The Dragon Tamed

Chapter 9.

'Thea, stop fidgeting,' growled Benji, glaring up at her from the Astronomy homework he had been engrossed in.

Thea looked up from her Potions work and sighed. She knew that she had to get it done for Malfoy tomorrow, but she just couldn't be bothered. She had just read the same sentence five times over and she still couldn't remember what it said. It was possible she was even beyond bored. 'Sorry,' she said guiltily. Unlike her, Benji wasn't having a problem concentrating and it wasn't really fair to distract him. But really, when had that ever stopped her?

'Ben,' she whined.

'Yes, Thea,' he answered warily. He could obviously tell that she was growing more and more restless and going out of her mind with boredom. Thea imagined that the thoughts running through his head would be along the lines of, 'oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.'

'I'm bored,' she told him. 'Let's go do something fun.'

'Please, Thea,' he begged, 'I've got to get this done for tomorrow. I haven't got the time to go and do something fun.'

She motioned towards her unfinished Potions essay which was lying discarded on the table between them. 'I know. I've got to get this done for tomorrow, too. Yours is only for class but mine is for Malfoy.'

'Then why don't you get on with it,' suggested Benji, as he flicked through a book in front of him.

'I would, but I'm so fed up. I can't concentrate anymore.'

'How can you be restless?' he asked. 'We've had the DA tonight. Harry worked us all really hard.'

She shrugged. 'I don't know. I just feel as though all I've been doing recently has been work. I just want to have some fun.'

'Maybe it's because we've had so much work lately,' he suggested dryly. 'It's not like the professors are holding anything back,' he added as he copied down something from the book he'd been reading.

'Tell me about it,' she muttered darkly.

'You just had to choose tonight, didn't you?' He closed his books in resignation. 'What did you have in mind?'

She grinned in victory, but didn't say anything in case she managed to change his mind.

'I suppose I can try and get my essay done afterwards, if we get back early enough,' he mused. 'I'll never get it finished with you jumping around.'

'Aw, Ben, you're the best,' she cooed before laughing as he threw a scrunched up piece of parchment at her.

'So, what do you want to do?' he asked, rolling his eyes.

'Well, where are the Dream Team?' she asked, looking around the common room and not seeing any of them.

'Well, Ron is over there,' Benji told her, pointing to a chair that was turned slightly away from them, hiding him from her view.

'The others?'

Benji rolled his eyes. 'Thea, it's a Monday. Where do you think they are? Hermione has her Arithmancy tutorial and Harry his Transfiguration one.'

'Oh that's boring,' Thea declared. 'They won't be sneaking around doing...whatever it is when they sneak about.'

'Apart from getting into trouble?'

Thea grinned. 'Yeah, apart from that. That's a given really.'

'So?' prompted Benji.

Thea sighed, wanting to go and do something, but not knowing what exactly. 'Let's go and meet Ginny and Colin outside their tutorial. After an hour and a half of Zabini they are going to need cheering up.'

'That they will,' agreed Benji. 'But remember, it'll be nearing curfew and we don't want to bump into Malfoy, or any of the other prefects, for that matter.'

'No kidding,' said Thea. 'I don't want to see Malfoy; he'll probably want to know why I'm not working on my Potions. I don't think "I'm bored" will constitute as an excuse.'

Benji neatly set his books to one side while Thea just left her books lying haphazardly on the table. It was unlikely that anyone would want to use the table as it was getting late, but if they did, then they could move her books.

'Where are you going?' Ron piped up as they walked across the common room.

'To meet Gin and Coll,' Thea told him. She rolled her eyes at Benji. Ron was big-brothering her nearly as much as he did Ginny.

'Oh, ok, but don't be long.'

'Glad he approves,' Thea muttered to Benji.

'Just make sure you're back before curfew,' he called after them as they stepped into the corridor.

'Did he just tell us what I think he did?' she asked Benji, not quite believing what she had heard.

'You know, I do believe he did. Can you believe it? The number of times he and the others have been out after hours. Typical.'

It appeared that Ron unsurprisingly still had one rule for him and his friends and another for Ginny and hers.

As they made their way through the school Thea stopped suddenly. 'Dammit,' she swore. 'We should have stopped to get Harry's map in case we need to dodge any prefects, especially Malfoy and Parkinson.'

'Crap, are they doing rounds tonight?'

'Yep, and sometimes they stop by to talk to Zabini after the tutorial,' she informed him glumly. Hopefully Malfoy and Parkinson wouldn't have time to do that tonight but knowing her luck they'd be standing outside the door as they arrived.

'How do you know that?' he asked.

'How else? Gin told me. Last week Parkinson really got her back up about something. She was fuming.'

'Didn't she say what?' asked Benji.

'Refused to. I didn't want to push in case she took my head off.'

'Poor Gin and Colin, having to put up with those Slytherins.'

'Excuse me,' exclaimed Thea, 'but what about me? I have tutorials with Malfoy and a bunch of Slytherins. Then Parkinson sometimes comes and helps him walk us back to our common rooms. Believe me, it's no fun.'

'Yeah, but you have a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws around, don't you?

'Yeah, 'cause they are so helpful,' drawled Thea sarcastically. 'They're so scared of Malfoy, it's not even funny. Poor Janet hides behind Giles as we walk back.'

'He must love that,' commented Benji as they walked down the stairs towards the dungeons.

'He loved it to begin with, but now I think it just annoys him.'

'Oh no,' groaned Benji as they rounded the corner leading to the classroom Zabini used for his tutorial.

Thea looked up and very nearly turned around to walk away. Standing together to one side of the door were Malfoy and Parkinson, heads together and talking quietly. Stupid bad luck.

