Time Management

*


"Blai--" Seamus' words died on his lips as he burst into the room. Blaise looked up quickly, as did Draco and Hermione. Seamus looked around carefully, taking in the scene. Draco was sitting on a desk and talking to Hermione. Blaise was sitting close-by and had been listening.

Blaise got up quickly and moved behind Seamus to shut the door to the empty classroom. Seamus watched him with an odd expression on his face. Hermione looked as though she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Draco merely sneered at Seamus for interrupting. "What do you want, Finnigan?" he drawled acidly.

Seamus moved tentatively forward into the room. His eyes fell on Hermione, who was avoiding his eyes. "Hermione, what are you doing here?" he asked suspiciously. Hermione blushed and looked away, not daring to answer.

Luckily for her, Draco stepped up. "I think the better question is what are you doing here, Finnigan?" he asked maliciously.

Seamus steeled himself against Draco. "Actually, I'm here to see Blaise if that's any of your business," he replied coldly. Draco scoffed and rolled his eyes, then gestured to Blaise to take over. Blaise moved from behind Seamus where he'd been standing after closing the door.

"What?" he asked simply. Seamus cast a suspicious glance at Draco and Hermione and pulled Blaise farther away from their eyes. Blaise raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Potter's planning something," Seamus said quietly.

"Planning what?" Blaise asked slowly.

"I don't know, but it won't be good, trust me. He doesn't like what you're doing, what we're doing. This can't be good." Seamus finished and watched Blaise carefully, hoping he'd gotten through to him at least a little bit.

To his surprise, Blaise smiled at him and kissed him softly. "Don't worry," he told him. "We've got it all under control."

"But--?" Seamus started, but Blaise cut him off with another kiss.

"Don't worry," he said again, then turning back to Draco and Hermione said, "We've got a plan."

Seamus eyed him disbelievingly. "A plan?" he repeated doubtfully. Blaise smiled encouragingly at him and led him over to where Draco sat, clearly displeased at the length this interruption was taking.

"Are you done yet?" he asked snidely as Blaise perched himself back down on one of the desks.

"Yup," Blaise replied cheerfully.

"Good, we have work to do," Draco said, turning back to Hermione, but Seamus wasn't done asking questions.

"What do you mean, work? What are you planning? And why are you here, Hermione?"

"Don't you ever stop?" Draco asked in annoyance. Seamus gave him a withering look in return.

"No, I don't," he said pointedly. Draco growled in annoyance and shot Blaise a look of loathing. Blaise rolled his eyes at him but did nothing to stop Seamus. He rather enjoyed Draco being challenged this way, and by a Gryffindor too.

"Fine, I'll tell you, but you cannot say a word of this to anyone else, got it?" Draco told him in a dangerous voice.

Seamus was suddenly reminded of Potter and wondered if this was where he'd learned it. "Yeah, fine, whatever. Now what is the almighty Plan?" he asked sarcastically.

Draco narrowed his eyes but answered his question nonetheless. "With the help of Granger here, we've learned a few things about Potter. We know he's a control freak, that was obvious. He likes his world to be in perfect order. He expects everyone to bow to his will. Well, we don't think like that. We think there needs to be a shift in power." Draco smirked as he said this, relishing in the fact that things might soon be back to normal.

"You mean, you take his place?" Seamus asked facetiously.

"Perhaps," Draco conceded.

Seamus scoffed. "That doesn't sound too great to me," he said scathingly.

Hermione also looked as though she was thinking. "I thought you just wanted to put him in his place," she said slowly.

"Yes, and his place is below me," Draco said.

"Or under you," Blaise muttered under his breath. Draco looked at him sharply, Blaise caught his eye and smirked at him knowingly. Draco scowled.

Hermione looked between the two and rolled her eyes at the exchange. "Anyway," she said, drawing the attention back to the matter at hand, "Draco has proposed that we mess up his perfect world, throw it into chaos. Hopefully that will be enough to unseat him."

"And then what?" Seamus asked.

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, realized she didn't know and turned to Draco. "Yes, then what?" she asked inquisitively.

"Then all will be right with the world," Draco drawled.

Seamus and Hermione shared a raised eyebrow and turned back to him. "What does that mean?" Seamus asked.

"That means that Potter will no longer terrorize the Gryffindors, maybe you won't have those stupid rules that says only he can torment you. I want my share," Draco said with a smirk.

Seamus rolled his eyes and scoffed at him. "Right, I'm sure you're just doing this for our benefit," he said with another roll of the eyes.

"Believe whatever you want, Finnigan, but are you in, or are you out?"

Seamus hesitated, thinking it over. He would either be killed by Potter for talking to them, or he could help them and maybe change how Potter ran things. While he was thinking, Blaise leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"If you help us, I'm afraid we'll be seeing a lot of each other." Blaise nibbled on Seamus' earlobe, drawing a gasp from him. His mind was made up.

"Fine, Malfoy, I'm in."

"Perfect. Now, to start..."

***

Harry wandered around the castle for awhile, wondering where Draco could have gotten too. He didn't know where he went at night anymore. Apparently he wasn't staying in the Slytherin dungeons anymore. That made Harry suspicious.

He went back to the place he'd left Draco previously, but no one was there. Harry stopped and thought for a moment. He figured he'd just have to find him the old fashioned way. He pulled out the Marauder’s Map he'd stolen from the Weasley twins and opened it up.

He scanned the castle, looking for Draco. He caught sight of his dot walking toward the Great Hall with Blaise. Harry tucked away the map and headed down. When he arrived, he realized it was dinnertime.

He went in and sat down at the Slytherin table, watching Draco closely. Draco sneered at him as per usual and went on with his meal, as if ignoring him. Harry's eyes narrowed as he watched him. All seemed normal, but Harry had an ominous feeling.

About halfway through the meal, Draco rose from his place at the table. Harry's eyes were on him as he crossed the Great Hall. He swaggered past the other house tables and came at last to the Gryffindor table.

By now, many people were watching his actions. He walked confidently up to Hermione and smirked at her. Even the professors had fixed their eyes on him. Many eyes flickered between Draco and Harry, fearing an explosion.

"Hello, Hermione," Draco drawled pleasantly. The whole of the Gryffindor table was staring in shock at them. Ron's mouth was hanging open as he saw Hermione smile back at Draco.

"Hi, Draco, how are you?" she asked politely.

"I'm doing well. Actually, I had something to ask you," Draco said giving her a charming smile. The other girls at the table whispered behind their hands furiously, and Draco ignored them.

"Really? What's that?" Hermione asked, interested.

Draco leaned in closer so that only the very few, and very gossipy, people around her could hear. "I could use a little extra help in Transfiguration, if you're free," he said with a smirk on his face. Hermione smiled coyly at him and also leaned in close.

"I'd love to," she whispered.

Draco moved back from her and smirked. At that moment, he felt a gripping hand on his shoulder. He rolled his eyes at Hermione and turned to face a fuming Harry.

"Yes, Potter?" he drawled. Harry's emerald eyes were full of a fury Draco had never seen before. He took a step back and raised his hand.

With a wave he said, "Corpus Levitum." There was a flash of gold light and Draco was gone. Harry turned and stalked from the room, amid many whispers.

Draco landed on the ground hard and, wincing, picked himself up. He glanced around the room and realized where he was.

"Oh, shit," he said.


~~**~~

A/N: *nervous laugh* ... *runs from pitchfork-wielding readers and hopefully reviewers*