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"What- Wait! What?" Draco stammered, but Neville had already scurried away. "Great," Draco huffed. So it was up to him to save the day. Again.
He made his way into the Entrance Hall and sat down in a corner, waiting for the time to pass and for an idea to come to him with very little success.
Theo had been right. Sitting around the Entrance Hall all day was indeed quite boring.
Around lunchtime, he quickly ate something and hurried back into the Entrance Hall. But he needn't have worried, half of the students were still with Madam Pomfrey. The potion to de-age the students was not too difficult to brew, but the school's matron probably didn't have high enough quantities at her disposal and had to have Snape brew more.
"Draco, Draco, Draco," said the Weasley twins in unison, arriving in the Entrance Hall early in the afternoon.
"You sly little... Slytherin," said one of them.
"Hey guys. Back from the Infirmary?" he asked, grinning. He had heard about their failed attempt of putting their names into the goblet.
"Yes," answered the other. He really needed to learn to keep them apart. "And what must we hear? Half of the school turned thirty overnight."
"Wow, really? That's tough," said Draco, grinning, "sounds like an aging potion."
"Hmm, that's what we thought, too," said one of them, scratching his chin.
"And the only question left is... How could you do this without us?"
"Seriously, mate. Such a brilliant plan and you don't tell us about it? That hurts," continued the other, putting his hands on his chest and shaking his head. "What did we ever do to you to deserve this?"
Draco could think of several pranks they had pulled on him during their shared time at Hogwarts to deserve this. "You seemed to be otherwise preoccupied," he laughed.
"Yeah, but still. I wish I could have seen Snape's face," one of them lamented.
"Ah, I'm sure one day you'll manage to prank him, too," said Draco, amused.
"You can bet on that," they said in unison and went into the Great Hall to eat lunch.
While waiting for Cedric, Draco got to talk to several people passing the Entrance Hall to get into the Great Hall. Theo, Luna and the Durmstrang students, just to name a few. He talked to all of them.
As the afternoon progressed, Draco grew restless. He still had no idea what to do about Cedric. If he wanted to save his life, he had to stop him from entering his name. Because if he entered his name, he would be chosen again. And then he would die again and everything would repeat itself. And if he knew about a person's impending death and didn't do anything about it - wasn't it like killing that person himself? Wasn't knowing about a murder and being able to stop it but failing to do so just as bad as committing the murder?
Draco wished he could talk to someone about all of this. But Neville had abandoned him and it was too late to involve Dumbledore now.
When Cedric entered the room, accompanied by his friends, everything happened way too fast for Draco's liking.
"Oi, hey Cedric," greeted Draco.
"Malfoy," nodded Cedric. He didn't seem too happy. Probably a side effect of spending two consecutive days in the Hospital Wing.
"What are you doing?"
"Finally putting my name in the goblet," he grumbled. He made a step towards the goblet but Draco stood in his way.
"Uhm- are you sure that's a good idea? I've heard the Triwizard Tournement is really dangerous."
"It is nice of you to worry about me, but I will be fine. Now, step aside."
"I don't think you should do this. I mean, if you haven't managed to put it in yesterday or today, then maybe the universe is trying to tell you something... I mean, ending up in the Infirmary twice seems like more than just a conincidence," stammered Draco, improvising.
Cedric looked irritated and then confused. "How- How do you know about all of that? Are you stalking me? Or- wait! Was it you?" Cedric looked livid. "You were at breakfast, too. You and Longbottom. But I don't recall seeing either of you at Madam Pomfrey's..."
Draco panicked and jumped forward, trying to tackle Cedric. Best case scenario, they would both end up in detention and Cedric wouldn't be able to put his name in.
"Hey!" yelled one of Cedric's friends, grabbing Draco. Draco struggled, but now three older and taller Hufflepuffs were holding him down.
A group of students were now standing around them, watching the commotion.
"Hurry," said one of the Hufflepuffs to Cedric.
Cedric glared at Draco, grabbed a piece of parchment and a pen, wrote his name and the name of his school on the parchment and stepped towards the cup.
He looked at Draco while he dropped the piece of parchment. It sailed towards the cup, twisting and turning on its way towards its destination.
"No," Draco gasped as he watched it fall. There was nothing he could do now. He had failed.
But then, he heard a voice whisper "Incendio." The piece of parchment burned right before it landed in the cup.
Draco stared at it with an open mouth but nobody else seemed to have noticed it as he was the only one watching the cup.
Cedric smiled. "Leave him be," he told his friends, who let go of Draco.
"I don't know what's wrong with you, creep," whispered one of them towards Draco, "but keep away from us."
Draco nodded, making his way towards the source of the voice that had destroyed the piece of parchment before it landed in the cup.
"A-Astoria?" he whispered.
"You're welcome," she said with a small smile.
"How- what-" Draco stuttered, flabbergasted.
"On the way down here, I had just visited Daphne in the Infirmary, I met Neville and he told me you were trying to stop Cedric from entering his name and that you could use some help. I assumed you had a good reason for that."
Draco looked at her and blinked a few times. "Thanks. I like your act first and ask questions later attitude." He smiled at her warmly.
