Third Place - Drama

Sunday Morning

Everyone knew how close Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown had been. It was almost assured that one would tell the other everything. I made a mental note to �convince� Patil to keep her mouth shut. However, after seeing Patil at breakfast, I don�t think that it will be a problem.

I figured that Brown wouldn�t be stupid enough to show her face at breakfast, and I was right. Patil was sitting by herself for once. Her eyes were swollen and she didn�t seem to be all that interested in eating. She also refused to make eye contact with anyone. I was actually surprised that she hadn�t just given it up and gone to sit with her Ravenclaw sister.

The meal was a quiet one, especially as what was normally the loudest table was draped in a veil of silence. I was about to tell Pansy to go find out what had happened last night when a flurry of owls distracted me. They landed in front of Neville, Ginny, Granger and Pansy. Pansy fed hers a bit of her toast before opening the parchment with nearly trembling fingers. I leaned over to get a look. Oh, I�m sure she would have told me eventually. I just didn�t want to wait that long.

Miss Parkinson,
Your presence is required in my office directly after breakfast.
Headmaster Dumbledore

Simple. Plain. Direct. And somehow scarier for it. Pansy gave up the pretense of calm. Her hands were shaking, her face paled and her eyes shot up to search across the room. I saw her gaze meet with Ginny�s. Ginny had a frown as well. It lapsed as she smiled briefly at Pansy, nodded once and put the mail into her pocket. Pansy seemed to relax a bit at Ginny�s confidence. Enough that she, too, put the mail away and began to nibble once again on a piece of bacon.

After breakfast, Ginny swung by our table. "Want to go together?" she asked Pansy. A thankful look on her face, Pansy stood and laid her folded napkin on her plate. She leaned into me and whispered, "I�ll tell you what happens when I get back. Take care of Harry." I nodded and watched her walk away, her hand brushing slightly with Ginny�s as Neville and Granger brought up the rear.

As good as her word, Pansy found me after the meeting. Her eyes were red rimmed and bright. She looked as if a strong wind might blow her away. But her chin was lifted in confidence and her words were steady.

She told me that they had made their way silently to Dumbledore�s office. The Headmaster was waiting for them, door opened already. As they filed in, they noted Lavender sitting in the chair furthest from the door. She looked terrible. Her clothes were wrinkled and dirty. Her face was bruised and swollen, especially her nose. Her cheeks had faint red marks, reminders of a healing just done. She sat stiffly, her hands folded into her robe sleeves. She refused to make eye contact with anyone.

Dumbledore gestured for them to take seats and then settled himself into his own chair behind his desk. He spent a few long moments just looking at each of the students before him, his face grim. Eventually he cleared his throat. "I wish to know what precipitated yesterday�s attack on Miss Brown," he stated. No one moved to answer.

"I also wish to know," he continued at the silence, "why this attack was perpetrated not only by two fellow housemates, but by a 6th year prefect and the Head Girl, two students who should be above such behavior."

Silence. Dumbledore sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I would hate to revoke your stations, ladies. But this behavior is simply unacceptable. As is your refusal to cooperate in the investigation of the events."

Pansy glanced up wide-eyed at Ginny and Granger. Surely Ginny wouldn�t give up her Prefect status? And Granger? The thought of her giving up the Head Girl position was unthinkable! And yet, there they sat...completely in silence. Dumbledore noted Pansy�s bewilderment and took advantage of the slight break in solidarity.

"Miss Parkinson," he turned to her. "Would you be so kind as to tell me what occurred yesterday?"

Pansy blinked rapidly and bit her lip. She glanced helplessly at Ginny, seeking guidance. Ginny shook her head slightly and, like a balloon released of air, Pansy relaxed into her seat. "No, Sir," she said clearly. "I would not."

Dumbledore sighed again and this time, leaned forward. "Children, please," he cajoled. "Madam Pomfrey was very upset at Miss Brown�s state yesterday."

"Was she disturbed at Harry�s as well?" Pansy snapped angrily.

Ginny hissed in warning and Pansy flushed embarrassedly. She lapsed back into silence.

Dumbledore frowned. "Harry? What does young Harry have to do with Miss Brown?" he asked in confusion. "I wasn�t even aware that he�d been in the infirmary yesterday."

"He hadn�t," Neville interjected quietly. "He was too humiliated."

