Serpensortia

Chapter Four: Blood Python

Severus Snape dutifully set to clearing the classroom when the class was dismissed. He was annoyed with the amount of mess the last Defense professor left, but he supposed it couldn't be helped since the professor's departure was so 'unexpected' as was usual for the post. When he came out of the dusty closet at the back of the class with an armful of dusty old parchments to sort through, Draco Malfoy was the only student left. He was leaned back in his chair with his feet propped up on the desk. Snape knew this gesture was purposely done so to annoy him.

Draco enjoyed enticing Severus into scolding him for misconduct, and Draco continuously pushed these boundaries to their limit. It didn't' help that Draco's childhood had been filled with the entitlement to do as he pleased nor that the current political climate prevented Severus from making enemies of Malfoy patriarch by reprimanding their heir albeit justifiably. Despite the endless cheek from this boy, Severus couldn't help the growing twinge of acknowledgment that in many ways his god-son Draco was similar to how he had been at that age—all self-importance, malice, and cunning. Back then, Narcissa has said to him confidentially that her selection of Godparent was owing to her desire to have Draco inherit the very admirable qualities Snape himself possessed. He had no idea what she was talking about personally. At the time, she wouldn't be pressed into further detail about what her hopes for Draco's future had been and how Snape fit into that image. Snape couldn't help but feel that perhaps this approach had backfired spectacularly as Draco was absorbing all the qualities that Snape found loathsome about his youth. It's almost as if this was his retribution for his past behavior, and it would be painful to see Draco make similar mistakes.

Snape set down the rolls of parchment on his desk before coming down the aisles of student work tables to speak with Malfoy. He didn't give Draco the satisfaction of showing displeasure about his ill-treatment of classroom furniture.

"Draco?" Snape questioned. Snape tended to use his given name when they talked in private.

"Severus," Draco said, avoiding looking at Snape directly, "My father writes to me often about his disappointment that I can't best Granger in my studies. He's always said our pure blood contains extraordinary magic that would always conquer over those of lesser blood that carry lesser magic. There are no reasons I can offer for why this happens to me, again and again. He punishes me for clearly not focusing hard enough or not studying long enough or any number of excuses he invents to dismiss this problem."

"Your parents owl me often as well. Your father and mother want the best for you." Snape said.

"I know they want the best for me." Draco replied. "I also know you do as well. I've noticed that you award me more House Points than others. Last week, I turned in a shoddy paper yet you gave it high marks." Draco looked up at Snape, and despite the lack of response, Draco knew Snape was taking his thoughts seriously. "Your efforts are in vain. It's taken me years to finally admit I cannot beat Granger. I'm sure you saw today when it was proved once again. I'm coming to terms with it. What I want to know is why can't I? Am I not every bit the pure blood my parents are?"

The brooding look Draco wore forced Snape to put aside what he knew Lucius and Narcissa would have him say. That Draco was the best as he was a Malfoy. That he could indeed best Granger if he tried harder as if he wasn't already trying his best. That the mudblood was unfortunate and foul by birth and he was not. He was sure Draco had heard these platitudes from his parents enough over the years.

"Adults may come to see the world as they wish it were so. Not as it objectively is." Snape said, solemnly. "I won't tell you what to think, but I will tell you what I've come to know myself as truth. I have worked as a potions maker most of my life. There are many darker potions that require blood sacrifice. I have yet to see a case where a potion was more or less powerful depending on the person's lineage. I've dueled and battled, sometimes alongside your own father, where I have failed to see any difference between the red blood of my pureblooded friends and the red blood of my dirty enemies. Those have been my personal observations, Draco."

Draco stared at Snape with a thoughtful expression and got up slowly from the desk.

"Thank you, Severus. I believe I just learned more from this chat than I did from today's class." Draco called out insolently as he left the room. Severus Snape shook his head in exasperation before sorting the mountain of old parchments on his desk. Snape wondered if the lack of retort or tantrum meant there was hope for that boy yet.

Draco plopped down at the Slytherin table for dinner with that conversation still weighing on his mind. His Godfather had been rather candid with him for once, and he was glad Snape trusted him by divulging his opinion. Snape could be rather enigmatic to him. Beside him, Pansy chittered on with Daphne about a Witch Weekly she'd just received via owl. Looking beyond Blaise and Theo who sat in front of him, he could see Granger at the Gryffindor table reading while holding a whole forkful of food to her face as if she'd forgotten she was in the middle of eating it. Ron leaned over and ate the forkful, and Hermione was startled from her book. She frowned at Ron pointedly who cheekily grinned, and Draco's face mirrored her own displeasure upon witnessing her feed the Weasel. Gross, he thought, they're probably together.

This distraction was noticed by Pansy who followed Draco's gaze to a direct view of the Gryffindor table where Hermione sat. She lightly hugged his arm to get his attention turned towards her.

