Friendship, Loyalty, And Love

Friendship, Loyalty, and Love

Chapter 5:

The Oddity that is Draco Malfoy

Dean Thomas sighed, put his textbook down, stood up and crossed out of the Gryffindor 5^th year boys’ dorm. He made his way down the stairs into the common room. There he was greeted by the sight he had been expecting. Seamus Finnigan, his best friend, roommate, and of late something far more important, was curled up in one of the chairs by the fire, waiting.

"Seamus," Dean called softly. "Seamus, it’s late. You ought to go to bed."

"I’m waiting for Harry," the smaller blond boy answered.

"I know you are, but Seamus," Dean paused, then smiled. "He’s not going to want to be jumped on with questions when he comes back. He’ll tell us what happened tonight with Malfoy when he’s ready."

"That’s not why I’m waiting," Seamus said. "I just want to make sure Harry comes back." The boys’ roommate, Harry Potter, had gone to a meeting tonight with his apparent nemesis, Draco Malfoy, to learn what information Malfoy had to give. The offer had been too tempting to resist, and both boys knew that Harry hadn’t had a choice but to go and find out why the Slytherin claimed to not have anything to do with the latest attack at Hogwarts. However, neither Dean nor Seamus was very comfortable with having their roommate wandering around after dark, especially not to meet Malfoy, when one of their friends had already been attacked this year.

"He’ll be fine Seamus. Malfoy’s not stupid enough to hurt him when he knows that we know Harry went to talk to him."

Seamus gave him a look. "Yeah, we know. Did you know we’re the only ones who do?"

"What do you mean?" Dean was confused.

"Harry didn’t tell Ron or Hermione where he was going tonight. Just us. Now I intend to make sure he makes it back ok."

"Oh," Dean said, then dropped into a chair near Seamus’. "In that case, I think I’ll wait with you." Both boys sat quietly, Seamus idly kicking a foot against the leg of his chair and Dean thinking about what Seamus had told him. "You know," Dean finally interrupted the silence. "It’s really not that odd that he didn’t tell Ron and Hermione. I mean, Ron hates Malfoy and would flip out at him, and Hermione . . ."

"Hermione would just want to offer advice, or suggestions, or tell him not to go," Seamus finished. "Yeah, I know. And I know the only reason we found out is because we were there when Malfoy made the offer. But still . . ." Seamus trailed off.

"Indeed," Dean nodded, and the two lapsed back into silence.

Their wait didn’t last that much longer, and before 10 minutes were up the portrait hole swung open and Harry crawled through. He stretched as he stepped out into the common room, then caught sight of Seamus and Dean. "Hey guys," he said, a little warily.

"Hey Harry, you ok?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, I’m fine," Harry said, then yawned. "Tired, but fine. No hexes, curses, or even bruises." Harry grinned at his roommates, clearly aware why they were waiting up for him.

"That’s good to hear," Seamus said, then got up. "I think I’m going to head to bed then."

"What, no questions?" Harry looked surprised. "No demands for information? Not even one careless mention of Draco Malfoy, Slytherin sex god?"

Dean was confused at this last, but Seamus just grinned. "Nah, I figure, you’ll tell us in your own time what he said, and as long as your time doesn’t take more than I day, I can wait."

Harry smiled at that, and nodded. "Ok, deal. I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow. I want to get your opinions before I bring some things up with Ron anyway." Harry also headed up towards the stairs, then paused and turned back to where Seamus was standing next to Dean’s chair. "But Seamus," and the other boy looked serious this time. "I don’t want to hear anything about sex gods, ok?"

The Irish boy grinned, then pretended to look innocent. "Of course not. I’d never dream of harassing my favorite and only team captain about his illicit late night meeting with Slytherin’s most shaggable male."

Harry sighed, shot Seamus a look which clearly said he meant his warning, then continued up the stairs.

"What was that about?" Dean asked his friend.

"Oh, nothing." At Dean’s disbelieving look Seamus laughed. "I’ll tell you about it later, promise. Right now I just want to go to bed." Seamus gave Dean a hand up and the two headed up to their room after Harry.

