tick-tock | a drarry tale

XXIII.

"This is it!" Harry exclaimed, relief flooding through his body.

"Really? This is the one?" Ron asked incredulously, eyeing the small hallway.

"Yes," Harry breathed, stepping forward. He then looked back at the others. "I know you're mad, and you don't have to come with me-"

"Harry," Hermione interrupted. "We've come this far," - she glanced towards the others - "we can't just turn around now. Guys?"

Ginny, Luna, and Neville all eyed each other, not wanting to look at Harry. Luna was the first to step forward.

"I'll come," she said sweetly. "Draco is your friend, and you are mine. I want to help."

Harry nodded, smiling a little.

"Ginny? Neville?"

Ginny then stepped forward also, standing tall.  The five then looked at Neville, who seemed to be going through the pros and cons of the situation at hand.

"Neville," Hermione urged. He looked at her, then at Harry.

"Fine, I'll come," Neville huffed, giving in.

"Alright," said Harry, who was now stepping backwards into the hallway. "Let's go, we're wasting time." He then pivoted on the balls of his feet and hurried down the dimly lit corridor, trusting that the others would follow.

Together, they made their way cautiously down the hall, opening the door at the end slowly. What they saw next only confirmed Harry's exclamation from earlier. This was the room he saw in his vision.

Rows upon rows, shelves upon shelves, of white glowing spheres, all perched deliberately in their spots. Harry took a deep breath and glanced around.

"Where do we go now?" Ginny asked from behind him.

"Keep your voice down," Ron whispered. "Who knows who else can be in here." Everyone shifted uncomfortably, knowing exactly who he meant.

"Okay," Ginny whispered back. "So, where do we go now?"

Harry clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to remember what row it was he had seen Draco. A number in the nineties stuck out to him.

92? 96? No... 97...

"Row ninety-seven," he said. "Yeah, that's it." He looked up at the end of the closest row. Beneath the branch of blue-glowing candles protruding glimmered the silver figure 53.

"We need to go right, then," whispered Hermione, squinting at the next row. "Yeah, that's fifty-four."

"Keep your wands out," Harry said softly. He was leading them into this; if there was danger, they had to be ready for it. Harry couldn't live with himself if someone got hurt.

They crept forward, staring behind them as they went on down long alleys of shelves. They passed row eighty-four... eighty-five... Harry was listening hard for the slightest sound of movement, but Draco might be gagged now, or else unconscious.

Or, he might already be dead, said an unbidden voice inside his head.

"Ninety-seven!" Hermione whispered.

They stood grouped around the end of the row, gazing down the alley beside it. There was nobody there.

"He's right down at the end," said Harry, whose mouth had become slightly dry. "You can't see properly from here..."