Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 69: they thought they killed me

"This is weird," Briar said after a few beats of patting Draco's back awkwardly.

Draco pulled back and slightly chuckled. He gave a slight shrug and a nod, but he had realized that none of his old rivalries and prejudices mattered. They were all stupid and shallow and dumb. Fighting with Briar now would be utterly dense of him, and he no longer even wanted to.

Lorelei wanted to break the awkward moment, and she did so by hopping up into the tunnel and dragging Neville and Briar in for a three-way hug.

"It's so nice to see you both!" she cheered.

Draco and Theo smiled at her enthusiasm. It was good to see her so happy in such a dark situation.

"Come on, we've got to hurry back. We're expecting an attack from Voldemort soon," Briar said. She motioned for the group to follow her.

Everyone climbed in through the portrait and followed Briar and Neville back to Hogwarts. Their group was large now, consisting of Lorelei, Luna, Draco, Theo, and Narcissa, but they were all determined to help in this war however they could.

Almost as soon as their group made it back to the Room of Requirement, all of the students were called back to the Great Hall. Voldemort and his followers had realized that Harry Potter was on Hogwarts grounds again, and trouble was looming because of it.

Draco and Theo ran off when the students all left because Draco hoped to learn Voldemort's plan of attack. Where would he and Lorelei need to position themselves to kill Nagini? Where would they be able to help best?

While Draco and Theo went off on this quest for knowledge, Luna and Lorelei hung back to care for the frightened first years who had been hiding away in the Room of Requirement. Luna's strange way of speaking and Lorelei's calm demeanor worked together to distract and soothe these students, but the two girls noticed that they now had a little gaggle of first years following them around.

Luna was a bit distracted and didn't notice them much, but Lorelei giggled when she realized the first years were acting like they were some sort of royalty or inspiring leaders.

To be honest, Lorelei didn't feel very inspiring. She was just a sixteen year old who got lucky with those random visions in her opinion. She wasn't anything special, and she certainly had no idea what she was doing. Why were these kids looking up to her now, when they didn't even know about her helpful visions?

She didn't understand what they could possibly see in her, but when something shook and rattled the castle walls around them, she dove to cover some of the students nearest the walls. This only strengthened their admiration, and she started to realize that they didn't care about Luna and Lorelei for their achievements or magical prowess. They cared about them because of the girls' kindness and selflessness.

Lorelei had never been prouder of herself than when she realized these things.

However, after the building seemed to keep shaking, Luna and Lorelei knew they couldn't just stay here any longer. They had to help.

Luna and Lorelei ran through the largely abandoned corridors together, but there was something eerie about this ghost of their old school. It was dark, gloomy, and heavy here now. It was all wrong.

Lorelei paled when she realized it looked just like it did in her dreams. She nearly sobbed when she remembered the dreams of Draco and Theo being tortured in classrooms here, of them crying themselves to sleep each night.