As they approached, Malfoy looked over Parkinson's shoulder and scowled. 'What are you two doing here?' he demanded.

'Meeting Ginny and Colin,' Thea told him. She was very tempted to tell him it was none of his business but she didn't think it would be a particularly good idea.

'And then what are the four of you going to do? Go off and explore the castle per chance?'

'We're going to walk back to the common room.' It wasn't exactly a lie. They were going to be going back there, just not in a straight line.

'Why do I not believe you?' he said dryly.

Thea shrugged. She didn't blame him. She wouldn't believe that either but she could hardly tell him that.

Malfoy opened his mouth to say something, probably scathing but Parkinson touched his arm gently, drawing his attention to her. 'Draco, leave them be.'

Thea and Benji exchanged disbelieving looks. Had the world gone mad? Normally she was laughing along with all the other Slytherins.

'If they're stupid enough to stay out after curfew then we'll be able to catch them, give them detention and take points from Gryffindor. As it is, we have other things to be getting on with.'

This time Thea and Benji exchanged significant glances. What could possibly be more important to a couple of Slytherins than hounding some Gryffindors? This needed investigating, Thea decided.

'You're right,' Malfoy agreed with Parkinson. He turned to them. 'Well, you're both free to go.'

'That's nice, but we're still waiting for Ginny and Colin,' said Thea, mentally rolling her eyes at him.

He glared at her, but didn't actually say anything. Before he could reprimand her for being cheeky, the door to the classroom opened and Colin walked out followed closely by the others in his tutorial. Only Ginny didn't appear.

When he saw Thea and Benji waiting, his face lit up. 'Oh thank god you're both here.'

'Why? Did it not go well?' asked Benji.

'Not so much,' said Colin, grimacing. 'Ginny's in a terrible mood.'

'How come?' asked Benji. 'She was fine when you both left.'

'I've no idea to be honest with you,' admitted Colin sounding completely baffled.

'What's taking her so long?' asked Thea trying to look into the room, but having her view blocked by Draco and Parkinson. The others in the tutorial were standing around, waiting to be escorted back to their common rooms by Zabini. They were standing a bit away from Thea, Colin and Benji though, looking as though they couldn't wait to get back to their respective common rooms as quickly as possible.

'I think she was too busy glaring at Zabini,' said Colin.

Thea turned to look at him. 'Glaring at Zabini?'

Colin shrugged helplessly.

'Malfoy, move and let me pass,' Thea heard Ginny say to Malfoy, her tone clipped as though she was in a bad mood but trying not to lose it.

'Now, Weaselette, what's the magic word?' drawled Malfoy in amusement. Thea could see the others members of the tutorial looking on apprehensively at the prospect of a Weasley-Malfoy fight, even if it was the younger Weasley.

'Now?'

'Try again, Weaselette.'

'Fuck off and die?'

Thea groaned along with Colin and Benji. Now what did she do that for?

'That's five points from Gryffindor for cheek,' snapped Malfoy. 'Now piss off before I make it ten.'

Thea caught a glimpse of Ginny opening her mouth to retort before she was pushed out of the room by Zabini who appeared behind her.

'Go away, Weasley, before you lose more points tonight,' he told her.

Before Ginny could get herself into anymore trouble Thea grabbed her arm. 'Let's get out of here,' she said hastily. She wanted to leave before the Slytherins all decided to provoke Ginny further...or Ginny them.

Ginny turned to glare at her before frowning in confusion. 'What are you doing here?' she asked as Thea led her down the corridor and away from certain doom.

'She was bored, so she browbeat me to come and meet you and Coll,' Benji injected before Thea could reply. She made a face at him, that was unfair: she'd hardly had to say anything to convince him to go with her. Of course, she would have kept needling him until he'd given in, so perhaps it was her who was being unfair.

'What had you so bored?' asked Ginny pulling her arm free of Thea. Luckily the Slytherins had disappeared from view with the rest of the students, so she didn't have to worry about Ginny going after them.

'I feel as though all we've been doing since we got back is work. We haven't done anything fun in ages.'

'Oh god. I know what you mean,' exclaimed Ginny. 'I feel as though I'm going crazy. I mean, look at me. I just picked a fight with Malfoy. That is not the action of a sane person.'

'Most insane people wouldn't do that,' said Benji.

'Exactly!' said Ginny, snapping her fingers. 'Complete proof that we need to do something fun before I get myself killed.' She looked around at the others. 'So, what are we going to do?'

'Go back to the common room?' asked Benji, hopefully.

'I think we've established that I'll just go mad,' Ginny told him. 'We are going to do something fun.'

'Is that really such a good idea?' wondered Colin. As Thea and Ginny turned their glares on him, he quickly explained. 'What I mean is, since the beginning of the year, security around the castle has been beefed up. Even Harry has been finding it difficult to move around the castle, and he's got an invisibility cloak and a magic map. What chance do we have?'

'Well, for the next hour or so it's only the prefects. Aurors don't start patrolling until about midnight. Or at least, that's what Sirius said,' Thea informed them. 'So, in theory, we should be ok for a while. We just have to dodge Malfoy and Parkinson, as well as a couple of fifth years.'

'Come on, guys,' pleaded Ginny. 'That is so doable. I swear we've done stupider things last year.'

'You still don't know what you want to do though,' pointed out Benji.

Thea smiled wickedly. 'We could follow Malfoy, Parkinson and Zabini and see what they get up to,' she suggested.

Benji and Colin actually went pale while Ginny's face lit up with a matching grin. 'That's a brilliant idea!' said Ginny joyfully.

'No, it really isn't,' protested Benji shaking his head.

