Chapter Eleven

Draco stood a bit behind Potter and Hermione. He did not share the same urgency that those two did at the moment. They had just heard from Ted that the Weasley girl and a few friends tried to break into Snape's office to steal the sword. Then the goblin gleefully informed them that the sword brought into Gringotts afterwards for safekeeping, was a fake.

He stood back as Hermione pulled out the portrait of old Phineas Nigellus and she and Potter began talking to him. He vaguely listened to what they were asking him, thinking about what Potter had told him about the sword. He remembered that Potter told him he stabbed the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, so it was imbibed with its venom.

Draco glanced back toward the stack of books that Hermione brought along and remembered seeing something in one of them. The things that can destroy a Horcrux. Basilisk venom was one of them. And if they could get their hands on the sword, they could finally destroy the damned locket that wouldn't get a scratch on it.

He noticed that Hermione was squashing the portrait back into her bag. "Potter, you said that Dumbledore left you the sword in the will?"

"Yes," he answered. "Why?"

"Well, doesn't that answer the question why he didn't give you the sword last year? He thought you two were returning with the locket that…um, that night. So he probably didn't give it to you then because he wanted to use it."

"On the locket!" exclaimed Hermione, understanding where he was going. Goblin-made blades imbibe only which strengthen them – Harry the sword's impregnated with basilisk venom!"

Now Draco was getting a bit excited. It felt like the finally answered one part of the puzzle. "Dumbledore must have realized—"

"—that the Ministry wouldn't let me have the sword if it was in his will—"

"—so he made a copy—" added Hermione.

"—and put a fake in the glass case—" Harry said, excitedly.

"So where did he put the real one?" asked Draco, the feelings of finally figuring something out dwindling down in his stomach. He, Potter, and Hermione gazed at each other. "Why didn't Dumbledore tell you this stuff!" He threw his hands up in frustration. "Crazy old man always leaving things in mystery."

Hermione shot him a stern look. "Don't speak of Dumbledore like that. And he only tries to help us learn. It's the only way we could stand on our own."

Potter began pacing. "I don't think it would be at Hogwarts," he said.

"Somewhere in Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione.

"The Shrieking Shack?" said Harry. "Nobody goes—"

"But Snape knows how to get in, so it'd be risky."

"Dumbledore trusted Snape," Harry reminded her.

"He still switched swords on him," said Draco. He took a seat in an armchair.

"So, he must've hidden it far from Hogwarts, then, right? What d'you reckon, Ron? Ron?"

Draco glanced at Weasley, who was lying on the bottom bunk, looking stony. He rolled his eyes when he noticed the outline of the locket beneath his clothes. Whenever one of them wore the locket, it always put them in a foul mood. But Weasley was the worse at it.

"Oh, remembered me, have you?" he said, staring up at the underside of the top bunk.

"What?"

"Oh, don't—" Draco started. He stopped when he saw a warning glance from Potter.

"You all carry on. Don't let me spoil your fun."

Draco rolled his eyes again. He bit back his tongue to not make the situation worse. Apparently, Weasley was feeling left out. He saw Potter glance at Hermione with a perplexed look on his face. She shared an identical look on her face.

"What's the problem?" Potter asked.

"Problem? There's no problem," said Ron. He refused to look at any of them. "Not according to you, anyway."

"Oh, just spit it out, Weasley," Draco said, getting irritated. "What's your deal?"

"Stop, Malfoy," Potter said. "But you've obviously got a problem, Ron. So…spit it out, will you?"

Weasley swung his long legs off the bed and sat up. Draco noticed how different the ginger looked. It seemed his months in hiding did not help him. But he feared that he may share the same changing looks.

"All right, I'll spit it out," Weasley said. "Since that's what you and your best friend, Malfoy, over here think I should do. Don't expect me to skip up and down the tent with the rest of you because there's some other damn thing we've got too find. Just add it to the list of stuff you don't know."

"I don't know?" repeated Potter.

Draco thought that Weasley had a fair point. But he knew that Potter told them all that he knew and it wasn't much. And that was Dumbledore's fault.

"It's not like I'm not having the time of my life out here."

"Yeah, because we all knew we were going to be staying in four-star hotels. Forget the fact that the Dark Lord wants all of your heads on a chopping block," Draco replied.

"Shut it, Malfoy."

"I suppose you want to go run home to Mummy, now, don't you? Did you think we'd find all of the Horcruxes and be home for Christmas dinner?"

Draco glanced at Potter and saw that he was growing angry with Weasley, too.

"Ron," Hermione said quietly.

"I thought you knew what you'd sign up for," said Potter in a dangerously low voice.

"Yeah, I thought I did, too."

"So what part of it isn't living up to your expectations? Hermione seemed to know. Hell, even Malfoy knew. And you don't hear either of them spouting out the same complaints that you have!"

"Well, we thought you knew what you were doing!" Ron was shouting now. He stood from the bed. "We thought Dumbledore had told you what to do, we thought you had a real plan!"

"Ron!" Hermione cried out again.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Dumbledore-"

"Well, sorry to let you down," Potter said. "I've been straight with you all from the start, I told you everything Dumbledore told me. And in case you haven't noticed, we've found one Horcrux—"

"Yeah, and we're about as near getting rid of it as we are to finding the rest of them—nowhere effing near, in other words!" His eyes angrily glared at Malfoy. "Unless your new friend here can work some of the dark magic he learned from his master."

