Triumph Out of the Bitter Taste of Ashes

Thanks for the reviews everyone! : ) They\'re the inspiration I need to keep going, especially when I get stuck.

This chapter is dedicated to Shemhamforash, and goes out a day early as bribery payment. ::smirk::

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Chapter Five
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Professor Snape strode through the castle hallways, for the most part ignoring the chatter going on around him -- their plans for the upcoming winter break interested him not at all. Unfortunately, it was well after dinner and not yet curfew, and the children could not be berated for conversing -- of course, that wouldn\'t have stopped him if he\'d managed to find any of them hiding in the shadows pretending they couldn\'t be seen. Frankly, it surprised him that he hadn\'t caught more students letting go of their rampant hormones in the last few weeks.

Striding into the library, he made his way immediately toward the restricted section with a nod to Madam Pince. It didn\'t take him long to find the book he needed, nor was it difficult, certainly not enough so to interfere with his rather circular thoughts.

The numbness had pretty much worn off, and everyone, one by one, was beginning to revive. Anyone who\'d been through it before knew that surviving the atrocities they all had, led to reaffirming life in that most basic of ways. Teenagers, always far more susceptible to their hormones, were no exception to that fact of life. He frowned. Either he was losing his touch, they were getting better at hiding, or something else was seriously wrong.

Since he highly doubted he was losing his touch, and lust-blinded teenagers had the sense of moths when confronted with flames, he worried and began taking a closer, far more considering look around himself. It took him a week and an overheard conversation to figure out whas gas glaringly wrong -- and he lambasted himself for not seeing it sooner.

Book found, ready to step back into the library proper, he stopped. He watched, hidden within the stacks of the restricted section as Ronald Weasley entered the library, heading straight toward Draco Malfoy. That friendship, out of all the unexpected ones that had sprung up out of adversity, surprised him the most. Even Potter, though clearly not as accepting as Weasley -- a sentiment quite obviously shared equally by Malfoy -- had all but dropped the outright hostilities.

\"Hey, Draco, you decided who you\'re going to the Yule ball with?\" he asked, dropping artlessly into a chair next to Malfoy.

Malfoy shook his head, not bothering to look up from the book he was supposedly reading. \"I\'ll probably just show up alone, leave early.\"

\"Why?\" Weasley asked, incredulous. \"You could have your pick and you know it.\"

Sighing, Malfoy finally looked up from his book. \"Have you *really* taken a look around you as to what there is *to* pick from?\"

Weasley sent him a funny look and shrugged. \"There\'s plenty of girls around. What about Blaise?\"

Malfoy rolled his eyes. \"She\'s been hooked up since the end of 5th year with a guy from Durmstrang.\"

\"Oh, I didn\'t know that.\"

\"And before you ask, most of the 6th and 7th year Slytherins ended up leaving, in case you\'ve forgotten. The few that remained, well, of them all, Blaise is the only girl to survive. And I\'m sure as hell not taking a 5th year!\"

\"Errrg, no, I\'d guess not. Well, why does your date have to be Slytherin? I realize,\" Weasley continued, a crooked grin accentuating his point, \"you\'d probably rather become a recluse than go with a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff, but what about a Ravenclaw girl?\"

Malfoy laughed humorlessly. \"You *really* haven\'t taken a good look around have you?\" he asked, then shook his head. \"No, don\'t answer that. Of the Ravenclaw 6th and 7th years, the only four I\'d want to be seen anywhere with are all involved in long term relationships. Ravenclaw, as a house, made it out better than either your house or mine, buty loy lost a lot of people too.\"

Weasley began to look pensive. \"You\'re right Draco, I hadn\'t been looking. Gods, I\'m beginning to think this war may have destroyed the wizarding world. We\'re just walking dead, ya know?\"

Malfoy nodded. \"Yes, I do. Unlike you, I started checking things out about a week ago. When it dawnn men me how bad things were here, I started looking at the other schools. I know lineage and such don\'t really mean a lot to you, but they still do to me. I\'m the last living Malfoy, which means it\'s my responsibility to carry on the name.\"

\"Never thought of it that way,\" Weasley admitted.

\"Of course not. You Weasleys are something of an oddity--\"

Weasley automatically started to bristle.

