Lust, War, and... Love?

Chapter 9: Catastrophe

     Pansy smothered Draco with her unstoppable chatter during dinner. Worse even, she gave him a squeeze on his arm now and then, which invariably resulted in an erotic Granger vision barrelling into his mind. Exhausted, Draco fled to the Room of Requirement from Pansy's abundant affections. It was Thursday night, and his body was ablaze with lust.

Draco pulled up a rickety stool and sat down in front of the Vanishing Cabinet. He shuffled through his parchments and found the page on which he had written down the sequence of the needed incantations. If to believe Borgin, the Cabinet was already faulty by the time Peeves dropped it from a dizzying height. Its sides split and one of the doors fell off. Draco managed to put the door back on the other day but he struggled with the gaping cracks. The ordinary Reparo charm was of little help because it could not stop the magical energy from leaking through the fissures.

This last Tuesday Draco took advantage of his cleared mind and pored over books till very late at night. Finally, he arrived at the solution. It was not a single charm but a lengthy sequence of incantations. Each of them was responsible for fixing a certain part of the overall problem. First, he was going to mend the cracks the ordinary way. Second, he would apply several magical seals to each side. Then he needed to charm the doors appropriately and put a strong Shocking Spell on the whole contraption. If the cracks had been fused and sealed properly, the spell would further enforce the magic of the device instead of destroying it. After that, Draco could start tinkering with the flow of the magical energy between the two Vanishing Cabinets.

Draco took a swig of butterbeer from a bottle next to him. He shook his head to drive away the sex fantasies and concentrate on the job at hand. Thankfully, his hallucinations had abated somewhat. He was able to muster enough willpower to focus on the Cabinet and make up for the day's troubles.

It had been a predictably lousy day. Draco failed to turn in his re-written DADA essay in the morning. McGonagall gave him a good dose of critique on his latest Transfiguration homework but his mind was too hazy to comprehend what her rant was about. In the Potions class Slughorn had to tell him to stop working on his potion unless Draco wished to become a public hazard. After classes Snape accosted him in the Slytherin quarters but Draco managed to weasel out of facing the teacher's prodding questions. Snape clearly was not happy about him dodging every his attempt at a heart-to-heart talk.

Lots of people were unhappy with Draco lately. Aunt Bella was not happy in her last letter about Draco's slow progress. Neither was the Dark Lord if to judge by Auntie's colourful expletives bestowed on her nephew.

Pansy was not happy about him ignoring her. Each time she put her finger on him Draco promptly remembered that he had lots of homework to do. Every hint of intimacy on Pansy's part made him burn for Granger madly.

Crabbe and Goyle were not happy about drinking a concoction which Draco presented as an antidote for Heorte Lustbaere. It was plain black tea generously stuffed with mashed slugs, sea salt, cayenne pepper and raspberry marmalade. They insisted that no drop of the lust potion had entered their mouths but Draco declared that he couldn't trust them after what they did. Mostly, he wanted to convince Crabbe and Goyle that he wasn't under the potion effect any more. Next time the two imbeciles would definitely think twice before pulling a prank on Draco.

Mother was not happy about him falling behind on his homework, getting detentions and mistreating his fiancee. Snape did a marvellous job keeping her posted on her son's studies. Pansy's mother did an equally fabulous job informing Mum on the rift between Draco and her daughter.

The sexiest Gryffindor prefect was not happy about his amorous advances. Her proven best strategy was blackmailing him with threats to tell it all to McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore, Hagrid, Flitwick, Madam Pince, Filch, Nearly Headless Nick, Bloody Baron, the Fat Lady, Mrs. Norris, Crookshanks, - you name it. Whoever happened to be in the vicinity at the moment.

Draco re-read the parchment and began casting the spells. The fissures in the black wood mended neatly. He surveyed the smooth black surface on the left side of the Cabinet and wished that Granger could be here to admire his dandy job. She would be definitely impressed with his spellwork. Draco would never forget how her amber brown eyes looked at him when he had her that night. Draco paused and revelled in his memories. Distractedly, he turned his parchment over and moved on to the next spell.

Kaboom! Draco barely had time to jump away. His stool toppled, his foot got caught between its legs, and he fell. A number of obscure dusty objects tumbled off the junk piles nearest to the Cabinet and crashed on top of him. When the cloud of dust scattered, Draco saw both of the doors lying on the floor. Ugly jagged cracks ran through every surface of the Cabinet, rendering it even more useless than before. Draco looked at his parchment and, to his horror, realized that in his lust-induced haze he forgot to do the sealing charms and skipped right ahead to the Shocking Spell.

Damned Granger! She had been stringing him along for three days in a row, and now he, in his addled state, ruined the job that could help restore his family in Lord Voldemort's good books. Rage and anguish swelled up in Draco's chest. Tomorrow night he'd show the obstinate Mudblood her proper place. There would be no more mercy for her. He'd bonk her to death.

