Killer (Draco Malfoy)

7 - Hogsmeade

"Perfect." He smiled up at the slab, a devious look one his face.

Suddenly a scuffling sound came from down the pathway. "Come on Mrs. Norris, let's see who's down here today." The mumbled voice of Filtch echoed down the tunnel. "Come on out," he called, a little louder. "Let's see who the next pair of Devil twins are."

"We have to go, now!" I hissed at him, pushing him towards the ladder.

"You're not coming with me," he protested. "I told you I need to go alone."

"There's no time for this, I'm not staying here to get caught." I quickly shoved him aside and hoisted myself up the ladder, and squeezed through the slab. "Come on, Draco, don't get us caught. If he finds us we'll be expelled."

He glared hard at me but climbed through the slab quickly. I shoved the floor stone back into place and breathed a sigh of relief. Filtch wouldn't come looking for us here, he never left the grounds.

"We're going to have to find a way to distract him so we can sneak back in. He's probably just sitting down there waiting for us." I crossed my arms and started to pace the empty room.

"That won't be hard," Draco started making his way to the door. "Why don't you go to Zonko's Joke Shop and get some sleeping gas balls while I take care of my business."

"Excuse me?" I grabbed his arm and pulled it back. "You're just going to ditch me here by myself?"

"You don't need me, you're a big girl," he raised an eyebrow at me. "You've done this before. And I already told you, I have things I need to take care of." Without another word he walked out the door and lost himself in the crowd of people walking down the streets.

"Are you kidding me," I groaned and started walking down the street to Zonko's. Inside was deserted, the only other person being the cashier and a boy with slick black hair. His eyes were a pretty dark brown but were overcome by a sly look on his face as he eyed me up and down. I glared hard at him, not in the mood for a conversation and still angry from Draco.

The Zonko's here wasn't as elaborate as the one in Diagon Alley, but it had enough stuff to look at. The teachers tried to protest last year when they heard the Wesley's were expanding to Hogsmeade, but in the end the twins one. Hogsmeade was already becoming old hat, and the Zonko's shop was starting to bring business back in.

I walked up to the second floor, searching for the sleeping drought balls. When I found them, I grabbed one and quickly walked to the cashier. "Just this please." I set it in the counter and the old man slowly, with a shaking hand clicked a button on the register.

"That'll be one sickle dear," he said, his voice old and worn.

"Trying to put someone to sleep? You must be up to trouble."

I turned my head to see the black haired boy standing behind me, gazing at me with an intrigued look on his face. Turning my head back to the old man I took out a sickle, thankful I decided to bring my bag with me this morning, and placed it on the counter, ignoring the boy's remark. "Thank you." I smiled politely to the old man and headed out the door.

"Where are you heading trouble maker?" I heard the voice call to Honeydukes.

"Why are you following me?" I whipped around before he could see which shop I was going into. I didn't need two people knowing the secret passage. I'd promised Fred and George two years ago that I wouldn't go spreading it around when I followed them to it one afternoon. "And who are you anyway? Since when do young people hang out in Hogsmeade?"

"I could ask you the same question," he reached out to flirtatiously touch my face and I slapped his hand away. "Oh, feisty, are we? Tell me, why are you out in this dusty old city all by yourself?"

"I'm not by myself..." I looked around uncomfortably, hoping Draco would pop up at any moment and save me. "I'm with a friend."

Friend. There was that word again. Me and Draco weren't exactly friends but he didn't need to know that.

"It sure looks like you're alone," he stepped closer to me, backing me up against the brick wall of the alleyway. "What's your name, beautiful?"

"Get lost," I sneered at him. At the same time I saw Draco pass by the alley. Unfortunately for me, he didn't look my way. I pushed away from him with one hard shove, sending his back into the brick wall and trying to forget about the boy, I hurried to find out where Draco was heading. I heard the boy call something from behind me but I wasn't listening.

He turned onto the lonely street that led to the shrieking shack, and walked behind the old building. I quietly stepped up to the house and peeked my head around the corner. He had a big shiny black crow feather in his hand, and a fire at the end of his wand.

My heart started pumping as visions of last year flashed into my mind. Me and Autumn sat in the Slytherin's Secret Bathroom, a crow feather in each hand. Burning a crow feather with your wand would show you a vision of something lost, Or someone, usually that didn't want to be found. That's how we were trying to find Aegon, Autumn's brother.

Suddenly my foot became heavy and a pile of small twigs snapped beneath it. Draco snapped his head up to me. "You're spying on me?"

"What are you trying to find?" I asked quickly, my heart thumping in my ears.

"Why should you care?"

"Because that's dark magic. Nothing good will come of it. There's a reason it's not a common practice anymore." I stepped towards him, my brows furrowed, but I wasn't angry. "Give me the feather, Draco. It'll only bring you pain," I reached my hand out.

"You don't even know what I'm looking for!" He yelled suddenly, standing up and towering over me. "You don't know anything about me."

"And you don't know anything about me!" I shouted back. "I went through hell last year searching for lost artifacts, you have no idea what you're getting into. That's what I was doing last year, this stupid shit! It's not worth it Malfoy," my voice betrayed me at the end and broke off as I said his name. I'd told him too much.

Our relationship had been balancing perfecting between real and surface level and I'd just crossed the line. I'd made things too real. Too many emotions, too much caring. This wasn't what either of us had bargained for when we first started spending time together. Our relationship had unspoken rules. Nothing too serious, and when heavy topics did come up, the other just needed to listen. Not get involved. Just be a comfort. A shadow to the other.

I took a step back realizing what I'd said. He looked at me in shock, and then in desperation. "Maybe you know what I'm looking for then-"

"Stop it! Just stop!" My voice rose in hysteria, and I stumbled backwards, not wanting to relive everything I went through last year. He went to catch my arm but I pulled away too fast. My feet were moving quickly towards honeydukes, and Malfoy was several yards behind me talking but I couldn't hear a thing.

When I got back to the passage I shoved the gas ball down and waited a few minutes until it cleared out. When I stepped down the ladder, Filtch was indeed now laying on the ground, a heavy snore escaping his mouth.

I started to run down the hallway like a little girl in order to avoid Draco. I knew he was close behind me but I didn't want to talk to him. A tear threatened to spill from my eyes but I took a deep breath and forced it down.

I knew he could have caught up with me if he'd wanted to and I was glad he didn't try. He was probably waiting until I calmed down to try and grill me about what hidden artifacts I knew about.

Back at Hogwarts everything was the same. Students were gathering in the Main hall for dinner. My stomach growled but I ignored it. I needed to be alone. I needed to process whatever I was feeling. All I could think about was Autumn and all those artifacts. All those damned artifacts we just had to go looking for. It was a mistake. It was all one fucking giant mistake. And now she was dead because of it.