"Ow, ow! What the fuck?"
When Draco woke up the next morning, there was a large barn owl pecking at his face.
"Well, good morning to you too," he said gruffly. He sat up to find a parcel and a letter addressed to him sitting on the foot of his bed. After roughly pushing the owl to the floor, he tore open the letter, which said:
Dearest Draco,
I hope your first few days at Hogwarts are going smoothly, and I trust that you are doing well. I must admit, it's lonely here at home with only your father for company (you know how he is). He's really not doing well, you have to understand that his career is riding on your completion of this task.
Which brings me to my next point. I fear the Dark Lord expects the headmaster gone sooner rather than later. The contents of this package should help you, if given to the headmaster as soon as possible. I must stress, do not touch it with your bare hands!!!!!
Write back as soon as possible, and let me know how it goes. Keep on being your parents' pride and joy (or mine, at least), and good luck!
Much love, Narcissa B. Malfoy
-
He undid the twine around the box and opened it to find an antique opal necklace, wrapped in tissue paper. Heeding his mother's warning, he held it up to the lamp by the paper and inspected it. The chain was black and it had tiny skull beads on it, with a large teardrop-shaped stone in the very middle that sparkled in the light.
"What on Earth would make Dumbledore take this without question, especially from me?" he wondered aloud.
"Take what?" Blaise said as he suddenly poked his head into the room.
"Oh, uh... nothing. Just a letter from my mother," he said as he scrambled to hide the necklace.
"Whatever, we're going to be late for breakfast."
"Right, I'll be down in a minute," Draco replied, tearing a piece of paper off of an old homework assignment. He grabbed a quill and quickly scribbled out a reply for his mother:
After handing the note to the owl and practically throwing it out the door, he carefully wrapped up the necklace and placed it back in the box. He donned his uniform and slipped on some shoes as he jogged after his friends.
When Draco joined the group already sitting at the breakfast table, Theo sparked the conversation.
"Yo the first Hogsmeade weekend is coming up next month," he said. "We all should go on Saturday, y'know? Have a snakes' night on the town!"
"Theo, I swear to Merlin you sound like my mom," Blaise joked, to which Theo rolled his eyes. "Although a break from school does sound nice. Only the first week and I'm already stressed out..."
Pfft, talk about stressed out... Draco thought bitterly, tuning out the conversation and picking at his eggs and toast. How the hell was he supposed to present a deadly necklace to one of the greatest wizards of all time without outing himself as the culprit? He'd already ruled out the possibility of handing the necklace over to the headmaster himself, that would be stupid. Maybe if the necklace keeps getting handed from person to person, people will forget whose it was originally, he thought. Yes, that could work... Hogsmeade was always jam-packed with students, so a discreet handoff would likely go unnoticed. Although, it would look suspicious for a guy to be walking around with a fancy necklace out in the open. He'd have to find a girl to hand it off to a girl to hand it off to a girl to hand it off to Dumbledore...
"What do you think, Draco?"
He looked up to realize that Pansy was talking to him. "Huh?" he replied.
"Going to Hogsmeade next month? What do you think about it?" she repeated.
Pansy. Of course!
"Sure, sounds good." he said. "Oh, we should go to Three Broomsticks!" he added pointedly.
"Haha yeah, Lord knows you have enough money to buy us all a round of butterbeer," Theo teased.
Pansy furrowed her brow. "Damn, we haven't been there in ages, it's always so bloody crowded." she said. "What's wrong with going to Hog's Head like always?"
"The butterbeer smells weird, and I'm half convinced I got food poisoning there once," Draco quickly replied.
"I see what's going on here, you fancy the sexy bar maid!" Blaise interjected.
"Rosmerta?" Pansy puzzled.
"I heard she got a muggle boob job over the summer..." said Theo.
Draco's face went red. "No! I just-" he stuttered. Before he could finish, the loud schoolbell rang, signaling the start of the first class. He shoveled in a few more bites of toast and grabbed his things.
The other Slytherins were already out the door, and he frantically chased after them. "Guys, wait up!" he called.
He finally caught up to Pansy, who was at the door of her next class, Transfiguration. "Listen, about Hogsmeade-" he started breathlessly.
"Why do you think I give a fuck if you boys want to stare at the bartender's tits?" she giggled. "I'm actually looking forward to seeing them as well..."
"No, you don't understand, I need you to do a favor for me," Draco interrupted. "Do you think-"
"All the time," she smirked. "I'm a good thinker, you know."
"Ugh, you know that's not what I meant," he muttered. "Now, do you think-"
"Yep."
"Will you quit that? I'm trying to ask you something!"
"Ask away,"
"Thank you!"
"You're welcome."
"Shit, now I forgot what I was going to say!" he sighed angrily.
She snickered. "Something about a favor?"
"Right. Ok. I need you to do something for me, and it's important." he said.
"Well sure, what's up?" she said, but then she narrowed her eyes. "Hold on, is this about... the task?" she said suspiciously.
"Shh, keep it down! I just need you to give someone a... package," he explained. "And don't touch what's inside!"
"Wait, what?"
"Uh... it's a gift, y'know?" he said desperately. "I have this thing I've gotta get rid of-"
"Draco, I don't know, whatever you're doing sounds sketchy..." she replied nervously.
"Please?" he practically begged. "It would help me out alot!"
"Well... who would I need to give it to?" she sighed.
Oof, he hadn't thought about that. "Literally any girl, I guess. Preferably not a Slytherin." he answered.
"You don't even know who you're giving it to??" she exclaimed. "How is that a gift??"
"Uh... yes." he confirmed.
"So all I have to do is just hand this... object to a random not-Slytherin chick? At Three Broomsticks? Next month?"
"Yup."
Pansy peeled a piece of the top layer of skin off her lower lip. "Okay, I guess," she agreed hesitantly.
A wave of relief flooded over him. "Thanks, Pans, you're the best!" he exclaimed, wrapping her up in an over-enthusiastic hug.
She brushed her hair out of her face and managed a smile as he rushed away to Herbology.