Enlightened Future

Enlightened Future: Chapter 1- Unconventional Methods

"Mr. Malfoy, I'm sure that the class would be delighted to hear a brief summary of today's lesson, in your own words."

Draco was staring vacantly at a jar of Polyjuice Potion on Professor Snape's desk. He twirled his quill slowly with the pale, slender fingers of his left hand; letting the feather brush and tickle his smooth chin. His mind had left the potions classroom and wandered the halls in the shadows by the Gryffindor dormitories.

At the time he was lurking about waiting for an unsuspecting Gryffindor to come along to come along and give the fat lady in the painting the password. He needed that password so that he could play a childish prank on that Weasley creature. What was his name? Oh yes, Ron. Draco thought it was fun to get others on their wick with the simple things like stealing all of their clothes. He shook his head, trying to cleanse his mind of the image of Weasley naked.

A Gryffindor approached with quick heavy strides. Perfect, an older student, perhaps a house prefect. Ha! What a lark, a prefect giving away the password.

As the steps of the Gryffindor grew louder, Draco withdrew behind a pillar to watch unseen. Harry stopped in front of the portrait and his eyes grew wide with anxiety. He frantically reached inside the sleeves of his outer most robe, shrugging that same article of clothing off his lean, sweater clad shoulders and shaking it wildly.

Now Potter? Hmmmm. Now him I would not mind seeing naked.

"Merlin," he muttered under his breath. Why was he thinking of Potter that way? He hit his forehead with the heel of his hand trying to get himself to see sense.

Harry was panicking and began to pat all of his pockets trying to locate something. Draco smiled wickedly, then bit his lip trying to resist the urge to jump out from behind his pillar and volunteer to help Potter search the rest of his clothes.

AAAAAARGH! Stop that! Why the hell would you want to get inside Potter's trousers? That was more than he even cared to admit to himself. He had no idea why he was having these thoughts about his archenemy. By the way, how did Potter's trousers, or lack there of get into this? Damn!

Harry picked up his outermost robe again and rummaged through the pockets. His shoulders relaxed visibly and he let out a deep sigh of relief. He reached into his robe pocket and pulled out... his wand?

Well, well Potter. Can't even locate your own wand? Draco snickered at his own joke then listened intently for the password.

Harry put on his outer robe and turned to face the fat lady. "Dragon Dahlias," he said in a firm voice. The door to the Gryffindor dormitories swung open and Harry stepped inside without a backward glance.

Draco sat in silence curled up on the floor with his forehead resting on his knees. He could not tell anybody about this. They would think that he had gone mad. And not only that, but he would be labeled a traitor to Slytherin house. Slytherin! What am I thinking that is not the worst of it! My father will have me tortured, sent off to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies, and then disinherited. By Merlin my life is over!

"Mr. Malfoy," shouted Professor Snape in a thoroughly annoyed tone. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was glaring at his favorite student with nothing short of disgust.

Draco's desk partner was a tall girl with short, brown, feathered hair that framed her olive face. She had dark eyes, nearly black, rimmed with long lashes. A pair of small, rectangular, gold spectacles rested lightly on the bridge of her nose. She was rapidly tapping her quill on the desk impatiently. Her dark eyes looked over her glasses and shot the daydreaming Draco a glare that could kill. She rolled her eyes skyward and shifted closer to him.

With a small evil grin she reached over to Draco's leg and stroked his inner thigh from knee to groin. He instantly snapped out of his reverie and caught her wrist in his strong hand. He squeezed so hard that he could have broken her wrist. But she didn't even flinch. She stared deep into his eyes and put a copy of the day's notes on his pile of parchment with her free hand.

Draco dropped her slightly purple hand and turned to face Professor Snape. "Yes, Professor. You asked me a question? I regret to inform you that I did not hear all of it as I was contemplating the finer points of the lesson you presented so expertly today." Draco's face was an expressionless mask.

Snape hated flattery from most everybody. The only person he had ever allowed to live after such blatant displays of sycophancy was Malfoy. "I asked you to summarize the lesson which, I am pleased to discover, you are so well acquainted with; seeing as you have been able to 'contemplate' it for the past fifteen minutes." Snape's face was almost as cold as Malfoy's but anger warmed his cheeks slightly.

The perfectly calm Draco Malfoy picked up the notes and began to recite the main objectives of the lesson, looking at the notes once or twice for reference. Most of the class glared at Draco with a mixture of exasperation and envy.

Why is it that he can get away with everything? The bastard never gets caught!

The only person really smiling was Draco's desk partner, Alethea Florecer. She choked down a laugh when the thoughts of the class entered her mind. She knew that Draco would always find a way out of trouble... with her assistance, of course.

