Crucio: Just Before The War

Chapter Three

"Please tell me what happened, you seem nervous," Hermione asked for the fourth time as we walked up to the dormitories.

"I already told you, it's no big deal, I'll tell you once we're back," I retorted desperately.

We made our way into the Gryffindor common room with Harry and Ron directly behind us. Hermione headed straight up to the dormitory, turning to me and rising her brows as if to tell me to follow her. I rolled my eyes before saying goodnight to Harry and Ron and followed behind her.

I walked through the dormitory door to find Hermione sitting on her bed facing mine, waiting for me to join her.

"Alright, spit it out," she said as soon as I sat on my bed, turning to her and crossing my legs.

"Look, it's nothing crazy," I started, sighing before continuing, "I just walked down a corridor because the staircase changed and I ended up spotting Malfoy."

Hermione looked at me expectantly, "And?"

"And... he was opening the Room of Requirement, I didn't see mu-"

"What?!" Hermione interrupted.

"Oh come on, it's not the crazy, maybe he just needed a bathroom," I laughed.

"You don't understand, Grace," she began, "We've been... sort of keeping an eye on Draco recently. We saw him in a few suspicious places."

"What do you mean?" I asked, scooting closer toward her on my bed.

"Well, we did see him and his Mother in Borgin and Burkes with... with some Death eaters," she explained, keeping her voice hushed.

My eyes widened at her, "Death eaters?"

"Harry seemed pretty convinced, he's gone so far as to say that Draco has probably become one of them. He thinks he was attending some type of initiation," Hermione confessed.

"I just... I don't understand, have you even seen him-"

Our conversation was cut short by Parvati walking into the dormitory.

"... Have I interrupted something?" She asked as she moved toward her bed.

"No of course not," Hermione smiled, "Well I'm going to wash up and head to bed."

"Yes, good idea," I smiled as well, hoping to defuse the tension that had built abruptly built in the room.

I changed into my pyjamas and got ready for bed before slowly dozing off, just as Hermione walked back into the dormitory. I dreamed of a blonde boy in a long, black cloak that night, a tall figure standing behind him with their hands resting on his shoulders.

***

There were a couple of uneventful days filled with Ron trying out and successfully joining the Gryffindor Quidditch team, some boring Divination, Transfiguration and Charms classes and a successful double Potions class. Professor Slughorn had been very attentive and seemed quite impressed with my knowledge and skill, which helped me to gain more trust with him. I had quickly learnt from conversations with Slughorn that the Potions room was usually free either the second or third period on rotating days, meaning my free periods on Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons lined up perfectly.

Hermione, Harry and Ron had spent most of the last few days with each other, paying attention to Draco's whereabouts and behaviour. Harry had also become close with Slughorn as he was doing extremely well in Potions classes; he had improved greatly since last year. Hermione had briefly mentioned her concern that Harry's potions book he had borrowed from the classroom may have something to do with his improvement, making her suspicious of it's backstory. Daphne and I had spent most of our breaks together having lunch in the courtyard or studying some Transfiguration topics we had; we were both lacking skill and motivation in the subject, causing us both to have a double period of it every Friday afternoon.