Chapter 30 - Animal Care and a Rise in Tension

" Draco! Come with me to the forest today! " Louis happily says as he drags Draco by the arm to the forest.

" May I ask Why? It's too early in the day for this. " The young Malfoy says tiredly, " Because Meister and the rest forced me to take a break from my things to have some fun with them. They also haven't seen you for some time, so their worried about you. "

" So do I bring the snacks, or will they be provided? " He asks Louis who was still dragging him by the arm out of the school and straight to the forest.

" No need for that, they said they'd provide them! " Louis grins happily but still looks like the dead. " How much sleep have you been getting? You look like the undead. " Draco asks the boy.

" Four? Five? No six! I've been getting six hours of sleep! " The very sleep deprived Princeton states with a finger up in the air.

" Yah no. Your taking a nap the moment we get there. " Draco says sternly, now dragging Louis by the arm himself.

" But! - " Louis starts, " No ' but's ', your not acting like yourself cause your sleep deprived, and that worries me. Just for today, you'll be sleeping until you get yourself acting back to normal, so don't worry about a thing you hear me? "

It's not like Louis wanted to be sleep deprived, it's just that he got too caught up in his clues to want to sleep. ' But taking a nap does sound nice right about now. ' His inner consciousness says as he yawns loudly.

" Hey guys! " He greets the happy animals sleepily. Worried as to why their energetic ball of light was more looking like the dead compared to the last time they saw him, the inhabitants of the forbidden forest quickly got into action.

Draco wasn't sure whether to laugh at the comical scene or be worried for Louis with them. It was very conflicting feelings.

" I'm fine guys! It's just a lack of sleep okay? Ah. " Realising what he said was probably a bad idea, it was too late to regret when the creatures panicked even more.

" Guys! " Draco calls the attention of the scattered creatures successfully with a sharp whistle, " He just needs to take a nap and he'll be back to normal, okay? "

And let him nap they did, they even made a makeshift bed and blanket for Louis to get comfy in.

" Shall we have breakfast now? " Draco asks setting up the table for the his extremely early breakfast, it's no joke, the sun isn't even up yet.

• • •

After meeting up with Annie and Richard outside the quidditch field by pure coincidence, Annie immediately begins bombarding her questions on Draco.

" Draco! Where were you? We didn't see you in the dining hall for breakfast. And have you seen Louie? He usually disappears before telling us where he wants to go. And where is Bandit? "

" I was in the forest with Louis and the rest, in the wee hours of the morning. He dragged me there to be with him cause the others haven't seen me in a while. He's catching up on his sleep with them for the day. " Draco calmly informs both Princeton's.

Richard nods his head proceeding to walk off with the two to the library. On the way to there though, they had to unfortunately pass by the quidditch field and since the day was a Saturday, it meant that the quidditch teams would be there for practice.

Passing by as quietly as they could - well Richard and Annie had no problem with that, and Draco was doing fine! Minus the fact that the Slytherin quidditch team caught sight of him and dragged him along to where the Gryffindor players were.

Everything was fine.

Annie and Richard following along unable to be seen as usual. ' Nononononono, Richard, Annie HeLp mE! ' Draco shouts to them in his mind, both Princeton's are currently stuck on what to do. Save him? Or risk getting found out?

' Things are somehow better and easier when Louie is here. ' Richard states to which Annie nods, Draco also unknowingly nods his head.

Still in slight panic, Draco doesn't realise that he's already been dragged to the quidditch field and the two captains were having a ' lovely ' conversation.

It was only when his name was called out, did he get out of his panic mode. " Huh? " He says in his state of confusion.

" Your father bought these brooms for the Slytherin quidditch team didn't he? " Marcus Flint - The captain of Slytherin's team said, giving Draco a look that spelled trouble for him.

" He did? Since when? " Draco asks still unclear of what was happening. It appeared that what Marcus said earlier, triggered something in the opposing team, since Ron attempted to curse him with his wand.

" Oh that's nasty. " Annie says next to Draco who nods grossed out at the sight of the young Weasely puking up slugs.

" Let's get going before things take a turn for the worst. " Richard says dragging Draco by the arm as fast as he can with Annie following close behind.

" What happened? " Draco asks once more, but this time more clear of what was going on around him.

" Captain sunshine over there, was speaking on your ' behalf ' and said the M word towards Hermoine, which made young Weasley over there snap. " Nodding he absorbs the information as the three head for the library at a fast pace.

• • •

" Hey guys! What did I miss? " Louis asks happily sitting with the three for dinner. Draco decided it'd be best to be invisible for the rest of the day, so he had asked Richard to make him invisble which the boy agreed to.

Filling Louis in on the day he missed, they realised something changed about Louis, but they couldn't pinpoint what.

" Did your hair colour become brighter? " Draco asks incredulous, touching Louis' hair to see if he was just seeing things. Annie and Richard's eyebrows were raised very high.

" We need to tell the family. " Both say at the same time before dashing off to write their letter and send it through owl.

" What was that about, and what does it have to do with your hair? " Draco curiously asks Louis who was eating his meal with a mini mountain of Jello by the side for dessert.

With a small sigh, Louis gobbles down the remainder of his food in his mouth and shoves his Jello into his pockets. Grabbing Draco by the arm, he leads the him to a secluded area where students rarely roamed.

" As you know, my family is.....slightly special from the others. " Louis starts once Draco found a place to seat, with a nod of Draco's head he continues.

" You've realised our hair colour and eyes are different from your family, and other families. " Draco nods his head.

" My eyes are from my mother. " Draco gives a confused look, " Richie and Ann have them because once my mother became a....Princeton, her genes would be added to the next generation. "

Draco ponders on it, ' It is true that I found it weird when I saw that Lyran and Justin had different coloured eyes from the three of them. '

He just didn't think Louis' family would be so.....complicated. And that was for those added into the family!

" For my mum's family, the brighter one's eyes are, the stronger they are. " Louis explains slowly biting his lips, it was extremely hard for him to explain things about his family, but if he wanted Draco to understand them he had to.

" My dad's side is the one who has the purple to blue hair. " Louis starts once more. Draco was still processing the thing about the eyes, but hearing the full explanation was more important.

" Just like my mom's family, the brighter the colour our hair is, the stronger we are...." Draco knew there was something else so he waited.

"...And if it becomes silver to black as one grows up....it means that- " Louis couldn't finish his last few words, when Bandit, Gred and Feorge came running into them, mischievous smiles on their faces and a small cackle from Bandit.

" What happened? " Louis asks the three slightly bewildered, " Tell you later, " George says, " Just run for now! " Fred finishes grabbing a hold on Louis and dragging him along with them.

Draco was left in the dust, pondering about what Louis was going to say before the three interrupted. ' Whatever it was, by the look of his face....it couldn't mean anything good. '