| Double or Nothing He sat in a tree, watching, observing, and wondering… The two boys were bickering again; screaming insults and flinging curses at each other. Voldemort muttered again the prophecy the old woman had told him, right before he’d killed her. Voldemort narrowed his eyes and thought back to that dim and dingy little hut. Voldemort stood over the hunched form of the old woman. “Is that all you have to say to me?” He smirked at her, his red snake eyes boring holes in the back of her head. “No…” the old woman mumbled. Her head shot up and her body followed. Suddenly the hunched old woman looked more like an avenging angel, with her eyes a swirling black mass and a chill wind whipping the objects about the room into a tornado of color. Her voice coursed around and through him, filling him, the Dark Lord, with terror. “Black and White Dark and Light Two shall hear the call Two to one They shall become And lead to your downfall!” Voldemort cried out in fear and raised his wand, screaming the killing curse. The old woman shrank back smaller than she was before and dropped to the ground. Oddly, she had a peaceful smile on her face. Voldemort took great sobbing breaths as he stared with wide, terrified eyes at the body that lay before him. “Master?” came a tremulous voice at the door. Voldemort turned his face away. “Come Wormtail, we’re leaving,” he said brusquely and swept out the door. Wormtail stared at his master’s back for several seconds before scurrying to catch up with the swiftly departing form. Voldemort shook off the memory of the woman’s eyes and concentrated on the teenagers on the lawn of Hogwarts. “Good boys, continue bickering,” Voldemort hissed. “We will have to make sure they never find out their destiny, won’t we Nagini?” He stroked her head as he said this and she began to weave her head back and forth. “Hsssssssss…” she agreed and coiled herself around the tree branch to continue the surveillance. “Damn you Malfoy!” Harry Potter shouted as he tried to hit Draco with Jelly-legs. “Hold still!” Draco threw himself on the ground and rolled. “I could say the same for you Potter!” Draco yelled back and threw out a blue bubble looking thing. “What the hell is that?” Harry exclaimed. Draco smirked and flicked the bubble at Harry. “Ahh!” The bubble enveloped Harry inside of it. “What now, Potter, hm?” Draco smiled nastily and began bouncing the bubble up and down, meaning that Harry was repeatedly slammed into the ground. “Petrificus Totalus!” came Hermione Granger’s voice and suddenly Malfoy went ramrod strait and toppled over with a slight thud. Harry picked his sore and bruised self up off the ground and looked out through the sheer wall of his cornflower prison. “Hermione! Am I ever…” “Don’t even start with me Harry Potter!” Hermione snapped. Harry shut his mouth very quickly. “Do you know what time it is? It’s 5:30! You were supposed to meet me and Ron in the library over an hour ago!” Hermione stamped her foot. “We were worried about you! Ever since You-Know-Who’s come back everyone has been going crazy setting up precautions for you, and what do you do? You run off every chance you get to duel with Malfoy!” Hermione was extremely red in the face by the time she was done with this rant. Harry was rather scared. “Um… I’m sorry?” he tried. “You’re SORRY?” Hermione screamed. Harry winced. Hermione popped the bubble and grabbed Harry by his ear. She muttered dark things about the stupidity of teenage guys as she dragged him up to the castle by his ear. “Ow ow ow ow ow… Hermione, what ow about ow Malfoy? Ah!” That last ah was because Hermione had let go of his ear and he had fallen over. “You stay right there, mister!” she said furiously and stomped back toward Malfoy. Wisely, Harry stayed put. Too angry to undo the curse, Hermione simply said “Mobilus Corpus,” and bobbed Malfoy behind her on the way up to the castle. Hermione stomped past Harry and he scrambled up, following her inside the dark entranceway of Hogwarts castle. Nagini slipped down into the grass at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Master had told her to watch the two young males. She must follow them, but how? Nagini scented the air with her long forked tongue. Swiftly, she wound her serpentine path to the Whomping Willow. The Willow swished dangerously. It felt the evil aura of this creature and didn’t want it coming any closer. Nagini reared up and weaved back and forth, following the pattern of the branches. Suddenly she darted forward and slithered between two attacking limbs. The Willow creaked in anger but Nagini was already through and down the secret tunnel. She burrowed into the moist dark soil and found the large trails of the basilisk. Nagini hissed in pleasure. Here is a place she could carry out her master’s orders without detection. Nagini followed her senses after the scent of her prey. Hermione stomped down the steps to the dungeon. Suddenly she stopped and listened carefully. Harry nearly crashed into her and he balanced on his toes so that he wouldn’t crash into her. “What?” he asked. “Shh!” she said furiously and put her finger against his lips. His eyes crossed looking down at it. He put his heels back down and listened as well. Then he heard it too, footsteps. Hermione