The Dueling Club.
Dear Remus,
I hope this letter finds you. Well, Since the last one didn't return with the owl, I'm going to be one of those asses and assume that this one reached you, just like the last one.
I implore you again, in earnest, for anything that's holy—please, please for the love of Merlin, come back. Snape needs you, and if I have to endure one more week of his drunken rants and whining about you and Sirius, I will commit murder. I assure you, I have no plans to kill Snape, so the victim would most likely be me, please save me from that wretched end. Also, Snape deserves love, and if you can't be the one, then you need to set him free.
I understand it might be hard for you to trust me, considering a Malfoy doesn't exactly scream trust. However, you'll have to take my word for it and believe that Sirius and Snape are innocent. Well, not exactly innocent, but Sirius did not kill James and Lily, and Snape was never on the side of evil. For what it's worth, I do know who exactly did it.
I would be more than happy to tell you about the killer and am willing to provide all the proof you require to establish Sirius and Snape's innocence. In return, all I ask is that you give one hour of your time to Snape to present his case.
Yours sincerely,
Draco Malfoy
P.S: I have sealed these letters to open only for you and Sirius. Anyone else trying to read these will cast an Incendio and turn them this letter to ash. So I hope these reach you and aren't actually turning to ash. Nonetheless, a reply would be appreciated.
For the next few days, the school could talk of little else but the attack on Mrs. Norris. Filch kept his hunt for the perpetrator fresh. Any attempts at cleaning the wall ended with no effect. Hence, the school was abuzz with the Chamber revival.
Blaise and Hermione were spending double their time in the library. On three occasions, both of them had asked Draco to call for some books from the Manor library. They were sure they were going to solve the mystery of the Chamber one of these days. Surprisingly enough, the others were doing their best to help as well. Luna with their Quibbler resources and Pansy, Vince, and Greg with their Pureblood resources. Even Ron was due diligent with research and making notes.
Harry and Draco were a whole other can of worms though. The Gang time was awkward and tense when both of them were present together. Harry was giving Draco the silent treatment, and any attempts at reconciliation were thwarted by Harry, even at breakfast.
Draco had approached Harry twice at meal times, and Harry had promptly left the tables. So, to keep the peace and Harry’s health, Draco spent much of his meal times at Slytherin tables or in the kitchens.
Hermione and Blaise tried talking to Professor Binns (Draco was still sus about the whole ghost teacher thing) but were unable to get a proper answer by the professor or his ghost? (Seriously, how does that work?) Somehow, that whole discussion had gone from ‘It’s a legend’ to ‘the Chamber is believed to be unsealed by only the true Heir’ to Harry blurting out ‘You’re a Parseltongue, does that make you the true Heir?’ at Draco.
The chaos that ensued was to be expected. It took exactly 56 minutes (Draco timed it) for that knowledge to make the rounds at Hogwarts and Snape coming to collect Draco for a ‘talk’. It took Draco two hours to calm Snape down enough to go back to his classes. Honestly, it was getting too much work for too little reward, and Draco was getting angry at Harry.
.....
“I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony,” Neville sighed as they got settled into ‘their spot’ on the lawns.
“Same,” Pansy said, “but I never realized he started this whole pure blood thing.”
“I wouldn’t be in his house if you paid me,” Ron exclaimed, paying no attention whatsoever to the so-called Slytherins around him. “Honestly, if the Sorting Hat tried to put me in Slytherin, I’d have got the train straight back home-” An ominous silence fell.
Harry looked a little wide-eyed and taken aback (probably scared at the probability of being sorted into Slytherin). Neville and Hermione were in the middle of a fervent nod, realizing what was said. Theo and Blaise looked mutinous, Pansy disgusted, Luna disappointed. Draco had no idea what expression he had, but he sure was not going to stay here to listen to some codswallop.
He collected his things in one fell swoop and walked out of there. Ron did try to call out, “Oh come on… you know I didn’t…” but Draco never stopped to listen to him. By the sounds of it, it was a total Slytherin walkout.
.....
The next day the school had something new to talk about. It was the inevitable falling out of Draco and co., the leading theory was Draco’s confirmed status as the Heir of Slytherin (teenagers are so dumb). No one was worried about the mythical monster unleashed from the Chamber; it was all very ironic. (Honestly.)
