A Series of Connecting the Dots

Author's Note: Thanks to Laurel for A. partnering with me on this story and B. beta-ing this chapter! I heart her, even if she does like Vegemite....

17: Draco - No Rest for the Wicked

The golden Snitch taunted me from just outside my outstretched fingertips. Darting and weaving around the pitch I’d finally had it within my grasp – almost – when Harry came accelerating toward me with more grace than should be permitted from a Gryffindor. A low growl vibrated through me as I launched myself that final centimeter to swipe the fluttering ball from the air, only to have it dive to the side so that I missed it entirely. It was as if the Snitch wanted Harry to win.

I’m not even sure I could repeat the incoherent string of curses that I muttered as I pulled the broom handle to the left in pursuit of the elusive golden bauble. Harry came up beside me effortlessly and actually had the audacity to grin as he passed me by and did a loop that I was positive was for no other purpose than to show off how much better he was than me. I hated being second place at anything, and I’d always considered myself a natural at Quidditch until I’d met Harry. Now I had to fight harder than ever just to keep up with him, and I felt no real hope of ever being better.

I narrowed my eyes determinedly and made a wide arc, coming at the Snitch from a different angle, and I watched Harry in my peripheral swoop in from below. It was do or die now, win or lose, give or receive. The negotiated reward for this little practice made me smirk and without taking my eyes of the golden ball whizzing through the air, I shouted out to remind Harry of our wager. “I can already feel your lips on my cock, Potter!”

The words were enough to tear his gaze away from the Snitch as those emerald eyes locked onto me instead. I chuckled as I took the advantage, scooting out to the edge of my broom and grabbing the Snitch out of the air with one precise swipe of my hand. “HA!” I screamed triumphantly and flew in a lazy circle down to the ground.

“You cheated!” Harry called after me, both our feet hitting the ground simultaneously.

“I broke no rules,” I countered as I held up my gleaming prize and wiggled it in his face.

His pout was too adorable to resist and I claimed those luscious lips for my own. His argument was lost after I let my broom fall to the ground and wound my arms around him. There is nothing in the world that could make me grow tired of holding Harry in my arms. It felt so right that I could hardly believe I’d ever considered him my enemy. Now, he was only my rival on the pitch.

“I suppose you’ll be wanting your reward now?” he breathed against my lips when we broke apart and I followed his gaze as his eyes flicked over to the locker room entrance.

My answer came out sounding more like a purring moan than actual words and Harry’s eyes lit up. I’m sure he knew the effect he had on me, but I couldn’t help but remind him, in fact, it seemed I had very little control over myself when I was with him. I wanted to be touching him every moment and it was torture when he wasn’t near enough to allow it.

I grabbed both of our discarded brooms from the ground and obediently followed as he tugged me into the locker room. He was already unlacing his leather armguards and the brooms fell to the tile with a clatter as I dropped them to swat his hand away. “That’s my job,” I informed him firmly and pulled his arm to me. Slowly, I untied it and threw it to the ground with our brooms, lifting his newly exposed wrist to my lips. I flicked my tongue out and traced the vein there, overcome by the taste and smell of leather and sweat.

When I looked up again, Harry’s eyes were closed; his thick raven lashes fluttering prettily, so I reached for his other arm and repeated my ministrations. His robe slipped off easily enough and it took only seconds for my mouth to latch onto his salty neck. Harry’s hands, free of their leather trappings, feathered into my hair as he made encouraging noises – deep guttural sounds that had me hard in an instant. My own fingers pulled his sweater away from his trousers so I could touch his bare flesh and he drifted down to fumble with my uniform as soon as I’d freed him of his shirt. My erection was growing uncomfortable pinned within my tight cream trousers, but there was little I could do about it since my hands refused to stop touching Harry so that I could remove them. Our kissing grew insistent as we worked to free each other of our many layers. Not only was winter in its full-fledged glory, but Quidditch uniforms were never meant to be removed with haste.

“Damn these uniforms,” I cursed under my breath. “Next time we practice nude.”

