The Aftermath

Chapter 20

It was the next morning and the dining hall was slowly filling in with students. When Draco walked in he noticed a hush seemed to come over the students.  There were silent whispers, stares and suspiciously looking faces. As he got closer to his seat the more he realised what could be going on. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw the look on Blaise and Pansy's face.

"How bad is it," Draco asked as he sat down.

"Bad. Really bad. You have to see it for yourself," Pansy handed him the Daily Prophet and on the front page was him and Dean standing with wands out and then crossing thier arms looking on in smug satisfaction. The maniacal looks in their eyes gave off the impression of being possessed and the headline read, The Dark Lord Lives on Through His Disciples. The article had all sorts of unfounded allegations about how Draco had converted Dean and how both may be possessed by lingering remnants of the Dark Lord as it had happened before. It then went on to interview the Ravenclaw boy looking even more mangled and depressed in the photo than he actually was. It cleverly omitted the bit about trying to poison Harry.

"Wait till the second page." Baise said prompting Draco to continue.

Draco turned the page and there was a subheader Draco Malfoy Currpts the Boy Who Still Lives. In the picture, he was standing beside Harry, then a heavy makeout session began and they proceeded to take of each other's clothing before it got too hot for the press and went off-panel. Moments later they returned, clothes eschew and then the whole scene repeated. The one attached with Dean and Seamus was also too hot for the press.

"Shit. Has Seamus seen this yet? He's going to lose his shit."

"Or he won't Draco. You know how he is," Pansy said.

"True. But if they tease him all day at some point he will. And we don't want that. If he would've hexed this..." Draco scanned the page for the information he needed. "Gerald, and not us, he might very well be dead."

"Well let's hope he has a normal tantrum. Then we know things will smooth out. If he does nothing then we can start worrying." Blaise said as he took a bite out of an apple pastry.

"I know but it's the gay stuff that worries me. Me and Harry don't give two shits, but Seamus... He has never once until this summer ever had feelings for a guy. And he didn't even get to deal with that because of his dad. He doesn't need this. He hasn't even really come out to himself. Now he's having steamy almost sex for the whole wizarding world to see."

"And you care because?" Pansy said. She didn't mean it to come off as flippant as it did. She cared too, but old habits die hard and she was a Slytherin and Seamus was a Gryffindor. Their enemies.

"Because he's Dean's mate and that makes him important to me." Blaise looked at Pansy and she gave him the same look back. She mouthed 'did he just say mate?' Blaise nodded. Thankfully nobody noticed Draco's wording. Draco lost interest in his food. He walked over to the Gryffindor table. Unbothered by the looks he received and waited. He knew Harry wasn't coming. He had to talk to Hagrid about something but he wanted to be there when Seamus saw the news.

It wasn't a long wait. Soon Seamus and Dean were walking in together, but not together. Seamus had his usual bounce to his step and a big grin on his face when he saw Draco. Hermione wasn't coming either. She went to the Archives alone and would probably go straight to class. As they got close to the table Seamus finally noticed things were awry. Draco didn't bother explaining. He just handed him the paper. Seamus read the part about him and Dean out loud and then put the paper down and it went up in flames. He only said one thing.

"I wasn't ready." Seamus left the hall and the two of them followed him until entering an empty room behind him and watched as he sat in a chair. The two walked up behind him.