***

The morning dawned clear and bright, the sun rising through the window of the boys’ dormitory. Seamus, never one to appreciate a pretty sunrise, groaned at the light seeping through the crack in his bed hangings and rolled over, trying to get back to sleep. But the voice of one of his roommates distracted him.

"What kept you out so late last night Harry?" the voice could only be Ron.

"I wasn’t all that late," came Harry’s evasive response.

"Well, I must have already been asleep cause I didn’t hear you come in."

"No?" Harry’s voice held a false note in it’s questioning tone. "That’s odd, Dean and Seamus were still up."

"Huh," the sound of Ron’s voice grated lightly as it reflected the face he must have been making at his friend. "I don’t even want to know what they were doing up so late."

"Watch it," Seamus answered from his bed, sitting up and pulling the hangings aside to glare. "Just be glad that he’s in his bed this morning and I’m over here." Seamus grinned to show he was just teasing, the grin slipping away when Dean’s voice came from inside his bed, he hadn’t realized the other boy was awake yet.

"And am I supposed to be glad of that fact too Seamus?" Dean’s face, when it appeared matched the smile in his tone.

"Jesus guys," the boys’ fifth roommate finally chimed in. "It’s dawn! Why on earth are you all up?" Neville Longbottom stuck his head out from behind his curtains, scowling.

"No idea," Harry answered. "I think Ron must have gone to bed too early last night, otherwise he’d never be waking me up this early."

"I just wanted to know what you were doing so late last night," the redhead persisted.

"Hey Ron," Dean spoke up, distracting the other boy. "How on earth did you know about Seamus and me?"

"Yeah, we hadn’t told you yet," Seamus chimed in, pulling the others’ attention farther from Harry. "Now you’ve gone and ruined the surprise."

"Oh, well," Ron blushed a little. "Hermione mentioned something, and it just fit with the way you’ve both been acting all year."

"Honestly guys," Neville added. "It’s not like you were being all that discreet. Dean, you’ve been mooning over Seamus for months," Dean spluttered, and Seamus’ quite "He has?" went unnoticed. "And Seamus, well hell. Everything you think gets written across that cute face and those bright eyes of yours."

"Cute face?" it was Seamus’ turn to splutter.

"Neville," Dean started, then stopped.

"Yes?" the smaller boy asked.

"Neville?" Harry’s voice held a similar note of inquiry, although he got no further with his question, trailing off as though confounded by what to ask.

"Yes?" Neville sounded quite amused, although he didn’t offer any other information.

"Neville!" Seamus finally managed to get out.

Neville paused, then grinned and said "No," before pulling the curtains around his bed closed. "Good night, and be quiet!" came out, slightly muffled from under the fabric.

"Well that was sufficiently surreal for one morning," Harry said.

"Um, yeah," Ron agreed.

"I think I’m going to follow his example and . . ."

Dean interrupted Harry with a grin, "Make a pass at Seamus?"

Seamus just spluttered some more, and Neville’s voice resounded through the room with a definite "I did not!"

"Good to know," Dean’s response was so quiet Seamus almost didn’t hear it, but when he glanced over at his friend he could swear the look on his face was almost possessive.

" . . . Go to bed," Harry finally finished, then firmly closed the curtains around his bed.

"We’ve only got about an hour before the alarms go off," Ron said, and Seamus glared at him.

"Right, and I intend to enjoy them!" The Irish boy went to pull his curtains, but paused to smile at Dean. "Good night," he said, a little more quietly.

"Yes, good night," Dean nodded at Ron, and followed suit, leaving the redhead the only one not trying to sleep.

"Well, huh," Ron’s mutter could be just barely heard through the velvet curtains. "Only, I still want to know what Harry . . ."

"Good night, Ron," came Neville’s voice, distinctly.

"Right, sorry," he said, and the room became silent once more.

***

This first half of the days classes were over, and the students were all sitting in the Great Hall having lunch before Seamus got a chance to talk to his elusive roommate.

"Harry," he leaned over the table and said quietly. "When are you going to spill the beans?"

