Chapter 6 The Serpent
She stood, as if she'd just woken from a long nightmare. A sparkling blade slashed her flesh vertically, she was awakening. She noticed the blood was not hers. She saw its head cut out brutally and lie down on the sooty chalkboard.
In the midst of chaos, nobody noticed Nagini's human form. She watched the Boy Who Lived defeat beat Voldemort. She saw Tom Riddle end his life as the Killing Curse rebounded. Rubbing an ugly scar on the nape of her neck, she tried to regather her confidence and straightened her spine. The other parts of her body remained intact.
The snake in her was afraid of the boy. No, she shook her head trying to clear her thoughts. She was not the snake. The great snake was Tom Riddle's double. It was the soul of the horcrux that was afraid of that boy, Neville, not Nagini, the woman. The Death Eaters laughed at Longbottom, but she was greatly thankful for the boy's courage. The powerful magic of the sword of Godric Gryffindor let the piece of Tom Riddle's soul die, yet allowed her live. That left only emptiness and the memories of sacrificing her better self to the evil wizard.
"Does it mean I can live again?" She asked herself.
If she was allowed to live as a human again, what would the world expect her to do?
To her surprise, her blood curse seemed to have been removed, too. She couldn't transform into the Great Snake at will anymore. She tried a nonverbal charm to conceal the ragged clothes clinging to her body, then trudged through the debris to the Great Lake. When she reached her destination, she slipped into the cold water of the lake cleansing both her body and soul. Before going back to the shore she enchanted the surface of water into the mirror.
The face on the mirror looked old. Her hair almost full white and with wrinkles everywhere. It was hard for her to cast non-verbal magic to conceal them without a wand. The memory of the forest while being the great snake flashed in her mind. Picking up an edged stone near her, and she went into the forest.
Before she was turned into Tom Riddle's horcrux, she had loved the wizard. Like many, she was wooed by his charm. As the years passed by, she felt her humanity slip away. Desperate to escape her serpentine future, she turned to Tom. His dreadful childhood appealed to her maternal instincts and she desired to heal him. Before she understood, she was in his bed and part of a magical contract. The odious contract! She wished she would rather die at that time. Tom Riddle took advantage of her weakness and trapped her in a cage. It was appalling to imagine what she might have done for Tom Riddle. Flashes of memories told her that she might have killed or attacked a few people and … violated the dead bodies, the walls and floor smeared with blood. Repeating the detailed image, the Great Snake eating human-beings, even if they were already dead, she nearly fainted. She once considered hanging herself to finish her life. Nevertheless, what deterred her from committing suicide was the idea that she could help people rebuild the Wizarding World. Seeing two Wizarding Wars, she thought she could help people avoid starting the Third Wizarding War. That would be her atonement for an accomplice with Tom Riddle's crimes.
Gradually, her memories were coming back. Grindelwald's ambition. Tom Riddle's conspiracy. Sudden rage, fury began to boil. The wizards were stupid. Muggle men were foolish. Human beings never learn from history, none of them.
"I'll teach them." As she went, her magic came back and she tried to transform into a great serpent, but she couldn't. She was sure now that her blood curse was descended to the other relative. She needed to find the descendant. When the descendant could do transforming, the old Nagini's life would end. The tenure as a human would be limited within the short period until the Blood Curse would resurface on the next generation. The Blood Curse shouldn't resurface as long as she would live longer. For the poor descendant she must live as long as possible.
Passing burnt oak trees, she finally found what she had been searching for, a branch of Bowtruckles. She began singing a lullaby to soothe the slippery green creatures squirming on the branch. Her song was effective. Soon they fell asleep. She snapped off the twig from the branch and pulled in a string of Unicorn hair hanging on the other branch. Using the sharp point of the stone, she skillfully placed the silver string as a core. When she finished her work, she did a powerful Rejuvenation Charm on herself and vanished into haze of Scottish highlands.
"So, Malfoy, tell me your resolution never to repeat committing faults. It is essential to learn here." McGonagall urged him to sit down on the chintz sofa the opposite.
