Draco

.

.

"Are you really going?" asked Pansy who was lying in Draco's bed playing with her wand.

Draco was tying his shoes at the foot of his bed as he stared at the dormitory clock: 11:35.

"Obviously."

"You really are obsessed with getting revenge." remarked Nott who was sitting on his own bed, reading.

"You would be too if you were in my shoes. Look at my eye!"

Nott nodded but did not look up from his book. Draco could still feel that his eye was swollen, and he knew that it now had a purple tint. Pansy was still twirling her wand in her fingers, producing jets of sparks of all colours.

"Don't burn my bed." said Draco, getting up.

"But I'm bored..." she moaned as she sat up against her pillows.

"Do you want to come with me?" Draco asked.

"Certainly not. I'm on my best behavior, me." she replied with a mocking grin.

"You can stay here until I get back."

"But I'm bored! Blaise is who-knows-where and Theodore is too boring, reading all the time."

"He can hear you too." hissed Nott without taking his eyes off his book. "Just because I read doesn't mean I can't hear anything around me."

"Then stop reading and do something with me!" said Pansy.

Nott raised his head and sighed.

"Okay, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know... offer."

"I'll leave you to it. I'll see you later." threw Draco as he walked out of the dormitory.

"Don't get caught, Draco!" exclaimed Pansy.

Draco shook his head and quietly walked out. The Common Room was busy with a few older students studying or chatting on the sofas, but none of them paid any attention to Draco as he walked out into the castle corridors. Going out after curfew (8pm for first years) was a common practice for Slytherin students, but one always had to be wary of teachers, Slytherin and prefects lurking around.

Draco managed to avoid the patrols by taking a shortcut to the Astronomy tower and found an open study room down the tower stairs. He locked himself in and watched the corridor through a cracked window pane.

Then he waited. Minutes passed, and every little noise startled Draco. He didn't really know what he was going to do when he caught Potter, but he was already enjoying the look of fear on his face when he saw him in the darkness of the corridor. He waited, checking his watch every minute to make sure he didn't miss the appointment time.

Saturday at midnight in the highest tower of the castle. Maybe the Astronomy Tower wasn't the highest in the castle? Or maybe they had managed to reschedule the appointment after Draco's visit to the infirmary?

He remained firmly planted in the study room, staring unflinchingly at the entrance to the tower stairs. Potter had to get through, he had to.

Suddenly he heard a noise. It was like a gasp, or footsteps against stone, but the corridor was empty. Draco walked out of the classroom, breathless, staring at the place where he had heard the noise, getting closer and closer...

A hand grabbed his shoulder from behind. He gasped and turned, and saw Professor McGonagall, her stern face contorted with anger. He had rarely seen her so enraged. She turned on one of the classroom lights and her eyes opened wide when she saw who she had caught.

"What are you doing here at this hour, Malfoy?" she hissed.

He was so shocked that he failed to utter a single word. His lack of apology seemed to anger Professor McGonagall even more, and she grabbed Draco by the ear and dragged him down the corridor to the Astronomy Tower stairs.

"You'll get a detention!" she yelled without letting go. "And I'm taking twenty points off Slytherin. Walking around the castle in the middle of the night, how dare you?"

"You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter is going to arrive with a dragon!" cried Draco who had suddenly found his voice again.

"What kind of nonsense is this? How can you have the audacity to tell such lies? Come, I'll have to tell Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"

She led him off to the dungeons, still holding him by the ear. She was so angry that she scared Draco a little, and he let himself be led away without saying anything.

He had been so close! He was sure it was Potter he had heard before he was caught by Professor McGonagall.

They arrived at Snape's office and Draco didn't even have time to swallow before the door opened and he was face to face with his professor. Unlike McGonagall, who was dressed in her night clothes, Snape was dressed exactly as he always was, in a long black cloak. He seemed surprised when he saw them, but his face quickly returned to its usual unruffled expression.

"I just found this student wandering the corridors just now," McGonagall said sharply. "I've taken twenty points off Slytherin and he'll get a detention, but I thought it best to let his Head of House know."

"Thank you, Minerva, I'll take it in my office." Snape replied in his deep voice.

McGonagall nodded gravely and turned back without adding anything. Draco was shaking, but tried to keep a straight face as Snape invited him into his office and told him to sit quietly. Then he sat down opposite him. His dark eyes were like slits, and his features more tense than ever.

