Descent into Darkness

"Harry!"

"Oliver?" Harry called incredulously as Oliver Wood peered around the door of the Quidditch equipment store. He shut the door behind him and looked with interest at old leather Quaffles.

"What you doinÂ’ here Harry?" He asked, picking up and dropping a Quaffle.

"Um, hiding"

"I thought as much. YouÂ’ve excelled yÂ’self this time Harry"

"I didnÂ’t do it, he just fell!" Harry silently crowned himself King of pathetic excuses.

"After you hit him wiÂ’ a strong right hook?"

"It was a left, actually," Harry admitted.

"So IÂ’m right? God Harry, why din yÂ’ stay and help the guy? HeÂ’s okay, since you have nae asked. RonÂ’s walking round wiÂ’ a face like thunder, are yÂ’ gonna tell me what thatÂ’s about?" Oliver sat down next to Harry and looked at his hands, "you know Harry," he said, breaking the silence, "that girls are like SnitchesÂ…" Harry had heard enough of OliverÂ’s Quidditch analogies to know that they had varying degrees of success and indeed, comprehension.

"The Quidditch Match!" Harry exclaimed.

Oliver smiled, "Yeah, that was cancelled due to the unfortunate unconscious state of the other captain. ItÂ’s a bugger, if itÂ’d only happened two minutes into the gameÂ… So who is it, Hermione? Something mustÂ’ve got yÂ’ riled to take a swing at Malfoy."

No actually itÂ’s Ron; Harry laughed in spite of himself, imagining OliverÂ’s face if he were to say that. He settled for, "It not that, he just got to meÂ… insulted my parents and stuff."

Oliver nodded sagely, "Ay, I thought it could be something like that. YouÂ’re alright Harry, yÂ’ donÂ’t need to do that, not even to people like him."

"Because IÂ’m a good guy?" Harry asked, suddenly annoyed.

"No," Oliver winked, "Because youÂ’re a sane guy whoÂ’s noÂ’ gonna let people like Malfoy make them act with the instincts of a Mountain Troll!"

Harry laughed again as Oliver continued to examine the old Quidditch equipment. He opened a case and slammed the lid back down immediately as two Bludgers made a bid for freedom. Harry could here them hammering against the inside. Oliver looked embarrassed, "Probably shouldnÂ’t have done that," he said ruefully, "I doubt if anyoneÂ’s opened that since I did in 5^th year."

"YouÂ’ve been in here before?"

"Ay, every time I nearly decked Marcus Flint IÂ’d come in here to calm down. ItÂ’s nae bad, bit dark, dusty and full oÂ’ cobwebsÂ…" He looked at Harry meaningfully.

Harry got up, "Alright, IÂ’ll go face the music. ItÂ’s not Malfoy IÂ’m worried about, itÂ’s Hermione, sheÂ’ll kill me!"

****

"So what do we do?" Pansy Parkinson asked Draco as they walked back to Slytherin.

"Do?" repeated Draco.

"Yes, about Potter, about the threat from Gryffindor."

"ItÂ’d be difficult," said Blaise, "itÂ’s not like we could subtlety storm their common room without them noticing."

"But my Father always said, ‘If you can’t beat someone, arrange to have them beaten’", offered Millicent Bulstrode.

"Yeah, and there is that dark corridor just outside the Quidditch changing roomsÂ…" Mark Nott cracked his knuckles meaningfully.

Draco shook his head, "No," He said firmly. The assorted Slytherins looked bitterly disappointed, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle in particular. Draco tried to reassure them, "Look, as far as PottyÂ’s concerned he smacked me in the mouth because IÂ’ve been defiling his best friend. He doesnÂ’t think weÂ’re trying to end the world as he knows it, which of course we are."

"But DracoÂ…"

"Pansy, weÂ’re facing the war to end all, well everything. I donÂ’t have the time or resources to go on a vengeance crusade against Potter HQ. There are other ways."

The Slytherins looked puzzled, "DonÂ’t fret," smiled Draco. "ItÂ’s all in hand. NothingÂ’s going to happen in Gryffindor without us knowing about it."

****

"Harry you know you shouldnÂ’t have done that." Hermione said reasonably, "You hit him, he hits back."

