Memento Vivere

Chapter five - The Spring Ball

Ginny woke up feeling happy and relaxed. She wondered for a while why she was so cheerful and then it hit her. It was Sunday! Today was the Spring Ball! She jumped out of bed and started searching for some clothes so she could go and have breakfast. She was singing a silly love song that had been playing on the radio all of last summer.

"La la laaaa! You're magic to my heaaaaart. Then I don't remember how this song goes...."

One of her roommates threw a pillow in her direction. It missed.

"Shut up Ginny! I'm trying to sleep here."

Ginny laughed, found a pair of jeans and a sweater and waltzed out of the room. She met Hermione on the stairs.

"Morning, Herm!" She gave her a hug. "You look great! And today's the Spring Ball!"

And then Ginny continued singing.

Hermione laughed at her. "Someone's happy! I wonder if it has something to do with a certain Draco Malfoy..." Then she shuddered. "But please stop singing that song! I had enough of it last summer!"

Ginny danced into the Common room singing, 'You must have given me a love potion', instead. She whirled around and collided with Harry.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't see you...Good morning!"

Harry smiled at her. "It's okay. Good morning Ginny, good morning Hermione. Do you want to go and have breakfast?"

"Yes, we were just on our way down. Then we'll have to come back and start getting ready for the ball."

"It'll take you seven hours to get ready?" Harry asked.

Ginny looked panicked. "We only have seven hours left?!? C'mon, let's hurry up then."

Harry shrugged and gave them a dejected smile. "I'll never understand girls."

"That's kind of the point," smiled Hermione.

Ginny and Hermione dug into their food and were done in record time. Then they hurried back up to the Gryffindor tower.

"Can I come to your room, Hermione, to prepare? It's bigger than ours and then we can go together."

"Yes, that sounds good. Go and get your things and then come up. Parvati and Lavender have set up a table of food so we won't have to leave the room until we leave for the ball. They think of everything!"

"Great! See you in a couple of minutes!

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A couple of hours later Hermione had straightened her hair and Ginny had curled hers. Lavender had put her hair into a complicated knot and Parvati had magically extended hers so that it now reached her hips, and put a pink flower behind her ear. Parvati was going to the ball with a sixth year Ravenclaw, Terry Boot, and Lavender was going with Seamus.

"Is there something going on between you and Seamus?" Ginny asked Lavender curiously.

Lavender shrugged. "I'm not sure if there has been anything going on, but there will definitely be something going on tonight when he sees me in this dress." She showed them her beautiful lavender blue dress. "I thought it would be fun to have a lavender coulored dress to match my name."

Parvati laughed. "You don't have to explain that every time you mention your dress." She stroked the shimmering fabric carefully. "She spent days looking for a dress that would make Seamus' eyes pop out from his head. If anything will, it's this dress." She turned to Ginny. "And speaking of Seamus, what really happened between you and Dean? You seemed to be pretty close when school started and then suddenly you weren't talking to each other."

"It just didn't work out so we decided to stop dating. But we're still friends."

"Yes, friends who never talk to each other... did you know that he's going alone to the ball?" Parvati asked. "Seamus tried to persuade him to ask me so the four of us could go together, but he said that he'd rather go by himself. It sounds to me like he hasn't even started getting over you yet."

Ginny sighed miserably. "I don't get it. Why did he have to fall in love with me? I just wanted to have some fun, but he wanted so much more than that. He wanted to do the whole couple thing, a serious relationship. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?"

"Only with the boys you really like." Lavender said sadly. "I've been trying to get Seamus' attention for years, but he's too stupid to get it."

"Yes and when you start liking someone that you're already friends with, what do you do? Are you supposed to start dating him even if it may destroy your friendship?" Hermione asked.

"Hermione! Did you and Ron finally get back together? Congratulations! Why haven't you said anything before?" Lavender asked exitedly. She turned to Parvati. "You see? I told you that she would finally come to her senses!"

"No, not Ron...."

"Then, who?"

Hermione gave her a long look. "How many boys, that are not Ron, have I been friends with for years?"

Lavender looked confused. "Dean likes Ginny, Seamus is mine, at least soon he will be, and Neville... It can't be Neville, right?"

"No, Neville is dating Eloise Midgeon." Parvati told them. "Not that you couldn't totally steal him from her if you wanted to... but why would you?" Parvati gave Hermione a searching look.