"Explain yourself." he ordered gravely.

"I... It's Potter, sir. Hagrid, the gamekeeper, raised a baby dragon, and Potter was supposed to give it to the Weasleys' older brother up in the Astronomy Tower tonight!"

Snape frowned, clearly not expecting such a shaky explanation.

"Potter, with a dragon?"

"Yes! He's in the Astronomy Tower right now!"

Snape stood up abruptly and walked out of his office. Draco froze in place, his fingers gripping the wood of his chair until it hurt. What was going to happen to him now?

His teacher returned a few minutes later and sat down opposite him.

"I've warned Filch, we'll see if Potter was there."

"He will be, I'm sure of it!" exclaimed Draco in a voice he wanted to be confident, but which turned out to be strangely high pitched.

"That doesn't explain why you were in the corridors at midnight, Malfoy. Why didn't you report Potter earlier in the day, if you knew about his escapade?"

"Er... I..."

"You wanted to catch Potter on your own, didn't you?"

"Please, Professor..." begged Draco. "Don't tell my parents, please, don't say anything about the detention, I'll do double if you like, but don't send anything to my parents..."

Snape arched an eyebrow and the silence that followed was painful for Draco, who waited for his sentence as he listened to the frantic pounding of his heart against his eardrums. He imagined Lucius' reaction if he learned what he had done... He would be so angry... Finally, Snape spoke, in a calmer voice than before:

"I thought you were going to ask me to remove your detention."

Draco recoiled a little at hearing this: he hadn't even thought to ask such a thing.

"Oh, if you can do it..."

"No, I won't. I'm not allowed to cancel a punishment put in place by another teacher. But I'm amazed that you'd rather your parents didn't know, rather than try to avoid it by any means."

Draco did not answer, his throat tight. Professor Snape sighed, and continued:

"Malfoy, I thought every word I said to your parents at Christmas. I think you are a brilliant wizard, especially in Potions. You have skills beyond compare, far higher than a first year student. Don't waste those predispositions by wasting your time with Potter."

"But he has everything he wants! He gets away with it every time!"

"I know." said Snape almost in a whisper. "Unfortunately, that's the way it is. In life, there are people who get everything they want, regardless of whether they deserve it or not. The key to getting back at them is to try to outdo them by being assertive, instead of trying to sabotage them. It will cost you more than twenty points lost in Slytherin if you don't follow this advice."

"How can I do that? Everyone looks at him, like he's brilliant, or a better wizard than everyone else, when he has no idea what he's doing here."

"Put your energy into trying to beat him legitimately, rather than trying to get revenge like this. I am your ally, Draco. I can help you."

Draco lowered his head without answering. The seconds stretched out in an awkward silence, until Snape stood up:

"I won't tell your parents anything. But this is the last time I'm doing you this favour. And now, go back to your dormitory."

Draco stood up, his legs still a little shaky, and walked quickly out of Snape's office. He walked through the corridor of the dungeons, and the fear he had felt since McGonagall had grabbed his shoulder was slowly turning to rage.

He spoke the password through his teeth and the door to the Common Room materialized. He entered and went straight to his dormitory, and as he furiously opened the door, three heads turned towards him: Pansy, Nott, and Blaise. The three of them were playing a game of cards but stopped when they saw Draco so furious.

"What happened?"

"McGonagall caught me."

Pansy let out an exclamation of shock and Draco sat angrily on his bed to untie his shoes and remove his cloak.

"What?" exclaimed Pansy as she stood up. "Tell us!"

Draco quickly recounted what had happened, avoiding mention of his plea to Snape not to inform his parents. His friends listened until he finished:

"I'm sure Potter was there," he stated, still fuming. "I heard him, he got in. I hope Filch caught him."

"Dray..." began Blaise, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor beside Nott. "I think you should listen to Snape. This wasn't a good idea."

"But Potter..."

"We know, Draco," Nott continued. "We think it's unfair too. But if you keep taking what he should be getting, you're the one who's going to end up getting expelled from school. Stop interfering, okay?"

Draco grunted but didn't reply. He knew they were right, he was just unable to contain his anger as well as they could. To avoid meeting their worried eyes, Draco went to lock himself in the bathroom. He took a hot shower, changed into his pyjamas and washed up, which managed to calm him down a bit.