"Not here," came Harry’s equally quiet response. Ron was sitting with Hermione chatting and not paying attention but Harry clearly didn’t want to do anything that would endanger that state. "Meet me in the library after Charms this afternoon. We can talk there."

"Are you kidding?" Dean asked. "Hermione’s sure to be in there."

"No, she’s not," Seamus answered for Harry. "She and Neville are going to do a private practice session in one of the unused classrooms. He’s worried about his grades more than usual this year."

"And Ron would never voluntarily look in there, so it’ll be a good chance to talk," Harry added.

"Hey, Harry!" a voice yelled from further down the table, ending their discussion. Harry turned to deal with the person who had hailed him and the other two boys went back to lunch.

Dean finished and started to stand, assuming the faster Irish boy must also be done, when Seamus grabbed his wrist. "Wait up," he said.

The taller boy dropped back into his seat and glanced at his friend, who seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of time with his meal. "What’s up?" he asked.

"Watch," Seamus whispered, nodding his head over towards the other tables. Dean looked to where Seamus was so intently, albeit discreetly staring. There he saw Draco Malfoy, finishing up his meal, slightly impeded by the way he kept glancing over at the Gryffindor table. Dean looked back at Seamus and raised his eyebrows.

"Aren’t you guys done yet?" Ron’s voice came before Seamus could answer Dean’s look.

"Not quite," Seamus said quickly. "You guys go ahead and we’ll catch up." The other boy shrugged and he and the rest of the 5^th years headed out towards the charms classroom.

Seamus kept his eyes trained on the Slytherin table, and Dean, following his example, saw Malfoy watching Harry’s retreating back, then give himself a little shake. The blond boy seemed to come back to himself and pushed away what little was left of his meal. He said something to one of his friends at the table, then the majority of Slytherin’s stood up to go to their next class.

"So," said Dean, turning back to Seamus who was quickly finishing and gathering his things. "What was that about?"

"No idea," the Irish boy answered, hopping out of his seat and waiting while Dean followed suit. "But I looked up and noticed Malfoy glancing over at the table about 10 minutes into lunch. Can’t tell when he started, but he was watching us about one out of every five minutes."

"Huh," said Dean. "Weird."

"Yeah," agreed Seamus, then set off for the exit of the hall at a quick pace. "Come on, we’ll be late."

"But . . ." started Dean, hurrying to catch up.

"We can talk about it with Harry this afternoon. Right now I just want to get to class. We’re working on protection charms and I’ve got some questions for Professor Flitwick."

"Not that you need the help in charms," Dean replied as they hurried through the corridors.

"Hey, I like Charms," Seamus defended himself.

"Oh, I know," Dean shot back. "I figure, that’s how you manage to be so charming all the time." Seamus stuck out his tongue and Dean just grinned at him.

***

Once charms was over Harry slipped away from Ron with some excuse that Dean and Seamus couldn’t hear, then the three of them made their way to the library. They found a small table in a corner behind some stacks, far enough away from the intimidating Madame Pince that, hopefully, she wouldn’t be able to hear them. Being safely settled down, Seamus started in on his friend.

"So Harry, what’s up? What did Malfoy have to say? Did he really not know about the attack?"

Harry looked contemplative for a few seconds, then answered. "Well, I think he’s telling the truth when he says he didn’t know. It’s kind of complicated, so hold on a second. Let me think about how I want to say this."

Seamus gave Dean a look, and the other boy nodded back. They were both aware that Harry was going to be editing his story of the previous night’s encounter, and could only trust that he wouldn’t hold back anything that would prove important.

"Well," Harry finally started again. "When I met up with him he looked really, agitated I guess, as though he didn’t want to be there. After awhile he finally told me that he and his father had a massive argument over the family’s involvement with Voldemort," Seamus shuddered at this mention of the dark wizards name, "and he’s been, well, not disowned, but, I don’t know what you’d call it. His parents aren’t happy with him at all. Anyway, he knew there was going to be an attack, he overheard his father planing it with Wormtail, which is what started the argument, but no specifics were mentioned. Nothing about time or manner, and as for person, he thinks they weren’t even sure who they were going to attack. Probably Justin was just the first Muggleborn they came across."

