Attention

Chapter Thirteen

'You should be grateful,' said Potter, as soon as they were safely inside an empty classroom, 'that Ginny came to me, not Ron.'

Draco, who had been expecting Potter to confront him about the conversation with Snape, was surprised. 'Ginny came to you?' he repeated.

'Yes,' said Potter. 'Well,' he amended, looking a little sheepish, 'she was looking for Hermione, and found me first.'

Draco narrowed his eyes. 'Look--' he began.

Before he could get any farther, Potter took out his wand and said grimly, 'You have one minute to explain to me why Pansy's going to set your father on one of my best friends.'

'Or what?' Draco couldn't help himself; the sneering contempt just came naturally.

Potter said nothing, but a jet of blue light shot out of his wand at Draco, who jumped aside just in time to avoid being hit in the balls.

'Or I'll use the nastiest Severing Charm I know,' Potter said evenly. 'Talk.'

Immediately Draco said, 'Pansy broke up with me because she thought that I was interested in Granger.'

'Why would she think that? You aren't, are you?' Potter asked accusingly.

Draco snorted. 'No, of course not. Everyone knows she's only got eyes for Weasel--Weasley,' he corrected himself, eyeing Potter's wand. 'I don't know why she thinks I'm interested in Granger.'

'Ginny said you kissed her,' said Potter with a scowl.

'What, jealous?' Draco sneered. Potter's wand twitched, and Draco added, 'It wasn't anything I was planning! It just sort of... happened.' As briefly as he could, he explained the library incident--leaving out, of course, how confrontational he'd been and making it seem like Ginny had caused all the trouble.

'And then she slapped me, and Pansy saw the handprint the next day,' he finished. 'So she broke up with me because--I don't know, I guess she thought Granger had given it to me.'

'You kissed Ginny because you were irritated at her?' Potter said. 'Stupid way to go about getting girls,' he scoffed.

'You're one to talk,' Draco said. 'I saw you kissing Maddy Chambers last week behind the tapestry of Ernestine the Eminent, and then the next day she was holding hands with Peter Dowling. I don't think you have any right to boast.'

Potter looked flushed. 'My love life is no concern of yours,' he said hotly.

'Then why does mine matter to you?' Draco shot back. 'At least I've kept a girlfriend longer than a month.'

Potter ignored Draco's jibe. 'It matters to me, Malfoy, because it's your love life that's got one of my best friends in mortal danger.'

Draco scowled at the truthfulness of this. 'So what do you want me to do?' he asked plaintively. 'If Pansy's already owled the letter, there's nothing I can do to stop it.'

'She might not have sent it yet,' Potter said, a bit desperately. 'And can't you write to your father and tell him that you're not interested in Hermione?'

'How the hell am I supposed to convince him of that?' Draco asked. 'Once my father gets an idea into his head, there's nothing can get it out again.'

'Tell him the truth!' Potter exclaimed. 'Is that so hard to do?'

'What, tell him that I kissed a blood-traitor's brat because I wanted her to pay attention to me?'

Potter gaped at him; Draco was not sure whether it was because he'd called Ginny a 'blood-traitor's brat' or because he'd confessed his motivation. For that matter, he was a little surprised to hear the confession coming from his lips, as it hadn't been something he was fully aware of.

'You kissed her just because you wanted her attention?' Potter was practically trembling with rage. 'I thought you said you were irritated at her! Don't you already get plenty from your friends and your parents?'

'It's not the same,' Draco mumbled.

'Do tell.'

'Look, this is none of your business,' Draco protested, but Potter twitched his wand threateningly, and Draco, in the interests of pure self-preservation, said, 'It's just that Ginny's never paid attention to me before, or if she did she never showed it. And besides, I needed that book!'

'Like you ever do homework. What book was it?'

'That Dementor book Holloway assigned us. And it wasn't just for homework,' Draco said darkly, then instantly regretted it.

'What do you mean?' Potter said sharply.

Draco felt himself grow hot in the face. 'I can't tell you.'

'Yes, you can.'

'No, I can't! If my father found out I'd told anyone, he'd kill me--'

'He's going to kill you anyway, isn't he?' Potter said lightly, eyebrows raised.

Draco put his head in his hands. 'Yes,' he mumbled into them. Fuck, this day couldn't get much worse.

'What?'

'Yes,' he repeated, removing his hands.

'And if your father has anything to do with it, then Voldemort--'

Draco flinched.

'--is bound to be in there somewhere. So,' said Potter, stepping closer, his wand now trained on Draco's chest, 'tell me what you know of Voldemort's plans.'

