My Slytherin Prince (Rewrite)

Chapter 18

Hayden didn't have to wait long as the mystery prisoner soon began to wake up.

He watched as the man's eyes started to flutter, wincing a bit at the bright light of the sun shining through the window.

"How are you feeling?" Hayden asked, trying to sound nice as the man took in his surroundings.

"Wha-?" the man mumbled, not being able to form the correct words in his sleep clouded mind.

"Here, I'll help you" Hayden said as he gently helped the man into a sitting position before helping him drink a cup of water.

"What's your name?" Hayden asked after setting the glass back down on the nightstand.

"Uh, um. My na-name is Q-Quinn" the man, Quinn, stuttered, his voice not used to speaking after so long.

"It's nice to meet you, Quinn" Hayden responded

"Whe-where am I?" Quinn rasped out.

"In my home. My father and I found you. It's a miracle you woke up, you looked half dead" Hayden fibbed.

"Wait, what ha-ppened? I-I do-don't remember" Quinn mumbled, finding that there was a lot missing from his mind regarding the past couple months.

"Well, that's what i was hoping you could tell me. We found you in a dungeon cell" Hayden said.

"Oh. Who are y-you?" Quinn asked

Hayden grinned, barley containing it from becoming a smirk as he answered.

"My name is Hayden" he gave.

"Why did you save me?" Quinn asked, his voice starting to return back to normal the more he spoke.

"Well, firstly, you were in need of help so I've been doing everything I can to do just that. I also helped you because I need your help in return" The raven responded.

"How? Why would you need my help?" Quinn asked, genuinely confused.

"I need you to help me prove a point. For both sides of the war"

---

Draco collapsed onto the bed next to his, curling around the pillows that belong to his beloved.

Taking a deep breath, the slowly fading scent of his love reached him, causing him to unintentionally relax.

He didn't know why he reacted the way he did when Hayden confessed, but now, he's never regretted his actions more than at that moment.

Why was he so arrogant and prideful? Why couldn't he just man up and accept that Hayden had just as of a past as he did, if not more so.

He doesn't know if he can last another week without seeing Hayden, he's barely even been able to hang on these last couple weeks.

Turning his head, he came face to face with the egg Hayden still had to figure out. Maybe he can still him, he didn't think Hayden had figured the egg out yet, it would probably be a relief for him to be able to come back and see one less thing he had to do.

With his mind made up, he reached for the egg and placed it in his lap once he sat up fully.

After a couple minutes of inspecting and pondering, he decided to open it to see what would happen.

He had never closed something so fast before in his life.

Making sure the thing was securely latched, he held his hands tightly against his ears in an attempt to lessen the ringing.

After a bit his hearing returned back to normal and he glared at the damn gold thing laying beside him.

He already wanted to be done, he didn't want that to happen again.

Once he recovered, he picked the thing back up and looked a bit closer at the designs decorating the shell.

At the bottom of the egg were a set of very faint detailing's, almost unnoticeable if you weren't specifically looking for it.

The designs were very reminiscent of runes that he recently read about in one of classes.

Digging deep into what he remembered from the different lectures he had to endure, he finally realized that these were Fae Runes. Not too rare to find but can be a hassle to try and translate.

Guess he had to find that chapter in whatever book they were reading that week. This was going to take some time.

Hours later, he finally found the correct book and another hour later he found the right chapter. Once he finished reading, he took another look at the egg.

Thankfully the book had a chart of the different runes and what they meant so that would make this a lot easier than it normally might.

Once he matched the right runes from the book to the one on the egg, he wrote down his findings on a separate scrap of parchment.

Come seek us where our voices sound

We cannot sing above the ground

An hour long you'll have to look

to recover what we took

An hour long you'll have to look to recover what we took

your time is half gone

so tarry not

lest what you seek stay here to rot.

'Well that's a cherry thought isn't it' Draco thought with a grimace, before starting to translate the verse.

'Well, it is obvious that the next task is taking place in the Black Lake and somehow involves the mermaids living in it. It also alludes that Hayden is going to have an hour to look for something that he apparently lost, but how is he going to spend an hour underwater let alone find whatever he supposedly loses?' Draco thought. 'Ironic how they say he loses it, but what they really mean is that they're going to steal something from him. I should probably try to hide the more sentimental things Hayden has so they don't ruin anything'

'I hope this helps him. All I want is to try and make things at least a little easier for him. Maybe I should try and figure out what they're going to take from him or maybe even how he'll be able to stay under water that long without drowning. Wait, how would being submerged in the lake that long affect him? He is a Phoenix after all, so probably nothing good"

Placing the egg and the piece of parchment back on Hayden's bedside table, Draco laid back down and snuggled into Hayden's pillows, wondering what else he could do to help and what actions he could take so that he wouldn't have to stress about the task happening directly when he comes back.

Out of the blue, a thought came to him. His family have their annual Hallows Eve ball where they invite all the pureblood families and those in the death eater ranks to attend. It is a nice gathering that he has had a decent time at before.

Maybe he would see Hayden there and he could finally apologize and try to patch things up between them.

He briefly wondered what Hayden was doing at the moment. If he missed him as much as he missed the raven.

He missed holding him in arms as they cuddled, he missed being able to run his fingers through his soft hair, he missed his stunning red and gold eyes that he could spend hours staring into. He missed his smiles and laughter. He just missed Hayden.

He tried not to tear up as he squeezed the pillow tighter.

He really missed Hayden.