AN: This is the first chapter I've written that has been beta-d by amazing and incredible FalconHonour!
Before they knew it, the Winter Break was over and they were all back at school. The days bled quickly into weeks and then months. Hermione, while still hurt by Weasley's comments, was much better at not letting them affect her And, each time he opened his mouth, the feeling of a residual sting, the belief that she was no better than what Weasley had said receded, as did the snow outside on the grounds, and before anyone knew it, it was April.
Hermione's brow was furrowed, her grip on her wand tight. She was gritting her teeth in concentration as she levitated six books in the air. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead, and Pansy and Daphne watched in awe as the books stayed in the air.
They all came crashing to the ground as Draco and Theo burst into the common room. Pansy picked up one of the fallen books-Hogwarts: A History-and chucked it at their heads.
"Hey!" Theo, Draco and Hermione yelled. Hermione rolled her eyes at Pansy, who stuck out her tongue. "You are lucky that's not one of my editions I don't have two of. And you-", she turned back to the boys, "Better have a good explanation for bursting into here. Do you know how many books I was levitating?"
"Four?" Theo offered weakly, blanching.
"Six." Hermione ground out icily. "Well?"
"Well," said Draco, panting "We followed Weasel and Scarhead to Hagrid's little hut thing, right?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "And we peaked through the window, and you wouldn't believe what we saw! We saw...a dragon."
"Draco Lucius Malfoy!" Hermione scowled, "You made me drop my books so you could lie to me? Try to make me fall for some stupid joke? There's a dragon in a wooden hut? Nobody is that stupid!"
"But-" Theo started to say, before he was cut off by Daphne, equally incensed.
"Theodore Tiberius Nott, you know better than to let Draco drag you into one of his stupid little plots to play a joke on us. Hermione and I haven't fallen for one of those in ages."
"But there was a dragon!" Draco protested.
Hermione turned to Pansy. "Please tell the boys how utterly ridiculous they're being."
Pansy rolled her eyes before saying, "As much as I would love to verbally tear Draco and Theo a new one, do you guys really believe that Hagrid the Half-Giant would be smart enough to realize that a dragon would burn down his house? I mean… that's not so completely out of the realm of possibility…"
Daphne seemed to let the thought roll around in her head, "Okay, maybe."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm not believing anything until there's some proof."
Draco slammed a letter down in front of Hermione triumphantly the very next day.
"What is this?"
"This," said Draco, "Is your proof. Got it from Ronald Weasley in the Infirmary, where he had a nasty bite on his hand that was turning green."
Hermione sighed, "Hand me the stupid letter."
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
As Hermione read the letter, her eyebrows rose and rose, until they almost disappeared into her perfectly coiffed her sister's confusion, Daphne snatched the letter out of her hands the moment she'd read it. Curiosity getting the better of her, Pansy leaned over Daphne's shoulder to read along.
"Wow," Pansy laughed, "How dumb do you have to be to write a letter admitting to an illegal activity? And not even encode it? Our parents would skin us alive if we did anything even half that foolish!"
Theo shrugged, "That's the Weasleys for you. Come on, let's go, we've got Potions in a bit."
As the first-year Slytherins walked towards the Dungeons, Draco wore a grin. "So….?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, sighing, "You were right."
"And you were wrong!"
"I guess it happens occasionally," Hermione smirked, "Come on, I don't want to be late."
When Professor Snape entered the dungeons, Hermione and Draco were settling in at the same time as Potter and Weasley. "Five points from Gryffindor for failure to be on time," Professor Snape sneered.
"As if Malfoy and Greengrass weren't just settling down too!" Potter protested.
"Potter," Draco smirked and turned around, "Can we please get on with the lesson? Some of us are actually good at Potions and aren't a waste of space in this class."
As they turned around, Hermione elbowed him. "Draco," she scolded.
"What?" Draco looked at her innocently.