"Neville!" Ginny growled.

Neville just rolled his eyes, an action that drew Pansy�s awe as the look that Ginny was shooting him could kill. "We aren�t doing Harry any good by hiding it, now are we? It�s not like the Headmaster is likely to go about spreading gossip."

"Gossip?" Dumbledore asked, curiously. But he was ignored as the battle of wills continued between Ginny and Neville.

"Harry didn�t want anyone to know. And you know how Harry feels about upsetting him," Ginny nodded at Dumbledore.

"What is so upsetting?" the old man tried to interrupt again.

"So we�re going to hide it from the bloody Headmaster?" Neville sneered. "That�s bollocks, Ginny! She should be in Auror�s custody for what she did!"

"Aurors?" Dumbledore paled a bit.

"Oh, and that will make it all better for Harry, I suppose?" Ginny snapped.

"No, it won�t!" Neville shot back. "But neither will hiding it. It happened, Ginny. It happened and there�s nothing that can make it better for Harry except maybe time and Draco. He asked us not to tell because he�s afraid of being weak," Neville tried to explain. "He�s not weak. You know that. I know that. Dumbledore knows that. But if this is not confronted and dealt with, if we just let it slide under the mat, then it festers. And that is when it becomes weakness."

When Neville stopped speaking, the occupants of the room sat in a shamed hush. Hermione was outright crying, tears streaking down her face. Ginny had bitten her lip through; a small drop of blood welled up on her lower lip. The sight of Neville towering over Ginny, his chest heaving as he screamed the room down, quelled any questions Dumbledore might have had and the old man sat quietly, taking in the scene.

Pansy was a bit disturbed. Never in her life had she expected to see mousy little Longbottom so fierce. And Lavender was curled into a small ball in her chair; her eyes squeezed shut as tears rolled down her face as well. Ginny, strong and brave Ginny, was shaking like a leaf. Pansy hesitantly stood and crept over to Ginny�s chair, watching the others for any sudden movements.

She knelt down at Ginny�s side and took her hand, her eyes darting around the room once more before settling on the redhead�s sad face. Ginny looked at her, her lip trembling and her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. Pansy gently raised a hand to Ginny�s hair and at the end of the first stroke...the dam broke. Ginny threw herself into Pansy�s shoulder, sobs racking her smaller body.

Pansy rocked her, shushing her gently, and Neville sighed. It was a bone deep, weary noise. He turned his gaze back to the Headmaster who was watching the goings-on carefully. "At the Quidditch scrimmage yesterday," Neville began softly, "Lavender lured Harry away from the game. She took him behind the bleachers and...molested him before Seamus Finnegan caught her."

He took another deep breath and continued in nearly a monotone. "She cut his...she cut his privates with her nails, I think, and made him bleed. We, the boys, brought Harry back to the school to see Madam Pomfrey. He lost it. Or rather, I suppose, he gained it back. He had an episode of normalcy. He was terrified of having anyone see him the victim of a sexual molestation. He felt he should have been strong enough to stop it. He begged Draco to fix him up himself and so I retrieved some salve and potions from Madam Pomfrey and Draco took Harry back to their room. I lied to her about the severity of the situation. I�m sorry. I shouldn�t have done that. The ladies stayed out on the field and...took care of Lavender."

When he finished speaking, he seemed to fold in on himself. He sank back into his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. Dumbledore closed his eyes, his hands shaking on his desktop. There was a long moment of silence broken only by the sound of quiet crying and Pansy�s soft reassurances. When Dumbledore opened his eyes again, he looked far older than anyone had ever seen him.

"Mr. Longbottom," he said in a raspy, dry voice. "Misses Granger, Weasley and Parkinson...you are free to go."

Pansy helped Ginny to her feet and Neville grasped Granger�s arm. Together, they led the Prefect and Head Girl from the room, hands gentle on their backs.

And the door closed quietly behind them.

I was half-expecting to be notified that Brown had been dealt with and I was to take Harry immediately to the infirmary to confirm that I hadn�t harmed him in my attempts to heal. But that notification never came. What did come was a request for me to join Dumbledore in his office at lunchtime. I ruffled Harry�s mop of hair and promised to be back to play some Snap that afternoon and headed off to see what the Headmaster wanted of me this time.

