Why We Fight

Something tells me that some of you will hate this chapter. I promise that there will eventually be a Draco/Hermione 'ship, just not quite yet. Flamers will be fed to Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback.

---

Part 26:
Party on the Pitch
(October 10, 1977 – Continued...)

Well, you tried it just for once found it all right for kicks.
But now you found out that it's a habit that sticks.
And you're an orgasm addict,
You're an orgasm addict.

Sneakin' in the back door with dirty magazines,
Now your mother wants to know what all those stains on your jeans
And you're an orgasm addict. You're an orgasm addict.

Uh-huh, uh-huh, uhhhhh,
Uh-uhhh, uh-uhhh, uhhhhh.

Remus couldn't help but blush as the music blasted from his charmed turntable (charmed so that it would work with all the magic in the air at Hogwarts). Of course, the LP wasn't his; he bet it was Sirius's. Sirius was always listening to Muggle punk to tick off his parents (it had worked and had been one of the many reasons that his mother had finally kicked him out).

The music was loud and Gryffindors danced on the Pitch, a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs mixed in. Some people sat on the sidelines, talking and generally having a good time as the butterbeer keg that James had snuck in was being drained. Remus looked around curiously. Where was James, anyway? Remus could have sworn he'd seen him earlier. Also missing were Sirius, Draco, Lily, and Hermione (even though she was a Slytherin, the bossy brunette had come to be an unofficial Gryffindor in the past month).

Remus's blue eyes gazed into the distance as he thought about his confrontation with Hermione about a month ago.

---

"I need to talk to you about Draco," he said.

"What about Draco?"

"I know you've been helping him."

Hermione paled for a second and struggled with an answer. Though she despised the idea, playing dumb might just work to her advantage. "Helping him with what?" she asked.

"You know which test, I saw you last night," he said. "With Draco on the Pitch."

"Oh...that test," she said in a small voice. "What does it matter if I help?"

"It's Draco's test," Remus said.

"So he can become--" she trailed off "--one of you."

"Exactly," he said. "I really don't know why I didn't just go to James, Sirius, and Peter first. He doesn't deserve to be one of us."

"Remus, no!" Hermione said. She was taken aback by her sudden outburst. Why should she care about Draco not being accepted as one of the Marauders? She took a deep breath. "Look, this is going to be hard to explain, but I'll try. Draco and I have known each other for years. He's usually an ass, but sometimes...okay, maybe a little less -- make that a lot less -- than 'sometimes'...he can be nice. Draco is the son of a couple of purebloods and is only allowed two friends, both purebloods, both dumber than dirt and incapable of any conversation that consists of more than the occasional grunt or 'yes, Draco' or something as equally mind-numbingly boring."

"What about you?" Remus asked. "You're Muggle-born."

Hermione winced as she remembered her breakfast ramble. "I'm his dirty little secret," Hermione said. "His parents would probably kill us both if they knew -- or, well, just me. We've always been on again, off again." There was a pause as she thought back on first year. "Most of the time, off again. Way off." Her brown eyes met his golden ones. "Draco needs friends, real friends. And that's what I hope you boys are: real friends. Not frienemies."

"'Frienemies'?" Remus asked.

"People you think are friends but will stab you in the back at the first sign of trouble," she replied. "Who knows, maybe having some actual friends will make him less of a prat."

"You actually dated him?" Remus asked.

Hermione smirked. "Sometimes," she stated. "Draco may seem like an utter bastard, but sometimes he can be a good guy." Hermione blinked a couple of times, apparently lost in thought. "Just give him a chance...he may just surprise us both."

---

Remus had been thinking a lot about his conversation with Hermione in the library. There was something off about her that he just couldn't put his finger on. Anyway, he wasn't really worried. When the time came for Draco's final task, Remus had the perfect idea. A task that made Hercules's tasks seem easy in comparison.

You get in a heat, you get in a sulk.
But you still keep a-beatin' your meat to pulp.
And you're an orgasm addict.
You're an orgasm addict.

You're a kid Casanova.
You're a no-josep; it's a labor of love, fuckin' yourself to death.
Orgasm addict,
You're an orgasm addict,

Uh-huh, uh-huh, uhhhhh, uh-uhhh, uh-uhhh, uhhhhh.

---

Draco blinked several times as the strains of the song from the pitch reached him while he sat on the floor of the room he shared with James. "Did that song just say 'orgasm addict'?" he inquired. James chuckled.

"The Buzzcocks," he said. Draco stared at him curiously. "That's the band, the Buzzcocks and the song's 'Orgasm Addict.' It's on one of Sirius's LPs." At Draco's blank look, he continued. "Records, long-playing records."

"Records?" Draco asked.

"Um, they're these...black disks, 'bout yea big," James explained, making a gesture of the size of a record. "And they have music on them. You put them on a record player and they play songs."

"Oh," Draco said. Must be a '70s thing, he mused. His attention was drawn back to the concoction before him. He was nervous and with good reason. He was still living with the aftermath of his disastrous memory potion with Granger.

James cocked a brow as he examined the paleness that Draco's skin took on as he examined the potion. "What is it?" he asked.

"Let's just say that someone I knew made a mistake with a potion and I don't know him anymore," Draco stated.

