Draco Malfoy and the Basilisks Venom

Chapter 11. The other Other Heir of Slytherin

The next day, Ron, Harry and I sat to eat breakfast with the Hufflepuff's. We were sitting quite close to Percy and some random students that he must have been friends with. They were talking about something interesting because Percy was smiling, which seemed to be a rare feat for that particular sibling.

I looked over at Ron who was stuffing his face with bread rolls and laughed before I gave Harry my copy of the Daily Prophet. He started to read over it and I silently ate my porridge thinking hard. We were moving too slow, they needed to find out about the Chamber of Secrets or I'd be forced to tell them.

"What are you thinking about Draco?" asked the Hufflepuff boy who looked over at me. I stared at him and sighed.

"Know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?" I asked hopefully. Ron looked between the two of us and I stared back at the Hufflepuff. I tried to pretend to be a curious little twelve year-old boy, just trying my best to look like I wanted the latest gossip. The boy looked so sad when he said he didn't know anything. It made me smile fondly knowing he really did want to help.

Fun Fact: Hufflepuffs and Slytherins have a secret friendship under the wraps of the school. I guess it all started because the Hufflepuffs felt sorry for us being the 'lonely' year that they stuck to us like glue... obviously in private. They knew we hated the rest of the school and didn't want to tarnish our rep. Since then, Slytherins have been protecting them since, they kind of grew on us. But don't tell anyone.

"Hey, maybe Ginny knows." Ron suggested. I immediately pulled my attention towards him, he's getting there...

"And?" I asked eagerly.

"I just asked her if she saw anything odd, and she started to say-"

"Oh- that's- that's not to do with the Chamber of Secrets," said Percy at once.

"How do you know?" Ron asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Well, er, if you must know Ginny, er, walked in on me the other day-" I choked on my tea. Gods- it was the dried mango and orange one too. I can't believe I wasted a whole sip! "-the point is, she spotted me doing something and I, um, I asked her not to mention it to anybody. I must say, I did think she'd keep her word-"

"Who would?" I laughed and high-fived Harry. Percy shot us a glare and we immediately sombered down.

"It's nothing really, I'd just rather-" he stuttered. I grinned, having never seen Percy so uncomfortable in my life.

"What were you doing, Percy?" Ron said, grinning, "Go on, tell us, we won't laugh." I started to crack up.

Percy didn't smile.

"Harry pass me a roll."

***

We all walked into Hermione's hospital room and sat down quietly. Harry had replaced her flowers for new ones, and we just sat there, trying to find out what to do. Now that Hermione was petrified, I was starting to work on the potions and charms work for the animagus transformation. Wanting it ready for when she would eventually wake up.

I looked over at Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We need you, Hermione," Harry whispered. Both Ron and I still heard it though. I leaned down and placed my chin on Harry's shoulder looking down at Hermione slowly whispering.

"We all do."

Harry held her hand before pulling out a little parchment. I looked down at it as he unfolded the delicate paper. I smiled as I saw it was the piece of parchment I had ripped up back in Florence and Botts.