Dragon, Unicorn and the Dark Lord

After a brief explanation, while omitting the biggest secrets behind his magical suitcase, Draco sweetened the deal. "You will have permission to visit the dragon during my entire time here in Hogwarts. You won't be risking further trouble for Dumbledore."

Although Draco wouldn't openly admit it, he was fascinated by dragons. How couldn't he, besides the fact that his first name comes from the constellation of the Dragon ("Draco" in latin), they were the quintessential mythological creatures for the standard fantasy setting.

Even Hogwarts' motto, Draco dormiens numquam titillandus, translated for 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon'.

"Yer two are righ', it's probably fer the bes'." The gatekeeper finally nodded in acceptance. "But I hope yeh lis'en to one smal' reques'."

"Of course." Draco replied, controlling his emotions so he wouldn't start laughing maniacally. "What is it?"

"I wan'a see it hatch." Hagrid said.

Sharing glances with Harriet for a moment, and noticing that she cared for Hagrid happiness, Draco nodded. "I understand. Let me know when it does."

Hagrid finally smiled and said. "Sure, I'll let ya know."

"The news about the stone will not be coming from out of my mouth." Draco assured the duo, since he had basically admitted to having listened to their entire conversation.

"I trus' ya." Hagrid nodded. "Yer are really similar to him."

"Her?" Draco asked, getting confused. But he then took a wild guess. "You mean, Black?"

"Yes, like him, he was a witty and talented wizard. Though not as arrogant or mischievous as him, you have his charisma. I hope yeh continues to not follow the wors' parts of him." Hagrid said, reminiscing about things and looking at Harriet sadly.

Hagrid was comparing him to Sirius, probably after hearing that Draco had inherited his family name.

"I still have his motorcycle, if yeh wan' yeh can hav' it back." Hagrid said.

"No need." Draco replied. "He gave it to you, right? It was his property to give, so I have no right over it. Though I would like to test it out one of these days."

"For sure." Hagrid smiled.

Draco turned to Harriet and nodded. "Well, I believe it's my cue to leave. Do avoid getting yourself in trouble, my dear."

"Don't worry." Harriet nodded with a smile.

Before Draco left the hut, he whispered to her. "I wonder where he got a dragon egg. Apologies for my rudeness, but he doesn't look like he has the money to afford buying on, even illegally."

Before Harriet had the chance to say anything, Draco left her alone with Hagrid.

—————————————————————

The main problem of taking the Philosopher's stone was that it was inside the Mirror of Erised.

Originally, Dumbledore had placed an enchantment on the mirror, hiding the stone inside it, and allowing it to transfer the stone only to those who wanted to find the stone but not use it.

Anybody wishing more than simply finding it, would just see themselves making gold or the Elixir of Life.

Draco knew that it wouldn't allow him to retrieve it because he had nothing but desire to use it.

So due to that, Draco had set up his trap, enticing Harriet by hinting some clues to her.

Draco had confirmed through their constant interactions that she still had some savior complex.

It was inevitable for her to go to the third floor and take out the Philosopher's stone for him.

—————————————————————

"I have something interesting to show." Draco told Ron. "But first I want to know if I can trust you."

"Can you tell me what it is first?" Weasley asked, but noticing Draco's stoic expression, followed by Crabbe and Goyle's annoyed looks, he corrected his previous statement. "I-I mean, of course. You can trust me."

Satisfied with Ron's response, especially after sneakily hearing his superficial thoughts at the moment, Draco had told the redhead to follow him.

As soon as the Herbology class ended, Draco led Ron towards the edge of the forest, alongside his trusty lackeys and the rest of his inner circle of friends.

Ron was confused as they left the main castle.

"How do you feel Ronald?" Draco asks, in mid conversation with the others of his group. "Do you need a distraction to focus your mind?"

"Well this area is low on things to do, sadly." He replied, still not completely sure how to feel about Draco, but still wanting to be on his good side.

"King's pawn to E-4." Draco quickly said after laughing at Pansy's joke.

"You're joking, right? We don't even have a board!" Ron protested in disbelief.

"Too complicated for an unsophisticated Weasel?" Draco teased.

