Chapter 10 - Draco
Draco was relaxing next to the fire with Theo waiting for Hermione, they had made plans to go over the latest charms homework, when Pansy pranced over to them. Theo rolled his eyes at Draco, shaking his head and opened a random book from his bag, burying himself in it. Draco sighed. He liked Pansy, and she was cute, but all her attention got a little annoying especially since whenever she grabbed his arm or sat next to him, Hermione seemed to disappear.
“Hey Pans,” he said as she drew near them.
“Draco! Hi!” She screeched. Draco cringed, sometimes he couldn’t stand her shrill voice. “Want to go down to breakfast? I’m starved.”
“I’m waiting for Hermione, we’re supposed to go over charms.” He explained.
“Well she must already be down there, because she wasn’t in the dormitory.”
“Well she could’ve said something, we’ve been waiting for half an hour,” he grumbled. “Come on Theo, let’s go.” And the three made their way down to breakfast together.
As he entered the Great Hall, Draco immediately scanned it for Hermione, a habit he’d picked up in first term. He frowned when he didn’t see her. “Do you think she already went to the library?” He asked Theo.
Theo shrugged, “dunno mate,” turning to Pansy he asked, “you’re sure she wasn’t in the dormitory?”
“Nope, I was the last one there,” she replied, plopping herself down on a bench at the Slytherin table and pulling a platter of toast towards herself.
Draco exchanged a look with Theo, “Potter,” he said and spotted the bespectacled boy down the bench with Daphne and Blaise.
“Oi Potter,” he looked up, “have you seen Hermione?” Harry shook his head. Draco frowned again, “Should we check the library?”
“Draco! Come eat, I’m sure she just went to the library early.” called Pansy from her spot on the bench, patting the space next to her. Draco sank onto it slowly, deep in thought. Where was she? She was never late, never missed a meeting, something must be wrong. He ate quickly, wanting to get to the library to find Hermione.
He nearly ran from the Great Hall, but was stopped by Snape.
“Mr. Malfoy, come with me please. “
“But sir,”
“No, you will want to see this, it’s regarding Miss Granger.” Draco’s heart sank, and his mind began racing, what was so wrong that Snape had to find them in the Great Hall. The greasy haired wizard collected Harry and Theo as well before leading them out of the hall and into the Hospital Wing.
“Now I must prepare you, it is distressing I’m sure, since you are close with Miss Granger, but please keep calm, there are other students resting.” He explained in a bored voice, before pulling back the hanging around a bed in the corner to reveal a frozen Hermione.
Draco froze. Hermione was dead? How had this happened? He felt faint, and he must be pale because Snape was forcing him into a chair and his mouth was moving, a light above them popped out. He flexed his hand and forced himself to focus, to calm down.
“Mr. Malfoy, she is not dead, she is petrified like the other students who were attacked. Please do keep your composure,” Snape sighed. “I know it is jarring, but understand that Professor Sprout’s mandrakes are already beginning to reach maturity, we will have a brew to revive them shortly. One of you may stay for the rest of the morning.”
Draco didn’t even bother looking at Harry or Theo. He just simply didn’t move. If someone wanted him to leave Hermione’s bedside they would need to pry him off this chair.
He spent the rest of the day talking to Hermione, he read to her from his charms book, the only one he had brought with him to breakfast, choosing charms he thought she might enjoy learning about. He spoke of the grounds at the Manor and why Alexander was his favorite peacock. He talked through his worries of holding up the Malfoy name and the pressures he had never been able to vocalize before. He felt a tear slip from his eyes before he wiped it quickly away, even knowing no one was around.
Madam Pomfrey came to kick him out of the wing as dinner started shoo-ing him out and telling him he could return tomorrow if he felt it was necessary but reminding him that she couldn’t hear anything he said and would have no recollection of him being there.
He slumped onto the bench between Blaise and Daphne, and not wanting to give anyone the impression he was interested in talking, quickly began eating the nearest thing to him.
“Any news?” Daphne asked. Draco just grunted at her, and Daphne smiled sadly, “I know you care about her Draco, but you’re not her only friend.” And she was right, he realized as he looked around the table. Everyone was solemn, even Pansy hadn’t said so much as a word about anything more than asking Vince when the homework was due for Transfiguration, which only served to remind Draco he had made exactly zero progress on his Charms work.