Harry chuckled, his head lolled back as I took one of his delicious tan nipples into my mouth. “That wouldn’t be distracting at all,” he groaned. I laughed too as the image of the two of us flying starkers around the pitch came to the forefront of my mind and then suddenly I winced and Harry looked at me in confusion.

“Never mind that idea. It would be a horrid place to get a splinter,” I explained, but instead of laughing as I’d expected he grabbed my erection through my trousers and smiled.

“I certainly wouldn’t want any damage to come to this,” he purred, and just like that he erased my moment of comedy and plunged me back into a lusty haze.

Our movements became less and less restrained as we removed more clothing until we were practically rutting against one another in the middle of the room. It was Harry who came to his senses first and tugged me by the hand into the showers. The hot spray took a moment to adjust to, but I easily ignored it when Harry dropped to his knees in front of me.

I gasped at the sight, Harry’s emerald eyes were glazed over with want, his lips slightly parted and his chest was heaving with rasping breath. I’d never wanted anyone as much as I wanted him right then. I strained to keep my eyes open when he licked his lips. He hadn’t even touched me yet and I was ready to explode.

When he took me into his mouth at last I had to grip the tile wall behind me in an effort to keep standing. His mouth was so hot compared to the cool air that wafted through the drafty locker room, even hotter than the water that pounded on my back. As I’d predicted, Harry seemed to be an expert at everything he did and giving head was no exception. I probably sounded ridiculous with my open moaning but I couldn’t help it, as his tongue swirled and his mouth sucked I just couldn’t stop the noises from leaving my lips. “Harry,” I cautioned with a throaty whisper. “Harry I’m close.”

The warning didn’t slow him in the least and his head continued to bob against me at the same pace until I screamed his name and emptied myself into his mouth. No amount of clutching the wall could hold me up after that and I collapsed in front of him, my knees smarting as they hit the tile floor. I claimed his mouth and moaned against the taste of myself on his tongue as I wrapped my hand around his throbbing erection and began to stroke him.

Harry’s nails dug into my arse as he came, and he drew blood when he bit my lip during his release. He looked horrified for a moment but I assured him there was nothing to worry about as I leaned in to kiss him again. “You’re even better at that than I expected,” I praised, running my fingers through the wet rivulets running down his taut abdomen.

“Perhaps we should raise the stakes for the Gryffindor-Slytherin game,” he purred against my lips.

“Oh?” I asked, returning his cheeky smile. “What did you have in mind?”

“Winner gets whatever he likes, wherever he likes, for a week,” he replied and I pretended to think it over.

“Could be interesting,” I murmured, attempting to play down my excitement over getting to ravish my Harry anywhere and anyway I liked for a whole week, but I don’t think he was fooled. I also ignored the fact that I could probably do that anyway, because as a bet it would be so much more fun. “Deal,” I replied at last and offered my hand to shake.

We sealed our bargain with a kiss instead.

------------------------------------------------------------

Showering with Harry wasn’t terribly productive so far as getting clean went. In fact, I think I felt dirtier coming out than I did going in, but I certainly wasn’t going to complain. Harry was magnificent and I felt at perfect ease with his hand twined in mine as we walked to dinner together. We’d been fairly reclusive all weekend, but since we’d taken meals together Sunday and couldn’t seem to stop touching each other during classes, by now there wasn’t a single student – or staff member for that matter – who wasn’t aware that Harry and I were dating.

This fact was actually quite daunting when I let myself think about it. It’s not that I wasn’t relieved that I didn’t have to keep our relationship a secret, that would be near impossible with how I felt about him, and it would significantly reduce the amount of touching I’d be permitted and that alone was unacceptable. People had grown used to seeing us together over the past few weeks, but not quite like this. Everywhere we went we were holding hands, every class we sat as close as possible and probably everyone had seen us kiss at least once. I wouldn’t change my actions when I was with him for anything, but there were still a few people who I wished could somehow stay blind to it.

Mostly my Slytherin classmates whose parents were Death Eaters like my own.