"Another five points from Gryffindor for further disruption. Now, today we will be brewing a general Antidote potion. The instructions are on the board," he waved his hand, "Begin."
Saturday night rolled around and the group of Slytherins were still undecided on what they planned to do about the dragon situation.
"We need to turn it into a Professor," Hermione pleaded.
"What?" Draco turned to her, "No! Let's sneak out and catch them!"
"All six of us?" Blaise said skeptically, "There's no way we wouldn't be caught by Filch."
"We could only send one or two of us," Theo suggested.
"I'm not going because I'm not going to serve detention when you get caught," Hermione sniffed.
"If we get caught," Draco said.
"When you get caught."
"Oh come on," Daphne snapped, "Draco and Blaise will go. The rest of us can wait up in the common room for when you two get back."
And so with that, Blaise and Draco left the common room and the girls and Theo started playing Exploding Snap. As the latter cleaned up his fourth victory, Hermione glanced at the clock. "They should be back by now."
Daphne waved away her concerns, "So what, they're probably just taking their time getting back."
"What if they get caught?"
"Then that's on them," Pansy said, "If they're stupid enough to wind up getting caught, then it's their own fault."
"They won't get caught," Daphne rolled her eyes.
"Five galleons?" Pansy asked.
"Sure."
Draco and Blaise crept through the corridors of Hogwarts, wary of any noise they heard. The moonlight cast enough light for them to see as they navigated their way to the base of the Astronomy tower, squirrelling themselves away in a dark alcove, where they sat and waited for the Gryffindors.
"Are we just going to sit here and wait in silence?" Blaise asked, his voice low.
"I guess not. I can try and cast this spell my father will sometimes use so nobody hears us. But we do need to pay enough attention to get Potter and Weasley caught." Draco waved his wand and waited for the telltale buzz. Contented, he started talking at a normal volume. "It's ok to talk now."
Blaise nodded.
"Did your mother really kill her husbands or is that a load of bunk?" Draco burst out.
"How long have you been waiting to ask me that?" Blaise groaned, "Here, let's play a game. We can ask the other whatever we want, and you have to answer honestly."
"Fine," Draco nodded.
Blaise took in a breath, "Well, my mother's had a total of five husbands so far. My father was the second, actually. Her first husband died when he got caught up in a duel, and my mother got an exorbitant amount of money from that. When she met my father, they got married really quickly, and she got pregnant pretty soon after. After I was born, their marriage kind of went to shit, and my mother didn't want to get a divorce. So one night she ends up poisoning him. That was kind of an accident, but then she found out she'd been left with everything in his will. After that, it kind of dissolved into a habit of marrying the richest man she could find, and bumping him off for his money."
Draco's eyebrows raised, "You're just going to tell me that? What's stopping me from going to the Aurors?"
Blaise shrugged, "'Cause the Malfoys aren't exactly squeaky clean either. And I'd also like you to get over your weird aversion to me. Slytherin brotherhood and all that." He laughed.
Draco rolled his eyes, "Sure."
"Now it's my turn for a question," he smirked. "Why do you hate me?"
Draco sputtered, "I don't hate you."
"Sure you don't. I mean, we're practically making daisy-chains together."
"I never said I liked you either," Draco rolled his eyes. "I mean what kind of a question is that? You know the answer."
Blaise smirked, "I want to hear you say it."
"Fine," Draco grumbled, "It's 'cause you came in with your stupid fancy Italian life and your stupid fancy Italian culture and start flirting with the girl I've been in love with for-" he stopped suddenly.
"Did you not know you were in love with her?" Blaise asked.
"Love is a strong word," Draco mumbled, "I know it sounds stupid. I'm eleven, I mean, Theo and Daphne are literally soulmates and I don't think they're in love with each other yet. It sounds dumb to say that about someone who doesn't even realize I exist, not in the way that I'd like her to."
