Malfoy Neighbors

Disturbed and Dangerous-Year 4 Chapter 23

Later that night you met Draco in the star room. Draco had told you how his whole family were aligned with The Dark Lord. You were shocked. How could they be?

"So the night Kathy died," you started and Draco nodded.

"Yes, I knew the man who attacked you guys." Draco said.

"That's how he knew who you were." Draco nodded again. "Who was it?" You asked. Draco looked into the fire. "Draco, please. I need to know."

"You wont like it." Draco said. You looked at him pleading. "Dameon's dad." Your eyes widened.

"That explains a lot." You breathed. "Who's his dad?"

"Clarence Dolohov." Draco said, "yunger brother to Antonin Dolohov."

"But, what I dont understand is, that night, when I returned with help, we found him in our tent holding you and Sam up by your necks. My father got angry and said 'you were told to leave her alone' and pointed at you."

"What? Why?" You asked. Draco shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't know. I asked him to leave Sam alone and he asked my mother to take her to my aunt's, then told me to take you home. I wasn't going qustion him, not when he was being so kind. He hates muggle-borns." Draco told you all about the events while you and Sam were out cold that night.

"You called her a muggle-born." You interrupted Draco.

"What?" Draco asked, confused.

"You called Sam a muggle-born, not a mudblood." You couldn't help but smile at him.

"That's what she is, isn't she?" Draco was lost and you could tell.

"Never mind." You said, laying your head on his shoulder. You sat for a while looking into the fire as you used Draco as a pillow.

"So, you're not mad I didn't tell you about my father?" Draco asked after a bit of silence. You shook your head.

"I figured, he told you not to tell anyone." You said sleepily. It was late and you had a day full of information to process. Draco nodded.

"And it's not like you're one and keeping it from me. Are you?" You looked at him.

"No, I'm not." You layed your head back on him and drifted off to sleep.

When you woke, Draco had layed you down and was reading by wand light in the arm chair. You sat up, and looked around the room.

"What are you reading?" You asked Draco. He jumped. He must not have noticed you woke up.

"Just the history book. My exam will is comming up this Monday and I need to study for it." Draco said not taking his eyes from the book. You layed back down and went back to sleep.

A few days went by, and you were sitting at the Hufflepuff table at breakfast time. The last and final task was later that evening, which made the hall very vibrant with students talking about what it could involve.

"Hey, Potter! Potter! How's your head? You feeling alright? Sure you not going to go berserk on us?" Draco hollered over the crowd. What was he going on about now? He was holding The Daily Prophet. You looked around to see if anyone around you had a copy. One of the yunger Hufflepuff students did.

"Can I borrow that for a moment?" You asked him. He handed it over and you read it.

'HARRY POTTER "DISTURBED AND DANGEROUS"

The boy who defeated He Who Must Not Be Named is unstable and possibly dangerous, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Alarming evidence has recently come to light about Harry Potter's strange behaviour, which casts doubts upon his suitability to compete in a demanding competition like the Triwizard Tournament, or even to attend Hogwarts school.

Potter, the Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal, regularly collapses at school, and is often heard to complain of pain in the scar on his forehead (relic of the curse with which You-Know-Who attempted to kill him). On Monday last, midway through a Divination lesson, your Daily Prophet reporter witnessed Potter storming from the class, claiming that his scar was hurting too badly to continue studying.

It is possible, say top experts at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, that Potter's brain was affected by the attack inflicted upon him by You-Know-Who, and that his insistence that the scar is still hurting is an expression of his deep-seated confusion.

"He might even be pretending," said one specialist, "this could be a plea for attention."

The Daily Prophet, however, has unearthed worrying facts about Harry Potter that Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, has carefully concealed from the wizarding public.

"Potter can speak Parseltongue," reveals Draco Malfoy, a Hogwarts fourth-year. "There were a lot of attacks on students a couple of years go, and most people thought Potter was behind them after they saw him lose his temper at a Duelling Club and set a snake on another boy. It was all hushed up, though. But he's made friends with werewolfs and giants, too. We think he'd do anything for a bit of power."

Parseltongue, the ability to converse with snakes, has long been considered a Dark Art. Indeed, the most famous Parselmouth of our times is none other than You-Know-Who himself. A member of the Dark Force Defence League, who wished to remain unnamed, stated that he would regard any wizard who could speak Parseltongue "as worthy of investigation. Personally, I would be highly suspicious of anybody who could converse with snakes, as serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark Magic, and are historically associated with evil-doers." Similarly, "anyone who seeks out the company of such vicious creatures as werewolfs and gaints would appear to have a fondness for violence".

Albus Dumbledore should surely consider whether a boy such as this should be allowed to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. Some fear that Potter might resort to the Dark Arts in his desperation to win the Tournament, the third task of which takes place this evening.'

You handed the paper back to the boy, and told Sam you would be right back. You walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down between Draco and Goyle.

"Are you going to yell at me about the article?" Draco asked halfway scared you would.

"Nope." You said calmly. You took his fork out of his hand and took a bite of his food.

"Then what are you doing?" Draco looked at you shocked.

"You didn't lie," you took another bite from his plate. Perkinson was giving you death glares from across the table. "But, you know, it's a cold thing to tell people things happen the way they didn't." Draco looked confused. "I just thought you should be reminded that Potter did not sick that snake on Justin, it slumped away when Potter spoke Parseltongue. Besides, it was you who congerd the snake in the first place."

"Don't patronize him." Perkinson said. You gave her a sharp look that said stay out of it, then you looked back at Draco.

"I may have exaggerated a bit," Draco said taking his fork back.

"The last task takes place this evening, do you wanna watch it with me?" You asked him, changeing the subject.

"Er, yeah. Ok." Draco said not sure what just happened.