Flower Petals

-50-

The room of requirement was dark. The begginnings of a draft swept Luna's hair off the back of her neck, and Draco shivered. His fingers instinctively tightened around his wand.

There was a new air in the room than usual, which was mystic and fluid, but now seemed stale as if a cloud was fogging up the room.

"Luna?" Draco whispered into the blackness. "Let me destroy this thing. I'm not sure what sort of protection charms it has, and I'm not sure what whiplash they entail. The bag... hand it to me."His hands gripped onto the bag Luna thrusted into his hands and he held it close into his ribs.

"We do it together." She whispered.

He imagined if he could keep this evil far away from her, reverse his most heinous mistake and retrieve the fang...there was a sliver of hope in him that his hands would be washed clean and that in turn, they would be pure enough to take Luna's heart without worry of contamination.

Draco peered out into the room, the air was squeezing around his body, the room felt much smaller now as if some large presence was breathing up every inch of oxygen.

Suddenly, he was a little boy again. He had the same fear in his heart, the same wide eyed innocence that had been lost so long ago.

And how utterly depressing that he could only achieve this youth in the company of someone so dark.

"I'll grab the fang- and we will destroy the diadem together." Draco whispered, urgent to usher her out of the room and away from the danger he knew awaited him and only him.

Luna's neck ached. She heard panic in Draco's voice and turned slightly. Something was wrong, but through the darkness she saw nothing but the outline of piles of forgotten books and wands.

"I will gaurd the door," she paused and reached to touch him, but he wasn't in front of her any longer "do it quickly Draco. Please we have to go find Neville and Ginny."

"We will my love," Draco barked.

Luna jumped. He wanted her to leave she just wasn't completely sure why.

"just let me destroy what i opened." He finished, already on his way

"You had no choice!" She yelled into the darkness, hearing his footsteps descend the serpentine path to the cabinet which held nothing but his guilt.

Draco walked the secret path he'd created what seemed like eons ago, winding down the cavern into the slot among the wall where the cabinet stood.

He reached behind It, feeling for the fang in the silly bag where Luna promise it would be. It grazed his hand, but truth be told he noticed the hand grasping his quicker then the fabric.

The fang fell to the floor.

"So soft you've become my boy." A whisper came from behind it. "You did have a choice. Have these squibs convinced you to be so flexible with your morals..."

Lucius emerged from the shadows and wiped a bead of acidic sweat from his forehead. Drawing his wand to match Draco's in the mucky room.

"Oh you know what's wrong and right." He bit. Draco took a sharp breath in, but it didn't give him oxygen, only the smell of his fathers cologne. "So very delicate in the arms of such a girl-"

"What are you doing here father." Draco interrupted.

"He speaks. Same as you, to deal with the cabinet, only I am here to protect it from you."
Draco pushed Lucius back. His nose flaring and fists tightening around the base of his wand.

"Didn't I teach you all those years ago what loving something so dainty meant? So soft. Didn't I hold that stupid rabbit under the bathwater long enough for you to comprehend that love is weakness."