I found the door open and the Headmaster sitting at his desk. Pansy had been right. I�d never seen him look so old and fragile. He gestured to a chair across from him and I settled myself into it. I noted that he had a pensieve on the desk in front of him and wondered if he needed me to pull my memories of Harry�s last lapse out for him to view.

If only it had been that.

"Mr. Malfoy," he began. "May I assume that Miss Parkinson has filled you in on the events that transpired this morning in our meeting?" I nodded. "Excellent," he said, though he looked as if were anything but excellent. "After Miss Parkinson and the others had left, I was forced to take extreme action. Miss Brown was quite unwilling to discuss the attack and the events that led up to it. My only other option would have been to force a confession out of Harry or do to him what I eventually decided to do to Miss Brown."

I frowned. "What did you do to her, sir?"

"I invaded her mind, son." His voice was old and rough; his face seemed to age again before my eyes. "It is not something I take lightly. Indeed, it is nearly as horrifying for me to have done it as it was for Miss Brown to have gone through it. I used Legilimency to search out and witness the events of yesterday from Miss Brown�s point of view."

I swallowed dryly. "What happened, sir?"

"I felt it would be best served if you were to see it yourself," he said.

"Isn�t that an invasion of privacy?" I questioned.

"Indeed it is. But that is my crime, not yours. I do have a reason for requesting you to view these memories. I do not wish you to watch the events that transpire with plans on wreaking vengeance upon Miss Brown. Miss Weasley was quite thorough, if I may say so. As well, I will be filing charges against Miss Brown on Harry�s behalf with the Ministry Department of Child Services. I hope that by witnessing these memories, you will be able to help Harry should he fall victim to more nightmares, or bouts of insecurity, or...heaven forbid, fear of others. This was a terrible thing that happened to Harry, Draco. A terrible thing of which we may not really comprehend the consequences until he is returned to normal."

I nodded warily and stood. He pushed the pensieve towards me and with one final look at his pain-filled blue eyes, I immersed my face in the memory. I stood on the bleachers. Next to me sat Granger and Pansy, gossiping like old chickens. Turning my head, I sought out and found Harry. He was bouncing on his bench, excitement in every line of his face as he watched the field.

I watched as Lavender Brown, seated not too far away, carefully eyed the gossiping girls. She smiled slyly when she saw that their notice was totally focused on the Quidditch practice. She scooted over to Harry and leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"Harry." He jumped, startled, but turned to look at her with an innocent smile. She crooked a finger and smiled sweetly. "Come with me," she whispered. "I have something to show you." Harry frowned and glanced at Granger and Pansy. Seeing them distracted, he looked up at me. The me that was in the air. Unfortunately, I was screaming directions to my Chasers.

"It�s okay," Lavender smiled again. "I�m Ron and Hermione's friend. We used to be friends too, Harry."

The confused boy looked from Lavender to Granger and Pansy and back again until Lavender took his hand and tugged gently. "It�ll be alright," she whispered in his ear. "Just come with me for a minute. I�ll show you and then bring you right back."

Harry finally nodded after one last longing look towards his babysitters and toward me, flying obliviously in the sky. He followed Lavender�s leading hand. She pulled him around the broomshed and gently pushed him up against the wall, moving in to press against him.

He blinked at her, trusting and innocent, and squirmed a bit because she was pressing in on his stomach.

"What do you want to show me?" Harry asked, looking around for something interesting enough to be worthy of being taken from the game.

"I hear you�re having some recall about things that happened?" she asked, with a small flutter of her lashes.

Harry shrugged hesitantly. "I guess so."

Lavender smirked and pulled the front of her robes open, her bare breasts spilling out in creamy mounds. Harry stared wide-eyed as she shook her torso, causing her breasts to bounce gently. "Do you remember this?" she purred.

Harry gulped and quickly jerked his eyes back up to Lavender�s, fear written all over his face. "Wh-wha�"

"Here," she continued, grasping his hand and placing it firmly on her left breast. She squeezed his hand around it and moaned slightly at the rough calluses covering Harry�s palm. He whimpered in terror and tried to tug his hand back, but she held it firm. "Touch me, Harry," she ordered huskily. "You know you want to. You always wanted to, didn�t you?" She leaned in even closer to him, pressing her body up against him until he was pinned against the back of the stands.

