Alchemists & Quidditch
The rest of the break really was quite quiet after that, well mostly. He quickly dove into the books that Blaise had gifted him, trying to see if maybe they could help in the search for Nicolas Flamel.
The first one mentioned him very briefly, as a footnote, just giving information he already knew, that he was a famous alchemist who had been born in the 14th century, nothing too important. The second one didn’t mention him at all, although he did go down the rabbit hole of reading at least a quarter of that book before he could stop himself.
Could you really blame him? How could he not be fascinated with the idea of transmutation? Breaking down metals and changing their very material into something completely different? Or applying that kind of thought to potions and elixirs and cures! He could only imagine.
With that at a dead end he sadly turned his attention back to the library, where he spent a good majority of his days. However he still found nothing, in fact the subject of alchemy seemed to be lacking in their library, weirdly enough.
Somehow the temperatures seem to drop more and more by the day, making it obvious that Draco definitely wouldn’t be getting to fly out on their home quidditch pitch any time soon.
Instead of flying in his downtime from searching the library he did find comfort in working with his Mother in her conservatory that was just off of the lower library.
The room, although surrounded with glass windows, had heavy warming charms on it to keep it nice and cozy for all of the plants. They spent the better part of a day pruning and arranging the beautiful flowers that Narcissa had cultivated since they were little buds.
The break overall felt rather mundane, which was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Hogwarts. The days passed by quickly, soon the log burned out and not long after Draco was having to pack to return to Hogwarts.
~1~
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland - 5 January, 1992
It was a Sunday when Draco and the rest of the students arrived back at the school, the day before term started. The train ride was overall rather boring, Draco having sat with the Slytherins and already knowing all about their holidays.
After Draco had unpacked his things he grabbed his dragonhide leather school bag and quickly left for the library, where the trio of Gryffindors were already waiting at Draco’s table.
“Finally! What took you so long?”
“Well I don’t know about you, Potter, but I did have to come all the way from the Dungeons.” Draco snipped while he set down his bag and sat down at his usual spot.
“Enough about him being late, did you find out anything about Nicolas Flamel over the holiday?” Granger asked incessantly, leaning heaving against the table and sitting on her knees in the chair.
“Sadly I couldn’t find anything new about him, just that he was born in the 14th century and that he is a famous alchemist. Our library had practically nothing on Alchemy.” He rolled his eyes before looking back at the other two boys.
“He says the 14th century casually.” Weasley joked under his breath, his elbow on the table and his head in his hand looking bored.
Draco huffed but decided to restrain himself from telling Weasley to shut his big mouth. Progress.
“We- uh.. We didn’t find anything.” Potter said, looking a bit nervous for some reason.
“You found nothing? Not even in the..” Granger trailed off and glanced pointedly down at the first floor area of the library that was the restricted section.
“Well..” Potter scratched the back of his head, looking a bit guilty as Granger looked back at him.
“Oh he looked, once, and then he got distracted.” Ron said, looking at Potter with the very similar pointed expression Granger had just had.
“Oh Harry what did you do?” Granger hissed, her voice laced with concern.
Potter sat there silently, looking suddenly very interested in the wood grain of the table.
“Yes, Potter, what exactly did you do?” Draco also asked, narrowing his eyes at Potter’s silence.
There was a beat of silence before Weasley burst out, “he snuck out for three nights to go look in a mirror!”
“Ron!”
“Harry!”
Potter looked like the kneazle who stole the cream in that moment, eyes wide and a bit panicked.
“If Filch had caught you!” Granger sounded horrified at the prospect.
“Filch wouldn’t have caught me!” Potter finally snapped out of his caught look and quickly defended.
“No, just Dumbledore.” Weasley pointed out, making Potter’s head snap over to glare at him.
Granger made a sound of horror, seemingly lost for words. ‘It’s a miracle.’ Draco thought, internally chuckling at his joke.
“You told us to sneak into the–”
“Shhh!”
“-is me sneaking about the castle much worse?”
