Of Constellations → 𝘥. 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘰𝘺

xxvi. failed mission

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chapter twenty six

failed mission

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My first thought was that Draco was finally attempting his mission. I still had no idea who he was tasked to kill. Harry would have been my instinctual guess, but that wouldn't make sense—Voldemort wanted to kill Harry himself. Everyone knew that.

I recalled reading Daily Prophet articles about the duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort last year—Dumbledore had clearly thwarted the Dark Lord last time he attempted to kill Harry. In Voldemort's mind, surely Dumbledore was one of his biggest obstacles.

Draco was supposed to kill Dumbledore. It was the only theory that made sense.

With my heart fluttering in my chest, I slipped my shoes on and followed Luna out of the common room. The other Ravenclaw members of the D. A. were nowhere to be seen, and I sensed few others were going to respond to the coin.

We were supposed to meet Hermione and the others near the Room of Requirement. When Luna and I arrived, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, and Neville were the only ones there. Nothing seemed to be the matter, but it couldn't have been a coincidence we were outside of the room I was pretty sure Draco had been working in throughout the year. When Hermione saw us, she greeted us and looked back down at the parchment she was holding.

I remembered it from last year—it was a map that showed you where everyone in the castle was at any given time.

(I'd always found it creepy. Sometimes, when I was walking the halls, I remembered that someone could be watching me and it would send shivers down my spine.)

"Harry told us to keep watch on Malfoy tonight," Hermione said after a minute of all of us standing around in silence. It had become clear that no other D. A. member was coming. "We can't see him on the Marauder's Map, so we think he's in the Room of Requirement."

"Okay...," Ginny began. "Some of us should stand watch and wait until he leaves. I volunteer, and I think Mars should too since both of us have dueled him before. And won." She turned to give me a mischievous grin.

"I'll stay with you two," said Neville, stepping over to stand between Ginny and me.

Ron looked uneasily between the three of us. "I should stay also," he said, likely worried about his sister.

"Okay," said Hermione. "We also need to watch Snape—Harry thinks he's in on it somehow—and that leaves Luna and me. You may have to duel Malfoy, but we probably shouldn't try to duel Snape, so we don't need many of us there. Luna, you can stay here if you want."

I spoke up. "There should be at least two of you watching Snape. You know, in case one of you needs to distract him while the other goes get help or something. The four of us will be more than capable of taking on Malfoy, trust me."

"Oh! That reminds me!" Hermione said, suddenly, and then rummaged through her robes, bringing out a vial with a substance the color of molten gold inside. "Felix Felicis. Harry told us all to take some. Does everyone know what this is?"

"Liquid Luck," I said, confused about how Harry had Liquid Luck in the first place.

"That's right," said Hermione. "The idea is it will help keep us safe. Everyone, take a few drops. It'll give you several hours' worth of luck."

She uncorked the vial and we all passed it around. When it got to me, I found the taste was sweet and rich, much more pleasant than Pepperup. After the liquid passed over my tongue, a cloud of shining confidence glided over me.