When he came out, Nott and Blaise were both in their beds with the curtains drawn. Pansy was still lying in Draco's bed. She was wearing black canvas trousers and a loose top of the same colour, and when Draco moved closer to the bed, she stared at him blankly.

He lay down next to her and covered her with the bed cover. Pansy waved her wand to close the curtains around them. Then she snuggled up to him and he tried to match her breathing to his, until he was finally calmed. Pansy's hair, as perfectly slicked back as ever, was spread over Draco's shoulder and neck.

He and Pansy slept in the same bed from time to time, it was far from unusual. Never at the Manor because of Malfoy rules, but sometimes at her house when her father wasn't around, or at Hogwarts when she fell asleep in his bed.

Sometimes Draco felt that she needed to sleep with him, even though she never explicitly said so. He was so used to her presence that he never minded sleeping next to her, and sometimes he even missed it a little when she wasn't around.

He thought back to Potter, and Snape's advice. He could never really apply it, he knew that. The very idea that Potter could enjoy what he wanted without realising how lucky he was made him angry. He hated him. He felt Pansy's quiet breathing against him, but he knew she wasn't asleep, because she was running her fingers over Draco's arm absentmindedly.

"Pans'..." he began in a whisper.

She looked up as she heard him speak. He spoke too softly for Blaise and Nott, on the other side of the large dormitory, to hear what he said.

"I really hate him."

"I know..." she said in a whisper.

"No, really. I hate him. He's everything I want to be."

She arched an eyebrow, and he was quick to explain:

"Not his friends, but rather the fact that everyone thinks he's... I don't know, everyone looks up to him, I wish it was me, that my dad was proud of me like that."

"Why do you place so much importance in what your parents think?"

"I don't know, I grew up with it."

"So did I. But going to Hogwarts forces me to think that... maybe our parents aren't as exemplary as we think." she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe our opinions are biased because that's what our parents wanted us to believe, but maybe when we grow up we'll be able to break away from that."

Draco wasn't sure he understood what she meant. To him, his father was a great wizard, and he really wanted to be like him when he grew up, to achieve the same rank as him. He didn't answer anything, and Pansy seemed to nod off against him as her thoughts prevented her from closing her eyes. After a long moment he murmured under his breath:

"I promise myself that Harry Potter will be my enemy."

Saying it out loud made his confession so much more solemn, as if his promise was now written in stone, the way he and Pansy used to promise things to each other. Pansy didn't say anything, but Draco didn't know if it was because she didn't know what to say, or if it was because she had simply fallen asleep.

Hermione

.

.

Becoming the laughing stock of Hogwarts was even worse than when she was alone, even though she still had Harry and Ron by her side. Despite their plan to hand Norbert over to Charlie's friends, Hermione and Harry had been caught. And the shame of being lectured by McGonagall was almost as bad as the shame of alienating all the students.

After losing a hundred and fifty points to Gryffindor, everyone at Hogwarts seemed to turn against them and Hermione could no longer walk quietly without receiving a rude remark or a nasty look.

Fortunately, she was not alone. Ron was always supportive, Harry was also the target of comments, and Neville was more miserable than ever. She'd made a habit of having breakfast with him now, probably to make up for including him in their problems like that.

The end of year exams were coming up, which was a great excuse for Hermione to spend all her time studying. Harry and Ron seemed to have realised that they had to work to get into second year - it was time - so they agreed to study with her.

His days were now made up entirely of lessons, study sessions, and helping Neville. He was terrified of failing his exams, but Hermione didn't think he was particularly bad. He was very good in Herbology, where he was actually second in the class. Potions, however, was by far his worst subject, and Hermione's theoretical explanations didn't seem to help him much.

Harry and Ron had lost interest in finding out what was going to happen to the Philosopher's Stone. It was for the best, but Hermione couldn't stop theorising about it, especially before bed.

One morning, during breakfast, Hermione was explaining the virtues of wormwood tea to Neville when a prefect gave Harry, Neville and her a note. Hermione's throat tightened as she realised it was the detention notice McGonagall had given them:

"Your detention will begin tonight at eleven.

Meet Mr. Filch in the Entrance Hall.