Her stare showed coldness as if she would fathom the bottom of Draco's mind. He reckoned she would never forgive his crime, what he did. He allowed the Death Eaters to invade Hogwarts and Dumbledore died after that. His innocence was proved by Potter and the portrait of Snape and Dumbledore, however the impression, Draco pulled the trigger of Headmaster's death, remained.
"I…am very grateful for your care until I arrived here. I felt safe guarded by the Aurors on the train. I swear I won't do any harm. Please understand my faults in the past were triggered by my aunt Bellatrix's and the Dark Lord's threat." He could say aloud his determination without trembling as he practiced. He heard the voices from the portraits of the former headmasters above. Some of them voiced out for him, saying "Show mercy to him."
"Very well. The former headmasters are witnesses. Study hard and respect Muggle-Borns. The Auror will escort you to your private room tonight. The password to the Slytherin Common Room is 'White Snake". From tomorrow, you have to do all by yourself. Williamson!"
Wearing dark red robes, a long pony tailed man entered the room. Draco stood up and once again looked at McGonagall. He wondered if he should explain about his bloody past in Malfoy Manor in his seventh year. What he could learn in the previous year was to guard the dungeon. She gestured saying,
"Off you go. I'll tell you your timetable tomorrow morning."
Looking down at the long shadows lit by the candles, Draco felt he missed something. He remembered his old rivals had not been in the Hogwarts Express. He could easily guess they were recruited as trainees. He asked Williamson in the passage.
"Do you instruct Potter and Weasley?"
Williamson grinned wide and answered, "Yep. They have adaptable fighting potentials. It's my pleasure to teach them."
Without knowing, Draco smiled and he was surprised by his own response about their recent situation. He made a bitter smile in his mind. Every year at Hogwarts, he used to hate and curse the two Gryffindors badly and now he missed them.
When they entered the Slytherin Common Room, he noticed the room was empty. He thanked Williamson and departed in front of his private room.
Draco looked up at the pillars decorated with the stone serpents in the room. He hated the snakes after the war experience especially after he witnessed Professor Burbage as the prey of Nagini.
The surface of the wall was rubbed raw. Having a private room didn't mean he could get the best of them. He was sure McGonagall gave the better ones to the other younger Slytherins whose parents had supported Half-Bloods and Mudbloods during the war.
He heaved a big sigh and ascended the stairs to the Common Room. The room used to be the place he was very proud of. It was the place his friends gathered around to scatter gossip and talked boastfully or make those social connections so necessary for their future. He used to be the student who dominated over the others in the Common Room. He had a chair, his chair that he sat in to lord over the others. He was the boss who ordered anyone to do what he wanted to. But now, he halted. How could he climb to the room? Someone must have been waiting for the moment Draco might be alone to attack him. He would be the target of taunting and even the worst scenario was that he would be abused personally. Grabbing his mother's wand, he did open the door slightly. The dark memory at Malfoy Manor came back to him. He got tensed to see his housemates who were smirking at him by the hearth. This time, he had to face by himself without Snape nor Aunt Bellatrix.
"I understood your situation, Ms. Greengrass." McGonagall's piercing eyes stared at Astoria. "I'll give you the other assignment. Make sure that you are back to the Common Room before curfew." She noticed Astoria's nervous facial expression. "Any other questions?"
"Professor, please don't tell my secret to anyone. If somebody knows it, the rumor will spread soon. Then I won't have a chance to find a future husband."
"I'll promise not to tell your secret to anyone." Her gaze softened upon hearing Astoria's fear. "I hope Healers will find a remedy sooner." McGonagall gave her encouraging smile.
The circular staircase carried her down and she said good-bye to the statue of Gargoyle.