"No, not Neville either!!! I'm talking about Harry!" Hermione interjected.

"Harry?!?" Parvati looked surprised. "But I thought you liked him," she said to Ginny.

'Why did Parvati and Lavender always say such stupid things?' Ginny thought to herself as she pondered what to say. Then she decided to just try denying everything. "That was years ago. We're just friends now."

"Then why are you," Parvati pointed at Ginny, "going with Harry to the ball, while you," She turned to Hermione, "are going with Ron?"

"No, I'm not. I mean we're not. I mean I'm going with Harry. Ginny is..." She wondered whether to tell them about Ginny and Draco or not. She looked questionly at Ginny who shook her head almost unnoticeably. "Never mind. But no one answered my question. What would you do to avoid destroying your friendship with someone?"

"I've never been in that position," Lavender said. "I become friends with boys only after I've broken up with them." She looked thoughtfully at Hermione. "But if you're not going with Ron then who is he going with?" She turned to Ginny. "And if you're not going with Harry then who are you going with?"

"I heard the craziest rumour," Parvati said and laughed. "Someone told me that you're going with Draco Malfoy."

Lavender smiled. "Yes I heard that too. Like that ever would happen. A Weasley and a Malfoy! That was what I told Susan when she asked me if it was true. I said 'Susan, can you really imagine any occasion on which a Malfoy and a Weasley would have been in the same room without fighting? I know Ginny Weasley and she absolutely detests Draco Malfoy. There isn't even the slightest possibility that they are going together.' She finally admitted that it probably wasn't true, but I still heard her discussing it with Hanna Abbot as recently as this morning. I don't get it. Some rumours are just too insane to be true."

"This one is," Ginny said quietly.

"WHAT?!?"

"I am going with Draco Malfoy to the ball." They stared at her. "We are going together. As a couple," she added when they continued to stare at her without saying anything.

"The Draco Malfoy?" Lavender asked increadously.

"How many Draco Malfoys do you know?"

"But he's a Slytherin!"

"Yes, I know that. We've been out a couple of times," she said nonchalantly.

"What?" Lavender looked shocked and considering all the crazy rumours she heard, that was really something.

"Wow! I never would have thought you would go with him of all people. But why not?" Parvati smiled teasefully. "He is great looking and someone told me that he's really good in bed."

Ginny threw a pillow at her.

"Hey! Watch it! You're messing up my hair...!"

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Harry was standing at the bottom of the stairs that led to the Great Hall with Dean, Seamus, Ron and Draco Malfoy. They made an odd group, but Ron and Harry had wanted to go together and Harry had wanted to keep an eye on Malfoy and Ginny. Not that he thought anything would happen, but just in case. Dean and Seamus had joined them since Hermione would probably come down at the same time as Lavender. Dean wasn't going with anyone in particular, but Seamus had promised him that he could go with him and Lavender since they were just going as friends anyway.

Terry Boot, Padma Patil and her date, a seventh year Ravenclaw had also come to stand with them. Harry had heard that Parvati was going with Terry. He wondered, once again, whom Hermione had arranged to come with Ron. Both Parvati and Lavender were now out of the question.

Thinking about Hermione made Harry slightly nervous. He knew that she was going to look beautiful and he wondered how he would be able to keep himself from kissing her or doing something equally stupid.

Nearly Headless Nick floated down the stairs.

"The girls wanted me to tell you that they're coming down in a couple of minutes. They want to make a proper entrée so I'm going to call their names, one at a time while they descend the stairs." He sighed. "The things you have to do to please the women... I'm dead and they still keep telling me what to do." He cleared his throat. "Miss Lavender Brown! And this beautiful lady is going with young mister Seamus Finnigan."

Lavender appeared at the top of the stairs. Seamus just goggled at her. The lavender coloured dress matched her eyes and looked fabulous with her blond hair.

"If you don't want to have me hanging around you the whole night, that's ok with me." Dean said looking amused. "I'll be fine on my own."

Seamus just nodded weakly.

Lavender walked up to them.

"You look... you look great." Seamus managed to say. Lavender looked extremely pleased.

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Ginny was standing at the top of the stairs. She was the last of the girls to walk down to the others. Normally Lavender and Parvati would have been fighting about who was going to be the last girl, the one to make the biggest entrance, but tonight they had both agreed that the fact that Ginny was going with Draco Malfoy was such big news that it deserved some extra attention. They had offered to let her go last of their own free will. Ginny wouldn't have minded going earlier. She was nervous and it didn't get better with her standing alone up there... waiting.

