To Delilah's disappointment and relief, the cabinet didn't make any improvements over the next few days, but it didn't become worse either. It still could transport inanimate objects safely, but anything alive died.
"So, what are we planning to do when it's fixed?" Delilah asked one evening when they were working on it. She had just realized she didn't know what Draco planned to do.
He sighed.
"Some Death Eaters are coming as backup and distractions, so it'll just be me and Dumbledore."
"And me," Delilah added, staring him down.
He opened his mouth to argue, but stopped. By now he must know that she was stubborn.
"If you do, people will know you helped the Dark Lord."
Delilah sighed.
"I know, but... I can't stand by, knowing you're in danger. Plus, maybe I can help you afterwards too."
And she wasn't sure if he'd actually kill Dumbledore. She just couldn't see him actually doing it, and Dumbledore would probably offer to help him and hide his parents. It seemed like something he'd do, and knowing Draco he'd probably accept. She could tell he didn't want to do it.
Draco searched her expression.
"Just be prepared, ok? I know Harry will end up finding out and I don't want him to hate you for helping me."
She smiled sadly.
"I know, just know whatever happens I'll stand by you."
"Thanks, we'll see if it actually ends up working though."
"It will," Delilah said, sounding more confident than she felt. "We just need to find the right charms. It may take a while, but we'll manage."
He weakly smiled, pulling her into a hug.
"I'm glad you're here."
"Me too."
They stared at each other. Delilah hesitated. She didn't want to bring the mood down, but he should know.
"Speaking of Harry, on Sunday he wants to talk with me and walk around the lake."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
Sighing, she said, "I know it's not, but I want to enjoy spending time with him before, well, you know."
"Ok, if you're sure. Do you want to head to the common room? I think we could both use a break from everything."
She nodded, knowing her homework wouldn't let her relax.
Sure enough, when they got to the Common Room they sat down and started their homework.
Delilah groaned, leaning against Draco.
"Why do we have to do this?" she complained.
"So we can do what we want after school," Daphne responded.
"My parents are rich enough, I won't have to work," Draco murmured so only Delilah could hear.
She snorted.
"Nah, you'd get too bored."
"How do you know?"
She grinned, lightly nudging him.
"I've met you."
He chuckled, and begrudgingly they went back to work.
The rest of the week seemed to drag on. It wouldn't end, until, suddenly, it did.
The vanishing cabinet still hadn't made any visible improvements, and Delilah was starting to lose hope. She could tell Draco was too, though they both were trying, and failing, to hide it.
"We need a plan B," Delilah finally said as they walked up to breakfast. "But first, with the Quidditch match today, what's the plan?"
Draco sighed.
"I resigned from the team. I need to focus on the project and homework."
"Ok, how did they take it?"
He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. How could he be so adorable yet smart? It wasn't fair.
"Oh, you know Urquhart. He swore a bit, but in the end accepted it. He didn't argue too."
"What was your excuse?"
"Oh, just that I was too busy with schoolwork and couldn't focus on it. He seemed a bit relieved that I acknowledged it though. I guess it improves our chances for actually winning the Cup if we all have the time to put into it."
"I guess that makes sense. So, we're going to work on your pro- homework instead, right?"
Draco stared for a second, then spotted Harry and Ron coming up.
"Yeah, to the library then?"
Delilah nodded.
"Where are you two going? The pitch is that way." Ron pointed in the other direction.
"We're not going, obviously," Draco replied, rolling his eyes.
Delilah elbowed him.
"Draco is falling behind on homework, so he left the Quidditch team. I'm helping him get back on track."
She hated telling Harry half-truths, but she couldn't tell him the full truth, and she wouldn't lie.
Harry frowned, but didn't seem too suspicious.
"Ok, so you aren't coming to the match?"
He sounded... disappointed.
Delilah nodded, thinking of a brilliant, painful, excuse.
"Draco really needed help, and it was either today or tomorrow and I wanted to keep tomorrow free so we could talk for as long as necessary."
