63 Pranking Week
The rest of the week leading to the Slytherin leader's selection and the fight between factions was filled with entertainment for those who were unconcerned with the outcome as well as the students of other houses.
Slytherins, especially upperclassmen, have been involved in almost every rule-breaking event that happened that week – to the point that even the Weasley twins had to step aside to admire the outcomes while dutifully taking down notes for future reference.
If the professors knew, they would have been surprised by the unusual diligence that the redheads showed (which definitely didn't appear in any of said Gryffindors' classes).
But even the Weasley twins, who were easily amused every time that someone else acted out, had their favorite 'pranks'. The number one on their list was probably the time when a Slytherin fifth-year was cursed with a tongue-extending jinx, having said appendage be wrapped around their body and tripping down the moving stairs.
The prank definitely fit the Slytherins' style – ruthless and sly – to this day the teachers haven't found the perpetrator, while the victim was still enjoying their prolonged stay in the Hospital Wing.
Needless to say, the culprit (if ever discovered) would find themselves with a pair of very loyal and brainless Gryffindor fans.
Never let it be said that the relationship between the Slytherin and Gryffindor houses was unrepairable!
On the other hand, Draco and his friends could be considered to be sitting on the first-row seats when it came to enjoying the spectacle. As such, the blond boy was even clearer on the degree of the viciousness of his fellow housemates.
On Tuesday, after the talk with Corvus Lestrange, he became an accidental witness to a sixth-year girl being grabbed by the Whomping Willow's branches and flung around similarly to how muggles rode various dangerous attractions in the amusement parks.
Except that the girl was definitely not amused, judging by her unceasing screams and numerous broken bones which were the result of her being thrown into the air and down on the ground when the half-sentient tree finally got bored of its toy.
Draco, who had been casually passing by at the time, pretended that he didn't see or hear anything. He especially didn't see Marcus Flint, the current Captain of the Slytherin's Quidditch team, running into the Forbidden Forest after casting some suspicious spells at the over-excited tree (and probably a few 'Confundus' charms on the said girl to make her come near it in the first place).
The blond boy would rather not join in on the 'fun' if it ever became known that he blabbed about the incident to the teachers (or got otherwise involved). Even if he wouldn't personally hurt his classmates because of minor reasons, it didn't mean that he was some holy father who would come and save every person in need he encountered.
He wasn't a masochist or suicidal, thank you very much!
Besides that one incident, Draco heard about one more event which happened on Wednesday from Theo. According to the dark-haired boy, at dinner that night he witnessed one of the upper-year Slytherins pour some kind of potion in another housemate's goblet of pumpkin juice.
The thing that happened to said pumpkin-juice lover was evidence to the fact that the potion was rather 'dark' if additional limbs that grew out of his body in mere seconds could be counted as the result.
The Slytherin victim adopted a rather surprising resemblance to spiders.
Afterward, Draco wasn't surprised to hear that Ronald Weasley almost fainted from witnessing the unnatural sight. The poor boy probably lost all of his appetite from the shock…
The Thursday would have been uneventful because the day was strangely quiet with teachers being more vigilant of troublemakers.
All eyes were concentrated on the Slytherin house.
However, in tacit understanding, all members of said house acted like normal – as if the four people residing in the Hospital Wing, as well as a few more students who suffered from somewhat gentler attention of their peers - weren't related to them.
Draco could only express his sincere admiration for the older housemates and study their behavior in order to attentively learn from them. After all, even his godfather could expertly ignore his colleagues' accusing gazes at the dinner table and act as though everything that happened around him was everyone's problem but his own.
So who was Draco to act any differently?
But, coming back to the Thursday - when some people thought that they could finally breathe a sigh of relief, they were quickly disillusioned.
That night, when most of the castle's inhabitants were asleep or on their way there, the Slytherin common room exploded.
At least, that was what Draco thought when he heard a loud bang all the way in his room.
After hurriedly throwing on a robe and tying it down in the middle over his pajamas, the blond Slytherin quickly left to investigate the source of the sound. Zosar, who had been peacefully sleeping on his perch with his beak under a wing, didn't even blink an eye at the disturbance – he was still completely immersed in the dreamland.
