Draco Malfoy and the Girl Who Hid

14

The common room was still deserted when Draco arrived back there. That left a lot of room and time to think.

He had showered, crawled into bed and lay back staring up at the ceiling unable to sleep.

He had heard Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle rowdily pile into the room in the early hours of the morning. They had immediately hushed when they spotted Draco.

"When did he come back?" Blaise whispered to the other two.

"I don't know," Goyle slurred.

"I thought he went off with that Ravenclaw girl... what s her name.... Cho." Crabbe theorised.

Draco kept his eyes closed pretending to be asleep.

He had still not nodded off when Theodore stumbled in. Theo had showered as soon as he got back, hinting to Draco at exactly what activities he had been up to. Theo never could sleep in someone else's bed.

When the sun began to peek through the window, Draco had given up on sleep. He swung his legs out of the bed and ambled about getting ready for the day. The other boys were still snoring away, the events of last night catching up with them.

It was not just them. There was not a stir in the whole of Slytherin house. It was still early. Draco slumped down on a couch. He had a lot of work to do. He had allowed himself solace yesterday but now the real work was to start, and he did not mean preparing for the N.E.W.Ts. He was sure that someone would check up on him soon to report back to the Dark Lord. He did not need any more misfortune befalling his family. He was deeply concerned for his mother. She had shouldered a lot of responsibility. Now it was his turn.

He needed to find the vanishing cabinet. He had an inclining on how to do that anyway. The difficult part would be getting it to work. They were notoriously tricky, and Draco did not have a single ounce of insight into what to do. He had sleuthed through every book he could find in the summer. Spoken to every person who had used one, but no one seemed to have the answers that he needed. And then there was the other thing. His other task. The task that made his throat dry and forehead sweat. In his hand he held a book of curses that he had swiped from his library at home.

But reading it would be pointless, he already knew it from cover to cover. Instead, he ran his finger over the sharp corners of the book.

The matted colour of the book reminded him of the cabinet. He closed his eyes visualising the crevices of the cabinet and the rich mahogany smell. He inhaled sharply. The scent that triggered him was not that of smoky timber but rather of lemon and freshly baked bread.

It was just like when he had been taken to Borgin and Burks. Turning into Knockturn Alley had made his stomach churn. He had clung to his mother's side transported back to his childhood. What made it worse was Greyback snarls. He was peeved that Phineas Rosier was running late. Not that it mattered if he was there.

"You two go on ahead. I'll be by in a moment," Rosier had called out over his shoulder.

Draco had seen Lucinda's disappointed glare, but she quickly fixed that as she turned to the girl on the other side of her. It was Yn, who seemed disinterested her head buried in an edition of the Daily Prophet. Her hair hung in dark waves, shielding her face. He never had gotten to see her face properly. She always avoided it. That was why he stared so long on the platform that day.

"Let's go Yn. We need to get you to you final fitting for you robes at Madame Malkin's." Lucinda lopped her arm through Yn's disrupting Yn's reading.

Yn looked up, frowning a little as she saw Phineas Rosier stalk into the Alley barely acknowledging us. Her eyes skimmed over the rest of us as we huddled behind him. But she looked away seemingly minding her own business and completely unbothered by the chaos we were plotting unbeknownst to her. Her long black wool coat swayed around her as she trailed along with Lucinda.