The Hoax (Dramione Story)

t w e n t y - s e v e n

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“Okay, I am so sick of living in this library. Today better be our last day of this stupid little investigation. I do not want to spend Christmas in here, I repeat; I do not want to spend Christmas here. Are we clear?” Ginny questioned Blaise rhetorically and let out a deep breath. “Let’s just get this over with. I am so ready to wrap the Christmas presents and take a nice long bath.” She mumbled as she walked away to her usual spot.

“She’ll probably murder me if we don’t finish by tonight.” Blaise shuddered at the thought and shook his whole body. “ He ambled over to the table in the far back corner and took in a deep breath before walking towards the bookcase. “Might as well just choose a book while waiting for anything suspicious to happen . . .” He lifted his hand up in the air, moving his index finger across the spine of every book. He furrowed his eyebrows when he stopped at a very ominous black tattered book that didn’t quite seem to belong there. “I choose you.” He whispered as he grabbed the book off the shelf when a note suddenly slipped out. His eyes immediately caught the fallen note that landed on the ground. “I feel like I’m in a movie.” Blaise managed to say in the situation as he snatched up the note from the ground. He eagerly opened up the note and allowed his eyes to scan it as quickly as possible.

If we want the Polyjuice potion to work, get a strand of her hair. Then, we’ll be set for Christmas.

His eyes widened as he looked at the piece of note and almost dropped the note from astonishment. He looked down and examined the title of the mysterious book. “Potions . . .” He read and gripped tightly to the book, walking over to Madam Pince. “I was wondering if you could tell me who last checked out this book.” He asked as he showed her the book.

Madam Pince looked at the book and then back at Blaise. “How did you get this?” She asked, seizing the peculiar book away from Blaise.

“I found it over there on the bookshelf.” He answered, furrowing his eyebrows.

“We don’t carry this book in our library. Someone must’ve bought it at a bookstore in Diagon Alley and accidentally left it here. It’s not ours.” She said and studied Blaise for a long time. “Why are you in here? You and your pretty friend stayed in here for the whole day yesterday and the day before that, and so on. Are you planning on doing the same today?”

“We made a bet in the beginning of break on who could read the most books until Christmas. It’s a stupid bet, we—“ Blaise said with a nervous chuckle but got cut off.

“Just don’t make any loud noises or I’ll have to kick you out and oh, please do tell your friend to put the books back where she found them . . . neatly instead of shoving them into random places.” She told him with a glare.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, I’ll be sure to tell her that.” He said and looked at the book.

“I’ll be keeping this safe, don’t you worry. When the owner comes back, I’ll be sure to give it back to them. But in the mean time, it’ll be in my possession. Thank you for bringing this back.”

“Madam Pince, would it be possible if you could tell me when the owner comes by to pick it up? It’s urgent--personal reasons.” He quickly said as he looked up at the librarian.