A/N: My characters just can't help but get involved with Harry and his friends, can they? ;) I love some of the moments in this chapter, but the next chapter after this I think is my favourite.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters. I also own the concept of Gifts as they're used in this story.
DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone
CHAPTER 9: Dragon Breath
Azriel made sure the others were still in the library when he packed up his things and left; he returned to his dorm room to put them away and retrieve his invisibility cloak, which he donned before returning to the library. After about an hour, they got up to go to Hagrid's hut, and Azriel was quick to follow them.
When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called 'Who is it?' before he let them in. Azriel slipped in past Hagrid when he opened the door, and moved to the other end of the room before the others came in. Hagrid shut the door quickly behind them once they were all inside.
It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a fire blazing in the grate. What was Hagrid trying to do, Azriel wondered, give himself heatstroke? Hagrid made the others tea and offered them stoat sandwiches which were refused.
'So – yeh wanted ask me somethin'?'
'Yes,' said Potter. 'We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy.'
As it turned out, this visit might have been useful to his mission after all, Azriel thought. Hagrid frowned though; clearly he didn't want to talk about this. Azriel expected as much.
'O' course I can't,' he said. 'Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts – I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy.'
'Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here,' said Bookworm in a warm, flattering voice that made Azriel want to cringe. It seemed to work though; Hagrid's beard twitched and Azriel could tell the half-giant was smiling.
'We only wondered who had done the guarding, really,' Bookworm went on, 'We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you.'
Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Potter and Red beamed at Bookworm. Azriel was impressed that her tactics had worked, even though he thought the act she had put on was plastic and see-through – in a word, pathetic. Kinda telling about Hagrid though, Azriel thought darkly.
'Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that ... let's see ... he borrowed Fluffy from me ... then some o' the teachers did enchantments ... Professor Sprout – Professor Flitwick – Professor McGonagall –' he ticked them off his fingers, while Azriel mentally checked each name next to the possibilities he and Alex had discussed previously. 'Professor Quirrell – an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape.'
'Snape?'
'Yeah – yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the stone, he's not about ter steal it.'
Azriel considered this information; he now knew for certain which teachers had offered protections for the stone, and given their areas of expertise, had a clearer idea of what to expect once he and Alex got past Fluffy. Snape, being one of the chosen to protect the Stone probably knew all the other enchantments and how to get past them, except for Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy, which was really so simple.
'You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?' said Potter anxiously. 'And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?'
'Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore,' said Hagrid proudly. Azriel knew this wasn't true; anyone who knew anything about the legendary Cerberus could tell you what their weaknesses are.
'Well, that's something,' Potter muttered to the others. 'Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling.' Azriel then realised just how hot he'd gotten in the room; the invisibility cloak was sticking to him.
'Can't, Harry, sorry,' said Hagrid. Azriel noticed him glance at the fire. Azriel glanced over too.
'Hagrid – what's that?'
Azriel knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg. The sight of it reminded Azriel of the initial reason why he had come along to their secret meeting.
'Ah,' said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard. 'That's – er ...'
'Where did you get it, Hagrid?' said Red, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. 'It must've cost you a fortune.'
'Won it,' said Hagrid. 'Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest.'
'But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?' said Bookworm. Good question, Azriel thought, staring at the egg in the fireplace.
'Well, I've bin doin' some readin',' said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. 'Got this outta the library – Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit – it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here – how ter recognise diff'rent eggs – what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them.'
They're also dangerous, Azriel thought, having one would be like having a death wish. Hagrid, meanwhile, looked very pleased with himself. Bookworm clearly didn't.
'Hagrid, you live in a wooden house,' she said. Epitome of obvious, Azriel thought dryly. Hagrid wasn't listening though, as he was humming merrily and stoking the fire. Definitely has a death wish, Azriel thought; that, or he's just plain stupid – although smart money's on all of the above.
Azriel made sure to tell Alex about Hagrid and the dragon egg at the first opportunity he got; Alex wanted to know just what the hell the half-giant was thinking believing he would be able to keep let alone raise the dragon without being caught. The fact that Hagrid lived in a wooden house was also a major point of concern.
They also discussed what Azriel had learned about the protections guarding the Stone; Azriel's theory about the teachers lending their aid had been confirmed by Hagrid's information.
'Hagrid, Snape, Flitwick, Sprout, Quirrell, McGonagall, Dumbledore. Seven enchantments.' Alex said, considering the options.
