MEMENTO MORI | DRACO MALFOY

THREE

CHAPTER THREE

By the next morning, the storm had finally ceased, though the sky remained a murky grey. The Slytherin students gathered at their table in the Great Hall, inspecting their timetables for the year. There were groans of annoyance as Ophelia's housemates realized they were stuck with the Gryffindors for most of their classes, as usual. It was as if the professors enjoyed a little house rivalry, but to Ophelia, she merely wanted to groan at the thought of Draco and Potter having it out during every class. She wouldn't mind a nice quiet Herbology lesson with the Ravenclaws, or an excruciatingly long Potions class with the Hufflepuffs, but alas, they'd spend those classes with the Gryffindors, as usual.

"I swear if Potter so much as blinks in my direction this year, I'm going to —"

"You're going to what, Draco?" Ophelia cut him off, quirking a brow. Before, she would often call him out on his empty threats, but based on the sneer he sent her, she knew they weren't back in that sort of position as friends. She shut her mouth quickly before redirecting her attention to Daphne and Tracey, joining into their mindless conversation.

They spent their morning in Herbology, learning all about Bubotubers and collecting their pus, which Ophelia was not too impressed with. Professor Sprout indicated that the pus was excellent for treating severe forms of acne, to which Ophelia glanced down at Millicent who appeared hopeful as she got right down to squeezing the plants. Millicent was commonly ridiculed for the heavy amounts of makeup she would paint onto her face just in an attempt to cover the angry red spots covering her cheeks. Ophelia knew how embarrassed the girl was, though she'd told her on multiple occasions that her skin wasn't really that bad. Millicent would do just about anything to fix her skin.

After Herbology was Care of Magical Creatures — which was Ophelia's least favourite class. Much like the rest of the Slytherins, she hated the Professor. Hagrid was not even slightly qualified to be a teacher, let alone handle potentially dangerous creatures. She'd never forget when Draco Malfoy was nearly maimed by the Hippogriff last term, though she didn't disagree that he had provoked the creature.

"What the bloody hell are those?" Daphne shrieked as the group descended the hill overlooking Hagrid's Hut. There were several cages scattered around the garden as Hagrid stood in the middle of them with his hands on his hips while watching the students arrive. Inside the cages were blobs of dark shells, from what Ophelia could see, occasionally setting off sparks inside the cages.

Daphne stopped walking and tugged on Ophelia's sleeve. "Let's turn back now. He won't notice us leave, come on." The look of sheer panic was evident on her face. Clearly the chaotic lessons from last year had left some trauma with some of the students.

"Come on, Daph." Ophelia sighed, tugging her friend along. "I won't let anything happen. Promise."

     The blonde didn't appear convinced by Ophelia's promise, but dragged herself along, sitting as far away from the cages as she possibly could once they arrived.

     Hagrid immediately began class by addressing the elephant in the room — or elephants — as he pointed to the dozens of creatures crammed into the cages. They were called Blast Ended Skrewts, apparently, and his intention was for the class to raise one each during the duration of the school year. Ophelia recoiled at the mere thought of touching one of those revolting creatures.

     "Why would we want to raise them?" Draco's cold voice piped from across the lawn. "Whats the point?"

      He had a point.

     "Tha's fer next lesson, Malfoy." Hagrid said simply. Obviously put off at the class' poor reaction, he instructed them to try to feed the beasts different food items.