It All Started At a Lake

Chapter 10

Thursday, September 19th, 1998

Draco rose from his bed shortly after two in the morning. Even though it was early in the morning, he was filled with some sort of happiness. 

Over the past few days, he had talked with Granger at the lake twice. Draco had learned lots about her.

He knew that she liked cats, some things about the muggle world, and that it happened to be her birthday today. 

The one thing that was confusing him most was why he cared to know all these facts. He never in his life thought he would care to listen to such plain facts and especially listen to Granger telling them to him.

He knew for sure that he was confused on why he kept on wanting to see her. Even when he tried to stay away, he failed. 

Her presence always calmed him.

Draco quietly got out of bed and put on his slippers. He used the dim light from his wand to guide his way to the door without stepping on any of the mess in his shared dorm.

He had half an hour to grab something from the kitchen and wrap the present he had gotten for Hermione. It wasn't much, but he hoped she was like it. 

The gift he had gotten her was shrunk down so it could fit in his pocket. He took one last look at the letter she had recently sent, and as quietly as he could, opened the door. 

She had responded to his most recent letter saying she would see him at the black lake at two thirty in the morning. 

He smiled to himself and walked through the empty common room. There was no time to admire the view of the Black Lake from the common room tonight. He was a man on a mission.

The door to the common room squeaked loudly as he pushed it open. He groaned and slammed it shut. If the loud creaking of the door didn't wake anybody up, the slam for sure did.

Without a care in the world, he walked up the moving staircase and down a few corridors with his head held high.

This was the only time he could really walk with such pride. If he were to do it during the day he would get much more stares. 

His mood was quickly changed when he caught sight of Mrs. Norris prancing down the Corridor nearby. The cat began to meow loudly, signaling to Professor Filch that a student was out of bed.

He groaned and raced into a nearby broom closet. He hid out of sight behind a random banner that was most likely never used.

The door to the broom closet opened. He knew it was Filch checking to see if the student that had been out of bed was in here, but Draco was certain he wouldn't check behind here. The Professor was too dumb to check.

Filch closed the door again as he left and Draco heard his shoes walking down the hallway. He waited two minutes before discreetly opening the door and looking in both directions to make sure the coast was clear.

Once he was sure it was clear he walked down another corridor until he was near the Hufflepuff house. The kitchens were right down the hall from their house.

Draco raced down the hallways once he realized he had spent almost ten minutes hiding from the Professor. He pushed open the kitchen door and walked into the room.

He was surprised the room was empty. He had been expecting Weasel-Bee to be eating because it seems that it's the only thing he could do.

"Topsy!" Draco said

With a crack of apparition, a small house elf in a lovely pink dress popped into the kitchen. 

"What can Topsy help master with?" the tiny elf asked