✓ WE NEVER SLEEP, draco malfoy

N I N E T E E N

"And what I really intended to say in the end remains unsaid."

— Franz Kafka 

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Rowan understood what it was like to be ravished by Draco Malfoy.

To drown within him like lapping up champagne and morning dew. To bathe in his silk and be wrapped in the ice that were his eyes. 

Rowan also understood what it was like to be swallowed hole by the impending nothingness that would follow her around like death. You-Know-Who was planning something awful, she had overheard from the golden trio in the common room. She had snuck down from when she had snuck back in to grab a textbook to return to Draco's lofty room when she heard them.

Their whispers, frantic and worried and even she began to feel her heart race. Sirius Black was in trouble and since the mass breakout from Azkaban in January, Rowan believed it. The breakout had released some of the most gruesome Death Eaters including death herself, Bellatrix Lestrange.

So, she waited for her golden trio to stand before rushing out from the staircase. "Let me help you!"

They paused, Harry's eyes glinting in the firelight. There was rage behind the glass.

"This is none of your concern," he snapped, turning his back. Harry had never turned his back on his friends before and seeing him do it to her tore a piece off in her heart. She kept her stance, she wouldn't back down, not when she heard Sirius could be in trouble. She loved Sirius, loved everyone who wanted to help Harry and through all the pain and wallowing she had done, she couldn't allow herself to step back and be selfish.

Hermione gave her a small look, perhaps one of pit, but that didn't stop Rowan from exclaiming, "You know I can help, let me help-"

"We-" Hermione swallowed. "-we don't know if we can trust you, Ro, not if you're...you know."

"With Draco?" she breathed, laughing. "I was your friend first, shouldn't that mean enough?"

They didn't reply.

"I'm one of the best in the D.A. and you know it, so, let me help!" 

Harry's shoulders slumped and like a gift from god, he said, "Follow us, we have to get to Umbridge's office."

"What for?" she asked, taking off behind her friends and forgetting about her textbook completely as she dropped it on the couch. 

They raced from the common room and into the hall, wands already drawn. As they took two steps at a time up to the D.A.D.A. classroom, Hermione rushed out with, "To use the Floo Network, her's is the only one not monitored."

Rowan grinned, toothy. "Perfect for sneaking."

Harry unlocked Umbridge's office with his wand and they were in, rushing to the fireplace as it glowed green. "Alert the Order," Harry told them as they crouched down. The green reflecting sickly against their skin. 

"Are you mental? We're going with you," Ron said, spinning his wand between his fingers.

"It's too dangerous-"

"When will you get it through your thick skull," Rowan laughed, kneeling next to him as Hermione did the same.

"We're in this together," the other girl finished for her, nodding reassuringly.