I Beg Your Pardon, Potter?

Chapter 42

Draco woke the next morning to scratchy eyes and a frantic knocking on his bedpost. He blinked, trying to get more moisture to his eyes. He fumbled for a moment with the curtains of the bed before remembering he had spelled them shut. He looked down at himself and realized with a start that he was still naked. Well, thank Merlin the curtains were shut.

He scrambled into his pajamas and then out of bed.

"What?" he snapped at Blaise, the source of the knocking.

"Professor Snape is in the Common Room. He wants to see us."

"He what?" Blaise shrugged and motioned for Draco to follow him. Draco pulled his bathrobe off of the hook on the wall and swung it around his shoulders before following Blaise out to the common room.

Snape was standing in the middle of the room, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Draco and Blaise to arrive. Pansy was standing next to him, twisting her cardigan sleeve in her hands. Draco quickly realized that he was the only one in pajamas. Had he really slept that late?

"There you are," Snape said as they walked up. He frowned at Draco's pajamas, but did not say anything about them. "The Headmaster wants to see the three of you."

"What?" Pansy asked. She stopped twisting her sleeves and instead stared at Professor Snape, her eyes wide.

"Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office," Snape said. "As soon as possible." Here, he looked at Draco again.

"Do I have time to change?" Draco asked.

"Only if you're quick about it," Snape snapped. Draco didn't need telling twice. He tore out of the common room and back into the sixth year boy's dormitory. He pulled on his uniform from the day before, ignoring the fact that it was rumpled, and ran back to the common room. Snape nodded once as he reached them, then turned with a swish of his cloak and led the three of them out into the corridor.

Draco's only thought was that they were in trouble for going to the Chamber of Secrets. He began coming up with excuses as they walked. It had been Potter's idea. He hadn't really wanted to go. Then he wondered how good Dumbledore's Legilimency skills were. He began building up barriers in his mind just in case. He would not think about Harry. Nor would he think about the Chamber of Secrets. Nor would he think about his embarrassing patronus. (A ferret? Really?)

"Gum drops," Snape said as they reached the gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office and it jumped aside. Draco took a deep breath as he stepped through the opening left by the gargoyle and onto the rotating staircase. He jiggled his foot as he ascended. It was not the first time he had been called to the Headmaster's office, but it was certainly the first time this year. And of course, he had those orders to kill Dumbledore hanging over him. He knew Harry hadn't meant to bring that up last night, but he had and Draco couldn't stop thinking about it now.

And speaking of Harry, he found the brunet standing in the antechamber to Dumbledore's office, along with Ron and Hermione. Draco frowned as they came into view. He was now even more convinced that they were being called here because of their ill advised trip into the Chamber of Secrets. He should never have let Potter acquiesce to his demands to take them there.

"Hi," Harry said, walking over to him. Draco nodded at him and allowed Harry to take his hand.

"Do you know what this is about?" he asked.

"Not a clue."

"Do you think it's to do with last night? With the Chamber?"

"No," Harry said quickly. "Dumbledore wouldn't care about that."