I was furious with Draco and despite all his pleading, didn’t give him a pass from Mrs. McGonagall. He would have to learn the consequences of his own actions. Finally, I made it back to my quarters without Dumbledore, Draco or any other horrors interrupting me. I half expected Potter to pop out of nowhere and ask for tutoring. I stepped into my room and into a land of peace and solitude. I desperately wanted a shower and to bed; but the turn of events needed pondering. I had no idea where my Unbreakable Vow fit into all this. I was supposed to help Draco kill Dumbledore, but what if Draco was now going to kill Voldemort? Did Potter’s prophecy doom Draco to failure before he started?
Then again, the prophecy never mentions names. Harry could be fine if Draco kills Voldemort and becomes the Dark Lord; but does that mean Draco will have to face off with Potter? The outcome of that would be disappointing for good ole Dumbledore. “This Potter can’t be a real hero,” Violet had said. I would never be able to look that boy in the face again. I sat on my bed and sighed. If things worked out like Violet wanted, Draco would somehow overcome Voldemort in a battle of coolness. How that was going to be possible, only Violet knew. That blasted woman seemed to have everything under her control. It scared me. She was raising up young men to become dark, villainous creatures of destruction and carnage simply by giving them the right look. Or was there more? It was certainly would explain why she was so willing to let Draco work for her. Maybe he’ll be learning about how to actually keep his new found title. I was going to have to talk to him tomorrow. Tonight, I was… I smelled something faintly. Oh merlin, my potion! I raced over to turn the heat off. It was beyond repair: nothing is meant to spend an entire day simmering.
The next morning was horrible; I had to spend two hours cleaning my potion out of the cauldron last night plus grade terrible 2nd year essays. Of course I would have Potter and his friends for class. I still couldn’t think of Potter the same. The hero of the Wizarding World. Violet was convinced that he wasn’t a hero; and strangely enough, I believed her. I saw him struggle with keeping up with jinxes from the Weasley, and she wasn’t hard to believe. Maybe the prophecy was completely off and ole Sybil was off again. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Tonight, I mused, I would remake that healing potion. It was always useful to have around so I didn’t have to go to Madame Pomfrey every time some Slytherin bumped their head. I hated escorting anyone to that woman; she was always very keen on checking everyone that entered. I wasn’t ever sick and even if I was dying I would prefer to die in peace than have people hovering over me and shoving unknown potions down my throat. Speaking of untold tortures, I had completely forgotten about the fitting Voldemort was supposed to have at Violet’s. Blast, I would have to go back and tell him. Last time I had forgotten Violet came checking up on Voldemort herself. Think of it: blonde cheerful versus the whole Death Eater company. It would have been amusing to watch them all shrink away from Violet except I received a nasty Crucio later that night. I didn’t want to go through that again. I’d owl Voldemort. It was surprising that I could send anything to him by owl but the Ministry had somehow figured out that no one in their right mind would actually send a letter to the Dark Lord such a common way so they wouldn’t ever have to check owls for those messages. Strange. That was the best way to get messages to him without getting a Crucio in return. Might get a Howler though.
Mercifully, the class ended quickly and I signed the letter addressed to Voldemort for later owling.
“Mr. Malfoy, please stay after class; the rest of you are dismissed,” I said calmly. The class shuffled out as fast as they could and left me with Draco. I had to talk to him about this Dark Lord business.
“Mr. Malfoy…” I began. He waved his hand at me and gathered up his books.
“Later, Sunshine,” he smiled brilliantly and left me stunned at my desk. New plan. I had a hex to hone down; or should I say, honey down. Two can play this game and I will always win.
The rest of the day was spent either feeling guilty for acting like a 1st year prankster and feeling satisfaction from Draco’s plight. From what I heard, his pens had inexplicably started writing in honey rather that ink. At lunch his steak and potatoes became a nice, round honey bun. His chairs were slightly sticky and tended to collapse with a breaded oomph! Despite this, he still manage to seek me out between classes.
“Oh look, it’s Professor Snape,” he said, approaching me in the hall. “I needed a ray of sunshine to brighten my day.”
“Watch it H.B.” I retorted. “You hate for it to be your bed next.” He paled but still maintained the ridiculous grin on his face. I had decided beforehand that there was no way in the Wizarding World anyone was going to catch me calling Draco Malfoy ‘honey bun.’ It implied strange things.
After dinner, I was accosted in the hall by a blonde worried child who was apparently suffering from a peculiar hex. Draco looked exhausted; I don’t blame him. He had resigned to standing in all of his classes and I’m sure dinner looked suspiciously like lunch.
“Take this stupid hex off,” he muttered. Typical Malfoy. Serious problems and can’t even act humble about it.
“Are you ordering me to do so, Mr. Malfoy?’ I asked. I glared at the pathetic boy. “Somehow you don’t instill me with fear quite like I expected.” He glared and then reached out and grabbed my hand.
