Denying Draco

51 - A Student Out Of Bed!

Draco walked up the corridor and headed for the staircase. Creeping behind him, Poppy stayed as far back as possible until he reached the top. When he began to walk down them two at a time she edged further forward, watching over the stone balcony as he continued to move swiftly down floor by floor. She hurried to the staircase herself, speeding down them as silently as possible, glancing over the banister every so often to keep track of him. He kept going further down and Poppy began to think he was in fact returning to the Slytherin common room in the dungeons as he reached the ground floor.

She got there a moment after him and peeked around the corner to see him cascading down the corridor. As she continued to discreetly follow, she realised he was heading for the dungeons. He was returning to the dorms. She had been wrong.

Wanting to make sure she was correct, she made her way to the corner and glanced around again, but what she saw made her dive back. Draco was being held against the wall by Professor. Snape and Poppy's heart thumped in her chest erratically. She knew Snape had it in for Draco for some reason, and she felt herself growing panicked. If Snape began to get violent or threatening with Draco, she didn't doubt that she would reveal herself to defend him, after all, he had just taken somebody's life for her.

'What were you thinking?' Snape hissed, angrily.

Draco stuttered back. 'You d-don't understand! I-I-.'

'I don't give a damn,' Snape interjected.

'How did you know?' Draco asked him.

'Because I am not an idiot,' Snape muttered, furiously. 'You both disappear and only one of you return looking dishevelled and rough. His parents reached out to me to tell me he was missing. Did you really think you were going to get away with this?'

'I had to do it,' Draco told him, his voice full of panic. 'He deserved it!'

'Whatever you think he did to deserve it I do not want to know; if you put as much effort into completing your task as you did pissing about with the Dumbledore girl things would be well on their way by now,' Snape told him.

'I'm not doing anything with Dumbledore,' Draco murmured.

'Spare me the excuses,' Snape hummed.

'She's nothing to me,' Draco told him. 'I'm serious. My only priority is the task I have been given.'

'Their impatience is slowly catching up with you, Draco,' Snape replied, curtly.

'What about Goyle?' Draco asked, breathlessly. 'I was coming to your office for help! I need to fix this!'

'I will fix it,' Snape said, letting out an irritated sigh. 'Go to your dorm and stay there.'

'What are you going to do?' Draco asked him.

'Get out of my sight.' Snape's footsteps echoed through the corridor as they slowly faded and disappeared.

Poppy listened, hearing Draco's slow and steady breaths as he remained unmoving around the corner from her. The desire to run to him and ask what that had been all about was eating her up. His task? What task? Her curiosity had peaked and now she realised that Draco and Snape were clearly up to no good.

Draco's footsteps pounded on the floor next and finally disappeared into the distance. Poppy rested against the wall and let out the breath she had been holding. She knew Draco was trapped in some deep trouble and she wished she could help him out of it but he would never confide in her, he would never reach out to her. She only hoped that in time she could figure it all out and discover what exactly it was that Snape was holding over him.