IMPERIO // Draco Malfoy X Reader

Chapter 16: Malfoy Manor, Library

You woke up to a knock on your door. Groggily sitting up to wipe the sleep out of your eyes, you felt Dinah leap off the bed. Swinging your legs over the edge, you followed her. The sun was streaming through the curtains - it seemed your little nap had turned into a few hours, as the sky had been gray and cloudy when you had fallen asleep to the gentle sound of rain.

Opening the door, you came face to face with Pansy.

"Oh, did I wake you up?" She asked.

"S'fine." You said. "I needed to wake up anyway probably. What time is it?"

"We still have a few hours before dinner." Pansy said. "It's not too late."

You blinked the last of your grogginess away. "What did you need?"

"Nothing really." Pansy said. "The boys are on their brooms again, and I was bored."

"Ah." You said. "All they ever think about is Quidditch, don't they?"

Pansy shrugged, smiling.

A little meow interrupted your conversation as Dinah pushed past you and out into the hallway. You watched her go, pattering down the corridor until she pushed behind a tapestry and disappeared.

You glanced at Pansy. "Did you see that?"

"Malfoy didn't say anything about secret passages in his house." Pansy said, already following after Dinah.

You followed as well, approaching the tapestry with caution. Pansy was one step ahead of you, already lifting it away from whatever it covered.

It was a little doorway, maybe only five feet tall, leading into an empty hall. You could already see that it branched off into different directions a little ways down. It was clean, almost unsettlingly so.

"Doesn't look very secret." Pansy said, sounding a little disappointed.

"Must have been the corridors their house elf used." You said, peering down the hall. "Wanna explore anyway?"

Pansy simply grinned at you, ducking behind the tapestry. You laughed, following her and thinking about your first year at Hogwarts.

It was oddly nostalgic, the feeling of discovering something secret - that actually turned out to be not so secret at all. It made you think of being eleven again, and stumbling across a well used secret passageway- that of course you hadn't known was well used at the time. The giddy laughter and childish joy was familiar.

The tapestry fell back into place behind you, plunging the passageway into darkness. A quick whisper of 'lumos' fixed that however, and then you and Pansy were on your way, hunched over two little wand lights.

"Makes you think of first year, right?" You whispered.

Pansy hummed in agreement. "It feels like we're going to get caught at any second."

You both giggled then, your laughter echoing through the passage.

The branching approaches quickly, and the. you were looking at two long tunnels- one leading to the left, and the other to the right.

You looked at Pansy. "Which way?"

Pansy looked at each of the options. "Looks the same to me." She said.

"Okay then." You said, digging into the pocket of your Muggle pants and pulling out a single knut. "We'll flip a coin."

"Heads left, tails right." Pansy said, watching you toss the coin in the air. It clattered to the the floor, wobbling a little until it finally settled.

You stopped down, peering at the coin. "Tails." You scooped the knut back up, stowing it away in your pocket.

"Right then." Pansy said, turning to the right and leading the way. You followed her steps closely, your wand barely illuminating the walls. They were the same white tile all the way down, it seemed.

And then suddenly, there was a wall in front of you too.

"It can't just be a dead end." Pansy said. "That's no fun."

You reached out, brushing your fingers over the wall. It wasn't tile like the rest of them, but a warm wood.

"Maybe it's a door." You said. "See if there's a handle?"

Pansy fumbled around for a moment, but then something clicked, and the wall swung open, revealing a library. You stepped out of the passage, extinguishing your wand and straightening up fully.

The library was larger than it seemed at first, with rows of shelves leading off into the rest of the room. It seemed you had come out in the center of it, as there was a fireplace on one wall, and a few armchairs scattered around.

Pansy shut the door behind you, and it clicked back into place, blending in with the rest of the bookshelves.

"Well, it was kind of an adventure." She said, flopping down into one of the armchairs. "Does it count as an adventure if you know where you are when you end it?"

You shrugged. "You know where this is?"

Pansy nodded. "It's the door next to the stairs, you know, the big brown one."

You nodded, fitting it into the mental layout of the manor you'd built. "Any good books in here you think?"

Pansy shrugged again.

You made your way to one of the shelves, looking over the titles. Discovering the Dark Arts... Hidden Ways of the World... you wandered a little deeper, just following wherever the shelves led you.

The Malfoys had quite the collection of books, it seemed, though most of them looked like they had never been touched. You wondered which titles belonged to which member of the family. Discovering the Dark Arts almost certainly belonged to Lucius...

A worn book sticking out of one of the shelves caught your attention. It was one of the only ones you had seen that was in anything less than pristine condition. You tugged it loose, flipping the volume over in your hands to read the title.

Tales of Beedle the Bard

Children's stories.

You tried to imagine a tiny Draco, reading and re-reading this book. You'd had a copy of your own when you were small - you didn't know anyone that grew up in a wizarding family that didn't.

You looked at the book in your hands again.

Yes, you would be borrowing this one.