Despite being rather talented in Transfiguration, Draco found himself wishing not to have the class at all. Harry and Ron seemed to find it the perfect time to try and talk to him, maybe it was because they were actually decent at the subject and succeeded in doing as Professor McGonagall asked almost perfectly every time, or maybe it was just because it was the class with their Head of House, and they didn't expect her to take points from them. The latter was a rather stupid assumption considering what she had done on Halloween, but it was probably very much so true in the other two Gryffindors's minds because they themselves hadn't had any points taken from them. Hermione, who mostly just listened to the teachers and took notes during class, usually ignored the other three, but occasionally she would briefly join in on their conversations to state her own opinion. The most common topic of discussion between the four of them was Professor Snape's role in the events that kept taking place in the school.
Draco continued to strongly stay on the side of his innocence in everything, not because he truly believed he hadn't done any of those things, but because he didn't want to believe his godfather was doing bad things. Sure, his family had been on the... wrong side of the war back in the day, and even though Draco's father said it wasn't of his own accord, the blond had become quite sure over the years that this was a lie, but there was no way that Severus would ever do anything to harm people just to steal something. No, his godfather was a good person deep down, even if he was a bully to students, and Draco wouldn't sway from his opinion on that, not until he had legitimate proof stating otherwise at least.
Their Transfiguration lesson on the first Tuesday of December was another one of the days where they did that, tried to change his mind. They had been learning about how to transfigure a handkerchief into a blanket, and Hermione and Draco had of course already finished, so while Ron and Harry were still trying, the bushy-haired brunette had decided it was the perfect time to attempt to convince him Professor Snape was the only possible person who could have bewitched Harry's broom. Just under a month prior she had been fighting Harry unwaveringly on the fact that there was no way Severus would ever do such a thing, but then that Quidditch match changed her mind completely and Draco was left alone on his side of the argument.
"Oh, c'mon, Draco, won't you at least try to see reason?" She said in an exasperated tone, giving him an annoyed look as she turned to completely face him. Draco had thought sitting next to her might have given him at least a bit of peace since she seemed to only jump in when Harry and Ron started, but apparently she just didn't like the idea of leaning from her table to theirs constantly to tell him why he should believe them.
"No, Hermione, because what you're saying is wrong! Snape isn't the person doing this! I'm sure he's trying to stop whoever actually is!" The blond snapped, not all too gently placing his quill onto their desk as he too turned to face her, his greyish silver eyes like steel. She rolled her eyes for what felt like the twentieth time in the past half hour and sighed.
"How do you explain Harry's broom going back to normal after I made Snape look away and stop muttering a spell then? Just coincidence? Draco, why won't you just accept that maybe he isn't who you thought?" Hermione demanded, her voice now a bit louder than necessary. A Hufflepuff girl sitting in the row in front of them glanced over for a second before going back to practicing transfiguring her handkerchief. Draco took a deep, slightly shuddering breath, trying to keep the growing anger in him down, he really didn't need to get detention for disrupting the class.
"Because he's the only one in my family that I've known since I was a kid who hasn't completely left me yet! Hermione, I… I can't accept it because it hurts, okay? Can you please just drop it?" Draco could hear the slight desperation and break in his voice, but he didn't care, he just hoped it might at least convince her to leave him alone about it.
She opened her mouth to protest, but stopped before she said anything, grimacing slightly before turning back to face the so far blank parchment that was supposed to have notes on the spell written on it with a sigh. "Fine. For now, you… Draco, eventually you're going to have to at least consider the possibility. Especially if things like this keep happening." She said, sounding slightly defeated as she picked up her quill and dipped its end into the ink bottle lying on the desk in front of her.
He looked away from her and did the same thing, continuing to write down the notes he had already started doing as he pretended he hadn't heard her. Draco knew she was technically correct, he had to consider the possibility, and he had, multiple times, but that didn't mean he could even begin to actually allow himself to accept it. That would take a while, and he would need a lot more proof of his godfather's guilt for it to happen.
"Oh, c'mon, guys, leave him alone. We're not getting any closer to convincing him, so maybe we should just wait until we actually know for sure it's Snape." Hermione cut Harry and Ron off mid-sentence later that evening while they were doing homework. They had taken the chance of being outside class to once again try and convince him to take their side about the Potions Master. All three of the Gryffindor boys looked over at Hermione in shock after she said that, none of them, even Draco, had expected her to stand up for his opinion. Sure, Draco knew he had managed to get her off his back, but he hadn't thought she would call the other two off for it as well.
"Oh, don't look so surprised, Draco, it's obvious how much our constant pestering is bothering you, besides we still have more important things to worry about than who's trying to steal whatever the dog's guarding." Hermione said, rolling her eyes slightly as if she had read his thoughts.
"Homework and our midterm tests?" The three boys guessed in unison but the brunette scoffed and shook her head, almost as if she thought the idea was stupid. That reaction was unusual coming from her, and a small frown tugged at Draco's lips. What could possibly be more important to her than either of those things?
"We still haven't found out who Nicholas Flamel is, what his connection to the thing being protected is, or even what that thing is in the first place. For all we know, it would be perfectly logical to take it, maybe it shouldn't be in the castle, and Dumbledore can't get it back out himself." Hermione said as if it were obvious that's what she had meant and the boys glanced at each other, slightly skeptical looks on their faces. Surely, she was at least slightly concerned about the amount of homework they were supposed to have over the holidays and the small tests to help prepare themselves for the end-of-year exams after said holidays. "Well, okay, and maybe partially our schoolwork, but still. We could be in danger, everyone here could be in danger, and we won't truly know until we've found out what's hidden under that trapdoor on the third floor."
There was the Hermione they were used to, though her statement did somewhat contradict what she had said to them the very first time they had encountered something to do with all of this: "Now if you lot don't mind, I'm going to bed before any of you happen to come up with something else that could get us killed, or worse expelled."
"Well, all we know so far is that I've heard the name before, though I can't remember where. It might've been in the muggle world, but I doubt it, so I probably heard it somewhere after I went to Diagon Alley." Harry said and Hermione nodded slightly, looking a bit lost in thought suddenly.
"Still, considering we've found absolutely nothing so far in the library, I'll ask my parents just in case they do know something, it can't hurt." She said and shrugged slightly, obviously not actually expecting them to know anything about the man they were researching. Still, she was right, it couldn't hurt to ask them just in case.
"I still just wish Hagrid would tell us who he is. It would make all of this so much easier. He wouldn't even have to tell us about the object, if we just knew something, like even his career or his age or anything like that if he doesn't tell us who exactly he is, could help! Right now, all we have is a name, and nothing else! That's basically no information to go off of." Draco said and Ron nodded along, seeming to agree but didn't know what to say to express it.
"Yeah, at least we still have two weeks before the holidays, so we still have time to find something. And, since you and Harry are both going to be here, Draco, you guys can keep searching too. Who knows, maybe you'll find something." Hermione said and both boys who were mentioned grimaced, neither really wanting to think about why they wouldn't be leaving the castle over Christmas.
"Sure, Hermione, we can try." Harry agreed and then went back to his History of Magic essay, clearly, like Draco, just wanting to avoid any further conversation on the holidays.