“I’m going to write to my father,” Draco said suddenly, putting his knife and fork down, and reaching for his bag. “He likes Hermione, and maybe if he hears what happened he’ll push the board to do something more about finding who’s responsible!” He began drafting his letter, detailing all of the information the group had learned so far. He sent it with his owl, Apollo, as soon as dinner was finished before going straight to bed.
-
Lucius’s face paled as he read his son’s letter. “Cissa, Hermione’s been attacked,” he explained. Narcissa to her credit did not react other than a tightening in her eyes. “Draco’s just written, he says Dumbledore isn’t doing anything to find the culprit or the monster. Do you think I should involve the board? There’s a chance that they connect the diary, but I don’t think they’d be able to trace it back to us.”
“Hermione’s life is on the line, and Draco is upset enough to write to you asking for help. Do it Lucius,” Narcissa snapped, leaving the room. Lucius nodded to himself before calling for his elf Dobby, and requesting his traveling cloak .
-
Draco went to the Hospital Wing directly following breakfast the next morning, bringing a wider variety of books to read from today. Harry joined him this time, bringing his invisibility cloak in case Madam Pomfrey enforced the one visitor policy. They pulled up two chairs next to her bed, and Draco cracked open Hogwarts a History and began reading from one of his favorite passages detailing the making of the Great Hall ceiling.
Harry tuned out Draco’s reading, reaching for Hermione’s hand on the bed. “Hermione, please you have to wake up, you’re my best friend.” He trailed off, spotting a slip of paper clutched in her hand. “Draco, did you see this?”
“See what?” Draco looked up from his book.
“Help me get it out of her hand,” he began to pry the paper out from her frozen fingers. It took them 15 minutes to wriggle the paper out without ripping it. As Draco looked at the words, he paled. Hermione had done it, and was on her way back to him to share her findings when she was attacked. He passed the parchment to Harry.
“I need to send Father another letter.” He had heard from Lucius that morning that he would go to the Board of Governors and call for emergency action on the school. He quickly scribbled Hermione’s findings on a fresh sheet of parchment before tearing off to the Owelry with Harry hot on his heels. As they sent the letter with Apollo, Draco hoped that his request and Hermione’s life would be worth more than his father’s reputation.
Back in the common room, Draco passed the parchment to Theo who read it quickly. When he held it up Draco paled. “What’s that on the back?”
Theo flipped the page over, eyes scanning the lines. He gulped. “Mate, did Hermione ever talk to you about Horcruxes?” At Draco’s nod, Theo passed him the page. “We need Potter.”
-
At breakfast the following morning as the doors to the Great Hall opened with a bang. The students turned as one at the interruption. Lucius Malfoy strode into the hall followed by Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, a south asian wizard, and several aurors, the rest of the board of governors waited in the doorway, peering into the Hall. They made their way directly to the staff table and the minister approached Dumbledore, who put up a bubble to block sound from their conversation. As they left the hall, many of the teachers including the headmaster in tow, Lucius, sought Draco’s gaze and nodded. Before Dumbledore left the Hall, he turned to the students.
“All students must return to their common rooms immediately, food will be sent down, but classes are canceled until further notice.”
The students made their way to their common rooms, Draco attempting to write his Herbology essay, groaned at Theo. “What do you think they’ll do when they find it?” Theo merely shrugged, eye’s focusing on his own essay. They passed the rest of the day in resigned silence, until Professor Snape entered the common room as the dinner dishes were cleared.
He was immediately bombarded with questions from the students. “Quiet!” he hissed in a carrying voice. “The Chamber of Secrets has been closed, classes will resume tomorrow.” He turned to leave. “Miss Granger will be back by the end of the week,” he added almost as an afterthought, before leaving the common room.
Draco slumped into the sofa, relieved.
“Father should owl in the morning with the details,” he explained to the waiting group. The collective energy in the room had changed. No one had been called from their common room, so it was understood a Slytherin hadn’t been responsible, though they all knew they would get no apologies for the whispers and threats they had endured this year. He sighed as he stood, ready to get the first restful sleep since the Chamber was opened.
“‘The ministry brought in a parseltongue specialist from Nepal who was able to track the snake based on the direction from the letter where the aurors, wearing specialized mirrored glasses, entered the chamber to kill the basilisk. When they entered they found Ginny Weasley frantic with the snake dead and the diary destroyed. Dumbledore took the diary for further research and Ginny was rescued from the Chamber, refusing to say how she had gotten there,’” Draco read at breakfast in a hushed tone, “Well that’s that I guess.”
