Chương 8: Concern

A tall, thin boy of about 10-11 years old is sitting with a tanned boy and a pretty little girl in a room in an ancient Manor. The participants were none other then Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson resp. There is a strange and quite atmosphere in the room, a notable thing is they all have a frown and anxious expressions on their faces. It looked like they were arguing on some topic.

Blaise said,"So you said that we should leave him on his own. What a good friend are you, Theo?"

"You are twisting my words Blaise. Like I have said I think we should give him a little space".

"Space? you say. Then what are we giving him for the past two years, huh?"

"And what is your suggestion? That we coerce him or corner him. That's low Blaise and you know it. Pans what do you think we should do? I don't think any of us here are more concerned then you for Draco, right".

Pansy who is listening to their conversation quietly look up to them. They can see the deep worry and anguish those eyes hold for their friend. How can all three of them are not perturbed by Draco's behaviour over the years. Although he act friendly with them any try hard to cover his abnormal behaviour. But the three of them over the years have roughly guessed that there is something bothering him. Something which makes him anxious to become stronger, mature and thoughtful. All four of them belong to noble houses and have matured considerably early compared to other kids of their age. Though they are not experienced as Draco, they are not stupid. They have tried to ask him a few times and he played it off normal but no way in hell would they believe him. The thirst for knowledge and power they had seen in his eyes as if he is racing against time cannot appear in a 11 year old boy. So all of them had gathered in a private meeting to talk about their dear friend. Blaise want to corner Draco either by force or through emotional blackmail while Theo wants to take nature take its course and firmly believes that Draco would one day tell them by his own accord. Pansy is neutral among them. She does not care about the methods, she only wanted to know Draco's problem and solve it. Eventually they decided that even if they do not know what is the crux of problem, they will support him from behind. Blaise was hard to convince but after some promises he agreed.

Pansy went to meet her other 'friends' in the Malfoy manner. In order to not alert Draco, she came without informing. Sneakily she wait at a designated room, after some time two burly figures came into her view. Yes it was Crabbe and Goyle. A few years back, Pansy has become 'friends' with them and they were trained and threatened accordingly. Their purpose was simple; as the sidekicks of Draco, they have to keep tabs on him and report his daily activities to her. By the continuous 'teaching' of Draco and Pansy, these two retards have came a long way and can now be considered normal in intellect of their peers. Not much is known by them of Draco's plans through the clumsy methods taught by their 11 year old teacher, but they had informed her that Draco had some dealings with the Gringotts Bank. This makes her even more determined to find what dealings can a young heir of the wealthiest families do with Gringotts and what is the need of it? These two have come for their daily report. Although they are a little afraid of Draco but Pansy outright terrified them. They knew that they can afford to offend Draco but not this Devil.

"Why are you so late", Pansy asked in an authorative and commanding voice like she is a queen who cannot be defied which is foreign to the meek girl attitude in front of Draco and a shy girl persona she has in front of Theo and Blaise. If they see her now, they will not believe that Pansy can make such a face. No one know if this is her true nature or another mask. The two trembled for a moment and Crabbe said," We have trailed Draco till the Diagon Alley and then we lost him".

Pansy is pissed of by their uselessness and is about to rebuke them when suddenly Goyle spoke.

"Oh I suddenly remembered that Draco is collecting stories no maybe arts or literature of different wizarding countries. I remember seeing an envelope posted to a girl in France. When I asked Draco he said that she is his longtime penfriend".

The temperature in the room suddenly dropped and both Goyle and Crabbe suddenly felt a chill in their spine. Pansy gave them the 'kindest' or you can say scariest smile they have ever seen.

"What is the NAME of that GIRL?", she said in a calm tone, although the sound of grinding of her teeth cannot be mistaken.

"I don't remember it" Goyle say while mustering all the courage within him to look her in the eye.

"Oh I have various methods to make you remember, don't you think too Crabbe", Pansy said with a sweet smile but her eyes are not smiling.

"I remember I think her name was Gabrielle Delacour" Crabbe said while squeezing a weak smile.

'Pray that you don't meet me bitch or I will make you regret being born'

Pansy's smile did not vanish nor the strange atmosphere. After some time, she let them go. They both were secretly relieved that they have escaped from the devil's clutches but at the same time feel sorry for their 'boss' who has such a crazy girl after him which he is blissfully ignorant of.