Harry's Twin - Book One // Complete // Editing

Servant Stuff

The very next morning I'm enjoying a lovely breakfast. I bite into a piece of toast, smeared with butter and jam. Just as I begin to chew a note lands in front of me, along with identical ones in front of Harry, Hermione, Neville. I'm pretty sure I can see one flutter in front of my boyfriend on the opposite side of the hall. I can tell they're our detention slips.

I reads in straight, dark letters, "Your detention will take place at 11 o'clock tonight. Meet Filch in the entrance hall. Do not be late."

Harry whispers just loud enough for me to hear, 'Shoot, I almost forgot about these- you know, considering all the points we lost!'

Fred glances at the note in my hand. 'Hey-ho! George, look, Lyds has got her first ever detention.'

'Well, not first. I've had heaps before now.'

'Still, I'm super proud of you. You're almost like a mini us! Except you're a Potter, a girl and you date a Slytherin,' George teases.

'Oh, shut up, already. Just because Freddy over here is jealous!' I poke my tongue out in a joking manner. Fred punches my arm lightly, both twins and I grinning.

I look over at my best friend to see how she's reacting. I expected her to complain about the loss of "precious" homework time. But she didn't. She and Harry both look as if they feel we got what we deserved. And, surprisingly, I agreed.

At 11 o'clock, on the dot, Harry, Hermione, Neville and I arrive in the Entrance Hall, having said goodbye to Ron in the common room. When we arrive, we discover Filch and Malfoy waiting for us. I instantly go and stand beside Malfoy, while the rest hover where we were previously standing.

'Follow me,' grunts Filch. He lights a lamp and leads us into the darkness. 'Bet you'll think twice before breaking a school rule again! Won't you?' He swivels his head so his wrinkled, shrunken in face is looking at me. I look away. Once Filch's attention is back on walking and jabbering on about school rules and punishments, Draco turns to me.

He grips my hand, and I'm glad to find his palms are sweating, too. 'Do you... do you reckon it'll be really bad?'

'Nah, don't worry... too much. I mean, they can't exactly give us a detention that could possibly kill or seriously injure us. Right?' I whisper back, even though there's a detectable hint of nervousness wavering in my voice. Draco gulps, nods his head and walks forward, fingers still intwined with mine.

-----

Boy, was I wrong about how dangerous the detention would be. Filch sounds quite delighted, so it must be something dreadful. Neville sniffling, which I feel is partly my fault.

We advance towards Hagrid's hut, where there is light glimmering through the windows. Suddenly a gruff voice rings out, asking, 'Filch? Is that yeh? Hurry up, I want ter get started, eh? Sooner the better, right?'

I notice my brother's face light up at the sound of our friend's voice. I can tell he thinks it won't be that bad, considering we're with Hagrid. But I reckon otherwise. Filch also notices Harry's lift in spirits.

'Ha, you think you're going to be let off easy just because you're with this oaf?' he laughs rudely. 'Think again, boy. You're all going into the forest. Doubt you'll even come out in one piece.'

I feel Draco freeze up next to me, while Neville lets out a scared moan. I untangle Draco's and my cold fingers and stick my arm around him. No one notices, which I think is a major bonus. He relaxes at my touch, but clearly doesn't want me to move my arm. Then he surprisingly speaks up, in a soft voice that's a lot less "cool" than usual. 'The.. the forest? I hear that at n-night there's all sorts of h-horrible creatures in there... werewolves and such.'

Neville lets out a gasp and grips onto Harry's robe's sleeve.

Filch turns around and shoots a nasty glare at the blond, pale boy, which my arm is around. He chuckles, sounding terribly evil, and mocks, 'well, boy, you should've thought of them scary werewolves before getting into trouble, eh? And you girl. That Potter girl. I want you two to separate. Now.' I reluctantly take my arm from behind him and trudge over to my brother.

Harry gives me a look, half stern- for the arm around him thing-, and half pitying- probably because he knew Draco was kind of being my comfort. Hermione places her hand on my arm and whispers, 'Don't worry, he'll be fine.' I nod at her, smiling thankfully.

'Well, it's about time yehs got 'ere. Bin waitin' half an hour, I 'ave,' Hagrid complains. 'Yeh right, Harry, Hermione? Lydia?' Filch tells him not to be so nice to us. Hagrid turns to Filch once more and leans down slightly to be a teeny bit more level with him. 'Ahh, so that's why yehs are late. You've bin lecturing 'em. Not your place to do that. Now go, I've got it from 'ere. Off yeh go!'

Filch scuttles off, muttering, 'I'll be back at dawn... to collect what's left of them', leaving Hagrid, myself and four other children down by the hut.

Draco turns to Hagrid. 'I-I'm not going into the forest! There's no way I can.' It made me worried to hear a note of panic in his voice, whereas on the other hand, my twin seemed delighted.

Hagrid shakes his head. 'Yeh are if yeh want to stay at Hogwarts. Look, yeh've done some bad. Now yeh've got to make up for it.' Hagrid sees Draco glance at me. 'Don't worry, I got you and Lydia paired up.'

I smile at Hagrid, knowing he did it just for me. He knew that having Drac there would make me feel less scared and less worried- less worried about never seeing him in one piece again. I walk over to Draco and stand next to him. Hagrid barely bats an eye.

Draco whispers to me, 'Isn't this servant stuff, Lyds? I thought, you know, writing lines or something? but this? If my father heard about this-'

'Then he'd pull you out? Yeah, not going to happen, Drac. Anyways, what's writing lines going to do? We- or at least Harry, Hermione and I, deserve everything that's coming to us. Neville and you? Not so much. But still,' I whisper back, making a frown appear on Draco's face.

Hagrid must've overheard part of our whispered conversation, because he glares at Draco and snaps in a quiet voice, 'If yeh think your father would rather you were out, then go to the castle and pack yeh stuff. Go on.' 

Draco looks at him. 'I- no, I'm not going to do that. I want to stay here. My father would probably hate me if I- if I got...' he trails off, rubbing at his upper arm.

'Drac? Are you okay?' I ask, concerned.

'Yeah. Fine. D-don't worry, babe,' he mutters, unconsciously rubbing his left eye. I look at him worriedly, having no intention on fully giving up on the conversation anytime soon.