“It was Malfoy’s fault!
Professor McGonagall, she provoked him first—”
“Don’t lie!
Draca only picked up the ball.
Potter was the one who threatened—”
“Enough, Mr.
Weasley.
Miss Parkinson.”
“Potter, Malfoy.
Come with me.”
The moment Professor McGonagall appeared, furious, Ron and Pansy both hurried to defend their respective friends.
Professor McGonagall wasn’t moved in the slightest.
She simply cut them both off.
Then she turned and began leading Draca and Harry away from the field used for Flying class.
Draca looked back in panic at Pansy and Daphne’s worried expressions.
Then she lowered her head, lightly biting her lower lip as she fought back the moisture gathering at the corners of her eyes, and slowly followed the hem of Professor McGonagall’s emerald robes.
Her heart pounded chaotically in her chest.
Her fingertips had gone cold.
Madam Hooch’s threat from when she’d escorted Longbottom away seemed to echo in her ears—
“If any of you dares try flying, I promise you’ll be expelled from Hogwarts before you ever get the chance to see a Quidditch match!”
Draca could almost imagine the disappointment on her parents’ faces when they received a letter informing them that she’d been expelled.
Frustrated, she raised her head, pouted slightly, and glared accusingly at the boy beside her.
If he hadn’t falsely accused her of trying to steal the Remembrall first, why would she ever have lost her temper like that?
Confusion and anger tangled together until her chest slowly went numb.
Looking at the culprit, who seemed just as dejected as she was, Draca suddenly noticed that Harry Potter’s face had gone deathly pale.
Only then did she remember.
If he were expelled, wouldn’t he be sent back to his Muggle family?
Beneath his properly fitted robes, he was still wearing jeans that were obviously the wrong size, the legs rolled up several times.
Draca couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for him.
He clearly hadn’t been very happy in his Muggle home.
A trace of reluctance and sympathy rose in her heart— and vanished the instant those green eyes glared back at her.
“Serves you right.
That’s what you get for choosing the wrong friends.”
She muttered the complaint quietly, only growing more resentful toward the Weasleys.
It was all because of that family, who had squandered their fortune and disgraced wizardkind, that the legend of the wizarding world was being ruined.
“I told you, this was your fault.
Don’t drag Ron into it.”
Just as Draca was silently cursing the Weasley family, Harry Potter’s low voice suddenly reached her ears.
She couldn’t believe what that idiot had just said.
Draca whipped her head around and glared at him in disbelief.
Behind his round glasses, Harry glared back just as angrily.
Something seemed to explode in her head.
She stopped walking and folded her arms across her chest.
“Both of you.
Enough.”
Just as Draca was about to erupt, Professor McGonagall’s warning cut in.
Both of them immediately turned their heads away.
Neither looked at the other again until they reached the steps leading into the castle.
The great doors opened.
Then, unexpectedly, Professor McGonagall stopped in the entrance hall.
“Ahem.”
After several rather unnatural attempts to clear her throat, she hesitated for a moment before turning around.
“Malfoy, you’re a Slytherin.
How you’re disciplined is Professor Snape’s responsibility.”
“I’ve already reported what you did to him.
Go to his office.
He’s waiting for you.”
Professor McGonagall looked at Draca, though for some reason her gaze seemed strangely evasive.
“Go on!
What are you still standing there for?”
“As for you, Potter.
Come with me.”
The moment she finished speaking, Professor McGonagall didn’t even wait for Draca to move.
She hurriedly led Harry around the corner and up the staircase on the other side of the entrance hall.
Draca was left standing there alone, staring at their retreating backs in complete confusion.
“Come in.”
Draca knocked softly on the wooden door in the dungeons.
At Severus’s lazy reply, she stepped into the Potions professor’s office.
The stone chamber was dim.
Only the weak candleholders in its four corners and the candlelight on the desk offered any illumination.
The fireplace was dark, but several cauldrons simmering in the center of the office filled the room with a warm haze.
Outside the castle, the weather was still bright and clear beneath the afternoon sun.
Yet the moment Draca stepped into Severus’s office, her mood seemed to fall beneath a blanket of night, growing quiet and still.
“Draca?
Shouldn’t you be in Flying class?”
Severus looked up.
The sight of her actually seemed to surprise him.
He rose from behind his desk and led her toward the fireplace.
With a tap of his wand, warm, gentle flames immediately sprang to life.
Severus gestured for Draca to sit with him in the two armchairs facing one another.
“Professor McGonagall said you wanted to see me, Professor Snape.”
Draca’s voice trembled slightly.
Even though Severus was an elder who had treated her almost like a father since she was little, at school she still maintained the proper formalities.
But hearing herself speak, she realized her voice was shaking far more than she’d expected.
“When we’re alone, you can call me Severus, just as you do at home, Draca.”
Severus spoke languidly, then asked,
“I didn’t ask to see you.
Why would Professor McGonagall tell you that?”
At those words, Draca frowned in confusion.
Had Professor McGonagall not told Severus about her argument with Harry Potter?
Why would someone as strict and impartial as her be so lenient?
Looking into Severus’s bright black eyes, Draca hesitated for a moment.
Then she told him everything that had happened between her and Harry Potter during Flying class, leaving nothing out.
