Undefined

Chapter 21

Tailspin

The inevitable finally occurred after Hermione left Transfiguration the following day looking very pale and sickly. Draco later learnt that she'd been administered a Calming Draught once she'd reached the hospital wing.

"I told Madame Pomfrey I was in dire need of the Calming Draught," Pansy said, clearly raising her voice so Draco would overhear, "but she said she'd given the last bit to that Mudblood Granger and that there would be no more available until tomorrow. What kind of stress can she have besides managing that god awful mop of hair on her head?"

The group of girls surrounding Pansy sniggered in indignation.

Draco went to the hospital wing later that night to check on Hermione, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Visiting hours are over, Mr. Malfoy! Out! OUT!" Madame Pomfrey spat.

Time dragged until Draco ran into Ron the following morning.

"She's fine," Ron said. "I sat up with her last night until she finally fell asleep, but she's still exhausted."

Draco nodded and inhaled sharply, intent on finding Harry and beating the living shit out of him. He scoured the corridors until it was time for Potions, at which point he made his way to the dungeons. Before he entered, he clenched his fists and stormed into the classroom, not saying anything, not looking anywhere except at Harry, Hermione's empty seat filling him with blinding rage.

"Potter," he said coldly before jumping on top of him and punching every inch of his body.

Harry soon regained himself and fought back, and the two caused such a scene that their classmates backed into the corners and cowered as they kicked and punched and cursed one another, sending stools and tables flying, toppling over cauldrons and spilling vials of ingredients.

Harry found his balance and pulled Draco to his feet, slamming him against a wooden cabinet full of slimy vials of varicolored liquids. Draco kicked Harry and pushed him onto Snape's desk. In their tussle, the chalkboard toppled over, sheaves of parchment blew freely in the air, and a bottle of ink smashed and leaked on the desk, falling in fat droplets onto the floor.

Harry slammed Draco hard against the table, ink staining his face and glasses and the cuffs of his sleeves. Draco punched him, cursing him with all his might, until he heard a girl's shrill scream as he pulled out his wand and a curse inadvertently issued from its tip. Next second, Harry had drawn his wand and Draco had regained control of his, both holding the tips at each other's throats.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" Snape shouted, livid. "MALFOY! POTTER!"

Neither moved.

"I dare you to do it, Potter," Draco sneered, his wand tip boring deeper into Harry's neck.

Snape intervened a second later, pulling Harry off Draco and physically holding the pair of them apart.

"Never," Snape said, his voice shaking with rage, "have I entered my own classroom to find it ransacked by two unruly students!"

Draco straightened his robes, the back sopping wet with ink, while Harry folded his arms, looking ready to murder on the spot if given the chance.

"Detention! The pair of you! For a month! I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS!"

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Snape turned on him and pointed at his chest threateningly. "One word, Potter," Snape growled, "and I will not be held responsible for my actions! Now, out of my sight! IMMEDIATELY!"

Harry turned on his heel and Draco moved furiously to his dropped his bag and began collecting its spilled contents.

"A three role essay is due tonight on the importance of KEEPING YOUR TEMPER IN MY CLASSROOM," Snape shouted as they left the dungeons.

Harry stomped angrily up the stairs while Draco began kicking anything that was in his way. He almost ran after Harry and slammed him against the wall, his rage still brimming just under the surface, but the thought of another month's worth of detention from whichever professor happened across them made him think better of it. Instead, he walked to the library and slammed books so loudly Madame Pince forced him to leave.

That night, Draco and Harry arrived promptly at seven to serve detention. The door to Snape's office stood open and they entered, tempers still raging.

"Come with me," Snape said, his face very pale and his mouth slit into a line so thin it nearly blended in with the rest of his face.

They followed him three doors down to a vast empty classroom, several tables piled two feet high with rolls of parchment.

"Potter, you will rewrite every record by hand while Mr. Malfoy double-checks your work," Snape said icily.

"But..." Harry began, clearly feeling he'd been given the raw end of the deal.

"Don't argue with me," Snape said threateningly, leaning in very close.

Harry said nothing, but looked as though he would have gladly answered with a punch somewhere in the general vicinity of Snape's jaw.

"If I hear so much as a peep, even a thought of a peep, I will double the duration of your detention. Understood?"

They both shook their heads, looking in completely opposite directions. Snape stormed out of the room and turned the corner. Draco made a very loud production of taking a seat and tossing rolls of parchment in Harry's direction, while Harry slammed his bag to the ground and nearly threw his chair across the room as he pulled it out from under the table.

"You foul git," Draco breathed when he was sure Snape was safely out of earshot. "You landed her in the hospital!"

Harry reached for a quill, his fists and jaw clenched. "It's your fault, you fucking asshole."

"If you weren't so goddamn stubborn," Draco said, "none of this would have happened."

"If you didn't stick it in anything that stayed still long enough," Harry said, splashing ink as he dipped his quill in the pot, "she wouldn't have gotten involved in the first place."

"You are such an unbelievable idiot, Potter," Draco hissed, throwing aside a roll of parchment and grabbing another one.

"You're an unbelievably horny bastard," Harry shot back.

They grew silent when they heard footsteps. Snape walked by, pausing to ensure they were still engaged in the task at hand before walking on. They worked until the firelight grew bright and the sounds died away completely throughout the castle. Draco scratched his tired eyes and Harry rubbed his wrist, but continued on until, at last, Snape dismissed them.

Hermione returned to classes later that week, looking completely healthy if not a bit pale. Ron was more protective of her than usual, while Harry and Draco reverted back to an animosity reflective of earlier years. All that was needed was a wayward glance or a shift of the eyes and the other felt immediately offended, screaming curse words and foul names to one another in the corridors. Worse, Draco constantly walked past Harry with an I-dare-you-to-do-it strut, which nearly led to more physical assaults in the presence of professors. Finally, Ron had no choice but to step in once again, this time more livid than ever.