When Draco entered the common room, he discovered that he was one of the last to arrive at the scene. The other students were already quietly discussing everything between themselves while looking at something in the middle of the strangely dark room.
Draco quietly raised his head and emotionlessly stared at the ceiling.
He could have sworn that before he went to bed there was a chandelier hanging in the middle of the common room. How come it wasn't there anymore?
The blond boy seriously pondered the problem, while a voice in the back of his mind wondered whether he was still asleep.
Finally, after a minute of thinking Draco concluded:
1. The chandelier fell down;
2. His mind was still muddled from sleep because it took forever to think it up.
Afterward, he didn't remember how he went back to his room as the whole night seemed to be just a giant blur of events. In the morning, he could have sworn that all of it was a dream, if not for the whole school discussing the unfortunate incident of Elbert Muddley being squashed by a chandelier while sneaking into the common room after a rendezvous with a Ravenclaw girl.
The boy was alright, but the Hospital Wing now had one more long-term guest.
Friday was comparatively quieter. True, some potions exploded, some transfigurations had strange side-effects and Care of Magical Creatures was temporarily suspended due to some accident which all of the upper-years refused to reveal (though they declined to eat dinner that night, faces turning greenish at the thought - which Draco thought was an important clue).
The Saturday was the day of the Quidditch match between Slytherins and Hufflepuffs – the same match which Draco refused to help sabotage in order to help Corvus Lestrange out.
The blond Slytherin wasn't naïve – after turning down the current Slytherin leader, he was extra mindful of the other teenager. After all, he knew from growing up in the family of Slytherins that the members of this house weren't a forgetful bunch – a refusal wasn't what they would take lying down even if it was completely logical.
Draco's caution was not excessive – he found that Corvus' eyes were distinctly unfriendly when looking at himself, albeit covertly.
The morning started rather uneventfully – the Slytherin and Hufflepuff tables were the most boisterous because of the coming match. Bets were taking place, and so far it seemed that the odds favored the house of the ambitious.
The Slytherin Quidditch team's members were automatically excluded from any targeting which other participants in the coming selection were suffering from. In Slytherins' minds, winning the Quidditch Cup was the obvious priority compared to becoming the house's leader.
First of all, it showed that all of them were better than everyone else in school. Secondly, it was a matter of pride – wouldn't they become a laughing stock if their team only consisted of substitutes in the official game and after six years of consecutive wins actually lost to Hufflepuffs? Even better – it would be the result of students sabotaging their own house!
That's why Draco adamantly refused to participate in Corvus' plan – no matter how powerful his family was outside Hogwarts, he would still become a pariah if it ever got out that he had a hand in the incident.
Especially if Slytherin lost because of him.
At nine o'clock, the whole school was gathered in the stands, eagerly waiting for the match to begin. Unsurprisingly, fifteen minutes into the game it was already clear that this year the Slytherin team was clearly better than the Hufflepuff one.
"Can't believe that I woke up early for this," commented Daphne to her friends as she yawned while impassively watching as Adrian Pucey, the Slytherin Chaser, scored another goal and earned a lead of 50 points on their opponents.
Draco, who stood next to Daphne, clapped in response to the goal. Everyone around them also burst into boisterous cheers, while the stands opposite loudly booed.
When the noise finally died down, he commented:
"I think that the fun part of the match will start soon."
Theo and Daphne simultaneously turned their heads in the direction of their friend.
"Your words sound ominous, or is it just me?" asked Theo, his blue eyes cunningly gleaming with slight amusement.
"It's definitely not just you," answered Daphne with a smirk, looking considerably more awake now. "What did you do?"
Draco shrugged and calmly continued watching the game, clapping every time their house scored another goal or defended against the opponents' ball. However, his friends could see that the corner of his mouth was slightly quirked up, showing that he wasn't indifferent to their questions.
Five minutes later they found out what made Draco so amused and secretive.
One of the Hufflepuff beaters sent a Bludger the Slytherin Seeker's way. The move was common and the Slytherin player noticed it early on, preparing to dodge out of the way.
