the snake who lied [1] | a nagini story

Chapter 19

After bidding goodbyes to the Weasleys, Ron, Davina, Hermione and Harry made their way back into their compartment. The thick rain splattering the windows made it very difficult to see out of them. Ron undid his trunk, pulled out his maroon dress robes, and flung them over Pigwidgeon's cage to muffle his hooting.

"Bagman wanted to tell us what's happening at Hogwarts," he said grumpily, sitting down next to Harry. "At the World Cup, remember? But my own mother won't say. Wonder what -"

"Shh!" Hermione whispered suddenly, pressing her finger to her lips and pointing toward the compartment next to theirs. Harry, Davina and Ron listened, and heard a familiar drawling voice drifting in through the open door.

"...Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore - the man's such a Mudblood-lover - and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defense rubbish we do...."

Hermione got up, tiptoed to the compartment door, and slid it shut, blocking out Malfoy's voice.

"Now that's just great." snapped Davina, slouching down her head in Hermione's lap, "The year barely started and we are already sitting close to Malfoy."

"So he thinks Durmstrang would have suited him, does he?" Hermione said angrily. "I wish he had gone, then we wouldn't have to put up with him."

Davina shot her arm up and high-fived Hermione, silently agreeing with her. 

"Durmstrang's another wizarding school?" said Harry.

"Yes," said Hermione sniffily, "and it's got a horrible reputation. According to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe, it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts."

Nagini heard about this school before. She wished desperately for Harry to choose this location, due to its heavy accent on Dark Magic. At least in that place she could use her real powers and nobody would have doubted or suspected her of any treachery.

Davina dozed off after the other 3 started talking about schools and uninteresting facts about Hogwarts. She soon woke up when the hooting of an owl startled her peaceful slumber. In the bird's beak was found a newspaper, it could only have been the Daily Prophet.

"Who the fuck subscribed to this piece of shit?" she mumbled grumpily, pulling herself up from Hermione's lap, earning a slap behind the head from her for cursing out loud.

"If you would like to know, I did." said Hermione proudly, "and it's not rubbish, I wanted to be in touch with the Wizarding World during summer vacation."

"Why would you - nevermind, I don't care." Davina closed her eyes once again, hoping she would fall asleep as soon as possible. 

Meanwhile, Hermione was skipping through the news, searching for anything of more importance, perhaps about the Attack at the World Cup. Reading attentively an article, the girl's eyes suddenly went huge with horror, her hand flying to her mouth.

"Hermione what's wrong?" asked a very concerned Ron. Harry turned to look at her questionably. Davina opened her eyes to see what troubled her friend so much.

"Hey Davina um-" she started , turning her body to face the girl next to her, but for some reason afraid to look her in the face, "did you saw anything, well- more horrible during the Attack - like when you were-"

"Hanging in the air?" continued Davina, wanting to see where this was going. "Well, I don't remember much, just that I was scared as hell and wanting to escape. Why do you ask?"

Oh, how Nagini enjoyed coming up with this lies. It sort of gave her a sense of greatfulness and power over the weaker ones.

Hermione gulped and sucked in her breath. "They found someone dead."

Now Nagini knew what was written in the article: the Ministry found Mrs. Roberts body laying bloodless on the ground and the Daily Prophet added it in their newspaper. The human snake found this situation grotesque, poor Mr. Roberts must have been in a deadly state since he found his wife and mother of his kids got mysteriously murdered during a riot. Then again, Nagini couldn't say or protest against anything since she was the cause of this tragic event.

"Wait what?" exclaimed Harry. Ron pushed himself deeper into his seat, looking at the window, thinking his ears must have deceived him. Upon noticing all of their horrified states, Davina knew she must recreate the same mimic. So copying Hermione's gesture from earlier, her hand covered her mouth and her eyes went huge with terror.

"Who is it?" she asked, making her voice trembling slightly.

"Mr. Roberts' wife. Do you remember the Muggle we've seen at the entrance? He was the one who found her body." whispered Hermione, shaking her head, not wanting to believe what the article said.

"But I thought the Death Eaters were there just to scare everyone, not actually killing someone..." said Harry, gesticulating with his arms. Davina noticed he did that most of the times he was upset or angry.

"They've got the word 'death' in their group name, what else did you expect, Harry?" bursted Ron, suddenly pulled away from his blown apart stance.

"No no- here it says the Ministry doesn't think it was them. They think it was a vampire or some sort of creature." interrupted Hermione, ponying at the piece of parchment. 

"Yes I'm sure the Death Eaters are going around with a pet tucked in their coats." said Davina in a sarcastic tone, covering up her lies, but wanting to laugh, since the joke seemed funny if you knew the real circumstances of the situation.

"What made them think it wasn't the Death Eaters?" asked curiously Harry.

"Apparently there was no magic sign on her body. After analyzing everything, they noticed the thing that killed her was something strong stopping her blood pressure. And also Mrs. Roberts had another important injuries-" Hermione sucked her breath one more time then added, "she had absolutely no blood inside her body."

"I can't imagine Mr. Roberts reaction after finding her, that shit traumatizes you for life." said Davina, glaring into the rain outside, mimicking Ron's expression from earlier.

"Here it says they bewitched the rest of the family to think she died a long time ago, to ease their pain. The Ministry found the poor man close to insanity." Hermione's eyes started to water, while the boys kept silence, not knowing what to add.

Even if Davina was already being credible enough, she decided to keep pushing. "If only I could have looked down - maybe I would've been able to help the poor woman! Poor kids..." she wanted so hard to shed some tears right now, but they simply couldn't come out. She didn't have the same luck as last time.

"Oh my God" whispered Harry, looking down. "Davina, do you realize how close you were to- dying? It could have easily been you..." his voice died down, his head buzzing and aching at the idea of his best friend found lifeless and without any drop of blood...

Hermione now started a full session of crying, huge droplets of tears streaming down her face. "Merlin thank you it wasn't you! I can't comprehend wh-what I would d-do if you died ." She lunged her arms and took Davina in her arms, sobbing uncontrollably on her shoulder, while Davina stroked her hair.

"Don't worry, guys. Believe me or not, I'm invincible! No one touches me and lives after that!" she said smiling slightly, trying to light up the mood since she couldn't stand being a part of an emotional occurring.

"Yep, Davina, we actually know." giggled Ron, and everyone's face cracked a little smile.

If only they knew how much truth was hidden behind their friend's words.