The Malfoy's Secret [Draco Malfoy fanfic]

Chapter 11

I don't own any of the characters apart from Melanie Malfoy. All of the characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

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 "It's from the Dark Lord."

I turned to face him in shock. No way. The Dark Lord could not have sent us a letter. It was too risky at times like these. He wanted us to keep a low profile this year and if someone found out that we were working for him, well, there would be hell to pay.

"Are you sure Drake? I mean, you haven't even opened it yet, it could be from anyone," I pleaded, trying to convince myself we had in fact just received a letter from the Darkest wizard of all time.

Instead of giving me an answer, he just turned the envelope over in his hand to show me the back. I gasped and shuffled backwards slightly. The Dark Mark was printer onto the seal of the envelope, moving slowly. It almost looked like it was moving towards Draco.

"Oh."

He tossed the envelope towards me. As soon as I saw the black on the seal again, I started running to the other side of the room in an attempt to escape from it. When I felt safe, I peered out from behind the Vanishing Cabinet. I saw a mixture of confusion and humour lining Draco's face before he slowly started pacing his way towards the letter.

"Why did you run Mel? It's not like it's going to kill you," he muttered the last bit. In the back of my mind, I couldn't help but disagree with the last sentence.

"This is the Dark Lord we're talking about. He could try and curse us through a letter," I half-joked. I must have looked like a 6 year old when I ran away and hid behind the cabinet, but I was honestly scared. Only he could scare me badly.

"You used to run like that when the Death Eaters would come to the house. Do you remember? Mother used to have to bribe you out of our little hideout," we both smiled at the memory.

"Yeah," I breathed. "They always used to glare at me though. I remember overhearing father talking to them all about me. Never good things. They did avoid me though," I smiled at the end. Draco just looked at me questioningly.

"It doesn't bother you then?" he asked.

"Nope!" I said, popping the 'p'. "It used to, but I don't think about it anymore. You gonna open the letter or not?"

He slowly starting peeling off the snake that held the envelope closed. I held my breath, unsure of what was going to happen when the flap finally opened. When Draco pulled out a small piece of parchment, I let out the breath, relieved nothing was going to attack us.

"I was actually expecting a hex to come at us then," I tried to joke, but my voice came out strained. Draco still hadn't moved, his eyes trained on the small square in his palm. "Drake?"

The letter dropped to the floor along with the snake. I looked into the steel grey eyes of my twin and was instantly panicked. Fear. That was all I could see from his eyes. No other emotion, no other way of knowing it was all going to be okay.

I slowly leant down to retrieve the small square that had caused that emotion for my twin. The whole time, my eyes were trained on the boy in front of me, trying to guess what the small letter had said. When I finally persuaded myself to look at the parchment, I understood Draco's reaction. Just four words. Four words, with the power to make my heart stop.

'Time is running out'

**

"Are you sure Draco is okay?" Cho whispered to me while we sat in the library. I wasn't concentrating on the conversation properly as my head was spinning from the many events that had happened in the past few days. "Mel!"