“Based on personal experience,” he panted as he grimly hung onto my hand. “Your hand will start oozing a nice honey substance.”
“Mr. Malfoy, release my hand immediately!” I snarled, tugging my hand from his grip. I could feel my fingers release a gooey mess and watched in horror as our hands melded together into a honey bun.
“Take the hex off and I will, Sunshine,” he said. I ground my teeth and tried a different approach.
“You know that we’ll be stuck here until you release my hand,” I said.
“Then you’d better know that reversal spell,” he replied. Honey started to drip down our arms and into the floor. I glanced around; making sure that the corridor was empty. This would be very…awkward to try to explain away. Well you see Dumbledore, Malfoy and I had a little spat…oh no sir it’s perfectly under control. Yeah, I’d rather not.
“I don’t have to do anything, Mister Malfoy,” I hissed. “Unlike a certain boy, I don’t have curfew.”
“Technically I’m with a professor and therefore excused.”
“Speaking of such, how did explaining last night to Professor McGonagall go?”
“Shut up,” he muttered. We stood there for a long moment in silence wondering how to outdo the other and get this over with. I looked down at our hands. The honey was dripping off our robes and arms up to the elbow. We would both be toast if we stood here all night.
Well, we’d be pastries anyway.
“I’ll cut you a deal.” I said finally. Draco looked up.
“You’ll stop the hex?” he asked hopefully.
“Only on my conditions,” I warned. “First you have to stop referring to me as Sunshine.”
“As long as you stop calling me H.B.” Draco replied. “People are starting to wonder.”
“And you start studying for your tests.” I continued.
“Are you crazy?” Draco sputtered. “Then I’ll be like bloody Granger!”
“And she is doing exemplary in my class.” I retorted. “How would that look that the great and terrible Dark Lord failed his classes?”
“I’m doing that bad?”
“Yes, you are, in fact.”
“Oh.” He thought about it for a moment. In that moment, I reached cautiously into my pocket for my wand. I was going to stun Draco so I could extract myself from his sticky hex. Just when I opened my mouth to say Stupify; but just then Draco’s other hand shot up and grabbed my arm. The spell bounced into of the paintings who grumbled mightily. I glared down at him. Draco grinned.
“Now we are at an impasse, aren’t we?” I said drily.
“So…” Draco began; but he stopped when we heard voices coming down the hall.
“Give up now, Draco.” I said, struggling against the puny grip of the boy in front of me. He held on desperately. I realized that we probably couldn’t let go even if he did release my hand, the honey was too sticky. Why had I thought this was a good idea?
“Stop acting like a greasy git and I will,” he hissed back. The voices grew louder. The two of us watched in dazed silence as The Golden Trio walked into the hall. I barely regained composure. Its quite a feat while being held by a boy who was slowly turning you into a honey bun.
“Mr. Potter, ten points from Gryffindor and get out of this corridor.” I said as calmly as possible. The Threesome backed up and headed in another direction. We both breathed a sigh of relief. Then we heard giggling.
“Deal,” Draco said quickly. I aimed my wand as best as I could and removed the hex. The resulting magic blew us apart and into nearby walls. I hurriedly got up and strode off to my bedroom. I glanced down at my arms. They were normal, well they had five fingers each but I was caked up past my elbows in honey. I was never eating sugar again.
“Gross, gross, gross…” I muttered as I started wringing my sleeves and my arms off.
“Severus! What happened to you?” I turned in dismay. Dumbledore.
“Oh, nothing.” I stumbled over my words. “Just a…a student’s potions went awry. I’m heading back to my quarters to clean up.”
“Oh my,” he said. That was an understatement. “Oh well, carry on then.”
“Thank you, sir,” I said and quickly walked off before he could ask me anymore questions.
----------------------------------------
“Did you see that?” Harry whispered to Hermione and Ron. “That was just weird.”
“And was on their arms?” Hermione asked. “Looked like honey.”
“They obviously weren’t expecting company.” Ron chuckled. Harry frowned.
“Ron, that was unnecessary,” he said.
“Well, what do you expect me to think, Malfoy and Snape alone in a abandoned hallway…” he trailed off.
“Please, Malfoy has much better sense than that,” Hermione said. “Besides, couldn’t you tell that they were in some massive argument.”
“But with honey,” Ron pointed out. “That has to have been the weirdest argument ever.”
“So what were they doing?” Harry asked. The Trio thought about this for a bit.
“I don’t know…” Hermione said. “Professor Snape did look distracted today in class.”
“Not a clue, but I intend to find out,” Ron grinned. “Even if the answer does scar me.”
“Ron!”
Becoming a Dark Lord by FinalCow
Chapter Notes: Draco messes with Sunshine once too many and ends up in a sticky situation.