"Or I hit him, he falls down and we steal his wallet," argued Harry. "ItÂ’d be worth it, heÂ’s got enough loose change on him to fund a revolution."

Hermione turned away and began to walk up to her dormitory. Harry followed, still justifying his actions and protesting his relative innocence.

****

Crabbe shoved the door open. A musty smell hit them as they entered the room. Draco pushed forward and dropped his papers on a large oak desk. A cloud of dust rose up in protest. Crabbe stared with fascination at the desk top, "Look, this tableÂ’s so dirty I can write my name in it."

He proceeded to do so; Draco sighed, "There's an 'R' in Crabbe."

Crabbe stopped and surveyed his work, "Where?"

"Right after the ‘C’." Draco explained patiently, he felt his headache returning.

"Huh? Oh yeah!" Crabbe exclaimed, re-writing his name with a flourish.

"Alright, leave now." DracoÂ’s patience had worn thin.

Crabbe left and Draco spread his papers across the desk. From these he would form the next stage of ‘The Plan’. To his annoyance he was interrupted almost immediately as Goyle coughed loudly from the doorway, "It’s other Weasley," he explained, "Outside the door."

Draco considered this, "Let her in."

Goyle returned with Ginny and stood in the doorway once more. Draco nodded and he left. Ginny tentatively walked towards the desk.

"IÂ’ll do it. IÂ’ll do everything you asked," she said.

"Yes, very good", he replied shortly.

"So what now?" she asked moving closer to the desk.

He looked up, puzzled, "Now? Now you go back to Gryffindor. Catch up on your transfiguration homework"

"How did you -? Right, okay. Will you call for me?"

"I might," his attention was back on a map in front of him, "Keep doing what we said."

"And IÂ’m doing the right things? YouÂ’re happy?"

"Absolutely" he replied without looking up.

She coughed, "Because IÂ’m only doing this for you."

"YouÂ’re what?" He looked up again and caught her rapt expression. He swore under his breath. "Yes," he said aloud, "Of course you are and youÂ’re doing quite brilliantly".

He smiled. He strode up to her and lazily brushed the hair back from her face. "You Weasleys," he murmured fondly, "All the same." She gazed up at him adoringly. "Close your eyes" he whispered. She did so, smiling beatifically. Draco pulled out his wand and muttered a spell before dryly noting, "One good sleeping charm knocks you right out." He turned away as she swayed and crumpled gently to the floor.

Draco resumed studying his maps. "Goyle!" he called. There was a long pause, "Goyle!" Draco shouted louder this time, accompanying it with a telepathic imperative. Shortly afterward the henchmanÂ’s frame filled the doorway.

"Ah, there you are. Have you seen my copy of Moste Potente Potions? Could you check in the common room?"

GoyleÂ’s eyes fell on GinnyÂ’s sleeping form but he made to leave without any comment.

Draco flicked his hair out of his eyes, "Wait, IÂ’ve just remembered", he called as an afterthought as Goyle loitered. "If you wouldnÂ’t mind, I believe Miss Weasley may have some trouble getting back to Gryffindor without a chaperone."

Goyle lifted Ginny easily and waited for further instructions. Draco snapped irritably, "Just make sure youÂ’re not seen, okay? You can manage that. If you canÂ’t, ask Pansy and sheÂ’ll do it for you."

****

Goyle laid Ginny on her bed and straightened. As he left he walked straight into Harry, who was still following Hermione. Harry leapt back, astonished, "ThereÂ’s someone here!" he shouted. Goyle attempted to melt into the shadows as Hermione tried a charm for removing invisibility spells. Goyle looked down and realised that he was semi-visible, enough to have been seen.

As he partially rematerialised Hermione saw HarryÂ’s eyes travel from Goyle to the half-open doorway to the sixth year girlsÂ’ dormitory. She looked back and saw that HarryÂ’s capacity for rage had reached a new and dangerous level. He glared at the much taller Slytherin, "And what" said Harry with a vein of fury usually associated with brothers protecting their sisterÂ’s virtue, " the hell do you think youÂ’re doing here?"

To be continuedÂ…