As they approached the Hufflepuff dormitory, four older Hufflepuffs took notice of them. They were two girls and two boys who looked to be about fourth year students. One of them, a boy, moved behind them while the three others confronted them. "Looky here. A newbie Hufflepuff walking hand in hand with a Slytherin." Never mind that they were not walking hand in hand together. The girl had black curly hair, a dark complexion, and her dark eyes glared at Justin sharply as she called him a traitor.
Draco did not know why she was calling Justin a traitor, but he figured that it did not matter. He also figured that he should probably just leave before things got worse. As he turned to leave, he heard, "He's worse than a traitor!" a boy said. "He's brought the filthy enemy to us. I say we teach them a lesson!"
"I'm going," he said not bothering to turn and speak to them.
"No, he is not a filthy enemy! He is a filthy dark Slytherin." That got Draco to stop. He wondered why people always assumed he was a dark wizard. He was a first-year student at Hogwarts with a unicorn hair core for a wand for crying out loud. How could he possibly be a dark wizard? With heated cheeks, he turned around and glared at the girl who had called him a filthy dark Slytherin. She was a pretty thing with silky black hair and large Asian eyes. She was the smallest, but she looked the oldest of the four. "I hear they call this one the baby Malfoy, and he is the son of a Death Eater," she said with loathing in her voice. She grabbed Draco's chin and moved it ungently to face away from her. "My aunt's second cousin once removed was killed by a Death Eater, so you are mine!" As she released him, the way she looked at him sent a shiver down his spine. Draco had seen that look the night he got beat up.
Draco deeply regretted not leaving as he had planned. He was a bit angry at what they were saying but knew better than to say anything that would raise the tension. "Please," Draco begged. He was a Malfoy and hated to beg, but he knew he was in trouble. "I have not done anything wrong. I am sorry for the loss of your aunt's second cousin once removed, hopefully I got that right. As for my father, he was not a Death Eater by choice as he was under the Imperius Curse. I will leave right now." As he said his last sentence, he bolted as fast as he could towards the Slytherin dormitory. He was stopped cold as the boy who had gotten behind him grabbed him and picked him up off the floor. Draco could easily kick the young man, but he did not want to do anything that would anger the group more than they already were. Besides, he was sure that the older students could easily inflict ten times the pain that he could. Not knowing what else to do, he yelled for help.
Justin who had been immobile trying to understand what was happening finally got the nerve to act. He got between Draco and the three Hufflepuffs in front of him and shouted, "Stop! This boy defended me against some Slytherins who were attacking me. He only came here to ensure that I arrived safely." Looking between them all and unsure what to do, he yelled, "He's my friend and I will not let you hurt him!"
The second girl with the black silky hair said, "Understood traitor. Take this," as she shot him with a spell from her wand that Draco did not hear or know. Justin was thrown against the wall so hard that he moaned and crumpled to the floor. Draco gulped loudly and tried to run, but his feet were up in the air.
"Impressive," the boy who held him said to the black-haired girl. "Will you give me a kiss if I slug this one for you?" Draco frowned. He did not enjoy people using him in their flirting, especially if it involved pain on his part. Yet, he said nothing as the boy who held him did not seem to hate him. Unfortunately, the boy seemed to have no objection to hurting him as long as he got a kiss out of it.
"No! I do not kiss boys who are younger than me!"
"But I am only a year younger. Besides, I have your prize," he said with a grin. He looked Draco in the eye and winked at him. "Surely the baby Malfoy is worth something to you." Draco moaned. He should have stayed in bed today.
"Drop him or you will suffer his pain along with him." She was direct and knew what she wanted. Draco closed his eyes in submission. This girl was so dead on hurting him that she was even threatening a boy who liked her enough to flirt with her simply because he was holding him. Draco then felt the boy who was holding him drop him as he began to fall. He let himself fall to the floor without trying to catch himself. That way, he would at least avoid any injuries from hitting the ground when he was attacked. Not that it mattered, because the spell that was used against him was the Cruciatus Curse. If he could have thought, he would have thought that as most unlikely because that spell was not taught at Hogwarts and was also a spell beyond most of the students. Of course, at the moment he could not think because he felt a pain so intense, so all-consuming, that he no longer knew where he was or cared. It was as if white-hot knives were stabbing him everywhere and his whole body could feel nothing but unbearable pain. He wreathed in pain for what seemed an eternity but was only a second or two.