'We're just going to get caught and told off,' predicted Colin.

'No, we won't,' dismissed Ginny. 'As long as we're careful, we'll be fine.'

'Well I have found one flaw in your otherwise stunningly cunning plan,' Benji informed them.

'What's that?' asked Thea.

'The Slytherins went off in that direction.' He pointed down the corridor. 'About ten minutes ago. They could be anywhere. How are you going to find them? We don't have Harry's map with us.'

Ginny's face fell. 'He's right, you know. Without the map we have no idea where they are.'

'Sure we do,' Thea corrected them. 'They are taking all the others back to their common rooms, right?'

'Yes,' agreed Ginny.

'Well, who does Zabini drop off before you at Gryffindor?'

'Giles and Lesley,' said Ginny. She broke back into her wide grin. 'All we have to do is get to the Ravenclaw common room and wait for them all to appear. Then we can follow them.'

'Bingo.'

Ginny laughed. 'Thea, you're brilliant. Why didn't I think of that?'

'Because you aren't quite as mental as Thea?' suggested Colin glumly. 'I suppose we're off to the other side of the castle then.'

'Aren't we just,' agreed Thea, laughing. She was so looking forward to this. It had been far too long since they had done this. She'd forgotten how much fun it was and how exciting. Now if they could just not get caught, it would be perfect.

---------------------

'Bloody hell, where are they going?' whispered Colin as they followed the Slytherins, keeping a safe distance so they could get a good head start if discovered.

'I've no idea,' admitted Thea. It seemed as though they had been walking for ages and because they couldn't get any closer without being seen, they had no idea what the Slytherins were talking about.

'I think they're going to the North Tower,' muttered Benji grudgingly.

Ginny looked around them. 'You know, Ben, I think you're right. We're in the right part of the castle and I can't think of anywhere else they could be going. I mean, an empty classroom could mean discovery.'

'And the tower doesn't,' asked Colin sceptically.

'Who goes to the North Tower?' retorted Ginny hotly.

'It's a good place to go so you can't be heard,' added Thea. 'I mean, it's not like the Astronomy Tower, where everyone is.'

'I wonder what they have to talk about that means they want that much privacy,' said Colin.

'And why they don't just talk in the Slytherin common room,' said Benji.

'Perhaps it's the Slytherins they don't want hearing what they are talking about,' proposed Thea.

'Oh, that's an interesting idea, Thea,' said Ginny approvingly. 'And instead of following them, why don't we just go there?'

'Use some of those short cuts that Harry showed us on the map?' suggested Thea, grinning.

'You read my mind.'

'At least it'll stop us from getting found out,' muttered Colin.

'And that can only be a good thing,' said Benji. 'I, for one, have no desire to be found following a bunch of scary Slytherins.'

Thea and Ginny rolled their eyes at each other as Colin and Benji continued to complain while they made their way quickly to the North Tower, making sure they didn't get lost as they navigated, from memory, the route on Harry's map. When they finally started climbing the stairs, Ginny turned on them both. 'Will you two shut up,' she hissed. 'At this rate we'll get caught because of you two bitching like a couple of witches.'

'Fine,' huffed Colin. 'But they aren't that close, you know.'

'So, which room are we going to hide in?' asked Benji beginning to sound out of breath. 'They could go anywhere.'

'Well, I think they'll go pretty high,' decided Ginny. 'These stairs are pretty steep. Good way to discourage others from following.'

As Colin opened his mouth they heard the door at the base of the tower open and the voices of Malfoy, Zabini and Parkinson floated up to them.

Ginny motioned for them all to be quiet but wisely didn't actually make a sound in case the Slytherins heard.

'Remind me why we chose the top most room?' complained Malfoy.

Thea and Ginny swapped grins. How kind of Malfoy to tell them where they were going. That made things so much easier for them.

'As I remember, Draco, it was your idea,' replied Zabini. 'I did tell you that choosing a room so high up was a stupid idea, but you didn't listen.'

Hurrying ahead of them Ginny reached the right door and pushing it discovered that it was already open and, thankfully, it made no strange sounds as it was opened.

'Hide,' panted Ginny, trying to get her breathing under control. Who in their right mind chose the highest tower in the school for a secret meeting? There were plenty of better places in lower parts of the castle.

'Stay close to the door,' added Thea. It wouldn't do to need a quick exit only to find the path blocked by three angry Slytherins. At least running down stairs would be easier than running up them.

Unfortunately staying close to the door was in fact easier said than done, seeing as there really wasn't much in the way of furniture in the room.

Colin and Benji each hid behind the thick curtains hanging in front of the big windows in the room. Ginny slipped into a cupboard, leaving the door ajar so that she wouldn't get locked in. Thea could hear the voices of the Slytherins getting closer; any moment now they would be walking into the room to see Thea standing in the middle of it.

Just as the door began to open Thea managed to dive behind the sofa at the edge of the room and stifled a groan. Behind the sofa? How dumb could she be? All one of the Slytherins had to do was walk around it and she'd be discovered. Then there was the fact that she was easily the furthest from the door, making a get-away all the more difficult. All she could do was pray that things didn't go wrong.

She lowered herself slowly to the floor so she could see under the sofa. She watched three sets of feet standing in the middle of the room. All three Slytherins were breathing heavily.

'That's it,' Zabini panted, 'we're moving rooms. I just can't do this climb anymore.'

Malfoy snorted. 'You say that every week, Blaise. Give it a rest.'

A pair of shoes that could only belong to Parkinson walked over to the sofa and sat down. Well, either that or Blaise or Draco had taken to wearing high heels. And now she thought about it, high heels were really an impractical choice when climbing as many stairs as they just had.

