005-2017 C. Kennington. Restructured Database & Forum skins ©2007-2017 J. Salva. Images, coding, and any other potentially liftable content may not be used without express written permission from their respective creator(s). Thank you for visiting!
Powered by Fiction Portal 2.0
Modifications © Manta2g, DemonGoddess
Site Owner - Apollo