"P-please," he whimpered. "Please stop." He was beginning to shake. His face had lost all color and his heart was pounding in his ears. I wanted to wrench the bitch away from him. To tear at her with fists and teeth and nails. But it wouldn�t matter. This was all in the past. Harry had already lived this. Still, I would have liked five minutes alone with her.

She chuckled. "You don�t really want me to stop...do you?" She used her free hand to flick Harry�s trousers undone and tug them open; ignoring his sob and the teeth he drove into his lower lip to keep from screaming. She hooked a finger into the waistband of Harry�s pants and dragged them down, exposing Harry�s cock to the air. With a satisfied purr, she delved down into the pants and firmly cupped Harry�s balls in her long nailed grip.

She looked displeased to find that they were rapidly decreasing in size as he became more and more frightened. He squeaked and tried to back up through the wall. "Please! Please don�t!" he begged again, tears coming to his eyes. Lavender rolled her eyes and gripped harder.

"You idiot," she snapped impatiently. "I�m practically giving it away here. You should be thrilled. It�s not everyone who can say they�ve had me."

"Now that�s just a fucking lie, Brown," a voice came from behind her. She jumped in panic, squeezing down on Harry�s sac and causing him to yelp in pain. She ignored Harry�s distress to narrow her eyes at Seamus Finnegan. I loved Finnegan in that moment. I would have to try harder to befriend him once I was free of this nightmare vision.

"Piss off, Seamus," she snarled. She then turned back to Harry and leaned into him, purring. "Harry and I are having a moment."

This time the yelp of pain came from her mouth. A hand had slipped into her hair and closed tightly onto her scalp. A single fierce jerk and she was dragged off of Harry by her blonde locks. Another jerk and she was staring death in the eye. Well, staring Ginny Weasley in the eye at least. Actually, death might have been safer considering the way Ginny�s lip curled into a snarl and her grip began to tighten painfully in Lavender�s hair.

The rest of us weren�t far off.

I felt a touch on my shoulder and saw Dumbledore standing at my side. He gestured that it was time to leave. I was never so pleased to follow him out of that memory. As soon as we were cleared of the liquid, I shook like a dog, trying to rid myself of the filth I felt from wallowing in that slut�s memory.

"You�ve seen what happened next," Dumbledore said quietly after giving me a moment to regroup. I sank down into my chair, pale and trembling in anger.

"I wasn�t there for him," I whispered, squeezing my hands into fists. "He needed me and I wasn�t there for him."

"Now, Draco..."

"No!" I snapped. "I was too busy playing bloody Quidditch to even notice he was gone! Finnegan was more attentive than I."

Dumbledore moved around his desk and, to my utter shock, knelt at my knee. "I know how you are feeling right now, my boy," he said softly. "I feel it every time that I find out about one of Harry�s insane attempts to save the school. Or when he faces Voldemort. Or when he is forced back to that horrible house in the Muggle world. I know how you are feeling. Harry is precious to both of us. I will not tell you not to feel responsible, or guilty, for Merlin knows that I feel that way myself. I will tell you that brooding on it will accomplish nothing. And it will only hurt Harry should he discover it."

"What can I do, then?" I begged, feeling helpless.

"You can love him. You can be there for him as much as possible and realize that bad things are going to happen, whether you wrap him in cotton wool or give him free reign. Disaster follows our boy. It hurts me to acknowledge that, but acknowledge it I have. The best I can do is provide him with the support and affection he needs to see it through."

"So you�re telling me..." I choked up, unable to finish.

"Just love him, my boy. Love him and support him."

"I do," I whispered, needing somehow to concede to feelings that had been plaguing me for days. I needed to confess. "I do love him."

"I know, son," the old man smiled up at me, patting my knee. "I know."

POV Lavender

When Harry Potter showed up at Platform 9 and � at the start of term, people took notice. I took notice. I don�t know what exactly happened to him over the summer, but he had changed. And it was all for the better.

Gone was the gangly, messy-haired, shy little boy from just a couple of months previous. The Harry Potter that stood on that platform was a man. A mighty fine looking man at that. I made a promise to myself then and there that I would get some of that.

I wasn�t the only one. Pavarti and Padma had also noticed his new looks, as had Hermione - though since she and Ron Weasley have been joined at the hip since forever, I wasn�t worried. Ginny Weasley, on the other hand, could be trouble. She and Harry were close. And everyone knew that Ginny had had a crush on Harry since the day she met him.

