Drarry : A Snake Life

Chapter 25 - A snake in his bosom

She swirls around to face Albus Dumbledore's portrait.

"Could you go to the Slytherin prefect and ask him to bring Mr Gregory Goyle in here? I need to have a discussion with him urgently."

The old wizard nods and leaves. She turns towards us and looks at us one by one directly into the eyes.

"I will not allow you to leave this school to go capering around in a foreign country... but..." (We stare at her eagerly, she goes on with the same harsh tone.) "But I will let Mr Weasley return his house to give a message to his mom."

She returns behind her desk and sits. We stay there, dumbfounded.

"Why?" I ask, completely lost.

She takes a quill and a piece of parchment. She takes some ink and, after she dived the tip of her quill into the dark liquid, she starts writing.

"Because... I will ask her to go to Mrs Malfoy to get the address her husband gave her." (She pauses, gets more ink, and keeps writing.) "Then, I will kindly ask her to go to her son and daughter-in-law to go to this address together." (She looks above her glasses and shoots daggers at us.) "And, even if this is a very bad idea and that if anyone at the Ministry discovers this I will probably be reprimanded, I will ask her not to tell anything to Mr Weasley or anyone else but her son and his wife."

She punctuates her last word by adding the final point of her message. She signs it, rolls the parchment and gives it to Ron.

"You better be back within two hours, or I'll take a hundred points to Gryffindor for each seconds extra" she threatens my friend.

Turning blame, he nods quickly. Still as severe as before (but a tad satisfied by the effect she made) she walks to the fireplace and casts a Fire-Making Spell. He steps towards her as she hands him some Floo powder. He throws it into the fire.

"The Burrow" he shouts as he steps into the fireplace.

The flames lick his trousers and he suddenly disappears.

"Now we can't do anything but wait" I mutter.

Draco winces. I guess he is not the patient type...

Says who? a little voice sniggers into my head. I chase it away.

"So" McGonagall lets out, sitting behind her desk again. "Now that this one problem is sorted, let's focus on the next one." (She adjusts her glasses and leans forward.) "If Mr Goyle really changed Mr Malfoy into a snake..." (Draco opens his mouth, but she gives him a warning look. He remains silent, champing at the bit.) "... if he really is one of the culprits, we need to get a confession out of him. Not only do we have to make him admit what he did, but we also have to get the antidote or the counter-spell to the curse he performed on Mr Malfoy."

I want to ask her how would we be able to get all this information out of him, but Hermione is faster.

"Why is his confession so important?" she wonders.

"So I can call in the Ministry" the professor shrugs. "When it comes to discipline, the school teachers or the headmaster take care of the matter. But Mr Goyle is an adult and if he attacked another student, the wizarding justice has to judge him. This situation goes beyond my responsibility."

My best friend nods, I have to confess I didn't anticipate this. Turning another witch or wizard into an animal without his consent, stealing his wand, attacking him at night and who knows what else he did... There are enough crimes to make a trial.

"Do you think he'll tell us everything just by asking him?" the Slytherin mocks. "I don't think it'll work!"

She frowns.