MEMENTO MORI | DRACO MALFOY

TEN

CHAPTER TEN

As the weeks quickly passed, December descended upon Hogwarts like the thick blanket of sleet that now covered the grounds. The excitement of the First Task had finally fizzled out, and so did the berating of Harry Potter. It appeared as though the First Task had actually gained Potter some supporters, much to the Slytherin's distaste — especially Draco's. Rita Skeeter's article was released shortly after the first task, and it completely overlooked the other three champion's accomplishments and solely revolved around Potter's defeat of the Dragon as well as his so-called love affair with Hermione Granger.

     "Stunningly pretty?!" Pansy had almost yelled while reading the article. "Was she comparing her to a chipmunk?!" She had slammed the parchment down with a huff.

      With all of the rumours surrounding Potter and Granger, it left very little room for any more rumours about Ophelia and her strange ability to resist the Imperius curse to continue throughout the castle. It was about time that died down anyway.

     Since there was a couple month's break between the first task and the second, the professors used this as a perfect opportunity to load the students with essays and assignments. Not a single student had much time for anything other than studying. Ophelia wondered how on earth Potter and Diggory would find the time to decipher whatever clue was found inside their Golden Egg while also completing the endless amount of school work. Ophelia hadn't even had enough time to consider Moody's offer to teach her occlumency. To be quite honest, she hadn't thought twice about it since her meeting with him the day before the First Task.

     As Ophelia and Daphne trudged through the wet snow towards Care of Magical Creatures, she felt the familiar feeling of dread coarse through her. After the last few months, there were only about ten Skrewts left. Unfortunatey, for Ophelia, her Skrewt was still alive and well, and was the one most responsible for killing the others. Fitting.

     Draco's sedentary Skrewt was one of the first to go, and he wasn't upset about it, though he didn't take the jokes about his weak Skrewt relating to him very well.

     This lesson, Hagrid decided, would be about luring the Skrewts into insulated boxes in order to discover whether they hibernate or not. Ophelia did not see the lesson ending well —it rarely did. The moment she finally coaxed her Skrewt into the box, it immediately blew the wood to bits before taking off, burning Hagrid's pumpkin patch as it stomped around angrily. Most of the class rushed into Hagrid's hut with Ophelia and Draco in the lead. Those who were close enough to see out the window watched as Hagrid, Potter, Weasley and Granger rounded up the rest of the Skrewts that had been riled up by Ophelia's, and locked them away in their cages. It was only her evil Skrewt left now, and the entire class gasped as Hagrid lunged at the creature, trapping it beneath him while Potter and Weasley collected its cage.

     "Your Skrewt is just as much of a firecracker as you are, Eff." Blaise chuckled as they all exited the hut cautiously. "Maybe they do mimic their human. Sorry 'bout your luck, Malfoy."

     "Shut it, Zabini." Draco snapped, cutting his eyes to Blaise. "It's Effie's fault our stupid creatures are dead. Has nothing to do with how strong their owners are."

     "Maybe in my case, that'd be true." Blaise countered with a grin, knowing he was riling Malfoy up. "We all saw how submissive yours was when Effie's had its way with yours a few weeks ago. Shows us all who wears the pants in this group."