"Harri, what the hell?!"
"I'm sorry!" I say, near to tears as Sirius runs into the room and blasts a Death Eater away from me. "I though Voldemort had captured you! Kreacher told me!"
"We'll have a talk about who you should and shouldn't trust later." Sirius scolds as he blasts another Death Eater who was Crucioing Neville.
"And that's another thing," Sirius says as he begins to duel with Draco's crazy auntie, "I hear I have a Weasley twin to kill? No one hurts my goddaughter and gets away with it."
Well, he's got a fucking long list to get through.
A green jet of light blasts past my left ear.
And, true to his word, Sirius Avada Kedevras the masked git who sent it to me.
"Ha!" Sirius smirks, blowing the tip of his wand, "that'll teach you to mess with my god-"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
I stare in horrified silence as Bellatrix's spell hits Sirius square in the chest. His eyes pop open as stares down at it, and then back up at me.
Oh no, oh no, oh fuck no. Not again.
"Sirius!" I call, running towards him with my arm reaching out, as though I could save him from such a deadly curse.
But I do not get to him in time, and his terrified eyes never leave mine as he topples back through the veil and vanishes.
*****
It is like I'm in some kind of nightmare and I can't wake up.
Unlike after Cedric's death, I'm not admitted to the hospital wing. And I don't have Fred holding my hand and telling me everything is going to be alright.
So I return to the Slytherin common room, alone and deathly afraid of having to face Draco and explain that his father is now locked up in Azkaban all due to my little adventure.
Not that I care about Lucius. He deserves to rot in there for eternity as far as I am concerned.
As it happens, Draco is the first to greet me. In fact, given the lateness of the hour, he's the only one to greet me.
He jumps up from the sofa as I shakily enter the common room. His face pale and full of concern.
"Harri? My god, are you okay?" He strides over to me and I realise with dismay that he has no idea what has happened. "I wanted to come after you but fucking Weasley hexed me. I only came to about an hour ago."
He stops in front of me, his eyes searching me. "Harri? Did Umbridge hurt you again?"
Fuck, that seemed like a lifetime ago. Since then my world has once again been turned upside down and shaken to it's core.
"Sirius-" I whisper, and to my horror, my vision blurs and tears fall down my face, "he's dead."
Arms go around me in an instant and I find myself crying against Draco's chest. I cling to him as my body literally wracks in sobs. I am so tired and I am so drained but most of all I am so fucking sad.
Draco doesn't ask me how, or why, or when. He simply holds me until my sobs subside, stroking my back and pressing his lips down on the top of my head, soothing me in the same way Fred used to do, and I realise just how much I achingly miss him in that moment.
Once I finish crying, I let go of him, an onslaught of shame filling me for using him for comfort when he has no idea what has happened to his father.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Draco asks. "Or we could just sit, if you want?"
He's been so fucking nice which just makes this next part harder.
"Draco," I say, my voice thick after my crying session, "there's something you need to know. Something else that happened tonight involving your father."
He freezes, clearly not expecting that.
"My father? What's he got to do with anything? What exactly happened tonight? Is he-?" Draco's face drains of all colour and he looks as though he's about to throw up, "Merlin, no, please. Please don't tell me- is he de-?"
"He's not dead," I say a bit more sharply than intended. "He's been arrested and sent to Azkaban."
I watch as Draco's mouth falls open, taking in my words. His hands go straight to his head, driving fingers through his hair as he twists around on the spot. "What the fuck?"
The anguish in his entire demeaner is rife. I wonder what thoughts are going through his head in that moment. I know it'll be in overdrive at least, full of questions, scenarios and outcomes - crashing into his thought space all in one explosion.
"I was tricked into going to the Ministry to save Sirius," I explain as quickly as I can before he inevitably shuts me down, because I know he won't like what I'm about to tell him. "Your father was there waiting for me, along with your aunt. It was all a ploy to get some prophecy out of me, but their mission failed when I out-ran them and-"
"What the fuck were you doing at the Ministry?!"
