This chapter irritated me. For some reason, the last line made me want to vomit and laugh. Which is a strange sensation.

Chapter 32

Raven and Draco looked at each other with blank stares. Raven grabbed her cup of butterbeer and got it to her lips when it hit her.

"Our cups are laced with potion." Raven muttered quietly then looked at Lucius, who seemed quite pleased with himself. Nothing before this moment seemed out of the ordinary. When Lucius mentioned buying drinks for Raven and Draco, she never thought that he would have done something to the cups.

"You are very smart. Your sense of intuition is remarkable. But do you know what kind of potion?"

"If my sense of intuition were remarkable then I would know. But seeing as I don't, then I guess my intuition isn't as remarkable as you say."

"It's a love potion," mumbled Draco, his eyes never leaving the sight of his glass. After Raven and Lucius looked at him for a moment, he looked up at his father and was livid. "You gave us a love potion so we would fall for each other. Things were going so well between her and me. Why did you do this?"

Draco's tone shocked Raven. Frustration and fear were apparent in his voice. She had never heard him stand up to his father. From the expression on Lucius' face, talking back seemed like something Draco did not do that often, at least without any consequence. Raven was proud of him.

"Draco! How dare you speak to me in such a tone!" Lucius was trying not to cause too much of a scene, but his rage was starting to cause some whispers at the tables around them.

"Well, let me do it for him." Raven did not care about causing a commotion. She wanted to tell the world how horrible Lucius Malfoy was. "Are you as dim-witted as you are blonde? If I am bound to a contract, then I can't just run off and marry someone. First, you would never let me live through the ceremony. Second, well, I don't know a number two. Draco and I were doing just fine before all of this. Now you are going to make us fall in love? Love spells don't work. They only cause more problems."

"This one is full proof. Oh, and don't bother asking the name of it, Miss Snape. To tell the niece of a potions master what the potion is would undermine everything I have worked so hard to achieve. Don't try looking for the potion in the school's library, either. This is old magic. You won't find it there."

"No doubt it’s dark magic knowing you.”

Lucius gave an eerie laugh. "My dear, nothing you say will anger me any more. You see, I've won."

"You haven't won till Draco and I say our 'I do's.'"

Lucius put his hand under Raven's chin. "Oh, but I have won." He then grabbed Raven's hand with the ring and looked over it. "With this ring and this potion, you will wed my son. Once the potion starts taking effect, you will see what I'm talking about."

Raven pulled her hand away from Lucius, and knew, without seeing herself in a mirror, that she had murder in her eyes. She turned her head over to Draco, his anger never leaving his face.

"I must be off. I have other engagements I must attend to." Lucius stood, grabbed the glasses and poured the rest of the contents onto the floor. "The way I figure, you two have a couple of hours before this spell takes full effect. Oh, and Raven, tell your uncle I said hello."

Draco and Raven never said a word as Lucius walked away. All they could do was stare at the table and try to chew over what just happened.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew his reasoning for pushing us together so quickly?" Raven asked. "That is something I would have liked to have known before now."

"Father told me not to. He has been obsessed with all of this since he heard of your father's death and that you would be coming back here to live with your uncle."

"Why me? Why can't he just let you be happy with Pansy?"

"He adores Pansy. Of course, the contract was made before I knew her. Actually it was made before I could walk. Can I be honest with you?"

"Since we are sharing this moment of honesty, go ahead."

"I don't want any of this. I don't want to get married, at least not to you. You're beautiful and smart, cunning and talented, but I don't want to marry you. I don't want to be promised to anyone and I certainly don't want to be under a love potion. I really like Pansy. ."

For a moment, Draco's words comforted Raven. She was relieved to know that he did not want to marry her. Her senses told her that he was scared about the contract. She realized he was the victim in this as much as she was. Then questions loomed around Raven and her blood began to boil once again.

"Why did you try to kiss me in the library? And why did you seem to take such pleasure in torturing me during the beginning of the year?"

