Mudbloods Beware: Chapter 3
The Half-Blood Prince
Malfoy woke up early on Friday, sitting in his throne. A little over three weeks had passed since Nott had taken him into the pensieve, and ever since, Malfoy had been spending a lot of time in the library. He had decided the best way to show Nott up would be to get rid of several Mudbloods in one sweep. This would take careful planning. He figured poison would be the easiest way to make it happen, but he didn't want to use just any poison. He wanted something powerful, wicked, and most important, symbolic—symbolic of the spirit of the attack. Malfoy didn't want anyone to know he had committed the murders, but he did want everyone to know why the victims had been attacked. He would tell his father, of course, who would never tell, and Nott. He already knew exactly how he was going to keep Nott from telling.
"Are you okay? Did you sleep out here?" The concerned voice of Pansy Parkinson yanked Draco from his thoughts.
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I did, er yeah, I fell asleep out here." Malfoy glanced at the table where his Potions homework from earlier was sitting on top of several books on poisons he'd rented from the library. "All this extra homework for O.W.L. preparation keeps me pretty busy, and of course Quidditch practice. I'm exhausted, maybe I'll skip breakfast, and sleep some a bit longer in my dorm," Malfoy said with mock exhaustion. He was actually wide awake thinking about his plans. Besides, he could sleep in classes.
Draco noticed that Pansy looked disappointed. She had probably been hoping he would come with her to breakfast, but all she said was, "That's probably a good idea. You'll need your rest to beat Gryffindor at the first match tomorrow." Draco took Pansy's hand for a second before grabbing the books and walking up the winding stairwell to his dorm. He walked past the familiar pictures of the current and previous heads of Slytherin house, including a scowling Snape, sleeping Slughorn, and sinister Salazar. Draco's thoughts settled on Pansy while his steps mechanically led him up to his room. He knew she'd be upset about breakfast. They were together now, ever since the Yule Ball last year. Draco didn't have much time to reminisce about the gorgeous pink creation Pansy had worn before he opened the door to the dormitory that he shared with Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, and Zabini. Crabbe and Goyle were probably already at breakfast. The others had gone down to the common room.
Draco turned his attention to the huge silver chest at the foot of his bed. His father had bought it for him first year, and had had it customized with four parallel metallic green stripes, two of which flanked a great metallic green serpent shaped into an "S". The other two stripes were on the edges of the trunk. The latches that Draco opened were the same green, but the sheen had worn off from all the opening and closing. He'd have to get his father to buy him a new trunk.
"He'd probably be so proud he'd buy me a castle after my plan succeeds," Draco thought to himself. He let a contented grin take over his face. His father had always spoiled him, but it was more his way of buying affection and loyalty. It was the way his grandfather had bought Lucius' affection, and the only way Lucius knew to treat Draco. Draco didn't mind. In fact, he liked his father a lot because he knew that he tried, but this just made Draco feel worse when he couldn't live up to his father's expectations. Lucius was always telling him that as Pureblood Wizards, they were to distance themselves as much as possible in manner from those who were not. They must always pay close attention to their status, and never tarnish their reputation. Their reputation was supposed to prove that purebloods were better than Mudbloods. This was why his father was always upset whenever he saw Draco's marks, and knew that the Granger girl had gotten better ones. Lucius had been head of his class back in his day. He always lorded this over Draco. He also took pride in his reputation for Mudblood torture, and he was thoroughly annoyed with Draco for seemingly being unable to carry on this tradition. The smile disappeared from Draco's face, and was replaced by a grimace. This year would be different though, he assured himself.
Draco took a quick glance around before muttering, "Sanguis Purusa." A secret compartment in the lid appeared. That compartment had been built into the trunk, and was one of the reasons his father had bought it. The Malfoys would always appreciate secret compartments for hiding things. Draco quickly snatched all the parchment from it, looked around, and muttered the same charm to hide the compartment. These parchments held revised instructions for all the potions Professor Snape had ever assigned. Snape had given them to Malfoy just this year to help him with the O.W.L.s, and had insisted they be kept well guarded. This was of course so neither he nor Draco would get in trouble (Snape for unfair treatment and Draco for accepting). None of the instructions were exactly new to Malfoy; they were just on paper now. Snape had always been more than willing to offer his advice for a potion before class started. Either way, Draco was his favourite, and any potions he made were given top marks. Occasionally Draco wondered where Snape had learned these instructions, and why he didn't share them with the rest of the class (not that he was upset about this). Now that he had the parchments, he at least had a clue to who had taught Snape. At the top of the first page, the words: Courtesy of the Half-Blood Prince, were written in Snape's writing. Malfoy had never been curious enough though to actually research the name. It didn't really matter to Draco at the moment that he didn't know everything about those instructions. All he really needed to know was that he was sure to find a poison worthy of his intentions in these parchments.
Draco figured he'd have at least a few minutes to examine the first page before his first class on Friday, History of Magic. He skimmed the page, but no poisons seemed to be listed. It was too late to examine any of the other pages, so he headed off to History of Magic.
"And that is why the 1708 Giant War started," finished Professor Binns. Draco had awoken to the sounds of his classmates packing up, and then he heard that snippet, just enough so he'd know which chapters to read if he decided to do the homework. He never could stay awake in Binns' class, not that he ever tried or felt it mattered. Draco had given up trying to get the best grades in his year after third year. It was hopeless. He knew his father would be upset, but he could think of no way around it. That Granger girl had to be cheating somehow, either that or she had the teachers wrapped around her fingers in the same way he had Snape wrapped around his. His mother, father, and Snape were on excellent terms, and Snape was often invited over to share a meal, and this no doubt helped Snape's opinion of Draco.
Draco knew the second he returned to the dormitory that he wasn't going to have time for homework. It was lucky that Pansy was always thrilled at the opportunity to do Draco's homework. He intended to use every free, waking moment to study Snape's revised instructions. He really wanted to find something before the Winter Holidays. He had taken his time with the library, but now that there was less than a month until the end of the term, patience was not an option.
Night came quickly for Draco, mostly because classes pass rather quickly when you sleep through them. As soon as he was sure the rest of the boys were asleep he opened the secret compartment, and he brought out the parchments. "Funestus Poison, hmm. Likely candidate, erm, or not. 'Not to be used during any time other than early morning.'" Draco had come across many "likely candidates" so far, but all of them were either too complicated, too limiting, or otherwise not fit for his plan.
Draco stayed up until dawn, and he never even noticed the house elves (not that he ever took notice—he was used to their presence). They were probably more flustered about him still being up than he was about them flitting about. If he hadn't been tired last morning, he was definitely tired now, but he figured he'd better not skip out on another breakfast with Pansy. She'd have a fit. Besides, he wanted to show her something he had worked on since he saw the Gryffindor Team's last practice.
Even Pansy probably didn't know that morning would be the last time she and the other Slytherins would see Draco outside of classes or Quidditch until after Christmas. Whenever he had free time, Draco spent it holed up in his dormitory reading his textbooks. Everyone figured the upcoming O.W.L.s were stressing him out.