What's the Plan

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story. Anything that doesn't belong to JKR belongs to me.

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A/N: I apologize for how long it took to get this update out. This has not been a great year for me, and unfortunately, my muse has suffered as well. I still try to work on this daily, so hopefully the next chapter comes fairly soon. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it.

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What's the Plan

Lunch, lessons, and just about everything else was a heavy fog in the back of Jessie's mind as she walked, one foot in front of the other, towards her last class for the day. She tried to keep her thoughts clear and focused, but that task proved difficult with each thundering footstep she took, pounding a reminder that she would have to see and be touched by her boyfriend: the same boyfriend who showed his devotion to her by shagging another woman. And not just any woman... Draco Malfoy's woman.

Jessie was angry, as any girl in her situation would be, but she was also very confused. Why would Mark do such a thing, and most of all, why did he do it with Parkinson? Jessie had to agree with Blaise in thinking that both Mark and Pansy's actions were very sloppy. Did they really think no one would ever find out? Did they even care?

Shaking her head to clear the dramatic thoughts she couldn't help but think, Jessie took a deep breath as she rounded the last corner that would take her down to the Potions classroom.

"Hey, Jessie, wait up!"

Snapping her head around after nearly jumping out of her skin, Jessie breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Rebecca running up from behind her. God, she really needed to get a grip! Thankfully, Jessie had her friend with her now, and Rebecca would help keep her paranoia in check. Hopefully.

"So, how's your day been so far?" Rebecca asked, lifting her book bag higher on her shoulder to get a better handful of her hair to tie back.

"Miserable," Jessie responded half-jokingly.

Rebecca clicked her tongue at that answer. "That bad?"

"Well, you know me."

"I do know you. Let me guess... you've imagined every horrible scenario possible that could happen with Mark and have now worried yourself to death?"

"I can't help it! You know I like to be prepared for the worst."

Rebecca leveled a chastising glare at Jessie. "I know you do, Jess, but it won't be that bad. You'll be okay," Rebecca said, throwing an arm around her friend. "Besides, Blaise and I will be there if you need us."

Jessie allowed herself a small smile. "Yeah, and Draco said he would..."

Jessie's eyes widened when she realized what she was about to say. She looked over to her friend and groaned when she saw the inquiring smirk that was on Rebecca's lips. She had neglected to mention anything that was said between Draco and herself to her friend last night, and as far as she knew, Rebecca had forgotten all about it since she had yet to ask her about any of the details. Now, though, Rebecca's eyes took on a gleeful glow. Jessie was screwed.

"Spill, love. What did Draco say he would do?" Rebecca asked with a lecherous grin.

Taking a reluctant breath and looking around to make sure no one was in earshot of them, Jessie whispered, "He said he would take care of me and to trust him."

"Take care of you?" Rebecca asked softly, her stride slowing a little.

Jessie gasped. "In Potions! Take care of, you know, Potions." She glanced at her friend when Rebecca removed the arm she had around her and did a double take at Rebecca's expression. "What?"

"Nothing. If he really said that, though, I don't think you have anything to worry about." At Jessie's wondering look, she continued in a lower tone. "Well, I may not know Malfoy that well, but from what Blaise has told me about him, Draco wouldn't just say something like that and not be serious about it."

Jessie made a small noise of acknowledgement before saying, "So... if that's true, what do you think he would... take care of?"

Shrugging, Rebecca smirked and said, "I don't know, but they're Slytherin, Jess. They don't like to do things by halves."

Jessie nodded and took a steeling breath as the corridor gradually darkened.

There were a few students mingling in front of the Potions classroom as though they were prey for a still hunt, unknowingly waiting for Professor Snape to come around the corner and capture them. Luckily, at least at the moment, both Mark and Pansy were nowhere to be seen. Draco and Blaise were there, however, standing not too far away from them, talking quietly to each other.

"Hey, ladies," Blaise said with a smile as soon as he saw the both of them. He quickly ended the conversation he was having to walk over to Rebecca and give her a peck on the cheek.

Draco, who had his back to the girls, turned around and flashed them a small smile in greeting. It was enough to make Jessie blush a little.

Standing and listening to the random conversations that filled the hallway took Jessie's mind off nearly everything she had been worried about; at least it did for a few seconds.

"Hey, Jess."

Jessie's eyes flew wide open at the voice, and she barely had time to blink before she felt an arm slide across her shoulders and pull her close. Mark! She tried to keep her expression neutral when he leaned towards her for a kiss that Jessie was a bit reluctant to give. It was a chaste kiss, thank goodness, and was over quick enough to keep her from thinking too much about it. She turned towards her friends and froze as she took in the looks on their faces.

Pansy had apparently arrived as well and was standing at Draco's side. She looked between Mark and Jessie with an air of indifference, but the lines on her forehead didn't seem to agree with that. She was clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

Blaise and Rebecca looked as though they were having a hard time masking their feelings about the newcomers. Blaise switched between looking up and down at Mark and looking away with a minute shake of his head. Rebecca seemed like she was struggling not to openly growl at Pansy.