"Who’s Wormtail?" Seamus asked, looking confused.

"Oh, that’s right. We never told you guys, did we? Wormtail is the childhood nickname of Peter Pettigrew."

"But he’s dead!" Seamus’ exclamation caused them all to pause and look up, hopping the librarian wouldn’t notice them.

"No, he’s not," Harry continued in a whisper, looking upset. "He was a traitor, working as a spy for Voldemort. He handed over the location of my parents’ hiding place, and when my godfather, Sirius Black, found out about it he framed Sirius and went into hiding."

"Whoa," Dean breathed. "Man, Harry, I’m sorry. So, in our third year . . .?"

"Sirius was trying to get to Wormtail, who was hiding out in the school, not me." Harry looked grim. "Pettigrew is an animagus, turns into a rat, hence the name Wormtail."

"A rat," Seamus mused. "Wait . . . what ever happened to Scabbers?"

"Got it in one," Harry replied, somewhat bitterly.

"Hmm," Dean thought about everything he’d heard, then broke the silence which had fallen, asking "Harry, about Malfoy’s story, what were he and his father fighting about? Surely not just about attacking someone here at the school?"

"No," Harry replied, scowling at some thought. "No, of course not. I doubt he’d normally have a problem with that sort of thing, but, well, apparently he was more upset at Cedric’s death than he was letting on."

"Being more upset about that wouldn’t have been hard," Seamus said.

"Agreed, but he claims a lot of that was an act." Harry didn’t look like he quite believed this though.

"Well, then, why?" Dean asked again.

"Pureblood," Harry said with a touch of a snarl. "Cedric was a full blooded wizard, and Malfoy doesn’t like that Voldemort killed him."

"So he told his father that, and?" Seamus looked very curious.

"And his father told him not to question their lord’s ways. Standard response for a Death Eater. But not enough to make Malfoy happy, because of something he learned over the summer."

"What?" Seamus asked again.

"Voldemort’s half Muggle, only his mother was a witch."

"So pureblood-boy thinks he and his father ought to be the ones in power, not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Seamus looked kind of startled.

"Well, that seems to have been the start of it. His father must have become very angry at the questioning though, because Malfoy got really evasive as to what happened next. I think something happened he doesn’t want to admit." Seamus’ eyes widened thinking about this, but Harry just went on. "After that Mr. Malfoy decided to let his son see what his job really entailed, and I think Draco got kind of squeamish. I’m pretty certain he was there for at least one of the attacks this summer."

"What attacks?" Dean asked, confused.

"That’s right, you were out of touch, weren’t you?" Seamus said, suddenly. "I’d forgotten, and nobody wants to talk about them now, do they?"

"There were 5 major attacks this summer, 3 against Muggles in areas which have a higher percentage of wizards than Muggles, you know, towns which only just manage to pretend to be normal," Harry said and Seamus nodded. "No one was killed. There was also 1 attack in London, late at night on a full moon. A Muggle and a witch were both injured seriously, but again, no deaths."

"And the last?" Dean looked worried.

"The last was in Ireland," Seamus spoke up, a dark look on his face. "A family I knew when I was younger, the father was a friend of my mother’s when they were here at Hogwarts, the mother’s a Muggle like my father. They had a son who would have been starting here two years from now . . ." the Irish boy trailed off.

"What happened?" Dean asked, laying his hand on his friends’ arm, looking worried.

"Dead," Seamus’ voice was cold. "All three of them. My mother was called to the scene to identify them, she wouldn’t tell me what had happened, and I’m glad . . ." Seamus trailed off again, and the look in his eye worried Dean, who leaned over and wrapped his arms around the suffering boy. Seamus leaned into the hug, then pushed him away. "And Malfoy was there?" Seamus asked harshly.

