Potter's Shadow (Draco Malfoy)

Chapter 60

Draco had been awol all week. I'd settled back into spending time with Ginny, Luna and Penny. Penny and I had decided to head down to the Slytherin common room to hang out with Blaise and some of the other Slytherins we both knew. We both knew my hidden motive was to see Draco, because surely he has to sleep. 

As we reached the bottom of the Grand staircase, my stomach swirled, something wasn't right. My gut was telling me to get Penny and myself back in the common room but it was still an hour before curfew. We deserved this little adventure after sitting all of our OWLs. We turned to the staircase that leads down to dungeons coming face to face with Professor Snape. He always seemed to be lurking round the shadow filled corners these days. 

"Back to your common room, Miss Potter, Miss Pucey," Snape snarled. I don't think he'd ever snarled at me in my whole school career. 

His cloak billowed behind him as he started towards the Astronomy tower, making his way up the stairs. 

"What do you think that was about?" I turned to Penny. 

Penny looked a bit shocked as she glanced after him, "Something is going on." 

I followed after his steps coming to the archway of the Astronomy tower, "Wait here." Penny followed my insistence as I turned to climb the steps. 

I listened carefully to the sound of whispers. I narrowed one voice out as I nearly fell backwards down the steps. Bellatrix Lestrange was in Hogwarts, "Now!" I heard the scream so clear, almost the same pitch as her laugh when she killed Sirius. 

I caught myself before I turned and crept back to Penny, who waited at the bottom of the stairs. 

"What's going on?" She must have sensed something was off as she glanced at my pale complexion. 

"There are death eaters in Hogwarts," my brain spun, fight or flight kicking into my system. It all clicked. Draco was fixing a vanishing cabinet, he'd created a pathway in and I had been stupid enough to just watch him do it. "You need to go to Professor McGonagall. Anyone you pass send them to their dorms. Put every one on the alert. If you get into an open space send a flare."

Penny looked up the steps behind me and I could tell she was panicking. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to stay here and keep watch so we know where they go. You need to go now." I stepped forwards giving her a light push in the direction we had come from, where McGonagall's office was.

I arranged myself to block the stairwell, pulling my wand from my cloak. My eyes shot to the window as something fell from the Astronomy tower. I scanned the object. Grey robes, white hair, those half-moon glasses. By the time I'd raised my wand to help, he'd already hit the ground. I watched him lay on the ground and not move, his chest wouldn't rise or fall. Headmaster Dumbledore was dead and if anything I'd picked up from his frequent absences during my years at Hogwarts, we were now all in grave danger. 

I stepped back into the shadowed window frame as footsteps echoed down the stairs. I stood my ground wand raised at the door way. My empty hand clutched at the oversized black shirt, I'd tucked into my jeans. I inhaled the comforting amortentia smell that clung to it, understandably as it was Draco's shirt. 

The irony wasn't wasted on me as my heart stilled before resuming it's rhythm as he was the first person to descend the stairs. The platinum blonde hair, familiar black clothes. 

"Draco," the whisper of his name snapped his attention as he turned to face where I was hiding in the shadowed window nearby. 

He shook his head before more black figures appeared from the Astronomy tower, Professor Snape bringing up the rear. His eyes seemed to automatically latch onto Draco's gaze. For a moment I noticed the sad and disappointed look before it once again concealed with the blankness he had got so familiar with this school year.