Turning Points

Turning Points: Chapter Twelve

Draco suddenly found himself surrounded by a large group of angry Slytherins. 'No, I take that back,' he thought. 'This is a mob of very pissed-off Slytherins, who just happen to be advancing towards me at a very rapid pace,' he gulped. Draco knew what their feelings about Potter entailed. He knew how they felt and he knew that at least half of them would have no qualms about forgoing any usage of wands and just beating the living daylight out of Harry Potter, should they get the chance.

He also knew that he was being sized up by the lot of them and that they looked like gleeful vampires closing in on some poor hapless chap who had accidentally walked down the wrong dark alley. For the first time in his six years at Hogwarts, Draco noticed how dark and gloomy the dungeons truly were. Unlike the rest of the castle, there were no windows or portraits of the outdoors lining the walls. Instead, suits of armor were positioned every few feet and each was carrying a deadly weapon. The one closest to Draco was decked out with black armor so dark that one wouldn't notice it hiding in the corner if just giving the hallway a cursory glance. Its weapon of choice was a baton-like thing with sharp, metal spikes protruding all over. At one end, there was what appeared to be an ordinary whip, but when Draco looked down, he came to the shocking realization that it was a whip of the nine tails variety. 'What is Dumbledore thinking keeping something like that in a school?'

Looking back up, he saw the Slytherins still advancing rather rapidly. Throwing a glance over his shoulder, he saw Hermione standing there staring at him with a horrified expression on her face. Her normally vibrant brown eyes were filled with fear. Draco could have sworn he saw a bit of fear flash across her face, but it was gone so quickly that he couldn't be sure.

Draco tried to motion that he'd be fine and she should get out of the dungeons, but her eyes were now glazed over and she was staring, unblinkingly, at the area just behind him. Turning back around, he saw Goyle, of all people, about to throw a punch. 'Of all the underhanded...' he started, but then realized that most Slytherins would have no problem hitting an unaware opponent. 'Even father's been known to throw a curse at an unready adversary and the Malfoy Code is firmly against "winning in any manner which would be contested at a later date." I guess the Goyle's are just too stupid to fight fair.'

Draco dodged the attack, grabbed the strange whip from the suit of armor, and, carefully grasping the tiny grip stuck in between two rather large spikes, began cracking the whip half. Spinning around again, this time to face Hermione, the gravity of the situation finally hit him. He had assumed she would be able to help him fight off the snarling pack, but unfortunately for him, she was still out of it. 'What a great time to be off in la-la land, Granger,' he thought miserably. That was when he noticed Pansy Parkinson slowly drawing her wand out toward Hermione, ready to start slinging curses.

Groaning, he thought, 'This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? First I'm transformed into Potter, then I get surrounded by a bunch of Slytherins still transformed as Potter, then I realize I have to fight my way out of the dungeons and now I have to fend off Hermione's attackers too all the while looking like Harry bloody Potter.'

"Drop it, Parkinson," Draco shouted, in what he hoped was a Gryffindor enough voice. When she turned her head slightly, he cracked the whip and took a menacing step in her direction. Pansy, however, didn't lower her wand. If anything, she held it even more firmly and looked even more determined to hex the still unmoving Hermione.

"And what'll you do if I don't, Potter? You can't save your precious mudblood girlfriend and fend off the rest of us at the same time," she pointed out.

As he realized she was right, Draco began to get really frustrated. 'Why does a professor always come around when it's Potter and me facing off?' Draco wondered. 'Do they have a special Harry-Potter-Is-In-Trouble-Ometer or something? And why won't Hermione snap out of it? She's had no problem with these impromptu duels before.'

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some of the Slytherins start advancing again, while others will still casting wary glances at the deadly weapon in his hand. "Will you bloody wankers just stop for a minute?" he shouted. "I need to think."

"Oh, that's rich, Potter," Pansy chuckled. "What makes you think we'll worship you and do what you want like the rest of the world does? You're in our territory now."

Draco merely ignored her and cracked the whip again a few more times. 'Hopefully,' he thought, 'somebody will hear it and come to investigate.'

They kept up this game of advance and retreat for so long that Draco thought his hand was going to fall off from the sheer amount of strength it took to snap it each time. It was, however, when his body started aching that he knew he was in trouble. 'Oh bollocks, now the Polyjuice is wearing off.' He groaned. 'This day does just keep getting better and better.'

Meanwhile, Hermione had been undergoing a lot of mental turmoil. She genuinely cared for Draco and seeing him surrounded by Death Eater spawn made her freeze. Even disguised as Harry, she knew it was Draco. She could feel him and was surprised the Slytherins couldn't too. It was just too much for her and the images and emotions she had been suppressing for so long were pushing their way to the surface despite her inner pleas for it all to just stop.

After a few more seconds of dealing with her inner voices, Hermione yelled, "ENOUGH!"