Blaise sighed, "If it's any consolation, I don't think she really realizes that any guy exists like that. Not yet at least. That's part of the reason I like flirting with her, 'cos it either flusters her or goes straight over her head." Draco glared at him. "I didn't say that was the only reason. Come on, how much of a jerk would I have to be? It's also 'cos she cares. I've never had anyone do that before. Oh, Mother will give me whatever I ask for, or almost anything, but she never cares about me. She never pays attention to me or asks me about what I've done on any one day, you know? It's always all about her latest boyfriend. But Hermione will just come to dinner and sit down and ask me what I thought about the Charms project we have to do, or if I'd ever seen the plant we'd studied in Herbology that day before. Nobody's ever really treated me like that before. Especially not my mother."
"Of course," he added, lightly, "It doesn't hurt that Hermione is smart and kind and just so pretty that it almost hurts to look at her."
Even Blaise's teasing lilt couldn't completely hide the pain in his voice, however. There was nothing Draco could say and so they sat in silence.
"You could stay at the Manor this summer," Draco said quietly, "If you want."
"I don't need or want your pity," Blaise said sharply.
"I know," Draco said. He paused. "Mother likes having people in the Manor. My parents always wanted to have more kids than just me. It never really worked out though. When I was five, my mother finally got pregnant. She was about four or five months along, but then she had a bad miscarriage. After that they just stopped trying, I think. Mother grew up in a big family. She had two older sisters, and a bunch of cousins. Then her oldest sister, Andromeda, got herself disowned for marrying a Muggleborn, and Bellatrix went off the rails, and Regulus got himself killed in '79 and Sirius got himself arrested for murder in '81. And it was just her," he sighed. "You know, she's always wanted to reach out to Andromeda, but the family magic that was set by her Grandfather, the Head of the House of Black, made it so when Andromeda was disowned, the family magic wouldn't allow anybody in the Black family to speak to or get into any kind of contact with Andromeda. I mean, I think if Andromeda got reinstated, Mother would finally be able to talk to her again. In his last letter, Sirius mentioned trying to figure out how to reinstate her in the family. There's a lot of family magic to navigate with all that so it won't be all that easy. But anyways, she just misses having people around. She mothers Theo like crazy, since he practically splits his time between us and the Greengrasses. She's all three of the Greengrass sisters' godmother, and between Pansy and Hannah, she's...well, she's known almost all of us since we were babies."
Blaise took in a deep breath, "Maybe I'll think about coming over this summer."
They sat in silence, before hearing footsteps. Potter and Weasley. They jumped out of their hiding spot. "And just what do you think you two are doing?" The boys looked up to see Professor McGonagall standing in front of them, arms crossed.
"Weasley and Potter have a dragon!" Draco burst out..
Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes, "I'm sure they do."
"But-"
"I'm surprised Miss Greengrass didn't talk you two out of this," said Professor McGonagall.
The boys exchanged a look, "Not for lack of trying on her part," Blaise laughed.
Professor McGonagall let out a long-suffering sigh, "20 points from Slytherin, each, as well as detention. I'm taking you two back to your common room."
"But what about the Potter and Weasley and the dragon?"
"There is no dragon, Mister Malfoy. I'm sure they fed you some cock and bull story to lure you into sneaking out, and I will have a discussion with them about that, but there is no dragon." She moved her hands to shoo them along. "Come along, we're getting the two of you back to your dormitories."
"I told you so," Hermione said at breakfast the next morning. "Who's your detention with, anyways?"
"Hagrid," Blaise groused.
"Well, on the bright side," said Daphne, sliding into her seat, "Potter and Weasley also got caught last night. By Filch. He took a hundred points from Gryffindor between the two of them and gave them detention as well."
Theo looked at the hourglasses that counted House Points. Slytherin was still in the lead-just barely due to the point loss of last night-and Gryffindor was almost empty. "How'd you find all that out?" he asked.
"Through Neville," Daphne shrugged, "I went over to cross-reference our essays on Herbology. Well, at least that's what I said I was doing. I really just wanted to figure out what happened to the Wonder Duo last night and why Gryffindor had lost so many points."