'Hagrid's protection is, of course, Fluffy.' Azriel stated. 'Snape and Sprout, we have determined, will be something related to their professions, which means something botanical and something brewed, respectively.
'Quirrell must have used some sort of charm according to what you overheard Snape saying,' Alex said, 'which leaves us with Flitwick, McGonagall and Dumbledore.'
'Honestly? I don't know what to expect from any of them. Flitwick may have used some sort of charm, but since we won't know what to expect until we go down the trap door, we have no way of knowing what to be prepared for. Same goes with McGonagall and Dumbledore; we just don't know enough to prepare our strategy to get to the stone.' Azriel said.
'Guess we'll just have to wing it,' Alex said dryly, not liking the idea but knowing they really didn't have much time or choice in the matter. 'What're you gonna do about the dragon?'
'Well, I'm staying out of this one if I can, since I've managed to avoid any more run-ins with Potter and his friends since we discovered Fluffy.' Azriel ran his fingers through his ponytail.
He didn't manage to stay out of it though, as one morning during breakfast Potter got a note. The contents had to have been important judging by the reactions of Potter, Red and Bookworm. Red was talking about skipping classes to go down to Hagrid's hut, so he figured it had something to do with the dragon. Knowing what he did about the dragon gestation period, and judging from the maturity of the egg when he'd seen it, Azriel hazarded a guess that it was hatching and that Hagrid wanted the others to come watch.
Bookworm, for obvious reasons, wouldn't hear of skipping classes, but Red was persistent.
'Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?' Red did have a point there; it was an irregular occurrence. That didn't mean it was a good idea though, because under normal circumstances the mother would be there when the egg hatched and if you weren't careful (or in other words, had the stupidity to be there at the time) you'd most likely end up being char-grilled by an over-protective hormonal female dragon.
'We've got lessons, we'll get in trouble, and that's nothing to what trouble Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing –'
'Shut up!' Potter whispered. Azriel immediately knew why, because he looked up from his breakfast to spot his cousin just feet away, having stopped to eavesdrop just as Azriel had been. Azriel didn't like the look on Draco's face; just how much had he overheard?
Azriel finished his breakfast quickly and hastened back to his dorm room in order to stow his invisibility cloak away in his book bag. Red, Potter and Bookworm were just leaving the Great Hall as the blond came down the Entrance Hall steps.
Red and Bookworm argued all the way to Herbology and in the end, Bookworm agreed to run down to Hagrid's with the other two during morning break. Azriel decided that would be when he donned his cloak and pursued them.
When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the three Gryffindors dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest. Hagrid greeted them looking flushed and excited, and he led them inside his hut.
Azriel was about to pull out his invisibility cloak when he spotted Draco following after them. He promptly ignored the cloak and ran after his cousin, making sure his book bag didn't slide down his arm and hinder him.
'Where are you going? Isn't your next class the other way?' Azriel called out, using the Slytherins' timetable as an excuse to start conversation. Draco stopped at the sound of his voice and turned to glare.
'None of your business, Drake,' he sneered, resuming his progress. Azriel ran in front of him attempting to head him off.
'You're not supposed to be going into the forest, you know it's forbidden,' Azriel lied, having a bad feeling he would know the consequences if Draco found out about the dragon, so he pretended he didn't know anything. Draco didn't seem to be fooled though.
'There's something in that hut, and I'm going to find out what,' Draco said, eyes glittering maliciously. 'Now step aside.'
'No,' Azriel insisted, but Draco had already run around him and advanced on the hut. Azriel had no choice but to follow him. Draco, of course, got there first which Azriel was not pleased with at all.
He stopped just a few metres behind Draco when he saw through the window. The shell of the dragon egg was breaking apart; the baby Norwegian Ridgeback inside flopped onto the table. It's spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns, and from what Azriel could tell from this distance, bulging orange eyes. And Draco Malfoy had seen the entire thing.
Azriel stood there dumbly for a moment, not exactly sure how to respond until Draco turned sharply and ran past him. He caught a glimpse of Hagrid, looking through the window, face white. Azriel looked back at Draco who had already made good distance.
Azriel heard the door open and Potter stepping out to get a better look, but by then Azriel was already running, trying to catch up to Draco before he could tell anyone and do more damage.
Draco managed to give Azriel the slip though, and Alex didn't know where he'd gone either which was not a good sign at all. If neither of them could find Draco then there was no telling what could happen. The best they could do was watch and wait for any signs Draco had told anyone.
