Not Just an Empty Emotion

Chapter 29- Obliviate

"Ginny!" Neville called hopefully as they emerged from the staircase.

"Neville I can't really-"

"I just want to ask if this sounds OK..." he brandished a long letter written in green ink before her.

"Neville, you know I'm always glad to help you, but I'm really busy right now, and besides I'm sure Luna will appreciate it no matter what you write." Ginny hid the slight exasperation in her voice well.

"Oh," he said, looking crestfallen. "Are you sure? I don't want to seem too-"

"Neville! She loves you for who you are, not what you write, OK?"

Neville smiled uncertainly at her as they left through the portrait hole. They heard him calling a second too late, "Hey! You can't go out now, it's half past ten!"

All four of them strolled down the corridor purposefully. Harry looked pale, Hermione irate (though whether it was with Harry and Malfoy or Foster, no one was quite sure), Ginny looked as though she were thinking hard, and Malfoy was repairing his hair after pulling of the invisibility cloak.

"Where do you think he'll be, Malfoy?" Ginny asked as they reached the entrance Hall.

"He'll be in his dormitory now...waiting for...for everyone else to go to bed."

"What time does he normally come into the dormitory?"

"Gone Midnight."

"OK. Right. I have a plan."

The other three whipped their heads around in surprise.

"Go on then," said Harry when she remained silent.

"I'm just thinking...there's a bit of it I don't know how we'll manage...but anyway...if we sneak in there when everyone else has gone to bed, and wait in the Common Room, will he come looking for you, Malfoy?"

"Of course he will. He won't stop at anything."

"OK, good."

"Good?" Malfoy repeated disbelievingly.

Ginny ignored him and continued. "That means he'll find us there. We can make it so he can't escape. We force him to admit what he's done...and then we selectively wipe his mind."
They stared at her for a minute, lost for words. Then Harry said, "OK, I have three problems. Firstly, why only selectively wipe his mind? Why not take everything? Secondly, how do you propose we wipe it? And thirdly- what about Kierre?"

"We do it selectively so it's not suspicious. He needs to remember what he's been doing, just not the bit where he pestered Malfoy and did those things to him. Otherwise people will notice he's not.... not right."

"OK, but how do we selectively wipe it? Ask McGonagall to do it? I don't think so..."

"No, Harry, don't be stupid. I'll do it."

"YOU? But how...you can't..."

"I can. Bill taught me how last summer. He said it'd be important. He wanted to teach Ron, too, but Ron was too bothered about you..."

"So you can do it, can you? Properly, I mean?"

"Yeah. I've not tried it out for real but...Bill said all the practice attempts looked really strong..."

"Bloody Hell," Malfoy said, almost enviously. "So...what do we do about Kierre? I'm not letting him carry on trying to beat me to a pulp..."

"You won't have to," Hermione cut in, surprising them. "Ginny, can you wipe a mind totally?"

"Yes, but, Bill said to do it selectively would be more important."

"OK, that's fine. I can't do it selectively yet, but I can do a strong mind wipe." There was an odd expression on her face as she spoke.

"But won't people notice?"

"No. He behaves like he's been made to forget everything anyway, this won't make much difference. I'll only do it enough so he forgets what's been going on in the last few months."

Harry and Malfoy looked at each other, unsure. "Are you sure this'll work, Weasley?" Malfoy asked.

"Of course I am. Trust me. I want it to stop almost as much as you do..."

They had come, at last, to the Slytheirn Common room. It was late, gone eleven.

"OK," Malfoy said, "I'll go in first, and when everyone's gone to bed I'll come back out and get you."

"Fine," Hermione said.

Malfoy whispered a password and disappeared.

Harry leant against the wall with his eyes closed.

"Why do you believe him, Harry?"
He opened his eyes irritably. "I don't know. I just do. Because he's been through so much...I could just tell...it was there in his eyes, he was telling the truth."

"And I suppose we'll find out one way or another, anyway, if we get Foster to admit it..."

"Oh, don't worry. I know how I'm going to do that."

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything. Instead, it was Hermione who spoke, in a surprisingly angry voice.

"Harry, what the hell are you doing with Draco Malfoy?"

"What? I thought that was obvious!"

"Harry, his father is a Death Eater, he is a Voldemort supporter, can't you see he's just using you?"

"He's not using me!" Harry said, equally angrily.

"How do you know?"

"Because I trust him! Because I love him! And because he's proved it to me."

"How?" she demanded.

"I don't want to discuss it, Hermione. This is why I didn't tell you, I knew you'd do this."

"Can you blame me?"

"A few months ago I'd have had the same reaction, but not any more. He is on our side, I swear. I thought you would have understood that there's no way I could have trusted him if I wasn't one hundred per cent sure of him!"

"How can you be so sure, though? How? It doesn't make sense! How did all this start? You don't go form being enemies one day to being in love the next!"

