dear draco,

twenty-four

I really hope you're happy, wherever you are.

-

"What are you doing here?"

I jump at the sound of Draco's voice. He is standing wide-eyed by the wall leading to the Great Hall. These are the first words he's spoken to me in months.

"I should ask you the same thing," I reply, after a moment's hesitation. Draco shrugs dismissively and looks away from me, fixing his eyes on the wall across from the headmaster's office. I gaze curiously at him, my heart still hammering in my chest. I need to get out of here before Snape gets back. "I'm just going for a walk," I say. "To clear my head, you know."

"Cool," he says shortly. He leans back against the corridor wall, but seems somewhat stiff. "Same."

A chilly draft blows in from the nearby window. I can see goosebumps on Draco's bare forearms and for a brief moment I want to tell him to get a jacket, or to walk around so his body can warm up. Until I remember I am in no position to tell him that anymore.

"You're missing dinner," I say, even though my entire body is willing me to run back to my dorm.

Draco breathes out, long and deep, his eyes still fixed on some spot in front of him. "So are you."

"I've eaten."

He doesn't reply, and I remain frozen in the spot I'm in. I notice, suddenly, that his hands are clenched into fists. He's also gotten new robes.

"Is this what you were like last year? Always sneaking around?"

He turns to me abruptly. "What do you want?"

I shrug. Now that Draco's turned to me, I can tell how much he's grown since we last spoke. "Just curious," I say casually, pretending not to notice that the top of my head barely reaches his chin. "Is there another Room of Requirement hidden around here or something? Vanishing Cabinet round two?"

Draco glares at me, his jaw clenched. For the first time, I glance away, feeling a twinge of unease. He checks a new-looking golden watch on his wrist before speaking again. "Snape sent me here because of a break-in," he says without looking at me. "If you were somehow involved, I'd suggest you get out of here before he returns."

"I can take care of myself," I say immediately, barely thinking to defend the idea that I'd been involved.

"I'm aware. But you'll get in trouble if he finds you here."

"So sorry," I reply. "I forgot you prefects are so close with all of the teachers. Would you like to dock some points before I go?"

"Nope," says Draco, his voice strained.

"Is it even being a prefect that's suddenly made you and Snape best friends?" I muse, crossing my arms and looking quizzically at the sky. "Or is it the whole Death Eater thing-"

At that, Draco swings around so that he's deathly close to my face, so close we're almost touching. "Get out of here right now," he says angrily, "or I'll tell Snape exactly why you're here."

I choke out a noise that I hope sounds something like a scoff and push him away from me. "Whatever," I say, staring at the ground and blinking rapidly to rid of the tears in my eyes. "There's no need to be so mean about it."

-

I don't want to tell Ginny, Neville and Luna about my encounter with Draco, but as it turns out, this doesn't prove too difficult. The three are sent straight to bed, and at breakfast the next day, they spend the entire meal pondering the terrifying variations of potential punishments they might receive for the break-in.

"Snape took us straight to McGonagall," says Neville later, as he and I head towards Muggle Studies. "He didn't say a word to us the entire way, that's how angry he was. Then he went on to her for half an hour about how bold we all are."

I grin, glad that we can finally find the light in the situation. "What was her reaction?"

"Um." He pauses to think. "A mixture of boredom and being very impressed that we made it all the way up to the office."

"Well, it was pretty impressive," I reply, taking a seat at the back of the class – as far away from Alecto Carrow as I can – and leaning back against the wall. In the corner of my eye, I spot Draco sit down across from me. "I'm just glad she didn't let Snape take you to the Carrows."

"We'd have been fine," Neville says immediately. "We're not scared of the Carrows."

"Maybe not," I say dryly, "But you'd probably be in the hospital wing right now if you'd had detention with them."

Neville shrugs. "Well, Snape probably thinks he's giving us an awful punishment by sending us to the forest with Hagrid. Doesn't realise that's just about the best detention we could get." The entire classroom goes silent as Alecto slams open the classroom door and stalks to her desk. Neville glares at her. "Not that she's much cleverer," he whispers.

There's no way Alecto can hear us all the way from her desk, but as if on command, her head snaps up to us. "Heard you were in a bit of trouble yesterday, Longbottom," she calls out. Neville doesn't reply, but glares at her, not breaking eye contact as she approaches our desk. I am in love with how brave he has become. "Heard you tried to take back your precious little sword," Alecto sneers. "As if you'd ever get away with that!"

"We almost did," says Neville. I nudge him underneath the table.

"Of course you did," says Alecto, in a tone so mockingly consoling that it makes my stomach churn. She laughs her awful, wheezy cackle. "I heard you didn't even make it out of the office."

As Draco caught me right at the office, those are the only words it will take to confirm to him that I was there as well. But for some reason, this doesn't worry me, and all I can think of is how to make Alecto leave the topic be.

"I think that's pretty far," Neville says defensively.

Alecto cackles again. "Sure it is, Longbottom. A great plan altogether."

"It would have worked!" he says angrily, his temper visibly rising. I stare at the desk, willing him to stop talking. "If Snape had gone to dinner like he had the entire week, we would have gotten the sword with no problem, and all of you idiots would be stumped right now."

Alecto, who is used to Neville's defensive comebacks, is laughing so hard by now that she is crouched over, clutching her stomach. "That's enough comedic relief for one day," she says, turning around to head back to her desk. I feel Neville clench his fists. "Classic," she wheezes. I glare at her back. "Oh, Snape's told us the whole story. I know your cute little scheme. Broke the glass to get the stupid sword out, what are you, Muggles? No magic at all! Fools-"

"That's not true!" Neville interrupts. "Isobel broke and fixed the glass with magic, clearly Snape didn't tell you the full story if that's the version you have-"

Alecto stops in her tracks. The colour drains from Neville's face.

"What did you just say?"