My efforts to get Harry�s attention went unnoticed. It aggravated me to no end, but at least I wasn�t alone. I had noticed that every other girl that had approached him had been rebuffed in the same polite manner. He either didn�t get it that he was being chatted up, or he wasn�t interested in girls.

Pity to find out it was the latter. And worse even was that he had it bad for Draco Malfoy, whom everyone knows is a flaming queer. I mean, what a waste of two totally hot guys.

Then Harry went missing. Oh the school at large was kept pretty much in the dark over this fact, but those of us in Gryffindor, especially those in the same year as him, knew what had happened.

The big surprise was that it was Malfoy who brought him back. Malfoy, who after finding him, fought his own father to save Harry Potter.

And Harry Potter didn�t even remember him. He didn�t remember anyone, or anything. He was, for all sakes and appearances a child trapped in the body of a young man. And Dumbledore saw fit to leave him in Malfoy�s care.

I know that slimy Slytherin was using Harry�s ailment to further his own gains. He was likely taking every opportunity to make sure Harry fell in love with him when he got his mind back. I�d also overheard that Harry had responded sexually to Malfoy.

I decided that two could play at that game, and when the opportunity to get Harry alone presented itself during a friendly game of Quidditch, I took it.

It wasn�t difficult to lead Harry away from Hermione or that slut Parkinson. He followed me back around the stands to the broom shed without protest. I undid my robes, letting him see my naked breasts. I placed his hand on one of them and squeezed it with my own. His calloused fingers felt so good I couldn�t help but moan in delight.

But that wasn�t all I wanted. Opening his robes, I ignored his whimpered protests to stop, and undid his trousers as well. I slid my hand inside, finally having him right where I wanted him. If Malfoy could get him off, surely I could as well.

He began to cry. Unfuckingbelievable. This was our savior? I ignored him, squeezing my hand tighter around his bits. I was determined to get a reaction. Then Seamus showed up. Followed by Ginny Weasley.

Before I knew what was happening, I was dragged off of Harry by my hair, and slammed into a wall. Looking around me I saw that I was in big trouble. Malfoy had arrived at some point and was staring daggers at me while he held a still sobbing Harry to his chest.

Ginny was screaming at me. I don�t know what she saying as she was growling and snarling like a rabid animal most of the time. Mind you, I understood she was angry, what with my head being bashed in and all. Then, Neville, dear sweet Neville, made things so much worse for me before he left.

I will never, ever, forget what those girls did to me. Not to my dying day. If I had known this would be the outcome, I�d have gift wrapped Harry Potter and handed him over to Malfoy the first day of school.

They tortured me. Not just physically, though there was some of that. They ripped open my robes - more so than they already were - and groped me. Roughly. Parkinson shoved her hand down my knickers and yanked on my pubic hair until I begged her to stop. Weasley twisted my nipple so hard it bled. And Granger, she just watched with a cold detachment. Like she was storing the memory to reanalyse at a later date.

But that wasn�t the worst of it. After they assaulted me, they hit me. Punches, kicks, slaps, even scratches. My nose was broken, my face scarred, and arms were bruised and bloodied. Then Weasley raised her wand and I screamed.

It was worse than I thought it was. I saw myself as though I was looking through someone else�s eyes. I watched as I walked away, as I led... myself around to the shed. It dawned on me then that I was seeing what happened through Harry�s eyes. I felt his confusion at seeing my breasts exposed, felt as it turned to fear and then terror. I heard him begging for me to stop, heard myself as I yelled at him.

He really is only a child. I molested a child. A child who begged me to stop touching him. A child who felt ashamed. A child whom I had hurt.

I was horrified. All I wanted was to get Harry Potter to notice me. To like me. Maybe even to love me. Instead, I took advantage of him. I used him. I practically raped him. The gods know I would have had Seamus not come along and stopped me. Had Weasley not dragged me away.

I am worse than a Death Eater. I�m a child molester. I took advantage of an innocent to slake my own lusty desires. I excused my actions by blaming Malfoy for doing the same. Only he wasn�t doing the same. He was trying to care for a seventeen-year-old boy with the mind of a four year old, who just happens to revert back at inappropriate times.

I don�t know what is going to happen to me now, but whatever it is, it can�t be any worse than what has already been done.

Retreat - Chapter 11

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