When she finished, Severus rose without saying a word.
He walked over to the fireplace, slowly folded his robed arms across his chest, and watched the flames flicker.
Draca couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a trace of mockery in his eyes, and that the corner of his mouth was faintly lifting.
At the very least, however, the atmosphere in the office gradually convinced her of one thing— she definitely wasn’t going to be expelled from Hogwarts over this ridiculous incident.
“S-Severus?”
Draca called uncertainly.
Severus answered at his usual unhurried pace.
“Draca, would you like to join the Quidditch team?”
Severus asked the question casually.
Draca’s bright eyes widened in confusion.
“I thought first-years weren’t allowed until second year…”
“Ordinarily, that is the case.
But I suspect someone may have lost with less grace than she would like.”
As Severus spoke, Draca became certain he was secretly laughing inside.
Though she still had no idea why.
“Would you be interested?
As a little surprise for Professor McGonagall?”
Draca slowly shook her head.
“I thought as much.
You’ve always preferred flying for pleasure.”
“I imagine she accounted for that as well.”
Severus gave a few cold chuckles when he mentioned Professor McGonagall’s calculation.
Then his voice softened into the warm tone Draca only ever heard from him at the manor, never at school.
“Then there’s nothing to worry about, Draca.”
“Still, as your Head of House, I do have a responsibility to remind you of something.”
“Don’t concern yourself too much with Potter.
He isn’t worth your time.”
After saying the last line, Severus gave her an unreadable look.
“I-I am not overly concerned about him!”
For some reason, being looked at like that immediately made Draca flustered.
She hurried to explain, though she had the distinct feeling Severus wasn’t listening at all.
“That’s good, then.
Go and rest.
You’ve done very well in your first week.”
Sure enough, the reply sounded almost like a father placating a willful daughter, slightly dismissive.
Draca pouted and turned to leave the dungeon.
“So…
Professor Snape had no intention of punishing you at all?”
On the way to the Great Hall for dinner, Pansy and Daphne were still thoughtfully trying to solve the mystery that had bothered them all afternoon.
“I don’t know what Professor McGonagall is planning either.”
“But we’ll find out soon enough whether Potter was punished.”
Draca answered.
When they entered the Great Hall, she deliberately took the aisle closest to the Gryffindor table.
Harry Potter was surrounded by several older students, including the older Weasley twins.
They were whispering together about some secret, and all of them looked rather excited.
Clearly, Potter hadn’t been punished either.
Draca had only taken a few steps closer when the older students, led by the Weasley twins, suddenly scattered.
Ron Weasley remained behind, wearing an expression of stunned awe.
Harry Potter’s gaze followed the departing twins before settling on Draca.
Neither spoke.
The challenge between them was already clear without words.
“So you haven’t been sent back to the Muggle world on the train after all, Potter?”
Draca spoke coldly, wrapping the question in mockery.
“You’re looking much braver now, for someone who ran away after losing.”
She hadn’t expected the reply to immediately make several Gryffindor first-years snicker.
Draca’s almond-shaped eyes widened as she stared at Harry Potter’s abrupt rudeness.
Then she remembered Severus’s warning from earlier.
She forcibly swallowed her temper and snapped her head away.
The loose ends of her hair unexpectedly struck Potter across the face and brushed against his glasses with a faint sound.
“Hey!
Apologize!”
Harry cried out in pain and shouted angrily.
Draca merely glanced back at him coldly.
She ignored him and started to leave.
“Looks like getting two more people beside you hasn’t made you much braver.”
“A coward with no manners who only knows how to run away with your tail between your legs!”
Draca had barely taken a few steps when she heard Potter attack not only her personally, but her upbringing and parents as well.
Before she could even think, she had already spun around and rushed straight back to him.
“What did you just call me?”
Her chest rose and fell with rapid breathing.
Her face burned with anger.
“I—”
“You have no right—no right—to comment on the upbringing of the Malfoy family!”
“How dare you…
how dare you slander me and insult the Malfoy family, Potter?”
Her fury was so intense that she was almost breathless as she spoke.
“So what?
You spend every day insulting Ron and Neville’s families.”
Harry Potter merely looked stubbornly bewildered by her outrage, which nearly made Draca faint with anger.
Her small figure trembled all over.
She pressed her lips together and remained unable to speak for a long moment.
Then, finally, she forced the words through clenched teeth in an icy voice.
“I challenge you to a duel, Potter.”
“For the honor of the Malfoy family.
A proper wizard’s duel.”
“I assume even someone as ignorant as you has at least heard of wizarding duels?”
Her breathing was still uneven.
She paid no attention to Pansy’s widened eyes or Daphne’s hand covering her mouth.
“Of course he’s heard of them.
I’m his second.
Who are you choosing?”
It was Weasley who interrupted beside Harry.
Draca merely gave him a contemptuous glance before looking directly at Harry again.
“This concerns the honor of my family.
How could there possibly be seconds?”
“Midnight tonight.
The trophy room.
It’s never locked.”
The moment she finished speaking, she turned away, still furious, and returned to the Slytherin table.
Pansy and Daphne quietly sat beside her.
Faced with their friend’s rage, they only tried to distract and comfort her.
Neither said anything more about the duel.
Until midnight.
It really helps the fic grow!