BANALITY : Draco Malfoy

69

I wait quite sometime after Blaise has left me in this tiny room before I am able to properly stand. Then, I take more time before I manage to walk over and pick up my wand. Bending is excessively difficult to do without collapsing on myself. Although, I have absolutely no clue how long I have before Blaise returns.

I begin by going over to the door in front of me. I learned how to magically unlock a door while I was planning on finding Draco while he hid from me in 12 Grimmauld Place.

My voice cracks "alohamora."

I hear the sound of the spell, and I hear the lock snap open. Both of my hands wrap around the door handle and pull. It is heavier than I had imagined, and I have to lean back with my whole body weight and tug, pushing through the ache I feel. It drags, groaning on the floor until I can see outside of it. There are wooden stairs leading up, but the tunnel is dark and I can't see the end. They are old and cracking.

I remember them. I thought that I was thrown down by an ex-boyfriend who never existed. I wonder if Blaise did that to me or if he simply took inspiration from these stairs.

No matter. I take a step closer to the door, and I can see the magical barrier of the containment charm. Even if I could apparate, I wouldn't be able to get past the barrier. Draco splinched his leg trying at 12 Grimmauld Place. I imagine touching the barrier would be quite painful, and to be truthful, I am not willing to test it in case.

"He'll find me," I say the words, an echo of a previous thought that I had in this room. "I'll know where to go."

When I said those words in my memory, I didn't mean that he would find me in this basement. After all, I did not say that he would know where to go. It was on me to save myself. Even then, I knew fighting Blaise was a losing game. However, I knew where to be so that he would find me. I just wish I knew what Blaise's plan is now.

Perhaps he is going to remove the past few months from my head. Maybe he will make Graham the monster that I am running away from this time. I don't imagine my delicate head could take any more damage to it. He must know that. Even if Blaise imagines himself to be the cleverest person in the world, he must know that no amount of cleverness can circumvent the physical injuries of the body. The smartest of surgeons cannot bring back a corpse.

No, Blaise is clever, but I, in all my current limitations, can still beat him. I can get out of this room.

Maybe I can summon something that will help me break through his containment charm.

"Accio book on countercharms," I say, swishing my wand in the pattern that I am supposed to move.

I wait for a crash upstairs, but of course nothing comes. Perhaps there is no book on countercharms in this place, or no books of such a nature at all. Back in Grimmauld Place, Ginny spent a lot of time upstairs. They mentioned needing to bring in curse breakers.

"Accio book on curse-breaking," I say.

Once again, I wait patiently. Perhaps the summoning spell isn't working altogether. What would there be in this manor (at least, what I assume is a manor, but could really be a shack in the middle of nowhere) that I could summon with ease?

Despite the circumstances, I feel myself grin, "Accio Ogden's."

The crash from upstairs is pretty immediate. I turn my attention carefully to the door, and a bottle of Ogden's soars down the stairs. I catch it, but nearly go tumbling backwards from the force of the bottle's inertia. So, it is not the spell that isn't working. Maybe I must have a clear image of what I am trying to summon.