Jessie sighed, glancing in Draco's direction, and she barely refrained from sucking in an audible breath when she saw him. Draco's eyes were like ice, his gaze piercing everything in its path, and Jessie nearly shivered. She might not have known Draco that well personally, but there was no mistake in Jessie's mind; Draco was mad. He was rigid in his stance, and Jessie could see his curled fist resting on the hip of his girlfriend.

Draco looked between Mark and Blaise a few times, but before Jessie could question what that look was about, the air around them seemed to change as Professor Snape entered the hallway they were standing in. With quick steps, Snape waved a hand to unlock the classroom door and walked in, fully expecting to be followed without question.

"Stand by your seats and do so without talking," Snape ordered as he walked to the front of the class.

Everyone shuffled and quickly filed into the room to stand at their assigned tables. While Jessie was grateful that Mark was now focused on following orders instead of her, she couldn't help but wonder what was going on. The last time they were told to stand was right before she was paired with Mark. As Snape pointed to the first table in the first row, Jessie's heart skipped a beat, realizing that they were indeed getting new partners.

In a matter of seconds, names were barked out, and each student gravitated to their new seats as they were called. Jessie was dismayed to hear Pansy and Mark's name called together, sitting them at the middle table in the front row, but that quickly turned to surprise when she heard her own name along with Draco's. She sat with Draco in the second row on the left, and before long, she heard Rebecca's name called out along with Blaise's, sitting them two tables away from her. As she glanced down the row, she could see that her friends were intently watching Mark and Pansy. Jessie saw Professor Snape's occasional scowls at the couple, too, but then he would look at Draco right afterward.

Jessie sat back and frowned in thought. It almost seemed as if they were purposely placed to keep an eye on her boyfriend and Pansy, but that would mean...

A familiar, quiet laugh broke Jessie's train of thought, and she leaned forward immediately. Pansy had a small, almost shy, smile on her face, and that prompted Jessie to glare at the back of Mark's head. She didn't need to look around to know that she wasn't the only one who was glaring.

"Today's potion," Snape snapped, getting everyone's attention, "requires exact measuring and precise brewing." His dark eyes scanned the room, pinning everyone with a silent warning. "I shouldn't have to remind you that this is merely to review the advanced techniques you should have mastered by now. Anyone who fails will be doing it over in detention." He tapped his wand against the board at the front of the room and revealed the ingredients.

A healing potion, Jessie thought as she looked over the ingredients. A strong healing potion. She recognized that some of the ingredients could be relatively volatile if they were combined incorrectly, and a simple mistake could render the potion completely useless.

As she turned away from the board, the question she was poised to ask Draco died on her lips when she looked at him. He was studying the ingredients even more intently than she had been, and as she watched, Draco moved his attention to Snape and shared a quick series of looks with him. Jessie saw Snape give Draco a brief nod, and a moment later, she found herself staring at a pair of stunning gray eyes. Beautiful, really.

Stop ogling and ask him the question! her 'Rebecca' inner voice yelled. And close your mouth!

What question?! Jessie frantically asked the voice, knowing very well she wouldn't be answered. What the hell was I going to ask him? The familiar flush of embarrassment was already spreading across her skin.

Draco had a full-blown smirk on his lips, which didn't help Jessie at all. Motioning his head toward the board, Draco casually asked, "Shall I get the ingredients while you set up here?"

"Oh!" Right. "Yes... yes, that's fine. I can do that," Jessie said with a hesitant smile. Both corners of Draco's mouth turned upwards before he gracefully rose from his chair to get the supplies.

Resisting the urge to introduce her head to the table in a painful way, Jessie went about setting up everything they would need to make the potion.

***

"Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine," Jessie said as she stirred, watching as Draco added a bit more of the powder they had spent most of the class preparing. Various medicinal herbs were meticulously cut, sorted, and then ground into a fine powder, and the task of adding that powder to the other ingredients was a challenge. One wrong move and the potion would boil over.

"Almost done," Draco said, and Jessie made a small noise of acknowledgment. The muscles in her arms were burning.

As soon as Draco put in the last of the powder, Jessie pulled out the stirring rod and cast a quick Scourgify to clean it. She glanced around the room as she massaged her hands, and she was surprised to see that they had finished first.

Jessie found herself ridiculously proud of the work they had done, and she couldn't help but smile. Draco had been very easy to work with. They had used looks and gestures to communicate as they worked together, and it amazed Jessie at how natural it had felt. She had always been a bundle of nerves when she was around Mark, and that didn't fare too well in the classroom at times. Draco's cool demeanor and silent authority had put Jessie at ease right away, letting her focus on the assignment.

Draco took the finished potion up to Professor Snape, and Jessie made short work of cleaning up the mess they had made. She felt Draco's presence when he returned to his seat, and she nearly bumped into him when she sat back up after getting her book bag from the floor. Draco heard her gasp and apologized, but Jessie had noticed why he had been leaning over near her when his eyes went back to their target.

