Umbras ? Harry Potter

September 3, 1993 • Hogwarts

Malfoy didn't appear in classes until late Friday morning when the Slytherins and Gryffindors were halfway through double Potions. He swaggered into the dungeons, his right arm covered in bandages and bound up in a sling, acting, in Harry's opinion, as though he were the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle.

"How is it, Draco?" simpered Pansy Parkinson. "Does it hurt much?"

"Yeah," said Malfoy, putting on a brave sort of grimace. But Harry saw him wink at Crabbe and Goyle when Pansy looked away.

"Settle down, settle down," said Professor Snape idly.

Ciara and Hermione didn't take much notice as they were busy preparing a Shrinking Solution, which they hadn't made yet. Harry and Ron, though, scowled at each other; Snape wouldn't have said "settle down" if they'd walked in late. He'd have given them detention. But Malfoy had always been able to get away with anything in Snape's classes; Snape was head of Slytherin House and generally favored his own students above all others.

Hermione and Ron still seemed a little tense, so the girls took a table away from the boys. Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to Harry and Ron, so they were preparing their ingredients on the same table.

"Sir," Malfoy called, "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots because of my arm."

"Weasley, cut up Malfoy's roots for him," said Snape without looking up.

Ron went brick red.

"There's nothing wrong with your arm," he hissed at Malfoy.

Malfoy smirked across the table. "Weasley, you heard Professor Snape; cut up these roots."

Ron seized his knife, pulled Malfoy's roots toward him, and began to chop them roughly so that they were all different sizes.

"Professor," drawled Malfoy, "Weasley's mutilating my roots, sir."

Snape approached their table, stared down his hooked nose at the roots, then gave Ron an unpleasant smile from beneath his long, greasy black hair. "Change roots with Malfoy, Weasley."

"But, sir—!"

Ron had spent the last quarter of an hour carefully shredding his own roots into exactly equal pieces.

"Now," said Snape in his most dangerous voice.

Ciara rolled her eyes at this. Snape was a sad, pathetic man in her eyes. He only felt good about himself when making fun of children at his grown age.

Ron shoved his own beautifully cut roots across the table at Malfoy, then took up the knife again.

"And, sir, I'll need this shrivelfig skinned," said Malfoy, his voice full of malicious laughter.

"Potter, you can skin Malfoy's shrivelfig," said Snape, giving Harry the look of loathing he always reserved just for him.

Harry took Malfoy's shrivelfig as Ron began trying to repair the damage to the roots he now had to use. Harry skinned the shrivelfig as fast as he could and flung it back across the table at Malfoy without speaking. Malfoy was smirking more broadly than ever.

"Seen your pal Hagrid lately?" he asked them quietly.

"None of your business," said Ron jerkily, without looking up.

"I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer," said Malfoy in a tone of mock sorrow. "Father's not very happy about my injury—"

"Keep talking, Malfoy, and I'll give you a real injury," snarled Ron.