Emily Potter - Book 5 - Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 37 - Maladies & Injuries

"How come you didn't tell her the truth?" Draco asked, coming out of the shadows to speak to Blaise. He had been finding the courage to ask him if he had told Emily why he was doing what he had done to her and her brother. Draco needed to know if Blaise kept his word under secrecy. He looked up at him from the common room couch, unsurprised to see Draco lurking around at night, "I just realized that it's not my secret to tell. If anything, I'm washing my hands off of this matter."

A rush of relief ran over Draco's body, feeling utterly thankful that Blaise didn't tell Emily. "How come you're still talking to me?" His voice slightly on edge, Draco asked him. Blaise shrugged as if coming to the conclusion that he couldn't leave his friend alone at this time, "As demented you are and your pre-death eater life, I know now that there is still good in you, mate. I mean, you are trying to save Emily." Blaise looked around the Slytherin common room and wondered how Merlin lived his life as a student in Slytherin. He wondered if Voldemort sat where he sat when he was at Hogwarts. "Promise me one thing, Draco – just this one thing."

He leaned in closer to Blaise, wondering what he could possibly offer his help to. "Stop him. Once you're in his group and shit is about to set loose, you try and stop him." Blaise said in a cold and stern voice. Draco had trouble comprehending what he just asked him to do, he bloody wants me to kill You-Know-Who? He thought to himself.

"I know it's too much to ask, but try to delay him as much as possible – I don't know, man. If he comes back here and takes full reign, who knows what he'll do? And Emily... She's been teaching me and Daphne." Blaise recalled the few nights of him, Daphne, and Emily with pillows on the floor and their wands tucked away in their pockets. Emily had taught them wandless magic; it took them a few weeks to get the concept but they never fully mastered the art. Before that, she taught the several curses, hexes, and spells. Emily never said why but only told them that it was for their own good.

"It's almost as if she's preparing us for something."

"Whatever she's teaching you, keep learning." Draco instructed, "She's doing something right, I'm sure of it."

"And you?"

"What about me?"

Blaise looked at him sullenly, sighing, "What would you want me to do? How can I help you?" Draco glanced at him, "What did you tell Emily? What did you say to cover it all up?" Blaise shrugged, a corner of his mouth rising into a smile, "I told her that you've gone your way and that you can't be trusted. I told her to steer clear of you."

A sharp pain tugged at Draco's chest as he heard Blaise's lie, "That's good. It's for her safety. Thank you." He said, patting his back as a sign of his thanks. Blaise squeezed Draco's shoulder, his eyes almost pleading, "Be safe, mate. I'm here for you."

"That is the last thing I'd want you to be, Blaise." His voice had gotten low; Draco was struggling to keep his sentence straight and his throat not to tremble. "It's not only Emily I'd want to keep safe. You know that, right?"

He stared at him for a moment, pondering on how young and foolish they four of them used to be in their younger years. How did we become this? Blaise thought to himself. He nodded profusely to Draco, "I understand completely. I'll watch over Emily and Daphne."

That was the last civil encounter between the two boys. Blaise left the common room with a heavy heart and returned to the dorm where he struggled to stay still in his bed and sleep. Draco killed the flames in the fireplace and stayed near the window, breathing in fresh air but still having the weight of it all drowning him in his unhappiness.

He planned on relishing the cool night breeze and the silence, maybe sleep for an hour seeing that he was all alone. That is until the silence was broken by a scream flooding the girls' dormitory. Draco further sank in the shadows as he saw light pour out from the stairs, he saw several figures carrying a struggling body out. The source of the scream was from Emily.