Triumph Out of the Bitter Taste of Ashes

Crudedly -- I agree that raising a child in that circumstance would be *extremely* difficult, not to mention quite possibly mentally damaging to both parent and child. If I said what, exactly, I planned to do about the situation, it\'d give away far too much about what\'s going to happen -- though I wouldn\'t be surprised at all, if some, if not most of you, already have it figured out. LOL
Deblovesdragon -- LOL, when I got your review, I was 3/4 of the way through chapter 27 -- in which you get your wish -- the problem is, Debs review made me realize that I needed a chapter before what I\'d written. :;sighs:: So, you\'ll get your Snape and Hermione interaction next chapter. 28. : ) Hope it\'s worth waiting for.
Rilla -- Thanks! : )
Deb -- Thank you. And I agree about the research. It would be extremely tedious after the first few rounds. Originally, I started to write up the specific numbers for the research, as a sort of companion piece should anyone be interested -- I gave up fairly quickly. LOL It was a *lot* more difficult than I imagined when I started, and I was just making it all up! Of course, I was also trying to make it believable, which was where the difficulties arose. Oh, and not just one, but *two* hot seats coming right up! : )~
GoddessByline -- Thank you. And More \"snarky\" snape next chapter. It\'s already 90% prewritten and pretty much just needs fine tuning.


Feb 02, 2004

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Chapter Twenty Seven
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\"Nothing that concerns you, Potter,\" Draco snapped angrily, not really wanting to think too closely about it, let alone \'confide\' in the boy wonder. Oh, he well knew what was going on, a blind first year would understand it. The problem was, he wasn\'t entirely certain he wanted it to continue happening, and *that* wasn\'t something he was ready to talk about with *anyone*. Malfoy\'s were *not* insecure. They went after what they wanted, regardless of what other people wanted. He supposed his father was right to be disappointed in him. It seemed he was turning out *nothing* like a Malfoy. He couldn\'t even decide what it *was* he wanted. Potter jerked him from his thoughts.

\"He\'s my best friend, Malfoy,\" Potter snapped. \"I\'m *making* it my business.\"

**Oh, for Merlin\'s sake!** \"Then ask him about it, Potter, and quit pestering me!\"

Potter\'s eyes narrowed suspiciously, and Draco went on the offensive before Potter could push the issue. \"Speaking of what\'s \'going on\',\" he retorted smoothly, \"what pole has been up your arse lately?\"

Potter frowned, his eyes widening in surprise at the counter attack. \"What do you mean?\" he snapped turning away and heading for the door.

\"Oh, no you don\'t Potter!\" Draco ordered, striding forward and beating him to the exit, blocking it, the challenge inherent in Potter\'s strategic withdrawal making him forget that he hadn\'t wanted this conversation to begin with.

\"What\'s it to you, *Malfoy*?\" Potter sneered, folding his arms stubbornly across his chest.

Draco was going to kill Ron for leaving him and Potter here alone, he decided -- right after he killed Potter. \"You\'ve been quiet and moody since before Granger came back,\" Draco snapped -- subtlety was lost on Gryffindors. \"Now before, *that* I understand, but now? I don\'t get it?\" he continued. \"Why pull away from both of them? I have no clue how it\'s affecting Granger -- not that I bloody care,\" he said, despite the taunting voice inside his brain calling him a bald-face liar, \"but it\'s hurting Ron, and *that* I care about.\"

Potter smirked, setting Draco\'s teeth on edge. \"I knew it!\" he said triumphantly.

\"Bloody hell,\" Draco muttered, rolling his eyes. \"You knew what?\" he asked, despite his better judgement. **So sue me,** he thought to himself. **I\'m curious.**

\"You like him.\"

Draco\'s heart twisted violently and his stomach clenched. **Crap! Time for quick thinking!** He forced his expression to reflect boredom, though that was just about as far from what he was feeling as it was possible to get. \"Of course I do, Potter,\" he drawled. \"We\'re *friends* after all.\"

Potter\'s grin widened knowingly.