"You two need to SORT THIS OUT or I swear to God I'll land BOTH OF YOU in the hospital wing!" he shouted, as he walked past Draco during Charms the following week.

Draco cornered Hermione in the library that same night.

"Oh, I'm fine!" she said dismissively. "I just got too overwhelmed. My parents think I should drop a class or two but they don't understand how I've worked everything out."

"It's Harry's fault," Draco said bitterly.

"It's not just Harry," Hermione said, frowning. "Oh, I'm not defending him! He's thick as they come most of the time, but honestly, I expected a bit more out of you."

Well, Draco thought as he gathered his things, that's too bad. He was through acting the fool to Harry's whims, and he was especially fed up with watching Harry make those around him miserable. If he was too thick-headed and stubborn to realize how sorry he, Draco, was for his actions, then he would have to find a way to deal with that himself.

The following day in Potions, Snape decided to pair Draco and Harry as partners for no other purpose, Draco knew, than to force them to work cooperatively in the classroom. However, it proved futile as they bickered incessantly for the length of the lesson.

"Not that much pomegranate, you idiot!" Harry snapped, snatching the vial from Draco's hand.

"Since when you are a potions prodigy?" Draco asked, reaching for the vial.

"Since you obviously can't read directions," Harry retorted, pulling his hand out of Draco's reach.

"You're the one in Remedial Potions, you stupid fucker!"

"SHUT UP!" Hermione hissed from the opposite table. "You'll get caught! Now SHUT UP!"

"Miss Granger, twenty points from Gryffindor," Snape said nonchalantly as he passed. "And what is this?" He'd stopped in front of Draco and Harry's cauldron and eyed its contents in disgust.

"Our assignment for today, sir," Harry snapped, unable to hide his contempt.

"How very interesting, Potter. It seems your ignorance in potion-making has cost you and Mr. Malfoy a passing mark this lesson, as well as fifty points from your house for cheek."

Draco shot Harry a filthy look as the bell rang, kicking his stool out of the way and gathering his things.

"You clean up," Draco demanded.

"I'm not cleaning up!" Harry retorted.

"It's your mess," Draco said.

"But it's your fault!"

"Piss off; I'm not the one taking Remedial, Potter."

Harry's jaw clenched. "You know better, you foul motherfucker!"

"Clean it up!" Draco roared as Harry gathered his belongings.

"NO!"

"DO IT!"

"Why don't you make me?"

Behind Harry's shoulder, Draco saw Hermione looking panic-stricken and gesticulating wildly for them to stop.

"Is that a threat?" Draco asked, rising threateningly.

"So what if it is?" Harry asked, crossing his arms.

"IS THAT A THREAT?" Draco screamed.

"ENOUGH!" Snape roared, grabbing the pair of them by the collar and dragging them out into the corridor and up the stairs.

Draco felt singularly stupid as Snape dragged him through the castle as though he were a five-year-old who'd just thrown a temper tantrum. He threw them headfirst into the empty classroom on the first floor, slammed the door, and locked it behind him.

"I have no patience for this," Snape sneered. "Potter, another fifty points from Gryffindor and another month of detention for the pair of you."

"SIR!" Draco yelled. "THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

"Perhaps if you two could carry on as respectable adolescents instead of unruly three-year-olds I would have other options! As it is, I have neither the time nor patience to deal with the pair of you. Mr. Malfoy, consider your position suspended until further notice; your attitude has been wearing me down for some time. Potter, another fifty points for that filthy look you just gave me." Snape stormed from the room, leaving them quite alone.

"You!" Harry said, shoving Malfoy against the wall. "THIS IS ALL YOUR DOING!"

"GET YOUR FILTHY BLOOD-TRAITOR HANDS OFF ME, POTTER!"

"STOP IT!" Hermione screamed louder than Draco knew was humanly possible.

They turned, Harry still holding fistfuls of Draco's robes, Draco ready to punch Harry square in the jaw.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Hermione screamed, slamming her bag on the ground. "I'VE HAD IT! HARRY, LET GO OF HIM THIS INSTANT! DRACO, DON'T YOU DARE LAY A HAND ON HIM!"

Both did as she said immediately, her voice more threatening than Snape's could have ever dreamt of being. She crossed the room and stood in front of both them, her eyes alight, her hair seeming to crackle. Ron entered a few moments later and stood silently by the door.

"THIS HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH!" She poked the pair of them hard in the chest with her right index finger. "You two have to sort this out tonight or I'll murder you both with my bare hands!"

"Hermione, he's the reason you..." Harry began, and Hermione rounded on him so threateningly he visibly cowered.

"NOT ANOTHER WORD FROM YOU, HARRY!" Hermione screamed. "You haven't carried on a proper conversation with me or Ron for months now and you expect me to believe the reason you're so riled up is because you think it's Draco's fault I was given a Calming Draught? That's rubbish, AND YOU KNOW IT! AND YOU!"--she turned to Draco--"You've been so angry with Harry for not forgiving you at the drop of a hat, and you honestly think that it was concern over my well-being that caused you two to land a month's detention?!"

"Two month's," Draco said very quietly.

"TWO MONTHS?! HAVE YOU TWO LOST YOUR MINDS? THAT'S IT!" she roared deliriously as she crossed the room and grabbed her bag. "I'm locking you in. You will have this sorted out by morning; murder one another if you have to, I DON'T REALLY CARE!" She grabbed Ron's arm and stormed out, slamming the door violently shut and locking it from the outside.

With that, they were left alone, and Draco realized that there was no escaping the pain or hurt or anger or hostility as they faced the coming hours to sort through it all.