Look Behind My Eyes

It was impossible. It was forbidden. It was meant to be.

Chapter 8: A Speech

Draco's Point of View

Disclaimer: Do I really have to write anything? Isn't just putting the word "disclaimer" good enough?

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For an hour and a half, Draco and Hermione wrote. And revised. And wrote more.

Granger seemed surprised that Draco could form coherent sentences, and downright shocked to discover that he possessed some literary prowess.

Draco came up with the basic ideas for the speech, and Granger organized them, filled in the gaps, and made them a bit more flowery. Granger was also given the task of writing their finished speech, after a comparison of handwriting revealed hers to be more legible.

Draco read over his fellow speechwriter's shoulder as she neatly recorded what they'd come up with so far.

"Hold on," Draco said, interrupting the serene silence. "There will be no use of semi-colons in out speech."

"And why not?" Granger demanded. "They're perfectly accepted punctuation marks."

"First off, do I even need to point out what a grammar-obsessed dork you are? Second, you're writing down what I say, and I do not talk in semi-colons."

"Fine," said Granger, in a pouty sort of way. She neatly scratched out the offending punctuation.

Finally Granger, whose secret identity Draco suspected was a literary Gestapo, was satisfied with their finished product. She read it all aloud. Their speech read about 7 minutes. "Well, I think that's pretty good," Draco said, stretching his cramped leg muscles as he stood.

"Yes, I think Professor Talon will be pleased," said Granger, always the teacher's pet.

"Really Granger, have you ever had a teacher you didn't like?" he asked, his face shifting to a mocking sneer.

Granger ignored the intended sarcasm. "Well, I never was too wild about Quirrel, and for good reason as it turned out. And when Hagrid started teaching, some of his lessons were a little dangerous -"

"Well how 'bout it," Draco interjected. "I thought all the Gryffindors loved Hagrid."

"I do! He's a great friend. I'm just saying he's not the most conventional teacher. And Moody. Or rather, Crouch posing as Moody. I thought his teaching style was sort of crude. Oh, and of course Sna-" Granger broke off suddenly and glanced apologetically and almost fearfully at Draco.

Draco stared at the ground as the numbness he had felt since Snape's death came forward and became the dull painful throbbing of loss. Draco wouldn't claim that Snape was a saint. Far from it. He had played up his loyalties on both sides for dual protection. But he had also protected Draco his entire life, and led his house well, albeit somewhat immorally. Draco left his musings about Snape and returned to the present.

"It's okay," said Draco softly. "I can't go around killing everyone who mentions his name," he said. He was too proud to actually say it, but he hoped his message was understood. I'm sorry for yelling at you when you were just trying to help.

Granger got to her feet as well, and the pair stood in awkward silence for a moment. "Well," said Granger. "Guess I'll go now."

She was a few steps away when Draco could no longer defy his curiosity. "Why'd you kiss me Granger?" he called out.

Granger didn't stop or turn around. "Spontaneity," she called gallingly over her shoulder as she pranced away.

Draco shook his head. Being with that girl makes my head hurt.

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Draco woke up early Monday morning, but Granger woke up even earlier. He found her waiting for him right outside the Great Hall.

"Oh there you are," she said as if waking up later than 4 was odd. She pulled their rolled-up speech from inside her robes. "I underlined your parts in green and mine in red," she said bossily.

"Inventive," said Draco dryly.

"What do you mean?" she asked, frowning in confusion.

"Green, Slytherin, red, Gryffindor," Draco said in that annoying Duh! voice.

Granger reddened. "I didn't even think of that…" she trailed off, muttering to herself. Draco smirked. Seeing Granger confused was amusing. "Anyways, I thought we should give our speech at about 7:20.

"Sounds good. Let's eat first," Draco suggested, and ditched Granger to go sit at the Slytherin table. The Great Hall was sparsely inhabited. Its patrons consisted mostly of students who needed to do some early morning test cramming or homework, freaks like Granger who always woke up early, and members of the Charms club, which chose to meet in the morning for unfathomable reasons.

