When Malfoy reported the dragon incident to Professor Snape, he was met with a cold rebuke. After that, he didn't bring it up again, because he realized no one believed him. Following the scene in the dining hall, most students thought Malfoy had made up a story to smear the people he disliked, especially Anne.
Some braver students even began reenacting Malfoy's argument with Anne, tweaking the lines to make them even more ridiculous. Their antics had everyone around them laughing, and soon, Malfoy became a laughingReeve throughout the school.
Now, every time he passed by Anne, he would glare at her fiercely. But Anne didn't mind. A glare didn't actually hurt, and she carried on with her routine like nothing had happened, sleeping in, going to the greenhouses, eating meals. Occasionally, she hoped the whole dragon business would be over soon so she wouldn't have to keep up this ambiguous connection with the Golden Trio. As for sending the dragon away, she wasn't the least bit worried. That was their responsibility, wasn't it? Besides, the Chosen One, Harry Potter, already had the Invisibility Cloak, one of the Deathly Hallows, so what was there to fear? If they still managed to mess this up, Anne would seriously question their intelligence.
But reality rarely followed one's expectations. Things were about to deviate significantly, at least, from Anne's expectations. Because besides Anne and the trio, there was another person involved in the matter.
Three days after the incident in the dining hall, on Tuesday at lunch, Anne was happily piling food onto her plate. She was mixing different meats and cutting them into bite-sized pieces, popping one in her mouth with each bite.
When Malfoy passed by, he didn't glare at her like usual. Instead, he gave her a sly, knowing smile.
Anne's heart skipped a beat. Did he find something out? She thought it through quickly. After getting shut down by Snape, Malfoy wouldn't risk embarrassing himself again unless he had real evidence, like catching them in the act of sending off the dragon. That had to be it. If that was what he was after, then it wasn't too worrying. Harry had the Invisibility Cloak, no way Malfoy could see them. If anything, Malfoy might end up losing house points himself.
And Anne was half right.
That afternoon, after class, Anne and Fanny were exiting the classroom when they saw the trio lingering at the bottom of the stairs, chatting while occasionally sneaking glances toward the door.
Anne guessed they probably wanted to talk about Malfoy, so she leaned close to Fanny and whispered, "I'm heading to the library. Go ahead without me."
Fanny had clearly noticed the trio too. She glanced between Anne and the three, then nodded and left without asking further questions.
Anne casually strolled down the stairs, passing the trio without making eye contact, and dropped a low instruction: "Separate and meet in the library."
Without waiting for a reaction, she leisurely made her way to the library, tossing a silver sickle up and catching it as she walked.
Once in the first-floor reading area, she set down her bag, pulled out some books, opened her notebook, and jotted a few lines. By the time the trio arrived at the library door, Anne had already gone upstairs to the second floor, settling between the Quidditch and sports sections where no one else was around.
The trio arrived shortly after, a bit out of breath. Clearly, they'd run. They visibly relaxed when they saw her.
Anne noticed Ron's hand was heavily bandaged. "Alright, my daring trio, what's up? This about Malfoy?"
Ron opened his mouth to speak, but Anne stopped him with a wave and looked at Hermione instead. "Let's have Hermione explain. Make it quick. This isn't the best place for a private chat."
Hermione had calmed down. She glanced at Ron and began in a hushed, fast-paced voice. "It was my idea to come to you. Ron got a letter from Charlie yesterday morning, he's really happy to take the dragon. But he stressed that no one can know. It's very serious. He said he'll send some friends to pick up the dragon this Saturday night, from the top of the Astronomy Tower."
She then looked at Ron's injured hand. "Everything was going fine until Ron got bitten by the dragon yesterday at lunch. We've been taking turns caring for Norbert, Hagrid still has work to do. At first we thought it wasn't serious, but Ron's hand kept swelling, so we went to Madam Pomfrey. She had him stay overnight in the hospital wing."
Anne raised an eyebrow at Ron, who quickly added, "I didn't say anything! Just told her I got bitten by a dog."
Hermione nodded and continued, "But somehow Malfoy found out. He came this morning, pretending he needed to borrow a book from Ron."
"He wasn't borrowing anything!" Ron fumed. "He just came to mock me!"
Hermione shot him a glare and went on. "After he mocked Ron, he took the book on Ron's nightstand. And that's the problem, Charlie's letter was tucked inside it."
All three turned to look at Anne, waiting for her response.
Anne folded her arms and leaned against the bookshelf. "Mmhmm. So? You're not here just for ideas on how to respond, right?"
Harry and Ron looked at Hermione, who nodded. "We do have a plan. We'll definitely get Norbert out by Saturday, he's growing way too fast."
Ron added, "And I really don't want to keep taking care of him."