The smile lurking on Draco's face over the next week was unnerving; he always seemed to be in the presence of someone, so it was impossible to get him alone. It had seemed as though he hadn't told anyone yet which was hopefully a good sign – or at least a positive one, because they had no idea what Draco intended to do with this information.
What Azriel didn't need was the distrustful looks he kept getting from Red and Potter; as they would clearly have known from his ponytail that the second blond figure they had seen outside the cabin had been Azriel. The blond had to pretend as much as they did that he knew nothing out of the ordinary, but he knew the others, least of all Bookworm, would not trust his motives any more than they did Draco's.
They spent a lot of their free time at Hagrid's hut, Azriel had observed, which meant they were with Hagrid helping to care for the dragon, and probably figuring out what to do with it.
Azriel knew Draco could go to anyone at any minute with the information of the dragon's presence on school ground; this included Dumbledore. Azriel considered it logical that they would try to figure out with Hagrid a way to get rid of the dragon, and quickly.
From what he knew about Hagrid's personality and attitude towards magical creatures, and the dragon in particular, Azriel also reasoned that Hagrid would not part easily with his new pet despite the imminent danger caused by his keeping the thing.
The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Bookworm and Potter sitting in the common room, long after everyone else had apparently gone to bed. The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open. Red appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off Potter's invisibility cloak. He'd most likely been down at Hagrid's hut helping with the dragon.
Azriel had been hidden in a dark corner of the common room, wrapped up in his own invisibility cloak. He was surprised to find out that Potter had one of his own. He stayed silent though, to watch the scene unfolding.
'It bit me!' Red said, showing the others his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. 'I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit.'
Oddly enough, Azriel could imagine Hagrid doing exactly that. The thought was not comforting to Azriel in the least, wondering what might happen if the half-giant were to forget that it was even a dragon he was dealing with.
'When it bit me he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby.' There was a tap on the window, cutting him off from complaining more.
'It's Hedwig!' said Potter, hurrying to the window to let in his owl. 'She'll have Charlie's answer!'
The trio put their heads together to read the note; since they were alone, Azriel crept up behind them and read over their shoulders, thankful they weren't so huddled as to obstruct it completely from view.
Dear Ron,
How are you? Thanks for the letter – I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.
Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.
Send me an answer as soon as possible.
Love,
Charlie
The trio looked at each other, while Azriel backed off so he didn't risk getting knocked by the others and being exposed.
'We've got the invisibility cloak, said Potter, 'It shouldn't be too difficult – I think the cloak's big enough to cover two of us and Norbert.'
Azriel was only faintly surprised to learn the dragon had been given a name; but it was a testament to how bad the last week had been when Bookworm and Red both agreed with Potter. Bookworm never agreed to break school rules, but the situation with Draco had apparently deemed it necessary. It was also clear that they were ready to do anything to get rid of Norbert – and Draco.
There was a hitch. By next morning, Red's bitten hand had swollen to twice its usual size. Azriel pretended to be just as clueless as everyone else, but since he knew about the dragon, the trio probably was also aware that he'd figured it out.
They didn't seem to want to risk sending Red to get help from Madam Pomfrey for fear she would recognise a dragon bite when she saw one, but by the afternoon there was no choice, as the cut had turned a nasty shade of green. Azriel cursed himself when he remembered that Norwegian Ridgebacks were poisonous, and since he knew about it, he should have said something to them, although he did consider that the trio might just as easily not believe him.
Azriel was on his way down to the castle grounds to sit and think when he came across Draco clutching a book. It was the first chance Azriel had been alone with his cousin, so he decided to take action. Draco hadn't spotted him passing in the opposite direction, too engrossed in reading something.
Azriel purposefully knocked into him as he passed, causing the Slytherin to spin around, dropping the book in the process.
'Watch where you're going,' Draco snapped, picking up the book while glaring at Azriel. Draco turned and stalked off before Azriel could think to say anything to him. It was then that he noticed the letter on the ground and picked it up – it was the letter the trio had received from Ron's brother Charlie.
Draco not only knew about the dragon, but now he also knew that they were trying to get rid of it this Saturday night. Azriel's face hardened into a scowl; he didn't want to get directly involved with the situation – wanting to leave this mess to Potter and his friends to clean up - but with his cousin now in the equation it seemed he didn't have much choice.
Azriel folded up the note and put it in his pocket and turned around to walk back to the Gryffindor common room. As he was nearing the Hospital Wing, he heard the voices of Potter and Bookworm.
