Luckily for Draco, the next day showed that no one was as interested in Ron's accident as they were in Katie's. Since he had been in the Potion master's room they believed it truly had been an accident. Harry, of course, was too suspicious to believe that.
"Hey Delilah, can we talk for a minute?"
"Sure, what's up?"
"Have you noticed Malfoy leaving the school grounds recently? Or doing anything suspicious?"
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course this was about Draco. What else would he want to talk about?
"No, but next time you want to talk to me it better be about something other than Draco. And shouldn't you be focusing on the match instead of your obsession with my boyfriend, Mr. Quidditch Captain?"
With that she turned and walked away. But before she was out of earshot, Harry recovered and shouted, "Can you keep an eye on him though?"
This time she didn't resist.
Over the next few days Delilah continued her normal routine. She got up, went to class, did homework, and worked on the cabinet. Well, Draco was the one working on the cabinet. Delilah was focused on making sure they didn't fall behind in classes.
So while everyone was excitedly heading towards the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match, Delilah had decided to find the quietest, most out of the way, corner of the library and work there while Draco was working on the cabinet.
It wasn't too bad, she just reworded her own work and made her handwriting look like Draco's, something she had perfected over the course of the year. At the beginning of the year she had practiced on a separate piece of parchment so the teachers wouldn't notice, though she still was surprised none of them did.
She had just started on her complicated Alchemy homework when she heard 2 people making their way through the bookshelves to her table.
She kept her head down, pretending not to hear, but kept an eye on the situation.
"Be quiet, or Madam Pince will hear us," a girly voice said.
"Don't worry, she won't care as long as we leave her precious books alone. Anyway, we should- What are you doing here? Why aren't you at the match? Is everything alright?" Miguel had spotted Delilah. He seemed taller than she remembered. He might even be taller than her now, though that wasn't very hard, at least according to Draco.
"Everything's just peachy," Delilah said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "I'm just trying to figure out how Slughorn wants us to write the ironic formula of irony. Snape taught us a completely different way, and Slughorn won't accept it. Why aren't you at the match? And who's your lovely friend?"
Miguel blushed.
"Yeah, this is my girlfriend, Anne Mildrum. We were looking for somewhere to study."
Delilah studied Anne. She was a rather pretty Hufflepuff with short, wavy brown hair and bright blue eyes. She seemed nice enough, but it was hard to tell with Hufflepuff's. They all acted kind, but if you ever insulted one of their friends, they would start their revenge and you'd be lucky to survive it.
Delilah raised her eyebrows and smiled knowingly. She may not have realized how old Miguel had gotten, even though she knew he had been made Prefect, but she could tell from Anne's guilty face that they weren't going somewhere to study....
"Well then, you have fun with that. If you have any questions, especially with Potions, don't hesitate to ask," she said, grinning mischievously at Miguel, hoping he knew he was going to get teased mercilessly.
"Alright, we will," Anne nervously replied before they hurried away.
Delilah smiled after them, wishing she could be so carefree, before turning back to her fancy formula of fanciness.
"He did what?!" Delilah said to Daphne, who had just told her about the Quidditch Match. "Honestly, it's a miracle Harry's still alive with how accident prone he is. I always think he has the lowest level of brain power but then someone like McLaggen comes along and I realize he could be a lot worse...."
Daphne snorted.
"And he attacked his own team members. I bet he won't be on a Quidditch team for a long time."
"Definitely."
"So are you going to head up and visit Harry?"
Delilah hesitated.
"I'm... not sure. He's been a prat recently."
"He's your brother, so you should at least go check that he's alive and that he'll be alright."
"But I know he's alright, he's been hit with more than a bludger before."
"True, he didn't die when he got hit with the killing curse, but you should still check on him and show that you still care about him."
"Fine, I guess I'll go make sure he's alive. But that's it."
"Are you heading up now?"
"Yes, I better just get it over with."
"You're alive?" Delilah asked Harry once she entered the Hospital Wing.
"No, I'm a living corpse."
"Ok, Mr. Inferi. Which dark wizard animated you back to life? It couldn't have been Dumbledore, it'd ruin his image, but I wouldn't be surprised if Madam Pomfrey went that far to save a student," she lowered her voice for the second part. Delilah may be sarcastic, but she didn't have a death wish.
Ron snorted from the bed beside Harry. Harry's lips tilted up.
"I wouldn't let her hear you say that, or you'll join me in her army of the undead."
"Well, I guess I better leave before she finds out then. I'll see you later Mr. Inferi and company."
As she was leaving she heard Ron quietly grumble, "Why am I always the company?"
She snorted and went to find Draco.
Oddly enough he wasn't in the Room of Requirement, his dorm, or the Common Room.
Frowning, she turned to Crabbe.
"Have you seen Draco?"
