Redemption - A Draco Malfoy Story

year 1 part 7

At breakfast, I somehow found myself amongst Pansy's gang again; ever since Potions class, it seemed like they had started gravitating towards me. They had sat by me in every class, stayed close to me in the common room in the evenings as I read or studied, and always went to bed soon after I did. I wasn't completely sure why... but I wasn't against being the leader of the group. 

Pansy, however, was still stubborn to get her way. So, at breakfast, we were all dragged over to the side of the table we didn't normally sit at--the side where the boys sat. This was absolutely the last thing I wanted to add to an otherwise relaxing morning of tea-sipping and croissant-eating, but as I couldn't think of a convincing excuse to not sit by them, I resigned myself to my fate. For the most part, however, I tuned out the conversations around me--I was most preoccupied with getting my book back.

A knot twisted in the depths of my abdomen as I visualized the look on Madam Pince's face if I were to tell her that I'd lost a library book. Suddenly, I didn't have much of an appetite. I put down my croissant and took a very small sip of tea in an attempt to calm my nerves. Sneaking an assessing glance at Malfoy, I noticed him watching the entryway in apparent shock. Following his stare, my eyes landed on Harry and Ron, who had just walked in and seemed joyful as ever, though perhaps a bit tired, laughing at an inside joke. Malfoy's shock turned into a look of resentment with... was that a hint of jealously? He sighed dramatically, grabbing a pale piece of toast and tearing into it.

Well, that was perplexing. I wondered what had transpired at the midnight duel, to make Malfoy look so surprised. Harry seemed to be completely uninjured; there wasn't a single scratch on him, and his glasses were perfectly intact, though I suppose Hermione could have mended them. Now that I thought about it, Malfoy had also been completely unscathed since the early hours of the morning...

The mail had started to arrive and a brown owl dropped a Daily Prophet in front of Tracey, who was, as usual, seated across from me. I glanced at the headline, and my eyes widened in surprise.

"Break-in at Gringotts?"

Tracey looked up from the paper in disbelief.

"Seriously, Lilith, is the Waters manor under a rock or something? This happened over a month ago, in July. They still haven't found the suspect."

"That... well, that hasn't happened before, has it? Gringotts is supposed to be impenetrable."

"And the Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable," Tracey said.

"What's the Titanic?" I asked, a bit lost.

"Nevermind." 

There was a short, slightly awkward pause.

"What were they trying to steal?"

"Whatever it was, it was already taken out of the vault in question, the same day the bank got broken into!"

"Good save," I said quietly. Meanwhile, Pansy was griping to Malfoy about having double Hufflepuff classes today. Malfoy looked as though he had swallowed a slug. 

A wave of suddenly hushed awe swept over the Great Hall as six screech owls emerged from a high window, harboring a very long, thin package. Everyone watched as they sluggishly flew over to the Gryffindor table, releasing the package directly in front of Harry Potter himself and knocking some food to the floor. Curiosity overcame the remnants of my appetite and I abandoned my croissant entirely, getting up from the Slytherin table and walking quickly over to Harry and Ron. Concurrently, the rest of the Great Hall cast aside their interest and returned to their conversations. 

Harry and Ron were just getting up from the table, package in hand when I made it over to them.

"That's got to be a broomstick," I whispered energetically as I got a closer look at the package; one end was suspiciously fat, and the other long and rod-like.