Draco blew out a breath and turned to look at Jessie with a scowl on his face. He beckoned Jessie to come closer and then asked, "Is Copeland's hand on Pansy's leg?"

Jessie's mouth fell open before she blinked and gave a dirty look to the couple in question. The nerve! Jessie scanned the underside of their table, but she couldn't see anything because their robes covered a lot from behind. As Pansy stirred the contents of their cauldron, Mark was carefully adding the powder mix, and when Pansy's arm raised during one of her revolutions, Jessie thought she could see a small amount of skin. She bent down a little, leaning towards Draco, and saw it. Mark's right hand was there, resting on the pale thigh of Draco's girlfriend. Jessie's insurgent look must have been all the answer Draco needed.

"Get out your wand," Draco stated quietly, "and get ready to put a shield around us."

Jessie frowned, wondering why Draco would make such a request, but she reached for her wand anyway. Her movements were nonchalant, as to not draw attention to herself, and Draco's smirk told her that he was pleased with that.

Draco's fingers stroked the silver ring he always wore on his right ring finger, and Jessie gripped her wand tighter as she heard him start to murmur softly. In that same moment, she heard the abrupt screams of Pansy and Mark and only had a second to raise the shield. It was a weaker shield, only used to deflect inanimate objects, but it effectively kept the maroon sludge that had erupted from the target's cauldron from soiling anything around her and Draco. Jessie dropped the shield and winced as she took in the damage that was done.

The room was silent as the students all gaped at the couple now completely covered in reddish-brown goo. The blast had been relatively localized, but she was sure more than a few student's shoes were now ruined. Jessie looked over at Rebecca and Blaise and saw her friend smirking while Blaise was busy trying to keep his laughter behind the hand over his mouth.

Professor Snape slowly rose from his desk, his face showing disgust, and Jessie couldn't help but sit up straighter in her chair. Snape waved his wand, almost casually, toward the floor, leaving a clean path between him and Mark and Pansy's table.

"Well?" Snape drawled, the one word conveying a multitude of questions in itself.

Mark's head bowed immediately, and Pansy just stood there, holding her ground, but she, too, didn't look her professor in the eye.

Jessie still didn't know exactly what Draco had done with the spell he had cast, but she did know it had only succeeded because they had been touching in some way. She found herself not feeling the least bit sorry for Pansy or Mark, which shocked her a little; it was nothing they didn't deserve, after all.

Come on, Mark, Jessie thought with some venom, tell us what happened. She knew Mark could spin a believable excuse pretty quickly, considering how many he had used with Jessie, but he had his work cut out for him if he could explain why he and Pansy screamed at the same time right before the potion erupted.

"Very well, then," Snape said, turning his nose up. "Detention. Tonight. And you will both stay after class and clean up the mess you have made."

Only then did Mark and Pansy turn to look at the rest of the room. Their faces and upper body were still drenched in dark sludge, and Jessie ducked her head when Mark turned toward her. She knew it was in her character to act demure like this, but in all seriousness, she didn't trust herself to look at Mark at that moment. She had an odd mix of emotions running through her, and she didn't want to give anything away.

The lesson bell cut through the strained atmosphere in the classroom, and Snape didn't raise an eyebrow when some of the students scrambled to finish their potion, having been sidetracked and all. Jessie and Draco gathered their belongings and left without giving their 'significant others' a single glance. Blaise's laughter rang throughout the hall as Draco and Jessie left the classroom.

"Brilliant!" Blaise said as soon as he saw Draco. "Copeland's squeal was hilarious!" In a lower tone, Blaise continued, saying, "I can't believe he was actually touching her in class."

Jessie's steps faltered at that, and she quickly looked between Blaise and Draco before she resumed her original pace. "This was all planned?"

Draco shot Blaise a glare before answering. "It wasn't exactly planned. Mark and Pansy had to be touching, skin to skin, for the plan to work, so I'd say it was more like they fell into our trap."

Jessie nodded in agreement and almost laughed at the surprised looks she got by doing that. "What? Did you guys really think I would be upset about what happened?"

Rebecca blinked. "Actually, yes."

Jessie smiled and shrugged. "They deserved it. Even I can't deny that."

"Too right," Blaise said with a smirk.

"Well, now they have detention together. I guess we don't have to worry about them getting 'together' tonight. Not unless they plan on meeting past curfew," Rebecca said as they exited the hall.

"Are you going to be at dinner?" Blaise asked Draco as they stopped.

"No. I've got to head out to the pitch and talk to the Slytherin captain, and then I have a meeting with Professor Snape; we're going to have dinner in his quarters." Draco turned to look at Jessie. "I'll send word to you if our plans for tonight happen to change." With a nod, Draco turned and started walking toward the Slytherin tower.

"Which means," Blaise announced after a few moments, "that he has another plan in the works."

*****

At dinner, Jessie found out that Blaise had been right. Draco's eagle owl had delivered that confirmation as Jessie sat down to eat in the Great Hall.

Jessie,

Draco

TBC...