Parvati had gotten several whistles as she'd descended the stairs and Hermione had almost made Harry fall over. She knew that Draco was a lot harder to impress as he was hanging out with Blaise, who was the prettiest girl Ginny had ever met. Ginny was also starting to get nervous about what would happen later tonight. It wasn't that she didn't trust Draco when it came to herself, but she had a funny feeling that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Finally she heard Nick announce her name.

"... And last, but not least, Ginevra Weasley... going with Draco Malfoy!"

There was silence. Then everyone started talking at the same time.

"Did he say Weasley and Malfoy?!?"

"I don't believe it. Did you know anything about this?"

"I've heard some rumours. I didn't think they were true, of course, but now... who knows? Someone said that they've been secretly going out since she dumped Dean Thomas."

"But that must be at least six months ago!"

"I know! They're supposed to be planning to get engaged! I didn't believe it when I heard it, but who knows...."

Ginny started walking down the stairs painfully aware of having everyone's eyes on her. She noticed people whispering, but she wasn't listening to what they were saying, she was just concentrating on walking. When she was at the bottom of the stairs she went straight to Draco without looking at anyone else. He gave her a smile and an approving nod.

"Impressive, Weasley...."

And then he kissed her. In front of Ron, in front of the whole school, but she didn't really care about those other people, for her there were just the two of them in the hall. Beside them Dean excused himself and started to push his way away from them through the crowd.

"I'll see you all at the party." he said to the others. "I have to go do... a thing. Something important and I'm already late!"

Ginny didn't notice him go. In fact she hadn't noticed he was there in the first place. She could have just stayed there kissing Draco forever if Ron hadn't interrupted them.

"I think that's just about enough. Let her breathe, Malfoy."

Draco turned to Ron to say something in return, but Ginny stopped him.

"No! No fighting! Not tonight. Ron, go find your date and let me handle my own business."

Right then Cho Chang came walking towards them. She gave Harry a cold nod and then she went straight to Ron and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm sorry I'm late. It was hard to get through the crowd. Shall we go?"

Ron gave Draco a final glare, held out his arm and walked away with Cho towards the carriages that were going to take them to Hogsmeade where the ball would be held. Everyone was staring after them.

"You set Ron up with Cho?" Harry asked Hermione as soon as the couple couldn't hear them anymore. "Why? How?"

"I overheard her talking to a friend saying that she didn't know who she was going to go with because everyone that had asked her had been so boring, so I thought, why not, and asked her if she'd want to ask Ron as a favour to me and she agreed to do it." Hermione looked searchingly at Harry. She was getting a little worried. Surely he couldn't still have feelings for Cho, could he? "You don't mind, do you? I mean... I know the two of you were going out last year, but I kind of thought you were over her...."

"No, of course I don't mind. I was surprised, that's all." Harry shrugged. "I guess they make a good couple and at least Ron isn't boring. He can be stupid, stubborn and impossible in many ways, but he isn't boring. Shall we go grab a carriage, too?" He held out his arm to Hermione and turned to Draco and Ginny. "Are you two coming with us?"

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The minute they got into the carriage Ron was beginning to have second thoughts. Cho was one of the prettiest and most popular girls in the school, everyone wanted to be either like her or with her. Some people wanted both. So why did he, Ronald Weasley, who no one would have known if it wasn't for Harry, not enjoy going out with one of the most popular girls in the school? He sometimes wondered if he just liked to put himself into difficult situations. Maybe deep down he liked suffering and that was why he always got himself into trouble with girls.

Cho was talking about some party she had been to during the holidays. Apparently everyone had been there, except him of course. He wondered why Cho had asked him to go with him in the first place. He didn't think she'd suddenly become very interested in him and decided to say no to all the other guys who must have asked her to go with them, so it had to have something to do with Harry. Ron sighed. Everything that happened to him always had something to do with Harry, both good and bad things. He sometimes wondered what his life would be like if he hadn't made friends with Harry in their first year. He was sure that he'd have a much quieter life.

"...what do you think?" Cho suddenly asked and interrupted his thoughts.

"About what?"

"Ronald Weasley, were you not listening to me?" Cho looked irritated. Apparetly she was used to have boys focusing on her a lot more than Ron did.

"Sure, I was just thinking. Why did you ask me to go with you, Cho? You must have had lots of guys asking you to go with them."