"Rrr...smug little asshole!" Ron grunted. "Pawn...to E-5."

"Pawn to F-4." Draco quickly said. "King's gambit."

"Accepted!" Ron stood his ground. "Pawn takes pawn."

Draco raised his hand, asking for a moment as he corrected something Theodore said.

"So, where were we?" Draco turned to face Ron again. "Ah yes… bishop to C-4."

"Getting aggressive, Malfoy?" Ron remarked, irked that he felt he could beat him while multitasking. "Queen to H-4, check!"

"Heh, speaking of aggressive…" Draco chuckled. "I see that your Queen is your favorite piece. King to F-1"

"Pawn to B-5" Ron said dryly.

"Alright, you have my curiosity." Draco mused. "Bishop takes pawn."

"Hmph...knight to F-6." Ron growled.

"Knight to F-3." Draco countered nonchalantly.

Ron thought for a moment before saying. "Queen to H-6."

"Pawn to D-3."

"Knight to H-5." Ron said with shit-eating smile. "Ha! Alright, take some time… think about your life choices."

Draco simply shrugged and gave something to Daphne.

"Alright Weasley. If you are prepared..." Draco turned back to face the red head. "Knight to H-4."

"Queen to G-5." Ron was already expecting such a move from Draco. "Heh… so… are you giving up your bishop from B-5 or your Knight at H-4?"

This time, Draco was the one smiling. "Neither, Horse to F-5."

"Pawn to C-6." Ron realized. "Left your bishop hanging out."

"And you, your Knight." Draco pointed. "Pawn to G-4."

"Knight to F-6." Ron said after a brief pause.

"Hmm… tower to G-1." Draco announced while taking something that Gregory and Vincent brought to him.

"Ha! Pawn takes your bishop!" Ron celebrated. "Having a hard time multitasking, eh Malfoy?"

"We shall see." Draco replied casually. "Pawn to H-4."

"Queen to G-6." Ron said, feeling confident that victory would be his.

"Pawn to H-5." Draco said while cloud gazing. "Careful…"

"You are the one who lost his bishop." Ron remarked with a chuckle. "Queen to G-5."

"Queen to F-3." Draco quickly replied.

"Oh, clever!" Ron snickered. "Almost trapped my queen. Knight to G-8."

"Bishop takes pawn, threatens Queen."

"Argh!" Ron snarled. "Queen to F-6."

"Knight to C-3." Draco calmly replied. "I hope that you are aware that you've developed nothing but your Queen."

"Don't get cocky, Malfoy! You're still one bishop down!" Ron stated angrily. "Bishop to C-5 by the way."

"Knight to D-5." Draco kept looking upwards, without a care if he would trip in the uneven ground.

"Queen takes pawn at B-2." Ron said.

"Bishop to D-6." Draco yawned.

"Queen takes tower…Check!" Ron grins. "What are you doing Malfoy?"

"King to E-2."

"Alright, bishop takes tower…" Ron stares at him with another smile. "Your last tower by the way."

"Pawn to E-5."

"Really? I've got my whole army burying down on your king and you are moving a pawn?!" Ron replies confused before sighing. "Are you even trying anymore?"

"Think about it, Weasley."

After carefully considering his options, Ron approached him again.

"Alright Malfoy, I thought about it. Knight to E-6."

"Knight takes pawn at G-7. Check."

Ron took a moment before replying. "King to D-8."

"Queen to F-6." Draco stated. "Check."

"And now my Knight takes your Queen." Ron announced, proudly puffing his chest. "You've got no towers, you are down to a single bishop! Too bad you wasted your time moving that pawn to… to…" Ron comes to a complete halt, shock and horror flashing through his expression. "... you sneaky son of a…"

"Bishop to E-7." Draco interrupted him with a grin. "Checkmate."

"Argh!" Ron snarled again before breathing deeply and recomposing himself. "Nice game, Malfoy."

"And you as well, Weasley." Draco nodded and moved one.

That prompted everyone to congratulate Draco for their victory. But they were also impressed by how Ron managed to play Wizard chess without a board in the first place.

Even Harriet had taken some interest by their exchange.

