The Source

Draco Malfoy was sitting at the Slytherin dining table and glaring at the one and only Boy-Who-Lived; his usual sneer was present on his aristocratic face and his silver gray eyes were cold and piercing.

me, a Malfoy. Just you wait; I'll get you back. How dare he make me promise to....> Draco was shaken out of his thoughts by Lisa Hutchins, a sixth year Ravenclaw latching onto his arm.

"Draco! Did you miss me? I know I missed you." She leaned over and gave Draco a kiss on the cheek and then hugged his arm even tighter.

"Lisa, how many times have I told you not to kiss me in public? Also I did NOT miss you. Now, kindly remove your grip on my arm," Draco said coldly. Draco glared down at Lisa and gave her his famous, stony glare. Lisa removed her arm away from his and gave him a pleading look.

"But, Draco, last week you said...and I was so happy...I thought you loved me, and we...."

"Hutchins. Are you really as dense as you look? I never said anything; you were the one who jumped to conclusions. Now please leave, the sight of you makes me sick," Draco drawled out. The sixth year Ravenclaw burst out into tears and ran out of the main hall, another heart broken by Draco Malfoy.

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Meanwhile on the other side of the room sat Harry Potter, with his friends Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley and his kid sister Virginia (Ginny) Weasley. "Come on, Harry," whined Ron. "Why is Malfoy still here? I know you know."

"For goodness sakes, Ron," Hermione said, "leave Harry in peace. I'm sure he's had enough of your badgering. You've been going on like this for two whole weeks now."

"If Harry would tell me then I would stop the badgering," Ron retorted.

"Well why can't you not badger now?" Hermione said sounding very annoyed.

"I find it quite surprising you don't want to know too Hermione; considering how you want to know everything all the time."

"I do not want to know everything all the time!" Hermione said defensively.

"Sure you don't," Ron said sarcastically and then rolled his eyes.

"Hey guys!" Harry's voice cut through Ron and Hermione's argument and they stopped yelling immediately. Harry turned to face Ron and placed his arm around his best friends shoulder. "Sorry, Ron, but I took a wizard's oath that I could not reveal what happened or else I'll go bald before I'm 20, go blind at 30, go deaf at 40, my legs will fall off at 50 and I'll have slugs coming out of my mouth when I die at 60." Ron cringed at the last 'or else'.

"Oh damn. That has got to be the worse oath I've ever heard of. That's alright Harry, you don't have to tell me and I'll stop pestering you."

"Finally," Hermione breathed a big sigh of relief. "I don't have to hear your voice all the time."

"Hey, there happens to be a lot of people lining up, just to hear my lovely, charming and hypnotizing voice," Ron boasted sarcastically. The trio burst out laughing but stopped when they noticed the commotion coming from the Slytherin table. Their eyes then followed the girl who ran out of the hall in tears.

"What the bloody hell happened over there?" exclaimed Ron.

"I'll go see if she's alright." The trio turned their heads and looked at Ginny. They had forgotten that she was sitting there and if she had not spoken they wouldn't have noticed either. Ginny got up and left the hall in search of the heartbroken Ravenclaw.

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Draco began eating his breakfast after Lisa Hutchins had left, not caring where the girl went or how she felt. On his left sat Crabbe and Goyle and to his right sat Blaise Zabini. She was looking at a slightly pink colored parchment and was snickering.

"What's so funny Zabini?" Draco enquired while not even looking at her.

"Well, Malfoy, it seems that I have found a cure for our boredom. How does taking off house points sound?"

"Keep talking," answered Draco in his usual careless tone. He was Head Boy this year so he could have the right to take house points off other students, and he'd been waiting to find a chance to use that privilege.

"I've come across some information that a couple of sixth year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws have a weekly gambling game in one of the classrooms after curfew. This would be a great chance to show some of your power, eh, Malfoy?" she said while smiling.

"Not a bad idea Zabini, but where did you get this information? How do I know it's reliable? I have better things to do than wander around looking for not existent get-togethers." Blaise lifted the pink parchment and waved it about.

"Oh it's definitely reliable. It has yet to fail me." Draco grabbed the parchment from Blaise's hand and looked at it questioningly:

Level Two, classroom 213

Wednesday weekly.

After midnight, after curfew gambling.

Ravenclaws: Jane booty, Kit Lengly and Jason Heroning.

Hufflepuffs: Bobby Smith, Silvia Oldfield and Megan Hadger.