Granger had no response to that, since technically Potter wasn’t wrong.
“So you snuck out just to look in a mirror?” Draco drawled, leaning a bit more onto the table , although not nearly as far as Granger who was practically on the table.
“It wasn’t just a mirror, it was… It showed things.” Potter looked very hesitant to give up any information.
“It showed things we wanted, right? You said Dumbledore called in the Mirror of… Ere-Erusied?”
“Mirror of Erised.” Potter corrected, making Draco’s eyebrows raise immediately in alarm.
“You looked into the Mirror of Erised? How are you still sane??” Draco asked, although part of him doubted that Potter or Weasley were very sane in the first place.
“How do you know what it is?” Potter tilted his head, his curiosity seemingly overruling his shame.
“What is the Mirror of Erised?” Granger looked at Draco, also very curious.
“Of course I know what it is, Weasley should as well, considering wizarding parents use it as a tool for scaring children into not being selfish,” Draco explained to Potter before turning to Granger. “The Mirror of Erised, or Mirror of Desire, is known to show you your heart's deepest desire. Many people are known to have gone mad from looking in it.”
“It’s not like I knew what it did.” Potter grumbled under his breath.
“How could you not, it quite literally says it!”
“It did not say that! It just had some weird… writing..” He trailed off, looking guilty.
The Slytherin huffed, quite done with the idiocy that was Potter.
“How did you even get to the mirror without being caught? Or the..” Granger glanced again at the restricted section.
“Oh! I got this cloak,” Potter seemed quite happy at the change in subject. “It made me invisible! And the note said it was my dad’s.” He seemed to grow a little, his chest visibly growing in pride.
“An invisibility cloak? I’ve read about those! Aren’t they more of a joke item?” The bushy haired girl seemed to look around, as if looking for the very book she had read, and seemed a bit disappointed when she realized there wasn’t any.
“It was super nice, though! Definitely not something you’d get in any old place in Diagon Alley!” Weasley jumped in.
“And if it was it wouldn’t have been able to have been your father’s and been passed down to you and still work even decently.” Draco pointed out as he inspected his nails.
“Definitely.” Weasley said before the crinkling of a wrapper made Draco look up to see Weasley unwrapping a chocolate frog.
His nose immediately scrunched up in disgust. “You actually like those, Weasley?” Which caught Granger’s attention.
“Ron!” Granger hissed and glared at him as the frog jumped across the table a bit before turning solid. “This is a library! No food or drink allowed!”
“Oh come off it Hermione, it’s just some Christmas candy.” Weasley rolled his eyes as he took the frog from the table and bit the head off of it while taking the card out of the package.
Draco gagged a little, he really couldn’t stand chocolate frogs, they were downright horrible.
“Aw, ‘nother Dumbledore.” Weasley bemoaned, his mouth full of chocolate as he took another bite. He haphazardly threw the card onto the table.
Draco barely noticed it, not questioning Weasley’s blatant disregard for the sactanty of the library, especially when Weasley and Granger quickly dissolved into fighting.
Potter, on the other hand, seemed to have his eye caught on something as he reached out and picked up the card.
Not a moment later he gasped, catching the attention of Weasley and Granger. He seemed to stare at the back of the card for a long moment, as if double checking something.
Then he looked up with his eyes wide, “I found him!” he whispered a bit frantically. “I found Flamel! I told you I’d read the name somewhere before, I read it on the train coming here — listen to this: ‘Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon’s blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel’ !”
Granger immediately jumped to her feet, looking extremely excited.
“Stay here!” she said before she sprinted off towards the aisles of books.
The three boys barely had exchanged mystified looks before she was dashing back, an enormous old book in her arms which almost dwarfed her in comparison.
“I never thought to look in here!” She whispered excitedly as she heaved the book on the table with an audible thump. “How could I be so stupid, I read it weeks ago for a bit of light reading!”
“This is light?”
“Quiet!” Granger shushed Weasley, sending him a sharp look as she opened the book and flipped through the pages quickly, muttering incoherently to herself.
