Winter (Draco x Reader)

Chapter 24- The Heir of Slytherin

Present day

The cell was so silent she could hear her own thoughts bouncing off the inside of her skull. Her breath came out in labored puffs of white, the ragged, pathetic sound only covered by obnoxious dripping somewhere near the far wall. 

She shuddered, curling into herself; it was just so cold.

The silence seeped in through the cracks in the wall, clenching its bony fingers around their still figures. Fenrir sighed, cursing under his breath. "It's too quiet. Speak." 

So, Y/N did. She continued her story -- what she remembered of it -- her only company a pair of watchful yellow eyes in the penumbra. "Well, as you can imagine..."

...................................

I grimaced, slamming yet another thick volume onto the furthest table in the library. Blaise made a small sound under his breath, eyeing me gingerly around the next page of his novel. 

"Are you trying to get Madam Pince to throw us out, or does it come naturally to you?" he asked evenly.

As if to deepen his point, a girl browsing through the Defence Against the Dark Arts section shushed us loudly, her face scrunched in an irritated scowl. I glared right back at her until she turned the corner into another aisle. 

I flipped to the index of the current dry tome I had taken. "I must be losing my mind."

The corner of his mouth lifted as he propped his chin in one hand. "Shocker."

I rolled my eyes, the crease between my eyebrows relaxing despite myself at his antics. He smiled back. "There you go. Now tell me, what has you so discontent?"

I trailed a finger down the yellowed, dusty paper, sighing when I came up empty once again. "I think I just spent the last week holed up in here for nothing."

His dark eyes widened. "What warrants such a long search?"

Sighing again, I sat next to him, giving him the basics of what Draco had told me. "I know it's a long shot," I concluded, "but would you happen to know anything about the Heir of Slytherin?"

He gazed at me thoughtfully. "Didn't they mention that in class? Some old tale about the four founders of the School each leaving a personal item to be remembered by for generations to come."

"You mean, once relations soured between them?" I pressed, recognition finally dawning. I vaguely remembered Professor McGonagall talking about it, but I wasn't as focused as I would have liked that day. After all, it was right after I'd had that argument with Draco.

He nodded. "If I recall correctly, Slytherin clashed with the others about only Purebloods being allowed to attend Hogwarts, and that broke them all apart. They all had an iconic object associated with them -- of course, the most famous would be Gryffindor's sword." 

He paused, cocking an unimpressed eyebrow. "Read into that what you will. They bestowed these objects upon the school, but legend has it Slytherin wanted more -- he wanted to leave a way to exact his ideals. So only his bloodline can access the object or place he left behind for that purpose."

I watched as Blaise returned to his novel, removing his thumb from where he'd marked it. "In other words, a way to purify the school of anyone who isn't a Pureblood?"

He pursed his lips, considering my words. "Perhaps only the Muggleborns. We wouldn't want to go extinct, now."

I hummed in agreement. "Didn't Professor Binns explain Slytherin's bloodline went extinct a while back?"

"In other words," he bounced off my previous words wryly, "Malfoy is lying."

I laughed softly, tilting my head at him. "Well, wouldn't you know? Remind me to run things by you much sooner next time, Blaise; that was very helpful."