Clarified

$

"What is this Zabini? And whom is it clarified by?" Draco asked. Snatching back the parchment, Blaise turned her nose up at Draco.

"This is where I got the information, and that," she pointed to the weird 'S' at the bottom of the page, "is a symbol. It stands for The Source."

"The Source? What is that?" Draco asked.

"More like who is that." Draco gave Blaise a what-are-you-talking-about look before she answered, "All I know is that it is someone who trades information for money. Anything you want to know about anyone at Hogwarts he can tell you. You just have to pay the right price." Draco smirked. A plan was forming quickly in his head.

"So Blaise. Where can I meet this Source guy?"

Blaise raised her eyebrow at the use of her first name. "Why Draco? Planning to dig up some dirt off someone?" she said in a very seductive voice.

"You could put it that way," Draco said while smirking. Blaise and Draco eyed each other knowingly before Blaise leaned over and whispered into his hear.

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It was late into the night and Draco was patrolling the halls like a good Head Boy would do, but little did others know that he was actually out looking for his revenge.

To buy information from The Source, you have to go to the deserted corridor on level two and into the first room on your right. Write on a piece of parchment what you want to know about whom and sign it with your name and House. Make sure you go alone after midnight today; I'll contact him for you so he can meet you and tell you the rules.

Draco reached the deserted corridor and turned into it.

The corridor was very dark because it was only lit with one torch situated at the entrance, but it was lit enough for him to see the room he was looking for. Draco stepped into the room and observed his surroundings; the room was about the size of a classroom except it was round, and had draws placed against the curved walls throughout the whole room. You could tell the drawings were designed specifically for this room because they too were curved and fit perfectly against the walls. Directly across from the door he entered was another door, and in front of that door were an office desk, with one chair behind and one chair in front.

The door behind the desk creaked open and in walk a figure draped in dark robes, the robes were long and covered the figures feet and also what they were wearing underneath. The hood of the cloak was on the figures head and cast a shadow on his face making it impossible to tell who it was, but when he looked up he was also wearing a mask that covered his face from the nose upwards, but their clear blue eyes could still be seen.

"Mr. Malfoy, please take a seat," said the dark figure. The figure sat down on the chair behind the desk and Draco moved to sit on the chair in front. The figure's voice was deep and rough, and sounded like it belonged to a very mature male. "Zabini has notified me of you interest in some of my services. I don't normally meet in person for these trades but I do like to meet new potential customers." Draco leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Zabini said you would tell me about some of your Rules."

"Ah, yes. You see Mr. Malfoy, different types of information have a different price, and the more secret it is the more it will cost to retrieve it. It also depends on whom you want the information of; everyone has their own price depending on their degree of difficulty."

"Fine," Draco said not really caring.

The figure passed a piece of parchment to Draco and then stood up. Seeing the figure stand Draco stood too and followed the figure's movement towards a cupboard.

"You can write the information you request on some parchment, signed with your name and house, and place it into this drawer along with the payment. My reply will be sent to you by owl." Before Draco could say anything the figure had turned around and was leaving through the door. "Goodnight Mr. Malfoy," he said and then he disappeared through the door. Draco stood still in his spot in front of the drawer. He pulled out a parchment from his robes and then opened the drawer to place it in along with ten Galleons before leaving to go back to his own room.

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Ginny sat at her desk in her room which she shared with four other Gryffindors and stared at a big pile of parchments.

"Hey Ginny, why aren't you asleep yet?" Hermione Granger stood beside Ginny and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hi Hermione, I'm just not tired yet," Ginny answered. Hermione noticed a black velvet pouch and gestured to it.

"Did you just get paid?" she asked.

"Yeah," Ginny said happily.

"How about we go to Hogsmead this weekend together and do some shopping?" Hermione suggested hopefully.

"Nah, I think I'll stay here. I have a lot of homework to do, also a lot of proofreading too," Ginny said, sounding very apologetic.

Hermione sighed. "Ginny, ever since you got that job for that publishing company we haven't seen much of you. Maybe you should relax a bit or maybe just quit the job, you look stressed." Hermione had a very concerned expression on her face and Ginny just couldn't snap back at her.

"Don't worry Hermione," Ginny said with a smile, "I'm fine. I really need this job, it pays very well and I'm good at it. I really don't mind that I have to stay in all the time."

"Alright then," Hermione said at bit sadly, "goodnight."

"Goodnight Hermione," Ginny said back.

After Hermione left her room, Ginny shuffled all the parchments into her drawer and took out a red leather bound book with a Golden 'H' on it. She had a lot of work to do.