"Draco," Pansy leaned close to whisper in his ear, "I'd like to thank you for earlier. Maybe in the common room later tonight?"

"Nice try, Pans." Draco sneered back, speaking up loud enough for most of his friends to overhear. "I didn't do it for you. It's just that I couldn't resist teaching that filthy mudblood a lesson. It was long overdue, and she wasn't humiliated nearly enough to satisfy me." Pansy crossed her arms in frustration when Draco brushed off her arm that clutched onto him. Draco felt justified in being so harsh with her. He had his reputation to maintain after all, even at the expense of Pansy's feelings towards him. Being soft on inferiors wasn't part of that image. Being tied down by clingy women like Pansy wasn't part of that either. Theo, Blaise, Daphne, Goyle, and some younger Slytherin girls farther down the table looked on during his outburst unabashedly. Malfoy and Parksinson tended to be the most loud and vocal of the house, much to everyone's annoyance and amusement.

Theo broke the silence after a few tense minutes with his departure for the library. He hadn't expected Malfoy to excuse himself from the table as well to join him on trip. It was as they were walking in the main corridor that Draco asked Theo about helping him find some specific potions reference books.

"You're always in the library, Theo," he said. "Help me. You're practically the librarian at this point. Madam Pince is a menace, and I'd rather search every shelf than ask her for help."

"I'm not your house elf, Draco. Why not just order the books from Flourish and Blotts like you normally do?"

"I want to order them instead…but my parents are owled the bill for my orders. It's best if they didn't know, and I expect you'll keep quiet about this too."

"What are you researching exactly?" Theo asked, curiosity peaked

"Just a little extracurricular potions project Snape assigned today."

"I don't remember hearing about this in defense class." Theo replied, skeptically, pulling open the library door and dropping his voice to a whisper.

Draco deflected the topic. "Anyway, why do you bother coming to the library then? Buying them is easier. Your library at home is bigger. You probably own more books Hogwarts has."

"No reason. I've got plans to study with somebody today, so you're on your own for now. Potions section is over there. Best of luck."

Draco glowered as Theo disappeared to the farther regions of the library before Draco could protest or take note of which book shelved aisle he used as his escape route. There had to be hundreds of aisles here and there'd be no telling where Theo went.

"NOTT! Get back here!" Draco yelled.

"EXCUSE ME, MR. MALFOY. THIS IS A LIBRARY." Madam Pince suddenly appeared beside him and her pinched, stern face pushed her reading glasses up her long nose. She put a finger to her lips to indicate she expected silence. Draco scoffed at her admonishment and walked down a nearby aisle where he began his search in the direction Theo had advised.

Back in the Slytherin Common Room, Pansy and Daphne sat together in an emerald green loveseat with a coffee table full of books half opened in front of them. They were sipping fresh tea out of fine teacups as they read. They were examining academic books with the excitement they usually reserved for a new Witch Weekly magazine. It made for a rare sight as none of their housemates had ever seen the pair so frenzied over any other publication. None of them had ever seen the two girls studying as their self-proclaimed reputation of being naturally talented witches didn't allow for the humiliation of actually studying. Therefore, the housemates who were witnessing this odd scene in their Common Room sat warily away from them in certainty that those two were up to absolutely nothing good. Something wicked this way comes, indeed.

Putting down her teacup gracefully, Daphne held out a book to Pansy for examination.

"Maybe he's Imperiused?" Daphne offered helpfully.

"To cast an Unforgivable would be a bold move…but I wouldn't put it past Granger. She's a Gryffindor after all. It's possible any girl would go to such lengths to snare a bachelor like Draco. Put that curse on the list too, Daphne."

Daphne scrawled some notes down on a nearby parchment with her quill before assessing the long list she'd written on it.

"It's going to be such hard work to cure poor Malfoy, Pansy. I don't know how you can be so dedicated. We're going to need more help. Should we owl his parents? They'd want to know about this misfortune surely. They could fix this in St. Mungo's…They've got the best healers."

"Absolutely not, Daph! Can you imagine the shame this would bring to the Malfoy name? I plan to take that name one day, so I won't that happen. We'll take care of this by ourselves…with the utmost discretion."

"What about people we trust? Zabini, Nott, Crabbe, or Goyle? They'd help out a friend. "

"Crabbe and Goyle can't follow instruction and they'd blab to everyone. I don't want to depend on them for something this important. I suppose we could talk to Zabini and Nott about our plans. They're not stupid, right?"

"If I do say so myself." Zabini remarked as he leaned against the back of the loveseat to oversee what they were doing. The girls whipped around to look at him, having missed his approach during their discussion. "Though I'd prefer incredibly intelligent and handsome, ladies. It's impolite to gossip like this in the Common Room, you know. Anyone could overhear allllll about yours plans that require the utmost discretion."

"Well? Are you going to help us or not, Zabini?" Pansy demanded harshly.

"First, since you insulted me, admit that I'm incredibly intelligent and handsome."