"I don’t think so," Harry sounded very serious. "From what he said, and he wasn’t very forthcoming, you can imagine, but from what I can gather, I think he was at the attack in London, and one of the others. He definitely didn’t like what he saw. The fact that one of the victims was a witch, and the Death Eater’s methods, upset him I think. At any rate, he told his father he wasn’t going to join Voldemort’s followers. His exact words to me were ‘I won’t follow some stupid half-blooded vicious maniac on his hair-brained journey to take over the world.’"

"Makes it kind of strange that he decided to talk to you then, doesn’t it," Seamus said. "I mean, your mother was Muggle-born."

"Yeah, I pointed that out too." Now Harry grinned. "He got the funniest look in his eyes," the memory inspired a light smile in the dark haired boy’s eyes which Dean couldn’t help noticing. "Said ‘You’re mother was a witch, wasn’t she? Doesn’t make a difference.’ Then he quickly changed the subject."

"Hmm," Dean said quietly. "And I take it you believe him?"

"Well," Harry paused, then rushed on. "Yeah, yeah I think I do. There’s a certain, I don’t know, emotion. He was too sincere. I don’t think he could have faked it. I don’t believe he’s that good of an actor."

"What if he is?" Seamus asked, worried. "You’re not going to put yourself in too much trouble, right? I mean, you’ll be careful, yes?"

"Of course," Harry looked annoyed. "I know what I’m doing."

Dean kind of doubted this, but certainly wasn’t going to say anything that would put Harry on the defensive. He wanted too much to know what was going on and how to keep his friends safe. Dean had enough reason to worry about attacks on Muggleborns. "So what did he say about the attacks?"

"Nothing. He doesn’t know what their plans are," Harry looked kind of disappointed, but continued. "He knows their going to be attacking students, and he thinks I’m not to be one of them." Harry scowled at this. "Apparently Voldemort wants me at some sort of disadvantage the next time we cross wands, so they’re not going to be just coming in and killing me. I don’t know what to make of it."

"I do, and I don’t like it," Dean pursed his lips. "They attacked Justin, probably because he was the first Muggle-born they came across, and to prove they could. The next one’s probably going to be a closer attack."

"What do you mean?" Harry looked confused.

"Well, if they want to attack you without attacking you, what can they do?" Dean quickly answered his own question. "Attack the people close to you. And as your second closest Muggle-born friend you have to excuse me for not liking this plan."

Harry looked alarmed. "You can’t know that’s their plan," he protested.

"No, that’s true," Seamus agreed. "But you have to admit, it makes sense."

"You ought to warn the others anyway, just in case," Dean added.

"Others?" Harry asked.

"Hermione, of course, and the Creevey boys. What about the other houses? I know you weren’t close to Justin, but do you have any friends who are Muggle or half Muggle in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff?"

Harry seemed startled by Dean’s ideas, then thought about it seriously. "Not really," he said. "I mostly only hang out with Gryffindors, not a lot of free time to meet the other houses. We’ve got Herbology with the Hufflepuffs, and I’ve worked with Justin and Ernie McMillan a couple times, but Ernie’s full-blooded, and Hermione introduced me to some of the girls she studies Arithmancy with. Um, that’s Mandy Brocklehurst and Lisa Turpin of Ravenclaw. But they ought to be fine, they’re her friends, not mine."

Seamus considered that. "Not if they’re all working together when Hermione gets attacked," he pointed out.

Harry scowled. "I think you guys are worrying too much. We know what’s going on now, and everyone’s going to be really careful." As Dean started to open his mouth to protest he added, "I’ll tell Hermione, and have Ginny mention something to Colin. But really, I think things are well in hand." The dark haired boy glanced at his watch, the grabbed his bag. "I’ve got to run, Ron’ll be expecting me."

"Harry, hold up," Seamus said. "There’s something you ought to know." When Harry turned around, looking questioning the Irish boy continued. "This afternoon at lunch, Malfoy was watching you."

"What do you mean, ‘watching me’?" Harry asked.

"He kept glancing over at the table, and I’m pretty certain it was you he was looking at. About once every five minutes or so, he’d look up from his dinner, shoot a look across the room, then stop and just stare for half a minute," Seamus looked thoughtful. "Honestly, if I didn’t know better, I’d have said he was mooning."

