By November, Hogwarts had begun to disappear beneath a layer of snow.
The castle’s stone walls turned damp and bitterly cold, and every morning and evening they were coated in a thin layer of frost.
Along the corridors facing the outer walls, unprotected stone windows let the cold wind pour in.
Even the windows sealed behind thick stained glass still leaked faint traces of chill.
The sudden change in atmosphere seemed to drive the students indoors, making them linger in their common rooms and long all the more for the warmth and comfort of going home for Christmas.
The mood among the Hogwarts first-years had changed just as dramatically with the season.
Somehow, Hermione Granger had suddenly become friends with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
The two boys’ academic performance improved noticeably, and the three gradually became the central figures among the Gryffindor first-years.
Compared with Draca, Daphne, and Pansy, who had long since become the focus of Slytherin but always seemed somewhat difficult for others to approach too closely, Harry’s trio mixed much more easily with the rest of Gryffindor’s new students and gave the year a stronger sense of unity.
This became especially obvious with the opening match of the Quidditch season approaching.
The Gryffindor first-years had already begun making all kinds of banners and scarves, preparing to cheer wildly for their most famous student—the youngest Seeker in history, Harry Potter.
Draca, who should have been leading the Slytherin first-years in opposing Harry, remained cold and distant, showing little interest.
After Halloween, her attitude toward Harry’s trio had grown even colder.
Whenever she and Harry passed each other, they still exchanged icy glares.
She continued to treat Ron as though he didn’t exist, while her displeasure toward Hermione was much more direct.
“I thought after everything you’ve been through together, you’d get along a little better.”
Daphne spoke with a trace of regret, gently trying to persuade her.
Pansy, meanwhile, smirked mischievously.
“Miss Malfoy is learning bad habits.
You keep getting dragged into these adventures.”
“There won’t be a next time.”
Draca glared at Pansy with angry eyes and pouted as she spoke with absolute conviction.
Pansy could only stick out her tongue, hug Daphne tightly, and hide behind her to avoid Draca.
Escaping the three-headed dog’s claws and then defeating a troll together had certainly changed the way Draca felt about Harry and Hermione.
But it had also reminded her that she hadn’t forgotten the argument she’d had with Hermione before the troll appeared.
And she still remembered perfectly how Harry had rejected her outstretched hand on the Hogwarts Express as though humiliating her.
If surviving danger together was enough to build friendship, then she certainly wasn’t going to be the one to take the initiative again.
Besides, whenever Draca looked at Gryffindor’s new trio, something in her chest always felt unpleasant.
Harry Potter, the legend of Britain’s wizarding world, had truly chosen a path she couldn’t understand at all.
Instead of befriending someone from an ancient wizarding family like hers, he had chosen the descendants of Muggles and a fallen old family.
That only made Draca more determined that unless Harry Potter invited her himself, she would never again get involved in one of his ridiculous adventures.
Besides, something that happened not long after November began had seriously affected her mood, leaving her with even less interest in whatever Gryffindor’s trio was doing.
Severus had injured his leg.
“How did this happen?”
A young girl’s anxious cry echoed through the Potions professor’s office.
“It’s nothing serious.
Don’t worry about it.
And don’t tell anyone.”
The man in black robes spoke as casually as ever while lowering the hem of his robe back over the knee he’d exposed.
Draca frowned deeply, her displeasure born entirely from concern.
She had noticed during Potions that Severus was limping badly, yet he’d pretended nothing was wrong.
Only after Draca insisted had he finally shown her the mangled wound.
“Was it the three-headed dog in the third-floor corridor?
Why did you go there?”
Severus narrowed his eyes and said nothing.
Draca could only stare back in silence.
Her thoughts involuntarily returned to the night she’d stumbled into the third-floor corridor.
It was almost as though Severus’s gaze was forcing her to search through those memories.
Only when Severus finally looked away did Draca’s thoughts break free.
He fell into contemplation, his face pale from enduring the pain.
After a long while, he finally spoke slowly, with a trace of hesitation.
“It was something I promised Professor Dumbledore I would do.”
“But…”
He paused for quite some time before asking in his usual measured tone, a gleam passing through his black eyes.
“Draca, what I’m about to tell you stays between us.
Can you do that?”
After Draca nodded, he continued.
“If Granger were trapped in the third-floor corridor, would you save her?”
Draca looked at Severus in confusion, then nodded again without hesitation.
