October came quickly. The fall breeze swept through the castle creating the most festive pre-winter vibes. Quidditch practices had become more frequent, and studying for classes seemed to get a bit harder. Draco had no issue, though.
He hardly slept anymore, but it was all going to be worth it. The match between Gryffindor and Slytherin was sneaking upon him, and Draco wanted to make sure he would play his best. After all, his father was coming, and that meant everything had to be perfect for him.
Blaise and Pansy were getting on Draco for not having enough time to have fun, but it didn't bother him as much as they thought. The constant thought of school and Quidditch made him forget about two things, the portrait room and Hermionie.
After calling her a mudblood, part of him wanted to apologize, yet another didn't. If she hated him and didn't talk to him anymore, maybe he would never want to be her friend. It would be better if she disliked him for both of them.
One night in the common room, when Draco was busy filling in his Star Chart for Astronomy, Pansy approached him and took a seat in front of him. They were the only two still awake, and Draco just thought she would go on another lecture about Lockheart.
"Draco, you know when I came over this summer, and we heard our fathers talking about something called the chamber of secrets?" She kept her voice low even though no one was in the common room. Draco had forgotten about the chamber; his attention had mostly been on the Basilisk.
"Yea? What, did you find out something?" Draco whispered back, pushing away the star chart.
"Well, when I went back home, I raided our library to see if there was anything about it," She held her breath, "The Chamber of Secrets was made by Salazar Slytherin before he left Hogwarts, it's believed to be a myth; However I don't think it is anymore." Pansy looked at him to make sure he was paying attention.
"What does it mean, though?" Draco rolled his eyes, irritated that she had stopped talking.
"Well, there is a creature in there, a Basilisk...But that's all I found out." Pansy looked down. She looked tired, and Draco wondered why she was telling him all this. He never told her about the page and wasn't planning on it.
Draco felt ashamed that he still had that paper. He knew whatever was going on involved Harry, and that singular page could help, but why would he want to help Potter? The same boy who had made the last year hell, who embarrassed him and made him feel less. Draco's mind drifted off, completely forgetting Pansy was still sitting right in front of him.
"Well? Did you find anything out?" Pansy whispered once more. Draco shook his head.
She must not know yet.
"Alright, well if you do let me know, I'm headed off to bed," Pansy got up and gave a little wave before disappearing down the stairs into the dorms. Draco was left alone, with only the subtle noise of the black lake in the background.
Draco closed his eyes and thought back to the conversation he overhead Mr.Parkinson and his father has.
"Edward, I assure you everything is under control; the chamber of secrets will open once more. It has been 50 years since it last opened, so we shall hope the Dark Lord has planned ahead,"
So it had been opened before, 50 years ago. Draco opened his eyes. It was getting late, and he was still sat alone at his usual table, when all of a sudden, it hit him. There had to be records of what happened, mostly if it was big enough that the Dark Lord was involved, but where would they be kept?
There was only one place he could guess. The library.
It was half-past two, and everyone in the castle had to be asleep, and there were no chance teachers were still doing their rounds. The only thing he had to worry about was Peeves.
Draco snuck out of the common room and crept up the stairs towards the library. It felt weird doing it by himself; usually, Blaise or Theo came with him, but he needed to find this out on his own. Draco made his way to the library floor, pushed the door open, and snuck his way inside.
He didn't worry about making up some silly little story; if he got caught, he would get in trouble either way. Draco sneaked through the dark towards the back of the library, finding anything he possibly could about what had happened 50 years ago.
Draco looked for about 30 minutes, not finding anything, and was about to give up when he stumbled upon a stack of old Daily Prophets. His heart jumped, and he immediately began searching for them, looking at the dates.
1955,1954,1946...1943!
Draco quickly mumbled Lumos and read through the paper. The front page didn't have anything on it, but when he flipped onto the inside wherein big letters it said:
Muggleborn Girl dies at Hogwarts Death: Unknown
Draco's heart raced. So the Basilisk killed Muggleborns. He heard a loud noise outside and the laughing of no other than Peeves, the poltergeist. Draco mumbled nox and sprinted out of the library and straight towards the dungeons, not looking back.
Days passed since Draco's visit to the library, and the Halloween celebrations had begun. Theo had his infamous bright orange jumper with a pumpkin on the front and had somehow managed to get William Ratman a matching one.
After their classes, they stayed in the common room until Dinner, just chatting by the fire. Other Slytherins were in and out, but all the older kids were in Marcus's dorm, opening a bottle of fire whisky.