"And we didn't! We didn't want this, we tried to stop it but we couldn't help it! Hermione, trust me! Please! Trust him."

"I can't. I don't believe him."

"It's the truth." Harry jumped, as he heard Ginny speak quietly. He hadn't expected her to contribute to his attempts to persuade Hermione- he was still under the impression that she was not entirely sure about he whole thing.

"What?" Hermione said dangerously.

"Malfoy's different. Harry's right about him. He's with us now."

"How do you know?"

"I trust Harry. And when you think of the way Malfoy's been recently...it all fits."

"I don't believe this! Why didn't you try to stop it! Whether he's on our side or not, he's still a Malfoy!"

"I know! But it's Harry's decision! I can't dictate who Harry sees, and neither can you. I didn't trust Malfoy at first but...but now I do. As much as I don't want to.... I believe him."

"This is ridiculous!" Hermione said. "Ludicrous!"

"Hermione!" Harry said through gritted teeth. "Do you really think I'm that stupid? Just trust him, OK? You'll find out what he's really like if you just give him a chance. You're behaving like Ron."

Hermione stopped, looking horrified. The last comment seemed to have brought her to her senses. She still looked upset, but not as angry any more. "I- oh, alright, but I'm not saying I'm happy with it."

"I'm not asking you to be," Harry said.

"Fine. But that's not the issue here. Foster is..." And suddenly her face had, once more, become set in a terrifyingly livid way.

No sooner had they fallen quiet than the door in the stone opened, and Malfoy appeared. "It's empty," he said simply.

They stepped inside silently. Hermione and Ginny looked around apprehensively-neither of them having ever been inside the Slytherin common room before. They took seats with Harry and Malfoy, however, on one of the hard green sofas, and waited.

They glanced occasionally at the large and ugly Grandfather clock in the corner which was clunking noisily. Midnight...five past...ten past...

At last, just as the clock chimed a quarter-past, a figure appeared in the Staircase to the right. It strode forwards into the room, and then, as it noticed those waiting for him, stopped dead.

"What the-"

"Shut up," spat Malfoy. Ginny, Hermione and Harry surrounded Foster, so he could not escape.

Malfoy walked towards him with a look of deepest loathing on his face. "Did you really think you could get away with it? Did you think you'd win that easily? Well I've got news for you- you haven't won. You never will."

"What are you talking about?" Foster asked defiantly, a sick grin on his face, and his eyes clearly telling Malfoy that he would deny everything as far as he could.

"We're not playing games, Foster. You see, we thought it was about time that you left the playground and entered the real world."

"What?" Foster crowed. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"You know damn well. Tell them."
There was a moment's silence, then, "Tell them what?"

Foster was smiling but, to the older boy's discomfort, not as much as Malfoy was.

"You've blackmailed me, Foster, and though I may have changed I still carry some of the old qualities. I've endured your blackmail, now lets see if you'll endure mine..."

"What do you mean?" Foster asked, a note of fear in his voice for the first time. He wasn't noticing as the three Gryffindors closed in on him slowly.

"I mean.... tell them what you've done...and why.... or the rest of the school might be finding out a little bit about Dominic Foster's preferences...your quiet reputation couldn't be doing with the whole school finding out that you're gay, now, could it?"

Foster glared at him. "You bastard," he said, with a pathetic attempt at keeping his voice cool. All right, I'll tell them...but what good will it do?"

"It'll do the world of good, Foster, believe me..."

"Fine. I wanted answers. So I tried to force you to tell me. But you wouldn't. So I

"...kissed you..."

"Tell them," Malfoy said, his voice rising.

"Made you...do things...did things to you...."

"Well done," Malfoy said lightly. "That didn't hurt, did it?"

"You sick bastard!" Foster shot at him.

Malfoy looked at him for a moment and then laughed, Foster squirmed in anger.

"Good boy, Foster. Now, can you keep quiet about all this? If you stop this, then I won't be forced to tell everyone about you. Do you agree?"

"No! It won't be half as bad for me as it would for you! You can't beat me that way."

"Shame. Because now, you see, you've forced us to do something we really didn't want to have to do." He walked over to a now terrified Foster. Harry darted forwards and held Foster's arms tightly, so he couldn't move.

"What the f-"

"Shut it!" Malfoy roared. He stepped forwards, reached inside Foster's robes, and withdrew his wand. "Still feeling brave?" he asked.

He threw the wand to Ginny, who caught it deftly. Harry forced Foster around to face her.

"Weasley!" Foster said angrily.

"Yep," said Ginny without an ounce of concern. That's right. Nice touch, Malfoy," she added. She raised Foster's wand and shouted, "Salen Obvliviate!"

At once Foster's head was thrown back, and Harry had to doge out of its way while he kept hold of Foster. Ginny's eyes were fixed on Foster's, as his head became a blur of sliver thoughts trailing around him. Every now and then one would dissolve in a flash of green light.

Thirty seconds later, Foster hung limply in Harry's arms, and Ginny lowered the wand. "Done," she said easily.