At last she found what she was looking for, seemingly perking up when she finally found the page. “I knew it! I knew it!”
“Are we allowed to speak yet?” Weasley grumbled, Granger promptly ignored him.
“Nicolas Flamel,” she whispered dramatically, even pausing for effect, “is the only known maker of the Philosopher’s Stone!”
“The what?” went unnoticed as an epiphany exploded in Draco’s head.
“Of course! The Philosopher’s Stone! Of course that’s what it is!” He couldn’t believe he had been so stupid! It was only the literal biggest discovery that alchemy had ever had! It was what the subject of alchemy was based around!
“Care to fill me and Ron in, guys?” Potter asked, making him turn his attention back to what was at hand.
“Oh, honestly, don’t you two read?” She huffed exasperatedly before looking back at the book and readings.
“The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher’s Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.
‘There have been many reports of the Philosopher’s Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flemel, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Mr. Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight).”
She looked up from the book with a hard look, putting her pointer finger down on the words. “See? The dog must be guarding Flamel’s Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they’re friends and he knew someone was after it, that’s why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!”
“A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying?” said Potter. “No wonder Snape’s after it! Anyone would want it!”
Draco immediately scowled at the mention of his Godfather, he knew he was the primary suspect to the Gryffindor’s but it was so much more obvious that it was Quirrel who wanted the stone!
Potter did at least throw an apologetic look to Draco, having noticed that Draco was angry with him, while Granger glanced at him before looking back to the book.
“And no wonder we couldn’t find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry.” Weasley snarked, not even noticing or acknowledging Draco’s change in mood. “He’s not exactly recent if he’s six hundred and sixty-five, is he?”
~2~
There was a flurry of activity when term started, it felt like all of the professors decided to assign homework all at once. The only one who seemed happy about that at all was Granger, who now was sitting with Draco during every possible break so that they could do their homework together and compare answers.
He did have to admit, as reluctant as he was, she was pretty brilliant and was a great help with his Defense work. In return he helped her with the few classes he seemed slightly better than her in, meaning History of Magic and Astronomy. They seemed pretty tied in Charms, Potions, and Herbology, though.
When Imbolc came on the 1st of February the Slytherin’s sat outside under a tree and weaved Brigid’s crosses for most of the day, counting their blessings that the holiday had landed on a Saturday that year.
When the sun started to fall they went back to the Slytherin dorms and laid their Brigid’s crosses upon the altar so that they sat next to a doll made of corn husk, two vases filled with white flowers and little sprigs of lavender, a bowl of milk, and six pure white candles.
Unlike at Samhain they ate out in the common room in front of the fireplace.
The common room looked very different than usual. Wrapped around each column and weaved around the ceiling of the dreary space was some thick white ribbon, which stood in contrast to the dreary atmosphere.
There were also many pure white candles that floated around the ceiling, similar to the one’s in the great hall, and there were sprigs of spring flowers all around the room, filling it with a very nice aroma.
They ate an early dinner while the sun was still up, even if they couldn’t see it clearly from their common room’s position under the lake.
For the main meal they stuck to the traditional bánbhia, meaning white food or white meats diet. They were served chicken that was seasoned with fresh herbs and lemon, on the side there was wild green colcannon and some cheesy braided bread with rosemary and crow garlic confit. Of course they were also given lots of freshly churned butter and large mugs of milk to go along with it all.
On many of the tables around the common room was a buffet style set up for dessert. There were blackberry scones, lemon and rosemary tarts with a bit of honey on top, lavender & rosemary seed cakes, and so much more.
By the time the sun had set their bellies and spirits were full and they made their way back to the altar in the boy’s dorm. Together they sat in front of the altar and prayed to Brigid, the Goddess of Spring, and welcomed her arrival.
Draco couldn’t help but internally thank the goddess for the day of reprieve, and asked for a nice and relaxed spring.
However it seemed like his asking was for naught when a few days later, in the library once again, Potter bemoaned the fact that Snape would be refereeing the next Gryffindor Quidditch match later that month.