She smiled back, making Draco feel warm and fuzzy inside. Looking him straight in the eyes, she said, "I trust you, Draco. You are a good guy. If you think this is important I assume you have good reasons to do so, even if you don't want to share them."
Draco's heart fluttered. "Thanks."
"You're welcome. Now, I think you should go and find Neville. He seemed really excited about something and told me to tell you to meet him by the lake once you're done."
Draco would have rather stayed with Astoria, but he nodded and left the Entrance Hall.
All the way to the lake, thoughts of Astoria filled his mind. Draco felt absolutely delighted. Cedric was save, even though suspicious of him, and Astoria had said she trusted him.
The excited face of Neville interrupted his musing.
"I think I found it," he explained happily.
"Found what?" asked Draco, examining Neville. Neville looked about to burst from excitement. "I stopped Cedric, by the way. Or rather, Astoria did-"
"I found a way to heal my parents!" Neville interrupted Draco. "I looked at the books you gave me and at Snape's potion and the books he gave you... and you know, the Felix..."
"Wow, Neville. That's great. No, scratch that - that's absolutely fantastic!"
Neville beamed. "I think a few alterations to Snape's potion could heal the physical damage done to my parents and a spell cast by a skilled mind healer or Legilimens should take care of the damage done to their minds!"
"Wow... just wow. This is awesome," Draco was stunned. "How did you figure it out?"
"Remember how I knocked over one of your Occlumency books? When I picked it up I saw just the chapter I needed. And then... I don't know, things just fell into place."
"Pretty big coincidence with the book and all."
"Not coincidence. Luck," Neville beamed.
"Can we brew the potion on our own?" Draco asked.
Neville's face fell. "Not really. I have a basic idea but I'm not good enough at Potions or Arithmancy to brew it. And we'll need help with the mind healing part and the spell as well. The spell also needs to be adapted to their special circumstances..."
"Oh, I know just the person to help us with that," Draco grinned. He felt really optimistic now.
"Oh," Neville groaned, "please don't say it."
"Snape," Draco chuckled.
"Should I drink more Felix for that?"
"No," Draco laughed. "Let's try on our own first. If he doesn't agree we can still try the Felix, but I think it's really better if we save it for when we actually try to heal them."
Neville nodded.
Draco started to walk back to the castle.
"Where are you going?"
"There's no time like the present. And maybe the Felixis is still working in our favor. Are you coming?"
Neville looked shocked, but followed Draco.
He knocked three times on Snape's office door. "Godfather? May I come in?"
"Of course, Draco," he could hear from the other side of the door. "Come in."
Neville looked at Draco apprehensively and Draco smiled at him reassuringly.
Draco opened the door and stepped into the Potions Master's office.
Snape was sitting at his desk, looking exhausted but quite a few years younger again. When he saw who was accompanying Draco, he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.
"Mr. Longbottom," he greeted with a curt nod of his head. "Why am I not surprised to see the two of you? Lately, whenever something out of the ordinary happens, it has something to do with you, Draco." Draco wondered whether he was still mad about the aging potion or whether he had really believed him when he had said that it hadn't been him.
Draco walked over to the desk and sat down in one of the chairs. Neville hesitantly followed his example.
"I've noticed that as well," Draco sighed. "But you said I shouldn't do dangerous things on my own and that I should come and talk to you if something was up... Well, something is up."
Snape leaned forward, studying Draco and Neville. "And what might this 'something' be?"
Draco elbowed Neville.
"Uhm-ehm-" stammered Neville, "We have been working on a way to heal my parents."
At that, Snape's gaze softened. "Continue."
"Draco has been helping me in potions," Neville said, now encouraged, "and he told me about your Post-Cruciatus potion. I thought, if we made it more potent, using Hypericum and some other plants, and adapted it a little to their special condition, we might be able to undo most of the nerve damage. But I think the torture might also have had an effect on their minds." Neville pulled out his notes and Draco's book Magicks of the Mind. "I think a spell and some Legilimancy could help with that."
Neville took a deep breath and looked expectantly at Snape, who eyed the notes curiously. "May I?" he finally asked.
Neville nodded hastily and pushed the notes towards Snape. Snape studied them for a while, looking intrigued.
"Mr. Longbottom," he said after a while, looking up from the notes, "it seems I have underestimated you."
Neville grinned. "Thank you, sir. You think it might work?"
"I think it might. The potion will still need to be adapted and the correct measurements of the ingredients found. And the spell might need to be adapted..." Snape trailed off, deep in thought.
"Would you be willing to help us with that?" Draco asked.
Snape regarded them both.
"Only a true potions genius could solve such an enticing problem. One, which would surely deserve an Order of Merlin," Draco prompted.
Draco knew he was laying it on a bit thick, but Snape's distant look gave him the impression that if he hadn't already been intrigued, he definitely was now.
"I will think about it. May I keep the notes?" he finally said.
The boys both nodded and left the office. Outside of the office, Neville pulled Draco into a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you, Draco. None of this would have ever happened without you."
TBC
Finally, things are looking up for Draco.
It's January and I have several papers to write and exams to pass at my university, so not much time to write for fun. But I'll try.
As always, I'd love to hear what you think :)