When You Die [Drarry]

Chapter Nine

The following weeks hadn't been any better. The Slytherins bashed him whenever he was near and took any opportunity to tell him about how angry his father would be. But Draco had no plans on going home that summer. There was still a debate going on about who he would be staying with but he had several offers.

Harry had asked his parents if Draco could stay with them but they had not responded yet. If they did agree this was where Draco wanted to be. He had found himself in a state of mental isolation and was ready to hail anything which might have relieved the monotony of his existence. It was Harry who had helped him through it. They spent their time at the library with his Gryffindor friends, finding the refuge there to be definitive.

It was the perfect place for them to hide out but also so they could get the massive amounts of homework done. With exams approaching the teacher had really started to pile it on them. Although he found it a lot easier to study while he was with Hermione.

While Ron and Harry found her annoying when she began giving them study tips, Draco was nothing less than grateful. He felt like it was impossible to fail when he studied with her. She took a practical approach, "Only study what you need to."

"How are we supposed to know what we need?" Ron asked a little panicky.

"Oh Ron, please use your brain," was all she said back.

Draco listened closely to her and studied what she studied. She, of course, was happy to help him. She had never had anyone want her help studying before.

They continued to go to the library every night, coming back when they thought the other Slytherins had gone to bed. It was risky staying out late but they didn't want to come into contact with anyone.

By the time exams arrived Draco felt thoroughly prepared. What he wasn't prepared for was the letter his father had sent him the day before exams would start. He read through it, reading the warning that if he didn't come home, The Death Eaters would find him and make him come home. Would the Dark Lord really focus his energy on finding him? He had given away information, even if it was fake.

Now he had a bigger problem than his father, Voldemort. The Dark Lord wouldn't stop until he was dead.

"Harry," Draco said, handing him the letter. "I-I don't know what to do. But I can't go home. He'll kill me."

"You father?" He asked.

"Just read the letter."

He took a few seconds to go through it, looking more worried the further he got into it. "Well, I think we ought to go to Dumbledore. Or Remus."

"Okay, let's go then."

They both got up from the table, Blaise's laughter following them out of the Great Hall. he probably would have loved to see Draco face the Dark Lord. 

*Second Year*

It was late February and the whole mood of the school was down, there had been three more attacks on Muggle-born students and people were starting to get more and more worried. By this point in time no except Harry and his friends had suspected Draco, and after the incident at the Dueling club earlier that year everyone was afraid of Harry. No one really knew what was attacking the students, not even Draco, he had never seen the monster. The only thing he knew about it was that it wasn't Voldemort petrifying them.

They had all woken up one February morning, none of them anticipating the obscurities that lied ahead of them in the Great Hall. Hogwarts had never celebrated Valentine's day in the past. There had never been any festivities to commemorate the phony, romanticized, overly commercial, sucks-to-be-single, pretend it's love day that people called Valentines.