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"My turn." Hermione said walking in front of the mirror.
"Since, its Hermione, her desires are probably a lot of books." Draco said looking at Hermione who was staring at the mirror for quite some time.
"What? Yes.." Replied Hermione awkwardly, "Its just a pile of books."
"Are you sure?" Asked Draco teasingly but he didn"t get any reply. Hermione like Daphne and Pansy became silent with her head down.
"Cho, aren"t you going to try it?" Theodore asked,
"No, I am afraid to look." She said, "After hearing what Draco said, I don"t want to get lost in my desires, it"s scary."
No one tried to convince her since it was her choice whether to look at it or not and they weren"t close enough, for them to persuade her into it. The only remaining person was Harry.
He slowly walked over and his eyes opened wide in surprise,
"What do you see, Harry?" Ron asked.
"Me winning the Quidditch cup this year." Harry said with an awkward expression.
Draco looked at Harry and didn"t say anything to him, "If you want to lie and lose yourself in it, your welcome to do so." thought Draco.
"Hey! guys we are already 20 minutes late for the cla.s.s, Professor Binns is going to kill us." Hermione said suddenly remembering the cla.s.s again.
"He is a ghost, so I am sure he can"t even touch us." Draco said jokingly but no one was laughing.
Everyone quickly got out of the room and rushed towards their respective cla.s.ses, everyone except Harry.
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Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake was frozen solid. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.
No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Slytherin common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the cla.s.srooms.
Worst of off all were Snape"s cla.s.ses down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them. Luckily Draco had managed to learn spells that would heat you and your clothes up, so he and the Slytherin students including Hermione were fine even in this cold weather. Draco pitied the others, seeing them stand close to the burning cauldrons for a little bit of heat. So Draco gave some Ravenclaw students the name of the spell and the spell book, so they can stay warm.
Draco was walking outside towards another cla.s.sroom when he saw the Weasley twins bewitching some s...o...b..a.l.l.s to follow Quirrell which all targeted at the back of his turban. Draco seeing the situation joined in the fun, he took out his wand bewitching huge amounts of snow on the ground turning them into b.a.l.l.s and threw them all towards Quirrell. Draco then quickly hid behind a nearby tree to watch the show. Quirrell tried to fight back but couldn"t even move after his wand was knocked out by a s...o...b..ll and soon he was buried underneath the pile of snow.
Draco was sure that Voldemort received a number of hits even though Quirrell was trying his hardest to protect him. The Weasley twins were shocked wondering how all this happened, so they quickly ran away to not get in trouble. Draco did the same and quickly went towards his cla.s.sroom laughing his a.s.s off.
Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays. Draco had been considering staying in Hogwarts for Christmas since he could explore it more openly with no one around but later dismissed that idea, imagining his mother"s angry face. He remembered that his father had told him that they had a surprise for him at home, so he couldn"t wait to go back home.
Hermione spent most of her time in the library with Harry and Ron, searching for Nicolas Flamel so Draco and she hadn"t met very often. Draco one day went over to her when she was alone and asked, "Hey, Hermione I see you in the library a lot are you looking for something?"
"Me? No, I was just studying for exams." She said nervously, closing the book in her hand.
"You know, you are very bad at lying." Draco said causing Hermione to freeze up, "But since you don"t want to tell me, I won"t ask you again but remember what I told you back in the Slytherin"s common room, you can always come to me when a problem appears and I will always be there for you. I still stand by what I said"
Draco saying that walked out of the library leaving the dazed Hermione alone,
"Wait!" Draco turned to look back at Hermione who was chasing after him,
"I am sorry." She said, "I don"t even know why I was trying to hide things from you. Since I always believed that you weren"t the one in wrong."
Draco tilted his head in confusion, "What are you talking about?"
"Draco, in the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, what were you murmuring when Harry was falling off his broom?" She asked
Draco finally realized what was going on, "Do you think that I jinxed Potter?"
"No, Ron thinks so." Hermione said, "But I always believed in you, so I need to know what were you doing there?"
"I was looking out for Pansy and I wasn"t jinxing anyone. I was reading this good luck charm that I found which supposedly gives people good luck." Draco lied, "I am sorry Hermione, but the truth is harder to believe than the lie."
Hermione stared at Draco"s eyes and asked, "Are you really not lying to me?"
"Why would I?" Draco said not backing off from her gaze.
"Sigh! I knew it." Hermione sighed in relief, "I was telling them it wasn"t you but no one believed me."
"Hey! Potter and Weasley have been trying to frame as a bad guy since day one so I don"t really care." Draco said, "But what hurts me is that you were believing them."
"I wasn"t." Hermione said
"Then why didn"t you ask me about it, early on." Draco said, "You were doubting me, weren"t you?"