No other Slytherin 7th years were up this morning, so Draco sat with Mandy. (Blaise's 6th year girlfriend, for those who have forgotten.) Mandy eagerly shared all the gossip she had picked up in the inaugural weeks. Draco was a bit of a gossip himself, and he shared rumors of Hannah Abbot hitting on Blaise.

Mandy told him about the curiosity surrounding Terri Crabbe as they ate; Draco, pancakes, Mandy, oatmeal. "Yeah, so apparently there're all these rumors going around claiming that Terri was with Voldemort just like the rest of her family, and that she's here at Hogwarts to murder McGonnagall and Harry."

"Oh yes, Mandy," said Draco sarcastically. "That sounds likely. And I'm really still a Deatheater too, right?"

"Oh, drop it Drake," said Mandy, using the nickname he despised. "All your friends know that you're really on our side. Who cares if half the school hates you? We know the truth and that's what matters."

"Thanks for the pep talk," said Draco, draining his orange juice. "Better go find Granger now. And my name is Draco, not Drake" he said, leaving Mandy to swap gossip with a couple of other 6th years who had joined them.

Granger was already standing by the winged podium usually reserved for the Headmistress's speeches. She was glancing at it almost fearfully as if she was afraid the Headmistress's podium would attack a student.

Before Draco could make any witty remarks about this, Professor McGonnagall appeared. "Oh good, you're already here," she said, before immediately addressing the rest of the school. "Good morning students. I don't mean to alarm you, but as you all know, we are living in perilous times. I urge you to exercise caution; the danger might be closer than you think." The students swiveled in their seats to face their headmistress.

Granger stepped on Draco's foot. "See? Professor McGonnagall just used a semi-colon!" Granger hissed into his ear.

"I've asked Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger to speak to you about it." Professor McGonnagall turned and ushered the two of them up to the podium. Granger looked ready to collapse from nerves, so Draco took the speech out of her hands and smoothed it onto the podium.

"Good morning," Draco began, his voice smooth as always. "You all know that it's a dangerous time. We've been living in danger all our lives, particularly since the Dark Lord came back three years ago."—there were a few mutterings about Draco's reference to the 'dark lord'—"Things are once again dismal, but we must be strong. A separated school is easy to defeat. United, they don't stand a chance."

Granger seemed to find her voice, and she continued their speech. "Sure, we all know there's been a rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin for centuries"—there was much mumbling among the two named tables—"But come on, really. Can't you set aside a petty school rivalry when lives are at stake? Honestly, how can any of you—especially you 7th years who will graduate soon— expect to win this battle when we can't even stand together at school."

A few of the more moral Gryffindors had the decency to look ashamed, but the majority of the Gryffindors and almost all the Slytherins were looking at their Head Girl like she had just suggested they all eat Flobberworms for lunch.

"Yes. Come on, Slytherins." Draco stopped to take a breath. I can't believe I'm saying this… "We've changed. I hope that everyone here is really and truly on our side, regardless of your family. And Slytherins, while haughtiness tends to be associated with our House, no one said it's required. So will you all grow up and behave?"

There was a shocked silence as the entire Slytherin table held their breath and stared up at its most influential member. Everyone seemed to be waiting for him to smile and say, "just kidding!" Out of the corner of his eye, Draco saw Granger looking at their speech nervously. So far, they had completely deviated, and said nothing that was really written down.

"How can you say that?!? You let the deatheaters in who killed Dumbledore. Your father murdered half the wizards on our side!"

Draco felt the familiar feeling like being sick to his stomach as this accusation rang out across the hall. It wouldn't be the first, but it was probably the harshest and most public. The entire school swiveled in their seats to find this bold challenger.

Draco gaped, his mouth literally falling open. I don't believe it…

Next to him, Draco heard Granger gasp.

The school swiveled back to see how Draco would react. But he didn't. He didn't hang his head, no that would be far too un-Malfoy-ish. But there was no mistaking the raw hurt on his face. Of all people, he never expected such an accusation to come from…

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Author's Note- And, there's chapter 8! Waaah! Don't hurt me because I ended with a cliffhanger. Muahahaha! Yes, I'm and evil author. So anyways, I finally got chapter 8 posted. Sorry it took so long, way too many vacations on my part. Everyone review and tell me who you think the mystery challenger was. I might have a prize for anyone who guesses correctly.