Mudblood & Me | Completed

Chapter 51 - I was back where I belonged

Draco's POV

I was sat on the edge of the bed, deep in thought. If Hermione was here, she would have laughed at that, she would make some joke about being able to see the cogs whirr within my head but they weren't back yet. Well actually they had only just left the house, so I didn't expect them to be back yet. I was thinking because I thought I knew where another horcrux could be but I wasn't sure whether to go get it myself or wait and send Harry. But they could be a while, it might be best if I just got it. I could be in and out quickly nobody would know I was there. Nobody was ever in the Room of Requirement anyway but the issue would be getting to the actual room without being seen, there was constantly people wandering the halls. All that time I spent in the Room of Requirement before Dumbledore getting killed, I knew exactly where it was I would be quick. I didn't need them, it would be more difficult for them, they would be easily noticed. Harry was 'The Chosen One' after all, and the main person Voldemort was after. I had talked myself into it now, so grabbing my wand off the bed, I apparated away.

I landed in the Forbidden Forest the only place close to the castle I could apparate too, the walk from here to the castle would be the hardest part, anyone from the castle would be able to see me walking up. When an idea struck me, if I was in robes I wouldn't stick out quite as much as I did in a t-shirt and jeans. I pointed my wand at myself and suddenly I was in my familiar green, silver and black robes. It felt like I was back where I belonged, I had been here for such a long part of my life, the best parts and some of the worst parts too. As I started to walk and I could see the light from between the trees, I realised I had missed one of my most obvious features. One that most people would be able to identify me by, especially Death Eaters and they now roamed the castle, due to Voldemort's orders. My platinum blonde hair, that would be seen from a mile away. With a swish of my wand it was the dullest brown I could think of, like the colour of mud, nobody would recognise me.

I carried on up to the castle, eventually leaving the cover of the trees. I couldn't help but glance up at the castle to see if it had changed since the last time I had seen it. It hadn't, it was still the massive stone castle that felt more like home to me than my actual home ever did. The windows still lit up with candles, students mulling through the hallways on their way to lessons. I could almost pretend nothing had changed but then I started to notice the stern faces in between the students, dressed fully in black. That the students didn't smile, laugh or chat, they were silent, terror evident on each and every face. Wands pointed at them as they walked past those dressed in full black, if one so much as smiled they were hit with a hex. I couldn't help but be shocked, the halls were never silent, always full of stupid chat about who was dating who and who had failed their essay. This would be harder than I expected they were watching everyone they would be sure to notice me, my best hope was to just keep my head down and not look anyone. I walked in through the front door, the man stood there only casting me a quick glance before looking back out over the grounds. Completely not bothered by my presence, how I wanted them to be. To not spare me a second glance because then they might recognise my face, and then I would be extremely stuck.

I kept myself hidden in the crowds down corridor after corridor until I reached the empty corridor with the empty wall where the Room of Requirement was hidden. I stood there with my eyes closed waiting, then I heard the noise of the wall beginning to turn into the door, the final clunk that told me it was done. I opened my eyes to see the large, ornate doors that became so familiar to me not that long ago. I glanced behind me quickly to check there was nobody there, the hallway was clear and I didn't hear the sound of any approaching footsteps, I opened the door quickly and slipped in before anyone could walk past, the door disappearing behind me as I walked into the room. I walked to the vanishing cabinet, it was pretty much in the centre of the large room. It had been somewhere near hear, I was sure of it. There was something not quite right about it, something that seemed so ornate dumped with all the rest of the junk in here. I wasn't quite sure what it was, it looked like a silver tiara with dark blue stones. But the fact that it was in here wasn't the only wrong things about it, for something so beautiful and so light, there was something dark about it that made me feel like it had to be a horcrux and if it wasn't it could make a nice gift for someone, not that it was mine to give away but nobody could know that it was here otherwise they would have taken it. I spotted it high up on a pile of chairs, I doubted it would come with accio so my best hope was to climb, so I did. I gripped on to the chairs for dear life as I got higher and higher until I could finally reach out and grab it. I descended down the stack of chairs, trying to not break my neck while holding onto the tiara and before I knew it, my feet were back on solid ground, my issue was now how to get out of Hogwarts.