"I.." Hermione wanted to refute but couldn"t, with Ron and Harry making Draco a suspect she was starting to consider Draco one too. It"s not that she didn"t believe in Draco but a seed of doubt was already growing in her heart. The question "What if?" kept ringing in her head.
"I have no excuse Draco, I am sorry." Hermione guiltily said, "Deep inside I knew you wouldn"t do something like this but with... sigh! Anyway, I apologize for being a bad friend."
"Che, I will forgive you this once." Draco said, "Next time if you ever have a doubt on me, come ask me right away."
Hermione nodded, "I will."
"So, who are your other suspects?" Draco asked, even though he knew the other suspect is most likely Snape. He wanted to be sure of it.
"Umm.. that"s..." Hermione was considering whether she should tell him or not, "Draco what is your relation with Professor Snape."
"So its still Snape." Draco thought to himself.
"He is my G.o.dfather." Draco said shocking Hermione, "It"s not really a secret. My father and Professor Snape were friends back in their days at Hogwarts."
"Oh! I see..." Hermione said "Sigh! Even if I tell him the other suspect is Snape, he will likely not believe me,"
"Do you know who Nicolas Flamel is?" Hermione asked trying to change the subject but the only word that came to her mouth was Nicolas Flamel.
"Well, they will find about it out sooner or later, so I don"t think it"s going to be a problem."
"Nicolas Flamel is a French wizard, well-known alchemist and only known maker of the Philosopher"s Stone, a legendary substance with incredible powers. I heard he stays in Paris and sometimes goes to the nearby Beauxbatons Academy of Magic." Draco casually said, "Why do you need to know about that 600-year-old ghost?"
Hermione was trying to digest all the information, "600 years old?"
"Yeah! The Philosopher stone he created has a magical property and is the main ingredient in making Elixir of Life. You know how Professor Snape told us that Potion can help put a stopper to death, as far as I know, Elixir of Life is the only potion able to do so."
"Does it make someone immortal?" Hermione asked
"Nope! You have to keep drinking it day after day. You forget to drink it one day and boom your dead the next second, and besides after some time, your body will start to grow old without fail, so even if you live a 500-year-old long life, you will probably grow terribly weak." Draco said
Hermione"s eye lit up, "Sorry Draco I need to go, I will talk with you some other time."
Draco watched Hermione as she hurriedly entered back in the library.
Draco sighed and walked back into the Slytherin common room. Today since most Slytherins had cla.s.ses the common room was empty. Draco walked in and sat by the fire when he suddenly heard someone whimpering. Draco looked over and saw Daphne running outside with tears in her eyes. Draco quickly chased after her wondering what was going on, after running for awhile Draco saw Daphne sitting underneath a tree crying.
"Hey! What happened?" Draco softly said reaching out for Daphne.
Daphne looked at Draco and jumped into his arms weeping. Draco was shocked, he had never seen Daphne cry before.
"Its okay, Don"t cry." He gently caressed her back, "Tell me what happened."
"My sister..." She barely said with her sobbing.
Draco remembered about Daphne"s sister. From what he knew, Daphne"s sister was Draco"s wife in the original. He married her and had a son named Scorpius Malfoy but later she died due to her family"s blood curse.
"What happened to your sister?" Draco gently said hugging her.
"I.. I just found that... that my sister has our family"s blood malediction." Daphne said with tears flowing out of her eyes.
A blood malediction was a curse that could resurface in a victim"s descendants causing debilitation. The curse was much evil than it sounds as it eats a person from inside out making them weak and fragile. People with this curse don"t manage to live up to old age.
Draco was getting worried about Daphne, "Daphne, do you also have the curse?"
"No," She replied causing Draco to sigh in relief, "Hey, You believe in me, don"t you?"
Daphne looked up at Draco and nodded, "I do."
"Then you know I am a genius in Potion." Draco said caressing her hair, "I promise you that I will put my all into finding a cure for your family"s curse."
Daphne eyes widened in surprise, "Is it possible?"
"I don"t know since there has never been that sort of potion." Draco said, "But I a.s.sure you that I will make one, so your sister can live happily."
Daphne stared deeply at Draco. "Promise?" she asked
"I promise." Draco replied.
Daphne went back into Draco"s arms, She wouldn"t believe if other people said that to her but after she saw that image in the mirror. She knew she could believe in Draco.
Both of them stayed like that for a long time.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked caressing her hair.
"Yes, thank you." Daphne said blushing.
"Don"t worry too much about your sister." Draco said, "She is still young now so the curse wouldn"t affect her till she grows old."
"I know." Daphne said, "But I wish it could have been me."
"Don"t say such things." Draco said, "I would be very sad if something were to happen to you."
"Umm.." She nodded blushing, "Draco, do you want to know what I saw in that mirror?"
"Yes."
"I saw, my family and you." Her face was getting redder by the second.
"Me?" Draco asked interested in what she had to say.
"Yeah!" Daphne said standing up and running away.