𝒅 𝒊 𝒇 𝒇 𝒆 𝒓 𝒆 𝒏 𝒕 | 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚏𝚘𝚢 | ✔

57

" 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐 "

Snape looked at me with a stern look, 'Come with me' I sighed heavily in frustration, 'Am I in trouble?' My voice was small. 'No not at all Miss Potter. Dumbledore and I need you' For once his voice had no sarcasm just a little bit of sorrow and grief. I followed him to the office start where he plainly said 'Sherbet Lemon' We moved up the stairs quickly, slipping into his office. The first thing that caught my eye was my Dumbledore's hand. It was going black.

I gasped but he waved the grim looking hand at me, 'it is nothing, well it is spreading and killing me but its nothing' I shared a concerned look with Snape, 'how long until...' I trailed off. 'About a year' I felt a pain in my heart, the man who had head mastered me for the whole time I was here, given me wise advice, one of the most powerful wizards alive was going to die in the next year. I grabbed my head and slumped down, He seemed to look at Snape who turned away. 'Don't ignore me Severus, I know and you know we must tell her' He snapped back at him 'Tell her what' Dumbledore laughed with a small but glum smile. 'We both know Voldemort has ordered the Malfoy boy to murder me'.

I hitched my breath, 'he's what' I whispered not thinking they would hear, 'Miss Potter I made an unbreakable vow to protect Draco, he is the man of the Malfoy's and has been ordered by the dark lord himself' I sniffled but wiped it with my still soaked sleeve. 'He'll be okay, he's strong' I nodded making Dumbledore look over at me, 'that and maybe you should try and rekindle things with him, be by his side' I frowned, 'maybe' I replied bluntly. He looked back at Snape 'But should he fail' I glanced between the two of them, no way was he about to say that. 

'I presume either one of you two shall kill me, its the only way the Dark lord could trust you two completely' I jumped up, 'No, I won't do it' They both looked dismal as they looked between themselves. 'Miss Potter, if you do it and you wish anyone who sees it to forget then Severus and you can cast a forgetting spell' I gulped but rubbed my forehead. 'Okay, and I will try and fix it with him but, I'm not sure, I just can't understand why he would ever do work for Voldemort' Dumbledore walked over placing both hands on my shoulder 'People do scary things when they are under pressure or scared, he is terrified, Merlin, even I am. Everything is terrible right now and he's gripping onto something to keep him alive. He needs you to steady that bad and good.' I nodded and left the room silent tears dripping down my face.

'Wait!' I ran back in to the room, 'promise me too' I demanded I looked at Snape, 'Do an unbreakable vow that if it is me, if I kill Dumbledore, You will use the memory charm because I need you to promise me so do it' He nodded firmly. 'Miss Potter if that is what you need' We shared a serious look before holding onto each others arms. Dumbledore said some words making him promise, We let go and I looked him dead in the eye. 'I never really liked you, but thank you' He didn't smile the corner of his lips just turned up a little. 'You're like your mother in your attitude and it's good to have a piece of her in Hogwarts' That was the nicest thing he had ever said to me. I nodded and left still in shock.

I was trudging along back to the common room, I was still drenched meaning I was dripping water everywhere. It was really late now and I was tired, all I really wanted was to sleep and I especially didn't want to bump into Draco, whom I had yelled at a week or so ago. We hadn't spoken since or even looked at each other but of course he was up at 3 am sat in the common room. When the painting door opened he turned to look at me, neither of us said a word. I moved over by the fire, hoping to dry off but there was no point. It wasn't too much of an uncomfortable silence but he interrupted it. 'I know a spell, for drying I mean' His voice was insanely hoarse and it made me look at him, right in the eyes.

'Hey, are you okay?' I asked him, he ignored my question and whispered an incantation making me suddenly dry. I bowed my head, 'You know, we don't have to be awkward' I suggested but he just looked at the floor humming. I recognised the humming in seconds, it was a tune he used to hum when we were together, when I would fall asleep on him he would whisper it into my hair. I started humming along with him. We finished the song and locked eyes, I wanted him to forget the letter and kiss me, we could go back to being happy but now I looked at his sunken eyes, knowing what Dumbledore had said, the task he had from Voldemort. Nothing would ever be the same. I shot him a small smile before rushing up the stairs and bursting into tears. I muffled it with my pillow. I need him.

Draco's pov

Watching her run up those stairs I only had thought, even though I was going through all the stress it was obvious what I needed. I needed her.