The Madness Ensues
You know how they say never to meet your heroes… Yeah, that was the case with Draco and his villains.
He had been more than disappointed to meet Quirrell-head Voldi in Year 1, but Aragog! It had proven to be nothing more than an overinflated eight-legged furball.
It all started when Harry burst in, windswept, flushed, and breathless, into the Gryffindor common room, announcing to anyone who would listen (not really, but you get the point) that Hagrid (of all the bloody buffoons) was the opener of the Chamber of Secrets (Honestly! These Gryffindors and their empty heads!) because the Diary had said so, and obviously, the sinister, creepy-looking object was more trustworthy than Hagrid.
Fortunately for Harry and unfortunately for Ginny, the Diary had vanished by the time the gang had gone to see it themselves and play the oracle with it.
Draco and the Slytherins had done their customary and obligatory “Hagrid is just a monster lover, not a human slayer” bit. But obviously, no one would listen to them. They being the Slytherins and all the Heir drama.
Hermione, as expected, went into research mode faster than you could say Harry. Ron, Hermione, and Neville went round and round about the vision Harry had courtesy of the Diary. Harry recounted the whole thing numerous times with little to no input from the Slytherins.
“How many monsters do you think this place could hold?” Blaise mused.
“Certainly too many to keep track of,” Luna replied.
“Riddle does sound like Percy - who asked him to squeal on Hagrid anyway?” Ron asked.
“But the monster killed someone,” Hermione said indignantly.
“And who said it was Hagrid who was the monster keeper?” Pansy questioned.
“Do you think we should go ask Hagrid about this?” Hermione asked in a hesitant voice, ignoring Pansy.
“Yeah... no, we are out of this two-sickle plan,” Draco announced after sharing a look with the Slytherins and getting looks of betrayal for his troubles from Gryffindor.
“Also, that’d be a cheerful visit. Hello Hagrid! Tell us, have you been setting anything mad loose in the castle lately?” That was Pansy, succinct and no-nonsense.
“What do you mean you’re out?” Harry glared at Draco.
“It wasn’t Hagrid.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because we know Hagrid?” Draco said with an eyebrow raised as if pointing out the obvious.
“Also, he’s too pure to be villainous,” Luna said absentmindedly.
“So you’re not coming with us,” Ron stated more than asked, all the while Harry glared at Draco as if he had personally betrayed him or something.
.....
In the end, they never got around to going to Hagrid. Easter came with the most difficult conundrum of all time: Selecting subjects for Year 3.
Neville got so many letters from his family on which subjects to take that Pansy and the twins made a game out of the letters. Harry was often heard lamenting about Potions while Ron complained about DADA. Draco had half a mind to tell him about Lupin but then opted against it. (Yes, he could be petty.)
Hermione and Blaise were aghast at the complaints and were seen holding courts for the plonkers to choose well. Neville was happy to listen to Theo and Blaise’s advice, so all turned out well.
Draco, Hermione, and Blaise took bets (like normal students) and enrolled in all the electives. Even Theo questioned their sanity. Harry, Ginny, Ron, and the twins just gave up and were quite vocal about the school not being in their future.
The dreaded Quidditch match came on a very bleak day. After the match ended with Blaise and Hermione getting an exclusive reservation in the hospital wing, Draco tried his best to derail the plonkers (namely Ron and Harry) from their ill-advised visit to interrogate Hagrid.
Once again, he failed, and after some exquisitely school-expulsing adventures, ended in the Forbidden Forest, his world literally upside down, hanging from a tree trunk in between furry legs and mothball spiders.
He did manage to take a photo of Ron figuratively losing his mind over Aragog, Peter Parker style. He had half a mind to make this the twins' Christmas gift for making Draco’s night horrible. (Harry’s punishment was TBD.)
The visit did provide them with a new lead, which Draco had completely forgotten about. As they were having breakfast the very next day, Ron and Harry going on about Moaning Myrtle while Luna and Pansy provided side jabs about them raiding a girl’s bathroom, the most horrifying news was delivered by one Mr. Seamus Finnigan.
“We are still getting exams!”
Theo and Ron (surprisingly enough) went on a debate about school morale and priorities of having exams in such circumstances, while Neville went back to keep watch over Blaise.
Harry, Greg, and Vince, unsurprisingly, went Defcon1 mode for the crisis, moaning and groaning like headless chickens about how they don’t even know what they had learned this year so far. How can they take exams?
Four days before exams, Harry received a letter from Griphook during breakfast about someone trying to access his vault, which he promptly brought to Draco.
On further inquiry, it was revealed to be one Rupin Chandra from Yorkshire, an old acquaintance of James Potter, who James himself had approved as a user.
Draco put two and two together fairly fast enough and asked Harry, “Do you trust me?” to which Harry replied with “Is that a real question?” with a smile, and they approved the access.
The same night, Draco went to Severus to ask him about the benefits of Basilisk parts and such in Potion making.
After the initial concern on Severus’s part about the availability of said Basilisk parts, he was motivated (seriously, Snape was even worse of a bookworm than Hermione) due to the academic side of this query and it led to discussions and brainstorming on the uses of said parts. (Now only if he could get the System to talk again.)
Three days before exams, McGonagall announced during dinner that the Mandrakes were ready to be made into Draughts (Read: they had hit puberty, which honestly creeped Draco out more than he expected it to.)
The more exciting news came from Ginny or, due to Ginny, sort of. Draco reckoned Ginny had been trying and failing to tell them about Voldi, but Percy construed it as Ginny trying to tell on him, which somehow Ron thought was Percy doing something humiliating.
Draco slipped up and screamed “Clearwater!” (totally not on purpose.) The twins were fast enough and caught on; that’s how Percy got riled, red-faced, and ran away from the Great Hall.
The same night Harry and Ron went on a goose chase to recruit Lockhart for their invasion of the Chamber but were rebuffed. On their way back to the dorm, they took a detour to the hospital wing.
The Slytherins were already there despite the nagging from Pomfrey. Luna and Neville were also present. So everyone made the discovery of the monster being a Basilisk at the same time.
Ron burst out laughing, and Draco honestly thought he had finally lost it, but Theo burst out expletives at the same time, which was even more of a shock.
"Fuck!” Theo exclaimed. “Shut it, you moron!” He pointed threateningly at Ron. By this time, Ron had been howling uncontrollably.
"Oh no… this is just…” Ron tried and failed to get a hold of himself. “It’s honestly too funny,” Ron said, or at least that’s what Draco thought he was saying during bouts of hysteria.
“What’s going on…” Harry asked, confused.
“It’s just….” Ron explained, still laughing. “Last year, it was decided-”
“Oh shit!” Pansy groaned.
“-it’s Slytherin's year… Best of luck to you snakes!”
Pansy and Theo shared a look and started cussing Draco out. “This is all your fault!!!”