She held her breath as the sofa groaned under the added weight of Zabini. She knew it was Zabini because she didn't recognise the boots - she had stared at Malfoy's for a while after he'd knocked her down outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts. Plus, Zabini's voice was closer to her than Malfoy's was.

'Great Salazar, I hate tutorials,' complained Zabini, the sofa creaking as he reclined.

'Was this one so very bad?' asked Parkinson sympathetically.

'You have no idea,' groaned Zabini.

'What did Weaselette do?' asked Malfoy, sounding bored.

Thea was pretty sure she could feel Ginny glowering from inside the closet.

'What makes you think it was Weasley?' asked Zabini.

'Because for the past three weeks it has been Weaselette,' suggested Malfoy dryly.

'OK, I can see how that would work,' conceded Zabini. 'But for once it wasn't her.'

'Really?' asked Malfoy. He didn't sound all that interested.

'I think I'd know, Draco, don't you?'

'Can you get on with what happened,' interrupted Parkinson impatiently.

'Sorry, Pansy. It's that sodding Ravenclaw, Lesley Cunningham. She's driving me mental.'

'Oh god, I know who you mean,' exclaimed Malfoy, the dislike evident in his voice. 'I have her in my Ancient Runes tutorial. At the end of every one I have the distinct desire to throttle her.'

Thea though, really couldn't think of who they were talking about. Obviously it had to be one of the girls she had seen standing outside the classroom; she just didn't know which one. She'd have to get Colin or Ginny to point out the object of the Slytherins contempt.

'Well, tonight she decided that she knew more about the Draught of the Living Dead than I did. Every time I told them something she contradicted me. I nearly hexed her at least three times. She didn't shut up until I pulled out my wand and pointed it at her.'

Thea felt her eyes widen in surprise. Who in their right mind would decide that they knew more than a Slytherin about Potions (unless they were Hermione); especially damn difficult potions like the Draught of the Living Dead.

'You should have hexed her,' Malfoy told him. 'I would have.'

What a surprise.

'You haven't yet, though, have you?' retorted Zabini.

'Well so far she's not actually talked back to me,' said Malfoy smugly.

'No one in their right mind would talk back to you,' Zabini told him, 'and they know it. I'd imagine that she would like to walk out of the room in one piece.'

'Maggi talks back to me,' Malfoy told them. It must have been her imagination but Thea thought he actually sounded slightly happy about it.

'And yet she lives,' commented Parkinson. 'How has that happened?'

'She doesn't do it very often,' he told them, ignoring Parkinson's query. 'But if I push her too far, I get a tongue lashing.'

Zabini snorted with laughter. 'A tongue lashing, huh? I never thought you'd go that far with a Gryffindor.'

Thea flushed red as she realised what Zabini was insinuating. If it wasn't guaranteed to get her hexed to an inch of her life, she'd be standing up and giving him a piece of her mind.

'No, Blaise, not that.' Thea thought she could actually hear him rolling his eyes. 'She actually gives me a piece of her mind. Do you only think about one thing?' asked Draco.

'Do I only think of one thing?' choked out Zabini. 'Look who's talking here. I think that if we compare reputations, then we can see who thinks about sex the most.'

'Do you think we could talk about something other than your respective sex lives?' drawled Parkinson sounding bored.

'Aw, Pansy, you're just jealous,' teased Zabini.

'Of what? Those vapid girls who hang on your robe tails?' mocked Parkinson.

'No, of the fact that we've been getting sex,' corrected Malfoy in an amused voice.

'So, if you two are done bitching and comparing your prowess perhaps we could turn to the matter at hand,' suggested Parkinson archly.

'If you so wish, Pansy dear,' teased Zabini.

'You're right, we should get on with it,' agreed Malfoy, sounding all business. 'We can't risk being discovered.'

'So, has Theo said anything more to you, Draco?' Parkinson asked.

Thea assumed they were talking about Theodore Nott, since there was no other Theo that Thea could think of in the school.

Malfoy sighed. 'No, he hasn't. He's being irritatingly vague about the whole thing.' Thea heard Malfoy lean forward in his seat. 'However, he has...'

Thea never heard what it was Theo had done because at that very moment, Benji sneezed.

Loudly.

Oh, bugger.

All the Slytherins leapt up from their seats and produced their wands in record time.

'What the fuck was that?' yelled Zabini looking around the room.

'More like who the fuck was that,' corrected Malfoy. His voice was clipped and Thea could just imagine the expression on his face. Narrowed eyes were bound to be a certainty.

Parkinson seemed to be rather intrigued by the closet Ginny was in as she had turned to face it and her wand was pointed at it.

'Did you hear something, Pansy?' Malfoy asked.

'Someone swore from in there,' Pansy told him.

Despite the direness of the situation, Thea was impressed; she hadn't heard a thing from Ginny and was surprised that Parkinson had.

'May I suggest that you all show yourselves, and do so slowly,' growled Malfoy. And boy, did he look angry.

At the same time Malfoy and Parkinson shouted 'Stupefy!' Thea saw the light head of the closet, but - and Thea had never been so relieved of anything in her whole life - she saw the jet of light rebound harmlessly, meaning that Ginny had got her protection shield up in time. She guessed Benji had also got his shield up since she didn't hear the thud of a body hitting the ground. Once again thank god for the DA.

Then suddenly Ginny shouted 'Now!' and threw herself out of the cupboard while Colin and Benji slipped out from behind their curtains. Before the Slytherins could react they had all run out of the room. Personally Thea didn't see much point in running since she had no doubt that Malfoy, Zabini and Parkinson knew exactly who they had been and would be handing out detentions appropriately. On the other hand, she'd much prefer to be running off with her friends than stuck in a room with three irate Slytherins.