Harry relaxed. He bought it. She should have been relieved, but for some reason it just hurt.
He nodded.
"Come on, we need to go," Ron said moodily. "I don't want our teammates to hate me more because we were late. We both know that would be my fault too."
Delilah raised an eyebrow at Harry. The only time Ron had this much angst was after Harry's name had been put in the Triwizard Tournament.
Harry nodded, and as he passed Delilah he quietly hissed, "Later."
Oh. He had gone back to using Parseltongue for hidden messages. Fun.
And with that Ron and Harry headed to the Quidditch match, and for once she wished she could join them.
Over the course of the rest of the day they managed to do a bit, but it didn't seem to work. She might actually need to ask Slughorn, but she'd wait until after Winter break. Maybe by then there'd be some progress.
"Come on," Delilah decided. "It's late, we should go to bed. We already missed dinner."
Draco sighed, looking paler than normal.
"But-" He stopped, noticing her pleading look. "Ok. Do you want to stop by the kitchens?"
"Now that's the best idea you've had all day," Delilah joked.
The next day was similar. They spent the morning working with little to no progress until Delilah had to leave to walk with Harry.
She headed to the Great Hall. He'd probably be eating lunch. Delilah sat down with Draco, who she had forced to come and eat something.
When she had finished eating, she said goodbye to Draco and started walking towards Harry, focusing on breathing.
She was just meeting up with him. They had hung out before, they were basically all each other had for eleven years. It would be fine, even if it felt like it would be the last time for a while. She was a teenager after all, so her emotions were almost completely unreliable, despite how strong they were.
She pushed her butterflies down and smiled as she reached the Gryffindor table.
"Hey Harry, Ron, Hermione," Delilah greeted as she sat down beside Harry.
"Hey Delilah," Ron and Harry chorased.
She noticed Hermione staring at her strangely.
"What? Do I have food on my face?"
"No." Hermione shook her head. "But you look exhausted, are you alright?"
Of course Hermione would notice.
"Yeah, I have had to pull some all-nighters to finish homework on time."
"Really? Usually you are so on top of things, it's unlike you to get behind" Hermione pushed.
Before Delilah could reply, however, Harry interjected.
"Give her a break, I've heard she's helping Malfoy and the other Slytherins with their homework on top of homework."
Delilah turned to Harry, surprised. He hadn't stood up for her in, well, years.
Hermione seemed just as surprised, studying Harry as if trying to figure out his reasoning. Luckily she still dropped the subject.
"Do you want to go?" Harry asked, filling the awkward silence.
"No, she just came over here to say hi," Midnight sarcastically replied.
Delilah flinched. Midnight had been quieter over the past few months as she had more time to go hunting mice in the Room of Requirement.
"Shush, he's trying to be nice," Delilah told her off.
Thankfully though, Harry was laughing while Hermione and Ron looked utterly confused.
"I always forget that you're a Parselmouth too," Hermione mused, looking lost in thought.
"Yeah," Delilah awkwardly replied. She never really knew how to answer Hermione. "Harry, I'm ready when you are."
"Cool, let's go."
They started walking to the lake.
"So... how are you?" he asked, glancing nervously at her.
"Fine. The N.E.W.T. level work is stressful, but I think I'm coping alright," Delilah said, and it was true. She was fine, just stressed almost beyond capacity, almost being the keyword. "How are you doing?"
Shrugging, he said, "Good, though schoolwork is being a nightmare and I still haven't gotten non-verbal spells down."
"You'll get it, you just need to focus. Speaking of nightmares though, how have yours been?"
"I actually haven't gotten any. Dumbledore thinks it's because Voldemort is using Occlumency against me after what happened at the Ministry."
"That does make sense. Oh, your lessons with Dumbledore, how have they been going?"
Again, Harry shrugged.
"Good, it's just been about Voldemort's past. Apparently it will be useful, but I don't know why."
"So even after the Ministry he's still telling you things in fragments? Why?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "Probably so it makes more sense in the end."
