Frights and Fights
Chapter 11: Frights & Fights
When Draco got back to the Slytherin common room, the fire was dying out, leaving only a low eerie green light. It was unusually absent of sound in the dungeons, and as at-home as Draco usually felt there, the chill crept in on him. He supposed the whole castle would seem sinister now that who knew the truth of who and what were lurking inside its walls. He hurried to his dorm room and quickly slipped under the covers to stave off the icy air.
The days after his meeting with Dumbledore blurred together in a haze. It was nearly impossible to distinguish between day and night, let alone which day of the week it was. It was dizzying any time Draco tried to nail down the details of what happened. It was tempting to just let it all wash away and pretend like he was a normal eleven year old.
He daydreamed his days away—days of lazy summers at the Manor, flying on his broom around the grounds and gardens, tea with his mother in the greenhouse, long ago memories of playdates with Theo and Pansy. He was always pulled back to reality by a professor posing a question, or a friend asking his opinion on something. It was so hard to concentrate on the present when it was all so confusing—like a code he hadn’t been given the cipher for.
After about four days of continuing in a similar fashion, Draco found himself cornered in the common room. Theo and Blaise had blocked off his exit, and Pansy, Tracey, and Daphne had seemingly made-up just in time to join the intervention by blocking the path back to the dormitory. Even Crabbe and Goyle stood in opposite corners with their arms crossed, flexing as the ‘muscle’. He was trapped.
Finally, once they trusted he wouldn’t run away or try to hex them, everyone dispersed—leaving just Blaise and Theo to speak with him. When they were alone, Draco broke down in tears.
“Draco, what’s been going on?” Theo asked as the door clicked closed.
“Yeah, mate, we can’t help you unless you tell us what’s wrong,” Blaise pleaded.
“Dumbledore knows everything—not about you guys, but that I know about the Philosopher’s Stone and the trapdoor under the three-headed dog. He knows that Potter knows too. He knows we’re supposed to be tailing Quirrell and that Snape is keeping tabs on Potter.” The words tumbled out of Draco’s mouth with anxiety.
“Well, you’re still here so I’m sure it’s not too bad.” Theo’s face curled up into a lopsided grin, but Draco’s face remained bleak.
“Voldemort is here. In the castle.”
Blaise and Theo both gasped, the latter nearly tripping over his own feet.
“Wh-what do you mean he’s here?!” Theo panicked.
“We would’ve noticed if he was here!” Blaise yelled almost angrily as if he felt slighted that the darkest wizard of all time was able to slip past him undetected.
“Quirrell,” was all Draco responded.
“That slimy git! He let him in?!” Theo roared to life.
“No. He is possessing Professor Quirrell.”
“And Dumbledore is allowing him to TEACH?! ” Theo shouted.
Gesturing wildly toward Theo, Draco finally came to life, “ THAT’S WHAT I SAID TO HIM! ”
The three boys stared at each other—fear, panic, and anger all flashed across their faces in turn. Draco continued on, completing his recap of the meeting he had with Dumbledore. With each detail, their jaws dropped further and further til they nearly reached the floor.
The boys sat in silence for a long moment. Blaise spoke first, “so we need to speak with Professor Snape then, clearly there’s more to this plan Dumbledore has and Snape knows what it is.”
They were all in agreement, they would go to Snape’s office after breakfast. Unfortunately for them, it happened to be the day Snape was refereeing the Quidditch game between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor.
…
Draco slid into the stands next to Blaise and Theo. They were late which meant they were stuck in the row behind all the precious Potter fans.
“Bunch of bloody Gryffindors everywhere,” Theo grumbled.
And as if on cue, Granger started muttering to Weasley. “Now, don’t forget, it’s Locomotor Mortis.”
“I know,” the Weasel snapped. “Don’t nag.”
Draco wasn’t sure what was more comical—the fact that they thought they were being sneaky, or the fact that they bickered like an old married couple.
He decided to leave it alone and look down over the Quidditch pitch. Snape was looking so angry as the teams marched on to the pitch, something that Weasley apparently noticed, too.
“I’ve never seen Snape look so mean,” he told Granger. “Look – they’re off. Ouch!”