'Quick, run,' Thea heard Ginny shout to the others as they thundered down the stairs.

'I'm going to kill those Gryffindors,' seethed Zabini as he stormed out the door. 'Totally going to kill them.'

Just as the Slytherins marched out of the room, leaving Thea alone, 'What about Thea, she's still in there?' came floating into the room.

Thea closed her eyes. Thanks, Colin. She'd been fine until that point.

'Maggi, huh?' Malfoy seethed, whipping around as she shrank back, trying to make herself invisible. She'd give anything to know how Algaron did that about now. 'I thought it strange that she wasn't with her friends. I'll stay and deal with her. You two get the others.'

Thea squeezed her eyes shut as Malfoy closed the door, wishing that because she couldn't see him he couldn't see her. She heard the door click shut and him whisper 'Colloportus,' sealing it behind him.

Oh god, she was going to die.

'Maggi, closing your eyes won't stop others from finding you, you know.' He sounded more amused than anything, and considering that she had just been caught spying on him and his friends, that surprised her.

She cracked open an eye before closing it again. Realising that she would prefer to see where he was, she opened her eyes just enough to be able to watch what he did. 'You never know, one day it might.'

'Only if you happen to be using an invisibility charm at the same time.' He leaned his hip against the door and crossed his arms. 'So, Maggi,' he asked conversationally, 'what have you been up to this evening?'

Thea reluctantly opened her eyes. It obviously wasn't doing her much good. Instead she forced herself to stand up and sat on the arm of the sofa, the one furthest from Malfoy - she wished there was more between her and Malfoy right now than just the sofa. Asia perhaps.

'Not much,' she told him. 'Met Coll and Gin and then we started walking back to the common room.' It wasn't exactly a lie but considering where she was, if Malfoy believed that then Voldemort was more likely to be a big fluffy puppy with bad teeth than a deranged homicidal maniac.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. 'What? And the North Tower was just a slight detour on your way there?'

'Possibly,' she ventured. He really did seem to be taking this all far too well. She was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

'Possibly?' he hissed, finally sounding angry. Yep. This was more the reaction she had been expecting. 'Possibly? You and your little straggle of friends purposely followed us.' Draco glared at her, his eyes narrowing. 'Did you really think we wouldn't hear you?'

Thea shrank back slightly at the intensity of his words and the dark look in his eyes. It was possible that he wasn't actually taking it at all well. There really wasn't anything she could say, seeing as he was well, right.

'Well?' he demanded.

She bit her lip, not really wanting to say anything but knowing that staying silent was more likely to anger him. 'Well,' she began, 'we weren't exactly expecting one of us to sneeze like that.'

'I bet you didn't,' muttered Malfoy. 'So did you hear anything interesting?'

Thea thought for a moment. 'You don't like Lesley Cunningham.' That had pretty much been all they had talked about, really, not including the whole sex thing, and Thea was happy to pretend that had never happened. Nothing had been said about Theodore Nott. Benji had interrupted that.

'Is that all?' he asked.

'It's all you talked about,' Thea reminded him.

'Well, there was one other topic of conversation,' drawled Malfoy.

'What? You and Zabini comparing your tally?' she asked sarcastically. Before he could answer, she kept talking. 'Apart from that, you started to talk about Theo Nott. No idea what you were going to say, though; there was a sneeze.'

'So you heard us mention Theo?' he questioned.

'Which answer is less likely to see me getting hexed into little bits?' she asked cautiously.

'Well, seeing as I now know you heard us talk about Theo, I don't think it'll really matter,' he told her.

'I never heard you talking about him,' she pointed out, 'you only mentioned his name.'

'It amounts to the same thing,' he said.

Thea shrugged. She supposed that in this instance, he was probably right. She still wanted to know what he was going to say about Nott. However, she wasn't stupid enough to actually ask him.

'Well, there isn't much I can do about it, I suppose,' he sighed. 'I might as well get you back to the Gryffindor common room.' Removing his wand from his robes, he unsealed the door.

OK, that was just weird. Any other time Malfoy would have used this as an excuse to torment her, possibly hex her and definitely take points from Gryffindor. However, not wanting to question her good fortune, she stood up and walked past Malfoy who was holding the door open for her.

As he stepped out into the stairwell next to her he snapped his fingers. 'Oh, and before I forget, that's ten points from Gryffindor for being out after curfew.'

Thea grimaced. She and Ginny weren't going to be popular in the morning with the other Gryffindors. They had only just been in front of Ravenclaw, so unless a couple of Ravenclaws had been caught sneaking around as well - something she thought was pretty unlikely - then Gryffindor were now second thanks to her restlessness. Wonderful. Next time she felt like doing something so reckless she was going to get Hermione to do the Full Body Bind on her.

As they walked through the corridors in silence, Thea wondered what had happened to her friends. She hoped that, unlike her, they had managed to escape and were now safely in the common room, waiting for her arrival. She'd feel awful if she got Benji or Colin detention after bending their arms to get them to accompany her and Ginny.

As they walked down a particularly long corridor Thea became aware of a figure walking towards them. It wasn't a teacher or an Auror; it was a student, Thea realised to her surprise.

'Oh shit,' she heard Malfoy swear under his breath. 'Kimberley,' he called out to the figure, 'go back to your dormitory this instance.'

'But Malfoy, I thought you'd want to see me again,' Kimberley called back coyly.

Thea glanced at Malfoy and raised an eyebrow. She had no doubt that she really didn't want to know why Kimberley thought Malfoy would want to see her again.