I knew that it was only a matter of time before word got to my father and Voldemort that I was fucking the enemy – if it hadn’t happened already. I suppose I would find out soon enough. Christmas holidays were fast approaching and with Voldemort taking residence at Malfoy Manor, he was completely unavoidable. At this point the best I had to hope for was that I wasn’t summoned to him sooner. If they meant to kill me when I went home, I wanted to enjoy as much time with Harry as I could.

“What’s wrong, Love?” Harry asked, tugging me out of my dark thoughts. I quickly plastered on a smile and shook my head lightly.

“Nothing,” I lied, but I could tell he didn’t buy it for a moment. “I’m just worried about what vengeance people might decide to take against us for being together.” That was true enough, if not exactly what I was thinking.

“You mean Mike?” he asked and I shrugged. I hadn’t meant him at all, but now that Harry mentioned it, yes, the Ravenclaw did pose a potential threat. After Harry explained what he’d done, I almost felt sorry for Corner – almost. Being left in the middle of sex had to be the most humiliating way to be broken up with in the history of all time. I would have even lectured Harry over it myself had it not led him to me. I am beginning to find my priorities and beliefs tend to shift when Harry’s involved. “I don’t think we need to worry about him. He’ll probably avoid us altogether if he can,” Harry mused aloud. I don’t think I would be too far off the mark by saying Harry was hoping that would be the case and was not at all sure of it. Personally, I didn’t know enough about Corner to predict his actions. For all I knew I would find itching powder in my hair potion, or find my shoes perpetually tied together, or Harry might be right and he would just leave us alone. I tended to think otherwise, however.

“You have Charms alone with him tomorrow,” I observed, not too pleased that I had been forced to remember that.

“I know,” he groaned unhappily. Harry hadn’t seen his ex since Saturday afternoon that I was aware of, not even a glimpse in the hall. He’d even avoided being in the Great Hall at the same time as us so far. I could sense that Harry was worried about this fact, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know why. Did he miss him? Did he feel like he’d made a mistake in choosing me?

“I could probably get you out of it if you like?” I offered.

His brow furrowed in confusion and it took a fair bit of resistance not to kiss the crease he’d made in his forehead. “And how would you do that?”

“I have a bit of pull with Severus,” I admitted.

He looked even more confused for a moment and then laughed. “I’ve only heard Dumbledore and McGonagall call him by his first name, and usually it was when they were cross with him.”

I laughed too as I imagined my godfather being lectured by the Transfiguration professor and the bored look he’d most likely have on his face throughout. “He’s my godfather.” I wasn’t sure if Harry knew that or not, some Slytherins did but not all of them and the ones who did weren’t known for talking to Gryffindors about anything, much less their housemates’ secrets.

He blinked rapidly and looked as if I had a Flobberworm eating my face. “How in Merlin’s name did that happen?”

“His father and mine are…friends…sort of,” I explained. “They’re as close as De – er – Slytherins get anyhow.” I held my breath as I waited to see if Harry had noticed my slip, but if he did, he didn’t acknowledge it.

“I have to go to Charms at some point,” he replied, carefully avoiding the new information I’d just given him. Part of me couldn’t believe I was sharing so much already. At this rate he’d have me babbling the Dark Lord’s whereabouts during pillow talk and I’d be tortured nice and slow for letting that slip. “Even someone like Snape couldn’t get me out of Charms permanently.”

“What do you think you’re going to do when you see him?” I asked tentatively.

“I really don’t know. I feel like rubbish for what I did to him, but I would have felt worse if I’d gone through with it,” he replied.

“So, no regrets?” I asked and he rolled his eyes slightly.

“I can’t believe you’d ask me that after what just happened in the locker room,” he teased and I couldn’t help but smile. I don’t know why I was feeling so constantly concerned about our relationship. I mean, sure it was new, sure we were both keeping carefully guarded secrets from one another, sure we’d been rivals up until a few months ago, and sure our friends hated one another…. Actually, put like that I couldn’t believe I wasn’t more concerned about our future together.

“I’m not typically so insecure,” I informed him; trying for the haughty grace I should be feeling in the presence of someone who loved me. I came up short but Harry didn’t seem to mind.