"Well, I do like you. And let's face it; we have been getting along quite well the past few months. I wondered if I shouldn't give it a shot by kissing you; without force this time."

"Then why did you treat me so badly in the beginning of all of this?"

"Dad convinced me that it was important. He thought that if we put our foot down early, you would be more willing to concede to the contract. At the same time, I had hoped that you would have found a way out of it. This has gone way too far now."

"I really wish I knew this a long time ago. Then I wouldn't have tried to kill you or fought so hard in the beginning."

"I'm sorry, Raven. I tried to tell my father I didn't want this but he was insistent. The only thing I can ever say around him is how much I can't wait to be married to you. Otherwise, well, you saw how he acted when I was angry with him a moment ago."

Draco made sense to Raven. “You know, I could still hate you for this. But I know it wasn’t completely your fault. However, tell me about the ring. What does it do?”

He looked down and scratched his head. “I can’t tell you everything. He hasn’t told me the finer details. But what I do know, is what, I’m sure, you suspected. He keeps your emotions in check. It’s almost like a deterrent for any bad feelings toward him and me.”

“Like electro-shock therapy,” Raven mumbled. Raven cupped her hands over her eyes and rested her arms on the table.

“What?”

“Muggles use it in the same way. They believe that sending electric shocks through someone’s body will stop any negative behavior. It’s horribly gruesome and terribly excessive, if you ask me.” Raven lowered her arms and looked over at Draco. He meant what he said; he didn’t want to marry Raven. "For the first time, Draco, I have some respect for you. I appreciate your honesty.

"But it's too late now, isn't it?"

"Maybe. In the meantime, we need to tell Pansy and George about this potion."

"I agree. This will probably be one of the last conversations we have with them."

"We don't know that. But we have to work fast. We don't know how much longer we have before this potion kicks in."

The two got up and rushed out the door of the inn. Draco took off in the direction of The Three Broomsticks and Raven in the opposite direction. Walking through Hogsmeade, her head was shuffling to the left and right trying to look for George. Standing in front of Honeydukes, she saw Angelina Johnson talking with Lee.

"Angelina, have you seen George? I need to find him, now!"

"Haven't seen them since breakfast. I don't even know if they came."

"They didn't. Said they had something to work on. They asked me to get something for them at Zonko's," said Lee.

Raven was disappointed but she had another plan. "Do you know where Ron is?"

"Haven't seen him either. I know he's here because I saw him with Hermione and Harry earlier," Angelina said.

"Thanks, guys. Talk to you later." Raven turned and walked slowly through the village, being bumped by people as she walked. Where is Ron? If I can tell him what's going on, he'll tell George.

After an hour, Raven gave up looking for Ron and sat on a bench out side of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. She was about to lose all hope when she saw Hermione and Ron coming up the street. Raven barreled through all of the people and ran to Ron. She immediately grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him off the street into a side alley.

"What's going on?" Ron's eyes were wide and he looked frightened of Raven.

"Sorry to scare you Ron, but I have something important to tell you." Hermione walked up, followed by Harry. "Hi guys. You can hear this too."

Raven began telling them about what happened at the Hogs Head Inn with Lucius. After telling them about the “gift,” Hermione put her hand on Raven's shoulder and Ron and Harry exchanged worried glances.

"Listen, Ron, I need you to tell George what happened. I don't know if I will be able to, seeing as I will be too infatuated with Draco to do anything." Raven backed up a few steps until she hit a wall. She put her hands over her face and rubbed it hard. "I don't know how much longer I have my sense. Hermione, I know both you and Harry will be there when Ron relays this information to George. I need you to tell him that I do still love him, and we have to hope that this is a minor setback. That will sound better coming from you."

“You can hardly call this ‘minor,’” said Ron.

"Raven, you know this potion can't work. Love potions don't work," said Harry.

"Lucius is convinced it is and coming from him, I can't doubt it. I have a feeling this is no ordinary love potion. He went to great lengths to concoct this one." Raven bent over and put her hands on her knees then popped back up. "Is it warm around here to you all?"