'You thought wrong,' he snapped back. 'Now go.'

As the girl got closer, Thea could see her much clearer and she wasn't impressed. If she had to guess, she'd say this was one of the vapid girls Parkinson had mentioned earlier in the evening.

She had so much make-up slapped on that Thea wasn't entirely sure she'd be able to recognise her if she saw her in the light of day. Then there was what she was, or to be more accurate, wasn't wearing. If she got caught by either a teacher or an Auror, Thea had no doubt Kimberley would be in detention for the next three years. She was wearing a very low cut vest top that didn't meet her shorts, which were very short. All in all she could see what Malfoy saw in her. The only thing Thea couldn't work out was why she was going out after curfew like this.

'Oh come on, Malfoy. Just ditch the child and we can slip into one of the empty classrooms,' she coaxed him, twisting her body suggestively.

'Child?' Thea choked out. 'Please, I'm not the one caked in so much make-up that I look like some parody of a clown whore.'

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Malfoy choke back a snort of laughter.

'You cow,' screeched Kimberley. 'Who do you think you are? Malfoy, are you just going to stand there and let her insult me like that?'

'Well, she is right. You do look ridiculous in all that make-up,' he told her passively.

For the first time that night, Thea saw Kimberly falter. Obviously she had expected him to stand up for her. Fool.

'Well, if you think that, I'll go then,' she sniffed.

And crying in front of Malfoy was guaranteed to do nothing, except make him lose his patience, if he had any to begin with.

'Good,' he said. 'That's what I asked you to do in the first place.'

Thea covered her mouth with the back of her hand, hiding her smile. Oh, now that would show him, wouldn't it. Show him you mean business by threatening to do something that he wanted you to do anyway.

'Fine. I'm gone. But don't expect me to be back next week. That'll be it.' She stood defiantly in front of Malfoy, as if daring him to deny her. Even Thea could tell that that probably wasn't the best strategy.

'Well, bye then. It's been fun but let's not do it again,' said Malfoy.

With tears in her eyes, Kimberly spun about and ran off.

Just as she rounded the corner, Malfoy called out, 'And that's fifteen points from Ravenclaw for being out after curfew.'

Thea was slightly worried about her wandering the castle by herself but Malfoy obviously wasn't bothered, and she didn't really want to risk pulling his bad mood back to her.

Malfoy shook his head. 'Why do they all try to give me an ultimatum?' he asked.

'Is that a rhetorical question?' she asked, unsure if she was supposed to answer or not.

He glanced down at her. 'Yes, but if you felt like enlightening me, I'd be obliged.'

'Sorry, no can do. I don't have a clue.'

As they resumed their walk to the common room, Malfoy glanced over at her with a wicked glint in his eyes. 'You do know what we were talking about then, don't you?'

'Thank you, but I did at least understand that,' she told him, blushing.

'Are you sure? Maybe it wasn't what you think it obviously is?' he teased her.

'I think I know that she was offering you sex in a classroom,' retorted Thea hotly.

Draco laughed at her. 'Actually that wasn't what she was offering.'

'It wasn't?' Thea asked sceptically. 'What else could she be offering?' she wondered out loud before she could stop herself.

'Well, if you really want to know,' began Malfoy, obviously really enjoying embarrassing her.

Thea covered her ears with her hands. 'No, don't want to know, don't want to know,' she chanted.

Malfoy ignored her and, stopping in front of her, pulled her hands from her ears and bent down to murmur in her ear, 'She sucks me off.'

She closed her eyes so she couldn't see him. She knew that he had only done that to embarrass her and he'd done it well. She could feel herself blushing furiously and a wave of heat spread through her body, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.

'You do know what that means?' he teased her, still holding her wrists, not letting her move away from him.

Not wanting to answer, she turned her head away from his, still not opening her eyes.

'Dear me, Maggi, you really are quite the innocent, aren't you?' She could hear the gleeful smile he was no doubt sporting. 'What it means is...'

Realising that he was really going to tell her, she hastily interrupted. 'I know what it means; you don't have to tell me.'

'Are you sure, Maggi? I'd hate for you to leave here and not have learnt something new.'

She opened her eyes to glare at him. How dare he? Draco was being such a bastard. Not that that was an unprecedented act.

Suddenly she froze. She replayed everything she had just thought. Please tell her she hadn't just referred to Malfoy as Draco. Please say it wasn't so. How long had that been going on for? How long had she been thinking of him as Draco rather than Malfoy?

Did this mean that her friends could be right; could Malfoy be putting her under some kind of spell? If so, what kind and what was it doing to her?

Hoping that this had been a one off, she thought back over the last few weeks and realised with growing horror that she had been thinking of him as Draco for ages in her head. Whenever she wasn't consciously thinking, she was calling him Draco, and not Malfoy.

'Maggi, are you alright?' she heard Malfoy...Draco...Malfoy - oh whatever, ask her.

'I...I'm fine,' she told him.

'You don't look it,' he said.

'I have to see Remus or Sirius,' she told him, looking him in the eye.

'That's nice for you,' he said. 'Why is it my problem?'

'I have to see them now,' she said urgently.

'Now?' he said incredulously. 'You must be joking.'

'No, I'm not,' she promised him. They were the only people she could think of who she could talk to about this and get to do some dark magic detection spell on her. If she told any of her friends they'd freak out. She didn't feel comfortable going and seeing Dumbledore about this and she was sure McGonagall would kill her for interrupting her at such an hour, especially after curfew.

'Well, you can go and see them tomorrow. I'm sure whatever you need to ask them can wait until then.'

