𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐥𝐞 | h. granger

xix | operation child endangerment

Slytherin Common Room

── •✧• ──

𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, 𝐃𝐀𝐊𝐎𝐓𝐀 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐓 downstairs to the Slytherin Common Room. The final embers from the once-lit fire burnt out, enveloping the room in total darkness. It was quiet; everyone had gone to bed.

Almost everyone.

"And where exactly do you think you're going, Dursley?"

Dakota froze at the portrait hole when she heard Draco's voice. She turned around, crossing her arms. "None of your business, Malfoy."

"Oh, I think it is my business. You're sneaking out again, and I'll be damned if a filthy Mudblood gets Slytherin into trouble again!"

Dakota sighed. "Yeah, you're right." She crossed her fingers behind her back as she slowly pulled out her wand. "I-I mean, I am just a stupid Mudblood after all."

"Yeah, you are." Draco smirked at the admittance.

"And you're a snobby pureblood who greatly underestimated just how powerful a Muggle-born witch can be, so I have no guilt doing this." She raised her wand. "Petrificus totalus!"

Draco's body froze, and he fell face-first down to the floor. She smirked triumphantly. She put her wand away and turned on her heel. She left the common room and hurried up to the third floor corridor to meet with her friends.

"Alohomora," Hermione whispered, pointing her wand at the locked door. They stepped inside, only to find Fluffy fast asleep.

"Wait a minute, he's. . .snoring." Harry frowned.

"Someone's already been here," Dakota added.

"Not someone. Snape," Harry corrected her. Dakota rolled her eyes. "He's put a spell on the harp."

"Ugh!" Ron gagged. "It's got horrible breath."

Dakota pointed at Fluffy's paw, which was resting on the trapdoor. "We have to move his paw," she whispered.

"What?"

"Oh, honestly, Ronald, don't be a baby."

"The bloody beast has three heads, Dakota!"

"Stop shouting," Hermione whispered harshly. "You'll wake him."

The four kids knelt down and pushed Fluffy's paw out of the way. They watched him for a moment before lifting up the trapdoor. They looked down. It was pitch black down there.

"I'll go first," Harry said. "Don't follow until I give you a sign. If something bad happens, get yourselves out. . .Does it seem a bit quiet to you?"

They listened. The harp had stopped playing. Dakota looked up and saw Fluffy growling at them, his teeth bared.

"Jump!" Harry shouted, and one by one, they went through the trapdoor. They landed on a vine plant, which instantly began to wrap itself around them. Dakota grunted as she struggled to break free from the vines.

"Stop moving," Hermione told them. "This is devil's snare. You have to relax. If you don't it'll only kill you faster."

"Kill us faster?!" Dakota cried. "This whole operation is starting to seem a lot like child endangerment!"

"Oh, now I can relax!" Ron shouted sarcastically.

Hermione sent them both a look before sinking through the devil's snare.