The Essay

"Can you believe the cow? Three feet on 'the Dronion theory in correlation to modern transfiguration' she's asking for. What's she trying to do, turn us all into Grangerites? I swear- the mudblood almost fell off her chair she was so eager to start!"

Malfoy was holding conference. He swaggered along the corridor leisurely, walking slow enough to make it awkward for Crabbe and Goyle who kept having to pause to keep from bumping into him.

"'s disgustin'," snorted Crabbe.

"Hey Malfoy!" Pansy shouted. Malfoy stopped abruptly, causing Goyle to walk into him.

"'s Parkinson," said Crabbe.

"Really, I'd never have guessed," said Malfoy icily. "Go ahead, I'll catch up."

"Can we borrow your transfiguration notes?" asked Goyle. Malfoy glanced them over and gave a wicked smirk.

"Crabbe can, but you can't Goyle. You just bumped into me. If I hear you let Goyle use them Crabbe, it'll go badly for you." He shoved the said notes into Crabbe's clammy fingers and turned to the blonde Slytherin who had been running to catch them up.

"Draco, I thought we were going to lunch together," simpered Parkinson.

"We were," said Malfoy, "when these two oafs leave us alone." He gestured for them to leave.

"Huh huh huh," grunted Crabbe with some humour. "You're gonna have to go to the library and swot up like Granger! Maybe if you shag her she'll do your work for you!"

"Wouldn't be worth it," snapped Goyle. "I could pay someone to do the transfiguration for less than all the soap I'd need after shagging Granger." Both boys broke into guffaws. "I have to go into the library then," he said as they neared the room. "See ya."

The school library had never been a place Gregory Goyle had frequented often. If Malfoy went in there he usually sent him and Crabbe away. Madame Pince usually glared when he went in there anyway, as though the books might explode if he went too near them.

He had no idea where to begin. All the books looked heavy and thick and he didn't know what he would look under anyway.

There were two people in the library that were in his year. Granger sat at a centre table making notes with alarming speed. No way was he going to talk to her if he could help it. The other was that smarmy Hufflepuff who Malfoy liked to call goat boy. Justin Finch-Fletchley.

"Yes?" said Madame Pince sharply, as she swooped down upon him. "What are you doing in here?"

"I, uh, came for some books."

"Well I hardly thought you came in here to eat your lunch," she said impatiently. "What sort of books?"

"Transfiguration ones," he answered sullenly.

"Well Finch-Fletchley is over there pawing a large number of them- good grief! You! Mackleweed and Frostrip! What on earth do you think you're doing?" Pince turned on a couple who sat groping each other and began charming the books to bash them over the head.

Faced with the prospect of having to talk to the goat like Hufflepuff, Goyle wondered whether it might be better to bully Crabbe into forking over the notes. Nah, Malfoy would probably hex both of them.

"Pince said you've got a load of Transfiguration books," he said shortly and seized the one Finch-Fletchley was reading.

"Hey!" snapped Finch-Fletchley and shoved the flat object he was holding into a pocket. "Give me that back you slimy- oh." He looked up and saw just who had taken the book. He was a smart kid after all; he could put two and two together.

"Got a problem Granger?" Goyle grunted. The bushy-headed twit had been glaring at him since he had snatched the book. She seemed to grind her teeth and then went back to writing. Smirking in her direction, he sunk into the padded chair and was satisfied to hear it groan. The boy opposite was apparently frozen in fear.

"So, are you gonna write this essay for me or not?" he demanded with a look that usually came after he had the kid by the collar.

"E-essay?" the boy squeaked.

"Yeah. My e-e-essay," he aped cruelly. "For transfiguration. Get on with it."

"I-I have to find Hannah, she needs help with her twinkle charm, what with valentines coming up and all those cards needing to be made-"

"She'll just have to buy glitter like everyone else then, won't she?"

"Well if you don't I'll tell Sprout that you've got an illegal charmed object in your bag." To his delight the boy actually paled. Malfoy was right; you could scare people without fists.

"But I haven't, it's just a mirror I'm transfiguring into a foe-glass! We're making them in the DA-" the boy went even whiter here, "I-in the dee ay, yes, uh, every day, like clockwork. We're allowed them, I checked!"

"Fine. Do my homework or I'll beat the snot out of you!" The classics were the best.

"N-no, I won't do other people's work. I'll help them, but I won't do it for them," said Justin with newfound firmness.

Damn Hufflepuffs and their damned morals!

"Fine," he grunted, "tell me what to write."

"Do you normally do this?" the boy enquired. "Threaten others into doing your work I mean?"

"No," snapped Goyle, seizing up Justin's quill and spare parchment. "Malfoy usually lets me use his notes."

"Why didn't he this time?"

"What is this? Pester me to death day?"

"I just thought you might like to talk. Maybe you could get an E grade just to spite him."

Cogs were rolling in Goyle's brain; it would be funny to get a better mark than Malfoy for once. But then, as Malfoy reminded him daily, he wasn't the pointiest wand in the shop.

"I dunno what 'correlation' even means," grunted Goyle.

"I'll help, but you'd do the work and get the credit," said Justin eagerly. Obviously the do-gooder was eager to help out a less fortunate.

Goyle didn't want to be seen with this little twerp, but he wanted a good mark. It would be nice to have a teacher proud of him and his parents would be pleased.

"Fine, but if anyone asks; I'm threatening you, and we're not friends or nuffink."

Justin nodded with a grin. Then he paused, he seemed to be debating something.

"I'll tell you what; a lot of the spells you need to know about in this essay are used in making a foe-glass. I'll help you make one if you like, it'll help with your OWLs and I bet McGonagall would be dead impressed."

"Sure, if you want. So what does correlation mean?"

"For this essay it just means 'in relation to'. All you have to do is say that you know what the Dronion theory is, and then match it up to the spells we've been doing in class. Understand? The Dronion theory is..."

"Mr. Goyle," Professor McGonagall called out a week later as she handed out the marked work. The class tittered, obviously waiting for him to be told off. He made a note to cream Finch-Fletchley later. "Excellent work on your essay, I was most surprised by your excellent understanding. Twenty points to Slytherin; you should master today's work without any problem at all."

Goyle, who had never been praised for work in his life, gaped at the head of Gryffindor. So did Malfoy and the rest of the class. Weasley looked just about ready to fall of his chair. Still, no Slytherins were making a fuss after they'd been awarded points.

They spent the rest of the lesson transfiguring their reflections in the mirror into the reflection of their neighbours. After making the foe-glass, which was stored away in his trunk, Goyle was surprised to understand what he was supposed to do and to Malfoy's delight, mastered it before Granger.

"Sick Granger?" Malfoy crowed. "Must be humbling to have the village idiot master something before you...oh no, sorry Weasel, you didn't actually manage it did you?"

Crabbe and Goyle chortled along dutifully as Weasley lunged for Malfoy but was held back by his friends.

"You can borrow my notes this time; you deserve it after winning points and making Granger envious."

"Uh, no, give 'em to Crabbe, he needs all the help he can get."

Malfoy gave a cold laugh at this and Crabbe cracked his knuckles.

Goyle had a good idea what this homework was about, after having paid attention in class for the first time in his life. He wasn't going to become a little swot like Granger and head straight to the library, but tonight after Malfoy was asleep he was going to put more effort into this new essay than he had ever done before.