'It's too late to change the plan now,' Potter was telling Bookworm. 'We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we have got the invisibility cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that.'
They didn't notice Azriel as they were coming out of the Hospital Wing, and they went off in the opposite direction to Azriel, down to the Great Hall while the blond resumed his course back to the common room.
When Saturday came around, Azriel kept a close watch on Potter and Bookworm, with Alex doing the same for Draco. The Slytherin was definitely planning to do something tonight to hinder the Gryffindors' attempt to be rid of the illegal dragon, and Azriel was determined to be there to make sure Draco didn't get in the way.
It was late when they finally left the common room, so Azriel gave them a short lead while he prepared himself with his wand and daggers, as well as his invisibility cloak. He didn't don the cloak right away, instead holding onto it as it was very dark and cloudy outside so he had plenty of shadow cover.
Peeves had been a temporary setback, since he had been busy amusing himself in the Great Hall by bouncing tennis balls against the wall. Potter and Bookworm could only wait in hiding for the poltergeist to finish without catching them.
Azriel decided they didn't have time to waste on this nonsense, so he used his powers from his own hiding place to attack Peeves with his own tennis balls. The poltergeist was not happy with this but couldn't find a culprit so he sulked away off to the dungeons.
Potter and Bookworm seemed to be more concerned with getting to the dragon than to realise how exactly Peeves had been foiled; Azriel knew Bookworm would probably have connected the dots if she wasn't already preoccupied.
Azriel did put his cloak on when he got outside and followed the others to Hagrid's hut. The half-giant had already packed Norbert into a large crate.
'He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey,' said Hagrid in a muffled voice. 'An' I packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely.'
From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Azriel as though teddy was having his head torn off. Azriel rolled his eyes at the idea of a dragon having a teddy bear; baby or not, it was certainly not a human and didn't need to be treated like one.
'Bye bye, Norbert!' Hagrid sobbed, as Potter and Bookworm covered the crate with their invisibility cloak and stepped underneath it themselves. 'Mummy will never forget you!'
Azriel suppressed the intense urge to groan. Did this guy have a severe mental deficiency, or what? By then, the others had started transporting the crate back up to the castle; all he had to do was follow the soft noises the dragon was making from inside the crate, and once they were inside, the scuffle of Potter's and Bookworm's shoes.
Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase in the entrance hall and along the dark corridors. Up another staircase, then another – even a shortcut Potter had taken them down didn't make it any easier or less time consuming.
'Nearly there!' Potter panted as they reached the corridor beneath the tallest tower.
There was a sudden movement ahead of them which must have taken Potter and Bookworm by surprise because their shoes squeaked to an abrupt halt. Being invisible, Azriel stayed where he was, but he heard the faint sound of shoes scuffling away from him and assumed they'd moved into a corner in the shadows.
Ahead, there were two dark outlines of people grappling with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared. Professor McGonagall, in a tartan dressing-gown and a hair-net, had Draco by the ear. At least he didn't have to worry about his cousin interfering now.
'Detention!' she shouted. 'And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you –'
'You don't understand, Professor, Harry Potter's coming – he's got a dragon!'
'What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on – I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!'
Once McGonagall and Draco had gone, Potter and Bookworm's footsteps resumed toward the spiral staircase up to the top of the tower. Once they'd stepped out into the cold night air, they threw off their cloak. Azriel kept hidden underneath his own. Bookworm was doing some sort of jig.
'Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!'
'Don't,' Potter advised her out loud at the same time Azriel silently suggested it.
Chuckling presumably about Draco, they waited. Norbert was thrashing around in his crate. Azriel left the tower once he saw the broomsticks arriving with Charlie's friends. He took off his cloak again, figuring now he wouldn't need it again tonight, as he still had plenty of shadow cover.
He was somewhere on the fifth floor when he was nearly knocked over by Neville Longbottom running in the other direction.
'Neville?' Azriel asked in surprise. 'What're you doing up?'
'I've got to warn Harry,' Neville gasped, 'I heard Malfoy say he was going to catch Harry. He said Harry has a dragon!'
Neville took off at a run again, and Azriel cursed, chasing after him.
'Neville, get back here! You know Malfoy was just trying to cause trouble.'
'But that's the thing!' Neville squeaked, still running. 'Harry's not in the dorm. Neither is Hermione!'
Azriel cursed again, not needing this right now. Neville was somehow able to keep a solid distance from the blond, frantically looking for Potter and Bookworm. By now, they were probably on their way back to Gryffindor tower and Neville had missed them.
