Into the Closet

*

"Harry?" Hermione asked nervously. It had been several days since the night in the staff room, and Hermione had approached Harry in the common room. Ron was not present as he had a detention that night with Snape. He'd managed to back talk his way into it the day before.

"Yeah, Hermione?" Harry responded, looking up from his Potions essay. Hermione looked around nervously, then sat down in the adjacent armchair facing Harry. Her face wore a serious expression. Harry cocked his head to the side at her demeanor.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?" Hermione asked.

Harry looked surprised at the question. "No, why?"

Hermione's eyebrows knitted together, as though she was hesitating to reveal a huge secret. "There's nothing? Are you sure?" She sounded concerned.

"Yeah..." Harry said slowly. "Why, is there something going on?"

Hermione looked almost like a deer caught in the headlights. Harry laughed to himself at her inability to keep secrets.

"Well, Blaise Zabini told me something..." She trailed away as if unsure of how much she believed him.

"Blaise Zabini?" Harry asked in disbelief. Hermione nodded slowly. "Since when do you believe anything a Slytherin says? His parents are Death Eaters!"

Hermione gave Harry a scathing look. "Harry, you know you can't judge on that anymore! Just because someone's parents are Death Eaters, doesn't mean they are! I mean, look at Draco, his parents are Death Eaters, but he's on our side... sort of," she amended. "There's nothing wrong with him! You should try to be a little more open-minded."

Harry stared at her for a second as she continued to glare at him after her rant. He snapped out of his trance in a second, though. He smiled at Hermione, reached over, and patted her head. "That was the right answer, Hermione." Then Harry left the common room, leaving a very confused Hermione in his wake.

***

Draco paced around his room in a bad mood. In the past few days nothing had changed. Draco didn't understand what was going on. He couldn't figure out how he felt or why he felt that way.

He huffed moodily and paced around his private room once more. He heard the door creak open, and he whipped around. He scowled as he saw Blaise poke his head through the door. Draco turned away from him and sat down on the bed.

Blaise took this as a sign and slid into the room. Draco watched him from his spot on the bed.

"Hey Draco," Blaise greeted him.

Draco just rolled his eyes at his intrusion on his private space. "What do you want, Blaise?" he asked scathingly.

Blaise rolled his eyes and smiled at Draco. "Nothing, I was just bored," he told him.

"Well, go be bored somewhere else," Draco drawled maliciously. Blaise shook his head in exasperation and sat down at the end of Draco's bed. Draco sat up and watched Blaise.

"What's going on, Draco?" he asked suddenly.

Draco looked slightly taken aback, but came back with an answer quickly. "Nothing is going on," he said forcefully.

Blaise scoffed. "Right," he said skeptically.

Draco's silver eyes narrowed. "This is all your fault."

"My fault? What are you talking about?"

"You sent me out looking for that stupid Gryffindor. If you want Finnigan, go get him yourself. I'm not your lackey."

Blaise gave him a withering look. "Okay..."

"You had something to do with Potter, I know it."

Blaise looked insulted. "You must be getting paranoid, Draco."

Now it was Draco's turn to be furious. "I am NOT paranoid!" he asserted.

"Oh, come on, Draco, you think I'm trying to set you up with Potter or something; you must be paranoid."

"You're walking on thin ice here, Blaise," Draco warned.

"Whatever, you're the one obsessed with Potter."

Draco's eyes flashed with anger. "I am NOT obsessed!" he nearly yelled.

Blaise shrugged in a completely unconvincing manner. "Well then, what do you think of Potter?"

"He's annoying, that's what I think," Draco said darkly.

Blaise sighed at his lack of cooperation. "Anything else?" he pushed. He could see Draco hesitating.

Draco was having an internal battle. If he could tell anyone, it would be Blaise. "I don't know... It might be a curse or something. Pansy knows, and her 'plan,’ if you could call it that, failed miserably. What was she thinking anyway? That she could outsmart Potter? It turns out he's a lot smarter than we thought."

Blaise nodded; there was no arguing with that. "Pansy's not the brightest bulb in the box," he said.

"Blaise, you need to stop hanging out with Muggles. You're starting to pick up their sayings," Draco admonished him half-heartedly. Blaise just shrugged again. He actually kind of liked Muggles. He found them funny and entertaining. Draco shook his head at his friend’s lack of pureblood pride, but didn't push it.

"Yeah, well..." Blaise said in admonition. Draco sighed laboriously. "So you think it's a curse?"

"Not really. I don't understand what's going on. Potter's doing something, that's for sure. All of those occurrences couldn't have been by coincidence."