Draco's eyes narrowed at Weasley.

"Take off the locket, Ron," Hermione said, pleadingly. "Please take it off. You wouldn't be talking like this if you hadn't been wearing it all day."

"Don't make excuses for him," Potter said harshly. "D'you think I haven't noticed the two of you whispering behind my back? D'you think I didn't guess you were thinking this stuff?"

"Harry, we weren't—"

"Don't lie!" Ron yelled, turning towards her. "You said it too, you said you were disappointed, you said you'd thought he had a bit more to go on than—"

"I didn't say it like that, Harry, I didn't!" she cried again.

"Don't blame Potter," Draco said, standing up. "If that old crackpot headmaster would've been straight up with his students, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Now you're defending him!" Weasley looked angry and yelled again. "Oh, my mistake, Malfoy, but won't it be at first chance you'd go back to You-Know-Who? Or he'd kill your father and your mother? And you?"

Draco balled his fists up. He wanted so badly to hit Weasley right in his jaw.

"Well, when that happens, you know what I say?" Weasley took a step toward Malfoy. "Good riddance! Good riddance and thank Merlin the world is rid of the Malfoys."

"Shut up, Ron." Potter's words came out in a low, dangerous voice. "You weren't there, you don't know what happened on the Astronomy Tower."

"Well, I only know what was told and that wasn't much now, was it?" He looked at Draco. "Go run back to Uncle Ted and have him hide you! Or why don't you go run back to Mummy? Oh, or to your favorite Aunt Bellatrix and have her torture someone's parents into insanity!" He took several steps toward Draco. "But if it's mine, I swear I will-"

"Shut up, Weasley. Before I shut you up." He bit back the number of insults he wanted to throw at Weasley.

"You'll shut me up? I'd like to see you try!"

"RON!" warned Potter. "Why are you still here?"

"Search me."

"Go home then."

"Yeah, maybe I will!" He took several steps toward Potter, who stood his ground. They were facing each other, standing nose to nose. "Didn't you hear what they said about my sister? But you don't give a rat's fart, do you, it's only the Forbidden Forest, Harry I've-Faced-Worse Potter doesn't care what happens to her in there—"

"I was only saying—she was with the others and they were with Hagrid."

"Ron!" said Hermione. She pushed herself between the two. "Calm down! We didn't mean it like that, just that they'd be okay with Hagrid!"

"Oh, she'll be okay? I suppose you think my family will all be okay? It's all right for you two, isn't it, with your parents safely out of the way—"

"My parents are DEAD!" Potter bellowed.

"And mine could be going the same way!" yelled Ron.

"Then GO!" roared Potter. "Go back to them, pretend you've gotten over your spattergroit—"

Weasley made a sudden movement. Draco pulled out his own wand, but Hermione was faster than both of them. She raised it.

"Protego!" An invisible shield was raised with Draco, Hermione, and Potter and one side and Weasley on the other. They were all forced backward by the strength of the spell. Potter looked at Weasley with utter hatred in his eyes.

"Leave the Horcrux," Potter said.

Weasley wrenched the chain from his neck and threw the locket in the armchair that Draco vacated. He looked at Hermione. "Let's go. You're coming?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you staying?"

"I…" she looked anguished and glanced between Potter and Draco. "Yes—yes, of course I'm staying. Ron, we said we'd go with Harry, we said we'd help—"

"But he's got Malfoy here. No need for us."

Hermione looked up at Draco. He noticed tears in her eyes. "I—I—I…no, Ron. We'd said we'd go."

Weasley looked coldly upon Hermione. "I get it. You choose him." He jerked his head toward Potter.

"Ron, no—please come back!" She walked forward, but was thrown back by her charm. When she removed it, she ran out of the tent, yelling his name and sobbing loudly. Draco and Potter stood silently where they were. After a few moments, she returned, tear-streaked and eyes red.

"He's g—g—gone! Disapparated!"

Potter stood quite still and looked as if he had turned into a statue. Draco sighed and picked up the Horcrux from the chair and handed it to Potter. He dragged blankets off Weasley's bunk and threw them at Hermione.

"I suppose I'll do the first watch," he said, taking his wand and stepping outside of the tent. He sat down on a smooth stone and thought about the events that just transpired.

Did Weasley really just run out on Potter and Hermione? Did he really just defend Potter? Did Potter defend him? He thought Weasley was just another one of those annoying Gryffindors. Weren't Gryffindors supposed to be loyal and all that? And yet, here he was, a Slytherin, staying with probably the two biggest Gryffindors there was. And defending them as if he was one of them.

He heard Hermione sobbing in the tent. Why was she crying over Weasley anyway? Obviously, he ran out on her and Potter. Looks like that friendship didn't last. He wondered what else wouldn't last. Would this…this…friendship, if you would call it, with Hermione and Potter last? If the time came, would Draco run out on them? Would he give them up to the Dark Lord in exchange for his life?

He liked to think that he wouldn't. That he had changed. That he did consider Potter and Hermione people that he probably cared a bit about. But, if he were face to face with the Dark Lord, would he be able to overcome his Slytherin tendencies and not turn them in? One of the things that Slytherins were proud about is that while they were not cowards, they always knew how to save themselves above other people.

And that was always something that Slytherins believed. But Draco wasn't too sure about it; not anymore.

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