Somnio Salvus DRARRY

Chapter 4

After dinner Draco sat at the best table in the common room, close to the fire, and wrote a letter. He pointedly ignored anyone who tried to sit with him, so that they soon got bored and got up again. Pansy sidled over at one point and tried to ooze into his lap, purring: 'Why won't you come and play with us, Draco?'

He glanced over at an open space near the stairs. The other Slytherins were playing 'Contortions'. Adapted from the Muggle game 'Twister', this version allowed the use of charms and spells, but you could only use them on yourself. Blaise Zabini had used a flexibility charm, and the position he was now arranged in looked quite grotesque. Draco made a face.

'Think I'll pass, thanks. I need to get this letter finished tonight.' Pansy huffed and stalked away. When it was her turn she made a great show of draping herself across Blaise to reach for a blue circle on the other side of him, but Draco didn't notice. He was reading over the letter he had written.

Hogwarts School

October 11th 1996

Dear Father,

I hope that you and Mother are well, and that the Crup puppies have stopped chewing the furniture. Have they recovered from the tail-docking incident yet?

Everything is fine here at school. I got the top mark in the Potions assignment on flavouring solutions. Granger's face was a picture when Professor Snape announced it was my solution that would be used in the desserts at the Halloween Feast.

Quidditch is better than ever. We beat Hufflepuff by three hundred and ten points in the first match of the season. I'm very much looking forward to the Gryffindor match next week. I'm more confident than ever that I can beat Potter. I think being completely hammered into the ground at Quidditch would be good for the smug git.

Quidditch aside, though, I think I have found a way to really find out what makes the great Harry Potter tick. If it works I'll be able to discover secrets about him that nobody knows, not even his best friends. If I'm right, I can get right inside his head and really make his life hell. Then he'll be sorry he ever turned down the offer of friendship of a Malfoy!

Draco paused, brushing his cheek with the end of his quill. He didn't want to state the nature of his plan; it was illegal after all. He had a feeling he would be forbidden to go through with it for fear of being found out and bringing dishonour on the family name. His father had once told him he should at least give the impression of pleasantness towards Potter, so to be on the safe side, he decided not to say any more and to delay sending the letter until after he had tried out the potion.

He glanced up and frowned at the sight of Pansy bending over backwards, a seventh year named Bruce Plunkett had managed to position himself between her legs.

'Hey Pans!' he called. 'I'm writing to my father, anything you want to say?'

'Tell him I think he's almost as gorgeous as his son, and any time he wants to....'

'Ok, ok, that will do,' he sighed, putting quill to paper once again.

Pansy sends her love.

Your devoted son,

Draco Malfoy

He folded the letter and tucked it into his Herbology textbook. Then he got up, climbed over a tangle of limbs on the floor (where the 'Contortions' game was rapidly deteriorating into an excuse for the boys to look up the girls' skirts), and climbed the stairs to his dorm. He drew the curtains around his bed and opened 'Moste Potente Potions' to the page containing instructions on how to use the Somnio Salvus potion. He discovered that all he had to do was wait until Potter was asleep (he'd have to guess that part, obviously), then drink a mouthful of the potion, close his eyes, and relax. He should experience a period of dizziness, then a feeling of flying. Then he just had to picture Potter's face as clearly as he could, and Potter's dream world would materialise around him. Easy enough! The important thing was to relax into the dizziness, and allow the spinning sensation to take over.