Blaise looked thoughtful as he contemplated what Draco had said. "Maybe," he said, "but then again, Potter is a very odd person. He might just have some cockamamie scheme in mind."

Draco shrugged. "Who knows how his mind works," he said darkly.

"Who'd want to know?" Blaise amended.

Draco looked up at him and chuckled slightly. "Touché," he said.

"So you think it's just some stupid scheme, then?" Blaise asked, bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand.

Draco paused, thinking it over. "I don't know. It's just so odd. It doesn't make any sense."

"One question, then," Blaise started, and Draco looked up forebodingly.

"What...?" he asked cautiously.

"What do you really think of Potter?"

"Really?" Draco clarified.

"Really," Blaise repeated firmly.

"He's an ass, but he's also got a nice one. He's incompetent, but one of the smartest people I know. He gets into trouble with his temper, but is passionate about everything. There's something about him I can't place. I really don't know what I think of him."

"Hmm," Blaise said thoughtfully. Draco shrugged and lay back down on his bed. Blaise decided he'd worn out his welcome and rose from the bed and slipped out the door, shutting it quietly behind him.

He walked down the hall and out into the common room. Pansy watched him through narrowed eyes as he crossed the room and left through the door in the wall.

She retreated back into her room and sat down on her luxurious bed with deep purple satin sheets. She wondered to herself what was going on with Blaise and Draco.

'Don't tell me he's shagging Blaise now, too,' she thought malevolently to herself. She couldn't stand the thought that Draco had rejected her for two different boys.

Sure, her plan had worked, well, sort of. She had yet to find out if Draco had stopped shagging Potter. Surely, Potter wouldn't want his friend mad at him. If the other day in Care of Magical Creatures had been any indication, the Weasel was quite upset with his friend.

Of course, over the past few days, Pansy had witnessed them being friendly to each other on several occasions. She was led to believe that perhaps they were not as mad as they once were. However, she had not received any evidence that Potter was still shagging Draco.

Pansy huffed to herself at the thought that her plan had not been successful. Blaise had been quick to point out its apparent failure in the beginning. She scowled at the memory of Blaise and his quick-wittedness.

'Why doesn't Draco love me? We were supposed to get married and be the wealthiest couple in all of Europe. We were supposed to have the beautiful kids and our affairs on the side, but in the end we were supposed to have stayed together,' Pansy whined to herself, since no one else would listen to her.

'Maybe Blaise is right...' she thought after a while. 'Maybe I should just give up. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if Draco was happy, but he was supposed to be happy with me!'

Pansy scowled at the thought but knew there was really nothing she could do. She knew Draco was very strong willed, even more so than she was. If he chose a Gryffindor, there was little she could do, aside from killing him.

Despite being a Slytherin, Pansy did have some ground rules, and no killing was one of them. She was expected to be a Death Eater, but she had always known that it would be better to stay on the side of the light, for her own protection as well as others.

Although she had come to the conclusion that there was nothing to be done, that didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun with it.

***

"Ron?" Hermione asked sweetly of her boyfriend. Ron looked over at her. She had dragged him to the library for a little bit of last minute studying. He'd actually allowed her to bring him there, and now that he was here, he'd decided to actually study for once.

The fact that Hermione had just voluntarily interrupted his studying flashed a giant warning signal at him.

"Yeah, Hermione?" he asked lightly, closing the book he'd been trying to read.

She folded her hands on the table and leaned in closer as though she was about to interrogate him. "Is something going on with Harry?" she asked in an unassuming manner, slightly reminiscent of Professor Umbridge.

"Not that I know of, why?" Ron lied smoothly. He had improved significantly in his lying abilities recently. He no longer blushed when asked a question he knew the real answer to.

Hermione paused, giving him a calculating look. Ron gave her a confused look and went back to reading his book, thinking fast.

"Don't you think he's been acting a little odd lately?" she pushed.

Ron sighed and looked up from the book again. "Not really. He seems fine to me.”

"Hmm..." Hermione said, obviously thinking.

"What?" Ron asked, slightly frustrated now.

"Nothing, it's just..." Hermione trailed away, hesitating.

"Just what?!" Ron asked adamantly.

Hermione sighed rather loudly, as though she was regretting saying anything. "I just think Harry has been acting a bit odd," she concluded.

"Odd?" Ron repeated, giving her a look clearly indicating she was losing her mind.

Hermione caught sight of his face and scowled. "Yes, odd," she said scathingly. "He's up to something."

Ron sighed at his girlfriend’s suspicions, and her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Oh, Hermione, if he is, it's not your business, right?" he asked.

