Chapter 2 - She's A Mudblood!
It had been a week since Harry had broken Draco’s nose; an agonizing, torturous week in Draco’s opinion. Why? The broken nose had seemed to mark the beginning of Draco being nice. Nice! Draco did not want to be nice. He was mean. Yet, without knowing why, without knowing how, without even wanting to, he was nice. He was polite to Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Gryffindors and he did not bully them. It was torture. He wanted to make them miserable, but his mouth and body did not want to obey. He would ask his body to do something and it would promptly do the opposite.
Another baffling point was Harry Potter. He had suddenly turned mean, very mean. He bullied people, used them, was rude, and, well, hardly a saint. Harry also didn’t seem to realize how to choose the right time to create havoc, which always led to points taken off Gryffindor. All this would have suited Draco just fine if Harry hadn’t started to humiliate him. He had missed meals twice, been to the hospital wing once and the worst, to him, was being slapped in front of Gryffindors and Slytherins. He didn’t know why Harry had slapped him. Draco hadn’t been insulting Harry, he had only been walking past.
Draco allowed himself a half-smile as he pulled open the door to Arithmancy class. At least here Potter could not touch him; he was high up in Professor Trelawny’s Divination class. Draco had not bothered to take Divination. He much preferred Arithmancy, which was one of his favourite subjects. Potions was another of his favourite classes.
Draco seated himself in the front row. It was only after he had sat down that he realized Hermione Granger was beside him on another desk. However he could not get up and change his place as Professor Vector came in at that moment. Hermione was alone. She was the only Gryffindor sixth year taking Arithmancy. This year, as opposed to the last, all the houses were taking Arithmancy together. Ravenclaw made up the majority of the class, with Hufflepuffs and Slytherins each with five students taking the subject. As for Divination, the class was split into two, with the Gryffindors and Slytherins taking Divination together. Millicent Bulstrode had told Draco that Professor Trelawny kept predicting Harry’s death, something Draco found hilarious.
Half an hour later, the class was busy doing some questions set by Professor Vector. It was complicated and Draco was a little bit confused, but he had managed to get through half of it. Beside him he could hear Goyle counting from 1 to 10.
“Oh!” Draco heard a voice on his left exclaim. It was Hermione. She had dropped her quill.
Without thinking, Draco bent down and picked up her quill. It was pretty, he thought. Not expensive, but pretty. He passed the quill back to her and as their fingers touched he felt a jolt of electricity.
Hermione looked at him, too surprised to say “thank you”.
And suddenly Draco realized that he had passed a quill to Hermione. A Mudblood. No, he corrected himself, not a Mudblood, there’s nothing wrong with being Muggle-born---wait a minute. Did he just say---no, thought---that there was nothing wrong with being Muggle-born? Muggle-borns were scum, they were---even as he told himself this a voice in his head was telling him that he had never even known a Muggle-born properly before and he couldn’t judge them.
With these conflicting thoughts in his head Draco turned back to his work, but now he could not concentrate. He was also uncomfortably aware that a pink tinge had appeared in his cheeks and that Hermione was now staring at him.
Hermione, who soon realized what she was doing, looked quickly down to her Arithmancy work. There was an ugly black inkblot on her roll of parchment. Hermione reached for her wand to get rid of the ink stain. As she did so she accidentally tore the parchment.
“Oh, bother,” she muttered, looking at the big tear.
“What’s that?” Draco said jerkily as his head shot up from his desk.
“My parchment’s torn,” Hermione said. She knew that she could Spellotape it but to her at least, it would not be neat.
“Oh.” Draco was silent for a moment. “You could Spellotape it.” His voice was without malice, startling even Draco.
Hermione stared at him for a moment. “I suppose I could,” she said slowly. “It’s just that it will look ugly, if you know what I mean.” Hermione was sure Draco didn’t, but his response surprised her. It surprised himself, as well.
Draco’s face broke into a smile. “Yeah, I do. It’s not nice. I like a clean piece of parchment.” He took out a fresh roll of parchment. “Here. Take this.” He put the roll on Hermione’s desk.
“Thank---thank you,” Hermione said, startled and surprised. First Draco had picked up her quill, then he had actually talked to her in a civilized way and after that he had given her his last piece of parchment. Very un-Malfoy-ish, she thought.
Draco was thinking the exact same thing. What are you doing? he screamed at himself. You’re not supposed to associate yourself with Mudbloods! Remember Father’s always said Mudbloods are vile, they’re beneath us, they’re not even supposed to be in Hogwarts---that’s what Father said, haven’t you got your own opinions? another voice yelled at him. Admit it, Draco, you enjoyed that little conversation---if you can call it a conversation. She’s a Mudblood! The first voice yelled. Scum! Plus she beat you in every exam! A filthy Mudblood beat you! What do you say to that? She deserved it, Draco thought. She worked hard. Oh, great, I can’t believe I’m thinking this…
Okay, Draco, think. So she’s Muggle-born. She seems quite nice. She was also, he realized with a jolt, rather pretty. He had never noticed it before. He had always been to busy insulting her, which wasn’t fair, he realized now. He had never gotten to know her. He had just slammed her because she was Muggle-born. Besides, she could hardly be labelled as incompetent. She was one of the best witches Draco had ever met.
