Drarry : A Snake Life

Chapter 9 - In Place Cachée

Hermione lays a pile of books down on the study table with a loud 'slam', Malfoy and I both jump in surprise.

"Granger, are you crazy?"

"What's wrong?" I frown.

She stares at me gloomily and sits next to me. It's Saturday, four o'clock in the morning. The Slytherin boy, Mione and I are studying in the library –that has been exceptionally opened for us to work. She woke up around one o'clock to help us revising and to continue her research on Malfoy's problem.

"I have a bad news, guys" she says. "I think I found something that is perhaps related to Malfoy's affliction..."

"Did you?" he asks eagerly. "Sounds like a good news to me! We've been in a daze for days and days..."

She winces.

"Well, if I am right... you'll be rather unhappy with my conclusions..."

She opens the old notebook she brought along and flips the pages. It is small and very thick. The pages are old and some of them are ripped. I can even see stains here and there, blurring the text and making it illegible.

"This disrepair thing was on a shelf, it was covered with mould, I found it by chance. I don't even think it's a book from the library, it is most probably a notebook that had been forgotten by a former student. I was leafing through it when I saw... that drawing."

She turns the notebook towards Malfoy and me. We lean forward together.

His face is just four inches away from mine, I gulp and try to ignore the shivers going down my spine. My mouth is completely dry. I'm trying to hide the confusion that seizes me, when I notice he draws back a little, discreetly.

His cheeks are bright pink...

This is weird. I try to ignore him and focus my gaze on the drawing that Hermione shows us.

"Oh" I let out.

This is a sketch of a woman, drawn quickly on the margin of the notebook. Her body is tightly entwined with a big snake, they are so tangled together that they almost look like one being. Next to the drawing there is a paragraph of text.

"It says '25th of August, fourth day in Paris. My parents and I heard about a circus which sets in Place Cachée and we decided to go to the show'" she reads out loud. "'There were fantastic creatures that were truly astonishing, but the most impressive one was a young woman who could transform into a snake. I asked the owner of the circus (a quite undesirable, sleazy individual actually) what kind of being she was : apparently she is a Maledictus.'"

She looks at Malfoy with concern, his face has become a tad green, he seems on the verge of throwing up.

"A Maledictus?" I repeat. "What is it?"

He clenches his jaw and rips the notebook of Hermione's hands.

"Is this mentioned again later on?" he asks briskly.

"No" she winces. "The witch who wrote this left Paris two days later because she was going back to Hogwarts. She never returned to the circus in-between. I'm sorry..." (He doesn't reply, reading the notebook with great attention. Hermione turns her face towards me.) "A Maledictus –I just looked at the definition in some book– is a person who carries a blood curse. Usually, only women are afflicted. Blood curses vary, it can cause damages to your health, your body... Maledictuses are only one of the many forms of a blood malediction, there are really, really rare."

She pauses, Malfoy's vein on his neck is pulsing violently. He seems to be both ill and extremely angry.

"Blood curse is a very powerful type of magic, is that right?" I say.