Drarry : A Snake Life

Chapter 28 - Stupid, stupid, stupid !

My two best friends and I are sitting in the library, late at night. Draco preferred to stay in our room before going to class.

Actually, he told me he wanted to be alone for a moment. He has been trying to put up a brave face since the article about his dad was published in the Daily Prophet, but...

He's really going through a rough time, just like two years ago, when his dad had been arrested. (Well, there's a pattern here, isn't there? Lucius really sucks as a father.)

The Ministry of Magic received a letter which said where the ex-Death Eater was. They investigated and found him in a Muggle, abandoned hotel room in London. He was tied up to a chair, drugged, and –this is a tad ironic– he had a note pinned on his shirt that said 'You're welcome'.

Yesterday, after Hermione had brought us the newspaper, we weren't sure of how Draco would react. He read the whole article in silence and when he was done, he looked like he had swallowed a living Blast-Ended Skrewt. I thought he would skip the dinner and would avoid facing the other students. But a Malfoy –even though discomfited– remains a Malfoy. He kept his head up, gave a few scornful looks to our classmates who were whispering too much and royally ignored anyone else.

We decided to talk about it just the three of us and to leave Draco some space –mainly because he kicked me out of our room ten minutes ago. Hermione is biting her nails and Ron is drawing circles on the table with his index finger.

"I really don't know who could have done such a thing" I admit flatly.

"Me neither, it's driving me nuts" Hermione pouts, frustrated.

Running my hand into my hair, I lean towards them, trying to organise my thoughts and to make more sense of that mess.

"Maybe we should take everything from the start and reduce our list of suspects methodically" I suggest. "We received so many different information lately, maybe we should get through them all over again."

"Since when did you turn into Miss Marple?" Hermione chuckles.

Ron raises an eyebrow.

"Is this some kind of Muggle reference to call an Auror?" he wonders.

"No, it's an old lady and a detective" Hermione explains.

"Muggle Aurors are recruited among old ladies?" he says, raising his eyebrows. "No surprise they never catch any of their criminals..."

"Actually, she's pretty good! She helps the detectives and always manages to-"

"Mates, could we focus?" I sigh. (They both report their attention onto me. I go on.) "Let's proceed by elimination..."

"It's a Gryffindor for sure" Hermione points out. "Because this person needs to know the password of our dormitory."

"Or a former Gryffindor" I correct her. "The teachers also know the passwords."

"Only McGonagall and Pr Vector, the Head of Gryffindor. But both of them aren't Death Eaters hunters."

"Who knows?" Ron shrugs. "You can never guess what people really think."

"I'm pretty sure it is a student" I insist. "The way this person acts... it doesn't look like a teacher's way of doing things." (They look at me, a bit lost, I clarify my point.) "I mean, we know how teachers usually act when they are the bad ones, don't we? Quirrell, Barty Crouch Junior turned into Mad-Eye Moody, or even Snape..."

"But a student is less likely to do nonverbal magic" Hermione argues. "And a student can't go outside the country without anybody knowing, it's not that easy. He or she cannot Apparate from or to Hogwarts."