Bloodthirsty Dragon

Chapter Four: Blackmail



Draco was jerked awake by Blaise Zabini. He stirred as the sweet morning air wafted into the room with the sent of wildflowers and morning dew. Draco stifled a yawn as he sat up, stiff and tired.

"Wadaoowan?" Draco yawned, slightly opening one eye.

"Wake up, will you?" Blaise asked irritably, shaking Draco. "Dumbledore’s called the whole school down to the Great Hall. Some sort of highly important meeting." Blaise pulled on the other boy’s arm as Draco yawned again.

‘Wow. I didn’t know the man was so quick. But, it’s not like he’s unpredictable,’ Draco thought. "What’s it about?" Draco asked.

"I don’t know," Blaise answered truthfully. "But, whatever it is, it has got all the teachers upset."

Draco stretched and looked up at Blaise. "Upset, huh?" he said, cocking an eyebrow. "Wonder what could get them all worked up." Draco stood up and pulled his black silk pajama shirt over his head, revealing a finely toned chest and stomach. Blaise stared for a second before turning away, blushing. Draco chuckled. "You wouldn’t mind leaving while I got dressed, would you?"

Blaise shook his head. "Good," said Draco. "I’ll meet you in the Great Hall when I get down there, alright?"

"Alright," Blaise said, leaving and shutting the door behind him.

Draco shook his head in amusement as he folded his pajama shirt neatly and laid it down on the chair next to his bed. He quickly got dressed, his thoughts meandering around his mind with no particular place to go. Finally, he hurried out of the room to head down to the Great Hall.

* * * * *

Draco rushed down the halls, not running but walking at a fast pace, and toward the Great Hall. His mind began to buzz with questions as he rounded a corner with a dizzying sharpness. What if Dumbledore already knew it was him? What if he was going to be revealed to the entire school? What if he was going to be killed? These questions and many others chased each other through his rather troubled mind.

As Draco hurried down the Grand Staircase, he accidentally ran into someone, knocking both them and himself over. Draco landed with a surprised "Oof," mumbled, "I’m sorry," and looked up to see who he had hit. He let out a groan as he saw Harry Potter stand up next to his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and brushed off his robes.

"Why don’t you watch where you’re going, Malfoy?" Harry growled.

Draco rolled his eyes. Of all the people, he thought. "Why don’t you watch where you stick that fat ass of your’s, eh?" he said coolly.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron snapped.

"Blow it out your ears," Draco growled at Ron, standing up and dusted off his own robes. "Besides, I was just going down to the Great Hall. You started the argument, not me." Draco really didn’t feel like stirring up any more chaos and get him in more trouble than he was already in.

"If you hadn’t run into me," Harry started defensively, clenching his fists.

"Hey! I said I was sorry. No need to get all uppity, Potter," Draco said calmly, spinning around on his heel and starting off for the Great Hall. He calmly flipped off the already fuming Harry, the red faced Ron and the unusually quiet Hermione over his shoulder as he hurried down the steps toward the Great Hall.

When Draco reached the bottom of the Grand Staircase, he froze. His eyes widened as he felt the phantom eyes upon him once again. Damn, he thought. Not now. Anytime but now. He shut his eyes tightly and willed for the eyes to go away. He was surprised when it actually worked and he felt them lift. Maybe it’s just my imagination, he thought as he smiled and started off again, hearing the footsteps of Harry and his friends as they started down the stairs.

* * * * *

The Great hall was buzzing with excited chatter, as usual, but the teachers, however, sat unusually quiet at the Head Table. Draco turned his attention away from the Head Table and focused it on Blaise, who was excitedly discussing the many possibilities why Dumbledore may have called the whole school down to the Great Hall.

"Maybe somebody is getting expelled!" Mullicent Bullstroad piped up hopefully.

"Maybe Potter is getting expelled," Blaise said dreamily. "He did something so bad that Dumbledore was finally forced to expel his star pupil and so he called the whole school together to say good-bye."

"Nah," Draco said, shaking his head. "If little mister goody-two-shoes Potty-boy was getting expelled, Snape would be skipping around and singing cheesy songs instead of looking worried. Besides, I ran into him over on my way down."

"Oh, you saw Potter?" Pansy asked in a higher voice than usual. Lita looked up at her from the far side of the table, an annoyed expression on her face. For some reason, she was sitting further away from Draco than usual, as she normally took a seat right next to him.

"No," Draco replied. "I ran into him and knocked him down." A couple of the other Slytherins snickered. Pansy just frowned. She gave Lita a sidelong glance and smirked evilly.

"I know why we’re all here," she whispered only loud enough for Draco to hear as she slowly walked around the edge of the table where Draco was sitting and took a seat next to him. "It’s about that person you killed, Draco." Pansy smirked as she said Draco’s name and saw him flinch. "Yes. That’s right, I know," she whispered merrily.

"I know you know," Draco growled at her, though his voice was as hushed as her’s was. "You’re not as stealthy as you’d like to think you are."

Pansy frowned. "You should be nice to me, Draco," she hissed back. "If you don’t, I’ll go strait to Dumbledore."

"No you won’t," Draco said, though he seriously doubted this statement.

