Chapter Twenty-Four

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Draco's POV:

It was done. While I had been resting, Lizzie had finished mending the Vanishing Cabinet. I couldn't believe it. Liz had worked almost until the sun rose before she had woken me and told me the news.

"Draco," she whispered softly into my ear, shaking my shoulder. "Draco, wake up."

"Hmm?" I hummed, opening my eyes and looking up at her. She looked utterly drained. Her eyes were half open and her face was completely slack, as if she had given up completely.

"It's finished," Liz sighed, tilting her head ever so slightly in the direction of the cabinet. I sat up so quickly we almost hit our heads together.

"You finished it?" I croaked, studying the item over her shoulder. Sure enough, the cabinet was completely intact. The splinters that had stuck out at every angle had disappeared. The burn marks had vanished without a trace. It looked as if it was purchased only yesterday. "Merlin..."

"I actually think I finished about an hour ago, but I wanted to be sure, so I just kept casting until nothing happened."

"Why don't you sit down? You look way overworked," I offered, leading her to the sofa. "What time is it anyway?"

"I'm not sure," she said quietly with a yawn. "I've been working for hours." I cast a quick Tempus to discover that it was 4:48 in the morning.

"Merlin, Liz! Why didn't you wake me?"

"Once I had started casting, I just couldn't stop. It was like I was in a trance. The spell just kept falling from my lips."

"Alright, let's get you back to the common room." I helped her up and wrapped an arm around her waist, suddenly realizing how weak she was from exertion.

"Yeah," she muttered. "Common room."

The trek to the dungeons was a precarious one. Liz was completely out of it, staring at the portraits and humming an unfamiliar tune under her breath.

I tried to move us along more quickly. If we were to be caught out of bed this far past curfew, the consequences would be terrible, I feared, and we had no room for mistakes at the moment.

Once we were safely inside the common room, I led Lizzie to the sofa directly in front of the fire and set her down. She immediately set her head down and was breathing deeply, asleep. I smiled softly and summoned a blanket from one of the other sofas before lying down beside her.

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When I awoke the next day, it was about lunch time and Liz was still soundly asleep, her hair a mess about her head. With a smile making its way onto my lips, I brushed some of the auburn strands from her forehead. She must have felt my touch, because she sighed and pressed her body against mine.

I stayed there for a few moments, watching Lizzie sleep and absently petting her hair before deciding to wake her up. I figured it was about lunch time and if she was close to how hungry I was, she wouldn't be too happy for the rest of the day.

"Hey, love," I whispered, placing my hand on the side of her face, "time to wake up if you want to make lunch."

"Mmmmm," she groaned as she turned herself, face in the sofa.

"Come on, Liz," I chuckled lightly. "If you don't get up now, you'll be famished by dinner." She mumbled something unintelligible into the sofa and got more comfortable with a bit of wiggling. "What was that?"

She turned her head with an exasperated sigh and said, "We can just sneak down to the kitchen later." I laughed an airy laugh and stood up. Placing my arms around Liz's waist, I hoisted her into the air. She gave a small squeak of surprise and began to squirm.

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