Draco poked him in the back of the head—he just couldn’t resist.
“Oh, sorry, Weasley, didn’t see you there.” Draco mocked. “Wonder how long Potter’s going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want a bet? What about you, Weasley?”
The redhead didn’t answer, too absorbed the game—Snape had just awarded Hufflepuff a penalty because George Weasley had hit a Bludger at him. Granger decidedly hadn’t heard him. She had all her fingers crossed in her lap and was squinting fixedly up at Potter, who was circling the game like a hawk, looking for the Snitch.
Draco was still bored and gave it another go at winding the Weasel up. “You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?” He asked loudly a few minutes later, as Snape awarded Hufflepuff another penalty for no reason at all. “It’s people they feel sorry for. See, there’s Potter, who’s got no parents, then there’s the Weasleys, who’ve got no money – you should be on the team, Longbottom, you’ve got no brains.”
Longbottom went bright red but turned in his seat to face Draco. Good, find some courage you cowardly lion. If you’re going to hang around this lot, you’ll end up in Voldemort’s sights too.
“I’m worth twelve of you, Malfoy,” he stammered, scrunching his face and barely making eye contact.
The young Slytherins howled with laughter, but Weasley, still not daring to take his eyes from the game, said disinterestedly, “You tell him, Neville.”
“Longbottom, if brains were gold you’d be poorer than Weasley, and that’s saying something.” The red headed boy’s nerves were already stretched to breaking point with anxiety about his friend.
“I’m warning you, Malfoy – one more word—“
“Ron!” Granger suddenly shouted. “Harry –!”
“What? Where?” the ginger searched the skies.
Potter had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd, and subtle boos from the few rivals that attended the match. Granger stood up, her crossed fingers in her mouth, as Potter streaked towards the ground like a bullet. It took every ounce of determination for Draco to look away from her, and back to his task at hand—causing Weasley as much strife as possible.
“You’re in luck, Weasley, Potter’s obviously spotted some money on the ground!” Draco chuckled.
The other boy snapped. Before he knew what was happening, Weasley was on top of him, wrestling him to the ground. After a moment of hesitation, even Longbottom jumped in. Draco could handle one angry Gryffindor, but two? Well, one and a half… It took a moment, but Theo finally cut in, practically lifting Longbottom out of the fray and setting him off to the side.
“Come on, Harry!” Granger screamed, leaping on to her seat to watch as he sped straight at Snape – she didn’t even notice Draco and her friend rolling around under her seat, or the yelps that came from Longbottom. In the moment, Draco found himself wishing she would be that fixated on him one day when he could finally play for his own house team.
Up in the air, Snape turned on his broomstick just in time to see something scarlet shoot past him, missing him by inches – next second, Potter had pulled out of the dive, his arm raised in triumph, the Snitch clasped in his hand.
The stands erupted; it had to be a record, no one could ever remember the Snitch being caught so quickly.
“Ron! Ron! Where are you? The game’s over! Harry’s won! We’ve won! Gryffindor is in the lead!” shrieked Granger, dancing up and down on her seat and hugging one of the Patil twins in the row in front.
Draco took advantage of the distraction and finally shoved the Weasel off of him and smoothed out his jumper as the ginger took off to storm the field with the rest of his comrades.
…
Draco took his time trekking back to the castle. He had a black eye from Weasley’s initial punch, and a possibly broken nose. Blaise had offered an Episkey but he didn’t seem all that confident at his ability to perform it, so Draco opted for the Hospital Wing.
Everyone had seemingly cleared out of the stadium and had already gone back up to the castle for dinner in the Great Hall to celebrate another Gryffindor win. Maybe I’ll just skip dinner, now that I think about it. Draco spotted Potter lazily flying overhead, but then he did something odd. He stopped mid-flight and circled for a moment or two, then landed near the Forbidden Forest.
What on Earth was he doing there? Draco, yet again, just couldn’t help himself. He picked up his pace and moved in the direction of the forest, carefully avoiding Potter’s line of sight. Once safely tucked into the treeline, Draco found the tree Potter was using for cover, and found one slightly farther back from the clearing he was looking into.
