SCREAM | DRACO MALFOY

chapter twenty

I think this was the first time I actually didn't enjoy Christmas. Like usual, Cedric and Penny were off to their respective homes for the late holiday while I stayed at Hogwarts.

Penny and Cedric both left their presents for me before they left. Some new quills from Cedric and a jumper to match with Penny. I reluctantly sent their gifts with them, knowing that they could never compare.

Both of them got the usual gift. A portrait of themselves from earlier this quarter, Penny hunched over her books and Cedric on his broom in the Quidditch pitch albeit the cancelled season.

I met up with Harry a few times during the weeks leading up to the new year. We mainly just spent our time working on figuring out the second task. It was insane to be shoved in the Library all break but there was nothing else to do and Harry made for good company.

On New Year's Eve we ate our dinners in the Great Hall and then, as always, headed to the Library to chat and shove our noses in books.

I could tell Harry was getting very disgruntled. He was turning pages with an obscene amount of force and I could see him rubbing his head.

I sighed before turning to him. "Have we thought of everything?" He looked at me as if I had grown horns and spoke a foreign language. "I mean...the subjects we're researching. We've done History, Charms, and Transfiguration. What others?"

He shook his head as if he was getting rid of the cobwebs on his brain. "Uh...Herbology, Potions, Defense-"

"CREATURES!" I was honestly surprised at how loud I shouted and shot up from my seat.

I could hear the shrill shushing from Madam Pince from the lower level although I was too distracted to care.

"What?" Harry asked, bewildered at my burst of energy.

"The sound in the egg!" I whispered. "Creatures make sounds, right?"

If it was even possible Harry looked more confused. "Last time I checked."

"What if the sound is actually words, but we just can't understand them?" I started towards one of the farther shelves, not bothering to see if Harry was following or not.

"Well, why would they do that?" He asked shuffling along behind me. "What would be the point in giving the hint then?"

I ran my fingers along the spines of books in front of me, searching for the book with the passage I remember but just couldn't point out. "There must be a way to hear it then. They wouldn't just dangle the hint in front of you with no way to access it."

"So...we need to find out how to access it?"

"Exactly." I said, yanking the sacred book from the shelf and flipping to the table of contents. My finger ran down the titles, finally reaching the subject matter I was looking for.

"Mermaids?" Harry asked from over my shoulder. "You think it's mermaids talking?"

"Not talking...singing." I finally found the passage and moved over so Harry could see. "The song of the merpeople can only be understood where they reside."

"The water..." Harry said, finally realizing where I was getting at.

I nodded. "The Egg needs to be in water."

Harry smiled then and shot up from his hunched position. "Brilliant...you're brilliant, Isobel!" I laughed as he lifted me into a hug and spun me around.

"How do we test it out?" He asked whenever he pulled away.

"The lake?"

He shook his head. "Too cold...also we don't know what's in there."