"Are you so sure Draco?" Pansy asked, fixing him with a glare that made him gasp. My Gods, he thought as she scooted closer, she’s serious! Pansy smiled as she saw his reaction. She slid a hand up his thigh, making him shiver in disgust. "You’ll do what I tell you to do or I’ll sell you out."

Draco gulped as she squeezed his thigh. Oh, fuck! What am I going to do? Pansy smiled a triumphant smile when he said nothing and turned her head toward the Head Table to wait for Dumbledore, keeping her hand on his thigh to make sure he didn’t leave.

* * * * *

Ten minutes later, Professor Dumbledore walked into the hall, quieting it. He walked between the four tables toward the head of the Great Hall, the heels of his boots clicking on the stone floor and echoing through the deadly silent hall. Draco found himself nervously playing with the hem of his robes as Dumbledore walked past his table. Pansy smirked and grasped his hand in her’s. "Don’t worry," she cooed so silently that even he could barely hear her. "No one will find out as long as you do what I say." Draco didn’t attempt to move away, in the silent hall it would defiantly attract attention that he really didn’t need.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Draco, Dumbledore reached the head of the hall and turned to face the students. His face was emotionless, but his crystal-blue eyes flared with anger. Everyone in the hall watched in silence, waiting for him to speak.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "My dear students, I have shocking news for you. Late last night, a centaur in the forest was killed. Though the death of a centaur may not interest you or shock you, the way he died may. After investigating the body, we discovered bite marks that indicate that he was killed by a vampire."

The hall filled with startled gasps and shrieks. Pansy shot Draco a scared look, removing her hand from his leg. After a moment, she smirked. She gripped his arm and leaned closer to him. "It looks like I’ve got more dirt on you than I could have ever imagined," she whispered, chuckling. Draco turned his head away and sat there, chewing on his lower lip, wishing he could just jump out of his seat and run out of the hall and not look back.

Dumbledore raised his arms to quiet the hall once again. When the nervous chatter died down, he began again. "We also have reason to believe, according to the information we have received from the centaurs, that the vampire has been around Hogwarts for quite some time." More gasps and shrieks filled the hall and a few people fainted. Dumbledore again raised his arms to silence the hall, clearing his throat once more. "And, to make things worse, we have reason to believe that the vampire may be among us right now, in this very room."

No gasps filled the hall this time, only a deafening silence. Best friends looked at each other and gave each other suspicious, searching looks, as if they were strangers, girls pulled away from their boyfriends and boys scooted away from their girlfriends. Everyone was searching the people around them, expecting even their best friend to be looking at them as if they were food now. Draco half expected Dumbledore to turn to him and point him out to the rest of the school, but he didn’t. He merely stood there, waiting for the tension to die down. After of few minutes (which passed like hours) of the unnerving silence, Dumbledore spoke again.

"If, indeed, the vampire is among us, I ask him or her to please come to me and reveal yourself. If this is done, I promise no harm will come to you. If not, I will be forced to bring in a professional. And let me be the first to tell you that I will not stop him or her from killing you. Thank you." With that, the teachers stood and followed Dumbledore out of the hall. The Head Boy and Head Girl stood before the nervous hall, still shaken into silence.

"All students will return to their common rooms and stay there until further notice," Albert, the Head Boy, said loudly. "Meals will be taken up to the common rooms. No sneaking out. Prefects are in charge and will see to it that all students stay in the common rooms. Do not, and I repeat, do not leave the common rooms. There will be sever consequences for all who fail to comply."

The students rose from their seats silently and began to shuffle out of the hall behind their prefects. Draco, who was a prefect, stood before the panicking Slytherins as the Main Hall filled with nervous chatter. Gods, there goes my secured position as Head Boy next year, Draco thought miserably. "Stay calm," he said, projecting his voice so that it rose over the nervous chatter of the hall. The hall grew silent and directed its attention to him. Hermione glanced over at Draco, quite taken aback that he was successful in doing the one thing that all the other prefects were failing so miserably at. Well, those speech classes sure did come in handy, he thought with a half smile on his face.

"Right then," he said to the Slytherins as the other prefects gathered their groups together. "No wandering off, is that clear?"

There were several mumbled "yeses" and many noddings of heads.

"Way to go, Draco," Blaise whispered. Blaise was also a prefect, though this had come as a mild surprise to Draco the year before as Blaise had a tendency to slack off on his schoolwork.

Draco nodded at him then face the Slytherins again. "Alright, prefects, keep the group together. Let’s go." The group began to march off toward the Slytherin Tower, the chatter beginning to rise up again. Draco fell behind, following at several paces. Pansy fell behind as well and walked with Draco, who dared not try and shake her off.

She smirked at him. "I’m going to have fun tonight. Whether you like it or not, I really don’t care. But, when we get back to the common rooms, you’re coming with me, go it?" she said quietly.

Draco remained silent. I think I’m going to be sick, he thought. No, I’m defiantly going to be sick if she got in mind what I think she’s got in mind.

"Draco," Pansy hissed impatiently. "I asked you a question."

Draco groaned. "Yes, I understand," he said reluctantly.

"Good," Pansy said, smiling.

Yep, I’m going to be sick, Draco thought as they walked back to the Slytherin Tower in silence. When everyone was settled and chatting, albeit nervously, Pansy dragged Draco into the shadows and up the stairs to her dorm.

Only one person saw them leave.