“It’s like I said earlier in the common room, Harry, if you’re really that nervous then don’t play.” Granger huffed as she reread over some of her study reviews that she had created when they got back from the holidays.
“But Gryffindor doesn’t have a reserve seeker! If I don’t play then Gryffindor can’t play at all, then they’ll all hate me and we won’t win the cup!” Potter whispered frantically, he seemed to be trying very hard not to raise his voice.
Weasley wasn’t really offering anything to the conversation, mostly just practicing the levitation charm over and over on his quill.
“But Snape is liable to kill me–”
‘Okay that’s it!’ Draco slammed his book close, causing a silence to fall over the table and all three of the lions to look at him.
“Professor Snape is not ‘liable to kill you’! Even if he was the one who jinxed your broom — which he wasn’t so shut your mouth Weasley — he wouldn’t do anything because I’m sure the proper precautions have been made after your last game! He may be a bit biassed but he isn’t a murderer!” And with that he gathered up his books, parchment, quills, and closed ink bottle and shoved it all into his bag.
He flounced off before any of them could say anything, leaving them looking like dying fishes with how their mouths gaped.
In all of the rush of homework and ignoring the stupid Gryffindors, he almost missed the Ravenclaw vs Slytherin match that happened on the 8th. Slytherin won, of course, in an absolutely dominating lead of 210-70.
It wasn’t until after a lot of begging and pleading on the Gryffindor’s parts — actually correction, it was Potter and Granger who did the begging and pleading while Weasley rudely said they had nothing to apologise for — Draco very reluctantly forgave them by the end of the month.
He did make them promise to not bad mouth the professor in front of him in such a way again.
(“But he tried to kill Harry!” Weasley cried, some of the only words he had spoken during the entire apology.
“Shut it, Ronald!”)
Needless to say Weasley wasn’t exactly happy about the stipulation, but since he was overruled by the other two lions he was pressured to agree, much to Draco’s joy.
As the day of the quidditch match approached Potter seemed to get more and more nervous, although he kept his promise and didn’t say a word against Snape in front of Draco. He didn’t seem to be the only one, however, as the rest of the Gryffindor quidditch had a very tense atmosphere around them.
Potter became more and more busy as Wood scheduled far too many practices in the weeks leading up to the match, making the study sessions in the library downright awful without their mediator.
Weasley and Granger would bicker and bicker, to which it would make Draco snap at them and then they would argue with him. It was an endless and exhausting cycle.
~3~
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland - 22 February, 1992
When the morning of the match finally arrived Draco walked down to the locker rooms with the Gryffindors and the team. The team overall regarded him with a high level of suspicion, well– most since the twins seemed to immediately welcome him, which was especially weird in comparison to the younger Weasley.
As the rest of the team went inside the locker room Potter stopped just before the door, looking grim and a bit pale.
Granger gave him a tight hug while Weasley gave him a firm pat on the shoulder, both looking as if they were sending him off to his death.
“Oh stop being so dramatic.” Draco scoffed, rolling his eyes so hard it’s a wonder they didn’t roll into his head.
He pushed the two aside and stood in front of Potter himself, putting his gloved hands on his hips. “You will be fine, you’re going to catch that snitch and show everyone, including yourself, just how idiotic you all are being. Got it, Potter?”
Wide emerald green eyes met narrowed silver and Potter nodded, looking a bit stupid when he did. However he didn’t look nearly as pale and even had a small smile gracing his face.
“Good, now get in there and get ready!” He waved him away. Potter chortled a bit but followed Draco’s instruction and went into the locker room.
The Slytherin felt quite proud at that, pulling his coat a little closer and tightening the knot his scarf was tied into.
It wasn’t until he turned to leave and saw Granger and Weasley standing there, both looking a little shocked, that he remembered that other people exist and saw his quite embarrassing outburst.
He tried to disburse the embarrassment, hoping they believed the reddening on his face was from the freezing temperature. “Oh shut it, it wasn’t like you two were helping by acting like he was dying.” Draco huffed before leaving the two quickly to go to his seat in the Slytherin section.
