The Young Slytherin Army

The Parting of the Ways

Peeves drops down from the ceiling, and lands on his feet, onto the floor. We all leave the cell, but we stay in the hall. I step towards Peeves, and thank him. Peeves grinds at me and answers;

"No problem Parkinson, but this wasn't for you, I would like to see old Filch's face when he realizes you've left"

He and I both laugh, Peeves turns and swoops down upon the other Slytherins. The crowd backs away, and a few kids scream, but Peeves doesn't hit them, he shoots back up, and stays still in midair above the crowd. We all laugh, half relieved, half amused. Peeves waves goodbye, and shoots towards our common room, towards the stairs, and up to the battle.

We stand in silence for a few seconds, but then, Draco turns to me, but he addressing the crowd when he says:

"Crabbe, Goyal, and I should probably get going to find Potter; does anyone know where he may be?"

No one answers, the silence drags on for a few moments until a third-year girl speaks up:

"I heard Potter is looking for a diadem thing, but it's lost or hidden"

I look at Draco, expecting him to be angry at the vague answer, but to my surprise he is smiling. Draco moves closer to me and says:

"Go find Professor McGonnigal, tell her you're on the school's side, and help the younger students escape the battle through the front doors. I'm going to the Room of Requirement; I have reasons to believe Potter is there"

He turns to Crabbe and Goyal and says

"Come on, we'll go in front of the group and walk with them to the staircase."

Crabbe and Goyal push past the rest of the students to get into the front of the group. I do the same, and Millicent pursues me. I end up right behind Draco.

We all run up to the corridor, past our common room, and next to the staircase. We halt at the stairs, on our left the staircase is going towards the Great Hall, on our left the stairs lead to the 7th floor.

Before I can speak, Draco turns around, grabs my hand, pulls me towards him, and kisses me. His lips were soft against mine. I leaned into the kiss, and we started to embrace each other.

Crabbe lets out a cough, bringing me back to harsh reality. We resurface from our kiss, both of us embarrassed by the crowd of children behind us. Without saying a word, Draco turns, walks past Crabbe and Goyal, and walks onto the staircase to the right.

Goyal follows Draco, but Crabbe hesitates. Crabbe looks towards Millicent, and smiles. It wasn't his usual taunting sneer, but it was an actual smile, only with a little bit of sadness behind it. Millicent nods at him, and they exchange looks between them. Goyal pulls Crabbe's sleeve, and Crabbe leaves for the staircase.

I quickly turn to the crowd, some of them were laughing at Draco and I's PDA, but most were silent, and nervous about the battle raging upstairs. I gesture for them to follow me, and we walk to the staircase on the left, going further from Draco and safety, and towards the promise of fear and despair that the battle will surely give us.