Maybe Muggle-borns aren’t that bad, if you look at it that way, Draco mused. But that Creevey really was a disgrace to wizards. Five years and he was still following Harry Potter around like a sick puppy dog. It was disgusting. Draco wouldn’t have liked it even if Creevey had started following him around, and that was saying something.
The bell rang and Draco exited the class with Crabbe and Goyle on either side of him. They had not mentioned anything about Draco being nice to Hermione. They were probably too thick to realize what had happened. Really, Draco thought, shaking his head. He needed to get rid of the two oafs, all they did was snigger at things Draco said. You couldn’t have an intelligent conversation with them. They had been fine for the first few years at Hogwarts. They protected Draco and made him feel important. Now, however, Draco was longing for more intelligent social interaction.
Draco spotted Andy Brigand and increased his pace. Andy was a new student. Hogwarts did not have very many new students who were not in first year. Andy’s parents had moved from America to England, and Andy had arrived at Hogwarts only three days ago. He was a Slytherin. Draco liked Andy a lot. A week ago, however, Draco would have thought him a disgrace to Slytherin. Andy did not see what was wrong with Muggle-borns and didn’t mind making friends with them. He was also fascinated by Muggle life and therefore had taken Muggle Studies. Draco hadn’t bothered. The only reason he would take Muggle Studies was so that he could make sure he didn’t look anywhere near a Muggle.
“How was Divination?” Draco asked.
Andy groaned. “Boring and silly. The Professor’s really kinky. And she keeps predicting Harry Potter’s death. We did something on appearances today. Professor Trelawny found a non-existing mole on Harry, which supposedly means he has a short life. I’ve also got tons of homework. How about you?”
“Oh, Professor Vector hardly gave us any and I finished mine in class, anyway. Well, almost finished,” Draco corrected himself. He probably would have finished it if Hermione had not dropped her quill, he thought rather sourly---until he realized that he had actually enjoyed the exchange.
“Speaking of Harry, what’s he doing to that round-faced boy?” Andy asked, stopping in his tracks to watch.
“That’s Neville Longbottom,” Draco said. Whatever insults he had in mind, they were erased immediately at the scene that was greeting him. It was so unlike Harry Potter that he was speechless with shock.
Harry had Neville up by the scruff of his neck. He was actually snarling at Neville, something Draco never dreamed he would see Harry do. He seemed to be demanding something. Neville was cowering. Ron and Hermione seemed to be in shock.
Involuntarily Draco moved towards the pair. As he came closer he heard what Harry was saying---or rather, snarling. It seemed Harry had asked Neville to do something and Neville had refused.
Neville’s eyes were wide open with shock. His mouth was moving wordlessly as Harry’s wrath poured over him. With a jolt, Draco saw the tip of Harry’s wand poised over Neville’s stomach. Harry wanted to do something, Draco knew. Hex Neville or something. It made him sick to the stomach. Sure, Draco liked bullying people, especially Neville, but he would never have done something like this. So Neville refused. That didn’t give you the ticket to terrorize him. The guy was going to faint any second soon, Draco saw.
Without thinking, only knowing that he could not let Harry do it, Draco whipped out his wand, pointed it at Harry and cried, “Expelliarmus !”
Harry was slammed against the wall, knocking his glasses askew. Harry’s wand flew into Draco’s hand and Draco tossed it to Andy, who fingered it carefully. Neville sank down onto the floor, shivering. Ron recovered enough to say “Harry!” before falling silent again.
“What’s going on?” Professor Flitwick squeaked, appearing from his classroom. “No magic in the hallways.”
“Harry was bullying Neville, sir,” Andy spoke up quickly. “I think he was going to hex Neville or something. Draco disarmed Harry with the best of interests. He, um, didn’t want Neville hurt.” Andy knew this was a lie. He knew Draco usually bullied people, something Andy himself did from time to time, but he had to admit Harry had gone a bit far.
“I think Longbottom has to see Madam Pomfrey,” Draco said, with half a glance at Professor Flitwick.
“I’ll take you, Neville,” Hermione immediately said, snapping out of her state.
“Yeah, me too,” Ron said.
Hermione and Ron led Neville to the hospital wing. When they had turned the corner Professor Flitwick turned to Harry.
“Now, Mr. Potter,” he said severely. “Bullying is very serious and I cannot tolerate that. Thirty points from Gryffindor and detention.”
* * *
Draco entered the library that same evening, his mind whirling with the events of the day and, to a lesser extent, the week. First of all, Draco had done something nice to both Hermione and Neville. Secondly, Harry was so mean to both enemies and friends, even his best friends. Even a week ago Draco would not have done something like what Harry had done to Neville. Even a week ago…Draco repeated the phrase.
“It’s odd,” he said aloud to Andy. “Isn’t it, that both Harry Potter and me seemed to have changed our personality at the same time? I’ve been nice since last week and Harry’s been mean since then as well.”
“Definitely weird,” Andy agreed. “Maybe someone put a spell on you or something.”