As he walked Draco thought back to what had just happened and hoped beyond hope that he was right and Quirrell wouldn’t try anything at the match. He hadn’t had any untoward dreams about the match, actually he hadn’t had any suspicious dreams in awhile.
A random spike of fear felt like it was stabbed through him. ‘What if I’m not having those dreams anymore and something bad really will happen to Potter?’
Draco tried to breathe through his fear, through his panic, he had had long stretches with no visions before. It had never been this long but that didn’t mean anything.
‘I’ll just make sure to keep an extra close eye on Quirrell.’ Draco concluded — although it didn’t sit right with him — as he finally made it to the Slytherin section and pushed past the rowdy crowd and spotted Goyle who towered over the other first years.
Without missing a beat he quickly went over and found a spot between Crabbe and Goyle open for him. He nodded to them in silent thanks before taking his seat and pulling his new silver omnioculars from his bag.
Just as he started to get them into focus a small hush fell over the stadium, although it didn’t eliminate all of the sound, in fact there was probably more discussion than ever, even if it was simply in whispered tones.
“Is that–?”
“He never comes to games!”
“Must be because of what happened to Potter, of course he’s going out of his way to favor him. Hasn't bothered showing up to the last two matches.”
That last one came straight from Flint, who sat not too far from Draco and the others, and he sounded very bitter. As to why he was, Draco didn’t know.
That is until he looked through his omnioculars at the teachers box to see–
“Dumbledore?!” The blond gasped, pulling the device away from his eyes to look again in case somehow it was making him see things. But nope, he was definitely there, in the flesh, and he even was sitting right next to Quirrell.
It felt like a huge weight had been taken off his chest, there was no possible way even Quirrell was stupid enough to try anything when Dumbledore was right there!
“WELCOME!” A voice echoed through the stadium, the same exact one as all the other Quidditch matches. And when he glanced over at the box he noticed that yep, it was the very same boy as last time. He also once again had McGonagall right next to him, watching his every move.
‘What was his name again?’
“Welcome one and all to the fourth game of the quidditch season! Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff!” Much like that last game the lions roared in excitement, while the Hufflepuffs loudly hollered, so much so that even from all the way across the pitch Draco could feel the impact of their words.
First came the Gryffindors, who marched out onto the pitch, looking far more solemn than they had at that first game. Well except for the twins, who seemed oddly excited.
“On the pitch we have the Gryffindor team! Their Captain and Keeper Oliver Wood! Harry Potter as seeker, the Wonderful Weasley twins as Beaters — GO GEORGE AND FRED!! Sorry Professor – and then we have Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell as Chasers!”
Then the Hufflepuffs marched out, looking far more cheery and waving to their house. “Now on the pitch we have the Hufflepuff team! They have Skye Hansley as Keeper, Cedric Diggory as Seeker — seems to have quite the fan club that one, not that I can blame them–”
“Jordan! Now is not the time!”
‘Ah, right, Jordan.’ Draco was reminded as McGonagall loudly scolded the announcer for his extremely inappropriate behavior.
“Okay, okay! For all those listening, that was a joke!” Then there was a beat of silence, “...mostly. ANYWAY! For Beaters we have Wren Clutterbuck & Iliana Knight, good luck to them against George and Fred, and finally we have Basil Hart, Fiona Caddel, & Allister Barlowe. This year, we have Fiona Caddel returning for her second, and final, year as captain!”
He looked through his omnioculars at the teams and was shocked to realize he recognised the seeker, Diggory. “He’s the one who helped with my bags on the train! The Hufflepuff seeker!” Draco pointed out, lowering the device and looking back at Pansy.
“Oooo, he’s quite the looker! Too bad he’s a Huffleuff.” She sniffed as she looked through her own golden omnioculars at the boy in question.
Draco looked back at the field as the captains of the team shook hands, Snape standing close by to them in his black robes, although he did have a black and white striped band on his arm.