"TRYING TO SAVE MY GODFATHER!"
I burst into tears then because it hit me like a Knight Bus on speed that my stupidity tonight as good as killed Sirius.
I'm surprised with all the shouting and crying Draco and I are doing that we don't wake up the entire castle, let alone our fellow Slytherins who all remain in their dormitories.
And for the second time that night, Draco pulls me into a hug, and this time it's not just me sobbing, but him too.
"I'm sorry," he murmurs over and over again, holding me tighter, "I'm so sorry."
I lift my face and I look up into his. We are both panting hard, both us full of misery and emotion.
Which is probably why the next thing our bibolar asses do is kiss.
No, we don't just kiss, but rather tear each other's mouths apart with our lips, teeth grazing and nipping. His tongue slips into my mouth and I can taste our shared breath, feel the thud of our combined heartbeats as we pull and tear at each other's clothing.
He groans into my mouth, a sound which sends shivers through my nerves as he pulls me hard against him, kissing me with a fervent urgent need I've never known before.
My fingers grip his hair, pulling him closer as every square inch of my body dissolves into his. I have never wanted anyone like this before. Ever.
We somehow stagger across to the sofa, shirts discarded in our wake. He pushes me down and my back hits the cool leather lining of the sofa, the weight of his body on mine is extraordinary. I feel him - all of him - pressed against me, and I inhale his scent that's just... him.
But as his hands tug at my bra, I suddenly see Sirius' lifeless body flash before my eyes, and then Fred's sad face looking into mine.
"Stop!" I gasp against Draco's mouth, trying to wriggle free of him.
He instantly stills, lifting his head, his hot breaths hitting my face as our hearts hammer like crazy beneath our chests still pressed together.
He blinks, looking down at me in confusion. I've never seen his eyes look this way: pupils dilated with lust as they gaze into mine.
And then in an instant he clambers off of me, cursing beneath his breath.
Fuck, this is so awkward. Both of us are still breathing hard as we reposition ourselves to sitting side by side on the sofa, both of us in a state of near undress.
I wrap my arms around myself, thankful I've still got on my bra and skirt at least. Draco reaches down and snatches up my shirt, and I try not to look at his taut toned abs as he tosses it into my lap.
I gratefully shrug it back on, hurriedly trying to button it up in my fumbling fingers. I notice Draco makes no movement to put his shirt back on. Instead he remains seated next to me, his elbows on his knees with his face in his hands.
"I don't know what came over me," I mutter, simply to break this dreadful silence. "I'm sorry."
Draco groans into his hands, and then swears so violently it makes me jump.
"Fuck! Fuck, fuck fuck!"
"Draco, please," I implore, "I don't want this to ruin our friendship."
Slowly, he lifts his head out of his hands and tilts his face to look at me, his grey eyes cold as they meet mine.
"Ruin our friendship?" He laughs bitterly. "Please! You did that the moment you started off a chain of events which led to my father's arrest!"
He sounds so furious, that I can't believe this is the same boy who was kissing me with such need a moment ago.
"Your father started that chain of events the moment he decided to become a Death Eater!" I hiss feeling an overwhelming anger. "Do not blame his bad choices on others. Especially not on me!"
I am so angry I am shaking. I want to hit him very, very hard and cause him unimaginable pain - just like Voldemort has caused me.
Draco stands up suddenly, snatching his shirt up from the ground. I can feel his anger from where I am sitting.
"Just stay away from me from now on, Potter," he snarls, striding away towards the boys dormitories where his bedroom lays.
That night, I crawl into my bed and weep. I weep for Sirius whose life was cut short thanks to my stupidity.
And I weep for Fred, my darling lovely Fred who I miss so much and would do anything to be engulfed in his arms right now.
But he doesn't love me. He left me. He left me like everyone I love always eventually does.
*****