Blaise watched as Draco paced up and down the dorm, pulling his hand through his hair like a nervous tick.

"Calm down, Draco. I'm sure-"

"He'll be expelled!" Draco burst out. "I'll never see him again! They'll break his wand and send him back to be tortured by those godawful muggles-"

"Don't you think we would have heard by now if he had been expelled?" Blaise interrupted. "You know how news travels here. It barely took ten minutes for everyone to know that his little group had been caught, and that's nothing compared to Potter being chucked. Think about it, Draco. You're not being rational."

"What if he hates me?" Draco continued, unabashed by Blaise's logic. "It was me who caught him- but I had to! It would have seemed really suspicious if I hadn't when I was so nearby, and with Umbridge watching... But I told Dobby to warn them, surely that counts for something?" Draco looked beseechingly to Blaise, who came over to him and gripped him by the shoulders.

"Draco, listen to me. Potter isn't as stupid as he looks. He'll know you didn't want him to get caught. Even if you did, he might not even care because he loves you so much!"

"You think?" Draco asked quietly.

"I know. Potter is so clearly in love with you that it's a surprise the whole school isn't yet aware of it. He's not exactly subtle, is he?"

Draco smiled in spite of himself. Blaise gave him a pat on the cheek that was only half sarcastic and returned to his four-poster. They both jumped as Pansy strolled in, bearing her sharp-toothed grin.

"You do know this is a boy's dorm, right Pans?" Blaise drawled. Pansy stuck her tongue out at him.

"This is more important than gendered dorms, guys. You won't believe what's happened."

"What?" Draco asked sharply. "What's happened?"

"Dumbledore's gone!" She said with a slight cackle, and Draco relaxed again. "He took the blame for Potter and buggered off! Umbridge just told the Inquisitorial Squad members who she could find - myself included - to notify all the other members, so that's what I'm doing. Oh, and we've all decided as a group that Potter will be losing a substantial amount of points tomorrow, so be on the lookout for anything you can get him in trouble for." She seemed to say this all in one massive breath in her eagerness to share her news. Draco and Blaise shared a glance.

"What about Potter?" Blaise asked. "He got no reprimands?"

"Apparently not, so far's I've heard," Pansy shrugged, "hence the point-taking I just told you about."

Draco closed his eyes briefly, and then said, in a cold voice, "Shame. The stupid git deserves whatever he gets."

"I know," Pansy said sadly, "But what can you do?"

0o0o

In the days that followed, neither Draco nor Harry seemed to be able to get away from their housemates for more than a few minutes, and if it hadn't been for potions, Draco might have gone mad. As it was, Harry had managed to briefly explain the capture of the DA to Draco the morning after it had occurred as they worked on a potion together.

"So that's why Marietta was sent to the hospital wing. Granger can be a lot more violent than you would think, can't she?"

"Considering she once punched you in the face, I don't think that should come as a surprise," Harry had laughed in reply. "Yeah, she can be pretty brutal when she wants to. I don't know if they'll be able to remove those warts."

"Serves her right for snitching," Draco shrugged, "if you sell your friends out, you deserve whatever you get."

Harry chuckled. "And there's the Slytherin,"

The fact that Umbridge had become Headmistress was made easier to bear by the fact that the entire school had taken it upon themselves to make her life hell, and this was punctuated by the explosion of fireworks released by the Twins later that day. It came as a small comfort to Draco that, by attempting to vanish the fireworks (which multiplied tenfold when a vanishing charm hit them), he and Blaise had managed to create hundreds of extras for Umbridge to deal with.

Despite Harry's nightmares, and the onset of exams, the summer was alive and happy.