"Did they get caught for the dragon?" Draco asked.
Daphne shook her head, "No. I think they'd be bragging about that, but currently, they're not very well liked within their house." They all looked at the Gryffindor table, where there was a wide berth around where Potter and Weasley were sitting. "I don't think their housemates are very pleased with the lack of points."
"Where's their loyalty?" Theo looked shocked.
"Gryffindors don't have loyalty," Pansy said. "That's Hufflepuff."
"Sure," said Theo, "But most houses all stick together within themselves, don't they?"
"Ravenclaw does," Blaise inserted, "I mean, granted, it's not like what we've got in Slytherin or whatever Hufflepuff smokes, but the 'Claws all respect each other enough, I suppose."
"How do you figure that out?" Hermione asked.
"I'm friendly with Anthony Goldstein," said Blaise simply.
"Why?" Pansy snorted, "He's ridiculously annoying."
"I guess I just have the patience of a saint," Blaise grinned.
The night of Draco and Blaise's detention arrived far more quickly than anyone felt it should. Hermione fussed over the boys in the common room at 10:30. "Your detention is with Hagrid right? So it shouldn't be too terribly bad. They might just make you do lines or maybe have you clean out the Hogwarts stables or something." She looked at Draco as he grimaced at her words. "Don't complain, I don't want either of you having to go back for another detention."
The two boys left for the entrance hall, and when they arrived, Filch was waiting with a grouchy look upon his face, as were Potter and Weasley.
"We just had to get detention with them," Draco muttered.
"This is going to be a long night," Blaise sighed.
They all trekked through the grounds of Hogwarts towards a small hut tucked away in a corner of the grounds by the pumpkin patch. Filch was waxing lyrical about corporal punishment and how they all deserved it, but Draco was tuning him out.
"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started," Hagrid called out.
Potter and Weasley seemed to be excited about this turn of events. Had they not known that the detention would be with Hagrid?
"I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy — it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece," Filch grinned nastily.
Draco's heart sank. They were going into the forest? The Forbidden Forest, the one students weren't allowed to enter? "The forest?" Draco asked. "We can't go in there at night — there's all sorts of things in there — werewolves, I heard."
"That's your problem, isn't it?" said Filch, his voice cracking with glee. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?" Draco started praying to Lady Magic.
Hagrid came into the moonlight, wearing a crossbow and a fearsome looking dog was at his heel. "Abou' time," he said. "I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Ron?"
"Well, I always knew I was going to die because of Gryffindor favoritism, but I never thought it would be so soon," Blaise whispered to Draco, "If one of us makes it out of here, we should make sure the other has a nice funeral."
"I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid," said Filch coldly, "they're here to be punished, after all."
"That's why yer late, is it?" said Hagrid, frowning at Filch. "Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'Snot your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here."
"I'll be back at dawn," said Filch, "for what's left of them," he added nastily, and he turned and started back toward the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.
Draco turned to Hagrid, trying to put on an air of superiority. "I'm not going in that forest."
"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," said Hagrid fiercely. "Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it."
"This is ridiculous!" Blaise burst out, "The punishment and the crime don't match."
"We ought to be doing lines or something," Draco nodded, "If my father knew I was doing this, he'd-"
"— tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts," Hagrid growled. "Copyin' lines! What good's that ter anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on!"
Draco glared at the half-giant, half determined to turn around. But then he remembered Hermione asking for them to not complain, to not get another detention. He dropped his gaze, scowling at the ground.
"Right then," said Hagrid, "now, listen carefully, 'cause it's a bit dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."
They started walking towards the edge of the forest. Blaise leaned into Draco, "As if we're not taking a risk by going into the Forbidden Forest." Draco stifled a laugh.
Hagrid lifted his lantern into the air, and pointed at a pool of silvery liquid, and Draco's humour died away immediately. "Unicorn's blood," he murmured, before he could stop himself.
