Safe

Chapter 10: Beginnings

The Room was dark. There were outlines of the beds, table, chairs, and kitchenette. But not a single sound except for the creaking of the beds as the Gryffindor and Slytherin shifted in their slumbers. Draco was awake, and he took his wand from underneath his black pillow when he heard the muffled voices. Something other than the beds creaked, and Draco gently moved to see who it was. Since the Room was so dark, he could not make out hair colour, eye colour, or even skin tone. But one of them spoke, and Draco knew exactly who it was. How the bloody hell did they get here?

"Bloody hell!" Ronald Weasley yelled. "There's other people here, Harry!"

A wand tip ignited, and Draco felt himself go blind. He winced and recoiled, only being able to hear the two guests. Granger did not wake when Weasley yelled, and Draco was surprised. Damn, he didn't know the weasel could yell so loud.

"Ron, it's Hermione!" Potter exclaimed happily, sounding as though they were approaching Granger's bed. "Hermione, wake up!"

Draco shook his head. Bloody morons, they hadn't even seen me yet...

"Harry?" he heard her say. "Ron?" She then yelped excitedly once she realized who was there, and Draco felt his blood boil as he saw her shadow leap upwards and throw her arms around the other two-thirds of the Golden Trio.

"What are you doing here, 'Mione?" Weasley asked. "Bill told us that he heard from the Order that you-"

"Died? Yeah, I know the rumors. I'm alive-"

"How?" interrupted Weasley anxiously. "How did you manage to escape that... that place?"

Draco felt rage boiling inside of him, and he wasn't sure why. "Excuse me, Weasley, but 'that place' happens to be my house."

Ginger whipped around angrily at Draco's voice. He narrowed his ocean blue eyes at him. "What are you doing here?" he asked sharply, extracting a wand from the front pocket of his jeans.

"Ron, stop!" Granger shouted, struggling to take the wand from Weasley's hand. She won and tucked the wand into her pants, preventing Weasley from grabbing it back.

"Hermione, what is he doing here?"

"I'm here, Weasley, because I saved your girlfriend's life," Draco replied, wincing at 'girlfriend'.

"I wasn't asking you!" he retorted, shooting a sickened glance at Draco, before turning back to the only female in the room. "Well?"

"He's telling the truth," she said softly. "I was unconscious when the chandelier crashed, and then Draco took me to his library-"

"Where I Healed her," Draco continued, ignoring the dirty looks from both Potter and the Weasel.

"Ron, Harry. You don't have to believe him, but you have to believe me. I wouldn't lie to you. You know that."

Weasley looked awestruck. He couldn't put two words together, and Draco fought the smile that he wanted to plaster all over his face. Potter, on the other hand, simply looked surprised that Draco had done such a Gryffindor-ish thing. On a typical basis, Draco probably would have vomited comparing himself to a Gryffindor, but he knew that saving the one person he had actually come to hate before their... escapade, was quite a brave thing.

"Well..." Potter started, sounding as though he wanted to change the subject. Draco couldn't blame him; the situation was awkward as hell.

"What are you actually doing here for?" Granger asked, receiving the same message from Potter that Draco did.

"After we broke into Gringotts," Scarhead explained, "I had a vision about where the last Horcrux is. Other than Nagini, of course. It has something to do with Ravenclaw, and it's hidden here, in the castle."