pushed him back into an open doorway and pulled Draco in after her. Hermione peeped around the corner of the door and watched for whoever was making the footsteps. Harry watched the back of her head, unable to move forward because her hand was pressed into his stomach. Suddenly her head jerked back and she pressed flat against the wall. Harry followed her example without asking. A shadow passed by the doorway and Hermione waited until the footsteps had faded away before she stepped away from the wall. “Who was it?” Harry asked. Hermione let her breath go. “Snape,” she said. Harry felt very relieved that they had managed to avoid an encounter with Snape, especially since Malfoy was still floating around behind them. He wondered how many points they would have lost on THAT one. “Come on,” said Hermione as she hurried down farther towards the Slytherin common room. Hermione stopped in one of the many dungeon hallways and looked around. “Now I know its one of these walls around here somewhere…” she said and studied them carefully. Just then the wall to their left opened up and Pansy Parkinson stepped out. “What are you… Draco!” she exclaimed. “Let him go this instant!” she snarled at Hermione. “I’ll be glad to be rid of him,” Hermione snapped and released Draco’s bonds. He slammed to the floor and his feet buckled under him. “Ah!” he said as he hit the floor. “Good riddance,” Hermione said and turned away, “come on Harry.” Harry looked at her, and then back at the scowling Draco, who was rubbing his sore bum. “But Hermione, you know he’s going to go tell Dumbledore!” Harry exclaimed. “No he’s not, now come on,” Hermione said and walked away. Harry shot one last look at Draco and hurried after Hermione. “What do you mean he isn’t going to tell, of course he is!” he said when he caught up with her. “I have insurance,” Hermione said mysteriously. “What…” “No time to explain,” she said briskly, “we have to go meet Ron, he’s waiting for us in our common room.” Harry tried to protest but Hermione strode away from him and he had no choice but to follow her. When they reached the common room door Hermione gave the password and stepped through, followed by Harry. Ron was slumped sideways in an armchair. When they entered, he turned his head and sat upright. “Finally!” he exclaimed, “Where was he this time?” “Dueling with Malfoy in front of the school,” Hermione answered shooting a disgusted glance in Harry’s direction. Harry threw his arms up in the air. “I’m sorry, alright? Sorry!” He walked to where Ron was and flopped onto the chair next to his. “Geez, shoot me why don’t you?” he muttered. “I might just at that,” Hermione threatened, waving her wand under his nose. Harry went cross-eyed trying to look down and then shook his head. “So what is so bad about me dueling with Malfoy anyway? I keep my skills up and I learn new techniques,” Harry said in his own defense. “I’d sure like to know how he made that bubble thing,” he added as an after thought. “See! That’s why,” Ron said. “What?” “You only think about dueling now! You don’t pay attention in class, your failing Potions miserably and you’ve been ignoring your friends, even us,” Hermione said. “While I don’t think paying attention in class is very important, Hermione’s right Harry. You’ve been neglecting us a lot lately.” Ron looked at his best friend out of solemn brown eyes that were usually full of mischief. Harry crossed his arms and gave his friends a long-suffering look. They didn’t know what they were talking about. He was doing fine in school, and he saw his friends all the time. It was just that he had this urge to battle Draco, he needed to be near him, fighting, and something kept pushing him closer to Draco. “I am fine, you guys have nothing to worry about!” Harry said as he got up from the chair. He turned away from them and disappeared from their sight up the stairs to his dorm. Hermione sighed and Ron slumped lower into his chair. “Why won’t he listen?” Hermione growled and slammed her fist into her other palm in anger. “Cause he’s great stupid nit, that’s why,” Ron said. Hermione looked at him. “How can you be so calm about this?” she asked him. “Can’t you feel it? I stink at Divination but I can still sense that something’s pulling them together,” Ron said. Hermione shook her head. “Divination is crap,” she said. Ron shrugged. “Believe what you want but I’m telling you now, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.” Hermione harrumphed and walked away to her own dorm. Ron sighed. Again, he was the one left sitting all alone. Next time he should stomp out first, see how they like it! Harry lay on his bed staring at the crimson hangings. His eyes strayed to the door where he could still hear Hermione and Ron speaking. He wanted to get out and duel with Draco again. He couldn’t go out the door if Ron and Hermione were out there. His eyes went around the room. His eyes locked on the window. Harry’s lips curled up in smile as an idea formed. He got up quickly and grabbed his Firebolt out from under his bed. Moving quickly to the window he shoved it open and climbed out onto the narrow ledge under it. Mounting his broom, he kicked off and flew down to the lawn behind the school. “Now to find Draco,” he said to himself. |