"No, Raven. It's February. It's cold," said Ron, giving Harry another look as if Raven were crazy.

"It's so hot all of a sudden." Raven took off her jacket and fanned herself with her hand.

"The potion is starting to work, Raven. Put your jacket back on. It's freezing out here." Hermione grabbed Raven's jacket and helped her put it back on.

"You all don't mind doing this for me?" Raven asked still fanning herself.

"Of course not," said Hermione.

The temperature seemed to be rising inside of Raven's body. The sweat was pouring off her face. She looked over into the crowd of people shuffling by on the street and began to drift off into the bustle of students and townsfolk. Everything seemed to be moving at light speed while she felt as though she was moving in slow motion. Her surroundings began to swirl but she wasn't dizzy. Snow began to lightly fall from the sky. She looked up and would blink when her eyes caught some of the falling flakes.

"Raven? Raven, are you alright?" Hermione put her hand on Raven's shoulder. Raven jumped around and gave her a distressed look. "Raven, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Hermione. Nothing." Raven walked toward the bench by Scrivenshaft's and wiped snow off of the seat to sit down. She never lost the vacant expression on her face. Hermione sat next to her and again put her hand on her shoulder.

"It's starting to take effect isn't it?"

“What is starting to take effect?" Raven and her group of friends looked up to see Snape standing over them. "What is going on here?"

"What are you doing here?" Raven asked her uncle.

"I do occasionally like getting out of the castle every once in a while. But I don't think that where I go should be any concern of yours."

Raven glared at her uncle then stood and looked at her friends. "Thanks guys. Talk to you later."

Raven and Snape walked to a quiet place on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. He was asking her all kinds of questions on the way, but Raven remained silent. The only sound she made was her footsteps as they trudged through the snow. She had a strange sense of peace. Like she could take on the world with a cool head on her shoulders. Finally, Snape had enough of Raven ignoring his questions.

"Stop and tell me what happened!" he bellowed.

"Lucius gave Draco and me a gift." Raven never turned around to face Snape. She spoke in an eerie, monotone voice.

"What kind of gift?"

Raven kept walking, and kept the strange tone in her voice. She couldn‘t help it. Her mood was out of her control. On the inside she was screaming and wished Snape could hear her. "He laced our cups with a love potion, one that cannot be found in the Hogwarts library. He said it was old magic and no doubt dark as well. Lucius wouldn't even give me the name of it in fear that you would find the antidote."

Raven waited a moment to continue while he processed the information that she just gave him. When she finally turned, she saw the expressionless look of a stone on her uncle's face fade away to reveal clear and present concern.

"Has it taken effect?" Snape asked.

"Not quite. But it won‘t be long now."

"It's out of my hands now. Perhaps if I knew the name of it, or how it worked, I could find something in my private library. There are many different types of love potions. They all do different things. There's nothing I can do if I don't know what the potion is."

"What do you mean there is nothing you can do?" her tone was still calm and subdued.

"If I don't know the name of it, I can't make the antidote. I can do some research, but most of these types of potions are dark, and then there are those that wear off quickly. It's hard to determine at this point what it is or what it does."

Whatever was keeping Raven calm was run over with rage. "Well, talk to Lucius and make him tell you!"

Snape was taken aback by Raven‘s change in personality. "Do you honestly think he will tell me? I don't have a lot of room to work anymore. For the moment, Lucius has won."

"NO! NO! I will not buy that!” Raven marched up to her uncle and began beating him on the chest. This potion was tearing up her emotions. She couldn’t help going from one extreme to another. It took Snape a moment to restrain her. “You can still get me out of the contract! You can still fight for me!"

Raven started to squirm again and to keep her from hitting him more, Snape turned her around. He then held his arms around hers to keep her immobile. "I will continue doing what I can until the day you say ‘I do.’. You need to calm down. You have to realize that this process is going to be harder.”

