Eye to Eye: A Dramione Fanfic

Chapter 43

Waiting is always the worst part.

Draco had to wait until nightfall before he crept out of the Head Prefects' Common Room, through the halls of the school, and out onto the grounds. It was a long process. There was a lot of unanticipated stops, which often evolved into Draco ducking into the nearest hiding place.

All of this happened because of Mrs Norris; Flitch's evil cat.

Draco couldn't believe how many times she'd randomly appear in the same hallway that he was trying to get down. It was as if she knew he was there, but couldn't go find Flitch until she'd actually set her eyes on the boy who was wandering the halls in the dead of night. In a way, that made Draco feel smug; he had the upper hand.

By the time he'd made it out of the castle it was raining - a factor that Draco hadn't stopped to consider in his 'master plan'. He'd forgotten his jacket and, by that point, it'd be too much fuss to go back and retrieve it from the Common Room. With a heavy sigh, Draco wrapped his arms around his torso and ducked into the downpour, reminding himself that Hermione needed his help. He hurried down the path towards Hogsmeade, praying that he could also make it past Hagrid's hut without getting caught by the Gamekeeper.

Thankfully, his prayers we're answered and Draco managed to go about his business without being interrupted.

However, just when he thought he was in the clear, something unexpected happened.

As Draco made it towards the edge of the little village he began to feel as though he was being followed. He didn't glance over his shoulder, no matter how much he wanted to. Instead, he kept walking - he shoved his hands in his pockets and kept walking. Originally, he'd planned to walk straight through the centre of the village, seeing as it was a more direct route, but now he realised that he'd have to make a slight diversion. As he reached The Hog's Head, Draco turned down the side alley, determined to lose track of whoever was following him. However, what he didn't realise is that there was more than one person trailing him - two people instead of one.

"Look, guys, here he comes." Astoria hissed as she, along with the others, stood outside the tavern, waiting for an unsuspecting Draco to arrive. They'd been waiting a while for their friend to arrive. Initially, Theo had told her she was crazy, but Astoria remained stubborn and insisted that Draco was up to something.

Theo's had dropped open slightly at the sight of their friend. "Well, I'll be damned."

"I believe you owe me an apology." Astoria announced smugly, turning to look at her friend.

"Hang on a second, Astoria." Harry countered, stepping forwards slightly and gesturing towards Draco. "He's gone the other way."

"Wait. What?"

Theo and Astoria turned to see that Harry was right; Draco had turned the corner and gone the other way. As they kept watching they noticed two more people follow Draco round the corner, keeping a good distance between themselves and the Slytherin boy.

"Who are they?" Ginny asked, peering over Harry's shoulder to look at the unidentifiable stalkers.

Astoria covered her mouth with her hand. "You don't think he..."

"What planet are you living on?" Blaise asked, finally speaking up amid the confusion, silencing Astoria. "Draco loves Hermione, got it? You've seen how much he cares. So how dare you stand there and begin to even consider the possibility that he's re-joined the dark side. Shame on you, Astoria. Shame on you."

Astoria blinked. "I wasn't suggesting that. I only wondered if he knew that he's being followed."

"Oh." Blaise fell quiet. "Well, in that case, proceed."

As they continued to debate Draco's awareness of his stalkers, the five of them failed to realise that they should've gone after their friend in order to prevent things from taking a turn for the worse - which they did.

In the time they spent discussing their options, Draco's stalkers had managed to successfully ambush Slytherin boy and knock him unconscious. However, just before Draco blacked out, he heard one of his stalkers speak for the first time.

"I can't believe it!" One of them gasped in excitement. From that one bit of dialogue Draco knew that one of his pursuers was a girl. "We did it, Won-won! We actually did it!"