“You mean with all the other people you’ve dated?” he joked, but his tone wasn’t entirely teasing. I was pleased to discover I wasn’t the only one mildly insecure.

“No, I meant in general, but yes. I’ve never been in a relationship before where I wasn’t entirely in control,” I admitted.

“But you’ve had a lot of them,” he pressed, not a question, more of a statement. I wasn’t entirely sure how much he wanted to know about my past, so I remained vague.

“I’ve had a few.”

He seemed to process that as he pulled me away from the main path to the Great Hall and into a small alcove where we had to dodge a suit of armor to fit. “How many?”

“Harry,” I whispered, my voice laced with regret. I didn’t want to have this conversation now, I wanted to be able to avoid all the big topics forever if I could and just bask in the glow of finally being with Harry.

“So, a lot then,” he seemed to deduce from my silence.

“Not a lot,” I corrected with a sigh. “I’ve never gotten more than a blowjob from another guy, and I’ve never given any more than a kiss,” I told him, wanting to assuage his fears as much as possible. “I’ve been with a couple girls.”

“Who?” he pried and I let my head fall against the wall.

“Pansy and Daphne,” I told him. “The other guy was Blaise, who is quite jealous of you I must say,” I added with a smile. Harry smiled back but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“That’s better than I thought,” Harry admitted with a slight blush.

I rolled my eyes and kissed his pouting lips. “You assumed I was some kind of lothario?”

“Well, look at you,” he muttered, seemingly embarrassed and I locked my mouth on his, trying to convey how different this was to me, how important he was.

“I’ve never felt this before you, Harry,” I whispered against his lips. “I’ve never been willing to risk it all on another person, and believe me when I say there is a lot to risk. If I were the Malfoy my father wants me to be I would have never pursued you.”

“So then why did you?” he asked, his eyes serious and penetrating. I couldn’t have this conversation right now. I couldn’t possibly tell him that I won him over falsely; I couldn’t chance losing him now by informing him that he’d been right to distrust me all along and that I had originally intended to seal his death. The fact that I was surely going to meet my own should negate that anyhow, right? Probably not, but I still wasn’t going to talk about that. Not now at least. So, instead I met his serious gaze with one of my own and I let him feel the weight of it for a moment before I replied. “Because you’ve got the nicest arse in Hogwarts.”

The stern look he gave me faded almost at once as he rolled his eyes and kissed me. It was a sweet kiss, soft and lingering, as if he was reminding me that he was mine for now, but the conversation was by no means over. Postponement was the best I could have hoped for anyway, so I took what I could get and after a few minutes we slipped out of our hiding place and went to dinner. We had so many things to talk about, so many issues that could mean our dissolve as a couple, but for now Harry seemed as content as I was to brush them under the rug for the time being.

------------------------------------------------------------------

“You can go sit with them if you like,” I told my boyfriend as his gaze drifted toward his old friends for the hundredth time. We hadn’t been talking much since our arrival at dinner and Harry had barely touched his plate. Something was weighing heavily on his mind and I was terrified of what that might be.

“You wouldn’t come with me?” he asked, his attention focused solely on me now.

“Not if I wasn’t invited,” I replied.

“You’re always invited,” he said, looking slightly shocked that I hadn’t already known that.

“Malfoys don’t assume,” I pointed out, but he just rolled his eyes and muttered ‘bullshit’. “Well, I’m not making any assumptions when it comes to that situation,” I corrected. “It’s between the three of you. I’ll only step in if one of them hurts you.”

“I can take care of myself,” he replied and I nodded.

“I know you can,” I told him without a hint of sarcasm. “That doesn’t stop me from wanting to Hex anyone who causes you harm.”

“I love you,” he blurted unexpectedly, wearing my favorite haphazard grin on his face.

“That’s only to be expected,” I replied and kissed his nose when he swatted my arm.

“I shouldn’t go over there,” he said decisively, reverting back to our previous topic of discussion. “They should come to me if they want to be friends again.”

“I agree.”

“You do?” he asked, sounding more unsure than he had previously let on.

“I do,” I confirmed. “They botched up the relationship, so they should be the ones to repair it.”

