Broken: a Draco Malfoy Love Story

Chapter 12 - The Snake

And just as Alexia had said, a few minutes later the Quidditch spectators were heading back to the castle on the frosted path which had thawed out in the afternoon sun. Between the stampede of feet, the frost glistened like hundreds of diamonds, but there was no time to be admiring the beauty when there was information to find out.
"There!" Eva said, pointing over the top of the crowd to two boys wearing jackets, gloves and beanies.
Alexia hurried towards them, Eva and Daphne close behind. They walked straight infront of the two boys, cutting them off, and Alexia, stuck up her foot, tripping up the chubbiest of them, so he stumbled to the ground.
"Neville!" The other boy, Seamus, said almost tripping himself up over Neville.
"Oops, sorry." Alexia said with exaggeration.
Neville got up, "I'm alright," he assured everyone yet no one. Then he turned and saw Alexia standing with Daphne and Eva.
"Neville and Seamus? Just the people I was looking for." said Alexia.
Neville winced a little at the sound of his name, and even Seamus shuffled nervously on his feet.
"I wanted to ask you something," Alexia mentioned, trying to sound casual.
"What?" Seamus said.
Daphne motioned them to move out of the crowd. They looked at each other, then gave in and followed the girls towards a nearby tree.
"Where did Harry Potter and the Weasley's go this morning?" Alexia asked once they were out of earshot.
Neville looked more willing to give them the answer and then make a run for it, but Seamus didn't. "I'm afraid we can't tell ya." He said in his strong irish accent.
Alexia pouted,"I'm afraid you can, Finnigan."
Seamus shook his head and made to leave, but was stopped by a spell from Eva that hit him and stunned him for several seconds.
"Nice," Daphne commented to Eva who blushed.
"If neither of you two are going to tell me where they went, I'm just going to have to tell the whole school about how Seamus was left hanging by Lavender Brown at the Gryffindor after-match celebration a few weeks ago. Couldn't even score yourself a quick kiss from that sloppy and hopeless mess, huh?"
Seamus's mouth fell open, "How do 'ye know about that?"
"I'm Alexia Burke. I know everything."
"You can't tell everyone that," Neville piped up.
Alexia raised her eyebrows at Neville who had finally spoken, "Can't I?" she said, cupping her hands around her mouth and turning to yell at the departing crowd.
"NO-"
Alexia turned briskly, and widened her eyes waiting for the information.
"Harry... Harry had a dream-"
"It was a vision, Seamus!"
"Whatever. He had a vision of Ron's dad being attacked by a snake." Seamus told Alexia.
"They left because of a vision?" Alexia asked.
"Well, we think it must have actually happened."
"So was it something to do with Legilimency?" Alexia questioned not to anyone in particular.
"What?" Eva and Neville said at once.
"Legilimency." Daphne repeated, "It's the act of navigating through someone's mind, reading and influencing their thoughts." she briefly explained.
Then, Alexia realised something and gasped aloud. Everyone's heads turned to look at her. "Er... that's all I... needed to know. You can go now!" she stammered.
"You're not going to tell anyone else, are you?" Neville asked.
Alexia shrugged, "It will get out eventually, Longbottom. So will the news that your friend here was left hanging by Lavender Brown."
Neville looked anxious, Seamus looked angry, but they hurried away and together they left towards the castle.

"What was that all about, Al?" Daphne asked once they had gone.
"The Dark Lord has a snake. I overheard Lucius Malfoy talk about it with another Death Eater before when I visited Draco over the summer. It's called Nagini, I believe."
"You don't think-"
"Nagini and the attack are connected? Yeah, I do. Something's not right."

•••

By Monday, Alexia had come to absolutely no conclusion on what this all could mean. She had wanted to discuss it with Daphne, but she knew Daphne didn't like speaking about the Dark Lord with her. Eva wasn't much help either, she had obviously never had a friend whose father was a Death Eater before nor was she used to talking casually about it. The only person left to confide in was Draco. She hadn't seen him much lately; it was almost like he was avoiding her. She wondered whether Draco had heard the real reason why the Weasleys and Harry Potter had left, or if he was just as confused as the rest of the school.
When Alexia approached him in the Common Room that night, he did know what had really happened and seemed just as concerned as Alexia.
"You think the Dark Lord's snake and the attack is connected too?" Alexia asked, checking she had heard right.
"Yeah," Draco said.
"You don't have any more idea about it though?"
"No more than you," he said.
Alexia stared down at his pot of ink on the desk, thinking. Maybe her mother or Lucius or someone would tell them about it when they got home for Christmas. She mentioned this to Draco who nodded and agreed. Then, with the conversation ending short, she said goodnight and headed off to the dormitories for an early night.