She shook her head. 'No, it can't. I have to ask them this now.' She was determined to go now. She needed to have her mind set at ease now; otherwise she'd never get any sleep.

'Maggi, I am walking you back to the common room, where you will stay until breakfast tomorrow.'

'Fine. You walk me back. I'll just sneak out once you've gone,' she told him.

Draco rolled his eyes in frustration. 'Well, follow me,' he said reluctantly. 'Anything to shut you up.'

----------------------

Thea knocked on the door to Remus and Sirius' room, praying that at least one of them would be in. It had taken a lot to convince Malfoy to walk her there and it would probably be dangerous to her health if it turned out to be a fruitless exercise.

Luckily for her, Remus answered the door.

'Thea.' He opened the door further. 'What are you doing here? Is everything alright?'

She smiled at him. 'I'm fine, Remus, honestly. I just wanted to ask you a favour.'

Malfoy snorted next to her, drawing Remus' attention to him.

'Good evening, Draco,' Remus said pleasantly.

'Good evening Professor,' replied Malfoy in a respectful tone.

'And what are you doing here?' he inquired.

'I have the dubious pleasure of being her escort,' Malfoy told him, managing to sound only slightly irritated.

'Ah, yes, of course. Curfew. How could I forget?' He stepped out of the way to invite them in. 'I'm afraid, Draco, that Sirius is on patrol tonight, but if you'd like to take a seat, I'm sure Thea and myself won't be too long.'

Thea watched the interplay between Malfoy and Remus with interest. There was no animosity there to see. And what was possibly even more interesting was that Malfoy seemed familiar with Sirius and Remus' room, meaning that he had to have been in it before. It immediately brought up the questions of how often did he visit and to what end? Thea had no doubt that Sirius was still trying to show Malfoy that the Light side was the one to be on but she wondered how he was going about it.

Malfoy threw Thea an irritated stare at the idea of waiting for her, but other than that didn't complain. She wondered if he was hoping that Sirius would turn up while they were there.

Leaving Malfoy to it, Remus showed Thea through to what turned out to be their bedroom. One half of the room was neat - not compulsively so - but enough that clothes weren't covering the floor and you could find things. The other side, on the other hand, was a completely different story; it looked as though a whirlwind had gone through it. 'Sirius' side?' she asked, already knowing the answer.

Remus grimaced slightly. 'Sorry about the mess,' he apologised. 'It seems that as soon as I get the place tidy, Padfoot comes in and it's like he never left.'

'But you must have known he was like this,' she asked.

'Actually he's better than he was in our school days. I never understood how someone so facetious about their appearance managed to live like such a slob.'

'This is better?' She looked around the room, wondering just how Sirius had survived without the others killing him.

'Hard to believe, isn't it?' he asked, smiling before turning serious. 'So, Thea, what was so important that it couldn't wait until tomorrow?'

Thea blushed with embarrassment. She had been so intent to find out if she was being influenced by dark magic that she hadn't even spared a thought to how she could have been interrupting their evening. 'Oh god, Remus. I'm so sorry. I never thought. I have so interrupted your evening. That's so rude of me. I can't believe I didn't think about that.' She would probably have carried on babbling like that if Remus hadn't broken in.

'Thea, I wasn't concerned about my evening - which so far has consisted of marking some third years' shocking essays. I'm actually more concerned about what worried you so much that you prefer to be here and not in your bed.'

Thea took a deep breath. 'I want you to check me over for dark magic,' she told him in one breath.

Remus looked shocked by her request. 'Thea, why on earth do you want me to do that?'

'I don't hate Malfoy anymore. In fact, I might even be thinking that he's not as bad as he makes out.'

'And this is a bad thing?' Remus asked gently, sitting down on the edge of the bed as Thea began to pace the room, trying to work out how exactly to explain to Remus what she was thinking.

'It's not the natural order of things,' she began. 'At the beginning of term I doubted I'd ever stop disliking him. It just seemed so improbable. Then I realised I didn't hate him anymore so I thought I could be, you know, kind of neutral with him. But over the last few weeks I've found myself looking forward to spending time with him. It's not normal, Remus. Ask Ron. Ask Harry. They'll tell you.' She stopped pacing to stand in front of him. 'Please say you'll do it,' she finally begged him.

'Do you think Draco has cursed you?' Remus asked, standing up and producing his wand.

'Not in the slightest,' she answered straight away before her brain reminded her of the binding spell he'd put on her.

'Then why do you want me to do this?'

'So I can prove to myself that I'm not wrong about this, or about him. If I don't find out I'll just worry about it all the time.'

'Can't you ask him?'

'Not really. If he is cursing me, would he really admit it? And if he's not then he'll be really insulted that I thought that he'd cursed me, and he'd probably just do it then to spite me.'

'Stand still then,' Remus instructed her. He pointed his want at her and muttered something under his breath.

Thea felt a warm, tingling sensation begin at her feet and slowly work its way up he body.

As it reached her knees, Remus began to speak. 'I've cast a spell on you that Lily was working on before she died.' He sounded sad as he mentioned Harry's mum. 'It goes through both body and mind, scanning for any dark magic. It doesn't just look for the obvious spells like Imperius or potions such as Amortentia, but also others that might alter your actions and thoughts, no matter how subtle.'

'And Harry's mum invented it?' she asked, amazed.

'Lily always was good at Charms,' he told her fondly.

'So, if say some dark magic has been cast on me, is there any way of telling who cast it?' asked Thea as the tingling reached her fingers.

Remus shook his head regretfully. 'Unfortunately no. Lily was beginning to work on that when she died. Not only was it difficult to tell who was being controlled, it was virtually impossible to discover who was controlling who. Lily was determined to find a way.'

