Bejeweled: A Draco Malfoy Fanfic

13. The Golden Trio Being Golden

"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." - albus dumbledore

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When Ivy woke up on the cold floor of an unfamiliar room, the first thing she did was cry.

She cried because she had been foolish enough to trust Draco. She cried because she had stupidly accepted the drink that poisoned her. And she cried because she knew that she shouldn't have expected him to love her. For several minutes, all Ivy Stillwater could do was cry.

And after she cried, she simply sat there in silence, hugging her knees to her chest, wishing that she had never met him, wishing that they had never locked eyes during the Sorting Ceremony, and wishing that the stupid Hat had never given that stupid announcement, because then she would not have been searching for the pearls, and he would not have broken her heart. Most of all, she wished that she never fell in love with his beautiful eyes and the soul behind them.

But sitting around crying and wishing for things to be different would not have solved her problems, so she then stood and assessed her surroundings. She was in a very large room filled with thousands and thousands of various objects, most of which were piled on top of each other and arranged in rows that resembled alleyways. She wasn't concerned about finding the exit to this strange room, because she was too intrigued by all that there was to see. She couldn't help but to walk up and down the alleys and examine the objects. There was decaying furniture, shattered glass, and damaged books, but there were also precious jewels, regal robes, and mystical objects as far as the eye could see.

This room clearly held generations of magical treasures - was it possible that a pearl was among them? Was that why Draco had left her here? Before she could start searching, however, she heard a door open and close from what she assumed was the front of the room, along with the sounds of several shuffled footsteps and hurried whispers. She quickly hid behind a large black cabinet and held her breath, careful not to make a sound.

"Do you really think she's in here?"

"AAAH!"

"Quiet, Ron! You're stepping on my foot!"

"Well excuse me, but did anyone else just see that spider? It could've bloody killed me! If I died and the last thing you told me was to be quiet, then how would you feel?"

Ivy's heart soared and she breathed a sigh of relief, coming out from behind the black cabinet and making her way towards the voices. "Harry? Ron?" she called out. "Hermione, is that you?"

She heard more shuffled footsteps coming from ahead and saw her three friends appear from behind a pile of stacked boxes. They were still in their ball gowns and robes, so Ivy figured she hadn't been in the strange room for too long. They immediately ran towards her and she met them in a crushed embrace. Ivy had never been more relieved to see anyone in her life, and immediately started crying again.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all asked the same question at once. "Ivy, where have you been? Are you alright?"

Ivy didn't know how to answer the first question - how was she supposed to tell them she spent the evening with Draco Malfoy? She didn't know how to answer the second one either, because she wasn't entirely sure if she was alright after everything that just happened. So instead of answering, she simply held her friends and cried while they patiently waited for her to be ready to explain.

She finally released her hold on them and wiped her tears. "H-how did you all know I was in here? And where am I, exactly? Has the ball ended?"