Signed: Professor McGonagall."

Hermione made no comment on it. As if by reflex, she looked up towards the Slytherin table, where Draco Malfoy had just received the same note. He showed it to Pansy Parkinson who whispered something to the boy, whose jaw was set in anger.

Her first (and only, she hoped) detention was in the Forbidden Forest, with Hagrid.

When Filch announced this, Malfoy was outraged:

"The Forest? We're not going there in the middle of the night! There are lots of things in there, even werewolves from what I've heard."

Hermione hated to admit it, but she thought he was right. She too had read horrible things about the Forbidden Forest in the books she had read in London, she had even told herself that she would probably never set foot in it.

Hagrid arrived and took over to start the detention. Hermione was terrified, but knowing that Hagrid was there made her feel much better: nothing could happen to her as long as a Hogwarts staff member was with them. Malfoy tried again to protest, but Hagrid was not merciful, and far too quickly for her liking, they entered the Forbidden Forest. They soon found the reason for their visit, silver unicorn blood on the ground.

The group was split in two and Hermione went to one side of the Forest with Harry and Hagrid. Neville was panicking, not only because he was in the middle of a place full of dangerous beasts, but because he had to go there with Malfoy. They took the other path and walked through the foliage without saying a word.

Hermione was shivering. It was cold and she was scared, she felt like every step she took was a step away from being caught by a creature. She kept glancing behind her.

"Are you alright, Hermione?" asked Hagrid gently. "Don't worry, if she's badly hurt, she can't have gone far and we'll get to... QUICK! HIDE BEHIND THAT TREE!"

Hermione gasped and was suddenly suspended in mid-air by Hagrid's hand as he set Hermione and Harry down behind an oak tree. They heard a scraping sound, but nothing more. Hermione let out the breath she had caught in her throat. The noise faded away.

"I knew it." Hagrid grumbled in a whisper. "There's something in this forest that shouldn't be there."

"A werewolf?" offered Harry in a weak voice, and the suggestion sent a series of shivers down Hermione's arms.

"That was neither a werewolf nor a unicorn." Hagrid said darkly. "All right, follow me, but be very careful."

They took a few steps, slowly. Hagrid's massive body blocked their view of the forest ahead, and Hermione was careful to stay in his wake.

All of a sudden, Hagrid stopped. He pointed his weapon at the trees ahead and warned in a loud voice:

"Who's there? Show yourself! I'm armed!"

A figure emerged from a tree and walked towards them. When he got close enough, Hermione realised that it wasn't really a man, but rather a centaur. The moon was shining on him enough for them to see his horse-like body. Hermione had read a lot about centaurs before, but seeing him in real life was much more impressive than she had imagined.

Hagrid introduced the centaur, Ronan, but he was not helpful in their search. Hermione had the impression that he wanted to avoid talking about the famous creature that haunted the Forest.

"With centaurs, it's impossible to get a straight answer." Hagrid explained once they had moved away from Ronan. "They spend all their time looking at the stars, the fools. Nothing interests them unless it's on the moon."

Hermione didn't really agree with Hagrid, she found centaurs fascinating, but she was far too terrified to argue with him at this moment.

"Are there many here?" she asked.

"Oh, quite a few, yes. Keep themselves to themselves mostly, but I go to them if I ever need any information. They know a lot of things. The trouble is, they're not very talkative."

They continued walking, going deeper into the darkened trees. The only sound they could hear was the leaves they crushed with each step, yet Hermione had the unpleasant sensation of hearing voices, or perhaps it was just the wind whistling in her ears.

Suddenly she saw a stream of light a little further on, above the tree branches. Red sparks. She clutched Hagrid's arm:

"Look! Red sparks! The others are in trouble."

"Wait for me here, you two. Don't wander off the path. I'll come looking for you." said Hagrid in a hurried tone.

Hermione looked at Harry, who looked as panicked as she was. Hagrid walked away, and the area they were in was plunged into darkness. Hermione was afraid for Neville and Malfoy... if either of them were hurt...

"Do you think they're hurt?" she asked Harry under her breath.

"If it's Malfoy, I don't care, but if something happened to Neville... We're the reason he's here."

Hermione was amazed at how Harry could be so insensitive to people who didn't deserve his concern. Malfoy may have spoken badly to her in the Library and picked on Harry and Ron, but she couldn't be that detached. She was as scared for him as she was for Neville.

