Astoria → Draco Malfoy

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

Draco cleared his throat, "Professor-"

"Ah! Silly me!" He exclaimed, shaking his head, "so yes, I managed to speak to Mr McCubbins under the influence of Veritaserum, and he kept mentioning a voice in his head, raspy and female..."

"My mother," nodded Blaise.

"Yes, I think so, but not inside of his head. Once I managed to corner him, he seemed no longer under her influence, I believe that she used the Imperius Curse on him, that would be why she was seen on the map."

"So that explains one thing."

"Yes - but what else?"

"Well, Miss Parkinson," Slughorn began, "he also kept on mentioning the smell of fudge, it was rather peculiar, does that mean anything to you?"

Daphne groaned, "we used to always buy our father fudge from Honeydukes... remember Astoria?" She prodded her sister, "he always requested the strangest of flavours."

"Professor," Draco spoke up, "did McGonagall close the one-eyed witch passage to Hogsmeade?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"The passage, did she close it?" He pressed his professor, "or does it still lead into Hogsmeade?"

"I do not believe that any of the passages have been closed, perhaps my eyes deceived me, but I believe I saw Mrs Flume on the map the other day, just in that passage..."

"Fuck," he replied, "oh fuck."

"Mr Malfoy!" Slughorn rose his voice, shaking his head aggressively. "Mind your language."

"They're in Hogsmeade," the puzzle began to piece together in his mind, "it's not on the map, it leads directly into the castle-"

"No one would recognise them if they stayed in Honeydukes either..."

"-maybe Mrs Flume is under an Imperius Curse, keeping them safe."

"Hmm," Slughorns voice waivered, "no students have been able to attend Hogsmeade this year, it would make a lot of sense."

"But then," Pansy cut in impatiently, "what about the Lethifold?"

"No idea," Draco shook his head, "it doesn't matter. If we find our parents, we can find what is under their control."

"Kill the king and the army falls," thought Astoria aloud.

Daphne nodded along, "we need to go to the passage Professor."

"Oh no students, you've done enough." Slughorn shook his head at them, they were only children, he couldn't put them through anything else.

"Respectfully," Astoria added, "they're our parents."

Draco nodded, "we figured this out, we get to find them."

"It's only fair!"

"Perhaps," Slughorn paused, "with my supervision, and Headmistress McGonagall's, you could come..."

"There is no perhaps about its professor," Pansy shook her head at him, "we are coming along whether you like it or not."

"I shall speak with Minerva," he furrowed his brow, "but it shall not be  easy to convince her." Slughorn brandished his wand, "bring yourselves and your wands to the third floor in ten minutes. If she cannot be convinced, I suppose you shall be coming anyway..."

Everyone nodded around the room.

"Agreed." Pansy said to him, clutching her wand, "we are coming anyway."

"That is what I assumed." He gulped at the thought of them fighting again, it had pained him to witness the  Battle of Hogwarts just the previous summer, but he knew he couldn't stop them. "Do be safe, and please," he pleaded with them, "do not enter the passage without me."

"Okay Professor," said Daphne, "we won't."

Once he was gone, Astoria was the first to speak, "now what? Can we really fight them?" She shook her head, it seemed impossible for her to hurt her own family, despite what her father had done.

"I-I I'm not sure," Draco stammered, he wasn't sure if he could take down his own father. As much as he resented the man, as much as he had ruined his life, he was still his father.

"We have to." Daphne stepped in, taking her sisters hand in her own. "It doesn't matter who they are, what they're doing is just as bad as You-Know-Who!"

"Fucking blood supremacy sucks!" Blaise exclaimed with a sigh, "why did it have to be us? Why Slytherin? Why our parents?"

"Bet Potter asked himself that a lot too! You know-"

Pansy cut him off, "at least he had a stupid prophecy about him. We just got roped into this because we have shit parents."

"At least we know that they're shit," Theo sighed, "we have some self-awareness now..."

"Only took us an entire war."

"Some of us," Daphne looked at her sister, "figured it out a bit sooner than others. I should have listened to you Astoria, all those years ago, I'm so sorry." Maybe some of it was her fault, maybe she was somehow responsible for the scars on her sister's fragile body.

"Don't be sorry!" Astoria took her sisters hand, "none of us have anything to apologise for. What's done is done. What matters now is the future."

"Speaking of, we have a future to save," Theo said nonchalantly, "you know, or something."