I Was Younger Then

Escorts, Courtesans and May Queens

WARNING: Violence is in this chapter!

*****

"Of course you can. If won't is what you meant, then say that, Draco," Penny said.

"Why would you come here, he's here. If he knew you were here. . .if I helped you," Draco said, still backing away from Penny as though she were a rabid animal.

Reaching for her magic, Penny closed the door behind him with a soft thud , and locked good it for good measure.

"I understand, I really do. I don't want you to get hurt, but I don't want to end up like her," Penny said, pleadingly.

Feeling like she could only make this appeal if she knew the gravity of what she'd heard the girl endure, Penny set her jaw and turned to look back at the body beneath her. A hand around her wrist stopped her, Draco having crossed the distance between them.

"Don't--just don't," he said, an edge to his voice.

Penny nodded, slowly, noting how his grey eyes seemed dimmer than the last time she'd seen them. It'd been before Cedric. . .Penny had avoided everyone those last days. In her suffering, she'd been an utterly awful friend. She hadn't given a single thought to Draco and what he must have endured and seen since the return of Voldemort. Peering into his eyes, Penny understood there were things she wouldn't be able to understand, and still, even though she hadn't even so much as written to him, he still wanted to spare her.

"I'm sorry--I shouldn't have put you in this position," Penny said, pulling her hand free of his grip and rubbing it over her face several times.

"Why would you come here? Surely Sn--"

"Honestly, don't ask, it was a moment of sheer stupidity."

"That might be an understatement," Draco said, giving an awkward smirk to try and lighten the mood.

"Yes well, as with all things regarding Snape, it's complimented," Penny scowled.

"Did you two have a lovers quarrel, is that why he brought you here? Seems a bit harsh, even for him," Draco said, crossing his arms and perching himself on the edge of a desk just to the right of him.

"Funny. He has a bad habit of leaving before I've finished having my say. This time I had the brilliant idea to not let him."

"So you knew?" Draco asked in what would seem like a casual way, but when Penny locked eyes with him, she noted how on edge he seemed, how he was gauging her response.

"About his part-time job?" Penny asked with an arch of her brow. "Of course I did."

"And you believe him?"

"About what?"

"That he's changed, that anyone can change from. . ." Draco said, gesturing to just beyond Penny at the body she'd forgotten.

Penny's heart beat a little faster at his words. Her mouth opened as though to respond in indignation, but then she paused, feeling it better to consider Draco's words. Penny wanted to believe that she knew Snape, and perhaps she did, she knew a Snape, Snape the Potions Master, but that did not mean she knew all of him or what hid in the darkness of his heart. She'd never thought about who he'd killed, why or how. Draco's question, it wasn't about the Snape Penny was certain of, it was the Snape she'd only glimpsed.

"I trust him," Penny finally said.

The look on Draco's face was one of pity. "You Gryffindors are so ideological, it sickens me. When reality sets in, I'm afraid you won't like it very much."