Draco couldn’t hear them, but he could clearly make out the two figures that had captured Potter’s attention—he was nosy indeed. It was Professors Snape and Quirrell, clearly having another ‘disagreement’.
Realizing he had no more reason to continue spying on his professors, Draco slipped back out of the edge of the forest undetected. He would inquire about Snape’s little meeting when he could finally have one of his own.
…
It took two more days for the young Slytherins to finally gain an audience with their Head of House, but eventually they were able to corner him in his office. It was, however, rather unfruitful.
Dumbledore had apparently not given Snape any further instructions for Draco, but he had mentioned to his there would be a contingency plan to protect Potter in the chambers the Philosopher’s Stone was hidden in—and Draco was somehow involved.
All that Snape would divulge was that he needed to keep a very close eye on Potter, as Snape had already raised suspicions with Potter and his friends. Draco rolled his eyes—of course he had! For someone who was supposed to be the ultimate spy between two of the most powerful wizards of all time, he did a lot of lurking and sneering which was rather suspicious in and of itself. Draco wouldn’t be surprised if Potter thought Snape was the one trying to steal the Stone.
Essentially, to Draco’s understanding, he was to babysit and stalk Potter, Weasley, and Granger. He could do that…as long as Granger wasn’t alone with him where she could pry more into his private affairs. He couldn’t let her get that close again—she wouldn’t understand. Besides that, be probably already spilled his secrets to her stupid gits she calls friends. But Weasley didn’t say anything about it at the match…he had ample opportunity…maybe she can be trusted…
Draco didn’t finish his thought as Theo had untactfully asked Snape about his most recent meeting with Professor Quirrell.
“That is none your business, Mr. Nott,” Snape spoke with disdain.
“Well, I bloody well think it is our business seeing how we’re supposed to just do what you and Dumbledore say about this whole situation with no questions asked!” Theo snorted back.
“I have answered numerous questions from you three. If you must know I was giving Quirrell one last chance to try and make the correct choice,” he snapped back at the three students.
“And…?” Draco looked up to see the endless black eyes of Severus Snape looking down his hooked nose at him.
“It would seem he has no interest in turning against the Dark Lord.”
…
The following weeks, the three Slytherins took turns following the trio of Gryffindors. Potter’s little gang had gone up to the third-floor corridor to check the door hiding the Stone not once, not twice, not even three times . The morons went up there at least every other day! It was like they wanted to be caught by someone!
Luckily, after about two or three weeks, they slowed down with their shenanigans. She had begun to prepare for her revising for end of the year exams, which meant she spent all her free time in the library making new timetables for the three of them—she even color coded them.
Draco was keenly aware of this as he was the one to follow her once they began to separate more frequently. He was assigned to her as the only first year Slytherin to spend a significant time in the library, and Granger seemed like the only one of them to not overreact to Draco’s presence in the vicinity.
While the blonde wizard agreed with his friends’ logic at his assignment, that didn’t mean he had to like it. He normally didn’t mind Granger’s presence near him during his revision time, but all he could think about now was their last encounter. Not only was it embarrassing and awkward, but extremely revealing. He wasn’t sure he’d ever recover the social normity they had prior to that day—it was more than just polite gestures, or academic curiosity now. It was another layer—emotional layer—added on now.
Draco chose most days to sit away from his usual spot. He now sat on the other side of the library, in fact. He could see her through the stacks, but just barely. He would keep his distance for now, hoping that when it came time for Potter to somehow face off against Quirrell/Voldemort, she would stay far, far away.
Unfortunately for Draco, Potter and Weasley began joining her in the library not long after that. Unlike her , they weren’t revising or practicing wand movements or the like. No, they were simply copying her work or just staring off into space. He couldn’t believe she put up with the two of them so obviously using her.
Thankfully, Blaise and Theo were then forced to join in on the revising that Draco had been doing. Quite the opposite of Potter and Weasley, the three Slytherins worked as a seamless team—correcting each other’s movements or essays, or pointing out areas that needed more practice or revision.
Easter hols weren’t necessarily relaxing, but they weren’t stressful either. Draco elected to stay at Hogwarts as most of the other students did as well. Lucius and Narcissa were going to be traveling anyway, and did not mind at all.