All The Pretty Little Horses

Author: Rhapsody

Chapter Summery: People do naughty things in the bathroom, Draco gets depressed and thinks about good music.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The song "Yesterday" is by the wonderful Beatles.

Note: This story was written before the release of Order of the Pheonix. It does not reflect OotP canon and any characters appearing from OotP may not be in character.

If all goes well, Potter will be disposed of in no time. It will be like he was never born. The time is near.

Sincerely,

T. M. R.

Chapter 6

There's A Shadow

Cypris sat on a bench in a corridor near the dungeons. She was still and silent. She could hear Draco's footsteps behind her. He rounded the corner and was walking right towards her. His eyes were glazed over with anger and he didn't seem to have noticed she was sitting there.

Cypris laughed haughtily as he walked right past her. At the sound he spun around and glared at her.

"Cypris!"

"What, darling?" she said, imitating a Pansy voice.

Draco's eyes hardened. "Shut up! I'm not in the mood to be reminded of that… that… I don't want to talk to you right now!" It was obvious he had no patience.

Cypris looked at him quizzically. "Why the hell were you trying to find me if you didn't want to talk to me?"

"How did you know I was trying to find you?"

"You were following me. Remember, I have better ears than you." Cypris grinned.

"Damn you and all your kind to hell!" He retorted angrily and began to walk away.

"I wouldn't say that if I were you," Cypris said to his back.

He stopped walking, but did not turn to face her, "Why?"

"They might decide to stop helping you." Cypris noted, standing up.

He turned and looked her straight in the eye, "What?"

"Now is not the time to explain things of that manner. Meet me in my room at 9:00 and maybe then I'll consider explaining it to you."

Cypris walked right past Draco towards the Slytherin common room. He was left standing there, her footsteps echoing in his ears.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione didn't like to admit when she was jealous, so she decided hesitantly not to search for Draco. If he cares about me at all, he'll come find me, she thought. She knew that that wasn't true, and he probably didn't give a lick where she was, but she liked to tell herself that he was a better person than he really was.

She walked back towards the library angrily. Half of her hoped Harry and Ginny were still there. The other half of her hoped they weren't. She walked back up the staircase towards the library and suddenly fell through the stairs, hitting the ground in a mysterious corridor, painfully.

She cursed and looked up at where the staircase would have been if she had fallen through normal stairs. She checked her watch. It was 10:39 on a Saturday. She dug through her mental stores of information.

"Damn it! The third stair from the top teleports you, Saturdays between 10:20 and 10:40. If I had only been one minute later. Now where the hell am I?" Hermione said aloud. She looked around and noted that there weren't any tapestries or paintings. She was in a corridor she had never seen before.

She walked hesitantly down the corridor, still cursing herself. She reached a curve in the hall and slowly followed it. It was dark, so she took out her wand and said, "Lumos!" The hall lit up and something flickered at the end of the corridor.

She quickened her pace and soon reached a door, it's handle glittering in the light of her wand. She grasped it and pulled. She was admitted into a small room. It had a table with chairs around it. There was a load of Zonko's joke stuff on the table. Although, it was all covered in a thick layer of dust, Hermione felt like she had been there before.

Then it hit her. This was the room from her dream. She looked around for the hook and the time turner. But there was no hook nor were there any evidence of there ever being one.

She brushed the dust off the table and looked at the jokes. They were very similar to the things Harry and Ron frequently bought when they were there. She frowned at the thought of Ron and tried to forget about him.

Luckily, he was driven from her mind when she realized what was on the table itself. Inscribed on the square table were the names Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. She lit the candle and looked more closely at the inscriptions. It was then that she noticed a black rectangle drawn in the middle of the table.

She tapped the center of the table and said the phrase that she knew would activate whatever magic enchanted the table, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good!"

Suddenly a map, identical to the marauder's map, appeared on the tabletop. She smiled and noticed a dot labeled Draco Malfoy was standing in a corridor, which according to the map was just above her. She examined the map a little further, to discover Ginny and Harry were nowhere to be seen.

She routed a way out of the mysterious room and got up. Hermione shrugged and tapped the tabletop again, this time saying, "Mischief managed!" which made the map clear away, leaving the table as it looked like before. She decided that she would show Harry how to get to the room the next day. He would obviously be interested. Meanwhile she followed the dark corridor through twists and turns, until she reached another door, which opened into the 4th floor east wing.

Hermione walked down to the corridor where Draco had been standing only moments ago. After finally regaining his composure, he had started off towards his room to think. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.

Draco heard Hermione call his name from behind him, but he didn't stop. Hermione began to run in his direction and saw him walking away from her. She ran up and touched his shoulder lightly.

"What?" Draco said sharply.

Hermione looked hurt. "I'm sorry. It's just you left so suddenly from the library, I mean, I was worried," She looked at her feet, not wanting to anger him further.

Draco felt the quickest pang of guilt and touched the bottom of her chin, moving her head so that he was looking her in the eyes. He looked as if he was going to say something but suddenly his hand dropped and he turned to walk away.

