RAVENCLAW!

15. Investigating

The train left at 11am with Draco on it.
He shared a compartment with the Slytherins: Theo, Pansy, Goyle, Blaise and Crabbe.
Potter had stayed behind again.
Of course! So would Draco if he had to live with a bunch of muggles!

Don't get sympathetic now, Draco!

Luckily yesterday's detention story hadn't spread amongst the students yet and Draco had hopes that it would stay like this. He and his father had always been close and Lucius relied on him. He didn't want to disappoint him any more than he'd already had. Around two hours into the journey they bought a few pumpkin pastries for lunch. They were quite good but nothing against what Dobby would create for him this evening. Maybe he would even get his favorite meal tonight.

If your parents still like you enough.

He ignored the voice. He had exchanged a few more letters with his mother since Christmas and she didn't once mention something like that. It would be okay.

And it was.
When they arrived on Platform 9  3/4 Draco immediately spotted the white-blonde hair that certainly belonged to his parents. His heart gave a little jump of excitement.
He had missed them more than expected.
He had missed them a lot.
Heaving his suitcase off the overhead rack he hurried onto the Platform as fast as possible with this extra weight. But he didn't have to carry it for long; his mother had seen him and hurried forward to enclose her son in a tight and loving embrace.

"Oh, my angel. My dragon. Finally I have you back."

Draco held onto her tightly, loving the warmth radiating off her body and being afraid to lose it again too soon. When they let go after a few minutes he saw his father standing behind her. He was wearing his 'ministry expression' like always in public but there was a light sparkle to his eyes. It didn't look angry, like Draco had feared, but delighted, and he held Draco's suitcase in his right hand, which the boy had dropped at some point. Relief washed over him and he couldn't help but give Lucius a small smile before turning to say goodbye to his friends.

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This time more people had stayed behind, Michael and Cho for example. When Harry was in the Ravenclaw tower he would spent his time with them but most of the holidays he was with Hermione and Ron, wondering about what they should do next.
About Snape.
(They decided to not bother about Quirrell for now because he seemed harmless and had probably been dragged into all of this by Snape anyways.)

They had to act;
they were the only ones who knew and all the teachers seemed to trust their collegue too much. When they had told Hagrid about their theory that Snape was after the Philosopher's stone, he completely overreacted and insisted that Snape would never do that, he had helped to guard it after all. But their research took longer than expected. Hermione was full on in study mode, panicking that every hour she didn't prepare for the examinations would be the one causing her to fail.
(Harry was sure she would get highest marks without even looking through her notes once but in this state it was impossible to discuss with her.)

"You should get on with revision as well! Or in the end you might be the ones to fail!"
Finally they made a deal. Harry and Ron would at least study two hours a day and she would help them with research in the evening. Like this, the week went by pretty fast.
Without them finding the slightest trace.

"We should spy on him! We know he definitely is guilty and we need to know it when he acts."

This clearly showed how desperate they were.

"What you mean following Snape around? Are you mental, Ron?"

"What, 'Mione? It's our only chance!"