The Journal of Regulus Arcturus Black

Chapter 23. Regulus and the Horcruxes

Draco didn't think that Pansy was completely ready for the Quidditch match and Madam Hooch seconded his opinion. So Pansy was temporarily cut from the next two matches, which was pretty hard on her because it literally meant she couldn't play anything important. She still attended the practises and proved that she could easily fly, but Draco was still adamant on making sure that she didn't overexert herself.

He also didn't fully trust Madam Pomfrey's medical healing abilities.

Pansy was speaking to Potter in snarky tones and easily accepted his apology when Draco wasn't present. No one in the group was particularly happy about that, but they respected Pansy's opinion and trusted her. That and she refused to tell them what exactly happened. After interrogating Millie, Draco still didn't know what caused the fight between the two. 

"I still don't like him," Draco muttered, flicking through his potions textbook. He was sitting in the common room after having just got back from the Restricted Section. For some unworldly reason, Potter was very good at finding Draco when he was alone, it was incredibly infuriating. Draco was also getting very good at wordlessly and wandlessly casting a langlock, so at least his spell work was improving.

"I know," Pansy said, shuffling over so her head rested against his shoulder.

Draco usually wouldn't let anyone touch him whilst he worked but this was Pansy and her entire year had been tough. She also knew what he was capable of when pissed so he was confident she wouldn't unnecessarily annoy him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Creating a potion to help with your transformations," he said absentmindedly.

Pansy hummed, having stopped trying to convince the group to stop with their research on the Wolfsbane potion. She also didn't mind being a literal human experiment and trying out their different variations of 'Wolfsbane' whilst she went to the Shrieking Shack to transform and well... shriek.

"Have you tried my theory yet?" Theo asked, looking up from his arithmancy work.

Draco squinted his eyes, looking at the roll of parchment that had numbers, scribbles and very neat circles all over it. He winced thinking about his own arithmancy homework that he wasn't planning on completing before he answered Theo.

"It's in production," he said, having moved their potion stations from the girls' lavatory to the Chamber of Secrets. There was an array of different Wolfsbane potions that were brewing down there and Draco was acutely aware of Theo and Greg's theories currently on a status charm.

Theo had tried to combine the bezoar and aconite together. Instead of potions, he tried to see if the answer came in the form of a balm that Pansy could rub into her skin. Before and after the transformation. Greg's was a little more difficult; taking all the individual components and finding cures for them all and then combining all those cures to create one giant cure.

It was pretty outlandish, but they had been trying to find a cure for the better part of a year so really, they were taking what they could get. Finding cures for all the ingredients in a Wolfsbane potion was also incredibly easy to get his hands on.

Professor Slughorn took one look at the pouty and sad expression Draco gave him, every time he had to report his loss of the cure before the Potions master gave away his ingredients.

"You push yourself too hard, boy," Professor Slughorn would say, patting his back and giving Draco an encouraging smile.

Draco would then give a helpless shrug and a small smile to accompany that. He then blinked widely and would look at the Professor right in the eye and say in his most earnest voice, "As long as I keep trying, I know I'll find a cure Professor!"