Memories - Dramione story

Chapter 6

Draco's POV

I sat alone in the dorm, skipping breakfast, waiting for Blaise to come back. Sitting here without knowing exactly what was going on in the Great Hall was quite stressful. I wondered how my day would look like, imagining the worse scenarios that could happen. 

Skipping my first day at school would probably not be a good idea, which meant that even though I would have to hide most of the time, it would still be better for me to go to class. I started thinking about the least frequented corridors that could lead me to my classes. Getting to class wouldn't be a big problem, but finding a place to sit could be one. Doing my homework until late in the evening would be a good idea, knowing that there were a lot of unfrequented spots in the library and that this would prevent me from having to be seen by many people during the afternoon and the evening. Still, even if I would try my best to hide, I would surely end up having to talk to some people who received one of my letters. I could arrive at the last second to class so that my classmates wouldn't have time to ask questions... This could work. 

Finally, Blaise walked into the dorm. «How come are you still in pajamas?! Dress up already! People will enter this dorm real soon!» he told me like a parent scolding his child when he saw me. Getting up, I took my robes and put them on as fast as I could before taking my backpack and running out of the dorm, hoping that running could prevent me from having to talk to someone else than Blaise. The path I planned on taking to get to astronomy was clear in my head. 

I got down the stairs to get to the common room as quickly as I could before running out of the portrait hole and towards a corridor that would very probably be empty, Blaise following me close behind. Fortunately for me, the corridor was empty. I stopped running, panting.  So did Blaise. After a while of slow walking and trying to breathe normally again, Blaise broke the silence. 

«Remember that thing I told you on the train?» he asked. 

«About the thing I didn't know about?» I questioned him. 

«Exactly. I don't know much myself, in fact, I almost don't know anything, but during the war, you told me to remind you of the number 361. I don't know why and you didn't tell me. You said that you will obliviate yourself after telling me and that I should tell you the number when the war will be over. Also, you asked me to give you this» he finished, handing me a pen. 

I stopped walking and stared at him. I told him a number before obliviating myself? Why? What could be serious enough for me to obliviate myself, leaving only a clue behind me? Why didn't I explain anything to Blaise, one of the people I trusted most in the world?

I started walking again, conscious of the short amount of time left before the beginning of our astronomy class. While walking, I looked at the pen that was in my hand. It was a black, expensive-looking pen with golden borders. The fact that it was a pen surprised me, knowing that I never used pens. I only used quills, which meant that this pen served a function that a quill wouldn't be able to serve. But there was another important detail: I didn't remember ever having this pen, which meant that I probably erased any memories of it. 

Knowing that the bell announcing the beginning of class would ring soon, I decided that I would deal with the pen later and started to run towards the astronomy tower. Just as planned, I arrived seconds before the bell rang, leaving no one time to ask me questions.

...

Still Draco's POV

The day went by in a very weird way. I spent my time trying to avoid anyone who I've sent a letter to, not wanting to answer any potential questions that people may ask. Sometimes, I crossed someone who received one of my letters in the corridors. Some asked me questions, others thanked me, like a girl from Ravenclaw who was one year younger than me who started to cry and thank me for the money I gave her, saying that her family was poor and that the money I gave them seriously helped them. But even though people thanked me, I still felt guilty. Teachers looked at me in a weird way from time to time without saying anything. At dinner, McGonagall asked me to come to her office. When I got there, she spent her time asking me questions about the letters. I answered honestly. Luckily, my answers, even though they were simple and unexpected, seemed to satisfy her. 

The next day, I went to breakfast. People understood that I won't answer questions and weren't trying to get answers from me. Some still thanked me, although I didn't feel like I deserved it. The only ones who tried to get information from me about the reasons why I sent those letters were some Slytherins. Theodore Nott was the worse. As I ate, he bombarded me with questions, repeating them until I answered. Blaise clearly found it amusing. 

The most 'amusing' part was when I received mail. Several owls landed in front of me, delivering letters from different people thanking me (which, again, I felt like I didn't deserve), making it hard for me to eat breakfast because of the number of birds around me. Three owls was already a lot, but another one came flying, dropping... a howler. I looked around me, slightly panicked. Theodore stopped asking me questions and was staring at the howler with a curious expression. Not having much choice, I opened it as quickly as I could. The letter rose in front of me and Father's voice echoed in the Great Hall, that went completely still and silent. «DRACO, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? DO YOU EVEN IMAGINE HOW MANY YEARS OUR FAMILY SPENT ON GETTING ALL THAT MONEY? IT'S NOT BECAUSE I'M IN AZKABAN THAT YOU CAN ALLOW YOURSELF TO DO SUCH THINGS WITHOUT MY PERMISSION! YOU BETTER BE READY IN CASE I GET OUT OF PRISON!», the howler yelled at me as I stared at my plate, not carrying much about Father's opinion, knowing that he would stay in Azkaban for the rest of his life, which made me slightly sad because I remembered how kind he was to me before I started going to Hogwarts.

The howler was going on about how bad of a son I was and how bad my idea was and how disrespectful it was towards the entire Malfoy family. Slowly, anger started rising in me. All my father seemed to care about was the money I gave away and the property I sold with the help of my mom. He didn't care about the fact that the fortune of the Malfoy family had been obtained in very unfair ways. All that happened when I did what I did was that the money came back where it belonged. 

When the howler was done yelling at me, the Great Hall was completely silent. No one talked. Finally, I broke the silence. «Blaise, can you give me some parchment please?», I asked, my voice shaking slightly with anger. Blaise always had his backpack with him, unlike me. I never had to write letters right in the morning before, but this time I was so angry at my father that I just had to do it. He had never sent me a howler before because of how stupid he thought howlers were. He thought that getting yelled at by a letter in front of about a thousand students wouldn't do much to educate me and would bruise his own reputation for 'yelling' at his son that way. This time, he probably just didn't have a choice but to yell at me through a howler and his reputation was already in very bad condition, so sending me a howler to insult me couldn't really make his situation much worse. 

People started talking again. Blaise handed me parchment, and I took out the pen he gave me yesterday from my pocket. I carried it with me in case I would have time to look at it and try to find clues. I started scribbling my answer to Father's howler on the parchment but noticed soon enough that no ink was getting out of the pen. Letting out a frustrated grown, I opened it to see where the problem was. But instead of, as I expected, finding an ink cartridge in it, I found a rolled paper. My anger faded away as I realized that I found the clue that I left to myself before erasing my memory.

I took out the paper and unrolled it. It said only four words, written in my own handwriting: 

Hidden in the library.

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Author's note: Don't worry, even though it doesn't seem like it yet, this is a Dramione fanfic.