She hurried down the stone steps to the dungeons. Her hand touched the surface of a bare stretch of stone wall and she whispered, "White Snake." Entering the Common Room, she heard someone talking over the door. Peeking in, she recognized the platinum blond hair among the Slytherin boys. Pyrites and Nott were pointing their wands at Malfoy. Nott spoke,
"Owl Potter to ask the Ministry to grant a pardon to my father. You and your father were released! It's unfair! I know your father abused Muggle families as a Death Eater."
Malfoy cried, "Don't say it aloud, please. If Headmistress hears this…"
Pyrites scoffed at Malfoy, seeing him terribly upset. "I remember how harsh you were to Muggle-Borns. You must have bribed Potter and the Minister. Without money, you should have been sent to Azkaban now. And…" His words were cut off in the middle.
"Expelliarmus!" Astoria shouted and she caught two wands in her hands.
Flustered, two Slytherin boys glanced back to her. Nott groaned,
"How dare you?" He almost jumped at her. Then he became rigid as well as a stone.
Pyrites was going to run away, but Malfoy's curse didn't miss him, either. Malfoy cast one more body-bind hex and Pyrites also stiffened and fell down on the floor.
"Are you alright?" Both Malfoy and Astoria asked in unison. Then they chuckled merrily.
"Your Petrificus Totalus charm was stunning," Astoria praised Malfoy.
"Your disarming charm was excellent, too." Malfoy smiled at her.
"Do you really think so?" She blushed. Her beautiful dark hair was shining by the fireplace, which was appealing to Draco.
"You are Daphne's sister, your name…?" He stepped closer to her. She had a tiny frame compared with her older sister.
"Astoria." She glanced down at Pyrites and Nott. "What shall we do with them?"
"I'll leave a message to house elves. They will take care of them."
"Good. And their wands," she held out two trophies to Draco.
"Oh, yeah, I'll return them tomorrow morning." He took them from Astoria's hands. Her soft touch on his hand sent a warm feeling to his mind.
"Good night, Draco." Brightly smiling to him, Astoria ascended the stairs to her room.
Smiling, Draco kept waving his hand until she vanished beyond the door upstairs. An encounter with Astoria was just like he saw a bud of the flower bloom in his mother's favorite garden. Remembering Narcissa's private garden, his mood got darker. He sat down on a chintz sofa by the hearth and glanced at Nott and Pyrites on the floor. Their eyes glared at him. Blankly, he kept staring at their faces. He got so used to being glared at with much hatred that he couldn't feel anything from it. He got so used to staring back without expression that he had lost so many things. He had seen so many people killed in front of him. He had witnessed so much hatred and sadness. Endless tortures and murders. Destruction after destruction. Like withering flowers in her mother's garden, the tortured Muggle-Borns getting feeble and waiting for their death.
With a flitting tongue in the air and a drop of its venom, the Great Snake reappeared in Draco's dream every night even after the war. It was utterly nightmare. He walked to the side table to get an ink and a quill. He sat at the table and started writing a message to the house elves. When placing the memo on it, he looked up at the portrait of Slytherin snakes on the wall. He used to love them once. But he disliked them much now. He hated being Pure-Blood. He hated his own birth from the traditional family. The recognition was born during the mission to kill Dumbledore. Agony from the comprehension got heavier during Lord Voldemort's stay in Malfoy Manor. What he had believed turned to be fake. The god the Death Eaters had worshipped was just a tyrant. All he needed was that relying on Potter who would eradicate the tyrant. So he lied when snatchers brought the golden trio to the Manor. He refused to admit he was Potter even when being asked by Aunt Bellatrix. He placed his all hope in lying. It seemed that he could work it out. Potter ended the madness in the end.
It was ironic but he missed the days he had envied Harry Potter. And now there left no emotion towards the good old days. His mental part was that he was too exhausted to have ambition to win something.
Shutting the door of his room, he discarded the wands into the laundry bucket by the bed. Changing clothes into a pair of pajamas in haste, he lay down on the bed. He was afraid of falling into sleep, for nightmares would visit him soon. He tried to remember the feeling of Astoria's soft hand in his hand. He tried to revitalize her smile in his mind.