'Don't say the name,' Draco hissed.

'Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort!' Potter chanted.

Draco covered his ears. Potter reached out and forced his hands off. Draco was surprised at the sheer force the other boy had in his grip; he looked far too weedy and skinny to have any muscle on him.

'Tell me what Voldemort's going to do,' Potter insisted.

Draco shuddered at the name. 'I can't...'

'Or I can take you up to Dumbledore and you can tell him,' Potter offered, smiling pleasantly.

'No!' Draco said at once. 'No, I don't want to get Dumbledore involved.'

Potter raised his eyebrows again. 'Why not?'

'Why do you care?' Draco shouted.

Potter took a step forward and grabbed Draco by the front of his robes. They were now face to face. 'Because,' he said softly but intently, 'it's my job. My destiny, my fucking fate as the fucking Chosen One.'

Draco started to scoff, but then he took a good look at Potter's eyes. They were very green, something which he'd alread known; but up close they were startling, almost inhuman, in their intensity. Potter's expression was hard and cold, and made something stir down in Draco's gut. He hoped it wasn't respect, though he had a sinking feeling it might be.

To cover his surprise, Draco retorted, 'Oh, so even you believe the rubbish the Prophet's spewing these days?'

'It's not rubbish,' Potter said flatly. 'There's a real prophecy, or at least there was, in the Department of Mysteries, involving me and Voldemort--oh, get over it!' he said, as Draco winced. 'The prophecy says that I am the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord, that I am his equal, and that I have a power he knows not.'

'What kind of power?'

'Buggered if I know,' Potter said. He took a step back and became a teenager once more. 'Dumbledore goes on about how I can love--'

Draco snorted. 'What, he expects you to snuggle the Dark Lord to his doom?'

'Very funny,' Potter spat. He sighed, and said, 'Honestly, I don't know. But that's not what we're talking about,' he said abruptly. He put his wand down at his side, but kept it in his hand. 'What are Voldemort's plans?'

Draco hesitated. On the one hand, his father would be extremely angry if he believed that Draco was going to elope with a Mudblood, and might even try to kill him; but on the other hand, revealing what he knew of the Dark Lord's plans would be choosing sides in a conflict which he really wanted to stay out of.

'I can't tell you,' he finally said.

Potter let out a growl of rage and brought the wand up again, but this time Draco was able to pull his own out and hold it up in defence.

'No, listen to me,' he said quickly. 'I told you about Ginny, and I swear I didn't mean for it to get out of hand like this, really--but I just can't tell you what I know about the Death Eaters. Firstly, because all I have are rumours, nothing specific, and secondly, it's not my fight. I'm not a Death Eater, Potter,' he said, and Potter twisted his lips sceptically. Draco rolled up his left sleeve and showed his forearm to Potter, whose eyes flicked to it only for a moment. 'I'm not a Death Eater,' Draco repeated, 'nor do I plan on becoming one.'

It was only the second time he'd told anyone this. He felt funny.

'Your father--' Potter began.

'--is into politics,' Draco said. 'I'm not.'

'But you hate Muggle-borns.'

'That doesn't mean I want to go killing them off,' Draco said patiently. He would have thought it was obvious. 'They're different things, aren't they?'

'But your father is a high-ranking Death Eater.'

'My father's in prison, Potter,' Draco said. 'Thanks to you, by the way. Do you know how unhappy that's made my mother?'

'I don't care about your mother.'

'Never having had one yourself,' Draco retorted; then, as he couldn't resist, he added, 'But I imagine she wouldn't have been a good one anyway.'

With a yell of rage, Potter launched himself at Draco, who yelped and tried to get out of the way, but, backed up against the teacher's desk, couldn't go very far. Potter was on top of him in a few seconds. Having again forgotten about his wand, which Draco had heard clatter to the floor, Potter straddled Draco's hips and held him down at the shoulders.

'Don't insult my mother!'

Draco felt extremely awkward: not only was Potter shouting in his face again, he had another boy straddling him the way a girl might just before certain sexual acts. His face went hot, and to his most acute, horrifying embarrassment, he felt his body responding in the way it usually did.

Potter went very, very still and silent. His breath hitched. His eyes met Draco's, and Draco saw something akin to fear in his expression.

With a sudden gasp, Potter wrenched himself up off Draco. He stood for a second, staring at the other boy, then snatched up his wand and ran out of the classroom, leaving Draco lying on the floor feeling bruised and embarrassed.

Great. Now everyone would think Draco liked blokes, too.