Eventually they returned, safe and sound. Malfoy had played a bad joke on Neville who had sent the signal, he was still out of breath. They changed groups and Hermione found herself with Neville instead of Harry.

As soon as the three of them set off again, Neville clung to Hermione's arm and she did the same, they walked carefully through the Forest holding on to each other.

They walked on for many minutes in dead silence. Every now and then Hagrid would pick up his crossbow and watch for something ahead, Neville would hold on to Hermione even tighter and they would wait, terrified. Hagrid never shot, however, and they continued to walk along the path without making a sound. Hermione could hear Neville's ragged breathing.

Hagrid suddenly stopped, and Hermione saw that Fang had just come up the path, followed closely by Malfoy who was holding his ribs, out of breath.

"Malfoy? Where's Harry?" asked Hagrid, panic clearly seeping through his voice.

"We saw... a figure... it had a cloak... he drank... the blood of the unicorn before us..."

"And Harry?" pressed Hagrid.

Malfoy raised his head. He was scared, but mostly he had an indignant look on his face.

"I ran away! Your dog ran away faster than I did, it didn't protect us at all! I told you I didn't want to go into that Forest! I told you there were dangerous creatures, and we walked exactly into them! Now Potter is probably dead, killed by that... thing!"

Hagrid had suddenly turned very pale. He didn't answer anything, which was even worse. What if Malfoy was right? Hagrid kept walking, even more worried than before, and Neville was holding Hermione's arm so tightly that she would probably have marks the next day.

Malfoy joined Hermione and Neville behind Hagrid. She could feel his gaze on Neville and Hermione's intertwined hands, but he made no comment and walked resolutely ahead. Hermione was so distressed that she didn't even look where she was walking, and she nearly fell several times as she tripped over roots.

After what seemed like an eternity, Hermione heard a rustling of foliage behind her, as if someone was passing through the branches into the darker side of the Forest. She squinted her eyes to try and make out something from the darkness, and when she saw who it was, her heart missed a beat.

"Hagrid, over there! It's Harry!" she shouted before running in his direction.

She heard the heavy footsteps of the gamekeeper behind as she ran to where she had seen Harry. When she got closer, she saw that he was astride the back of another centaur she had never seen before.

"Harry! Harry!" she shouted. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." said Harry. "The unicorn is dead, Hagrid. It's in the clearing over there."

Hagrid followed his indication as Neville came cautiously behind Hermione, intimidated by the sight of the centaur. Malfoy had stayed back behind them.

"This is where I leave you." the centaur said. "You're safe now."

Harry slid down the centaur's side and jumped to the ground, joining Hermione and Neville, both of whom were still shaking just as much.

"Good luck, Harry Potter. Sometimes you get it wrong when you read destiny in the planets. Even centaurs. I hope that's the case today."

Hermione looked at Harry, who was listening to these words with a frown. She hoped with all her heart that these somewhat vague hints would not turn out to be true, and they all walked back to the castle together, shivering.

Draco

.

.

When Draco arrived at the dormitory that night, everyone was already asleep. He climbed into his bed hoping that Pansy was there, but it was empty. He was still shocked by the events he had just experienced during detention, and he would have loved to have Pansy there to help him by telling her and sleeping next to her.

He even hesitated to go to her dormitory to join her in bed, but he'd never been there before and he was afraid her roomates would find it weird. Blaise and Nott were used to it, they never commented when they saw Pansy get out of Draco's bed in the morning. It was a habit they'd had since they were kids, there had never been anything ambiguous, they were just comforted by each other's presence. Draco didn't want everyone to hear about this and turn it into gossip.

For once, it was he who needed to sleep next to her, not the other way around. And that night, she wasn't there.

He lay down in his bed without undressing and hugged the hot water bottle on his bed. He thought of what he had seen in the Forest, the hooded figure that had drunk the unicorn's blood.

He was so exhausted that he fell asleep quickly, but his dreams were overshadowed by the Forest, the noises in the air, and most of all, the creature that had leaned over the unicorn. He woke up with a start several times, and when the two boys in his room woke up to go to class, Draco did not feel rested at all.

At breakfast, Draco must have looked terrible, because Pansy immediately lost her smile when she saw him arrive.