Thankfully, by the end of their match, Draco's group had finally reached the gatekeeper's hut.

After Draco knocked on the door, he said. "We've arrived."

Hagrid opened the door looking flushed and excited.

"I see yeh've brough' more than a few friends over." Hagrid remarked with a chuckle. "Well, come in, come in. It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.

Draco led the group inside and signaled them to notice the dragon egg.

It was lying on a table, deep visible cracks on it, with funny clicking noise coming from it.

Ron seemed to realize what it was, but refrained from speaking up after Theodore cleared his throat.

They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched the egg with bated breath.

All at once there was a scraping and the egg split open.

The baby dragon flopped onto the table.

It wasn't exactly pretty, it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella.

Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes.

It sneezed, and a couple of sparks flew out of its snout.

"It's a dragon." Ron announced, gaining some snickers from the others. "I-I mean, it's brilliant! My brother Charlie works with them in Romania."

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured.

He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head.

It snapped at its finger, showing pointed fangs.

While everyone was excited looking at the magical creature, Draco on the other hand, felt a weird link to the dragon.

He slowly reached out his hand towards the dragon as it turned towards him.

"Be careful!" Hagrid said, but he wasn't listening to any of it.

The dragon curiously looked at his hands, and instead of snapping at his finger, started stroking it with its head before climbing onto his hand.

"Peculiar little fella." Draco smiled.

The dragon stared at him and blinked as if it understood him before climbing up towards his shoulder.

Ignoring the stares of his friends, Draco continued to look at the Dragon, which was halfway towards his arm. He caught it with another hand and brought it close to his face, caressing its scaly back.

The dragon made a cute noise in comfort as it sneezed fire out of its mouth in the opposite direction.

Draco smiled at it.

"Looks like it's already attached to you." Pansy said approaching him.

She stretched out her hand trying to touch, but the dragon snapped at her hand, luckily she moved her hand quickly and avoided getting bitten.

"It's really scary." Daphne said.

"Did you learn to calm dragons down?" Theodore asked with a chuckle. "It's only docile with you."

Draco was confused too, he wasn't expecting it to be so friendly to him from the start.

He looked at Harriet, who was busy chatting with Hagrid. 'I thought I would only have a chance of calming a dragon after learning parseltongue. And even then, there was no guarantee that the language of the serpents would translate well to dragons.'

"Draco, you have to teach me that." Theodore said excitedly. "By the way, is it yours?"

The young Malfoy Black turned to face Hagrid, and after a nod he replied. "Yeah, I own it."

"Really?" Pansy asked, getting excited too. "Where are you going to keep it? As far as I know it is illegal to own one without the proper documents."

Draco winked. "I got it covered."

Hagrid nodded in agreement before asking. "So, hav' yeh thought o' a name fer the Dragon?"

"Nope." Draco replied. "Haven't really gotten into thinking about it, do you have a suggestion?" He asked, looking at Hagrid's excited face.

"I sure do." The half giant said. "How about Norbert?"

Draco smiled and said. "Sure, we can name it that. But you are aware it's not a he but a she, aren't you?"

"What?!" The gatekeeper said, shocked. "Really?"

"Yeah! Female dragons are generally larger and more dominant over males." Draco explained. "If you wish to see it, I have an old book that's very detailed about dragons."

Hagrid took the book Draco retrieved from his enchanted pouch and said after a brief inspection. "I didn't think abou' the possibility tha' it could be a girl."

"It's okay." Draco told him. "Tell you what, how about we name her Norberta?"

The dragon hopped happily as if it really liked the name.

"Yes, yes, 's a good name." Hagrid nodded. "Thanks. And please, take these with you. I've got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer her." Hagrid handed a large crate before sighing as Draco showed Norberta to the others. "Go along now, the classes will star' soon."

All of them nodded and headed out of the hut.

"Bye-bye, Norberta." Hagrid sobbed. "You will always be welcome to visit."

Draco couldn't help but to feel sympathy for Hagrid's enthusiasm for magical creatures.

—————————————————————

The exams weren't far away.

All the students were working late into the night, trying to remember the ingredients in complicated potions, learn charms and spells by heart, memorize the dates of magical discoveries and goblin rebellions.

