Draco Malfoy Promises To Be A Good Boy This Year
Chapter Fifteen
Black Arts At The Black School
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I woke up the next morning and pulled the covers more firmly over Ginny, who had started to shiver next to me in the chilly air. The place certainly wasn't warm, that I can say for sure. I slowly yanked on my only set of clothes and my new robe with the hood and picked up Nathaniel. I held him for a bit and paced around the room, trying to figure this whole predicament out. Nathaniel was antsy and he clung to my collar, whimpering slightly. "Don't worry, Nattie-Boy. We'll get out of here somehow."
Ginny moaned and rolled over onto her stomach. She opened her brown eyes and blinked at me. "Hi Draco."
"Hi Gin." I smiled at her.
Once she had the sleep properly ground out of her eyes, she looked around the room with fear. "I don't like it here. Please can we go home? I don't care anymore if I'm mature and sensible or not. I want to go home!"
She looked as if she was going to throw a lovely fit and I wanted to join her. But I bounced Nathaniel in my arms. "We have to be strong now for Nattie." I set Nathaniel down to crawl on the floor and I knelt in front of Ginny and helped her on with her new robes. I then gave her a kiss right on that black streak, hoping maybe my touch would make it go away. It didn't.
Not long after, our little group congregated in my room like we had last night. It turned out we didn't all have the luxury of having our own room, as Ron and Harry and Hermione all ended up sharing one.
"The lot of us all sleeping in one bed was a little uncomfortable," Harry admitted. "It would have been better if those two hadn't been making kissing sounds all night long!" He shot them a look.
"Hey!" Ron said defensively, "Good old Tommy gave us one bed for a reason!"
Hermione giggled uncharacteristically.
"What reason is that? Snogging like there's no tomorrow?" Harry countered.
"I think it's because they're just low on space," Ginny said sensibly. "I mean, there are a lot of wizards here."
I decided to take charge, seeing as how I wasn't at all afraid of Dark Magic. "So, have any of you heard anything? What do we do now?"
"We haven't heard anything on our end. We came here to see if you had heard anything." Harry shrugged.
"And to make sure Draco was behaving himself." Ron glared.
"Shut up, you git!" I yelled. But we couldn't stay upset at each other for long. We were sitting so close together in a huddle of black and tan robes that I was wondering if we wouldn't all start snogging with each other by the end of this. We were all so affection starved as it was.
Ginny was leaning against my back when she suddenly cried out. I jumped up and she fell over onto her back, her weight unbalanced. Harry righted her and we all stared at the wall. Green letters had mysteriously materialized on the dark stone. "Welcome Students," read the words.
"What is that?" cried Ginny.
Nathaniel crawled towards the bright letters and Ron pulled him back. "Let's get out of here!"
Hermione held up her hand. "Wait! I think I may have read a legend about this school once. I think the wall is the Schoolmaster's way of communicating with us."
"Who is the Master?" asked Harry.
She grinned sheepishly. "I don't remember, I'm afraid." She stepped forward and addressed the wall. "Please…where are we exactly and why are we here?"
After several moments the first words faded and new ones appeared. "You are in the Black School of Spain, where you are to learn the art of Dark Magic. You were highly recommended by our Head Boy."
"This is creepy," said Ginny. "It reminds me too much of Tom Riddle's diary."
"Ditto," added Harry.
"How can we get back home?" Hermione cried in a loud clear voice. It was all highly dramatic.
"You must complete your courses first or have the leave to go."
"And how do we gain a leave of absence?"
"A student of the Black School must grant you permission."
Ron groaned. "What are the odds of that happening?"
More words appeared. "Refresh yourselves and report to the main cavern for instruction."
Hermione looked at us. "I say we give it a go. It might even be useful, knowing about Dark Magic. After all, once we know how to do it we will know how to counter act it."
"I'm with Hermie!" I cried, my love of all things dark taking over. Ginny was smiling too. The both of us would just never be crystal pure and it was time to face it. Harry and Ron looked at each other and shrugged. They always liked a good adventure.
Suddenly, a huge hand shoved out from the wall with a covered tray in its grasp. Harry stood and approached. "It smells lovely!" He pried the tray from the hand, which quickly disappeared into the confines of the wall again. "Do you think it's safe, then?"
Hermione started to mutter spells of all kinds over the tray until she determined that there was no poison in it that she could find. We pulled the cover off and we were met with the delicious aroma of hot shepherd's pie, warm rolls and butter, and milk. We immediately dug in, starving after not having eaten since yesterday afternoon.
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Studying at the Black School was very different from taking classes at Hogwarts. It was more like a silent study hall that never ends, rather than a class. My little group sat together on the stone floor, our heads hidden under the beige hoods, trying not to breathe too loudly in the silent cavern. The only noise was the sound of breathing and students murmuring over huge books.
"I wonder what's in those?" whispered Ginny.
"Let's go find out." I took Ginny's hand and led her through the dim cavern. We soon came across a large book sitting on one of the little stone pedestals. We pulled it down using both of our slight strengths. It practically knocked us to the floor, but we lived. Soon enough we were both sitting in front of the book, reading the most delicious forbidden information. This brilliant book told of the darkest wizards and witches, ways to maim and kill your opponents, how to raise the dead, how to stop time…it went on and on. Ginny and I spent a good chunk of time ooo-ing and ahh-ing and eww-ing over all of this information which was emphasized with graphic pictures. By the time we were done with the best parts, I was feeling very excited and, if you want to know the truth, about ready to snog Ginny. You should have seen some of the pictures in there! I ended up chewing on Ginny's neck until Harry showed up.
He looked down at us from beneath his hood, his eyes like emeralds, mixed with laughter and perhaps a touch of jealousy. "Hungry much, are you?"
"Sod off, Harry." I grabbed his hand and used it to pull myself up and Ginny followed suit. "Potter, you would never guess how much we learned from this book!"
"Try not to learn too much, Draco. You and Ginny both look strange and we don't want to have another Chamber of Secrets sort of thing."
"We'll be careful. This magic is just amazing."
"We read a little bit too. But we have questions."
I shrugged. "Ask the wall." I gleefully grabbed their hands and pulled them along. I was practically skipping.
Harry muttered, "Nutter."
Maybe this whole thing wasn't going to be so bad after all…
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I wanted to mention that I didn't think up the Black School…it is an old myth I found in a book of wizards and witches and became fascinated with it from looking at a picture which I will post the link to in a moment. I could see Draco Malfoy standing up there next to that large book and the figure next to him soon became Tom Riddle as the story progressed. Also, the parts about asking the walls questions and the food being thrust out from the stones was also part of the myth, but the plot is my own, of course. Hope you're enjoying it so far, and thanks to everyone who reviewed!
Here is the link to the drawing I saw that inspired this part of the story. Please copy, paste, and take out the spaces, as this thing won't let me post urls anymore.
www.angelfire.com / mi3 / ladygrizdrawings / images / blackschool.jpg