Draco Malfoy book one The sorting hat conundrum#Wattys2016

Chapter Nine Astoria's gift and trouble with the trio

Draco's P.O.V

My magical alarm clock awoke me from my slumber and after dispelling it I got up and made my way to the shower, this whole petrifying thing was one gigantic headache and the only relief I could think of was spending the day with Blaise and Astoria. After getting dressed in a nice black shirt and pair of pants.. I pulled a sweater over it since it looked a bit chilly out today. After exiting my room I caught a glimpse of Astoria getting ready to go out, that was odd we promised to stick together why would she go off on her own.

She looked nice today with a beautiful black and green sweater and a pair of I believe muggles call them blue jean. She was just starting to tie her shoelaces and her long flowing hair that was usually a cascading wave of ebony was tied in a ponytail with a ribbon to hold it in place. The ribbon was green and silver and had a silver snake charm in the center. She finished tying her shoes and looked around the room before skipping out of the door. My mind was having a raging debate one side of my brain said follow her the other said leave her be. My curiosity won out in the end so I followed her through the winding hallways and moving staircases.

We finally made it out of the castle and then she started to head toward the forbidden forest, well this couldn't end well. She walked right into the woods and now another decision faced me, follow her in or ask her later. I always was more of the take action type so I followed her in. The forest was just as terrifying as the last time I was here the trees seemed to move and cast strange shadows across the landscape and the boughs were so thick sunlight couldn't breech them. The leaves crackled under my feet and the autumn air was refreshing as I went deeper the sound of giggling assailed my ears they sounded pleasant and warm and full of life.

My steps carried me deeper into the forest and then they stopped when I saw the breathtaking sight before me Astoria was sitting on a rock humming softly and though that was a beautiful sight what caught my attention was the fact that she was surrounded by all manner of magical creatures, every thing from Achromantulas to Dragons, unicorns to hippogryffs. They all seemed to bow before her. My luck ran out when I fell through the bush that I was observing from. She drew her wand and the animals looked poised to rain down fury on my head but the minute she saw that it was me she put her wand up and the magical creatures began to relax.

She strutted over and pulled me up off the ground and said, "Are you alright Draco?" I brushed myself off and said, "Only my ego is bruised, how are you doing this Astoria they are all so calm and relaxed its amazing. She flushed and said, "Your ego is to tough to bruise the best thing we could do is take a pin and pop your ego , but to answer your question about the animals, Hagrid says its a very rare gift to be able to control magical animals. One in a million have this gift." She motioned me over and said, "Do you want to pet hot sauce?" I quirked and eyebrow and said, "Who exactly is hot sauce?" She held up her arm where a baby dragon was perched and said in a gentle tone, "This is hot sauce don't worry he won't bite or breath fire he feels that you care about me so he respects you." I walked over and ran my hand along its back, this looked to be a Swedish spitfire, so it's body was smooth, the skin and scales felt cool under my touch and the little creature gave a sigh of contentment.

It then crawled off Astoria's arm onto mine and then walked up to sit on my shoulder and nuzzle into my neck and take a nap. The look on her face was scandalized and she said in an unbelieving tone, "You traitor, who was the one who raised you." It just lifted its head looked at her and laid back down. She then said, "I see how it is you would rather spend time with your own kind fine then, no extra snacks for you" It still ignored her. She gave a sigh and said, "I know someone who will keep me company. Aragog come down and play." The forest went quiet for a minute but then the sound of branches bending caught my attention and down came the biggest Achromantula I have ever had the displeasure of seeing it crawled over to Astoria gave a bow and then turned to me and said, "Who is he mistress?"

She then said in a light tone,"Don't worry he's a friend" Argog simply nodded and allowed Astoria to pet him. It was the most surreal scene I have ever witnessed. My attention was drawn when the warning bell was sounded in the castle, that meant something had happens and all students were supposed to report back to their dorms. I tapped her shoulder and said, "We have to go they sounded the warning alarm and we don't want to be caught outside." She nodded and said, "Sorry friends I will be back soon take care of yourself ."

We returned to the castle and the first people we saw were Potter and Weasel, they looked to be heartbroken and it was soon evident why. There on a stretcher was Granger and she looked to be petrified. Astoria covered her mouth with her hand and said, "This is terrible, she doesn't deserve this." I held nothing against Granger now that I was over the whole blood purity issue. She was skilled so whatever took her down either had a stealth advantage or was insanely powerful, my money was on both answers. She was gripping a mirror which was odd, Granger was never one, to worry about her looks. We walked to the dorm and Astoria seemed to be on the edge of her seat. Blaise swaggered in and said in a joking tone, "Alright who died?"

We both shot him a look and then he flinched and said, "Oh my god something happened, nobody died did they?" My tone was deflated as I said, "No but something just as bad happened, Granger has been petrified, this thing has graduated from cats and moved onto people." Blaise had a shocked look on his face and said, "Do we have any idea on what this thing is or what it wants?" Astoria stood up and began to speak in a serious and said, "Have either of you heard the legend of the Chamber of Secrets?" Blaise and I shared a look and shook our heads. She gave a nod and began to tell the tale of the Chamber Of Secrets. Her tone was soft as she said, "As you know there were four founders and only one hated muggle borns and that man was Salazar Slytherin. He is said to have built a secret chamber that contained a monster that would kill the muggle borns. Nobody knows what the monster is or even where the chamber is. It is said that only the heir of Slytherin can open the chamber. This isn't the first time there was incident, the first victim was Moaning Myrtle, she wasn't lucky enough to be petrified she died. I have a theory on what's contained in the chamber. I believe that the monster is a basilisk a creature that can kill you just by looking at you, but if you see it's reflection it will petrify you."

This all made sense to me and Blaise looked to be digesting the information as well and said, "They say basilisk are huge how is it getting around so easily?"Astoria put her hand on her chin and then her eyes lit up and she said, "I would say its using the pipes to get around the teachers and it looks like someone is in control of it because its victims aren't random. Mrs. Norris was meant to be a warning and then Hermione is a powerful muggle born so naturally it was apt to take out one of the most well know muggle borns." I looked up and said, "So this thing is only a threat to muggle borns, that still isn't a very good thing" Astoria looked to be scared, that was odd usually she was first to charge in something wasn't right.