Draco finished his presentation and sat back down. Harry sat in the next row of desks and was looking at Draco in a respectful if not mildly impressed fashion. Draco met his gaze for only a moment and his fair skin turned three shades paler. Harry's face took on a puzzled expression and he turned away.

Snape stormed back to his desk in rage just as the bell rang. Students packed up their supplies and headed out the door. As Draco and Alethea crossed the threshold of the Potions classroom, Draco grabbed her hand and slipped her arm around his. "Damn good thing you made an extra copy of your notes, dear."

"Of course," she replied raising her eyebrows while looking over her spectacles. "You forget that I knew you were going to zone out in class. I was not going to let you get in trouble and make the house lose points," Alethea said, shifting her book bag on her shoulder.

"I thought you said house competition was stupid," Draco scoffed raising his left eyebrow at her playfully.

"It is stupid, but as you are my best friend, I knew that you would never forgive yourself for losing points because you were dreaming of Potter in Potions," said Alethea with an exaggerated accent, spitting Potter's name as Draco always did. Her lips curved upwards in a smile.

Draco's eyes became stormy gray and he squeezed her hand tightly. "I keep forgetting that you can divine the future and are more or less omniscient when it comes to my mind. But can we refrain from the cheap satire." He did not want the rest of the wizarding world to know that Draco Malfoy fancied the pants off The Boy Who Lived.

Damn!

Alethea's brow furled she pursed her lips giving her best friend a concerned look. "You have got to stop torturing yourself with those memories. I know you like him. Just tell him! If nothing more, he will respect you for having the courage to admit your feelings." Her voice was a whisper, barely audible, but Draco heard each word. They walked quickly in silence at the head of the crowd of Slytherins, going to the dungeons to freshen up before lunch.

Loud, running steps echoed down the stone corridor as two Slytherin girls came up behind Draco and Alethea. The powerful blonde girl with wild curls down to her shoulders and eyes that changed color like the sea hit Alethea lightly over the head with a rolled parchment. Her companion, a gracefully strong brunette with light brown eyes and wavy golden brown hair that hung to her low back, followed suit.

Draco released Alethea's arm and stepped away slightly watching the ritual flogging of his best friend. Alethea wore a huge smile as she ducked to escape the rolls of golden parchment. "Aaaah," she squealed and her two friends stopped their assault.

"Trust the outspoken Alethea Florecer to come up with that as a way of bringing our poor Draco back to earth," said the brunette as she gave Draco a big hug. He smiled as Alethea's date with the Spanish Inquisition began.

"You are bloody insane, girl!" exclaimed the blonde, her curls bouncing with her movement. "If Snape had seen you touching Draco there, you would have been dead!"

"Calm down, Cynthia," the brunette laughed. "It's much more probable that Snape would have died of a heart attack from seeing you fondle his favorite student."

The three girls staggered down the hall with laughter. Draco was pushed slightly off balance by the brunette's arm around his shoulder. He barely smiled at Alethea's unconventional methods, but was too distracted with his current dilemma to really laugh.

"Quit monopolizing him, Emilie," scolded Cynthia as she moved between the brunette and Draco. He picked up her hand and gave it a courtly kiss, their traditional greeting. He pulled her into his arms and gave her a warm hug of friendship. Draco liked Cynthia and Emilie. They were intelligent and friendly, generally but anti-social. His favorite time to be around these two was when they were vindictive. Alethea had the same mood swings and they would all sit in Alethea's room, plotting how to curse all those who had done them wrong.

Emilie and Alethea finally stopped laughing and wiped the tears of mirth from under their eyes. "First of all I would like to point out that I did not 'fondle' Draco. I only tickled him slightly on the leg," Alethea stated with wide eyes that dared you to challenge her point. The small group had stopped walking and they were leaning against a wall. The other Slytherins filed passed them into the dormitories. Cynthia and Emilie were trying their hardest to keep from laughing. Alethea pushed up her glasses and glared at her friends who were shaking with suppressed mirth. Draco laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Well I had to do something that was not harmful and conspicuous. And the only reason you two twats saw anything is because you were sitting right behind me!" Alethea grabbed one of her own parchments and hit the two giggling girls over the head.

"Well, jolly good show, dear!" Draco smiled wickedly. "You definitely woke me up. And I must say I quite enjoyed it."

Alethea rolled her dark eyes skyward and shook her head at Draco. For a brief moment she wondered if adding sexual connotations to everything was a hobby of his. She glanced down at the gold nurse's watch that hung from her nicely tailored school robes.

"Damn, we better get moving. Lunch will start in ten minutes and Draco hasn't looked at his hair since seven this morning," Alethea teased as Emilie ruffled Draco's silvery fringe. "Let's go!" ordered Alethea. The four pushed themselves from the wall and ran into the Slytherin Common Room. Draco's mind was most certainly not on his haphazard hair and Alethea knew it.