Hermione hesitated, knowing he was right. "Yes, well, he shouldn't be doing something he oughtn’t."

"How do you know he is?" Ron asked.

"I don't, I guess," Hermione sighed.

"See," said Ron soothingly, "it might not be anything. Maybe he's just in a weird mood."

Hermione bit her lower lip, hesitating to agree. "I guess..."

Ron smiled at her acceptance. "Good, now will you help me with this? I don't understand."

"Oh, Ron," Hermione sighed, and reached over to help.

***

"Harry, I need to talk to you."

"What is it, Ron?" Harry looked over to his friend, sprawled out in an armchair by the fire.

"I think maybe we should go somewhere else," Ron said, glancing nervously over his shoulder at the crowded common room. Harry raised a questioning eyebrow, but received no more hints, so he heaved himself out of the fluffy chair and followed Ron up to the boy’s dormitory.

Once they had reached the empty dorm, Ron turned to Harry, who had just entered the room and closed the door.

"What is it, Ron?" Harry asked.

"Hermione was asking questions," Ron told him seriously.

"I know," Harry said.

Ron looked at him, surprised. "You do?"

"Of course I do," Harry said with a smile.

"But how?" Ron asked in disbelief.

Harry smiled warmly at him and patted him on the arm. "Ron, it's all part of the plan," he said, his face splitting into a grin.

Ron looked on, confused. "Wait, have you been keeping things from me?" he asked, his eyes widening in realization.

Harry sighed slightly. "Kind of, but I had to in order for it all to work smoothly."

"You mean you don't trust me?" Ron asked, his temper rising.

"Of course I trust you," Harry said convincingly, but Ron scowled, clearly not believing a word.

"If you trusted me, then maybe you would have told me about the rest of the plan!" Ron exclaimed.

"I did tell you," Harry said, anger growing. "If you didn't listen, that's not my fault!"

"Yeah, right!" Ron said in annoyance.

"Yeah! Right!" Harry exclaimed. Ron was being overly-sensitive in his opinion.

"Fine, Harry, I thought you were my friend, but apparently not." Ron turned to leave, but Harry stopped him.

"Oh, Ron!" Harry sighed exasperatedly.

"What, Harry?" Ron asked snidely, stopping just before the door.

"Just think about it for two seconds!" Harry exclaimed.

Ron stopped, thinking. "About what?" he asked.

"Why would I keep things from you?" Harry asked him.

Ron's eyebrows furrowed, trying to find a reason. "I don't know..." Ron said slowly.

"See? Don't worry about it. It all has a reason, and it'll all work out in the end." 'I hope,' Harry added silently.

Ron looked uneasy about his explanation, but in the end, accepted it. "I guess so, but you are going to tell me eventually, right?" he asked.

Harry smiled easily. "Of course I am, just not yet. There are some loose ends to tie up."

"So what do I tell Hermione?" Ron asked.

"What have you told her?" Harry asked him.

"Nothing really."

"Good," Harry sighed in relief.

"Why does she have to know now?"

"I have a feeling that Pansy is up to something," Harry said, and Ron looked again confused.

"What does Pansy have to do with this?" he asked.

"I'm sure Hermione will want to know what's going on, and I'm pretty sure Pansy's realized there's nothing she can do, so together they make the perfect team."

"Huh?"

"Hermione will probably be mad that we kept this from her, so she'll want revenge. It's best just to let her get it out of her system while she can."

Ron raised an eyebrow at the amount of knowledge Harry held. "Wow, sounds like you've got it all planned out."

"Not all, I can't control everything, after all."

***

"Potter, I have some good news."

Harry turned away from the moonlit window to regard the tall figure of Blaise Zabini. "And what would that be?" he asked quietly.

"You're affecting him."

Harry smirked slightly. "Good."

"He's falling."

"Even better."

"He's denying it, but it's there."

'Thank God.'

"Excellent."

"Are you going to pick up your end anytime soon?" Blaise asked, annoyed.

"Don't worry about it."

"Fine, but be quick about it Potter." With those last words, Blaise vanished from the dark tower, leaving Harry staring out over the snow-covered grounds. The moonlight glided smoothly over the frost covered trees and frozen lake.

Harry watched as a bitter wind whipped through the trees in the Forbidden Forest. Ice crystals fell and shattered on the frozen grounds. Harry took a deep breath and turned from the window.

"Three feet of ice were not frozen in a day*." Harry then departed from the room, leaving the door open to swing in the bitter cold.


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*Chinese proverb.

A/N: something weird happened to the site, so i have to repost this chapter. If you'd be so kind to leave your reviews again, i'd be much obliged ^_^