"Look there," said Hagrid, "see that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."
"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" said Blaise, the note of panic in his voice echoing the same fears Draco felt deep in his stomach.
"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang," said Hagrid. "An' keep ter the path. Right, now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least." .
"I want Fang," Draco said, as he looked at the mutt's sharp teeth.
"All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward," said Hagrid. "So me, Ron, an' Zabini'll go one way an' Malfoy, Harry, an' Fang'll go the other. Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now — that's it — an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh — so, be careful — let's go."
Draco grabbed a hold of the lead on Fang and marched into the forest. Potter ran to catch up to him and they walked side by side in the forest in silence.
It was Potter who broke the silence. "What'd you and Zabini get detention for?"
"Trying to catch you and Weasley with the stupid dragon." Potter paled, and Draco grinned. "You didn't know we knew about that? Theo and I saw you with it in Hagrid's hut, and the book I nicked from Weasley had a letter from his brother in it, detailing the pick-up. Do you realize just how stupid you two have to be to put something like that in writing?"
Potter scowled, "Well it wasn't like it was for you to read anyways."
"You know what else you are, besides stupid, Potter?" Draco continued, "You're a coward."
"I'm not a coward," Potter muttered.
"Sure you are. What kind of person, other than a coward, lets his best mate pick on someone like Hermione? And it's not like you don't do it to the rest of us either!"
"I'm not a coward!" Potter grit his teeth.
"Aren't Gryffindors supposed to be all chivalrous? Chivalrous and brave. I mean, for all your faults, Potter, you're not half as stupid as Weasley. Now that's not saying much-"
"Shut up!" Potter yelled.
"I wasn't done!" Draco yelled back. "You're too much of a coward and a blind follower to not consider that maybe Weasley isn't the end-all-and- be-all of knowledge in the Wizarding World! You won't even respond to a single letter your Godfather sends you, when he went to Azkaban for you for ten years! Just because Weasley reckons he's Dark!"
"He is Dark!" Potter roared back, "He's a Black, Blacks are Dark! Like Malfoys are! And Notts! And any Slytherin! Where'd Voldemort come from? Certainly wasn't Gryffindor!"
Draco's voice leveled out, and turned ice cold. "Now are we going to judge every house by the worst member? Let's take a look at, oh I don't know, Peter Pettigrew. Did you read the notes on his trial?" Potter refused to answer. "He was ridiculously twisted. He raped and murdered people and had no remorse. And he was from Gryffindor! But that aside, how can you be so moronic as to believe that being Dark and being evil are the same thing!"
Potter glared at him. "They are."
"Ah, yes," Draco mocked, "Let's all bow down to the king of knowledge! The person who knows everything there is about Magic! Why would I believe you?"
"You don't have to believe me! Dumbledore says so!"
"And of course, Dumbledore is infallible. I should have known you'd think like that. You lap up every single word he says, you and every single person in his little cult."
Potter was about to retort before something caught his eye. He turned, and, despite himself, Draco turned to look too. He swallowed. It was the unicorn. It was dead, probably recently dead, given the lack of the smell of decay. Its limbs were twisted and spread out at odd angles. A rustling noise came from nearby bushes, and out slithered a wraith-like form, covered in a dark cloak. It lowered itself to the wound on the unicorn's torso, and began to drink.
Draco screamed. Screamed and turned around and ran. The kind of run where his heart was pounding and he couldn't feel his legs and he was just fueled by adrenaline to go, go, go! The kind where he didn't look back. The kind of run where he didn't trip upon a fallen branch by some Magic-Given miracle. The kind of run where when he reached the path Hagrid, Weasley and Blaise are on, and saw them right ahead but just didn't care. Draco kept running and running and running. Running until he reached the clearing, where you can see the stars again and the forest cuts off abruptly and Hogwarts sits upon the top of the hills half a mile away, and he finally became aware of the massive dog that had been running alongside him the whole time, the bellowing of Hagrid, rushing from the path. The kind of run where he took himself off to a dark edge of the forest and emptied his stomach.