\"Oh, calm down. I wasn\'t trying to be insulting. I have much better material if that\'s what I wanted to do. What I *meant* was, pureblood families tend to have only one or two children. In fact, most only end up having one for one reason or another. I know my folks lost one before me, and two after.\"

\"Ouch!\"

Malfoy nodded slowly. \"Yeah, my mom was a mess for the last one. Medi-witch told her she probably wouldn\'t survive if she tried again, so they stopped trying. The Parkinsons had two kids, but Pansy was the only one to make it to school age. Her brother died when he was two, some kind of congenital defect or something. I never got the full story. There are stories like that from all the families.\"

Severus retreated further into the stacks to think. What Malfoy had said was rather alarming. He had never really given it much thought. Once he\'d grown accustomed to the idea that most people did not find him physically attractive, he\'d given n evn ever finding a wife. He, after all, had a brother, an older brother, in fact that could ably carry on the family name. That release him -- Thank Circe! -- from the obligation Malfoy was under.

He did wonder whether the boy had found anyone he considered \'suitable\'. Frowning, he decided to do some research of his own. He hoped that Malfoy was simply bemoaning the immediate lack of someone in his precise age range. A couple years down the line, those 5th years he was shunning would no longer look so young to him. Severus well knew from experience that give it time, say 6 to 7 years, and anyone already in school now would stop seeming \'too young\'.

His course determined, Severus stepped forward, intent on slipping out of the library unnoticed. Malfoy\'s next words stopped him cold.

\"It\'s worse than that, Ron. So many of the pureblood lines were either wiped out completely in this, or nearly so. I\'ve heard all the jokes about in-breeding among purebloods, and to a certain extent it\'s true. Unfortunately, now it\'s going to be worse than ever. The Parkinson line is completely gone, as is the Black line, the Mallin line, and the Arbani line. I don\'t know about the Bulstrodes, but sorry, I pity the poor guy that ends up marrying Millicent. Thankfully, I don\'t have to even consider her. The Bulstrodes are too closely related to the Malfoys.\"

\"Can\'t say I disagree with you there, Draco,\" Weasley replied with a shudder.

Severus, himself, couldn\'t disagree either, that girl would have been better off if she\'d been a boy.

\"I\'m the only Malfoy left. Professor Snape is also the last of his line.\"

Severus\' heart clenched. He hadn\'t known that. He\'d thought his brother had stayed out of the conflict, preferring to take a wait and see approach.

\"The Crabbes and Goyles -- well, I think there\'s technically one of each of those still around, but they\'re both in Azkaban for life -- and only one of them is female. She\'s like almost 90, I think.\ \"I \"I could list off several other families like that with only one or two living members left. Only a handful of families, the Weasleys included, have more than that. Unfortunately, the current batch is all male.

As Weasley winced, Malfoy mimicked the movement. \"Sorry,\" he said, actually sounding like he meant it.

Weasley nodded, the managed a half grin. \"Unfortunately?\"

Malfoy laughed then. \"I\'m not going to live that down, am I?\"

Weasley shook his head vigorously. \"Huh uh! Not a bloody chance.\"

Severus almost laughed. The Malfoy family\'s longstanding derision of the Weasley clan was a cornerstone of wizarding culture. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that if Malfoy had been serious in his comment about the lack of female Weasleys in the current generation, then the boy\'s alarming analysis of the state of the pureblood lines took on a whole new level of meaning. Befriending Ronald Weasley was on a whole different scale than serious considering marrying into the family -- from a Malfoy perspective.

\"Damn, Draco!\" Weasley exclaimed suddenly. \"If you\'re right, there\'s not going to be any such thing *as* a pureblood in a couple generations.\"

\"It\'s certainly not looking good for the Malfoy line, that\'s for sure. Of the purebloods left, there are, count them if you like, I did, forty females within 10 years of my age. Ten of the older ones are married already. We\'ve discussed the 6th and 7th year Slytherins and Ravenclaws. Of the Hufflepuff and *Gryffindor*, there are only five purebloods, the rest all have direct muggle relations as close as three generations back. All but one of those five are currently taken.

\"Now, I realize that school time romances don\'t necessarily last, and that anyone of the girls here might end up available in the future, but if they\'re all smart, and actually care about lineage at all, they\'re not going to giv on on those relationships with any sort of ease. Now, that leaves 18. Nine of those, are a full 10 years younger than am I . . . not even in school yet. They\'ll most likely hook up with someone far closer to their own age -- when they\'re old enough. That leaves one Gryffindor my age -- who has a date for the yule ball, by the way -- a whopping four women older than I am, one that\'s eight years older, one that\'s nine years older, and one that\'s ten years older. They\'ll most likely go for men their age or older. And last but not least, five that are younger than I am, but close enough to my age that age shouldn\'t make a difference . . . in a few years.\"

Weasley frowned, not that he hadn\'t been throughout most of Malfoy\'s recitation, but it deepened. \"Why do you care so much, Draco? You\'ve got no one to answer to anymore. I,\" he hesitated, clearly uncomfortable with what he was going to say, \"won\'t ask why you haven\'t mentioned muggle-borns. This whole discussion was about *lineage*, but does it really matter to you so much? Why completely disregard the girls that have muggle *great-grandparents*?\"

Malfoy jumped out of his seat. \"You don\'t understand!\" he shouted wincing as he received the standard warning glare from Madam Pince. \"You said I don\'t have anyone to answer to?\"

Weasley nodded.