Hermione frowned. "Fine, Draco, just leave me here. I went through hell to find you. I fell through the bloody stairs looking for you. I'm worried about you, and you don't even care."

Draco turned to face her just in time to see a single tear roll down her cheek. He opened his mouth to speak but she had turned and run away. Guilt flooded him like a tidal wave and he found himself standing just where he had been before, unable to move.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The afternoon was pleasant for Harry and Ginny. After they had left the library, they snuck off to Hogsmeade and had butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks. At 4:00 they had Quidditch practice for two hours.

Sweaty and a bit tired, they walked back to Gryffindor Tower. They both agreed they needed showers, so they decided to meet again in the common room that evening, at 9:00. Harry, who still knew the password to the prefect's bathroom, decided to take a bath there. He stripped down and climbed into the warm water.

"Ahh," Harry said aloud, "This is perfect!" He just laid there, soaking for a while.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione had run back to the Gryffindor Tower and did what she did whenever she was angry: homework. She found that when she didn't want to talk to other people she could write a hell of an essay.

She had spend the whole afternoon writing essays and studying for exams, which were still months away. Once she had finished every possible piece of homework for the next three weeks, she decided to read one of the books that she had gotten from the library.

She was engrossed in the book when Ginny entered the common room. Ginny walked past Hermione, knowing better than to interrupt the other girl when she was reading. Ginny decided to head up to the girls' shower to wash off the dirt before her little "date" with Harry that evening.

She opened the door to the showers and heard giggling. She looked and saw two sets of robes and two book bags on a bench next to one shower. Who would want to be showering together? she thought.

She walked over to read whose clothes were on the bench. Just then a load moan emitted from the shower stall. And someone was screaming.

"OH YES! YES! LAVENDER! OH MY GOD YOU ARE GOOD!"

Ginny gasped at the names on the clothing labels. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Ginny left them abruptly and ran back to the common room. Hermione was still reading by the fire. Ginny took a deep breath and interrupted Hermione's reading.

"Oh my God! I was just in the showers and Lavender and Parvati were sharing a shower! I think they were… umm… doing the nasty."

Hermione looked up and broke into fits of laughter.

"You have to be kidding," Hermione looked wide-eyed at Ginny who shook her head, "I knew they were trying to cover something up with all of those fake little boy fetishes! Lizzie will be so glad they aren't really lusting over her brother!"

"Maybe we shouldn't tell anyone else… think of how embarrassed they would be, they were doing that in a public bathroom." Ginny now bore a look of concern.

Hermione laughed. "They could have at least done it in the prefects bathroom or somewhere private."

"Still, I don't think we should tell anyone."

"Okay, agreed, we won't tell anyone. But… umm, Ginny? You smell really bad, no offense."

"None taken. But I doubt I will be showering tonight, they seemed like they might be a while," Ginny said, smiling meekly.

Hermione grinned, "Not to worry, use the prefects bathroom!"

~*~*~*~*~*~

Ginny, now carrying towels and shampoo, headed off towards the prefects bathroom. She kept repeating the password that Hermione had given her in her head. She reached the entrance and said the password aloud. She entered the bathroom and started taking off her shirt, not even noticing the figure already in the bath.

"Good evening, Ginny!"

Ginny shrieked and quickly pulled her shirt back over her head.

"So you won't be stripping for me? I'm disappointed."

She turned around and looked to see who the person was.

"Oh, Harry, thank god, it's just you."

"I see you've decided a bath is a good idea as well."

"Well, I was going to take a shower, but there was someone in there already so Hermione gave me the password so I could bathe in here."

"I see," Harry said in a Professor McGonagall tone. "You should know that the prefects bathroom is for prefects only."

"Look who's talking," Ginny retorted, making Harry blush.

"Could you hand me a towel, please?" he said in response.

Ginny cocked an eyebrow, "Getting out so soon?"

Harry sighed, "No, it's just that I need…"

"Why don't you get out and get your own?" Ginny gave him an evil little look.

His eyes bore a pleading look, "Ginny, seriously…"

"No!" She smiled wickedly and began giggling.

Harry sighed and looked at her slender body. He wanted desperately for her to strip down to nothing and hop into the bath with him. He knew Ginny was not going to get him a towel so he instructed her to turn around so he could get one himself. He wrapped it tightly around his waist and walked up right next to her and kissed her neck.

"Now, Ginny, you wouldn't come all the way down here and not bathe, just because I'm in here now would you?" He helped her pull her shirt over her head again.

Ginny thought for a second. "If you're going to be so modest, I had best follow suit. Turn around Mr. Potter, and if you dare look at me, I'll hex you!"

He reluctantly turned around and stayed put even though he wanted to turn around and see her standing there for the entire world to see.

She finished removing her clothes and hopped into the bath, sighing. "Ok, Harry, I'm fine now."

Harry turned back around. Ginny was in the bath and sadly for him, she was covered completely by colored bubbles, resting gently on the top of the water.

Harry weighed his options. "But there's one problem… how am I supposed to bathe if you are in the bath?"

