Draco Malfoy and The Ripped Page

Petrification

As the winter season came to an end, Filch began removing the holiday decorations from the walls, and the remaining students at Hogwarts begun planning for classes to start up again. Draco felt the need to distance himself far away from the happiness that was radiating off of them. His mother had managed to send one gift, a book on Ancient Runes, which he hoped on taking next year.

Draco had taken the book, and the ripped page to the usual tree by the black lake he had always found so comforting.

The air was bitter and the Slytherin house scarf wrapped tightly around his neck seemed to partially stop the wind that continued to slash his neck. He found a comforting groove within the trunk of the tree and took out the book on Ancient Runes and the ripped page.

The first thing he did was admire the ripped page that he had kept hidden for so long. The edges were starting to giveaway and some of the writing smudged, but still legible. He almost had everything figured out except for one thing. How did this beast move around so easily?

After Ron and Harry attempted to sneakily break into the Slytherin Common room, Draco didn't think they needed the page. Helping them wasn't exactly worth it. He wouldn't gain anything from it, and that didn't seem like such a fair trade.

Draco shoved the page into his robe pocket and began reading the book on Ancient Runes while occasionally glancing up to see one of the tentacles from the Giant Squid stick out from the lake.

About a week later, when everyone was finally back, it all seemed to go right back to normal. Somewhat.

Draco didn't tell Pansy, Blaise, or Theo about Potter and Weasley because it seemed they had all dealt with their own misfortunes at home.

Theo and Blaise seemed quieter. They stayed near each other more, which wasn't anything new. What was different was that some nights Theo's cries filled the dormitory, and no one but Blaise knew why.

Pansy on the other hand, just got into fights with her father. Something about her grades, which to her never was a problem. Draco had asked her if she wanted to study together but something with her seemed off.

"Why are you being so weird," Draco said one afternoon as the two of them were sitting at the table reading for Flitwick's class in the morning.

"Nothing," Pansy mumbled, nose deep in her book.

"Well, I feel very left out. Something happened to Theo, and Blaise won't share what that exactly was," Draco rambled, peaking after every word to see if Pansy would pay any mind.

She didn't.

"Fine, I'll just go to bed." Draco got up, shut his book, and made his way down the stairs into the dormitories.

When he walked in, Blaise and Theo were playing a game of Wizard Chess, and Crabbe and Goyle were already passed out on their beds. Draco took a seat on his bed, just looking at the two of them.

"You guy's alright? Haven't said a word about what happened over Christmas, And don't tell me nothing happened because I'm smarter than that!" The way Draco said this came across a bit ruder than he intended. The looks on Theo and Blaise's face confirmed that.

"Well, since you're so smart, maybe figure it out on your own. Salazar forbid we aren't the only one keeping secrets." Blaise spat. Theo looked down at William Ratman, who was slept peacefully in his lap, and didn't say a word.

"What are you talking about?" There was no chance they knew about the page. Was there?

"Look, you're telling me you have no idea who the heir of Slytherin is or how students keep getting petrified!" Blaise was standing up now.