\"I sure as hell do! I\'m the *last* Malfoy! I have a responsibility--\"

\"To yourself, Draco. Even if you marry a non-pureblood, you\'ll still carry on the family name.\"

\"Merlin! I knew you wouldn\'t understand,\" Malfoy hissed, dropping back into his chair sullenly.

\"You\'re right, I don\'t.\"

Malfoy leapt up again, storming toward the library exit.

\"Wait, Draco.\"

Malfoy stopped, sighed, and looked over his shoulder. \"Why? So we can yell at each other some more?\" he asked, sounding defeated. \"Ron, yes, I\'ve mellowed, but I\'ve not changed completely. I\'m still the same person I was before. I have found you -- yes, to my very great surprise -- to be a very good and supportive friend, but I have *always* cared about lineage. If there are no purebloods left, what\'s to stop the eventual decline in number of witches and wizards born? Eventually the rate of birth of squibs will rise. I didn\'t believe in what Voldemort was doing, but I always have, and always will, believe in the necessity of maintaining the pureblood family lines.\"

\"That\'s never going to be something we agree on, Draco, I realize that. I\'m not stupid enough to think that just because we managed to become friends that will suddenly change. But, I\'d like the same chance I just gave you.\"

Malfoy\'s eyes flared in surprise. \"Quid pro quo?\" he asked, turning fully around to face Weasley once more.

Weasley shrugged. \"Something like that. I just want a chance to freely say my piece too. That\'s what friends do, Draco.\"

Eyes closing briefly, Draco took a deep breath then walked back to his chair. \"Okay, I\'m listening.\"

Weasley grinned. \"Now, I haven\'t done all the research you have.\"

Malfoy snorted, which nicely covered the echoing one from Severus. Considering the fact that Weasley hadn\'t given this topic any serious thought until Malfoy brought it up, that was pretty much an overly obvious statement.

\"*But*, I don\'t think you\'ve done proper research either.\"

Malfoy protested automatically, but Weasley glared. \"You said you were listening.\"

With a frown, Malfoy subsided, but Severus could easily see the lingering indignation at the accusation of incomplete research. Severus understood *that* sentiment quite well, and he unconsciously stepped forward, intent on hearing Weasley\'s reasoning behind the unintended insult.

\"Professor Snape!\" Weasley exclaimed, suddenly jumping up.

**Merlin take it!** He hadn\'t planned on being seen. Now he had a choice. He was truly interested in what Weasley had to say, unfortunately, to say so would be far enough out of character that the poor boy would probably not be able to speak. He glided forward, stopping near the two boys, trying to decide just how best to proceed.

Malfoy, surprising him, invited him to join them"Wea"Weasley here, was about to tell me why he thought some research I\'ve done was . . . not as complete as it should be for proper results.\"

\"Indeed?\" Severus asked noncommittally, looking from one boy to the other, and looking thoroughly amused. \"What, exactly were you researching?\"

The gleam in Malfoy\'s eye told him the boy knew he\'d beisteistening; though, it didn\'t convey whether he\'d just figured it out, or whether he\'d known all along. If Severus had been a ing ing man, however, he\'d bet that it was obvious from his approach -- if he hadn\'t been actively interested in their conversation already, he wouldn\'t have stopped at all. Malfoy was simply being observant -- something he\'d become quite good at over the years he\'d spent in Slytherin house.

\"The decided lack of marriage prospects that are both pureblood *and* not considered close family relatives.\"

\"I see,\" Severus replied, trying *not* to smirk. Though he\'d known the topic before being discovered, hearing it put exactly that way, as a topic between a *Weasley* and a *Malfoy*, was quite . . . humorous. Certainly it wasn\'t a conversation he would have expected the two of them to have . . . *ever* -- not before today anyway. He turned to face Weasley. \"Please do go on, Mr. Weasley, I\'m sure what you have to say is *quite* fascinating, particularly in regard to *this* subject.\"


TBC
Kiristeen
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