Draco stopped paying attention to anything or anyone after that. He had too much on his plate already; he was not going to be part of any of this drama. Remus still hadn’t replied, but the letter hadn’t made it back, so he was optimistic. He kept seeing Luna, Ginny, and Pansy together, and Ginny very publicly snubbed the idiot Gryffindors, so she seemed to be on their side (but at what cost? Poor baby Weasley).
Theo and Blaise were still not talking to Neville (which for some reason felt even more serious), so there was that. Snape had taken 100 points from Gryffindor for one thing or another (always the grumpy caretaker, that one).
Blaise, Theo, and Pansy did try to include him in their still-going research regarding the Chamber, but Draco refused point-blank. He was just over all this drama, and if the System didn’t have any time-sensitive serious Tasks for him, then he was going to stay away from all of this.
The next couple of weeks proved to be dramatic enough to be adapted into movies (huh!). The news of Colin Creevey being attacked came on a Monday morning. The air was thick with suspicion and accusing glares, mostly aimed at Draco. Half of the school was moving in tightly knit groups, scared of imminent attacks if they ventured alone.
Ginny was getting nightmares and getting paler by the day. Everyone just assumed it was due to Creevey being attacked as he was her partner in most of the classes, but Draco knew it was the Diary finally getting the better of Ginny.
In all this chaos, Lockhart announced his Dueling Club. Draco would have foregone attending if the Stupid System hadn’t pinged with a time-sensitive task.
Reveal Harry’s a Parseltongue.
Requirement: Attack Harry in a duel to reveal his abilities.
Draco was intentionally late for the first meeting of the Club, still just in time to watch Lockhart blasted off his feet by a stoic Snape. Honestly, it was worth the hassle of attending. He wanted to save this memory, the look of surprise on Lockhart’s face as he went flying through the air to smash into the wall was a solid 9.8.
“Do you think he’s alright?” Draco heard Hermione ask Harry and Ron, face covered with her hands looking through her fingers scared for the git.
“Who cares?” Blaise replied, forgetting about the silent treatment. Ron, Hermione, and Harry turned to look at them as Neville moved to stand between Theo and Blaise (looked like someone made up). Draco pointedly ignored looking at Harry.
Lockhart was splitting them into pairs for mock duels, but Snape reached Harry first. “Mr. Malfoy! Come over here. Let’s see what you make of the famous Potter,” Snape said coldly, steering them to the makeshift stage, where Snape and Lockhart were dueling before.
“But…Professor…” Harry stuttered, probably and rightfully scared to face off with Draco.
“Are you fine with this?” Snape asked Draco in a whisper as they moved to one side of the stage (a little late for asking). Draco just gave him a firm nod; Harry on the other side of the stage looked mighty nervous.
Lockhart guided them to the middle of the stage and informed them about the standard rules.
“Scared, Potter?” Draco muttered so only Harry could listen.
“You wish!” Harry huffed.
Lockhart cuffed Harry merrily on the shoulder. “Just do what I did, Harry.” (Please don’t.)
“What, drop your wand or fly back into a wall?” Snape said under his breath.
The first couple of spells were nothing more than a glorified Muggle brawl. Draco cast a Dancing Legs Jinx and got Incarcerous-ed by Harry. A silver spell hit Draco in the stomach that felt like a solid gut punch and left him wheezing. Draco aimed a Bat Bogey Hex which Harry barely missed. A Tickling Charm sent Draco to his knees guffawing, but he somehow still managed to cast a ‘Serpensortia’.
The end of his wand glowed as Harry watched wide-eyed and surprised at the snake that burst through the end of Draco’s wand and landed heavily on the floor, head raised and ready to attack. There were screams as the crowd backed away, clearing the floor.
Draco kept a close look on the snake and Harry as well, as he ignored the failed attempts of Lockhart to control or destroy the snake. At some point, the snake turned on Justin Fletchley and hissed threateningly at him.
Draco felt more than saw Snape move closer to him as Harry started hissing at the snake. Draco belatedly realized that Harry had hissed at the snake to leave Justin alone as he saw the snake move away from Justin and face Harry.
Before any more chaos could ensue, Snape finally moved forward to blow up the snake and ordered everyone to go back to their dorms. It took less than 30 minutes for the rumor to make its round this time. By the time Draco came back to his dorms, everyone was talking about Harry being the Heir.
There were two notifications from the System this time. One, announcing the task completed and the rewards while the second was the downgrade in Harry’s Connection to Casual Relationship.