Justin saw the familiar platinum blond among the Slytherin students in the Great Hall. Clenching his teeth, he tried to remember mortification that so many his friends from the Hufflepuff House were lost or missing. Some of them were still in St. Mungo's. Perhaps, they would never come back. It's time to let Malfoy know Hogwarts would not allow him to feel comfortable. He took out a fake Galleon and touched the surface of it to send a gathering call.
Hermione felt the left side of her hip warm. She patted the pocket of the robes. Her hand found a Dumbledore's Army coin. Pulling it out, she frowned at it. It seemed someone added charm on the other coins. She managed to read blurry numbers on it. She placed the fake coin on the Gryffindor table and tried to figure it out. Ginny asked by her side,
"What happened?"
"It's quite weird. Someone called gathering, but I can't read the numbers at all."
"Let me see it." Ginny looked into it, but sighed, "I can't see any, either. Oh, wait, I have mine." She pulled out the coin from her pocket and squinted at the surface of it. But her effort ended in vain. She shook her head.
"I'll ask Luna." Hermione stood up from the seat and walked to the Ravenclaw table. Ginny followed her.
It was easy to find Luna soon since she was wearing a very large Lion Hat. The girls at the table were giggling at her. When Hermione stepped closer, Luna turned around with her dreamy look.
"Good morning. I know what you are going to ask me. This hat will let people remember how the Gryffindor House was brave and never gave up fighting for justice. People are adept at forgetting the worst time. So I am a poster student instead of Harry."
"Um…thank you?" Ginny exchanged confused glances with Hermione.
"A smart idea, Luna. Well, I have a question. Can you show me your DA coin?" She was sure Luna had it in her pocket.
"Sure." Luna's white hand disappeared deep into the pocket and appeared again. The same fake coin was shining in her hand.
"Can you see the numbers?" Hermione asked.
"No. But Justin and other members seem to find the gathering time." Her dreamy gaze hovered around the Hufflepuff table.
"What?" Hermione's brown eyes searched for the spot Luna indicated. She saw Justin and the other DA members go out of the Great Hall.
Draco made a bitter smile after returning the wands to Nott and Pyrites. It was easy to imitate the same way as the Dark Lord did to people. All you need was just pointing the wand at the throat of your enemy and to whisper the threatening words. The rumor spread rapidly among the Slytherin students. He came back as a boss again. Before the war, the position must have made him be proud of, but only emptiness remained in his mind. There was no achievement. He got his fellow students feel frightened just like the Dark Lord had done to his followers.
Releasing the horrible memories of the battle in his mind, he was ascending the stairs to the ground after Potions class. The dark dungeons reminded him of the Dark Lord's wrath. His furious hiss of Paseltongue chased Draco everywhere in his nightmare. As if shaking off the image, he ran up the stairs.
The warm sunlight reached to the Entrance Hall and the scenery from the entrance was inviting. Draco walked pass a patch of scroll on the bulletin board and halted. He glanced back to the notice and read. It was about the Slytherin Quidditch tryouts. The old desire woke up from a long sleep in his mind. There was no clarification about the entry qualifications on the note. He needed to know whether the seventh years who came back could join. He glanced at his watch on the wrist. The tryouts were going to start soon. He hurried to the pitch.
Astoria stopped in the corridor. She thought her eyes caught the familiar platinum blond outside from the window. She hurriedly finished cleaning up in the Green House and went out. Draco Malfoy was running up the hill to the direction of the Quidditch pitch. Her fantasy emerged on the surface of her mind. The good old days, her yearning for the Quidditch stars revived. Draco was fantastic in the stadium, especially the race with Potter in their third years. Slinging her bag on the shoulder, she ran up the hill, too. Climbing up the hill, she could see the stadium which was on the way of being repaired.
She felt something went wrong.
A/N: Beta read by awesome Barbara.
Many thanks to the hpft forum members who discussed "Nagini", kat gave me advice around description of her and TreacleTart gave me a chance to continue this story featuring cambangst's Draco and Astoria in "Detox".