Just in case || Draco Malfoy

Thirty Eight - Morning and Night

"Better creatures could love you, but now they'll have to get through me"

...

Draco 15th March

You are to return home tomorrow evening. The dark lord himself has requested you to join us in making future plans to attempt to capture Harry Potter and his accomplices. You shall be escorted by port key with Professor Snape at 8pm off the grounds of Hogwarts. You shall return to Hogwarts after a month or so of assisting us in our plans. Bring only your clothes and wand. Your father and I shall expect you back at home by 8:30, our house will be headquarters for the dark lord.

Mother and Father.

...

I read over the letter twice, Draco pacing my dorm rubbing the back of his neck.

"Has Snape spoken to you?" I asked him, still staring at the letter.

"He was the one who gave it to me. We leave the caste at eight tomorrow"

"What will they want from you?" I asked him, my voice shaking slightly at the idea of him having to spend an entire month cooped up in the same house as the dark lord.

"I don't know" he replied. "He must have a plan to get Potter. He did the same when I went home just before Snape took over. He was making a plan to try and take Harry when he left his family home, he failed obviously. He must be needing help to make a new plan"

Draco walked over to me and took the letter out of my hands, placing it down next to me on the bed I was sat on. He sat beside me.

"So this is the last time I will see you for a month?"
I asked him, feeling tears begin to prick the back of my eyes. I feared for him, who knows what could happen to him when he lived under the same roof as you know who. He looked into my eyes and nodded his head ever so slightly.

"I will write to you" he said grasping my hand.

"And how am I to respond? Actually, you won't be able to. Even with Snape gone, the death eaters will still be running the school, they will know we aren't allowed to speak."

He looked at the floor defeated. I joined him, holding his hand tightly as if it might be able to let him stay. We sat in silence for a few moments, neither of us knowing how to comfort the other. But he suddenly perked up and looked at me like he had just got an idea.

"The vanishing cabinet" he looked at me with a glimmer of happiness in his eyes though I couldn't understand why, I still couldn't see him

"I'll come and see you" I said to him.

"Don't be silly, it's too dangerous" he replied.

"I don't care! I want to see you."

"Helena I can't let you put yourself in that danger. Not for me" he reached out to hold my other hand. "I will write to you every single day I promise." He reached for a small piece of blank parchment and a quill. He wrote down a few words that looked like an incantation

Harmonia Nectere Passus

"Write to me. Put the letter in the cabinet and say those words and I will do the same to you. The cabinet is kept in my room, I doubt it will be used since they can now just walk through the front doors."

I took the piece of parchment from him and folded it placing it into my pocket. I tightened my grip on his hand.

"Promise me you will stay safe" I pleaded with him. He let out a small sigh with a smile.

"Just for you". I leant forward and pulled him into a tight hug, him returning me with one. I held onto him as if I could pull him away from whatever was waiting for him at his house. "I have to go." I pulled away from him. It was only 10:30, but before I could question why he had to go early, he answered me. "I need to pack for leaving. I'm sorry"

I leant back in to kiss him.

"You'll write everyday?" I asked, my arms around his neck.

"Morning and night" he replied. I dove back in to kiss him, savouring it as I knew it would be the last time for a month. I ran my fingers through his hair, him holding my face. My tears began to slowly make their way down my cheeks, but I tried to stop myself not wanting to worry him and further than I'm sure he already was. "I promise one day we won't have to hide it. One day" he said.

"I can't wait"

...

I could see him walking out of the castle from my dorm window. I stared at him as he walked away clutching his trunk, Snape close behind him. They walked further and further away as I watched.

He soon disappeared down a hill where he was out of my sight. I had spent the day ignoring him like usual. We were always under the watchful eye of Snape, and if it wasn't him himself, his workers would no doubt report to him if they saw us together.

I had seen him for the final time at our evening meal. He stood apprehensively at the teachers table, stealing a glance at me every once in a while. I was sat by myself after being separated from the others when we queued in the common room to be led to dinner. As he left the hall to lead the Hufflepuffs back to their common room, he looked at me for the last time before leaving the hall.

And now I was sat in my dorm, a piece of parchment on the floor, me leaning over it with a quill, writing my first letter to Draco.

...