Luckily for Draco's inner circle, his knowledge seemed to rival even the teachers'.

At least in regards to their current year.

A week before the exams were due to start, Draco confirmed that Harriet was still investigating the Philosopher's stone matter.

Thanks to Draco's influence, Harriet was capable of making up for the absence of both Hermione and Ron on her search for the stone.

She was still not as booksmart as Hermione, nor the better player of wizard chess than Ron, but Draco had taught her everything she needed to know.

—————————————————————

That night, Draco sneaked out of the common room slowly and carefully, wearing some clothes that were enchanted to conceal his identity and presence.

Not as effective as an invisibility cloak, but still useful to his elves to sneak around and accomplish the missions he gave them.

Navigating through Hogwarts might be child's play for someone with the marauder's map and his own platoon of house elves guarding him from a safe distance, but Draco really wanted to avoid taking unnecessary risks.

Walking around the dungeon in the dark, he slowly got out of the castle and eventually reached the edge of the forbidden forest.

Draco had been looking forward to meeting Voldemort for the first time.

The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing him into darkness.

He saw a narrow winding earth track that disappeared into the thick clack trees.

Draco didn't have to walk much before finding a trail of shining silver, unicorn's blood, on the forest's floor.

Similar to how he could tell an animagus from its dense magical aura, he was almost blinded by the absurd brightness the unicorn's blood emanated.

'There's blood all around this place.' Draco thought, putting on his metaphorical detective hat. 'It must have been staggering around for a while.'

Draco wanted to intervene before Hagrid had the chance to notice the body of an unicorn, and very likely report back to Dumbledore.

A little way further into it, he reached a fork in the earth path, and took the left path, since he could clearly see even the faintest trail of unicorn blood.

He kept in silence the whole time, his eyes watching carefully the nearby environment, tracking like a predator or hunter.

Every now and then, Draco glanced at a spot of bright silver-blue blood on the fallen leaves.

Eventually, he found his prey.

A few meters ahead of him, he saw a cloaked figure reaching towards the unicorn on the ground.

It lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood.

Thanks to his precautionary measures, Draco hadn't been immediately noticed by the hooded figure.

But he needed to get closer.

Carefully watching where he was going to step, and maintaining his breathing calm, Draco slowly decreased the distance between them.

When Draco had finally reached a distance he was comfortable to act, the hooded figure raised its head, unicorn blood dribbling down its front, and looked towards Draco's direction.

As it got to its feet, Draco quickly took his wand out and grinned. "CONFRINGO!"

BOOOOM!

A loud and powerful explosion occurred at the hooded man's feet, causing the dust around to rise up.

Draco looked at the man on the ground, he knew it was none other than Voldemort who was struggling to stand up.

Draco's grin shifted into a scowl. 'I could end this now, but…'

"Why?!" Voldemort asked him with a deep scary voice. Half expecting to be attacked again, while still struggling and failing to attack first.

Draco approached Voldemort and bowed.

"Deal Lord, I am the son of your humble and faithful servant, Lucius Malfoy." Draco suddenly said.

"Draco?" Voldemort said, slowly standing up. "I see… But that isn't the answer to my question."

"I'm honored that the Dark Lord knows my name." Draco said, still bowing. "My father has been searching for you ever since you disappeared. And ever since I found out about the philosopher's stone, I expected you to be here."

"Lucius? Searching for me? All these years?" Voldemort said snorting. "Out of all my servants who would have expected that Lucius would be so loyal. But that begs the question..." He stopped. "Why attack me, if you knew about me? Why would you be so foolish to oppose me?"

"I beg your pardon, Dark Lord, but I believe you are mistaken." Draco replied, not wavering. "I only aimed to prove myself. I wanted to show you that I'm capable enough to serve you. Otherwise. I wouldn't have stopped at my first attack. And certainly I wouldn't have voluntarily put myself under your mercy, like I'm doing right now."

Voldemort stared at Draco, as the boy dropped his wand on the floor, without realizing that Draco had all his personal house elves ready to apparate and defend their master.

"Fine, I will reward you with the opportunity to serve me."