With his back to the Cabinet, Draco collected his notes and headed towards the exit. He could not stand the sight of the wrecked thing. Draco was glad that he had not put Crabbe and Goyle on the watch outside because he was in no state to face any living soul now. He slipped through the door cautiously. To his relief, the corridor was deserted at this late hour. Draco walked briskly down the stairs to the Slytherin quarters.

Granger flipped her wild brown hair back. Draco's hungry stare scanned her delicious nude body. His head was giddy with excitement and he was aching to sink into her warm flesh.

Suddenly, her amber eyes turned red with cat-like slits for pupils, and her body was naked no more. The snakelike face adorned a very familiar figure clad in billowing dark robes. A jolt of horror tore through Draco's chest. He woke up in cold sweat.

It was close to midnight, and everyone was fast asleep in the Slytherin dorm except Draco Malfoy. He propped himself on the pillows and lit up his wand. It had already been a rotten day for him without the Dark Lord imagery piled on top of his erotic dreams.

Resignedly, he extracted The Magical Joys of Kama Sutra book from under his pillow. The Ex Libris Owl Order Company did not live up to their claim of the speediest book delivery service. Instead of receiving his book the next Wednesday morning he found it sitting on his bed only this afternoon. At least they kept it discreet as promised in the catalogue. Draco didn't even get to see the owl that delivered the book.

Draco had accepted the fact that he wouldn't be able to get any decent sleep until after the detention tomorrow Friday. He had been burning to ravish Granger for the past two days. No amount of wanking could thwart his desire for her and bring clarity to his addled mind.

Draco had made an unsettling discovery that Granger had been gaining in popularity with blokes lately. Zabini spent the most part of the Potions class surveying her instead of his cauldron. When Draco's quill broke, he borrowed another from Blaise on the sly, and the latter noticed nothing. He needed to put an end to it before Granger detected Zabini's newfound interest in her.

Draco turned a few pages over and studied pictures of exotic sexual positions. He imagined Granger in these poses and ached from his pent-up desire. If not for the lust potion, he could try them with Pansy. But the thrill of it would not be the same. Draco thought of changing Pansy's looks into Hermione's with help of the Polyjuice potion. If Pansy balked at drinking yet another potion, he could offer to change his own looks as well. Whoever she had fancied lately. Maybe transform into Zabini?

Damn it! Draco punched the pillow with his fist. He must be already losing his mind if he thought of Polyjuicing himself into Zabini!

'Crack'. A house-elf materialized in the feet of Draco's bed. To his displeasure, it was not Aldi, his own house-elf but Darfy, his father's servant and Aldi's uncle. Draco never had much sympathy for the old and cantankerous house-elf. Darfy minded only Dad and, in his absence, Mum but not the young Master.

Draco stuffed the book back under his pillow and let Darfy Apparate him to the Common Room. The Hogwarts house-elves had not come to clean it yet, and it was littered with confectionery wraps, empty bottles, broken quills and discarded parchments. When Draco and Darfy appeared in the Room, flames burst out of the smouldering coals in the fireplace.

Darfy's bulging black eyes were fixed on Draco, as the boy made his way to the hearth. The house-elf's steady gaze irritated him. Draco flopped in a chair and turned his back on Darfy. The latter moved soundlessly and appeared in front of the boy again.

"What brought you here, mouldy toerag?" Draco was eager to get over with the business as fast as possible.

"Darfy came to tell young Master that Bellatrix of the ancient House of Black is most unhappy with her nephew's silence." The old crank looked at Draco reproachfully.

"Since when is Aunt Bella your Mistress?"

"Most honoured Mistress told Darfy to bring orders from the most noble and pureblood Bellatrix to young Master."

"And what bloody orders are those?"

"Most esteemed Bellatrix wishes to see young Master this Sunday night in the usual place and at the usual time." Darfy shuffled on his thin crooked legs. "She told Darfy that she wished to know more about the young Master's progress."

After the disaster with the Cabinet, a meeting with his zealous aunt was the last thing Draco wanted. "I can't come - I want my sleep!"

"Most illustrious Master Lucius has told young Master to treat his family with respect." Darfy was not relenting. "If young Master does not obey the orders, he would be most unpleased. The Dark Lord would be not pleased with young Master either."

Draco groaned. Oh, how he wanted to break Darfy's spindly neck right now...

"What would young Master like Darfy to tell most pureblood Bellatrix?"

Draco threw an empty butterbeer bottle at Darfy, and the house-elf jumped away with a stifled croak. The bottle hit the stone hearth and shattered into pieces.

"Darfy must bring the answer to most noble Bellatrix," the cursed scumbag persisted. "What answer would young Master want Darfy to bring to her?"

"I'm coming, got it? Get out of here before I kill you, old stinker!" Draco yelled at the house-elf. Darfy vanished with an audible 'Crack'.
Draco trudged back to the dorm. When he slid under the still warm covers and closed his eyes, a vision of Granger slowly taking off her knickers sailed into his mind. He gritted his teeth and sat up. He must make the lowly Mudblood bend to his will. Draco pulled out The Magical Joys of Kama Sutra and settled in for a long sleepless night.