"Whoa, bad night?"

He sat down and told his friends what had happened in the Forest. Crabbe and Goyle, who were next to them, also listened, and protested as did Pansy, Nott and Blaise:

"What? But this isn't right!"

"You have to complain, Draco!"

"That's not detention, that's attempted murder?"

"Besides, that fat oaf Hagrid didn't help you at all! You have to tell your parents!"

Draco shook his head sharply:

"I don't want my parents to find out. That Hagrid will get punished soon enough."

They nodded, but didn't seem convinced. Nott was even speechless after hearing this. And for once, Draco didn't like having so much attention paid to him, he was still scared.

Even though he sincerely hated Potter and had promised himself that he would be his enemy, he still felt a little admiration for his Gryffindor courage that he had shown the day before. He hadn't run away from the figure. He hadn't exactly fought it either, but he'd already had the audacity to stay put instead of running away as far as possible.

He wasn't particularly relieved to see him alive, but he was still shocked at what had happened. And seeing Potter sitting on the Gryffindors' table laughing with Weasley as if nothing had happened annoyed him. How could he act as if nothing had happened?

How could he not have nightmares of that vision, like he did?

Hermione

.

.

To think that this detention episode would be the most traumatic moment of her year was a mistake. Hermione felt the same amount of stress at exam time. Even though she had studied all year, she felt as if she had forgotten everything when she entered the Great Hall for the written exams.

Fortunately, she always recovered her memory very quickly when she saw the questions and managed to answer everything. Ron laughed at her each time because of the length of her paragraphs, which sometimes spilled over into the next question because they were so long. The practical exams were even more agonising, especially Potions. Snape kept coming up behind them to distract them, but Hermione felt that her Amnesia potion was convincing.

At night, Hermione was unable to sleep. She kept questioning herself to test herself on the next day's subject, or waking up in a panic because she had forgotten some important information from the lesson she was groping for in her dream.

When the exams officially ended with History of Magic, Hermione still couldn't feel relief. She would probably be stressed until the results were announced. She was absolutely terrified that she'd failed everything and wouldn't be able to come back next year.

Unfortunately, the exams were not the last test of her nerves. Harry had discovered how to put Fluffy to sleep, and he was so afraid that Snape would get his hands on Stone that he offered to go that evening.

"Tonight." he said in the Common Room. "I'll try to get the stone before he does."

"You're mad!" exclaimed Ron.

"You can't do that!" squeaked Hermione. "After what McGonagall and Snape said? You're going to get expelled!"

"SO WHAT?" exploded Harry.

Hermione had never seen Harry get so angry, it sent a long shiver down her spine. She listened to him explain why he had to get the stone back, and even though Hermione was scared to go down the hatch, she had to admit that he was right all along. They had to do it, to keep Hogwarts out of danger, to protect the others.

"You're right, Harry." she said quietly.

"I'll use the invisibility cloak," Harry said decisively. "It's lucky I got it back."

"And you think it's big enough to cover all three of us?"

Hermione turned to Ron. He was sure of himself, she was glad to see that they were thinking the same thing: going with Harry.

"All... all three of us?" asked Harry.

"You don't think we're going to let you go by yourself, do you?"

"Of course not." cut in Hermione. "How do you expect to get to the stone without our help? I'd better go and look in my books. I'm sure I'll find some useful things..."

"But if we get caught, you'll be sent back too."

"I might be able to work something out." Hermione replied. "Flitwick secretly told me that I had a hundred and twelve percent correct answers on the Charms exam."

Ron rolled his eyes with a smile. Hermione wanted to show that she was as confident as they were, but really, the prospect of getting expelled was unbearable for her, and as soon as she thought about going to get the stone, her stomach would contract with stress. She would never let Harry go alone, so she summoned up all the courage she had as a Gryffindor.

She didn't eat anything all meal, and as soon as they returned to the Common Room, Hermione went to her room to get her books and tried to study. But this wasn't an exam, she had no idea what they would find there.

Hermione ended up reading to forget about what was ahead of them rather than to prepare. It was easier to deal with the stress by escaping into her books.

Draco

.

.