"I'm thankful for your generosity, Dark Lord." Draco replied. "As your loyal servant, I will be willing to do anything."

Voldemort nodded. "Wait for my future orders."

"How will I get in touch with you, master?" Draco asked, in an ignorant tone.

"I have connections inside." Voldemort said in a mysterious tone and turned back, disappearing into darkness.

Completely ignoring the barely alive unicorn.

'Why would he vanish like this? I'm sure my blasting curse had hurt him.' Draco thought for a moment. 'Wait, was he aiming for a dramatic exit? Or he wasn't willing to appear weak in front of his youngest servant?'

Regardless of why Voldemort didn't continue drinking the blood from the unicorn, the fact was, it was still alive.

But barely.

Even in that state, it was shining beautifully, its long, slender legs and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves.

That always bugged Draco.

How comes a being, that is supposedly to be so pure, that has a blood running through its veins that is capable of keeping alive someone that is an inch from death, not be immortal.

As Drago examined the unicorn's condition, he noticed that he hadn't sustained any significant external damage, but its blood loss was concerning.

He could perceive the magical creature's aura diminishing by the second.

'Sadly I haven't found any healing spells that would work on a unicorn.' Draco though. 'But luckily, wizards were masters of creating hax magic without even realizing it.'

The Blood-Replenishing Potion.

Initially, a healing potion that replenishes blood lost from injuries or other means, used more frequently in the treatment against poisoning.

No studies have been made about its efficacy on unicorns. But at that point, Draco believed it was worth the attempt.

"Calm down girl." Draco said to the creature while summoning his female elves to surround them, sending the male elves to guard the surrounding area so they would not be disturbed.

Unicorn's were known to prefer a woman's touch, so he had some of his female elves follow his instructions to heal the magical creature.

They made it drink the Blood-Replenishing Potion while calming it with their gentle voices. Applied some Wound-Cleaning Potion before closing the wound with 'Vulnera Sanentur' (a spell he learned from Snape's notes) with their elven magic before applying dittany.

The female elves gently touched the unicorn after it attempted to stand up and failed.

"The pain has been numbed, girl." Draco said as his elves patted its back. "You might still take some time to recover completely."

He smiled seeing the animal not struggling.

Draco didn't heal the unicorn so it would continue to live in the forbidden forest, he wanted to keep it inside his suitcase.

And from how efficient his female elves were in taming it, Draco believed it would not be hard to do so.

Alongside Norberta and his more good looking elves, this unicorn will help make his pocket dimension more of a fantasy land.

"Do you want to come with me?" Draco asked, not really expecting an answer as he dropped his miniature suitcase on the ground before enlarging it.

"Where are you going, human?" The unicorn suddenly spoke, the female elves giggling as it finally managed to stand up.

"You can speak?" Draco asked, caught by surprise. Amongst all creatures he expected to be able to communicate, dragons being first on that list, unicorns were definitely not high on that same list.

"Indeed." It said nodding. "Now, since I have answered your question, you answer mine."

Draco's shock quickly ended after he reminded himself that anything was possible. "Pardon my rudeness, respectable unicorn, I've rescued you and desired to bring you somewhere safe. I would hate for that being that attacked you to come back and bother you again."

Despite it's sophisticated tone, the unicorn was still a creature. It didn't seem to have to think long before replying.

"I thank you for your aid. You and your friends have certainly saved my life from that twisted being. I have not offended it in any way, but it attacked me regardless." It said. "Nevertheless, lead the way."

Draco was glad that he didn't need to argue with it. He wanted to keep the unicorn, but not forcefully as it might run away at any moment he might need its cooperation.

He went inside his own briefcase, signaling for the unicorn to follow him.

Looking around inside his pocket dimension, Draco was pleased to find Norberta fast asleep.

Soon after his arrival, Draco heard the sound of hooves clopping nearby.

"What is this place, human?" It asked, a little surprised. "The environment has completely changed from before."

Following the unicorn's arrival, the female elves arrived to calm it down.

"Don't worry, respectable unicorn, this place won't do any harm to you." Draco said, approaching it. "Besides, you can call me Draco."