"Yeah, right. Draco Malfoy doesn’t moon," Harry gave a little snort.

"Regardless of that," Dean said, "when you lot left the room to go to class he was definitely watching, and didn’t get up to leave until after all of you were gone."

"Oh," Harry was sort of quiet for a second, thinking. "All right, thanks for telling me, and . . ." he paused, then blinked for a couple seconds before continuing. "Tell me if he does it again, ok?"

Dean nodded, and Harry turned to leave. As Harry walked away Seamus gave a little snort. "Huh, things well in hand indeed," he said quietly. "He just wants us off his back."

"Agreed," Dean replied. "But what else were you expecting? He’s Harry. He deals with his own problems. I’m amazed we got as much out of him as we did."

"Point," and Seamus scowled as the door to the library closed with a thump, signaling Harry’s departure. "Look, let’s be careful, and keep our eyes open."

"Of course," Dean agreed. "After Hermione, you know we’re the next most obvious targets."

Seamus shrugged. "Doubt it will go that far, personally. For one thing, the teacher’s are going to be on their guard, they don’t want a repeat of what happened last year. And for another thing . . ." he trailed off.

"For another thing?" Dean prompted him.

"For another thing, after Hermione gets attacked there won’t be any more attacks." Seamus looked serious. "You know that if something happens to her Harry and Ron will both go ballistic."

"True, but that’s not what I meant."

"I know," and Seamus sighed. "Look, there’s nothing we can do besides be on our guard. In the meantime you want to go down to the Hospital Wing. Maybe Justin will be up by now."

"That’d be nice," Dean said, and they both gathered their bags and headed out.

***

When the boys reached the Hospital Wing they found Madame Pomfrey, the medical witch, sitting next to Justin’s bed. The boy was not awake yet, and given the somber look on Madame Pomfrey’s face they knew they couldn’t expect him to return to consciousness anytime soon.

"Hello Madame Pomfrey," Dean said. "How is he?"

"Oh, hello boys," Madame Pomfrey looked up. "He’s, he’s ok. I mean," she said at their disbelieving looks, "that he’s unconscious, but we’re not worried. We found traces of some potion that has been forced down his throat. That’s what’s keeping him in this state. But Professor Snape is analyzing it. We ought to know what’s in it in at most a week, and then we can brew a potion to counter it in. In the meantime he ought to be fine."

"So, all the attacker did was hit him and them feed him a potion to keep him unconscious?" Seamus asked. "That seems kind of . . . strange."

"Well, the potion seems to be doing a few other things too, it’s attacking his respiratory system, for one thing, but nothing I can’t counter until we make up the cure." Madame Pomfrey looked very sure of herself and Dean realized they’d have to believe in her skills.

"Thank you Madame Pomfrey," Dean said. "Do you mind if we stay here with him for awhile?"

"No, not at all, but . . . well, in a magically induced coma Justin’s not going to be able to tell you boys are here."

"That’s ok," Seamus said. "It’ll make us feel better at least."

"Of course," said Madame Pomfrey. "But not more than an hour, I’m sure you boys have homework to do."

"Thank you," Dean said again, then took the seat she stood up from. Seamus pulled up a second chair and the two of them sat quietly, watching their friend’s chest rise and fall. Seamus fancied he could see it catch occasionally as the potion attacked the other boy. As Seamus watched Justin he felt Dean’s hand reach over and clasp his. He glanced at his friend and saw Dean had closed his eyes and was whispering something. Seamus suspected Dean’s Christian upbringing was coming forward and the other boy was praying for Justin’s safety, and as Seamus thought about it he realized that it certainly couldn’t hurt anything. The Irish boy closed his eyes and sent a prayer to the Virgin Mary, who his father had taught him to respect and love as a small child. Please, he prayed. Keep my friend’s and loved ones safe. Allow no one to hurt my family. In this dark time we need your guidance and protection. Please, he added. In the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Ghost, please, keep Dean safe. And as he finished he felt Dean squeeze his hand, and applied a light pressure in return.