Trust Me (Drarry)

Chapter 44

DRACO POV

I spotted him flying over the grounds on a broom, heading directly for the Astronomy tower and the Dark Mark. My heart was thumping loudly as I jogged up to meet him, clutching my wand tightly in my hand.

I paused slightly on the staircase. He was outside, completely exposed with no protection. I could do this. And yet it took everything in me not to abandon the mission and run back to my dormitory.

"Expelliarmus!" I yelled, throwing the door open.

Dumbledore just looked mildly surprised as his wand flew away, an expression which made me falter. He wasn't even scared...

"Good evening, Draco," he said politely. "What brings you here on this fine evening?"

I glanced around, checking that we were alone, and my eyes fell on two brooms beside the wall.
"Who else is here?" I demanded, pointing my wand back at him. "I heard you talking."
"I often talk aloud to myself. I find it extraordinarily useful."

He stayed silent for a moment, just watching me patiently as I pointed my wand at him.

"Draco, you are no assassin."
"How do you know what I am?" I snapped angrily. "I've done things that would shock you!"
"Like cursing Katie Bell and hoping in return she would bear a cursed necklace to me? And replacing a bottle of mead with one laced with poison? Forgive me, Draco... I can't help but feel that these actions are so weak... That your heart can't really have been in them."

My mouth went dry. So he had known it was me. How? Did he see me? Did Snape tell him? Did Harry tell him? The thought made me feel sick.

"He trusts me!" I couldn't think of anything else to say. "I was chosen!"

Of course I was chosen - as punishment for my father's failure, I thought bitterly.

A door slammed downstairs, and both Dumbledore and I jumped.

"You're not alone," he observed, and I heard the surprise in his tone. "There are others. How?"
I paused, before deciding to tell him. He won't be able to do much about it anyway. "The Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement. The one that Montague got trapped in last year."
"Let me guess," Dumbledore interrupted, "it has a sister, a twin?"
"In Borgin and Burkes. They form a passage."
"Ingenius," Dumbledore praised, not helping the sick, guilty feeling in my chest. "Draco, years ago, I met a boy who made all the wrong choices. Please, let me help you. We have time to discuss your options."
"I haven't got any options!" I cried. "I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill my family..."

I couldn't help the small voice break as I thought about the consequences of all this. Either Dumbledore died, or me and my mother did. And my father, once he was out of Azkaban.

"I appreciate the difficulty of your position," Dumbledore said softly. "Why else do you think I have not confronted you before now? I knew you would have been murdered if Lord Voldemort realised I had suspected you. But now we can speak plainly, and I can help you, Draco."
"No you can't. Nobody can." The tears were falling down my cheeks now. "He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I don't have a choice."
"Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. And your mother and father. Come, Draco, you are not a killer..."

My wand began to drop a little as I thought it over. It had been done. People had hidden for years from the Ministry and from the Dark Lord in the past... Dumbledore could help me.

I nodded. "Please help m-"

But suddenly we could hear footsteps thundering on the stairs, and a second later the door burst open again, revealing four cloaked figures.