Chapter 035 Slytherin Common Room Malfoy sat on one of the sofas surrounded by a pile of books. He was going through a book while he had a frown all over his face. He was trying to understand the use and characteristics of herbs explained in the book, but everything was going over his head like a bouncer. He would constantly switch from one book to the other, but he found it hard to remember everything. He wanted to give up many times, but the words Alex spoke to him after the beating he got during the Quidditch match snapped something inside of him. He came to realise that those who followed him, fawned over him did so only because of the background of his family. He wanted these people to follow him because of his own merits. Although Malfoy was trying to concentrate on the book in front of him, he could not do so because the common room was filled with Slytherins. Though none of them spoke to him, they were constantly whispering among themselves. And this constant buzz irritated the hell out of Malfoy. Daphne who just entered the common room was surprised to find the usually silent common room packed with students, but when she saw Malfoy with books she finally understood what was the case and like everyone else present there, she too was very surprised. The Malfoy she knew from childhood what disdained most was to sit in front of a book and recite like a nerd. He regarded himself as a prodigy among the noble magical families. Well, he was good at the manipulation of magic, but he lacked knowledge. Malfoy only knew a handful of spells and apart from casting he did not have knowledge about anything else. His knowledge could be considered to be at rock bottom compared to other children of the wizarding family, well if you ignore Crabbie and Goyle. Seeing the struggling Malfoy, Daphne smiled and walked up to him. "Are my eyes deceiving me? The prodigal son of the Malfoy family is studying?" Daphne said as she peeked as to what Malfoy was reading. "Bugger off! Don't be a busybody and get lost". Malfoy was already in a bad mood and now that Daphne was here, his mood took a turn to worse. "Don't be like that, we have known each other for so many years. Come let me help you, you know how intelligent I am, don't you?" Daphne grabbed the book Malfoy was reading. "Show off". Malfoy snorted, but he still paid attention to what Daphne was going to say. "What show off? Don't you remember your father complimenting me every time we met? And how he used to---". Daphne was about to blow her own horn but was interrupted by Malfoy. "Yeah! Yeah! I remember, don't go around blowing your own horn". "Fine, I am going then. Call me if you need any help. We have known each other for so long, I can surely help you with something so trivial". Daphne stuffed the book back into Malfoy's hand and started to walk to her room. "Hey! wait" Malfoy called out for Daphne in a whisper. Daphne turned around and raised her eyebrows in question, "Did you just call for me?" "Yeah! I mean, there is something I want to ask" Malfoy said avoiding eye contact with Daphne. "What is it?" Daphne asked as she walked up to him and sat beside him again. "It's--- it's--- you know" Malfoy was hesitant to ask. "Are you going to ask in this lifetime or not?" Daphne said rolling her eyes. Malfoy nodded and grabbed a book. He went through the pages and turned towards Daphne, " Can you explain to me the twelve uses of the Dragon blood and also about the potions like the Wiggenweld Potion?" "Didn't you pay attention to it when professor Snape was explaining it in the class? Usually, he would give special attention to you, all, in order to ridicule Potter in front of everyone" Daphne, asked sarcastically. "Are you going to help me or not? Why are asking so many questions?" Malfoy scoffed. "Fine! let's get started then". After that Daphne went on clarifying Malfoy's doubt, she would have to cover the basics too, in order to help him understand better. The following days were like torment for the students, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. Alex noticed that the usually silent library was now bustling with students going from one shelf to the other. It was getting increasingly hard for Madam Pince to manage the library. She would go around deducting points as she patrolled the library. But this was not something Alex was feeling good about, he liked to visit the usually quiet library and sit in one of the corners engrossed in books. Probably, Alex, Daphne and Nicole were the only ones who felt relaxed during the holidays. Alex and Daphne were relaxed because they were done with their assignments even before the holidays started, on the other hand, Hermione who was also done with her assignments never for once acted relaxed. Hermione would spend all her time digging into books or helping Harry and Ron with their assignments. Nicole, on the other hand, copied everything from the former three. Alex wanted to reject her when she came to him asking for his assignments but he eventually melted when faced with the puppy face of her sister. But the ones who were tormented more than anyone else were Harry and Ron. It was hard to relax with Hermione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood or practising wand movements. Moaning and yawning, Harry and Ron spent most of their free time in the library with her, trying to get through all their extra work. The only satisfaction for Harry and Ron was the results of Quidditch. Gryffindor was at the top with three wins, followed by Slytherin with two wins and a loss. After that were Hufflepuff at third and Ravenclaw at the last place. Alex was in the library with Daphne going through a book as the two of them discussed something when they heard Ron finally snap, "I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming. "Don't you know you need to pass the exams to get promoted to the second year?" Hermione who was going through a book thicker than her arm lifted her head and looked at Ron. "I know but look at the weather, how can someone be cooped up inside the library in such a nice weather? I have had it. Don't you agree with me Harry?" Harry just hummed and nodded his hand without even looking away from the book he was reading until he heard Ron say, "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?" * * * * *