Chapter 2

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    A few weeks pass and the girls have settled into their routines of schoolwork and fun, attending as many secret parties as possible while avoiding Draco. He'd talked to Lucy several times in what she thought was a horrid attempt at making up for the previous year before suddenly withdrawing completely from his friends and from her. He even resigned from his Prefect post. Lucy was curious but knew better than to try to investigate. She continued to send bi-weekly letters to the trio and wrote her monthly letter to her parents to send. Bethany tried out for the Quidditch team and earned a spot as the replacement seeker since Malfoy had withdrawn from the sport as well. Lucy cheered her on at every game though she didn't truly care for the sport. Fred, George, and Lee are happy that she'd gained a new friend in their absence but wanted to meet the girl to be sure she would be an alright friend for Lucy.
Currently Lucy and Bethany are running through the halls away from Filch after setting off several Party Balls in his office. Giggling madly they round a corner despite his shouts for them to stop and end up in an empty corridor. Lucy recognizes it as the one containing the Room of Requirement, so she has Bethany keep an eye out while she paces in front of the wall and thinking of a place to hide. The door appears and they rush inside, slamming the door behind them. The girls trip over something and land in a pile on top of each other before laughing harder. Something thuds loudly from the other side of the room and the girls get up to investigate.
"What is this place?" Bethany whispers.
"The Room of Requirement. It is a hidden room that can conform to anything you request. Somewhere to hide, somewhere to party, whatever. Someone must be in here." Lucy mutters back as they pick their way around piles of random objects toward the source of the noise.
Lucy brings her arm out to stop her friend as her eyes land on the back of Malfoy's head.
He's staring down a cabinet, muttering curse words at it before kicking it lightly. Lucy and Bethany turn to each other with raised eyebrows before continuing to watch him. He moves over near the pile their hiding behind and consults an old book laid out on the top of the stack. The girls do their best to avoid getting caught by him, holding their breath until he moves back toward the cabinet. He mutters something about the Dark Lord and the cabinet and Bethany gasps in surprise while Lucy shoots her a look. Malfoy drops whatever he was holding and turns toward where they are hiding, his wand raised.
"Who's there?" He asks, his voice wavering slightly.
Lucy peeks upward and is shocked at his ragged, sleep deprived face. He'd always been one to focus solely on appearances but he must've abandoned that as well. She motions to Bethany to be silent and head toward the door. Bethany shoots her a look before pointing at Lucy. Lucy mouths 'I'll follow shortly' and Bethany nods before hurrying away.
"I know someone's in here, I heard you. Now come out." He steps forward toward Lucy.
She looks around before grabbing a small paperweight from the pile and tossing it to the side. She closes her eyes tightly in hopes it would work.
"Honestly, did you expect that to work when I saw your hand throw it?"
He's leaning on the stack next to her, staring at her with a lazy smirk on his face.
"Well, it is you Malfoy..." She mutters.
"What are you doing here?" He asks, suddenly serious.
"What are you doing here?" She replies, standing up and crossing her arms.
"Hiding from Pansy. She's so annoying."
"You didn't seem so annoyed with her last year when she was straddling you on the couch."
"Aw, did I make you jealous Luce?" His smirk grows.
"No. Honestly I wanted to bleach my eyes. I don't see what you saw in that pug faced little girl."
"I couldn't have you, so I had to make do. Now, what are you doing here?" He replies, tearing his gaze away from her.
"Bethany and I were hiding from Filch. I don't know where she went." She shrugs, then moves around him toward the cabinet. "So, what's this?"
"A cabinet. Obviously." He replies, his face subtly showing worry.
"You seemed pretty intent on it. Must be important."
"It's just a cabinet."
"I heard you mention Him, Malfoy. What does the cabinet have to do with it?" She asks, getting straight to the point.
"Don't know what you're talking about. Get back to your little friend."
"As you wish, but I know you're up to something, Death Eater." She smirks at him as she passes by and leaves the room.
Bethany is nowhere in sight when Lucy emerges, and Lucy releases the breath she'd been holding without realizing. She'd basically just threatened a Death Eater, though it was only Malfoy. She mentally slaps herself before hurrying down to the safety of the Dungeons. She has to tell the guys. Just as she enters the common room, she's tackled to the ground by a flash of strawberry blonde. She looks up to find Bethany looking at her worriedly.
"You didn't come out in time so I had to run from Filch again. I lost him at the Ravenclaw Tower when I convinced another first year to tell him that I went inside. I made it down here to wait for you. What happened?" Her words come out in a rushed jumble. Lucy looks around her to find several people sitting around in the common room staring at them, mainly Blaise who is paying more attention to them than anyone.
"Let's go talk upstairs."
Bethany crawls off of her and they go up to Lucy's room where she locks the door and soundproofs it before settling down on her bed. She quietly recaps what had happened, leaving Bethany speechless.
"You THREATENED a Death Eater!? I mean he is Malfoy and all and not much of a threat, but seriously what is wrong with you?!"
"I know I know. I don't know why I did it, it just kind of came out. I didn't directly threaten him, just said I knew he was up to something and called him a Death Eater..."
The girls sit in silence for a minute before Bethany asks if she's going to tell the boys about it, or atleast Harry or Hermione. Lucy sighs and agrees to write to the boys and she'll talk to Hermione, since Harry still hates her. She finds a paper and scribbles down what happened and reminds the boys not to worry before telling Bethany she would be back in a little while and to cover for her if need be.
          Lucy slips from the common room seemingly unnoticed before making her way up to the owlery to send the letter then over to the Gryffindor tower. She'd gotten the password from Ginny at the beginning of the year so she tells it to the Fat Lady who still gives her an untrusting glare but lets her in. She glances around the common room and her eyes land on Harry and Hermione sitting around the fireplace. Lucy walks over and Hermione greets her while Harry gives her a stony look.
"Hey, I need to talk to you. I know you three had been trying to bring down You Know Who, and I really think you should look into Malfoy." 

"We already know that." Harry retorts.
"Shut up for a minute, Potter. I saw him earlier tonight acting funny and muttering something about Death Eaters and the Dark Lord while looking at a cabinet. I don't know what it means, just thought you should know."
"Thank you Lucy. We'll look into it." Hermione thanks her sincerely while shooting at look at Harry.
"We should look into you while we're at it." He mutters under his breath.
Lucy stands and yanks both of her shirt sleeves up to expose her forearms to him.
"Look you prick. I'm not a Death Eater. I don't know what crawled up your arse and died when it comes to me but stow it. I'm trying to help you and you accuse me of being a Death Eater at every opportunity. Get your head out of your arse and shut up about it before I give you a real reason to hate me. Understood?"
Hermione stares at both of them with her mouth open while Harry stands up.
"You played my best friend's brothers for a whole year and are still doing it. You have everyone convinced you're so nice and sweet and pathetic, but I know you're in connection to Malfoy. You're just lying about it now."
"You're so stupid." She groans in annoyance.
"And you're a Death Eater."
"Harry stop it!" Hermione scolds.
"No, let him talk. You're an arrogant prat. I thought that perhaps your horrid childhood would make you into a humble goodhearted person but I was wrong. Speaking of playing your best friend's family, how is your obsession with Ginny? Do you know how often she cried over you while you tossed yourself at Cho? Does Ron even know that you're lusting after his little sister while messing with her mind? That's what I thought."
She smirks at his shocked expression and walks toward the entrance. Her ears pick up the sound of a hex and she ducks in time to miss the jet of light while simultaneously firing a Bat Bogey Hex, Ginny's specialty, and knows it hit him without turning around.


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