Drarry : A Snake Life

Chapter 33 - Liar, liar, pants on fire !

Oh no. What am I supposed to do now?

"Draco?" I say. "Can you hear me?"

"No" Dennis exclaims, taking his head into his hands. "No, no, no, this shouldn't happen now! I had to obliviate both of you before he became a snake again! We've talked for too long!"

"Draco?" (What an idiot, I'm not speaking in Parseltongue!) "Draco, are you feeling okay?"

"... fear... stranger... escape and flee..."

I bite my lips. He's not himself anymore.

"Dennis, don't move!" I order. (The boy looks at me worriedly.) "Malfoy is not Malfoy anymore. I guess you probably heard about it by listening to our conversations, but sometimes the snake 'overtakes' Draco's personality... It kind of supplants him and he becomes a wild animal again..."

"Yes" he lets out. "I heard that. I was there when Ron got bitten."

"... fear... fear...!"

"The snake's panicking right now, I have to calm it down in Parseltongue."

He nods quickly, I turn towards the snake. It is coiled into a little ball, waiting for an occasion to escape as soon as it can.

"Listen to me" I order. (The snake darts his yellow eyes on me.) "Listen to me, there is no danger in here. No danger."

"Fear, fear... I smell fear..."

I swallow nervously.

"There is nothing to be scared of" I try to persuade him.

"I smell your fear" he replies.

This takes me aback. Animals have much more instinct than humans. The little reptile immediately understood that something was odd. I breathe in and out to calm down.

"It's all right, I'm there" I repeat. "There is no danger, I am there to protect you."

It seems to work. The snake stares at me, less stressed out.

"...no danger...?"

"Exactly, no danger. Come to me. Come now."

It hesitates and then slides towards me slowly.

"Is he okay?" Dennis wonders.

The reptile reaches my leg and gets on me. It slithers on my thigh and up my torso. It's kind of weird, but I feel better having it close to me. It wraps itself around my shoulders and stays still, its small head resting against my collar bone.

"...no danger... no fear..."

"Stay with me, we'll be fine." (I look up at Dennis.) "He's alright, I calm him down."

"Good... (He scratches his head.) What am I going to do now?"

"Be reasonable" I beg him. "Untie me and turn yourself to McGonagall. You can't erase Malfoy's memory now, it's too late. The other students will notice that we're missing."

He remains unmoved, thinking hard. I can almost see the gear working inside his mind, he's calculating his chances to get caught.

"You're wrong" he says thoughtfully. "Why would anybody notice? You don't wake up until dark."

"But Draco and I-" I protest.

"I could stupefy both of you... bring you back to your room with the Invisibility cloak before the others wake up, like I did earlier when I brought you here... Then I'd go to class the whole day and I'd come back to you to obliviate you two when the sun will rise, so Draco Malfoy would be a wizard again."