Harry dropped Foster onto the floor. "Shame," he said, "half his memory taken away by his own wand..."

Ginny smiled wickedly, and dropped the wand next to Foster. "He'll come round soon..." she said.

"Shame," Hermione muttered. "What are we going to do about Kierre? Is there any way we can get it over with tonight?"

"Not really," Malfoy said. "Not unless you want to go up to his dormitory...that might get awkward, though, we'd probably wake the other bastards."

"Not necessarily," Harry said, his eyes bright. "Which floor is his dormitory on?"

"The third one down."

"Right, come on everyone."
Looking rather dubious, the rest of them followed Harry through the door and down the stairs until they reached the right dormitory.

"Ready? Let's get this over with quickly." They entered the dormitory silently, though they doubted their footsteps would have been heard over the grunts and snores of the sleeping boys anyway. The curtains of the second bed on the right were slightly open. Kierre's head was visible through the gap, his mouth wide open and snoring loudly.

"Protega Silencia!" Harry whispered. A light blue shield surrounded Kierre's bed. "That will stop anyone hearing what's going on in there. Ready, Hermione?"
Hermione stepped forwards, wand raised, but Malfoy put out an arm to stop her. She looked at him quizzically.

"Just give me a minute," he whispered, "I need to do something." He stepped forwards to Kierre's bed and reached out a hand to his shoulder. He shook hard. It took a few seconds for Kierre to come round, and when he did it was with an angry yell, which the blue shield made soundless. He mouthed angrily at Malfoy, and then spotted the others behind him. He made to sit up, but became entangled in the sheets. Malfoy pinned him down. "You thought you'd get away with it. Well I've got news for you, you lose, Kierre. Bye bye." He nodded at Hermione and she stepped forward.

"Obliviate!" she cried. For a split second Kierre's expression was one of mingled fear and fury as he realised what she was doing to him, but it swiftly changed to confusion. He seemed to have forgotten that they were there, as he rolled over and closed his eyes once more. Hermione smiled triumphantly. Harry withdrew the sound shield with an odd sucking noise, the blue light faded, leaving the room as dark as before, and led the way out, back up the stairs to the deserted common room.

"Well done, Hermione," Ginny said.

"Yeah, er...thanks, guys," Malfoy said awkwardly.

"No problem," Hermione said. Her tone was not unfriendly, but hinted at formality- clearly she was still not happy about his involvement with Harry. "Come on, let's go. I don't like this place much..."

"Neither do I," Malfoy said quietly.

They left the common room, and immediately the stone wall grinded back to its original appearance. Ginny shivered, though whether that was because of the cold in the dungeon corridor, or because she didn't like the Slytheirn common room, Harry couldn't tell.

They did not speak as they proceeded back up to the Entrance Hall where they were dazzled by the bright light of the many torched that hung on the walls. Hermione looked round at Harry. "Coming?" she asked pointedly.

"No. You go on up to bed," he said. "I'm going to stay with Malfoy for a bit. I need to talk to him."

Hermione nodded, Ginny gave him a swift hug, and they left.

*

Harry turned to Malfoy. "Not here," he said. They walked from the Entrance Hall and away from the main school, up stairs, along corridors...along to a place neither of them had visited in a long while. The classroom where he and Malfoy had first kissed so many months ago.

Harry locked the door and turned around to look at Malfoy. "God, I'm so proud of you," he said, and pulled Malfoy into a hug, holding him close.

"You shouldn't be. I should've told you a long time ago."

"It doesn't matter. It's done now. Finished."

Malfoy nodded and smiled. "So...so where are we?" he asked awkwardly.

Harry grinned at him. "We're further than we've ever been."

Malfoy smiled again. Harry saw the pain and terror had gone from his eyes. Once again he looked like the old Malfoy, pure, perfect and sexy as hell...but with a passionate look of mischief. The misty torchlight highlighted his pale, flawless skin, and made his eyes shine with a fervent brightness. How could he have ever thought of Malfoy in any other way?

Malfoy, for his part, was noticing Harry, too. The messy dark hair, which looked sexily ruffled... the defined features that made him so striking to look at...the twinkling dark green eyes...shining with adventure and unspoken possibilities...the deep red lips which seemed to come alive in the torchlight...

"God, I love you," Malfoy said. Harry moved towards him. He took one hand in his own, and placed the other on his face, savouring the soft feel of Malfoy's warm skin beneath his fingers. They moved closer together and their lips met, slowly, tenderly, they kissed in the torchlight.

When they broke apart they did not let go. They stared into each other's eyes and became lost, falling deeper.... deeper...

"And I love you, Malfoy," Harry whispered.

They were still so close that when Malfoy spoke, their lips brushed together, and both closed their eyes in ecstasy.

"I think it's about time...that we started to use our first names...Harry." And he leant forwards, and met his lips with Harry's, feeling more in love than ever before.