“Maybe,” he replied, and took obvious effort to pull his gaze away from the chattering couple. “What should we do tonight?” Harry asked, obviously trying to mentally steer himself away from the other end of the Gryffindor table.

“I’m sure I could find a way to take your mind off of Weasley and Granger,” I purred against the shell of his ear.

“I’m sure you could,” he replied and wrapped his foot around mine under the table. “What about your friends? We could hang out with them tonight,” he offered and it took a good deal of control not to laugh.

“I don’t have any friends, Harry,” I said out loud for the first time.

Harry frowned and glanced back at the Slytherin table. “What about Crabbe and Goyle?”

“Minions,” I replied with ease. He chuckled and listed off a few other names, some from our year, some from years lower and I just shook my head. “Minions, all of them. They fear me, they do what I tell them, but none of them would voluntarily spend time in my presence.”

“What about Blaise?” he suggested and I could tell he was being devious.

“Looking to expand your sexual horizon already, Harry?” I goaded. “I thought I would be enough for you for a week at least.”

He rolled his eyes gently squeezed my thigh under the table. “You’re plenty,” he assured. “It would be…interesting…to talk to your ex.”

“He’s not my ex,” I pointed out. “I let him suck my cock, once, that hardly justifies a relationship.”

Harry’s face flushed beautifully and he laughed. “Pansy then?”

“Oh, that would go brilliantly,” I muttered. “So, Pansy, meet Harry, my boyfriend. That’s right, you were so horrid you made me gay!”

“Stop,” Harry laughed and swatted me again. “You’re such a prat.”

“Hence the lack of friends,” I muttered and he winced slightly.

“I’m sorry-” he began but I was in no mood for a pity party, not even from Harry, so I brushed it aside and smiled as falsely as I could.

“I’m not worried about it, Harry. All those Slytherins glaring at us are in my past. They would hurt you if they could; even kill you if they had a chance. Hell, they might even try to hurt me now, but I won’t let them near you. Not for anything,” I told him honestly. “It’s for the best that I count none of them as my friends. Loyal lapdogs to the Dark Lord are all they’ll ever be.”

“And you?” he whispered, and I could tell there was so much more behind that statement than those two simple words could convey.

“I’m decidedly not,” I answered truthfully and he seemed to let out a relieved breath. Pain laced through my heart as I saw doubt flicker through his eyes. He had every right to doubt me, by all accounts he should, but it didn’t hurt any less to see it. I tucked a lock of his soft, raven hair behind his ear and took his jaw in my palm, lifting his face to look at me. “I’m not his man, Harry. I won’t ever betray you. No matter what you might see or hear about me, my loyalties lay with you, not the Dark Lord.”

He swallowed thickly and nodded. “Can he hurt you?”

“Yes,” I replied without hesitation.

“Will he?”

“There is no doubt in my mind that if he finds out about you and I that he’ll kill me,” I told him. I kept the fact that it would be a slow and painful death to myself because Harry probably already assumed as much, and I really didn’t care to say it out loud or worry him further if he didn’t.

“Draco,” he hissed, “you should have told me. We could have kept this quiet.”

“I don’t want that,” I replied firmly. “I want you and they can all go jump in the Black Lake if they don’t like it. I have ways of shutting them up for now…nothing too unseemly,” I assured him at his wide-eyed look.

“I can’t let you get hurt because of me,” he whispered, looking on the verge of tears.

“Hush,” I told him sharply. “What’s done is done. I’ll keep myself out of harms way if you promise to do the same.” He nodded and I changed the subject. “Why don’t you and I slip away somewhere?” I offered, leaning in to nibble his earlobe.

“Okay,” he conceded with no further prompting and we left the Great Hall under the watchful eyes of several students and probably even a few staff members. I knew a fair few of the professors considered Harry important, possibly even like family, so I’m sure they were wary of him spending so much time with me lately.

As if on cue, Dumbledore greeted us in the corridor just outside the entrance. “Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, how are you both this evening?” he asked lightly, as if there was no hidden agenda to his words.

“Fine, Sir,” we both answered in unison and then smiled at one another.

