Baton Rouge

- 31 -

He blinked. It was very dark in the room where Draco had slumped to the ground, but during his unconsciousness, which he didn't know how long it had lasted, his eyes had adjusted a bit to the circumstances. He turned his head awkwardly. The Stunner that had hit him so directly still afflicted him. But he was relieved that Potter obviously hadn't killed him outright.

Draco groaned softly and tentatively felt for his wand with one hand. As expected, it was neither in his clothing nor in his immediate vicinity. Of course not. He wanted to curse his own stupidity. After all, he had held his wand firmly in his hand when he had been surprised by Potter. And Potter would hardly have left the only weapon to Draco he could really use to defend himself.

He made out the outlines of the sparse pieces of furniture that lined the walls of the small room. A cupboard, a bed without a slatted frame, the base of a floor lamp. Draco turned his head a little further while rolling his whole body onto his side with a soft groan. His gaze finally fell on a small armchair on which someone had made himself comfortable.

Someone with very shiny shoes.

Draco sat up, still not fully in control of his movements. The spell had literally brought him to his knees. And so it took quite a while before he finally got into a sitting position with his back to the wall. He let his head fall back, gasped, and eventually looked up to meet Potter's eyes.

This was his chance - all or nothing. He would have to be persuasive now that he was given this incredible opportunity to speak to Potter. Disarmed or not, Draco was sure The Undesirable wouldn't give him much time to explain himself. So his words had to be well chosen.

Potter met his gaze with deep blue eyes. And Draco stiffened. His blood froze in his veins and his stomach did a flip as he involuntarily broke out in a sweat. Because it wasn't Harry Potter sitting in that armchair, casually twirling Draco's wand in his hand. His hair was raven black. But that was the only resemblance the person sitting in front of him showed to The Undesirable.

Draco looked straight into Blaise Zabini's angry face.

+.+.+

"You?" he gasped after spending a very long few seconds sorting his thoughts.

How could he have been so stupid?

He could still hear the girls' words clearly in his ears. Handsome, black-haired, blue-eyed. Yes, that was true. As for Blaise Zabini, that was pretty fucking true.

His friend snorted and got up from the armchair. Though he purposely ambled slowly towards Draco and didn't even point his wand at him as he stood casually in front of him, he seemed very menacing at that moment.

"You say it like you're disappointed, Draco. You can rather be bloody glad it's just me. If one of the other Aurors of the Pursuit Squad had followed you, you'd be on your way to Umbridge by now with some explaining to do."

Blaise scowled at him and despite his relaxed pose, Draco caught the sharp edge in his voice.

Draco's head was spinning. He couldn't believe what was happening here. What came to his mind now was the feeling that had crept over him when he had stood outside the cottage. This stinks to high heaven. Exactly this had been his thought and he had to admit once again that he would have done well to trust his instincts. Blaise had fooled him. Hoodwinked him.

"Did it have to be a Stunner?" he snorted, even though he was clearly in no position to harangue Blaise. Nevertheless, some kind of anger was slowly bubbling up in him now. They were friends! Or had been friends? At least he never thought that Blaise would sneak up on him out of the darkness and then stun him from behind.