Harry's Downfall

Trickery and Deceit

r & r please

italics

means thinking!

WARNING!!!! DO NOT READ THIS STORY IF YOU WANT HARRY TO WIN, BECAUSE, I’M WARNING YOU, HE WON’T!!!!

I do not own Harry Potter, or Draco, or Hermione, or Ron, or… well… you get the picture. I, however, do own Terra Delain, as she is a character from my imagination.

The first part, with Harry and co. is right after they leave from the Prefect’s meeting. The next part with Draco and Terra starts almost right after Draco said ‘I’ll get you yet, Terra Delain’ in the previous chapter

Chapter 5 ~

Seduction Begins

"I told you that I could get the Head Girl to agree with me," Hermione boasted to Harry and Ginny.

Terry snorted. "Yeah, well I think it’s a stupid idea. I want to go home to my family and spend Christmas with them, but I also promised Mandy that I’d take her to the Yule ball."

Ginny poked Terry in the stomach. "And you don’t think that I want to go home for Christmas?"

He frowned. "That’s not what I said."

She did not reply and nobody said anything, even when they all parted ways.

As the Gryffindor bunch reached the Fat Lady, the portrait flew open and Ron hurried out.

"It’s about time! You’ve been at that meeting forever!"

Hermione smiled warmly as Ron wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for a tight hug.

"So… what were you able to decide?" he inquired.

"You’ll have to wait," she chastised him.

Ron looked at Harry.

"It’s being held over mfshls bshlk," he tried to speak through Ginny’s hand.

The younger Weasley looked at her older brother. "You’ll just have to wait until the Headmaster tells everybody tomorrow. Right, Harry?"

The green eyes twinkled as he nodded his head.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The common room for the Head Girl and Head Boy was almost exactly like the Slytherin common room, except a bit more elegant. Instead of the round, greenish lamps found in the other common room, there were chandeliers hanging on chains from the ceiling. Every other candle on the chandelier was a green flame. When it mixed with the orange flame from the other candles, it left beautiful glow around the room. The mantelpiece was exquisitely carved with intricate designs, while the fire crackled in the fireplace below. There were two couches, exactly alike, next to the portraits that allowed access to the bedrooms. In the middle of the room did plush chairs, of which only two were around the table, surround a very large table. Most of the chairs had been moved around the room, a few to gather around the fire place, others just placed around the room.

The portrait that led into Draco’s room was (of course) a dragon. The green dragon was normally asleep but woke up when Draco gently whispered the password into it’s ear. However, if Terra got too close to the portrait for the dragon’s comfort, it would wake up and breath fire, trying desperately to hit her with it’s flame.

Terra’s portrait was unusually dark for her tastes, but she liked it. It was a painting of a cell with a skeleton chained to the wall. In the middle of the room, lay an adder coiled around a twisted blade. If somebody got too close to her portrait, the adder would stare at the perpetrator, hypnotizing them. The person would be stuck there until another pulled them away, or the adder looked away (which she rarely did), or if Terra set them free.

The Head Girl was sprawled out on her couch trying to figure out what homework she should do first when Draco walked in, looking smug.

Loki hooted cheerfully as it flew into the room and dropped a letter onto Terra’s Potion’s book.

Draco looked around the room warily. If Terra’s owl was in the room, then her cat would be somewhere in it, too.

The cat hissed angrily and landed on Draco’s head, startling him. She leapt off of his head and prowled over to Terra, who smirked happily at the cat.

"Dammit Terra! I wish you wouldn’t let those rodents walk around our common room. Who knows what diseases they have."

She was about to reply when an owl screeched through the window and landed on Draco’s shoulder. After dropping the letter into Draco’s hands, the owl flew around the room and landed on one of the chairs next to the fire.

"You were saying, Draco?"

He sneered at her and shooed his owl out the window. Glancing at the letter, as if he had noticed it for the first time, he hurried over to the portrait of the dragon. Reaching out a finger, he tickled the chin of the dragon that woke up and glared at him for a moment. Draco leaned towards the picture and he whispered the password into its ear. The portrait swung backwards and the Head Boy hurried in.

Just as the playful cat was about to pounce on the unsuspecting owl, Terra called to them. "Loki! Midnight! Come on."

As she approached her portrait, the snake opened an eye and flicked out its tongue.

"Dendroaspis polylepis*"

The snake portrait disappeared to reveal a passage way into her bedroom. The Head Boy and Girl had been given their same bedrooms that they had used since they both came to Hogwarts. Terra had found out from the Headmaster that Draco had his own private bedroom since his first year. Hmmm… I wonder why, she mused silently. She knew the answer of course. What spoiled little brat wouldn’t have their own bedroom?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When Terra entered the common room the next day, she witnessed Draco hurrying out of the room without a backward glance towards her. He didn’t wait for me… there must be something wrong with him, she thought.

She was just about to follow him when she noticed that a piece of parchment had just finished fluttering to the ground. With a look of curiosity on her face, she picked up the paper and started reading it.

Dear Draco,

I am disappointed that your pathetic attempts to charm the Delain witch have failed. However, I have a new challenge for you. I need you to get to Potter. How you get to him, I do not care, but you cannot fail me. He is already displeased enough of me that if you fail, I would not hesitate to kill you myself.

Lucius

Terra looked farther down on the parchment where Draco’s handwriting was easily seen.

Virginia Weasley