'Do you think she would have found a way?'

'Without a shadow of a doubt,' said Remus with conviction. 'If anyone could have done it, it would have been Lily.'

As the tingling reached her nose, she sneezed. Remus laughed at her. 'The tingling was Lily's idea after Sirius and James annoyed her one afternoon. They were both very ticklish and neither of them was too happy when they started sneezing whenever Lily tested the spell on them.'

'So, did it work?' asked Thea, rubbing her nose.

Remus looked at his wand. 'You're clean. Not a dark spell in sight.'

Thea sagged against the wall. 'Oh, thank god for that. Thank you Remus. I feel so much better for that.'

'You can now rest assured that you aren't being taken in or played by Draco.'

'It is good to know,' agreed Thea.

As she went to open the door a thought occurred to her: what about Malfoy's Elemental Magic? Would Lily's spell detect that or not?

As she turned back to ask Remus he seemed to read her mind. 'Lily designed it to also look for dark magic cast by Elemental Magic. Sirius insisted that she looked into it after James played a trick on him one day.'

'Was Harry's dad an Elementalist then?' She wondered if Harry knew.

'Oh yes, he was. Not as strong or capable as Harry, but he could certainly do it. It also meant that he was Lily's only guinea pig when it came to testing the spell because he was the only one she trusted who was an Elementalist.'

'Poor him.'

'Oh don't feel sorry for him. James deserved everything Lily dished out to him. He was the first to admit it. Well, after everyone had been telling him for years.'

As Remus showed her back into the other room, she reflected that that meant Malfoy hadn't been casting any dark magic on her and that she was beginning to like him on her own. She didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. At least now she knew she was the only one in her head and no one was fiddling around with it. It also meant that the binding spell he had used couldn't be dark magic. That meant...well she didn't know what it meant, but she was positive it meant something.

'Right then, you two, I think you can return to your common rooms, unless either of you have something else you want to talk to me about.'

'I'm good,' said Thea, feeling much more cheerful.

'I'm sure I'm fine, Professor,' said Malfoy dryly.

As Remus opened the door for them Thea turned to him. 'How bad are the third year papers?'

'Shockingly bad, and that's all I'm saying about it.'

Thea laughed. 'Goodnight, Remus. See you later.'

'Night Thea. Draco.' With that he closed the door.

As they walked back into the main part of the castle, Malfoy spoke. 'So did you get your emergency sorted?'

'What? Oh that. Yes, thank you. Everything is fine.' She smiled at him, unable to stop herself after finding out for certain that he wasn't casting any dark spells on her.

'Do I get to know what was so important you demanded that we visit Professor Lupin at such a late hour?'

'Not really, no.' She could just imagine how that conversation would go.

He glanced at her, calculatingly. 'You didn't just ask him for a quick run through of all the sexual phrases he thought I might utter in you presence, did you?'

'No, I did not,' spluttered Thea, wondering exactly how he had managed to come up with such a strange suggestion.

'Good, because you know that if you have any questions about that, I'd be more than happy to talk you through it.'

'Look, I don't know why you're finding this so funny. It's not like you don't know I'm a virgin.'

'True. But I never thought you were quite so innocent,' he admitted. 'I just wondered if you'd ever had sex, not if you'd ever had a sexual experience.'

'How do you know I've never done anything?' she asked before she could stop herself. Perhaps while she had Hermione perform the Full Body Bind on her she'd ask for a Silencing Charm as well.

He didn't answer this question until they came to a stop outside the Fat Lady, where he gently pushed her up against the wall. Draco stood in front of her, close but not touching. 'How do I know,' he repeated, thoughtful. 'Well, there is that rather fetching colour of red you turn. And lets not forget the way you wrap your arms about you, just like you're doing now. That, and a wealth of other things.'

She stood there, resolutely not looking him in the eyes, where she was sure she'd see contempt and amusement.

He moved back, out of her personal space. 'Good night, Thea. See you tomorrow for Potions. Hope you've got that work done.'

As he walked away, Thea's eyes widened. Shit, her Potions. Whispering the password she hurried into the common room and over to the table where she and Benji had been working earlier that evening. Relief flooded her when she saw her books open where she had left them.

So intent was she on getting to her books, she didn't see the others sitting on the sofas, obviously waiting for her and was rather startled when Ginny called out to her.

'I'm fine. I just need to get this work finished because otherwise I'll die tomorrow in my Potions tutorial.'

'What happened to you this evening?' asked Benji.

'Malfoy caught me, took away ten points and then walked me back to the common room,' she summarised. She really didn't have time to go into what had happened in detail. 'What about you guys?'

'We got away from Parkinson, thank god,' Colin told her, indicating himself and Benji.

'I got caught by Zabini, who also took ten points and then walked me to the common room,' Ginny said. She looked at Thea. 'Are you really going to do that Potions?'

Thea nodded, sitting at the table. There was no way she couldn't.

'Well, we're going to bed,' Colin told her, standing up.

'Yeah, need to recover from the excitement of the evening,' Benji teased her.

'I'm off as well,' Ginny said as Colin disappeared up the stairs.

'Right then, night Gin. I'll see you in the morning.'

'Yeah, about the time I wake you up slumped over that table,' Ginny predicted.

'Thought you had homework to finish,' Thea asked Benji as he walked past her.

'Oh, I do. However, I got some done waiting for you and Gin to turn up. I'll just finish it tomorrow sometime. Night.'

Thea stared at the books open in front of her. She still had so much of it to do. She wasn't even sure she'd get it all done tonight. Ginny really would be shaking her awake in the morning she realised glumly but she dipped her quill into the inkwell anyway and started to write.