Dressed for Ruin

chapter thirteen

After our last lesson of the day, I was walking with Blair to the common room to leave our things and then grab some dinner at the Great Hall.  "So what, we've canceled Eve now?" she asked, teasing but I could tell there was some seriousness in her tone, "I canceled Eve, doesn't mean you have to" I told her, not needing anyone to fight my battles for me. "Have you heard anything about her, possibly related to a boyfriend or something?" I wondered, feeling curious, even if we weren't close friends anymore. "She has been rather sneaky, hasn't she? She's barely ever in the dorm, though it could be simply that she's avoiding you" she added, saying that last part sassily. "Blair, i'm being serious" I said icily, getting her attention. "Okay, I'll ask around, if it means that much to you" she shrugged, uninterested. Back when Eve and I used to be close, her, Blair and I used to be like a trio, but I knew I was always the glue that held them together. Not that they didn't stand each other but I think I was the only thing they had in common. So I knew that after all this, Blair would still be my friend. 

I was a bit worried I wouldn't be able to escape dinner to go to the Room of Requirement but Blair got caught up with Marcus scheduling our first ever Quidditch practice, so I left without anyone noticing me at all. When I got to the seventh floor, I was late. About thirty people stood behind Harry whilst he paced three times in front of the door and suddenly a very tall door appeared in front of him. Nobody had noticed me yet, because they were caught up with the giant door appearing out of nowhere. I was glad, because I wasn't ready for everyones looks of judgement at the being the only Slytherin and Malfoy, for that matter, here. Once everyone was inside the Room of Requirement, I went in and was really impressed at this magical room, there were shelves upon shelves of dark magical objects. Some people wondered out loud what they were, but I already knew. My father had many objects like those laying around our house. On the other side of the room there were two huge piles of cushions that we could probably use if we practiced Stunning. 

Harry and I locked eyes and he smiled at me, that helped me feel a bit more at ease, then he began speaking, giving a brief introduction. He then stated that we'd be practicing Expelliarmus, the disarming spell, which I was excited for because I was pretty good at them. He told us to divide into pairs, everyone automatically walked towards somebody else and I was left standing there rather stupidly. Neville was too, apparently. "Wanna work together?" I said, trying to hide my embarrassment. "Okay, we're going to begin in three, two, one!" Harry announced, pacing around the room, observing us. I was too quick for Neville, because his wand went flying before he could even say the spell. I was looking around the room watching people, because for such a simple spell, various people could not disarm properly. Suddenly I felt my wand fly out of my hand, Neville actually disarmed me. "I DID IT! I ACTUALLY DID IT!!" Neville roared, much to my annoyance because if I were actually someone who wanted to hurt him its not like I'd be staring off in the opposite direction. We kept practicing for a little while longer until Hermione got Harry to check the time, seeing as he was distracted, having a conversation with Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw who dated Cedric before he died. I shuddered at the memory of his dead body after Harry and him got out of the maze last year. Harry got his map out, checking for teachers in the seventh floor. He started sending everyone out in groups of threes and fours, from the same houses, meaning I had to go alone. "Helena, Filch is standing by the dungeons, want to wait here?" he asked invitingly, still inspecting the map. Hermione's face however, said the opposite. "No that's okay, I think I'll take my chances" I said sheepishly, why was I letting Hermione intimidate me?  If I got in trouble for this I don't know what I would even do. "See you guys, then" I muttered as I opened the door to leave, "Helena, wait! Here take this so you can keep an eye out" he handed me the Marauder's Map, "Just say 'mischief managed' when you're done" he explained, I was so incredibly touched. "Thank you, Harry. I'll give it back to you tomorrow" I chirped as I left the room. 

As I wandered the corridors, I could see Filch was standing by the large, stone wall by the dungeons. I was thinking of a plan to get past him when I saw Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, almost sauntering way behind me. She didn't see me, so I threw a pebble I found on the floor at her. She yelped and I saw Filch's footsteps on the map, move towards us. I ran for my life until I was out of breath, then I saw Filch was way behind me so I took it with ease until I was at the entrance of the common room. When I went in I saw Draco sitting on the couch staring at the fire. "Draco, hey" I said, hiding the Marauder's Map in my robe's pocket before my brother could see. "Helena, where have you been? Its almost ten, I was getting worried." he stressed, "Oh, I was just at the library, I was way behind on my studying for the O.W.L.s" I lied smoothly, " So where's your bag then?" he asked skeptically. He saw right through me, I knew that much. But I wasn't about to back down now, also I was pretty sure the parchment we signed for the D.A. was cursed. If I spilled the beans to my brother everyone most likely would know it was me, and not only would I be the nasty, evil Malfoy but I would also be the snitch. I wasn't about to disappoint them like that. "Oh! I must have left it at the library" I said, acting surprised as best I could. I could tell by his face that he still didn't believe me but he wasn't in the mood for a brawl. "So, what's up?" I said, in my attempt to change the subject. "Well I know you hate Umbridge but-", "Hate would be a light term for what I feel for her" I snorted, interrupting him." He rolled his eyes, "But we were given the opportunity to get some extra credit and special privileges", "Go on" I muttered suspiciously. "We would only have to be a part of the Inquisitorial Squad, we can even dock House Points. It would be like being a prefect but better" he smirked. "Yes, well I have little to no interest in being Umbridge's bitch" I snapped. "Its not about being her bitch or not, we'd get special privileges and you know for a fact Father would be pleased" he spat, clearly annoyed at me for my little outburst. "Draco, please don't push this" I mumbled. How would that even work, being in a group formed to catch students breaking the rules, while also being a student breaking the rules being in a illegal club. "Okay, I won't,"he stormed "But I'm doing this" he warned. "That's fine, you should" I said rather calm now, I didn't want to piss him off further. "Well, I'm gonna go to bed, I'm very tired" I said, "Go on then" he said, still annoyed. I rolled my eyes and headed up to the dormitory. Soon, I was in my bed drifting to sleep.