"Truly? Why would you want to associate yourself with those barbarous creatures?" The unicorn neighed in a pompous manner. "Incidentally, I'm Moonbeam Snowy Hooves. Though Moon will suffice."

"Were your parents the ones that named you?" Draco asked, curious about unicorns.

"Why would they? It is my name, not theirs." Moon replied. "Wait, so that's why your name is 'Draco'? Your parents were the ones who chose it for you?"

Draco simply nodded.

"Oh I see… pardon then Master Draco for my previous rudeness." The unicorn lowered its head. "It is not the name I would have picked up for me, but it certainly has its... charms."

Draco almost chuckled at the creature's antics. "I see, now that we've been properly introduced, how about I show the place. Hopefully you will find it worthy to shelter you."

"I appreciate the consideration, but any place would be better than that dreaded forest." Moon said before lowering its head close to the ground.

Draco didn't know what it was doing at first, but he eventually asked. "Is it fine for me to ride you? I thought that was viewed as some sort of taboo."

"Only among those centaurs." Moon said before next. "Stargazing hybrids."

"If you say so." Draco shrugged his shoulders and climbed the unicorn.

It was really tall, especially for a kid of his age. Though with his fit body and clothes enchanted to make him more nimble (not to mention Moon's help), he managed to complete the task.

"Will the short ladies follow us too?" Moon asked.

Draco simply nodded and the female elves bowed in respect before apparating to seat with him.

The place had undergone an extensive renovation since Draco got it from his grandfather.

While still not as big, he had designed an entire ecosystem resembling the forbidden forest, though not as creepy and dangerous.

More akin to a park where one would go to have a picnic.

Besides the forest, Draco had ordered his elves to raise a glorious Motte-and-Bailey castle; it served as the main base of his house elves. With the 'formation portkey' leading to 12 Grimmauld Place inside it.

He was still determined to make his elves less than the stereotypical wood elf, and more of the high nobility butler and maids he wanted them to be.

Looks and manners were slowly but surely being accomplished, and their usefulness had yet to disappoint.

Rita Skeeter was their latest success.

After successfully apprehending her in his celebration party for inheriting the Black family's name, they brought her for Draco to 'recondition' her.

Mind arts on wizards and witches were that much different from what he had experienced on muggles. With the former having some semblance of training to resist his mental probe, though severely lacking the creativity and resourcefulness muggles had.

As they continue to explore the land, Draco notices something about unicorns.

They were capable of reaching ludicrous speeds in order to compensate for their lack of defense against aggressors, which spoke volumes about how capable Voldemort still was in his weakened state.

Since Draco had prevented the meeting between Harriet and Voldemort in the forbidden forest, he will have to work hard to make her still connect the dots in regards to who might be after the Philosopher's stone.

—————————————————————

The exams finally started in Hogwarts and everyone got super busy with their own things.

In the sweltering heat, especially in the large classroom where all of them did their written papers.

Everyone had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an anti-cheating spell.

Draco didn't have any problems, since his occlumency had allowed him to store all his knowledge in an organized way so he had quick access to whatever subject he wished to recall without difficulty.

Same thing for the practical exams.

Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap-dance across a desk, which was beyond simple for Draco to perform.

Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuff box, giving points for how pretty it was, but taking some away if it had whiskers. Draco did considerably well as well, managing to transfigurate the mouse into a silver and emerald snuff box with delicate and beautiful design.

Though McGonagall asked for him to turn it back into a mouse, not telling him why she was surprised by him accomplishing the feat.

Regardless…

Next came potions, Snape was making all the students nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetful Potion. Though in Draco's case, she knew he could brew that potion without having to lift a finger.

And thanks to Draco's help, other than Theodore who was capable enough by himself with potions, his close friends didn't suffer too much to pass Snape's test.

Though, in Harriet's case, despite having the necessary knowledge, Draco noticed that her scar was bothering her.

Despite the fact that she hadn't met with Voldemort in the forbidden forest, she was still having nightmares with him.

Draco had to do something about the Horcrux Voldemort had unintentionally planted on her.

The last exam, after Herbology and Astronomy, was History of Magic.

Countless questions about batty old wizards who had invented self-stirring cauldrons and they all were free.

