My Father's Only Rule || DRACO MALFOY X SNAPE'S DAUGHTER

Chapter Thirty-Three: A Break In

May 1st, 1998, 11:15 pm - Hogwarts

Neville had asked me to gather last minute supplies. It's hard to gather supplies for a war when you don't know what you need. I got a bottomless bag and grabbed everything I could find. Food, blankets, coats, spellbooks for the younger students. But I wasn't sure it would be any help. Hogsmeade was on pretty heavy lockdown, so I knew it would take hours for Harry to make his way to the castle. But Aberforth was on the lookout, and Neville was ready. I could imagine everyone's faces when they saw Harry again. Then it occurred to me that very few people knew what was happening tonight, and somehow, I was among them. Me with my dark mark, my last name, and my status as a future Malfoy. Voldemort thinks I've spent the whole year spreading his influence among the students of Hogwarts when in reality I've been abusing my power to fight him, and it occured to me what he might do if he found out.

"What are you doing roaming about the castle at this hour?" I turned my head sharply to see none other than my father standing ominously in the hallway.

"Going for a walk," I said. "I'm clearing my mind before the OWLs."

"What's in the bag?"

"It's none of your business," I said.

"Do you think being the headmaster's daughter gives you permission to break the rules? You should not be up."

"No," I said. "But I know you're not going to do anything about it."

"Are you so sure about that?" he asked, drawing closer.

"Yeah," I said with unwavering sternness. "So I'm going to walk away now."

I did just that. I turned away and got as far away from him as I could, but not before he made one last attempt at communicating.

"Grace," he said. "I-"

"Don't," I said. I don't know where he was going with that sentence. But I really didn't care. "Nothing you can say to me will fix what you've done. You are unredeemable."

I made my way to the room of requirement. When I walked in, I didn't see Dumbledore's army dispersed on the floor with sleeping bags like I usually did. But I looked over and saw them all in a crowd by the scaffolding, all muttering about something. When I walked over, everyone moved out of the way to let me in.

And then I saw him.

Harry was back.

"Harry!" I ran and threw my arms around his neck. "Oh my god, I'm so glad you're here!"

"Good to see you too, Grace," he said. When I pulled myself off of Harry, I noticed Hermione to the right.

"Oh my god, Grace, you've helped more than you know," she said as she hugged me.

"What's Grace got to do with anything?" Ron asked.

"Good to see you too, Ron," I said.

"For your information," Hermione said. "Grace and I have been exchanging letters all year."

"Letters?" Harry said. "That's extremely dangerous."

"Magical parchment," Hermione said. "No owls necessary. And not only has she kept me sane whilst running around with you two, she helped us get into the castle and I just think that deserves some recognition."

"Is that true?" Harry asked me.

"Hermione wrote to me and told me you guys were coming so I told Neville and we made arrangements with Aberforth."

"She's also been helping out here a lot," Neville said. "We would have died of starvation a long time ago if not for her. And she manages to keep us out of trouble when we decide to leave the room of requirement. And her letters have helped us keep tabs on your whereabouts."