"No," he said, glaring at her.
"Ok then...."
Delilah quickly left, wandering the halls trying to think where else he'd be. She paused. She thought she had heard- there it was again, the sound of someone crying.
She tried to think of what she'd say to whichever first or second year was upset but to her surprise it was Draco.
"Draco? What's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing..." he lied, wiping some tears away and trying to smile. "Nothing for you to worry about."
"You're crying, that means I will worry, no matter what, so what's wrong? Is it about-" She quickly looked around, making sure they were alone. "Is it about the cabinet? Do you want to talk about it?"
He shook his head.
Delilah nodded and put her arms around him, letting him cry.
After a few minutes he finally stopped.
"I think I'm better now. Thanks," Draco murmured as he pulled away.
"Of course. You're actually feeling better and not just saying so?"
"Yeah," he smiled wearily.
"Ok. Do you want to head up to dinner?"
Draco nodded.
Over the next few days, most of the other 6th years were preoccupied with apparition. A notice had come up in all the Common Rooms, announcing that there was one final practice in Hogsmeade before the test. Delilah and Draco were one of the few students whose birthdays were late enough that theirs would be at the beginning of next year.
So, instead of worrying over the 3 D's – decoration, dilation, and digestion – Delilah and Draco were able to spend even more time working on the cabinet.
Crabbe and Goyle had finally agreed to be their lookout, and Delilah finally realized why they had argued so much. Draco had apparently smuggled a bunch of the Polyjuice potion from their first Potions lesson and had decided to use it to transform Crabbe and Goyle into young girls. How Draco convinced them to do that was beyond Delilah, but nowadays she was always too tired to care.
"You should go to bed," Draco finally insisted.
"But we need to keep working, we're getting closer."
"Yes, but I can keep working on it. You need to sleep."
"But we're so clos-"
"Delilah." Draco waited until they made eye contact before continuing. "Go to bed. I'll work on it, but right now you'll be more helpful going to bed so I don't have to worry about your health."
Delilah looked at him, and sighed. He could be just as stubborn as she was, and she didn't have the energy to argue. Maybe he was right....
"Fine."
She was about to walk out before he called out, "And don't forget to use the disillusionment charm."
Just to spite him, she transformed into her animagus form instead. She hadn't used it in a while, afterall she hadn't had a reason to. It felt nice to run down the halls again, though it would have been better if it was outside. Maybe that's what she'd do tomorrow while everyone was at Hogsmeade.
She transformed back into herself once she was outside the Common Room and managed to get inside her bed before falling straight asleep.
"Is this what I'm supposed to feel like in the mornings?" Delilah asked Daphne at breakfast.
"What, did you actually get some sleep?"
"Yeah, I'm just as surprised as you are."
"Of course I'm surprised, it's a miracle. I can't recall you ever having a good night's rest."
Delilah laughed, but her smile faded a bit as she saw Draco picking at his food, not eating.
"He hasn't been eating recently," Daphne commented. "Is he alright?"
"No, but I've been trying to help him."
"Has it been working?"
Delilah paused.
"Not... particularly, but he knows I'm here for him."
"I think that's the best thing you can do."
"Yeah, probably, but it doesn't stop me from wanting to do more."
"Alright, just be careful. I don't want you to lose yourself trying to help him, ok?"
"Of course."
They finished eating in silence.
"I should probably go see what he needs," Delilah finally said.
"Then you could go to Hogsmeade with me and the girls."
"Which girls?"
"Lyra, of course, then Susan Bones, and Padma Patil."
"Yeah, that sounds like fun. It would be nice to get to know Susan and Padma better. They seem nice."
"They really are. Lyra's friends with Padma, and I'm friends with Susan because how could someone not be friends with her? She's one of the sweetest people I know, though of course she's only a friend."
"Yeah, I think I'll go. I'll quickly let Draco know, ok?"
"Hurry, we'll be waiting by the doors."
Delilah nodded and quickly walked over to Draco.
"Just so you know, I'm going to Hogsmeade with Daphne and some other friends."
"Ok, have fun. You know where I'll be." He had tried to make it sound like a joke, but it fell flat.
"You know, you could go to Hogsmeade too. I'm sure Blaise would love to drag you to the store he gets his dragon shoes from."
Draco scoffed.
"I'm good, thanks."
"Alright, if you're sure. I'll meet you up there when I get back."
"Ok, I'll see you then."
Delilah waved goodbye and hurried after Daphne.
For the next few hours Delilah completely forgot about the cabinet. She, Padma, Lyra, Susan, and Daphne spent the next few hours shopping, talking, and laughing. Susan and Padma were nice, and Delilah was glad that she got along well with them. Neither of them seemed to care that she was a Slytherin.
It was a nice change of pace, and for the first time in a while, Delilah finally felt like a normal witch.