“Excellent, excellent,” he said, but not as if he meant it. “Harry, I was wondering if I might have a word with you in my office, in, say, twenty minutes?”

“Er…sure,” he replied, fidgeting slightly beside me. “What about?”

“Oh, just this and that,” he replied vaguely and glided back inside the Great Hall.

“He’s going to talk to you about me, isn’t he?” I asked him glumly, as Harry pulled us along toward Dumbledore’s office.

“Maybe,” he replied, just a sullenly. What was I going to do if he forbade Harry from seeing me? What would he do? It’s not like either of us could just tell the Headmaster to sod off, as much as I might like to.

“I’m surprised he didn’t try to separate us sooner,” I grumbled.

“What do you mean? Do you think that’s what he’s planning?” Harry asked and I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Stop being naïve, Harry. You and I are the only two people in the entire school that actually want us together. Everyone else would far prefer us to go back to being enemies,” I replied.

“Well, I suppose it’s a good thing that none of them get a say then, isn’t it?” he replied defiantly and I couldn’t help myself as I pinned him against the wall and ravished his mouth. He moaned for me and the sound caused me to clutch at his hips as if I could pull him inside of me right then. “Wow,” he breathed when I finally released him.

“Just remember that when the Headmaster tells you to leave off from me,” I told him with a weighted gaze. “Remember that kiss and remember that I love you.”

“I can do that,” he replied with a wink as he disappeared down the corridor that would lead to the Headmasters office. I didn’t follow, as much as I would have liked to. It was getting close to curfew anyhow and I shouldn’t push my luck.

I wound my way through the labyrinth of the dungeons thinking about the last few days. We were a couple, Harry and I, bound in a way I could have never imagined. We had fun together, we were fiery and passionate and I didn’t want to give any of it up. But, perhaps I should. Maybe Dumbledore and the rest of the school were right. Maybe I was being selfish by keeping him.

I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts. I already knew I was being selfish. If I was as clever as I had always claimed I would use my advantage and turn Harry over to Voldemort. I’d already gotten what I wanted, after all…mostly. But just the thought of doing such a thing now that I had him made my gut twist and burn uncomfortably. Part of me wished I could be as cold-hearted as my father; I would certainly live longer if I hadn’t inherited so much of my mother’s softness. I was weak, careless and unworthy of the Malfoy name, but Harry loved me, so perhaps I was worthy of him and that was enough for me.

I had been making my way to my dorm, but at the last moment, I veered paths, heading instead to my godfather’s private quarters. “Boomslang skin,” I whispered to the door and it opened for me.

“I don’t recall telling you that you could enter my rooms without previous permission,” Snape intoned from his armchair by the fireplace. He was sipping an amber liquid from a crystal goblet and didn’t bother to look at me, his gaze intent on the fire.

“I’ll remember that next time, I promise,” I replied sarcastically and took a seat across from him. “I need your opinion.”

I phrased the request exactly how I meant it. I didn’t want his opinion - I needed it. I needed to know that there was one person aside from Harry on my side in this school, someone I could turn to when the other Slytherins turned on me as I was sure they would sooner or later. I didn’t want to drag Harry any deeper into my mess than necessary because I wasn’t lying when I told him that they would kill him if they could. It was an order mandated by the Dark Lord himself, and while most students weren’t foolish enough to attempt the task inside the walls of Hogwarts, few still were.

Personally, I had always thought it was a fool’s errand to try to kill him myself. I knew that on the surface Voldemort simply wanted his rival dead, but deep down the monster wanted to be the one to deliver the final blow, and anyone who dealt it for him – a task he had tried and failed at several times now - would become a threat to him and his fearsome reputation and be executed themselves. Such was the twisted mind of the Dark Lord; issue an order and then reward victory with death.

“I’m listening,” he replied.

“Harry and I are together,” I began.

“So I have deducted by your simpering Hufflepuff behavior at meals,” he sneered.

I rolled my eyes and pressed on. “I think that right this moment the Headmaster is trying to persuade him not to continue seeing me.”

“That sounds rather meddlesome,” Snape replied.