Blaise came up to Draco and put a hand on his shoulder. The blond boy was hunched over, hands on knees, his chest heaving as his lungs screamed for oxygen. Draco jumped, before turning around to see who it was. He relaxed.
"What did you see?" Blaise breathed.
"Later," Draco heaved.
"Where's Harry?" Hagrid asked, looking around angrily, "Did yeh abandon 'im out ther', Malfoy?"
"He was running for his life," Blaise's voice was hard. "He was more worried about keeping himself alive than looking for wherever Potter wandered off to." Hagrid opened his mouth to say something else, to further reprimand them. "We've served our detention," Blaise said coolly, "We're going back to the castle, and telling Professor Snape about the blatant disregard for human life that came with this detention. If you have a problem, take it up with him." With that, Blaise slung his arm around Draco's shoulder, leading him back up to the castle, keeping him steady.
"We weren't doin' nothin' that dangerous!" Hagrid roared.
Blaise turned around, "We were in the Forbidden Forest, which we're not allowed to go into in the first place, at night, and we were out hunting for a unicorn, which was being stalked by something that was trying to take its blood! Like hell it wasn't dangerous!"
By the time they reached the castle, Draco had regained his breath and was walking without assistance.
"It was something like a wraith," he said quietly. "It was dark and it slithered and it was maybe a yard and a half away from us. It was drinking the unicorn's blood. The unicorn was dead."
Blaise said nothing. They walked to the dungeons, and knocked on the door that led to Professor Snape's office, which was in front of his personal quarters. A few moments later, a tired looking Snape opened the door. He looked at the two boys. "What are you two doing here at this hour?" Draco stumbled into his godfather, holding him tightly. Snape started slightly at the usually poised boy's loss of control, but recovered himself swiftly enough. "Come along, sit in the chairs, tell me what happened." Snape directed the two to the chairs and sat on the other side of his desk.
"It'd be better, I think if I showed you," Draco said. Nodding, Professor Snape entered into his mind through legilimency, moving through smoothly, before finding the memory Draco was presenting, held at the forefront of his mind. After viewing the memory, he came out, pale.
"What did you see?" asked Blaise.
Snape reached into a drawer, and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and conjured a glass. He poured the whiskey into the glass, and took a long drink. "Someone that's supposed to have been dead since 1981."
The June heat made the entire castle warm and sticky. Thomas and Carrine quickly taught each of the first-years cooling charms, which they each used often. Luckily, the one area that remained untouched by the heat was the dungeons, so the Potions Classroom and the Slytherin common room and dormitories remained as blessedly cool as ever.
Through occlumency, Draco was able to tuck away his memory of the night of detention, or at least the fear that came with it. He refused to tell anybody else the details of what happened beyond that the detention was in the Forbidden Forest. Hermione, of course, had been outraged by the fact that the detention had even been in the Forbidden Forest in the first place.
"Honestly," she complained, "How ridiculously dangerous is that! I can't believe that that's even allowed!"
"It is called the Forbidden Forest," Daphne added on, wryly, "You think they'd stick to their own rules."
The week of exams was met with feverish anxiety from Hermione, as she furiously studied things she already knew by heart. Draco, although not quite so loud about it, was also spending increasing amounts of time in the library, poring over his textbooks and notes. Theo had his nose stuck in a book-although that wasn't quite abnormal - and Daphne was simultaneously studying for History of Magic-as little as she needed it-and railing against Binns. Hannah made colorful flashcards for each of their subjects and made Pansy study them with her, and Blaise looked at all of them like they were crazy, which resulted in Pansy teasing him mercilessly when she found him flipping through his notes from the year.
At the Leaving Feast, the Slytherins sat cheerfully at their table, the Great Hall decked out in green and silver, the Slytherin banners decorating the entire hall. Hermione was talking to Pansy about summer plans when a hush fell over the hall, and she turned to see Potter, who had been decidedly missing for the past three days sit down next to Weasley.