"I felt like doing something different. All the popular boys are so alike. They make me bored."

"So... It had nothing to do with Harry, then?" Ron asked innocently.

Cho got a look on her face that he couldn't quite interpret. "Who?"

"Harry Potter. Ever heard of him?"

"Very funny. But Harry and I are over, I dumped him almost a year ago and I couldn't care less about him." Something in her voice told Ron that she wasn't telling him the truth.

"So you dumping him had nothing to do with the fact that he likes Hermione? Look Cho, we both know that you didn't ask me out because you're interested in me so I see no point in continuing this. Go find someone else to entertain with your stories about yourself! Because I'm not interested."

"Fine! Do you want to know why I asked you to go with me?" Cho looked furious. Apparently she wasn't used to getting dumped either. "Because your little girlfriend, Hermione, begged me to ask you so she could have Harry to herself. So I may be a little pathetic, but at least my friends aren't trying to set me up with someone just so they can be together without having me as a third wheel!"

"Hermione would never do that!" He felt how his ears were getting red.

"If you're so sure about that then why don't you ask her about it? I'm gonna go follow your advice and find a more suitable date!" With that she jumped out of the carriage, which had just arrived at the party. She slammed the door shut behind her. Ron just sat there staring at the closed door. He was thinking about what Cho had said. Surely she must have been lying. Hermione would never do something like that to him, would she?

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Harry and Hermione had been at the party for about an hour and so far they'd had a great time. Hermione and Harry had arrived at the party with Ginny Malfoy, but soon Ginny had made it clear she did not wish to be babysat the entire night so the couples had split up. It had been a while since Hermione had seen them, but she trusted Ginny to make her own decisions, and besides, with them gone she got to spend some time alone with Harry. She hadn't seen Ron at all since they'd been standing in the Entrance Hall, but she hoped that meant that he was having fun with Cho. She felt a bit guilty for trying to get rid of Ron, but she had done it for his sake, too. As far as she could remember he hadn't been going out with anyone since they'd broken up.

"Do you want me to get you a drink?" Harry asked her. "And after that, maybe we could dance a little?"

"I'll come with you." She didn't want to loose him in the crowd. Not when everything was going so well. They walked towards the refreshment table. "I didn't know that you could dance."

"I can't. I just want to humiliate you in front of the whole school."

She didn't answer. She just watched him. He looked good tonight. Of course she always thought he looked great, though she was a bit biased when it came to Harry. Tonight she had noticed other girls watching him so she was going to keep an extra close eye on him. She wasn't going to loose him to someone else. Not right now. Not until she'd decided what to do about their relationship.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Harry asked when he had gotten them two drinks.

"I was just thinking about the assignment we're doing for Professor McGonagall." Hermione lied quickly.

"No, not tonight! You are not allowed to think about school tonight. Tonight you're taking your mind of school and homework! And I will help you do that." He held out his arm. "May I have this dance, Miss?" She nodded and took his arm to let him led her to the dance floor.

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Draco and Ginny were dancing; they had been doing that for quite a while. Ginny really enjoyed having everyone's eyes on them. They were one of the best looking couples on the dance floor. She looked great in the dark blue dress that Harry had gotten her as a birthday present. She leaned her head against Draco's shoulder as they turned around slowly. This was better than she'd expected. It was very different from dancing with Neville. She still bore marks from the Yule Ball in her third year.

Draco looked down at Ginny as they were dancing. She was looking beautiful in her blue dress with a matching silver necklace with blue stones. Something about the necklace kept drawing Draco's attention to it.

"Where did you get that necklace? It reminds me of something."

Ginny looked up. "Huh? Oh that... I got it from my mother years ago. I really like it."

He examined the necklace for a while, but couldn't see why the necklace had caught his eye. He shrugged.

"It would suit you better if it had green stones."

He should probably take his mind off Ginny and start worrying about Potter. He searched the room and saw him standing with Granger in a corner talking about something. He went through the plan in his head it seemed simple enough. All he was supposed to do was get Potter to drink the potion he had in a little bottle in his pocket. His father hadn't told him what the potion would do. Draco wished that they'd told him, as it was he would be as surprised by the effects as everyone else. Why did his father not trust him? He noticed that Ginny was looking at him wonderingly.

"Do you want to go grab a drink? I'm getting kind of thirsty after all this dancing."