"Protego," was shouted clearly and the pain suddenly stopped. Draco looked up and saw a good-looking boy approaching him with his wand elevated and radiating power. The boy was older than Draco but younger than the students who were tormenting him. He had a very round face with bushy eyebrows and a cowlick that made a shape on his forehead that reminded Draco of the wings of an angel. That was appropriate because this angel was protecting him with the shield charm.
"Cedric, why are you aiding this darkest Slytherin? He is so evil he deserves worse than he is getting!"
Cedric did not respond. Instead he quickly stepped besides the prostrate blond boy and into his own shield charm. From there, no one could touch either him or Draco. However, Justin feebly responded, "He is not dark or evil." He moaned a little before adding, "He defended me from some older Slytherins. Please do not hurt him! He is my friend!"
Surprised by this, Draco looked over to see that Justin was still on the floor up against the wall. As he was not facing Draco, it was apparent from his request that he did not know that Draco was under a shield charm. Cedric must also have come to that conclusion, as he told Justin not to worry. His friend was protected. Cedric then turned to the older Hufflepuffs and told them that they should leave.
One of Draco's assailants suggested that they should leave; however, the girl with the black silky hair refused to go. She said that Cedric could not keep up his spell indefinitely, and that she needed to punish the evil pure-blood.
"Oh yes I can Aurora," Cedric replied. Draco figured Aurora must be the name of the silky dark-haired girl. "And why are you so bent on punishing the baby Malfoy? According to Justin, our fellow housemate, Malfoy is neither dark nor evil." Cedric put a heavy emphasis on Justin being a fellow housemate, probably because he thought it was his strongest argument. "Since he takes classes with him, he should know Draco better than any of us. In fact, this pure-blood Slytherin appears to have befriended and defended a muggle-born from our house. That is pretty outstanding in my book."
"They lie! Draco and his family killed my aunt's second cousin once removed in the Wizarding War. He must learn that he will be punished for such crimes!"
"A lot of people died in that war! So, it is hardly surprising that you lost someone so distantly related to you so long ago. Get over it!" Cedric was almost losing his patience. Nonetheless, he continued to try and reason with his advisories. "And Draco was only a baby or not even born when that happened! How can you hold him responsible for something he obviously could not have done?"
"Thank you," Draco squeaked. He was a little unnerved, but he greatly appreciated someone defending him with the obvious.
Cedric then told them that they should leave because he had sent a memo by paper airplane to Professor Sprout explaining what was going on outside the Hufflepuff Common Room. Professor Sprout was the head of Hufflepuff House and as such would be the closest school employee to the altercation. This got the four older students arguing among themselves, with some of them wanting to leave.
"What was that about a Cruciatus Curse?" Professor Sprout and a number of other students had arrived and overheard some of the arguing. Upon seeing wands drawn, two first year boys sprawled on the floor, and two behind a Shield Charm, Professor Sprout immediately took out her wand. "Everybody put away your wands! Now!" She shouted. Draco was not happy about that. He liked being behind a shield charm. He was relieved and somewhat surprised that no one challenged her authority as everyone put away their wands. Perhaps they feared an angry mild-mannered professor. He of course had never taken his out. It seemed pointless as he knew no defensive spells.
As Professor Sprout tried to figure out what had happened, one of the students, Ernie Macmillan, came over to his friend Justin who was still sprawled on the floor. Concluding that Justin had been attacked, he asked, "What did Draco do to you?" Draco was, of course, the only student present who was not from Hufflepuff. Never mind that Draco was also on the floor.
What an insult! "Why do people always assume that I am the one responsible whenever something bad happens!" He made some noises of indignation as he stood and said that he attacked no one. He then attempted vigorously to get the dust off his robes. This caused Cedric to laugh in amusement at the younger boy. Professor Sprout asked if what Draco said was true.