James winced in sympathy. "Well, we did everything in the book," he stated. "So everything will turn out okay." Draco held back the urge to glare at the black-haired boy's optimism. Draco was a pessimist by nature and his trip back in time due to a mess-up with hellebore, thistledown, and thyme only made him more of a pessimist (especially where potions were concerned). While Draco was lost in thought, James added the final ingredients. "Done." Draco stared at the potion with distrust as James carefully ladled out the proper amounts into two cups. "You're not a chicken, are you, Aquilus?"

Draco's eyes flashed at James's chide. "I'm not chicken," he hissed and he quickly downed his portion. It tasted horrible. Draco watched as James downed his portion as well. It didn't take long for the potion to work and, in no time, Draco was staring at a blurry version of himself. "It worked." He cleared his throat as James's voice came out.

James stared at Draco's fingers with amazement. The clarity of his new fingers made him realize just how much he actually needed his stupid glasses. "It did," he said in Draco's voice.

"You have really horrible eyesight," Draco said.

"Er, yeah," James said sheepishly, digging into his trunk and taking out his glasses case. He handed the wire-framed spectacles to Draco and the Slytherin-turned-Gryffindor put them on. Draco caught sight of his new face in the mirror and was startled at just how much James looked like his future son. Give James a lightning-bolt-shaped cut on his forehead and green eyes and they'd be identical. "What?"

James's voice pulled Draco out of his thoughts. "Nothing, you just remind me of someone I used to know," Draco said, adjusting the glasses.

James smirked. "I get that a lot," he said, picking himself off the floor. Draco carefully hid the remaining Polyjuice Potion as the two exited the Head Boy's quarters. In the head common room, Hermione and Lily were finishing up their homework in comfortable silence. "You're not going to the party?" James practically whined.

"We're almost done," Lily sighed. "Then we'll go to your little party." James waited with bated breath for the girls to finish double-checking their answers. They carefully put up their supplies and headed for the door. To Hermione's surprise, Draco-in-James's body crooked his arm like a valiant gentleman for Lily to take it. Lily smiled and took James's arm in hers as Hermione stared at the couple.

Oh, boy, this can't be good, Hermione thought. Her thoughts were sidetracked when she saw her date waiting for her at the door. She smiled, trying not to blush at his returned grin. To Hermione's shock, she was now dating a guy that she had never even thought of in the "date" way before. It was one of the things; she could never find the way to write into her journal. She couldn't seem to put it into words and the only idea she could come up with -- "Dear Harry, I'm dating your godfather" -- just seemed crass. The song changed.

Cold late night, so long ago,
When I was not so strong, you know,
A pretty man came to me,
Never seen eyes so blue.
You know I could not run away,
It seemed we'd seen each other in a dream,
It seemed like he knew me,
He looked right through me, yeah.

It had started after the kiss and after an entire week of avoiding the dark-haired muscular youth like the plague. He had finally cornered her and reluctantly, she had agreed to go out on a date with him to Hogsmeade (under the condition that if she didn't enjoy herself, he would leave her alone). He was completely different than any guy she'd ever dated before: goofy and cute and carefree with the ability to just have fun. It was a nice change of pace. And Hermione told herself that it wouldn't have any affect on the future.

"Come on home, girl," he said with a smile.
"You don't have to love me yet,
Let's get high awhile.
But try to understand,
Try to understand,
Try, try, try to understand,
I'm a magic man."

Sirius, Hermione, James, Lily, and Draco made their way onto the pitch where the party was in full swing. Couples danced and drank and generally enjoyed themselves. The music changed and Sirius led Hermione onto the pitch, not noticing the look that James gave him. Hermione laughed as Sirius began to dance. "C'mon, Hermione," Sirius chided. Blushing, Hermione began to dance as well.

Winter nights, we sang in tune
Played inside the months of moon
Never think of never,
Let this spell last forever.
Summer lover passed to fall,
Tried to realize it all,
Mama says she's worried,
Growin' up in a hurry, yeah.

James gave Lily a winning grin. "May I have this dance?" he asked. Before Lily could respond, he led Lily onto the pitch and began to dance with her. Lily seemed flustered but began to get into actually having fun for once. Draco stood at the opening to the pitch, his eyes glued on Hermione and Sirius seemingly having the times of their life.

"Come on home, girl," Mama cried on the phone.
"Too soon to lose my baby yet, my girl should be at home!"
But try to understand,
Try to understand,
Try, try, try to understand,
He's a magic man, Mama,
Ahhh,
He's a magic man.

It struck Draco that he had never seen Hermione having as much fun as she was having with Sirius. He'd never seen her so free-spirited and it was making him sick. He didn't understand it. Maybe it was the fact that the seventeen-year-old girl was having the time of her life with a man nearly twenty years her senior. Okay, so Sirius and Hermione looked to be the same age and were, in fact, pretty much the same age. No, it didn't have anything to do with the age. It was something entirely different. Something that he couldn't name.

"Come on home, girl," he said with a smile.
"I cast my spell of love on you, a woman from a child."
But try to understand,
Try to understand,
Oh, oh, oh,
Try, try to understand
Try, try, try to understand.
He's a magic man, oh, yeah!
He's got the magic hands.

---

At the end, Draco is Draco-in-James's body and James is James-in-Draco's body; I didn't realize that there would be so much confusion.
The first song is "Orgasm Addict" by the Buzzcocks and the second song is "Magic Man" by Heart.

---

<|>