"Absolutely not!" Pansy roared back as Daphne said, "You're very handsome. Your intelligence is what's questionable."

"I expected as much. Alright, I'm in." Blaise shrugged before coming around the loveseat to plop down in the middle of the two girls. "Now tell me what you want me to do."

In the library, Theo decided to take the calculated risk of sitting at Hermione's study table today instead of his usual seat. He knew he'd chose correctly when she beamed at his presumptuousness instead of pulling her wand from her robes to blast him to the other side of the library. She was very serious about her studies, after all.

"Hello, Nott. You're welcome to share my table anytime."

"Thank you, Granger. I hope you have some homework parchments ready for me?"

"Only if you have the information ready for me as well."

"I've written down all I've learned about what Pansy is up to. It's in this envelope here. Shall we trade then?"

"Yes!" Hermione said impatiently, she slid over the homework she'd completed for him and grabbed the envelope he'd set on the table. Theo casually stuffed the homework into his robe as Hermione opened the wax Slytherin seal on the envelope and held out the enclosed paper in front of her eyes. The paper was blank. She put the paper down onto the table, and she realized Theo's seat was empty. He'd given her nothing but a blank paper, and he'd run off with the homework she'd work hard to prepare for him anyway!

She took off fast in pursuit of Theodore, and after running through a few aisles, she spotted a boy in Slytherin robes leaning against the bookshelf leisurely with his face hidden behind a large potions book as he read. She snuck up on him as quietly as possible before grabbing the front of his robes.

"I've got you now!" Hermione said, triumphantly, as she captured her target. She gripped him in one hand while she ran the hand hurriedly over the robes trying to find the pocket where she thought she'd seen Theo stuff her parchments before he could defend himself.

"Care to explain why you're sexually harassing me, Granger? We're moving up from verbal abuse, I see." Draco said, startled, as he took in being forcefully gripped by Granger.

"OH!" Hermione jumped back against the bookshelf as she quickly pulled her hands back in horror as if she touched something vile. She stood there with wide eyes as Draco set down his book and moved towards her. He put his hands on either side of her to intimidate her and smirked.

"It seems I've got you now, Granger. What are you doing?" he mocked, grey eyes curious.

"…Sorry…I thought you were Theodore Nott..." she said cringingly as she tried to duck out of his outstretched arms. Malfoy's eyebrow moved up in disbelief. He kept her enclosed and she stopped struggling but her face looked like this was the greatest torture she'd faced yet.

"Oh no you don't, Granger! Hold it! What in Merlin's name are you thinking grabbing a bloke like that? You were groping me because you thought I was Nott? Theodore Nott?"

"I said I was sorry! Let me go! I wasn't touching you purposely! It was an attempt to get my homework back. Nott and I were doing homework and ran off after stuffing my parchment in his pockets…."

"Study buddies now, are you?"

"Something like that..?" Hermione said, unsure how to phrase her new and unconventional friendship with Nott. Her vague, distrustful answer caused Draco to assume the worst of her relations with Theo.

"You'll be too busy helping me with this project to mess around studying with Theodore anymore. Grab that stack of books. We're going to the potions lab –" Draco commanded, finally letting her go so he could pick up the book he'd set aside.

"As if I'd do anything you said – " Hermione complained, before her eyes caught the spine of the book he held. Properties and Uses of Magical Blood by Peter Peverell. She regarded the pile he'd amassed on the edge of the bookshelf with interest. There were many, but a few held her interest the most. The Fallacy of Pureblood Elitism by Viktor Gilbert II. Family Histories of the Sacred Twenty Eight by Cantankerus Nott.

When she looked back at Draco Malfoy with wondering eyes, his face was a little flushed from embarrassment at her thorough examination of his stack of books as if he felt his new questions concerning blood status were becoming transparent, but his angry expression dared her to comment about it. Hermione felt it best not to say anything about his research just yet lest she discourage his sudden interest in the topic. She picked up the stack of books with the vigor of a girl who normally carried such a large pile every day and looked expectantly at him.

"Don't command me like a house elf." was all she said as he lead them out of the library.

"Okay. I get that a lot actually." he replied, pleasantly for once in his life, which made Hermione sigh and wonder what in Merlin's name she was doing humoring spoiled prat Malfoy instead of studying. Or, at the very least, tracking down Theodore who was still at large with her homework.

A/N : Hope you enjoyed another chapter! To those that reviewed last chapter, thank you so much! Reviews always get me thinking about how best to show my perspective on certain character's traits. I loved hearing about your opinions! I completely agree that there is no way Hermione would instantly fall for someone after they gave her a little bit of attention. I also feel like Draco wouldn't stay long with someone in a relationship where everything came as easily to him as the luxuries he's had in his life. It would take a person he had to fight for to get him tied down. Just my opinion. In regards to Pansy, her character is based on exaggerated insecurities that can prey upon a person who continues to pursue unrequired love. Until next time, sneks!