Draco was reading from a book he had grabbed off the shelves while occasionally glancing up to see what they all were doing. Theo and Blaise were trying to get William Ratman to dance while Crabbe and Goyle watched in amusement, and for the first time, Pansy wasn't with them. Draco shrugged and kept reading until he felt a cold shift in the air.
"Ah, been a while since we've seen you, Baron," Blaise smirked as the house ghost passed through the common room.
"I've been stuck worrying about that bloody poltergeist, real scoundrel..." The Bloody Baron mumbled.
"What you doing here then, I suspect he would be trying to do things to ruin the feast," Theo exclaimed, glancing at the time.
"The Gryffindor Ghost, Nicholas, or whatever, is having his death day party, and I was invited, stopped here to get some peace and quiet before I am feared by half the castle," The ghost sighed.
"I'm sure you're a real rager at parties," Goyle smirked, which made the Baron glance at him menacingly.
"Oh Yea completely, if only Helena wasn't there, that blasted women...Well, I'm off," The Slytherin Ghost said before disappearing through the wall.
"Who knew such a scary-looking man could be so lovely," Theo said before getting up and walking towards the exit of the common room, "To the feast we go!"
The feast was overall lovely. Draco drank more pumpkin juice then he thought he could, while Crabbe and Goyle stuffed their face with every single pastry in sight. Pansy had joined them halfway through and said she was with the other girls in the house. Draco had forgotten about them a bit.
He knew about Daphne Greengrass, her family was part of the sacred twenty-eight, and he was sure they had properly met one time. Millicent Bludstrode, who he remembered seeing at the sorting ceremony last year but barely knew her. Pansy seemed to care for her, so at least she had someone.
Draco spent the last few minutes of Dinner eying the Gryffindor table like always.
He always looked for Potter first, who shockingly, wasn't there.
Then he looked for the red-haired git who, no surprise, wasn't there.
Finally, he looked for Hermione, who, as you may guess wasn't there.
If this beast was killing muggle-borns, she could be next. Even though Draco wanted to hate her and it would be more beneficial if she did die, he wouldn't want it. He did decide, though, that acting like her bully might make his envious feelings of her go away. He shifted his gaze from the table and looked down at his plate for the remainder of Dinner.
When it ended, the students flooded out slowly. Draco and the others lingered back a bit since Theo was trying to steal more pastries for William Ratman later.
Eventually, they all left and were about to head down into the dungeons when they heard the other students' whispers and gasps in the hallway over. Confused but curious, Draco walked quickly in the direction of the whispers.
The floor was wet, and it looked as though all of Hogwart was standing gasping at the wall; Draco pushed to the front with Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, and Theo behind him. When he got there and looked up at the wall, his heart stopped.
Written in blood was the message:
The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir... beware
Draco looked down to see Ms.Norris, Filch's cat, and Hermione, Harry, and Ron all stood under the bloody message. He looked to his left to see Flint and Adrian snicker. They had to know, and if they did, they would say something. So Draco said the first thing that came to mind like always, and like always, he would regret it later.
"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"
The word rolled off his tongue a bit more freely this time. Draco's eyes immediately met with Hermione's, who didn't look mad at all, more intimidating, but not mad. Did that mean she understood?
"What's going on here? What's going on?" Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. When he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror.
"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked.
Filch noticed Harry standing underneath the cat, and his eyes bulged open.
"You!" he screeched. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll –"
"Argus!"
Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by several other teachers. In seconds, he had swept past Harry, Ron, and Hermione and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.
"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger."
Lockhart stepped forward eagerly.
"My office is nearest, Headmaster – just upstairs – please feel free –"
"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore.
The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, looking extremely excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Professors McGonagall and Snape.
All of the students glanced at each other for a moment before heading towards their common room.
"Draco once again letting that Mudblood know her place, a true Slytherin might I say," Marcus grinned, smacking Draco on the back before catching up with Adrian and Miles.
Draco smirked. He was finally getting noticed and praised by the older kids.
A true Slytherin...
His father would be proud to hear that.
When he arrived back in the dorms, he quickly changed into his nightclothes and dove under the covers. He pulled the piece of paper that was still under his pillow and looked at it.
The Basilisk was now let loose in the castle, and only he knew about it. His father played a role in this, but what? How had his father known so far in advance that the chamber would open? And how did this all relate to Harry? Was Harry the heir of Salazar Slytherin?
Draco fell asleep with the page clutched in his hand, still thinking of ways he could understand what's going on. As much as he resented the idea of helping the trio, would his knowledge of what's happening save them? And if he did save them, what would that mean for him and his father.