However, the Bludger moved in a completely different trajectory than intended.
Instead of chasing after the Seeker, or at least brushing past him, the Bludger suddenly turned in the direction of Slytherin stands and with a previously unseen force crashed into the sea of people.
Suddenly the stadium was full of screams as everyone backed away, even though it was already too late to panic.
Madam Hooch blew a whistle indicating a break, while the Professors rushed to the injured students.
Daphne and Theo exchanged glances and once again turned to Draco.
"Who did you target?" whispered the dark-haired boy after casting a quick privacy charm around them.
"One of the competitors for the leadership position pulled me aside a few days ago and asked for a favor. When I refused because of its unreasonableness, the other party seemed to carry a grudge… I can't really leave them alone to win said position easily, right?" Draco asked rhetorically, his gray eyes showing uncharacteristic coldness.
Theo raised an eyebrow in response and didn't inquire any further. He, out of all of them, was probably the most vicious because of the way he grew up under his father's 'care'. So he didn't see anything wrong with preemptively incapacitating the enemy.
Daphne also didn't think that Draco's response was excessive. Her green eyes looked into the center of commotion with consideration, and she only had one question:
"Will they know that it was you?"
Draco thought for a moment and replied:
"Hard to tell. They wanted me to act during the Quidditch game, so this coincidence may seem too… coincidental. However, most others would still think that it is their fellow competitor who's targeting them and not some unremarkable first-year."
"Unremarkable first-year?" Daphne rolled her eyes in the blonde's direction. "If you are unremarkable than what are we, invisible people?"
"Can't deny that," muttered Theo with a quiet snort.
Before Draco could answer, the spot where the Bludger fell earlier was cleared and one person was carried out on a conjured stretcher.
Everyone made way as Corvus Lestrange was hurriedly sent into the Hospital Wing.
The sixth-year Slytherin was the last long-term guest there that week.
---
"Albus, this can't go on! How many students were injured? And that Bludger! The Quidditch equipment is checked before and after every match for charms and curses placed on it – how could something like this happen?" demanded Minerva McGonagall angrily.
The Heads of all houses were gathered in the Headmaster's office discussing the latest events.
"I checked the wards and it seems that there was a foreign presence in school during the time of the match. However, I can't narrow it down, as they never actually went into the castle," replied the old wizard thoughtfully. His wrinkled hand reached into the bowl holding lemon drops, from which one was quickly taken and thrown into his mouth.
The room turned silent and only the sound of sucking the candy could be heard.
"Well, if there's nothing else, some of us have better things to do," finally commented Severus and turned around with the full intention of leaving first. He had better things to do than stand there in silence with his stare directed into nothingness.
"Oh no you don't!" exclaimed the Transfiguration teacher once again. "Severus, your students are too out of control! Poor Poppy is exhausted every year that your house holds this competition – you are the Head of House, you should control your students better!"
The Potions Master rolled his eyes at the door, which seemed so close, yet so far away, and turned to once again face his older colleague.
"It's a tradition, and no one was killed or seriously harmed, so I don't see what all of this is about. Besides, it's not like your control of the Gryffindors is in any way more exemplary," he replied fully knowing that his words would only further enrage the cat Animagus.
He wasn't incorrect.
"What do you mean by 'not killed or seriously harmed'?!" shouted Minerva angrily. "Is this a still a school if we allow all of this to happen right under our noses? And my Gryffindors would never do any of those things!"
Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout calmly sipped their tea while watching the spectacle go on. Dumbledore was still sucking on his candy and enjoying free entertainment his fellow professors provided. This trio was already used to Minerva and Severus arguing like cats and dogs (no pun intended).
"Anyway, if you can catch the culprits then be my guest," the Potions Master was starting to lose his patience and finally pointed out the biggest issue. "But if you can't even catch them, then what do you expect me to do? Today the Slytherin's leader will be determined and everything will go back to how it was before. If anything, you should be happy that Corvus Lestrange will lose his influence."
The meeting continued in a similar fashion, however, one thing said was completely correct: that evening, after several exhausting duels, the next leader was finally determined.
It was Aniceta Gage.