“Even though she’s Muggle-born?”
Severus asked again.
Draca only looked even more puzzled.
“I don’t understand—”
She tried to ask more, but Severus interrupted her.
“You don’t like Muggles receiving a wizarding education, do you?”
He raised an eyebrow, almost as though he were arguing with her.
Draca drew in a breath and hurried to explain.
“But that’s completely different from standing by and watching them get killed!”
“I only…
I only think that Muggles have always oppressed us.”
“Even now, we still have to hide ourselves and live away from them.”
“Why should we treat their children kindly after the way Muggles have treated us?”
Severus narrowed his eyes again.
There was something unfamiliar in the way he looked at her.
It was as though he were seriously observing and considering what kind of person the girl he’d cared for since birth had grown into.
The silence stretched on.
Under Severus’s gaze, Draca felt as though he could see straight through her soul.
At last, he blinked.
The constant crease between his brows relaxed slightly, and the corner of his mouth seemed to rise almost imperceptibly.
“In that case, I’d like you to keep an eye on Professor Quirrell for me, Draca.”
“Only watch for anything unusual.
I don’t want you following him.”
The request came so abruptly that Draca only became more confused.
Then Severus’s next sentence made her set aside his strange questions for the moment.
“Quirrell is the reason I ended up in the third-floor corridor.”
The opening match of the Quidditch season soon arrived.
Gryffindor’s older and younger students gathered at the pitch early, eagerly waiting for their secret weapon to appear.
The Slytherin first-years, meanwhile, wandered around like headless chickens, unsure what they were supposed to do.
Draca, Pansy, and Daphne had never thrown themselves into the excitement surrounding the match.
Because Harry had been allowed to join the Gryffindor team as a special exception, the story of his confrontation with Draca during their first Flying lesson had been embellished and spread throughout the school as a bit of pre-match entertainment.
That only damaged Slytherin’s morale further before the game.
Apparently Miss Malfoy challenged Harry Potter during their very first Flying lesson?”
“Yeah.
I heard her flying skills are incredible too.”
“Then why isn’t Miss Malfoy on the Quidditch team?
If she were there—”
“Shh!
Keep your voice down!”
“Maybe Miss Malfoy thinks the school’s pitch is beneath her…”
“Or maybe she doesn’t think the rest of the team is worth playing with…?”
Whispers like that often drifted through the corners of the common room, but Draca paid them little attention.
As the Malfoy heiress, people would naturally invent all sorts of rumors about her.
She didn’t like it, but there was no need to explain every single one.
Doing so would only make her look petty.
What actually occupied her mind was Severus’s request.
As she strolled toward the pitch with Pansy and Daphne, she announced an important decision.
“You’ve really decided to do that?”
“Uncle Lucius is going to be upset…”
Pansy and Daphne reacted exactly as Draca had expected when she told them she planned to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas.
“I’ve already told Father.”
“Severus is injured.
I don’t want him spending the holiday at school alone.”
Draca spoke softly.
Her father’s reply had been written with a noticeably heavy hand, but the contents were filled with a father’s relief and pride.
He praised Draca for caring so deeply about a dear friend who was almost like her godfather.
“You also want to use the chance to carry out his secret assignment, don’t you?”
Pansy stroked her chin and guessed with unusual seriousness.
“Don’t tell Mother or Father.”
Draca nodded and smiled brightly.
“I think the three-headed dog standing over that trapdoor is guarding some kind of secret.”
“And Quirrell wants to steal whatever’s inside.”
She spoke with complete confidence, even though it was only a guess.
Severus had never lied to her.
If he said he’d been injured because of something Professor Dumbledore had asked him to do, and that Quirrell was the reason he’d entered the hidden passage on the third floor, then it wasn’t difficult to piece things together.
Quirrell was probably trying to steal whatever secret was hidden beneath the third-floor corridor.
Severus, acting on Professor Dumbledore’s instructions, had been guarding against him.
That was most likely why Quirrell had set a trap for him.
“Breaking rules is scary, but…
we…”
“We can help.”
Daphne looked nervous, but her expression was firm.
“If that’s really what’s happening, we can’t stop Quirrell ourselves.”
“But we can at least help investigate what he’s trying to steal.”
For once, Pansy showed none of her usual playfulness as she spoke calmly.
Draca looked at the two of them and smiled.
Then, standing on the snow-covered grass, she wrapped both of them in a tight embrace.
It really helps the fic grow!