Draco Malfoy
And the Bloodstone
_ _ _ _ _By Ti'ana
Chapter Five
"Welcome to your third day back at Hogwarts, class." A tall man in a black cape with paper-white skin stood at the front of the near-empty room. "I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Blodsucan."
Draco glanced around the classroom. He was seated next to Crabbe, but Goyle preferred to sit in the back-- next to his new familiar. How he found a friend in Lisha Luralby was beyond Malfoy's comprehension. The fact he ***fancied her was even worse!
His eyes fell on Lisha. He had never seen a person look as scared as she did right now. Her brown eyes were wide and attentive, but she was sunk deep in her chair.
Professor Blodsucan seemed to have noticed this. The expression on his face, though, was the oddest Malfoy had ever observed. It was a mixture of surprise, sympathy and maliciousness.
"Your name, Miss?" He hovered over her end of the desk like a vulture, looking down at her over his beak-like nose with black, bead-like eyes.
It took her a while to respond. When she did, her voice shook. "Lisha Luralby, Professor."
"Ah, yes, yes." He pinched his short beard with two finders. Blodsucan's eyes seemed to pierce into her very soul, even from where Draco was seated he could feel his gaze on someone else.
"Allow me to continue. This is the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. This year, we will be focusing on how to protect yourself against malevolent spirits, powers and people, both living, nonliving and undead."
"Nonliving?" A Hufflepuff girl raised her hand. "You mean deceased? Aren't nonliving and undead the same thing?"
Professor Blodsucan smiled. "No, the nonliving. Creatures of the night. Vampires, you might say, are an example, but there are many species like them. Many," he continued, as if it were a lesson, "are Animagus, ones who can transform into other creatures. Almost ninety percent are unregistered, and therefore illegally possessing a power.
"We will focus more on vampires and the nonliving in the weeks to come. It is my personal favorite topic, and I'm sure you too will find it interesting. Although it is very rare you will ever come in contact with one of these creatures, you should know how to destroy them when-- if you do. They must be destroyed on the spot, or they will be very difficult to terminate later on."
If she appeared scared before class began, Lisha was petrified by the time Defense Against the Dark Arts had ended. It seemed Professor Blodsucan had that effect on many students. The same Hufflepuff girl who had asked him about the nonliving seemed to be in a trance when she left the room. When a friend tapped her on the shoulder, she jumped high in the air and shrieked.
"Must be a girl thing," Crabbe mumbled. "Hey! Quidditch starts soon. Still gonna be Seeker?"
"Of course," Draco answered, matter-of-factly. "I'm the best Seeker Slytherin has. Sad Montague quit the game after last years loss. Best Chaser and team leader we had. We're gonna need another Chaser to take his place. Why don't we convince Pansy Parkinson to play?" They both laughed. She was the biggest girly-girl in Slytherin. Although she followed Quidditch like every other witch and wizard, she had no dream of ever playing on a team.
"First practice is next Saturday. Me an' Goyle are still gonna go watch."
"You talked to him?"
Crabbe nodded. "Says we got an interesting new Chaser. Won't say who, though. First guess was Pansy. That'd be pretty interesting, alright."
"Goyle's playing Keeper this year, I heard. Is it true?"
"Yep! I mean, I was gonna, but I don't have enough time to practice and all."
Draco grimaced. Goyle being on the team meant he'd have to spend time and cooperate with him. He didn't want to be in this fight with a (huge) former friend and be forced to work with him, so Draco decided to reconcile before the first practice.
"Charms is next," Crabbe continued. "Maybe we'll learn a Mess-Up-Potter-On-His-Broom Charm. That one'll come in handy during a match!"
Charms remained the usual, uneventful class Malfoy and Crabbe remembered it to be. They didn't learn a Mess-Up-Potter-On-His-Broom Charm, but the Faltering Charm they learned might have helped dissuade Harry from even playing Quidditch at all.
Seated at the lunch table, hundreds of owls came swarming in to deliver packages and letters. Malfoy's own owl, an eagle owl measuring almost two feet long, dropped a small package on the table in front of him.
"Hello, Azrael." The owl hooted and landed on Draco's shoulder. He offered a piece of bread to the oversized bird, who hooted again and snapped at the food.
"Whatcha got?"
"The usual." Draco opened the package, filled to the brim with sweets: cookies, small cakes, sugar candies and chocolate frogs. He offered some to Crabbe, who graciously accepted by digging his hand into the box, emerging with half of the sugary contents.
Azrael flew off to the owlery with the other dozens of other owls. "So, Quidditch practice starts the Saturday coming up?"
"No, nex' Sa'urday." Crabbe struggled to speak while fighting to get two cakes down at once. Finally, he swallowed. "Flint wants to start early. Good strategy guy. Say, what broom'll you be using?"
"My Nimbus," Draco answered simply. "Two-thousand and two. Almost as good as the Firebolt, but not as expensive. Very agile."
"We'll win the cup this year," Crabbe encouraged. "Just catch the Snitch and we'll win!"
"I will. I mean, we will. Potter's just a pushover. Sure he's a good Seeker-- not as good as I am, but Gryffindor didn't win until last year, even though Potter never lost a game. 'Cept that one to Diggory, that was priceless!"
Crabbe looked at his schedule. "Potions next. Plan on setting another robe on fire?"
Draco struggled to keep his hand out of the pocket holding his wand.
***
Lisha still looked upset in Potions class as she had during the period of Defense Against the Dark Arts. She ignored Draco completely while everyone worked individually on creating a powerful reviving and rejuvenating potion. They each tested it on a Sleeping Yirdle in the hopes it would wake up happily, and everyone would leave the class with all the fingers they came in with.
Professor Snape watched closely as Lisha and Draco worked. Finally, he spoke up.
"Miss Luralby, I want to see you after class." Then he was gone.
Had Malfoy not noticed the burn marks still on his partner's arm, he may have asked what that was about. His foot began to throb thinking about yesterday's incident, even though his bones were completely healed.
He turned to see where Goyle was sitting.
"E-excuse me," a small voice asked. He turned to face Neville Longbottom. His eyes were wide and he began to point to an empty glass bottle. "Can... can I use that?"
Draco shook his head, but Lisha pushed it over to him. "We don't need it."
Neville smiled nervously, thanked her, and ran back to his table.
"What'd you do that for? That kid's in Gryffindor, Slytherins aren't supposed to take kindly to Gryffindors."
"He didn't do anything to make me not like him," Lisha answered simply. "Besides, that's stereotypical. Not all Slytherins are nasty wretches. Although, if you were the only student in Slytherin spoken to by an outsider, I can see why one would think so."
Malfoy scoffed. "You should be in Hufflepuff with the rest of the thickheaded dimwits."
"There you go, you're stereotyping again. Honestly, Malfoy, I wouldn't be surprised if you told me Hogwarts should be filled with pureblooded wizards and witches, and the rest should be fed to one of Hagrid's mangy animals."
He smiled balefully. "You said it, not me."
Professor Snape dismissed the class. The school day was over. Malfoy stood to leave, but Lisha continued speaking, even after Crabbe and Goyle walked over to Malfoy.
"What's wrong with Mudbloods?"
"The same thing that's wrong with Muggle-lovers. Too preoccupied with non-magical folk to know what's going on in the magical world. Muggle-lovers like Arthur Weasley shouldn't be a part of our community, much less the Ministry of Magic. A pure blood like yourself should know better."
"You said it," she mocked. "Not me."
