Before The Past

Ch. 49

"It's fine, the party is at eight, giving us an hour to work on it as needed." I explained to Draco. 

"This is ridiculous, why'd you even say yes to going in the first place." Draco spat. 

"Because it gives me a way to seem less suspicious. If Slughorn trusts me into his circle than I'm less questionable." I told him. 

"Fifty years ago a boy who I happen to share a close lineage to tried that same thing. Look where he's at now. I doubt that given the circumstances, most wouldn't immediately trust that man's judgement." Matteo pitched in as he sat down next to me. 

Draco's entire body tensed, watching how close we were together. I could tell that this bothered him, but it truly wasn't my problem. Draco had been bitter this entire time and made sure to bring up any 'poor' decisions I'd made in the past year. He was also slightly jealous of the fact that I made it into the slug club, and he didn't. Blaise and I both had, and for the first time in three years, we had something in common to gloat about. 

Being in the club meant that I was invited to the Christmas party and had a plus one. I would have invited Matteo, but after letting Professor Slughorn know, he immediately shut the idea down. My second option was Draco, which would be convenient since that same night we were to work on the cabinet once more before break. At the same time though, having those two things so close together caused a few minor problems on it's own. 

"How do you mean?" I asked. 

"Well, I assume you know who I'm talking about. He managed to get into the Slug Club and with that was able to find some things out that lead to, some more things later on in the future, which weren't so good." Matteo answered in possibly the most vague way possible. 

"Well there's a minute of my time wasted." Draco sneered. 

"Oh please, as if you have anything better to do. He is right though, that was a rather vague answer. Was there a point to your story?" I continued. 

"The point was to not depend on the safety of something that isn't so reliable. Mistakes are inevitable, but try to keep the amount as low as possible." Matteo explained. 

"Well, what do you say Draco?" I looked back over at him. 

"I'll go, but don't expect me to stay very long." Draco finally obliged. 

"Trust me I won't be either." I retorted. 

At that point we had finished discussing what was necessary, so Draco got up and left. He had a rather frustrated attitude, and Matteo being there didn't help at all. Matteo looked rather pleased with himself though, and I could tell that he held pride in making Draco jealous. 

"Have you figured out what your going to do about the second bit yet?" Matteo suddenly asked. 

"Snape managed to get a few things for us. We're going to put poison in a bottle of mead and give it to Slughorn. Draco will then give him the idea to give it to the Headmaster." I explained. 

"Poison? Isn't that just a little too predictable?" Matteo ridiculed. 

"You have any better ideas?" I snapped back. 

"I do, but I'm not sure it's much better in your eyes." He shrugged. 

Would it have to come down to that? I knew exactly what he meant, but I wasn't all to sure that Draco or I would be able to follow through. We would have to though. It was either Dumbledore or us, and I would save myself any day. It wasn't selfish, it was simply putting myself first. Hitting an old man with the killing curse was far better than enduring lord knows how much pain and suffering.