“This match is being refereed by the Head of Slytherin house, Professor Snape — interesting choice considering how much he hates Gryffindor but you do you professor!”
Even though it was too far away to make out the potions master’s face, even with his omnioculars, Draco just knew that he was scowling and couldn’t help but smile.
After a moment the players all mounted their brooms, and with a whistle from Snape they all rose up very high into the air.
Unlike Hooch, who threw the Quaffle manually into the air, Snape simply waved his wand to make it fly high.
“And the Quaffle is up — taken into possession by Allister Barlowe of Hufflepuff! As stated at the last Hufflepuff game this is Barlowe’s first year of being fully on the team, having been on reserve for 3 years and — wow! Already 10 points for Hufflepuff! This is looking to be a very fast game people!”
It really was looking to be one, both teams seemed determined to finish the match as fast as possible. The Gryffindors because they didn’t want to give Snape time to give them too many penalties and the Hufflepuffs because they didn’t want the lions racking up too many points.
Soon, the lions were in possession and streaking across the field with the quaffle, a flurry of red, and made two goals one after another.
“It looks like all those extra practices lately are really paying off for Gryffindor because they just got up to 20 points! Those Gryffindor chasers sure are something!”
However the Gryffindor’s good luck seemed to run out not even a minute later when a stray bludger hit by one of the Weasley twins got a bit too close to Snape, who was hovering just off the ground on one of the school brooms, leading to Hufflepuff getting awarded a penalty.
“That makes them tied 20 to 20 — even though it’s obvious that it was an accident on George’s part and that is a totally unnecessary penalty-”
“Jordan, stop being so biassed!”
“I’ll stop if he stops, Professor.”
Draco rolled his eyes, which was what led to him spotting Harry not too far away, who was circling the game like a hawk. He had never seen the 11 year old look so focused on something.
Part of him silently wondered if maybe he had a play in that but shook himself out of it and put it towards whatever Wood had said in the locker room before the match.
“Quaffle is in possession by Chaser and Captain Fiona Caddel of Hufflepuff she goes to toss to her fellow Chaser Basil Hart, who goes to try and shoot it into the hoops and — YES! Blocked masterfully by Captain Oliver Wood! Now the Quaffle is taken by Alicia Spinnet –”
Draco barely paid attention to the commentary as gasps and cheers echoed through the crowd as Potter suddenly went into a spectacular dive.
His heart leaped into his throat, for a split second thinking that his broom was being controlled again. However that passed after a moment as he spotted the glint of gold right by Snape.
“And Spinnet scores another 10 points for Gryffindor!”
The blond Slytherin didn’t pay any attention to the commentary, focused solely on the Gryffindor Seeker as he streaked towards the ground in a blur of red and gold.
Distantly he noticed Diggory following but it was far too late.
The Hufflepuff was gaining ground quickly but had missed those few precious seconds and with the rate Potter was going there was no way he’d beat the younger seeker to the snitch.
At the very last second Snape turned as a scarlet blur only barely missed him by what had to be a hair. As soon as he had passed him Potter pulled out of the dive, his fist held high in the air.
“Harry Potter has caught the golden snitch! That has got to be a new record! Gryffindor wins another match, 180 to 20, in just five minutes!”
The Gryffindor stands erupted into loud cheers, rushing out of their seats and to the stairs so they could rush onto the field.Draco couldn’t help but be at least a little impressed, even with his envy at Potter being so adored.
He watched as Potter jumped from his broom, about a foot from the ground and was immediately engulfed in a sea of red. The seeker wasn’t under for long, though, as he was lifted onto the Weasley twin’s shoulders as soon as they got to him.
“Damn! Now Gryffindor is in the lead!” Pansy huffed from behind him, and when he turned to her he found that she was pouting.
In fact, now that his attention was turned away from the game, Draco noticed just how solemn the Slytherin stands were. Many looked as if the Gryffindors had just killed their puppy, while Flint looked like he was about to kill one.
“I have to.. go, to the library” Draco mumbled quickly as he shoved his omnioculars into his bag, shouldering it and pushing past the still-sat Slytherins and leaving the stands.