“No, it can’t be,” Draco mused, taking a seat. “I would’ve known. Besides, I don’t think you can do that. Put a spell on somebody and change his personality.”
“Do you remember anything odd about last week?” Andy asked.
“No…” Draco thought back to the week before. Besides suddenly being nice Draco could not remember anything odd. Oh, wait, he could. “My pumpkin juice. It tasted horrible! Like a burning sensation down your throat. I got sick after that.”
“That could be it!” Andy said excitedly, forgetting to keep his voice down. Madam Pince, the school librarian, gave him a reproving glare and he lowered his voice. “Someone must have slipped a Potion down your drink.”
Draco was doubtful. “I don’t know…” He recalled seeing Harry in the toilet as well, and told Andy so. “He asked me if the pumpkin juice wasn’t sitting well with me, too. That could be it.”
“It has to be, it fits! Both of you got it. The next day you change personalities. It was the next day, right?”
Draco nodded. “Can you do that? Change someone’s personality with a potion?”
“Yeah, I read it in a book once. I don’t get why you would want to do that, though.”
Draco shrugged. “Probably someone’s idea of a sick joke.” A thought occurred to Draco that almost paralyzed him. “It can be reversed, can’t it? I don’t want to stay nice forever!”
“I don’t know. I guess so. We could look in one of the books here,” Andy waved a hand carelessly over the library. “I think it will be in the Restricted Section, though.”
“Okay, we’ve narrowed it down, but there are still hundred of books in the Restricted Section.”
“I think I remember the name of the book, but it was only mentioned in passing, though. I can’t really remember.” Andy got up. “You never know, they might have an in-depth explanation on the potion. I didn’t really pay attention when I read it. We might as well start looking now. Where did you say Crabbe and Goyle were?”
“Oh, down in the school kitchens, I suppose,” Draco said carelessly. “Getting as much food as they can.” Draco slapped a hand to his forehead. “We need a signed note from a teacher to look in one of those books! How are we going to get one?”
“Make up a story,” Andy suggested.
In the end, they decided to approach Professor Snape. Draco would ask Snape if you could change a person’s personality with a potion during their next Potions class. Then he would see how it went from there.
Sure enough, on Monday, Draco’s hand went into the air.
“Professor, I was wondering if you could change a person’s personality with a potion.” If Snape said no, Draco would be back to square one, with no idea what had happened to him.
Professor Snape studied Draco closely. “Believe it or not, yes, you can. It is very complex.”
“How does it work? How does it change your personality?” To Draco’s surprise, Harry had spoken.
“Enough,” Professor Snape snapped. “Do not even consider making it. You would be expelled from this school.”
Draco’s heart sank. If Professor Snape wouldn’t even tell them how a person was changed by it….
Professor Snape stopped by Draco and Andy’s cauldron on the pretense of checking their potion. Lowering his voice so that only Draco and Andy could hear, he said, “If you must know about it, see me after the lesson.”
Draco’s heart leaped. Yes! Professor Snape was going to tell him! Oh, he frowned. Wait. Snape would want Draco to tell him why he wanted to know about it. He supposed it wouldn’t hurt to tell him what he and Andy had guessed. They couldn’t get into any trouble or anything.
At the end of the lesson Draco and Andy made sure they were the last to finish cleaning up. Draco had told Crabbe and Goyle to go to the Great Hall without him for lunch.
“Professor, how does the potion change your personality?” Draco asked.
Professor Snape was silent for a moment, studying both Draco and Andy, organizing his thoughts. “The Antithesis Potion is very potent. It changes your personality, and, as the name suggests, reverses a person’s personality. Let’s say you have an honest, responsible boy. Give him a bit of the Potion and he will become unreliable and a liar within an hour.”
“That’s why I’m so nice all of a sudden,” Draco accidentally said aloud.
“What did you say?” Professor Snape asked sharply.
“I---well, about a week ago. . .” Draco hesitated. Should he tell Professor Snape?
“Yes?” Snape prompted.
Draco decided he would. He trusted Professor Snape and, if anything, Snape would be able to help him. Draco told him everything that had happened, including Harry’s sudden meanness. It only occurred to him after he had told Snape everything that he might not believe him. To his surprise, Draco told Snape so. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m telling the truth.”
Professor Snape was looking very grave. “I do believe you. First, however, we need to find out that you really did take that potion.” Snape questioned Draco for a long time.
“I believe you did take it,” Snape said thoughtfully.
“Professor, I have a question.” It was a question Draco had been dying to ask, but so far had gone unspoken. “Is there a cure? A potion to reverse the effects? Make me, well, me again?
A/N: Sorry so late...about a year, in fact! Truth? I forgot I posted this here! For a few weeks after I posted I didn't get reviews so forgot about it...I have this story posted on fanfiction.net, just look for Fain Oakenbringer if you want to read the whole thing and can't wait for me to update here... oh wait here's the link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1199148/3/ it goes straight to Chapter 3.
Thank you everyone for all the reviews, I really appreciate it! Even though I just found out about them...hehe...but I do appreciate them, I do! Thank you so much!