He looked to the end of the letter,
Well done, son.
And smiled to himself, giving Harry a smirk across from him.
-
That weekend the mandrake brew was ready and Draco, Theo, and Harry made their way to the Hospital Wing, Harry toting around an extra heavy bag given exams had finished for the year.
“Hermione!” Draco called as they entered the wing and saw her sitting, propped up on pillows reading from the same Hogwarts A History Draco had left only days before.
She looked up as she bookmarked her page, face splitting into a grin. “Draco! I’m so happy to see you!” His heart soared as he blushed, missing a step and Harry rushed past him to hug his best friend.
“We were so worried,” Theo explained, dropping into his usual seat on the far side of her bed. “But we did it.”
She stared at him, “Really?”
Harry opened his bag, pulling out a handsome leather box he passed to her. Hermione opened the antique clasps carefully, gasping at the contents. Inside were a pair of twin daggers, inlaid with mother of pearl handles set with a single emerald in each hilt, both sharpened to a perfect point.
“They’re Goblin-made,” Theo said quietly and Hermione gasped.
“So you got my note?” The three boys nodded. She closed the box handing it back to Harry.
“No, those are for you we made our own,” Harry pushed the box back. Hermione opened her mouth to protest.
“Don’t you want to hear about how we did it?” Draco asked slyly. Her eyes snapped to his.
“Of course,” she answered, promptly sitting up expectantly.
And the boys launched into the story. How Harry had gone to Lockhart distracting him for a few hours responding to fan mail while Draco and Theo had used his office floo to enter their Gringotts vaults finding several concealable goblin made daggers and other weapons, before the three of them, now properly armed for a medieval duel crept under the invisibility cloak towards the place Harry had heard the voices. How they had met Moaning Myrtle who told them the story of her death after taking a special liking to Harry, who then found the snake on the sink and using parseltongue opened the Chamber of Secrets. Harry had led the group into the chamber, while Theo and Draco had levitated a piece of mirror in front of them, hoping to avoid instant death if they did meet the snake.
“And it worked?” gasped Hermione, who giggled, “well obviously, I mean you’re all sitting here now.”
“Do you want to hear the end?” Asked Harry annoyed, he really enjoyed story telling once he got going. Hermione nodded, still smiling to herself as Harry launched back into telling the tale of their adventure.
He told Hermione how when they entered the main chamber, they had found Ginny Weasley, nearly dead with a lifelike Tom Riddle sitting near her. Tom had called the basilisk, but between the three of them and the mirror, Harry had managed to stab it through the side of the skull with one of the blades. He had distracted Riddle for long enough for Theo to drip venom on a small spear point and then slid it to Harry who stabbed the center of the diary.
“It leaked this disgusting liquid! Like a mix of blood and ink!” Harry exclaimed with disgust. Hermione only nodded, having no frame of reference of what it should look like when a soul was destroyed, and not only a soul but one tainted with so much dark magic.
Once the diary had been destroyed, Riddle disappeared and Ginny woke up out of her trance. They had explained that she couldn’t tell anyone they had been there, but that someone would be down to get her in a few hours. She had started crying, but Harry gave her a tight hug and she agreed not to say anything. The boys had spent another 15 minutes getting venom on the rest of their blades, the twin pair for Hermione, a short sword for Harry with a ruby in it’s hilt, like the Gryffindor he acted as, Theo had joked, who himself took a collapsible spear with a lethal point. Draco had chosen an ancient looking gilded blade set with diamonds and a single large emerald in the hilt.
“And no one suspected anything?” She asked as they had finished showing off their new hardware.
Draco shook his head, “No one has said anything although Dumbledore did take the diary.” Just then Lucius Malfoy strode into the Wing.
“May I have a word with you Miss Granger?” he asked stepping into the space near her cot. Hermione nodded, glancing at Draco. His father pulled the curtain around behind him, blocking the boys from view. Draco exchanged glances with his friends, but after only a few minutes, his father pulled back the curtains.
“Now Draco, I expect you to extend an invitation to your friends for the summer, your mother and I would like nothing more than to get to know your friends.”
“Yes, Father, of course.” And with that, Lucius left the wing, and the boys settled back down around Hermione who had begun peppering them with questions on the exams she had missed.