She nodded and they made their way through the crowd on the dance floor. When they reached the refreshment table Draco made four drinks and poured the potion into one of them without Ginny noticing. Then he turned to her.

"Do you want to go and say 'hi' to Harry and Hermione and show them that you're fine even though you've been hanging out with me all night?"

"That's probably a good idea. Otherwise they're going to get worried."

They strode over to Harry and Hermione and gave them their drinks. Now all Draco had to do was wait for Harry to finish his drink and then he would have completed the task. He smiled at Ginny who smiled happily back at him. If she only knew, he thought, a bit regretful. They had had fun together.

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Ron stood at the refreshment table eating olives and salt crackers. He had been standing there for a while. He didn't know why he always ended up alone at parties. Why he had such a problem having a good time when everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves. Actually he did know the answer. He just wouldn't admit it to anyone. Ever. Not even to Harry or Hermione. Especially not to Harry and Hermione. He sighed. He'd already gone from sitting alone in a corner avoiding talking to anyone to standing in a hallway avoiding people to standing where he was now, eating crackers and avoiding people.

It wasn't that he didn't want to have fun. It was just that he didn't seem to know how to. Like he'd forgotten how you did it. He sighed again and stretched out his hand to have another cracker when his hand collided with someone else's.

"Watch it, will you?" Ron looked up and saw Blaise Zabini standing beside him glaring. She seemed to be in a really bad mood, it wouldn't have surprised him at all if there had been smoke coming out of her nostrils. "Well?" she asked him impatiently.

"Well, what?"

"Are you going to have a cracker or not? Because I'm not going to stand here all night and I'm sure that you're anxious to get back to Cho so she won't run away with anyone else, not that I understand why she would want to come with you in the first place."

"Oh, don't worry, she already did run away, and my little sister is having a great time with Draco Malfoy and my two best friends have disappeared to make out in some corner and-" He stopped himself from saying anything more, what was wrong with him today?

"And?"

"And I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind."

"It is still nothing compared to my night."

Ron looked confused. "You? But you were having a great time! I saw you dancing with all your friends just a few seconds ago. You can't tell me you weren't having fun."

"And everything is always what it looks like? You don't know me! And you don't know anything about my life and certainly not about my friends so don't tell me how I feel about things."

He looked so shocked by her sudden outburst that she calmed down. "And now I am going to get the hell out of this party and go somewhere where I can drink until I pass out."

Ron thought for a split second. "Can I... can I come with you?" he asked. He regretted it almost instantly. Great thinking, Ron! Really not pathetic...then he remembered that his evening so far had consisted of avoiding people and eating crackers. Really not less pathetic... plus, if he left the party there would be less chance of him running into Hermione and Harry. And he was quite interested in hearing more about Blaise's night.

Blaise gave him an estimating look. "If you think you can handle it." He wondered for a few seconds how bad the place she would take him to could possibly be, came to the conclusion that she was a Slytherin and, as far as he knew, could take him to Hell so he hurried after her.

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Meanwhile Draco and Ginny had excused themselves and left Harry and Hermione standing in the corner. They had climbed the stairs to the balconies on the second floor. From there you could see the whole room and they stood watching people. Draco found himself glancing over at Potter constantly trying to guess how much he had left of his drink.

After a while Ginny noticed that something wasn't right.

"What are you looking at? You look like you're expecting something to happen. Another of Blaise's surprises for the party?"

"No." Draco had suddenly gotten very tired of everything. He just wanted to leave, he could go somewhere far far away and would never have to hear another word about Potter or the Dark Lord, or his father. He could just start over somewhere else, somewhere where no one knew him and no one expected him to do anything. Somewhere where he could just do whatever he wanted without someone telling him what to do. He sighed. He knew that was something he would never be able to do.

"Just tell me what's wrong."

"Will you just stop asking me questions?"

"Sorry, I didn't think you would...."

He interrupted her. "What did you think? Why did you come with me here tonight, Weasley? It's not like you could be getting anything out of this!"

Ginny looked surprised and a little hurt by his sudden outbreak. "Well, I thought... I mean, you asked me..." she stopped talking realizing how stupid she sounded.

"I asked you? You practically threw yourself at me!" He knew that that wasn't exactly true, but it was relieving to get his feelings out. Weasley was really just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ginny started to get angry. What gave him the right to attack her like this? It wasn't like she had done anything wrong. She didn't understand him at all; he had seemed to be having a good time only minutes earlier and now they were fighting. She wasn't even sure of what the fight was about. "Well I won't be doing that anymore, that's for sure! I'm going to go down to Harry and Hermione now, don't follow me!"