Pansy was definitely good at gossiping, because she had managed to tell the three boys the exact story of what had happened to Potter, Weasley and Granger. From what he understood, they had managed to take a Philosopher's Stone from Professor Quirrell, although he didn't quite understand what the stone was, and had probably saved Hogwarts in the process.

Draco didn't know what to make of this information, he was convinced that the whole story was false, especially since the Dark Lord was added to the rumours, which made it no longer believable at all.

He went to the end of year banquet with Crabbe, Goyle and Blaise. Pansy and Nott were already seated at the Slytherin table, and Draco was pleased to see that the colours on his table were the same as on the banners in the Great Hall. Gryffindor were last, there were hardly any rubies left in their hourglass of points.

When Potter entered, all the students fell silent to watch him sit down. Draco rolled his eyes dramatically at this.

Dumbledore rose from his chair and sat behind his desk to deliver the end of year speech:

"Another year is over, and I'm going to pester you with more old man chatter before we finally begin this delicious feast."

Pansy chuckled and leaned towards Draco to whisper:

"So old he must not have seen the green banners over his head."

"He does look very cheerful for someone who lost the Cup." Draco said, amused.

"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 place, Hufflepuff with three hundred and fifty two points. Slytherin got four hundred and twenty-six points and Slytherin four hundred and seventy-two points."

Everyone around Draco shouted with joy, a thunderous applause echoed through the Great Hall. Draco shouted back and amused himself by banging his goblet against the table with Pansy to make as much noise as possible.

"Yes, yes, very good, Slytherin." Dumbledore said calmly. "However, there are some recent events that need to be taken into account."

Draco tensed on his bench.

"I have a few last minute points to hand out. Let's see... Yes, that's right... I'll start with Mr. Ronald Weasley."

Weasley instantly blushed at hearing his name.

"For the best game of chess we've played at Hogwarts in many years, I give Gryffindor fifty points."

"Fifty points?" hissed Pansy. "Is this a joke? For a game of chess?"

"I now come to Miss Hermione Granger..." continued Dumbledore. "For the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor fifty points."

Draco frowned: What? Chess game? Fire? What the hell had happened? Granger lowered her head against her arms, either to cry or to hide her blushes as everyone cheered.

" Finally, Mr. Harry Potter. For the exceptional composure and courage he displayed, I give Gryffindor sixty points."

Blaise and Nott blinked several times in quick succession, stunned by Dumbledore's speech, while Pansy ranted:

"What?! But that's not fair!"

Draco counted in his head and gradually realised that Dumbledore was trying to get Gryffindor to overtake him to the top spot.

"Bravery can take many forms. It takes a lot of bravery to face your enemies, but it takes no less bravery to face your friends. And therefore, I award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."

"WHAT?" chanted Draco, Pansy, Blaise and Nott at the same time.

The applause from the other three tables prevented them from being heard. Draco could hear insults flying next to him, but he was too stunned to speak. It was so unfair!

He couldn't hear Dumbledore's words over the din, but to his horror he saw the green banners change to red and gold and display a large lion.

"Longbottom? Seriously?" exclaimed Nott, visibly revolted. "He had nothing better than Longbottom? What did a poor bloke like Longbottom do to get ten points, when he's never managed to do a spell with his wand since the beginning of the year!"

Draco had probably never been so indignant in his life. He ate nothing at the final banquet. When the desserts arrived, and the mood at the Slytherin table was colder than ever, Crabbe asked:

"Does this mean we lost?"

No one answered him, except Nott, who sighed tiredly. They all returned to the Common Room, but no one was in the mood to party, so they all went to bed without a word.

To top it all off, the exam results were not great. Draco was as upset that his name was not in the top twenty as he was that Granger's was first in every subject.

Couldn't any teacher at this school consider the idea that she might be cheating? There was no way she could be that good, she had to use Muggle means to come first in all the exams, it was not possible otherwise.

The Hogwarts Express ride was silent. Nott was still furious that Crabbe and Goyle had passed, he really couldn't stand them. He spent the journey with his nose buried in a book without speaking to anyone, not even Blaise who kept teasing him about not being able to pass him in the final classification.

When he arrived at the station platform, Lucius and Narcissa were waiting next to the barrier. And seeing Lucius' face, Draco knew that he too must have seen the final exam rankings.

He swallowed with difficulty, said goodbye to his friends and joined his parents with a heavy step.

The summer was already looking complicated.