“You don’t think he’d do that?” I asked and Snape merely smirked.

“No, I think you’re dead right. Meddlesome is one of Albus’ many middle names,” he replied and gestured that I go on.

“The Slytherins all know,” I stated and I knew he would know what that meant.

“They have for some time now. They’ve been murmuring amongst themselves on what to do about it. They think you’re betraying them, which I have an inkling is correct,” he stated and then turned to gaze at me pointedly. “Am I right, or have you come to me to arrange transport for the boy to Malfoy Manor?”

“No!” I replied, my voice laced with anger as I stood to ward my godfather off. Coming here was obviously a mistake.

He merely sighed and shook his head in dismay. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen,” he mused without so much as stirring in his chair, but I remained on the defensive. “Sit down and stop being foolish. I have no intention of rushing off to capture your beloved,” he ordered, the final words hissed as if they were poisonous.

“Where do your loyalties lay, Godfather?” I asked, carefully reminding him of his duty to me, however minor it might be.

He narrowed his eyes, studying me for a long while. “With Dumbledore and the Order,” he replied at last.

I was probably gaping, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. “The Order of the Phoenix is real, then?” I asked, not terribly surprised that he wasn’t loyal to Voldemort. I’d suspected as much for a couple of years now, given his affinity to offer only vague and sometimes outright false information to the Dark Lord. The problem with that was, if I suspected it, so did others.

He rolled his eyes at me and set down his glass. “You mean to tell me your scar-headed lover hasn’t told you all about it? I thought Potter was weak for you.”

“I’ve never asked him for information about the war,” I spat. I didn’t like having our relationship called into question. Disparaging my own choices and Snape doing the same were two very different things.

“You really are smitten,” he murmured, as if the idea of my having honest feelings for the boy had been out of reach to Snape before now.

“I love him,” I confirmed factually, trying not to sound too sappy about it but rather speaking of my affection as if commenting on the latest trend in wizarding fashion. “Such as it is, I want him protected, even if it means protecting him from myself. Am I foolish for being with him?” I asked, not entirely sure I wanted the answer.

“Yes,” he replied easily, “but love is always foolish. At the best of times it hurts, at the worst of times it’s crippling, yet most of us are masochistic enough to come back for it again and again. You and Potter are a unique pair. You each have a tenuous position of power on opposite sides of a terrible war. He could use you against Voldemort - or at least your father, which is almost as good - just as easily as you could use him.”

The thought that Harry might have been using me from the start had never occurred to me and I realized how blinded I had been through my courting him. Were his feelings genuine? Was Dumbledore calling him to his office to see what information he’d been able to glean from me? Was he just waiting for me to spill all I knew so he could turn it over to the Order and cast me aside?

“So, Harry’s part of the Order?” I asked.

“Not officially, but many hopes sit on his shoulders. If you ask me it’s rather cruel to hinge so much on a teenage boy, but the same has been done to you by my own people, so who am I to cast stones?” he replied. “Harry is meant to kill Voldemort, and he will probably die in the process.”

“No,” I breathed and shook my head furiously. “I won’t let that happen.”

“You’ll have no option but to let it happen if you get yourself killed before the war comes to us,” Snape replied sharply. “Do whatever you can to convince your housemates that you’re not on Harry’s side, that you’re acting under Voldemort’s orders.”

“And you?” I asked anxiously.

“I’ll do what I must to maintain my position as spy and keep your head on your shoulders at the same time. Most of your Housemates still trust me, they’ll listen when I tell them you’re Voldemort’s man,” he replied, making sure I knew it was a great inconvenience to him to be helping me.

“Thank you,” I replied and he just sneered back at me.

“You’ll owe me another favor, Godson,” he mocked.

I nodded and escaped his room while I could. I was the only one he’d tolerate backtalk from, but there was only a certain extent he’d allow even from me. My head was full of questions when I left, causing it to ache and throb worse than ever, which was the only reason I could give for having not heard the footsteps approach behind me and having not known something was off until I was Hexed from behind and lost consciousness.

Author's Note: So yes, many of you predicted Draco might win the impromptu match, but how many of you expected this?!