Draco actually *ached* to wipe the smug expression off the Gryffindor\'s face. Instead, he again shifted focus. \"Don\'t think I don\'t know what you\'re doing, *Potter*,\" he accused. \"and you\'re not getting away with distracting me.\"

\"Why not?\" Potter asked, now grinning mischievously. \"I let you do it.\"

Draco blinked. So he had. He laughed then, surprising himself -- and Potter. \"Alright, Potter, I\'ll make you a deal,\" he offered.

**What do you think you\'re doing?**

\"You own up, and so will I.\"

**Are you insane?**

Potter stared at him for several moments before nodding. \"All right, Malfoy, you\'ve got yourself a deal,\" he replied slowly.

**Now what are you going to do, you prat?** He\'d been certain Potter would back off with that. Potter, confide in him? Not going to happen. At least, that\'s what he *thought*.

\"You first then, Potter,\" Draco challenged.

\"I think I\'m going insane,\" Potter whispered.

**Holy fuck!** Draco thought in shock. He *really* did it!

\"What?\" he asked, certain he could *not* have heard correctly.

\"You heard me *Malfoy*!\" he snapped angrily, pacing away, looking anywhere and everywhere but directly at Draco. \"You wanted to know what was \'up my arse\'. Well, now you know. I\'m going bloody out of my head.\"

\"Not to be insensitive, well, okay, yeah, to be insensitive, what makes now so different from always?\" Draco asked, trying to hide his smirk -- failing, but hey, at least he was trying. \"I\'ve *always* thought you were completely barmy.\"

\"I\'m serious, Malfoy,\" Potter muttered, his voice overflowing with defeat and resignation.

Shock stole through Draco. He had no clue how to handle this. It wasn\'t like he overly cared about Potter, the boy who bloody *always* lived, but. . . . \"What\'s different now?\" he asked finally.

\"I keep hearing Ginny,\" Potter admitted in a whisper, eyes now glued out the window. \"She keeps calling for my help.\"

Draco valiantly resisted rolling his eyes. **Bloody hero complex, Potter!** Draco thought in exasperation. \"Nightmares are perfectly normal, Potter,\" he replied drily. \"Every single one of us has been through--\" Potter\'s mutter cut off Draco\'s words, not that he heard what the Gryffindor had said.

\"I didn\'t quite catch that, Potter.\"

\"I *asked*; when I\'m awake?\"

**Oh Merlin on crutches! He really *is* ready to be locked up!** \"She calls out to you when you\'re awake?\" Draco asked in astonishment.

Potter nodded miserably, finally looking directly at Draco.

Draco shifted restlessly, not sure exactly what to do. He\'d always heard crazy people were dangerous. They could do anything; you couldn\'t predict their reactions. He\'d have to be careful, he decided. Play the \'sympathetic listener\'. Yeah, he could do that. He took a step forward. \"Do you hear her now?\"

Potter shook his head.

Draco swallowed. \"Recently?\"

\"No,\" Potter denied, shaking his head again, \"not since we left Hogwarts.\"

Draco frowned. \"Not since you left Hogwarts?\"

\"No!\" Potter snapped. \"Do you have to repeat *everything* I say?\"

\"Sorry,\" Draco muttered automatically, his thoughts spinning. \"Are you *sure* you\'re just imagining it?\" he asked suddenly. It didn\'t seem quite right that it stopped the moment Potter left Hogwarts. Ghosts were tied to one place weren\'t they?