Looking first to the professor, Cedric answered, "Yes professor." He then looked to Ernie as he said, "Draco attacked no one." He returned to the professor as he said, "It appears that Aurora and her gang of fourth years attacked him, though he was only a first year. They attacked Justin after he tried to defend his friend. I stepped in with my shield charm when Aurora cast the Cruciatus Curse on Draco."
Professor Sprout and a number of others mouthed their shock. That spell was an unforgivable curse. Not only would the caster be expelled, they would probably be sent to Azkaban. The professor asked if anyone else witnessed the curse. When Draco said that he did, the professor told him that he was a victim and could not be a witness. When no one else said anything, she told the offending students to go to their dorm. Justin then moaned and said that he had witnessed the curse. Aurora objected, saying that he was largely unconscious and not even facing the correct way. He could not have witnessed anything.
"That is true, but I did hear you say the word 'Crucio' and then heard Draco scream like someone was cutting out his liver with a dull blade." His ears were his witness. He then feebly stood up with Ernie's help.
Professor Sprout then told Ernie and Cedric to take Justin and Draco to the hospital ward while she was taking the four older Hufflepuffs to see the headmaster. She then marched her students off pointing her wand at them while the others watched. Seeing that Justin was unsteady on his feet even with Ernie's help, Draco went over to Justin's other shoulder, put his arm around him, and offered to help him to the infirmary. Cedric told Draco that he would help support his housemate and that Draco should save his strength to get himself to the infirmary. After all, he had been viciously attacked as well.
"I'm fine. I want to help. The Cruciatus Curse does no permanent or even real damage. It just hurts like heck."
"Draco, you are not an expert on the curse. You leave that to Nurse Pomfrey." He then looked at the smaller blond boy and tenderly said, "I know you want to help. Your friend tried to help you, so now you want to help. Yet, I am stronger and can support him better. Please let me do it."
Draco frowned. He could not argue with that logic, though he did not like it. And why was everyone assuming that he and Justin were friends? For crying out loud, he was a pure-blood and Justin was a mudblood. Malfoy's were not allowed to have such friends. Now was not the time to straighten that out, however. "OK," he said in resignation. "But know this. I am an expert in the curse. This is not the first time that I have been on the receiving end."
"What! Did your father punish you with it when you did something wrong?"
This caused Draco to stop walking and to frown. "Ernie, some of the things you say are really insulting. No, my father does not use the Cruciatus Curse on me. Does your father use it on you?" Draco hoped that Ernie understood how insulting his question was now. "When my father really wants to punish me, he either talks to me for hours and hours about how bad my actions are, or he punishes me by making me watch as he punishes a substitute, a sort of a modern-day whipping boy." Draco did not add that the whipping boy was either an orphan muggle boy or a House-elf.
Ernie just said that he was sorry, but Cedric held his shoulder to offer him comfort. He also said that it sounded as if Draco had been through a lot and that he would try and make sure that less terrible things happened to him. Cedric then asked him if he would continue moving as they needed to get to the infirmary. Draco resumed his walking, but secretly smiled to himself. Maybe Cedric would prove very useful to his plans.
Ernie then told Draco that he heard that he was a pure-blood. He explained that Justin was not, but that he was, proudly saying that he could trace his ancestry of wizards and witches through seven generations. Draco rolled his eyes. Seven lousy generations, the Malfoy's did not even count by generations. They had been pure-blood witches and wizards for at least ten centuries. Yet, Draco wanted to stay on good terms with Cedric, and he did not think insulting Ernie would help. So, he instead said, "Impressive Ernie."
At the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey immediately started to examine both boys. She dismissed Cedric and Ernie, but Draco asked Cedric to stay in case he was needed to answer questions. When Justin asked why Draco could not answer the questions, Draco answered, "Because Cedric is not a Slytherin." Madam Pomfrey just looked at him as if she thought, "And he is not the son of a Death Eater," but she said nothing. Cedric agreed to stay.
When Madam Pomfrey had finished, she told Justin that she had fixed his slight concussion and bruises, but that she wanted him to stay the night for observations. Draco was fine and was free to go. Draco walked next to Cedric as he left, thanking him and praising him for defending him. Cedric was gracious and humble in his acceptance, almost to the point of being embarrassed.