Henrietta Potter || Draco Malfoy

25 - Draco's Date

I did not get much of a chance to mull over mine and Draco's greenhouse excursion; because that very night I had a dream.

I dreamt that I was a giant snake and that I had bitten Ron's dad.

It had felt so real, and my scar hurt so much, that I ended up in Dumbledore's office in the middle of the night, yelling at him to get to the Ministry to save Mr Weasley's life.

Everyone thought I was barking mad, but as usual, I was right.

So, we ended up going to Sirius's where we hung out for the remainder of the Christmas holidays. It was not exactly festive, but at least Mr Weasley was going to be okay all thanks to me and my superior mind.

He was ever so grateful to me when we went in to visit him, as he should. But as I looked at him, I kept getting vivid flashbacks of the crunch his ribs made beneath my teeth. It was all rather unsettling, not to mention disgusting.

So, I excused myself and decided not to mind my own business as I wandered round the wards with Ron and Hermione, staring at people and listening in on their delicate ailments.

We bumped into Neville Longbottom visiting his parents and discovered that Draco's auntie had tortured them into insanity. Well, actually I already knew this little fun fact, but I had made a promise to Dumbledore to keep it under wraps.

And, as a witch of my word, I watched mutely as Ron called over to Neville and proceeded to put him on the spot.

As a result of this whole Mr Weasley incident, Dumbledore sent Snape of all people round to ruin my Christmas by insisting I was to take Occlumency lessons with him upon my return to Hogwarts. No arguments.

Why the fuck would I want to close my awesome mind to it's awesome powers? I was starting to suspect that Dumbledore was just jealous.

This Christmas fucking sucked.

***

"Remedial Potions? You're taking Remedial Potions?"

Zacharias Smith had cornered me after lunch in the Entrance Hall, asking about when the next DA meeting would be. Thanks to Snape's Occlumency lessons, I hadn't had the time to arrange another meeting since returning from Christmas.

"Good Lord, you must be terrible. Snape doesn't usually give extra lessons, does he?"

Who the fuck does this prick think he is?!

"Shall I jinx him? I can still get him from here," Ron glared as Smith strode away in an annoyingly buoyant fashion.

"Forget it," I said dismally. "It's what everyone's going to think, isn't it? That I'm really thick."

Occlumency was fucking torture. Snape literally invaded my entire mind - my most private thoughts. The humiliation was unreal. I had tried so desperately to conceal the one thing that I did not want him to see, that I had ended up letting him see absolutely everything else.

I would never, in a million years, let him see that kiss with Draco. I would sooner stab my own eye out with a Basilisk fang.

"You are weak, Potter!" Snape spat at me as I had fallen to the floor of the dungeon yet again. "You are nothing but a weak, pathetic know-it-all, just like your father was!"

He had just penetrated a particularly awful memory of the time when I was eight years old and Dudley had lifted my skirt up in the middle of the school playground, showing off my old grey holey knickers.

Fucking pervert.

My cheeks flamed red with fury and humiliation as I staggered back up to my feet.