"Oh, I most certainly won't!"

"Good!"

"Good!"

"Goodbye!" She stomped away and disappeared down the stairs. This hadn't ended like she had expected it to. Well, life was full of surprises and she was just happy that she had realized how impossible Draco Malfoy was before she had developed any kind of feelings for him.

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Hermione was standing in a corner, looking for Harry. He had gone to get her another drink, but he seemed to have disappeared somewhere on the way back. He has probably stopped to talk to someone, she thought to herself. She decided to go and look for him, and if she happened to see Ron on the way it wouldn't hurt to see how he was doing with Cho either. She hadn't seen either of them the whole evening, but that was good. Maybe they had found some place where they could be alone. She really hoped that they had gotten along as well as she'd thought they would.

And thinking about sneaking away from the party, that was probably what she and Harry should do, too. She had decided to make a decision regarding her relationship with Harry tonight, and she had made up her mind. There was no point in being scared all the time. As soon as she found him she would tell him how she really felt. She hoped that they would be able to start over. Thinking about how happy Harry would become she searched for him even more eagerly.

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Blaise took him to a bar just around the corner, The Blue Dragon. He hadn't even known such a place existed, but he wasn't surprised that Blaise knew about it. It looked exactly like the places his parents had warned him not to hang around. On the inside the bar was dark and Ron couldn't see the people who sat in the corners. But when he thought about it he figured that this was a good thing since the people he could see didn't look like people he wanted to have anything to do with.

Blaise went straight to the bar. She cleared her throat loudly and immediately a bartender appeared from a back room. The bartender was a man in his fifties. He eyed them suspisiously.

"What are you children doing here so late?"

"We would like two 'Wizards beards'. And don't be afraid to use the Vodka properly. Put the check on Zabini." She watched him with pleasure as he went from suspicious and harsh straight to friendliness itself.

"Young Ms Zabini, is it? I didn't recognize you. You're not here with the Malfoy boy this time?" He started making the drinks. "Why are we so dressed up? Coming from a party?"

"Yes, but it was rather boring so we thought we'd have some fun instead."

"And you came here. A good choice, I have to say... I'll make sure your table is ready. Please follow me."

They followed him in silence through a door in the other end of the room. It led to a much nicer room with big soft armchairs. He put down their drinks on a table and disappeared again.

Blaise threw herself into one of the chairs. Ron sat down carefully in the other. Over the table hung a portrait of an old stern looking man. In the corner of the painting Ron read the name Derrick Zabini.

"You have your own table at this bar? Who's the guy in the painting?"

The man in the painting glared at him before turning around and ignoring them.

"It's my great-grandfather. His motto was 'Power is knowing your enemies and using their weaknesses against them.' That says everything you need to know about him, he had no friends, but made a great deal of money, which was fortunate since his father had been drinking up most of the family savings."

"Sounds like a nice man." Ron tasted his drink and began to cough. "Oh my god! How strong is this drink?"

"Pretty strong." Blaise took a sip of her drink. Then she emptied her glass. "You have to hurry up with the drinking if you want to keep up with me!"

Ron made a face and took another sip. This time he managed not to cough.

Blaise ordered in two more drinks. "C'mon, let's drink until we can't feel anything anymore."

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Draco had his gaze so focused on the dance floor that he didn't see his father before he was standing next to him. "Well, hello Son. Everything going as planned?"

"Yes, father." Draco answered trying to seem like he had known that he had been there the whole time. He hoped that his father hadn't overheard his little argument with Weasley.

"Good. The Dark Lord will be pleased. He might even want to meet you in person."

Draco shrugged.

"That's a great honour, you know, meeting the Dark Lord, and especially while you're still so young. He has great plans regarding you."

"I'm sure he does."

"Let's drink to the success of our plan!" Lucius waved his wand and two glasses of champagne appeared before him. He gave one of the glasses to Draco. "To the Malfoys!" He emptied his glass. Draco sipped his drink carefully. Draco was wondering what the potion would do to Potter, but he didn't want to give his father the pleasure of noticing how eager he was to know what was going on. He looked over at Harry and saw him lift the glass to his lips and empty it. He continued sipping his drink and tried to look unmoved in front of his father.

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