There was a long silence between the two. Raven broke free from her uncle. She then walked over to the edge of the woods, picked up a fallen tree branch and threw it. Her faith in everything right and fair was dismissed. It seemed now that the world revolved around deceit and cruelty.

"Maybe another vision will show me what to do because I'm fresh out of ideas." Raven walked over to a large rock, sat down and covered her face with her hands.

"You have been having more visions?" Snape now looked at her with curiosity.

Raven let out a heavy sigh. "I have them quite frequently. They are mainly about random things. I never know when I'm going to have one. They just happen."

"When was the last one you had?"

"Today. Right before Lucius gave Draco and I the news. Maybe another vision will help me in getting out of this contract."

"Maybe." Snape seemed to be deep in thought. "I have to go. I will see you at dinner this evening."

"How come you always end the conversation when we talk about my visions? You did the same thing when I had that one with Moody."

"No reason. But I must be going." He immediately turned and walked away. Snape's odd behavior all of a sudden bothered Raven. He seemed rushed and nervous.

"What are you hiding from me?" she said, walking up behind him. She then grabbed his arm and made him turn around.

"I'm not hiding anything. However, I do have to go. I forgot I had a meeting with the Headmaster."

"You never forget about your meetings with Professor Dumbledore. What's going on with you?"

"Whatever it is, just know that it is all in an effort to help you."

His words made Raven stop. She let go of his arm and let him walk away. What's he up to?

Raven started to feel heat rush through her body again and began to feel dizzy. She walked over to a rock and sat down. The spell had taken over. Thoughts of Draco rushed through her mind, while all thoughts of George washed away. Getting out of the contract escaped her mind, and memories of the recent incident in Hogs Head Inn were no more. Her spirit began to be uplifted and she began to smile. She looked at the falling snow and thought to herself how beautiful it was and how she longed to share this moment with Draco. No more did she finish this thought when she saw a figure moving towards her from the direction of Hogsmeade. It was Snape again. Her heart sank. She had hoped it would have been Draco.

“It’s time to go back. Are you coming?” he asked.

“Uncle Snape. Oh, my dear Uncle Snape. You’re back.” She smiled broadly at him and grabbed his arm to turn him around. She linked their arms and the two started walking back to Hogsmeade.

“It’s taken affect, hasn’t it?” he asked, making a face as though he felt very uncomfortable in the current situation.

“Have you been sniffing too many potion fumes again? Because I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

Snape immediately stopped and grabbed hold of her shoulders. He peered deep into her mind and, surprisingly, Raven let him.

“You really have no idea what I’m talking about?” his tone seemed forceful.

“You’re paranoid.” Raven released herself from her Snape and continued walking.

Soon after they arrived back in the village, Professor McGonagall was the first person they saw. She was rounding up students to head back to Hogwarts. Snape whispered something into her ear.

“Miss Snape, I want you to walk with me,” she said, wrapping one arm around her shoulders and gently pulling her along the way.

Soon Draco came walking up. “Raven, I’ve been looking for you.”

“Draco!“ Raven started to break free from McGonagall but the professor pulled her back.

Soon Snape was doing the same thing to Draco. The two professors were trying very hard to keep the two apart.

“SNAPE!” Raven tried to get her uncle’s attention but he was too busy keeping the now love-sick Draco away from Raven. She then looked up at McGonagall who looked concerned and confused. “Professor? What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure, Miss Snape. You need to speak to your uncle when you arrive back at the castle. In the meantime, both Snape and I believe it’s best for you and Mr. Malfoy to keep your distance.”

Raven didn’t understand what she was hearing. Why would she need to stay away from Draco? She strained her neck to catch a glimpse of him but Snape had pushed him too far away. Finally, she gave up. She knew she would see him later. Hogwarts may be huge but it’s also very small. There was no way they could get around not seeing each other. They had classes together. There was no way the school would keep her away from her love, her Draco.

Chapter 33