Free for a whole week until their exams results came out.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be." Said Hermione as they joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf code of conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

"Are you sure that was even in this term?" Pansy asked, already used to Hermione.

"It was, but not so important to elaborate further." Draco replied.

"Then why even bother with it?" Daphne said, rolling her eyes.

"Knowledge is power." Gregory suddenly said.

"And power is everything." Vincent added.

"You guys sure creep me out sometimes." Theodore pointed. "And you Weasley? Did you do well with your exams? Remember that you are representing the entire Slytherin house."

While the rest of the group teased Ron in a more friendly manner, Harriet approached Draco.

"Thanks for all the help, I'm not sure I would've managed today's tests without it." She said, trying to ignore her headache. "But, I need to talk with you about something else."

"You are welcome." Draco replied. "So. What is it?"

"I-I don't want to sound rude, but can we speak privately?" Harriet asked before wincing.

Draco noticed her condition and nodded, he looked at the others and asked for them to go without him. "Me and Potter have forgotten to discuss something with Professor Snape."

They all nodded, not used to pry into Draco's business.

"Sure, we will see you later then." Theodore said before turning to Ron. "So, how about we have that rematch now? I've practiced some Wizard chess in my spare time, so this time I will be victorious."

"S-sure." Ron replied meekly.

Both Draco and Harriet walked away until finding a more secluded spot.

Harriet began rubbing her forehead.

"I-I want to know what this means." She asked in an annoyed tone. "My scar… it keeps hurting and giving me nightmares. It's happened before, but never as often like this, nor as strongly."

Draco stared at her scar, considering his actions.

"I know I'm not sick." Harriet said. "I feel it's a warning… it wants to tell me that danger's coming. You are the smartest guy that I know that I can trust. Can you help me with it?"

Draco sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"My scar…" Harriet began, trying to calm her tone. "Do you think it might have something to do with Voldemort? I mean, he was the one that gave it to me."

"I wouldn't recommend you to say his name out loud." Draco advised her.

"But I'm not afraid of him." Harriet replied.

"It's not about being afraid." Draco said. "His name isn't a taboo because people are simply just too afraid of him. This name of his has been cursed, everytime someone spoke it in an unprotected space, he would be aware of your location."

Harriet gasped. "So I've been responsible for my scar behaving so weirdly."

"It's a possibility. One I would advise you to consider." Draco pointed. "You seem to have some sort of connection with you-know-who, at least at the moment, it's the most logical theory."

'I could tell you so much.' Draco started walking around Harriet as he thought. 'But then I will have to come up with an explanation as to how I know what I know.' He looked at the time. 'Luckily, you are already hooked, and the day has finally come.'

"I have some ideas, but I will have to research about it." Draco finally spoke. "I'm sorry for not being much of a help at the moment."

Harriet shook her head in disagreement. "Don't be, you've already helped me. I now know I'm not going crazy." She managed to smile, despite her headache. "I mean what I said before." She approached him and grabbed his hand. "I trust you."

"Thanks." Draco was pleased to hear that. Before leaving her alone, he added. "If there really is someone that can defeat you-know-who, I believe it's you. Please don't die, Potter."

She smiled back and nodded.

'Thankfully Dumbledore is still around.' Harriet thought.

However, an anonymous and untraceable letter would soon inform her about the headmaster's emergency visit to the Ministry of Magic that day.

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(10/06/2021)

*Hey there! Thanks for reading my work! I hope this chapter is of your liking. I tried to show that Ron is slowly but surely becoming part of Draco's group as he embraces his Slytherin side. The MC now has a dragon and an unicorn living in his suitcase, two of the three sources for a wand core. And the meeting with Voldy shows how he plans to go through the coming years. Besides, he helped Harriet understand the connection between her and Voldemort.

Sorry if you expected more of it. 😅

Any ideas for powers, adventure arcs and girls are more than welcomed. I might not use anything, but you will have my gratitude for trying.

If this chapter is a mess of grammatical errors, please wait that I'll promptly try to fix it. But for that I need your feedback.

Thanks as always for your time, hope you have a fantastic day and please stay safe.

Bye.