"Cummon, Harry, I don't bite. Come in!"

"Close your eyes then!" he said timidly. For some reason he was feeling terribly modest.

She closed her eyes and felt him slide into the bath with her and he started kissing her neck.

She looked at him and whispered, "So this is why you wanted to bathe with me." She wrapped her arms around his neck and played with his wet hair. He started kissing lower down her neckline and she giggled.

"Harry, that tickles!" she said, reaching around to his hips and squeezing his side.

Harry squirmed and then stopped to look at Ginny. Her fiery hair was a darker red and it was sticking to the sides of her face. Her big chocolate eyes looked warmly back at him.

"Ginny, you know how much I…" he began, but he was silenced by a warm kiss on his mouth.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Draco's day had been about as horrible as it possibly could be. At least that's what he thought. He had spent the afternoon sitting on the bench in the corridor, staring at the purple tapestry on the wall, wishing that he had said something to Hermione.

He couldn't stand the thought of her tears. He willed himself to forget, but a nagging little voice in his head kept saying, Think about what you did to her, you horrible, horrible person.

By the time he had to meet Cypris he was thoroughly depressed. He really didn't want to meet with Cypris, as it would probably lead to more things that would plague his conscience.

Eventually he got up and went back to his room. Draco looked at the clock on his desk. It read 9:14. He changed into a black jumper and a pair of black pants. He didn't care that he was late, although he knew Cypris would be annoyed.

Draco lazily lit a fire in his fireplace, knowing he wouldn't want to have to light it when he came back. He left his room and locked the door behind him.

Cypris was standing outside of the girls' dormitory. Pansy and Millicent always went out with the 7th Year Slytherin boys on Saturday nights, and she had managed to get Blaise Zambini to agree to stay out of the room for the night. Blaise had been a good comrade of Cypris since they had started at Hogwarts. Cypris would never consider her a friend, but she was someone who Cypris liked talking to once and a while.

Cypris was getting impatient. She had seen Draco get back to the Slytherin common at quarter after nine. She didn't expect him to be on time, but she was still rather annoyed.

Draco finally climbed the stairs on the girls' side of the common room. He approached her lazily and almost sadly. Cypris gazed at him questioningly; she hadn't expected Draco to look so defeated. She had expected him to be agitated.

He followed her into her "room" and she offered him a chair. He sat down heavily. She eyed him suspiciously.

"Who died?" she asked sarcastically.

"What?" Draco asked, looking confused, but still depressed.

"What's wrong?" Cypris asked more gently.

"I said something wrong… to Hermione. Or rather, I didn't say anything to her," Draco sighed. "Now she probably hates me. It all doesn't matter anymore, nothing else matters without her."

Cypris nodded. She was hurt by his words, because she knew he would never feel like that about her. But she was touched by the love he felt for Hermione. She decided that she needed to give him good news; not so he would have sex with her, but so he and Hermione could be happy together.

"Draco," she said gently, "I have some information for you about Hermione."

Draco just nodded.

Cypris continued, "I corresponded with your mother."

Draco looked at her, but still said nothing.

"She gave told me what I needed to know. Hermione is a pureblood witch. She is from the Le Fay family. I believe you have heard of them."

Draco still said nothing, and Cypris was starting to get agitated.

"Bloody hell, Draco!" she shouted, "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. So you hurt the little bitch's feelings! Them tell her you're sorry and stop sulking!"

"You know what?" Draco yelled back, "You've never been in a situation like this. You've never hurt someone who loves you. Why? Because you've never had someone like Hermione. And if you did, you'd probably lose them in an instant."

Draco stopped yelling. "Like I did..."

"Oh, snap out of it Draco. If she loves you as much as you say, she'll forgive you for something little like this." Cypris retorted.

Draco sighed, "You don't understand, I made her cry."

"Fine!" Cypris replied sordidly, "Go on and feel sorry for yourself. Just don't do it around me. Get out!"

Draco got up from the chair, "Fine! I will!" he said immaturely. Draco left and went back to his room. The fire was burning brightly. The golden flames licked the air above happily. Draco watched it as he took off his shirt and shoes and lied down on his bed.

He thought back to when he was little and he used to sit with his mother in the parlor. She had a taste for muggle music and particularly liked a group called the Beatles. Her favorite song was a depressing track called "Yesterday".

In his mind he thought about the lyrics as he slipped off to sleep...

Yesterday,

All my troubles seemed so far away.

Now it looks as though they're here to stay.

Oh, I believe in Yesterday.

Suddenly,

I'm not half the man I used to be.

There's a shadow hanging over me.

Oh, Yesterday came suddenly.

Why she had to go,

I don't know,

She wouldn't say.

I said something wrong,

Now I long,

For Yesterday.

Yesterday,

Love was such an easy game to play.

Now I need a place to hide away.

Oh, I believe in Yesterday.

Why she had to go,

I don't know,

She wouldn't say.

I said something wrong,

Now I long,

For Yesterday.

Yesterday,

Love was such an easy game to play.

Now I need a place to hide away.

Oh, I believe in Yesterday.