Draco's suffering

Part 36

Draco had to say he was quite impressed. He knew that these exams were difficult, that was how most exams were expected to be designed, and each of the three exams were generally held in such a way. Barring the OWLs, and the NEWTs, which were really just cumuliative exams, something which were always draining, and terrifying far before one even bothered to go into the exam rooms. OWLs loomed over the students who were below fifth year, and NEWTs tormented those between fifth and seventh. The exams were held mostly to test the students and their ability to remember these sorts of things. As long as one studied the material, they would not have much trouble, most students did not, however, as Snape's words attested to and the hasty tapping and nervous glances around the room would state. 

He just sighed heavily and rolled his eyes, dropping his head onto his arms as he waited for the rest of the time to be over. He idly flicked through the pages of his exam just waiting. He did not want to look at the hourglass, not wanting to know how much time was left before they called for the first rounds of students who were finished to be allotted leave. He dreaded when that would be. There was typically two, in the time frame, and then once it reached the last hour, anyone, as long as they turned in their tests, could leave when they were done. He contemplated just leaving then, perhaps he should have entered the exams later than he had? It would have definitely made for a more dramatic entry, but it would also run the chance that he was not able to take the exams, which would be very bad, to say the least. 

He jumped up the moment that the first call was given, noting that Hermione, a few ravens, and some Slytherins with a select few Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs also walked forwards to return their tests to the Professors. He ignored Hermione, not wanting to talk to her, or anyone either. She kept glancing at him, and he had a bad feeling that she would try, so he instantly manouvered himself to the Slytherin sides of the table, taking a chance to look towards Blaise who glanced up at him when he passed, anxious, Draco could tell. 

Good. He could not help but feel a bit vindictively. Blaise should be worried. He deserves to be. Messing with my family affairs, without my permission or agreement. I understand he was worried, but that does not justify the fact that he does not have any right to be meddling with me in such a way. Now Father and Mother are in Azkaban, along with Auntie Bella, and who knows what is going to happen when he returns. He could not really believe that Blaise had done something so stupid. He understood that the other had been worried about him, about the toll that his father was taking on him, but that did not give him the right to just...do whatsoever he wanted to. He usurped his authority. Went behind his back to put his Father in jail, the daring of him. Far closer to a gryffindor train of thought than a Slytherin. 

If Blaise had been anyone else, they would have been murdered by his own hands for daring to think they knew better than him. Not necessarily truly Murdered, but much worse certainly. At first, he would admit, he had not really been able to think clearly enough to worry about the fact that someone would have had to tip the Ministry off in the first place. Once he had enough thought left in his brain to actually realize that, however late the realization had come, that it would have had to have been a Slytherin. 

For one real reason. Nobody truly knew how bad his father was. While everyone who even knew Lucius a tiny bit on a personal level knew that he was a vile person as a general rule, many thought he was a doting father. This was helped in no small part by Draco's own doing. The only ones who understood the darkness around Lucius' heart, one that extended even towards his son, were the Pureblood families that were constantly around his father. Most of those were part of the first or second, or both, generations of Death Eaters. There were rare exceptions, such as Severus, but from what Draco could tell, Severus was the only exception, and he had gone to school with his father. 

He fully intended to make Blaise pay, but he would grant him some mercy. He could not say the same for when his father found out. His father was not known for his mercy, and Draco was not exactly going to be able to keep such information as this from his father. The best that he could do to help Blaise is warn him, and punish him himself. He could only hope that his father would agree to what he had done, he knew that it was likely that he would, if nothing more than to preserve the Malfoy name. 

Draco walked out of the great hall, instead deciding to go straight to the Slytherin Common Room. He had many things to prepare for, and Blaise had what was coming to him. The unfortunate thing was, that even if Draco had decided to let Blaise off lightly, which he would not either way considering how far Blaise had gone this time, he would not be able to let him off because of his Father. His Father was quite strict when it came to many things, and this was not something that Draco could take lightly, he would have to punish Blaise rather severely, and he had no idea how he was supposed to even begin to think of doing that. 

Luckily, he had managed to outwit Hermione, and rushed to his common room rather quickly. He was curious to know if the Golden Trio truly did break, but not curious enough to talk to a Mudblood in front of potential witnesses. Should his Father suspect that he was getting cozy with mudbloods and blood traitors it would be bad, both for him and for the ones he was suspected of associating with. Neither was a good situation in the best of times, and in the end, Draco himself did not really want to deal with them either. Not right now, and not with tense situations, probably not ever, just to be on the safe side. 

He dropped into his four poster bed with a roll of his neck, and a release of tension. He did not really know what to do about the Blaise situation. He would have to figure that later, however he needed to figure things one at a time. He had returned. He would have to figure out what was going on with the Golden Trio. He would have to figure his schedule, on top of how to handle Blaise, furthermore he would need to speak with his Godfather. They needed to figure out a way to inform his father about the current situation. 

"Father will not be pleased," He muttered to himself, dropping back onto the bed.