Drarry : A Snake Life

Chapter 26 - Doubts

Gathered in the Common Room of Gryffindor, Hermione, Draco and I are still pretty shaken by what happened in the last hour. Holding her cup of hot chocolate the house-elves just brought us with her both hand to warm herself, Hermione keeps her lips slightly pinched.

After his wracking revelation, Goyle kept his mouth shut, whatever the headmistress told him or threatened him. She gave up and sent us three to bed, exhausted. We were waiting for Ron to come back. We had no idea what she did with the Slytherin once we had left. Did she contact the Ministry? Did she lock him into the dungeon? Who knows?

"Do you think..." (We lift our head, Mione's voice dies.) "He just said this to provoke us, didn't he?"

"Of course" I reply immediately. "He was bluffing."

Draco nods.

"I rather think he wanted to divert suspicion away from what really mattered" he states coldly.

Blowing on her drink to cool it down, she seems to agree with him on that point.

"Hm, you may be right..." she mutters.

"Who is the person he's helping?" I conclude gloomily. "And, more important, why is he protecting him that much?"

"I imagine it's because he wants my dad to be caught and sent to Azkaban" Draco suggests. "And telling us would block his plan, nothing more."

Hermione shakes her head, I sip my hot chocolate. It's warm. I realise I was cold to the bone.

"I'm not convinced. Goyle is not that loyal and... I don't know if you noticed, but he looked pretty scared. As if he was afraid to tell us..."

"Maybe is he not too thrilled about the idea of having a life-long stay in a wizarding jail?" I wonder.

She bites her lower lips, still thinking hard.

"Or... he is afraid of the person he's collaborating with" she lets out.

"Who could be dangerous enough to threaten him?" I frown, turning towards Malfoy to have his opinion.

"Except for me?" he sniggers, half serious. "And his mom? I have no idea."

Hermione snaps her fingers, eyes shining.

"What if he or she blackmailed him?" (Draco and I must look rather sceptical, because she adds quickly.) "Maybe his sidekick forced him to-"

"No" Draco cuts her in dryly. "He was in from the start, you heard him like I did. Goyle's target was my dad and he was ready to do anything to reach him."

She winces. Ouch, the betrayal of his friend really is a sensible matter. He pronounced his name as if he was talking about some kind of trash, his lips distorted with disgust.

We keep talking about what Goyle said for a while. Knowing that the spell comes from his family opens new possibilities to deal with Draco's transformation problem. Once the house of the Goyles would be searched through from top to bottom by the Ministry, they would find some old books or archives from the wizard family. There had to be something written somewhere, the Slytherin boy couldn't have casted the spell without having at least an incantation or a description of it.

Around half past three (in the morning, because we were still on our nightlife routine), Ron comes through the portrait hole. He looks like a ghost : eyes half closed, he's dragging his feet and yawns as he walks towards us.

"Hey, lads" he greets us. "How are you doing?"

Mione, probably a little worried, goes to him and grabs his arm to make him sit beside her. She hands him her drink.