IMPERIO // Draco Malfoy X Reader

Chapter 21: Hogwarts, The Great Hall

You woke to someone shaking you gently. You groaned, peeling your eyes open to see Lyres face looking down at you.

"Oh good." She said. "You've got to get up or we're not going to get any breakfast."

You sat up quickly, wiping the sleep away. "Is it late already?"

"You're maybe..." Lyre glanced at the clock hung on the wall. "Fifteen minutes behind. So not too terrible."

You nodded, grabbing your robes and heading to the bathroom to get changed. Of course you were behind schedule... but at least Lyre has woken you up. You could still feel the tired ache in your eyes from being up late last night... today was going to be a long one.

When you came out of the bathroom, Lyre was petting Dinah, waiting by the door. Looking at her, you thought of the conversation you'd stumbled on last night.

She smiled at you, unaware.

"Ready?" She asked, opening the door.

You nodded, following after her, through the empty common room and out into the halls. Barely anyone else was still making their way up to breakfast. You sighed. Hopefully there would still be time for you to eat something before classes.

The Great Hall was full when you and Lyre walked in. You made your way over to your seat quickly, sliding in across from Draco.

He wasn't looking at you.

You frowned, glancing around the table as you grabbed something to eat. He wasn't looking at anyone at all... just staring off into the distance. The bags under his eyes were worse than normal, and the sickly paleness was still there. You looked around at your friends. No one else seemed to have noticed. Instead, they were all talking about something else in hushed whispers.

You leaned over to Pansy. "What's everyone talking about?"

Her eyes were glimmering with excitement. "Rumor has it, Ron Weasley got poisoned last night and still is in the hospital wing."

You blinked. Poison?

You looked at Theo. "Actually?"

He nodded. "Something about Slughorns office and a bottle of wine." He said. "Happened pretty late last night, but it's all anybody's talking about."

"Everybody's talking about foul play, but they were in Slughorns office." Blaise said. "Old geezer probably just mislabeled a bottle."

Lyre grinned over the lip of her glass. "Clever boy." She praised. "I was just about to point that out."

"And who would want to poison Weasley anyway?" Pansy chimed in.

"Probably meant for Potter." Leo added.

You looked back at Draco. He was still staring off at the other end of the room, just going through the motions of eating. You turned in your seat a little, following where his gaze lead.

Weasleys empty seat at the Gryffindor table.

You thought back to the previous day. How Draco had been missing in the morning and late to Slughorns class. How pale he had been - and how pale he was now. Last night, how you had asked him if he was alright, and if he wanted to talk about it. He'd said no both times.

Even farther back, to when that Gryffindor girl had been carrying that cursed necklace. Draco had been like this then too - quiet and contemplative, but also very pale.

You looked back at Draco again.

Maybe that secret mission wasn't just a bad joke...

But was he actually trying to kill Harry Potter?

"What's wrong with you mate?" Theo said, his mouth full as he elbowed Draco playfully. "Don't tell me you actually feel bad about Weasley..."

Draco's eyes wandered over to Theo. "No... I'm just tired. Didn't sleep well last night."

"Better still be up for practice." Theo said. "We've got that match against Gryffindor coming up, gotta practice."

"Hopefully Weasleys still in the hospital wing by the end of the week." Blaise said. "We'll have a better chance of winning if they have to put a replacement Keeper in..."

"Do you think the poison was that strong?" Leo asked.

Blaise shrugged. "I don't think whoever was trying to get Potter would have copped out on weak poison."

"Do you think..." Lyre lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Slughorn was trying to do it?"

"That old geezer?" Theo scoffed. "No way."

"Who else then?" Lyre asked.

"Snape's always had it out for him." Pansy said. "And he used to be Potions master, so..."

"Really?" Leo asked. "Snape?"

"Unless you think a student did it." Pansy said. "And then wouldn't we be the prime suspects?"

Glanced were passed around the table. You kept your eyes on your food, nibbling at your toast half heartedly.

You only looked up when Lyres eyes settled on Draco.

He looked at her. "What, you think I did it?"

"You're the one who hates him so much." Lyre said shrugging.

"Well, I didn't, alright?" Draco said. "If I was trying to kill Potter, I wouldn't resort to poison. I'd challenge him to a duel. He'd probably be dumb enough to come."

You looked back down at your toast. Maybe you were wrong... it wasn't like Draco to deny something like that, especially when he could brag about it later. But then again... maybe it was part of a ruse of some sort.

Secret mission and all, right?

Either way, the conversation ended there as the chimes rang. You got up from the table, taking a last bite of toast and drink of your pumpkin juice before joining the crowd of people leaving the hall.

You made your way to your first class, feeling jumbled.

The conversation you had stumbled into last night, the memory of kissing Draco on the couch and the discussion over breakfast this morning were all bouncing around in your head. Being tired didn't help either...

You ran a hand over your face.

You could save the agonizing and theorizing for later. Now, you had a day full of classes to get through, and a less than ideal amount of sleep to run off.

There were bigger fish to fry.