Henrietta Potter || Draco Malfoy

42 - The Serpent's Tongue

Oh, for fuck's sake. Was I ever going to get a fucking break in this god forsaken school? I found myself suddenly longing for the cupboard under the stairs.

But as I approached the door to the spiral staircase, I heard running footsteps on the other side. I looked round at Dumbledore, who gestured at me to back the fuck away. I did so, withdrawing my wand. My heart thudded in my chest. I was bricking it.

The door burst open and somebody ninja'd through it and yelled "Expelliarmus!"

Only it was not just anybody. IT WAS FUCKING DRACO.

Before I could react, my body became instantly rigid and immobile. I felt myself fall back against the Tower wall, propped like an unsteady statue, unable to move or speak. And not only that, but I was also still under my Invisibility Cloak. Oh cheers, Dumbledore. Thank you very fucking much.

"Good evening, Draco." Dumbledore simply said, chill as anything.

Draco stepped forwards, glancing around quickly to check that he and Dumbledore were alone. His eyes, which had fallen upon the second broom – my broom - widened slightly.

"Who else is here?" he demanded, keeping his wand poised threateningly towards Dumbledore's heart.

Me, you giant fuckwit! I wanted to scream. The witch you were ramming your cock into only hours earlier. But of course, I could not.

"A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone?"

I watched as Draco's pale eyes shifted coldly back to Dumbledore.

"No," he said. "I've got back-up. There are Death Eaters here in your school tonight."

"Well, well," Dumbledore said, as though Draco was showing him an ambitious homework project. "Very good indeed. You found a way to let them in, did you?"

"Yeah," Draco said, who was panting now. "Right under your nose and you never realised!"

Literally every word he spoke was like being punched hard in the gut. I wanted him to stop, to lower his wand and admit that this was all some kind of practical joke.

"Ingenious," Dumbledore said. "Yet... forgive me... where are they now? You seem unsupported."

"They met some of your guard. They're having a fight down below. They won't be long... I came on ahead. I - I've got a job to do."

"Well, then, you must get on and do it, my dear boy," Dumbledore said softly.

Draco did not move. Draco did nothing but stare at Dumbledore. I wished so much that Dumbledore had not immobilised me. There were a few choice words I could think of to say to fill in this dreadful silence.

"Draco, Draco, you are not a killer."

"How do you know?" Draco said at once, the churlishness in his voice making me cringe. "You don't know what I'm capable of, you don't know what I've done!"

"Oh, yes, I do," Dumbledore said mildly. "You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. You have been trying, with increasing desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts... so feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether your heart has been really in it..."