'Neville, stop!' Azriel called out. 'You shouldn't be risking yourself like this! You don't know if you'll run into Mrs. Norris, or Peeves, or Filch –'
Neville wasn't listening though; he continued running, and he was steadily approaching the astronomy tower unconsciously. Azriel didn't like going back there; he didn't have time to put his invisibility cloak because he needed to catch up to Neville, but he wouldn't be surprised if McGonagall was still lurking around the area.
'Neville, STOP!' Azriel yelled, as the other boy ran round a corner. 'You're going to get us in –' at that moment, Azriel too rounded the corner to find Neville in the clutches of Filch, '- trouble.'
Azriel could feel his stomach twisting. He shot a quick glare at Neville who flinched as Filch silently beckoned for them to follow him, a twisted and triumphant smirk on his face. Along the way, they ran into McGonagall, who looked murderous as she took them from Filch's care and escorted them away herself. They were led to McGonagall's office – where Potter and Bookworm were sitting and waiting.
'Harry!' Neville burst out, the moment he saw the other two. 'I was trying to find you to warn you, I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag –'
Neville gave a painful squeak when Azriel trod forcefully on Neville's foot to shut him up, coupled with a warning glance. Potter was shaking his head violently in a gesture for Neville to be quiet; Bookworm seemed to be the only one to notice Azriel's action.
McGonagall moved behind her desk before the four of them, looking more likely to breathe fire than even the dragon had been as she towered over the four of them. Azriel was the only one not quaking in fear, though he figured he might be too if he weren't still hopped up on adrenaline.
'I would not have believed it of any of you. Mr Filch says you were up the astronomy tower. It's one o'clock in the morning. Explain yourselves.'
It was the first time Bookworm had ever failed to answer a teacher's question. She was staring at her slippers, as still as a statue. None of the others spoke; Azriel knew that the dragon defence would be just as implausible now as it had been when she had cornered Draco earlier.
'I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on,' said Professor McGonagall. 'It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock and bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom and Drake here heard the story and believed it, too?'
Azriel shared a glance with Bookworm; they did not need words to express that they both knew it was the truth. Neville looked stunned and hurt, however; poor, blundering Neville – Azriel had a feeling what it must have cost him to try and find them in the dark, to warn them.
'I'm disgusted,' said Professor McGonagall. 'Five students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Mister Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. And you, Mister Drake, I don't give a fig who your family is but that doesn't give you the right to blatantly disregard the rules just as your cousin did!'
Azriel's eyes widened slightly, and he could feel the others' eyes on him. Whatever he was expecting her to say, he certainly didn't expect this.
'Yes Mister Drake,' McGonagall said impatiently, 'I remember exactly who your mother is and which family she came from, and I highly doubt she would be any more displeased than I am.'
Azriel couldn't quite relax, given McGonagall had mentioned his cousin – albeit not by name, he knew that the other Gryffindors were curious to know who his cousin was, and what they had done. Azriel really didn't want it known that it was Draco whom Azriel was related to – the same Draco that had also gotten into trouble over tonight's escapades.
'All four of you will receive detentions – yes, you too, Mister Longbottom, nothing gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous – and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor.'
'Fifty?' Potter gasped – Azriel realised they would lose the lead that Potter had won in the last Quidditch match.
'Fifty points each,' said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long pointed nose. Azriel was not surprised by this, but that didn't stop him from feeling upset and annoyed at it. He stayed silent though, but the others weren't so withdrawn.
'Professor – please –'
'You can't –'
'Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Potter. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students.'
Azriel powered out of McGonagall's office and out of sight, away from the others. He knew Bookworm would want to enquire directly about what McGonagall had meant about Azriel's cousin, but he really didn't feel like explaining to her about his connection to Draco and everything that meant about his involvement in the night's events. Sure, he had gotten into trouble out of it too, but he'd got what he originally intended.
Two hundred points lost. That put Gryffindor in last place by a large margin. In one night, any chance Gryffindor had at winning the house cup had been ruined. Azriel supposed he shouldn't really care either way, but the decision had been so sudden that he hadn't had the time to reach a reaction other than self-disgust and bitterness.
Azriel knew Potter didn't sleep that night, and Neville was sobbing into his pillow for ages. They were clearly wondering what would happen in the morning when the rest of the house found out their points were all missing. Azriel knew he would just have to shake it off and act like he was unphased by any of it.