~4~
It seemed that a habit was being made, since as soon as Draco made it to the entrance he was grabbed by two Gryffindors and hauled off to the side to wait for Potter while all of the Gryfindors paraded past.
“You have got to stop this.” Draco huffed as he smoothed down his hair and pulled his scarf closer, already very much appreciating those warming charms that were woven in.
“Sorry, but we’re waiting for Harry.” Granger said apologetically, although she didn’t look too sorry. “He went to put up his broom in the broom shed, and we said we would wait for him.”
He sighed and accepted his fate, it was at least better than sitting in the common room with moping and murderous Slytherins.
They waited for what felt like forever, all of the other houses were long gone and the sun had started to set. ‘Where is he?’ Draco asked internally, more than a bit annoyed.
Finally they spotted Potter coming up over the small hill.
“Harry, where have you been?” Granger squeaked.
“Yeah, Potter, not all of us have invisibility cloaks to sneak in after curfew with.” Draco huffed, annoyed and cold and more than a bit hungry as it was about to be dinner time.
“We won, we won, we won!” The Weasel yelled excitedly, hopping over to Potter and thumping him on the back. “Everyone is in the common room, we’re having a party, Fred and George are stealing some cakes and stuff from the kitchens-!”
“Nevermind that now,” Potter said breathlessly. “Let’s find an empty room or something, I need to tell you all something.”
And that’s how the four first years found themselves in an empty classroom ten minutes later. As soon as Potter closed the door, after making sure Peeves wasn’t in the room, he looked at them with a grim look in his eyes.
“So we were right, it is the Philosopher’s Stone, and-” Potter cut himself off for a moment, glancing at Draco with a guilty look, “-Snape’s trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy — and he said something about Quirrell’s ‘hocus pocus’ — I reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti- Dark Arts spell that Snape needs to break through —”
“Well that’s obviously wrong.” The words were out of Draco’s mouth before he could comprehend anything.
Three pairs of eyes turned to him.
“What? Do you really think Quirrell knows something that Snape doesn’t? You do realize that he used to be the Muggle Studies professor while Snape has been the potions professor for almost eleven years?” Draco huffed, remembering what his Father had told him over the break.
“But Quirrell is the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor!” Granger pointed out, making the SLytherin roll his eyes.
“And Snape has been gunning for that job since he started as a Professor, do you really think Quirrell would have something Snape wouldn’t know? And that’s even considering that he really is behind all of this.”
“What do you mean? You heard Harry!” Weasley huffed angrily, crossing his arms.
“I know what Potter thinks he heard, “ Draco glanced at the green-eyed boy. “But overhearing part of a conversation is not hard proof to burn a wizard.”
They certainly didn’t look happy at that, and Draco was sure that as soon as he left they would continue conspiring against the potions master.
After a moment of silence, ticks passed until finally Potter spoke. “Okay, maybe I misheard, or maybe I didn’t.” He placated, holding up a hand quickly when the blond tried to interrupt. “We can’t be 100% sure for now.”
A scowl graced his pointy features but decided that that was probably as best as he was going to get. “Fine.” He huffed and turned his nose up and to the side.
Another moment of silence ticked by, which was broken by Granger huffing annoyedly. “Come on, we better go to the common room if we want to get something to eat.”
Weasley quickly seemed more interested in that idea and after the Gryffindro’s quickly left for their common room.
However Potter seemed to linger for a moment, as if wanting to say something before deciding against it and leaving Draco alone.
As soon as the door closed he let out a single breath, letting his guard down for a moment as he stewed in the information he just learned. His Godfather either knew Quirrell was up to something and was threatening him, or he really was the bad guy.
Draco shook his head quickly, refusing to even think of the latter.
He let his eyes wander to the windows and was surprised to see just how dark it had gotten and realized he should probably go meet-up with the Slytherins.
With that he turned and left the room, closing the door and hoping that he would leave those traitorous thoughts behind.