"That's rather unfortunate," Pansy said, "I thought he had been expelled or maybe even died. Would've been nice not to have to deal with him anymore."
"Pansy!" Hermione slapped her shoulder.
"What?" Pansy was unperturbed.
"You can't just say that!"
"I just did" Pansy shrugged carelessly
"You owe me twenty galleons," Daphne said gleefully, "You said he'd be dead by the end of the school year!"
"It's not over yet," Pansy said, "Not until we're back in London. Then we'll see who owes who twenty galleons."
Dumbledore cleared his throat and the Hall grew silent.
"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were . . . you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts. . . . Now, as I understand it, the House Cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."
Slytherin burst out into cheers, stomps, and clapping, and Draco started banging his goblet on the table.
"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account."
The room went very still. Hermione's face fell and she looked at Daphne, who looked equally upset. It didn't take a Seer to know where this was going.
"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes . . . "First — to Mr. Ronald Weasley for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor House seventy-five points."
Gryffindor burst out into cheers, and Hermione looked around at her year-mates, confused.
"Seventy-five points for a game of chess?" Theo asked.
At last there was silence again.
"Second — to Mr. Harry Potter . . ." said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. ". . . for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor House a hundred points." Gryffindor burst out into further cheers, the sound deafening.
"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, "we need a little change of decoration." He clapped his hands. In an instant, the Slytherin decorations turned into ones for Gryffindor, and however impossible it seemed, Gryffindor grew louder.
Hermione furiously wiped away tears. He had taken away all their points, all their hard work, to give it to Gryffindor at the last moment! Right in front of the whole school, changing the decorations! It was cruel beyond measure. She looked around at her housemates. At the end of the table, Carrine had her head buried in Thomas's shoulder. Thomas himself was looking stonily across the hall at the Gryffindors. Terrence Higgs, the Head Boy, was glaring at Dumbledore. Daphne's mouth was opened in a small 'oh', and Theo was looking down at the table. Blaise, Pansy, and Draco were scowling at everyone-the Gryffindors, the Headmaster, Professor McGonagall. Even at the Hufflepuff table, Hannah was looking at her Slytherin friends with pity.
Only the release of their marks at breakfast the next morning was able to lift their spirits slightly. Hermione had done excellently in each of her classes, and was first in her year, followed closely by Draco, who smiled at her good-naturedly. Theo was third, which made him look around, surprised.
"Oh come on!" Daphne grinned-who had landed fourth in the year, partially due to her perfect score in History of Magic-"You shouldn't be surprised by that, Theo, you're absolutely brilliant!"
Hannah was thrilled with her fifth, and Blaise and Pansy were tied for seventh-Michael Corner, a Ravenclaw, had ranked sixth. Greg and Vince were proudly showing everyone they saw that they had received Acceptables in each of their classes, as well as an EE in Astronomy and Herbology respectively, the hard work in the library and in tutoring sessions paying off. Tracy and Millie were in the top fifteen of the year.
Hermione and Draco visited Neville at the Gryffindor table, who was staring in shock at his position as tenth in the class, only being beat out for ninth by Padma Patil, as well as the highest in Gryffindor. He was even more excited about his EE in Potions.
"Congratulations, Neville," Hermione had beamed.
"An EE in Potions!" Neville had exclaimed, "All thanks to Professor Snape!" Neville had been working extensively each week in a free period with Professor Snape. While he certainly wasn't a Potions prodigy, he was better than passable at brewing, and he particularly excelled in ingredient preparation. "My Gran's going to be so proud of me!" He threw his arms around Hermione, "I was rubbish at the beginning of the year until you figured out I needed a new wand. I can't thank you enough."
The feeling of warmth spread through Hermione, bursting out on to her face into a wide smile.
"Come on," said Draco, grinning, "We've got to get to the station so we can get a good compartment."