Delilah huffed. She liked Hogwarts, but some of the things the Headmaster did made no sense. For example, the house cup system was totally rigged since he favored Gryffindor and used whatever excuse to give them points.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Nothing really. I just don't like Dumbledore too much."
"Really?" He sounded surprised. "Why?"
Delilah hesitated. How did she phrase it in a way that didn't offend him?
"Well, he has favorites and makes it obvious. I know your adventures are important and necessary, and you deserve to be rewarded, but it's not really fair to the other houses that worked hard to get all their points when in the end it doesn't matter since you always get awarded big, last minute points."
How did the conversation get to Dumbledore anyway? She had made a list of things they could talk about, and Dumbledore wasn't anywhere on it.
Harry frowned.
"When you put it that way, it does seem unfair, but I'm not trying to get the points. I just want to help people."
"I know," Delilah reassured him. "I just think they should be given in advance and not at the end of term feast. The way McGonagall did it last year was smart. She did it early enough that we could try to catch up and gave points to Ravenclaw not just Gryffindor since Luna helped."
"It was smart," he agreed.
Delilah could tell that he didn't really care, but was trying to be interested so they had something to talk about.
"Anyway, he just doesn't seem to do much. Then again Sprout didn't help much either when we were wrestling the Snargaluff Stumps."
She noticed Harry relax after the obvious subject change.
"I agree, Neville did well with it though."
"He is a natural at Herbology, unlike me. If I didn't have to take Herbology I wouldn't, but alas, I need it to be a Potioneer."
"So that's what you want to do? Become a Potioneer?"
"Yep, I think I'll open my own shop in Diagon Alley. Have a bunch of potions, ingredients, books, and maybe even a few recipes. It sounds like it'd be fun. What are you thinking of doing?"
" I can see you doing that. I want to be an Auror, that's why I need to take Herbology."
Delilah turned, surprised.
"Really? I thought after fighting the Dark Arts for so long you'd be tired of it."
He shrugged.
"It sounds weird, but Barty Crouch Jr. suggested it when he was pretending to be Moody and it stuck with me."
"Ok, I just always thought you'd be a teacher since I've heard how much you liked teaching the D.A."
Harry paused, watching the lake. Delilah could almost see the gears in his head turning.
"I've never thought of that, but it actually sounds nice."
"Yeah, I thought you'd either teach or be a professional Quidditch player. Good thing I didn't place any bets," she joked.
He laughed.
"That's not a bad idea though. I could do Quidditch for a bit then become an Auror, and have teaching be a backup choice."
They walked around in silence for a bit, but surprisingly it wasn't awkward, like it would have been only a few months ago.
"Oh," Delilah said after a while, finally remembering. "You should be careful, I've heard a bunch of girls talking about giving you Love Potion recently. I'd have given them detention but they were only talking, so there was no evidence. Still, I wouldn't put it past them to find a way to sneak some in."
Harry nodded.
"Alright, I'll be careful. Maybe I'll have Ron taste test everything. That might stop Lavender for a bit."
Delilah snorted.
"I doubt that would work for long," she said. "If anything it would make them closer after the effects wear off. You could ask a girl to Slughorn's party though, that would stop them for a bit."
"There's no one I want to invite."
Delilah raised an eyebrow.
"Not even a certain girl who's a year younger than us?"
"I don't like Ginny that way," Harry said defensively.
"I never said it was Ginny." She smirked. "What made you jump to her so quickly?"
Harry huffed.
"Nothing, she's just the only girl I know that's a year younger than us."
"Uh uh, suuuure, it's not like you taught a bunch of them, like Luna, last year or anything."
Harry rolled his eyes, not responding.
They continued walking, changing the topic to trivial things until it was dinner and they were forced to say goodbye.
Once he was gone, Delilah sighed.
She should have been elated that Harry finally trusted her again. Afterall, she was finally growing close to him again! But whenever she saw him, all she could think about was his face when he realized she had been helping Draco all along.