Hermione rushed to finish, "But I still felt uneasy. That's why I said we should come talk to you."
Anne nodded. "Alright. So what's your plan?"
Hermione and Ron turned to Harry, who whispered, "I have an Invisibility Cloak. We'll use it to sneak Norbert out."
Anne still leaned lazily against the shelf. "An Invisibility Cloak? That's a fine item. Malfoy won't be able to catch you. Perfect. But…"
The trio tensed.
Anne lowered her gaze, thinking. "Then there's Filch and that horrible cat of his. You might avoid Malfoy, but Filch and his cat could still catch you."
Harry quickly said, "I've used the cloak during the Christmas holidays, never got caught!"
Ron muttered, "You mean the time you dragged me out to look at that weird mirror? I'm sure that cat smelled us, Filch just couldn't see us and got lucky."
"What mirror?" Anne asked, but both boys went silent. Hermione looked puzzled.
Anne waved it off. "Doesn't matter. The point is, someone might still catch you. So you need a backup plan."
She tapped her chin. "How are your Astronomy grades?"
"Huh?" Harry and Ron blinked, confused by the sudden change. But they answered honestly: "Average." "Not great."
Hermione was ready to lecture them, but Anne stopped her by covering her mouth. She knew Hermione couldn't resist anything school-related.
"Okay. Do you have Astronomy class this week?" she asked Hermione, letting go.
"Yes, Thursday night," Hermione replied, then clamped her mouth shut.
"Perfect." Anne looked at the boys. "On Thursday, during class, make a few small mistakes, nothing serious. Then, on Saturday night when you sneak out, bring your Astronomy books. Even better, bring a telescope. That way, if anything goes wrong, you'll have a legitimate reason to be up there. Worst case, it'll save you from getting expelled. With this, your plan should be foolproof."
Harry and Ron nodded eagerly. Hermione beamed. "I knew we should talk to you!"
Anne waved a hand. "I don't see what's so great about this. Anyway, good luck with your dragon delivery. I'm off."
When Anne returned to the Slytherin table, Fanny was just finishing her last sip of pumpkin soup. As Anne sat down, Fanny leaned closer and asked, "Did you and your Gryffindor friends do something exciting again?"
"When did I get a group of Gryffindor friends?" Anne said, scooping some mashed potatoes. "Don't make things up. And we didn't do anything. But if you really want to know... I won't lie, I just can't tell you yet. You'll probably find out by the end of the weekend."
Fanny pouted. "Fine. But I bet it has something to do with that dragon Malfoy mentioned."
"Huh? What dragon?" Anne feigned confusion.
"Ah-ha!" Fanny leaned in, surprised. "You really did raise a dragon in that hut with them?"
Anne took a big gulp of soup, grinning mysteriously. "I didn't say anything. You're the one making guesses."
"Hmph~" Fanny turned away.
Before long, Saturday arrived. That evening in the Slytherin common room, Malfoy strutted over to Anne and Fanny, who were doing homework. He smirked. "I know what you're planning to do tonight."
Anne paused her quill and looked up blankly. "What am I doing? Going to bed?"
"Don't play dumb. You're not sneaking out tonight?"
"It's freezing outside. Why would I go out? Besides, sneaking around the castle at night is serious rule-breaking," she said, head down, resuming her writing.
"They didn't tell you?" Malfoy looked at her, searching for a reaction.
"They? Who?" she replied innocently.
"Forget it." Remembering their past arguments, Malfoy decided not to press further. He just muttered, "You'll see tomorrow," and turned to leave.
As he walked away, Anne called after him, "Draco, just a friendly reminder, it's serious rule-breaking to be out at night. I'd hate to see Slytherin lose a bunch of points because of you!"
Malfoy ignored her and stormed out.
Fanny nudged Anne, intrigued. "Something exciting going on tonight?"
Anne dipped her quill again. "I don't know about exciting, but I do know this homework's due Monday."
Fanny glanced at Anne's Astronomy assignment and muttered, "If you spent less time on Herbology, you'd be done by now."
The next day, rumors spread through the school, Malfoy had been caught wandering the castle at night, a serious offense. Slytherin lost twenty points. Gryffindor also lost twenty, as four students were caught stargazing on the Astronomy Tower late at night, supposedly to improve their grades. All five were given detention.
When Anne heard the news, she felt a bit sorry about the lost Slytherin points, but also quietly pleased. The whole dragon incident was finally over.
And seeing Snape scolding Malfoy in the hallway on her way to the Great Hall only made her day better. She knew now that Malfoy wouldn't dare make any moves for the rest of the term. She could finally enjoy a peaceful, carefree school life again.
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A/N: Another chill daily update!
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