Potter blinked at him, his expression shocked. \"I don\'t appreciate being *humored* Malfoy!\"

Draco frowned. \"I\'m not!\" he denied hotly. \"Yeah, okay, it started out that way, but I\'m serious. If you were going barmy, why would you only hear her at school?\"

Frowning, Potter slowly crossed toward him. \"What else could it be?\"

\"Every hear of *ghosts*, Potter?\" Draco asked snidely, rolling his eyes. \"Honestly, you\'d think you hadn\'t been a part of the wizarding world for almost 7 bloody years.\"

Potter growled lowly. \"Of course I have, Malfoy! Don\'t be an idiot. Ghosts can be *seen* as well as heard, in case you\'ve forgotten,\" he retorted with sarcasm equal to Draco\'s own.

\"No, I haven\'t bloody forgotten,\" Draco snapped back, \"the *point* is, there may actually be a different explanation. Of course,\" Draco continued, shrugging as he abruptly changed tracks, \"you probably *are* round the bend. It does stand to reason, however, if the dead can remain here one way, there *might* actually be more than that one way.\"

Potter\'s eyes brightened, a hopeful look lighting his face. \"You really think so?\" he asked.

Draco rolled his eyes again. \"No, I don\'t,\" he denied drily, \"I\'m really just blowing air up your trousers. I\'ve course I think it\'s *possible*.\"

Potter grinned at him then. \"So,\" he asked brightly, \"how do we go about finding out if she really *is* . . . around?\"

Draco\'s eyes narrowed at Potter\'s abrupt change of mood. It was too fast for comfort and definitely hard to follow. \"We\'ll have to wait until we go back to school,\" he replied, carefully watching Potter for signs of instability. He wasn\'t a hundred percent certain the Gryffindor wasn\'t crazy, after all. The bloke *had* been through as much as they all had . . . and then some. \"There are spells to check for presences.\"

Potter nodded thoughtfully. \"Do you know them?\" he asked. \"The spells to use?\"

Draco shook his head. \"No, but I do know what book to find them in. They\'re in the--\"

\"--restricted section,\" Potter finished with him, smirking.

Draco glared.

Potter just smirked, shrugging. \"It just figures. Most of the good books *are* in the restricted section.\"

Snorting, Draco nodded. The Gryff had a point.

\"Now,\" Potter announced, his smirk turning to a mischievous grin, \"you\'re turn.\"

\"My turn for what?\" Draco asked, stalling.

Potter didn\'t reply, just stared.

Draco prided himself on his ability to win any staredown, any time, any where, but locking gazes like this with Potter was . . . disconcerting him. Why had he never noticed that Potter\'s kind of eyes had the ability to seem like they were staring into your very soul? He shookselfself, sighing in defeat. He *had* agreed to the blasted exchange, after all.

\"What do you want to know?\" he asked resignedly.

\"Duh! I want to know what\'s going on between you and Ron,\" Potter replied easily.

Sighing again, Draco shook his head. \"And you aren\'t asking Ron, why?\"

\"I\'m asking you,\" Potter shot back instantly.

\"Really?\" Draco asked, drily. \"I hadn\'t noticed.\"

\"Malfoy,\" Potter drawled warningly.

\"Oh, bloody all right!\" Draco snapped. \"I don\'t know.\"

\"Oh! You can do better than *that*!\" Potter accused.

\"No, I really can\'t,\" he replied, shaking his head.

\"Draco? Harry?\" Ron\'s voice called up to them.

\"In your room still,\" Draco called out. He looked at Potter, smirking again. \"Saved,\" he said.

\"Not quite,\" Potter insisted, his voice now quieter.

\"Potter,\" Draco sighed. \"I really *am* not sure. This is a first for me, okay? I haven\'t even figured it all out yet. How the hell am I supposed to explain it to anyone?\"

\"You just did,\" Potter said quietly, moving past him toward the door. \"Just remember this, Draco Malfoy, if you purposely huon, on, I\'ll \'purposely\' hurt you.\"

\"Hey guys!\" Ron exclaimed happily, then frowned, his glance going from one to the other. \"Everything okay here?\"

Unplanned, they turned in tandem, replying at the same time.

\"Yes, Ron, everything\'s just great.\"


TBC
Kiristeen
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