Hearing this, the Slytherins not already advancing on Hermione stopped their assault on Draco and spun around to face her. Taking advantage of his housemates backs being turned, Draco ran and hid behind one of the larger suits of armor in the hallways before he felt his hair fall into his face, golden and soft, and before his features fully sharpened back to their original state.

Hazarding a glance around the side of the suit of armor, Draco's worst fears were confirmed. Hermione was giving off an aloof and in-control vibe, but everything else about her betrayed that emotion. Her wand was drawn and pointed at Blaise. Draco could tell that many of the Slytherins were backing down, but some of the older and more daring of the bunch were starting to verbally assault her, waiting for her to make the first move.

He snorted at the fact that members of his own house would back from a common Mudblood. 'That'll have to change,' he thought. 'It was a smart thing to do; Granger's tough and too smart for her own good, but it won't be like this next year. We'll rule this place,' he vowed.

Looking into the armor, he saw that he was finally back to his normal Malfoy appearance. Thanking whatever gods had made him dress in plain slacks and a t-shirt instead of school robes, Draco stepped out from behind the knight and strode arrogantly up to the scene.

"What is going on here?" he demanded.

Simpering, a small boy with black hair responded, "The Mudblood came down to our dungeons and the 7^th years have decided to have a little bit of fun. It'll be fun to watch"

"Potter and Weasley's Mudblood?" he asked, disgusted at the kid's eagerness to watch somebody else do all the dirty work.

"Yeah, her," the kid said. If Draco had to guess, he would've thought him a second year, at best. 'He actually looks a little like Potter,' Draco mused. 'Change his eye color, add glasses and cut some hair off and they could be twins.'

Grunting, Draco roughly pushed his way through the crowd, not caring if he hurt anybody--they had all ganged up on him. 'Sure, I looked like Potter, but it was still me,' he whined to himself. When he got to the front, he said, "Well, well... what have we got here? A Mudblood?"

Hermione's only response was to move her wand from Blaise's face to Draco's. He did notice a playful gleam in her eyes and was shocked she could even think of messing around when it was a likely possibility she would be killed by the mob of Slytherins, angry about her trespassing into their territory.

He glanced at her wand before mocking her. "That wand won't do you any good down here, Granger. Where are your boyfriends? No bodyguards to protect you today?"

At asking this, several Slytherins roared in outrage. Draco heard somebody say, "Where'd Potter go?" and he laughed derisively.

"You mean you had them both down here and let one get away?" They just nodded sadly. "Well, guess we're stuck with just one test subject today then," Draco said, taking control of the situation and not caring that he was about to be bossing 7^th years around. It was something he did quite often and even the elder Slytherin's knew better than to mess with a Malfoy.

Draco turned back to Hermione and raised an eyebrow. She merely shrugged and kept her wand trained at his chest.

"Aww, c'mon Granger, we're all friends here." Snickers broke out all around them.

All the while this was happening, Hermione was inwardly seething. She didn't find it even slightly fair that Draco was able to tease her like this when she knew that if she even tried to speak out against precious Draco Malfoy, she'd be dead and mutilated beyond recognition in seconds. "I'll believe it when you beat me in a duel," she smirked.

"Is that a challenge, Mudblood?" Draco growled.

"Yes, Malfoy, it is. You versus me, no holds barred and," she said, casting a careful glance around the hallway, "no audience."

Looking at the crowd around them as well, Draco tried to gauge their reaction to her proposition. From the looks he was getting, he knew he'd be disowned if he said no. He also knew that these vultures were anxious to hear about Hermione's mysterious death in tomorrow's papers, leading him to his conclusion. "Deal," he said and all around him, Slytherin's cheered.

"Good, I know of a place nobody else knows of. Follow me," she commanded.

He didn't even have to fake his look of disgust. He hated being told what to do, especially by her, but before he could respond, cheers of "Beat that Mudblood!" and "Go Draco!" rang out from some of the girls and younger boys of the group.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. Hermione was already halfway down the hall and he had to walk quickly to catch up. At the end of the hallway, however, they ran into the bulky forms of Crabbe and Goyle, who were doing an excellent job of blocking the entrance.

"Crabbe. Goyle," Draco said stiffly, nodding to each in turn. They merely grunted and moved aside to let him pass. As Hermione started to walk through though, the two Slytherins moved back to their original positions of blocking the hallway. "Move you two," Draco demanded. "I have to show the Mudblood here a thing or two about dueling, not that she could ever master it, having filthy blood and all..." he trailed off.

After looking dumbly at one another for a few moments, Crabbe and Goyle finally moved aside to allow Hermione barely enough space to pass.

When she finally made it past their enormous bulks, she started walking away again, leaving Draco behind to catch up.

Draco turned to Crabbe and Goyle and gave an exasperated sigh, "Mudbloods; can't live with them, can't Avada Kedavra them at school." They snickered and he shook his head before turning to follow the quickly disappearing backside of Hermione Granger. Before he started walking away, though, he turned to Crabbe and Goyle and said, "And don't forget about the meeting tonight. Be there early." He gave them a warning glare before turning back around and walking away.