I don't own any of the characters apart from Melanie Malfoy. All of the characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
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"I don't think you realise how much trouble you could get in for this!" Draco shouted, making a scene of pushing me into an empty classroom.
"I don't think you quite realise that I'm doing this for the good of everyone!" I yelled back, my temper flaring. The thing that bugged me the most was that he had been turning a blind eye to everything that the Carrows had done in the past few months. It was almost Christmas, and thanks to him they'd got away with a lot more than they should have done.
"Yeah, but you might get found out one day! You're not doing the things that they want you to do and I don't want to lose you!" he yelled, his voice cracking towards the end. My anger seeped away and I walked over to my twin and hugged him.
"You don't have to worry about me. I'm doing this for everyone. Plus, I need something to take my mind off the fact that I hardly have any friends here now..." I trailed off. Cho's parents had taken her out of Hogwarts just after Halloween and Dean hadn't even returned for his seventh year. I was making out like it didn't bother me, but considering everyone else hates me, that's kind of difficult.
"Hey, I'm your older brother. If I don't look out for you then there would be no point in me being here at all," he smiled, pulling me in for another hug. "I'd help you out with the Carrows, but they seem to hate me, and don't even try to lie, you know it too."
I nodded, not being able to argue the point. Every time they saw Draco they sent him a glare and pulled their wands out threateningly. I didn't get it though. They congratulated me on the 'completion' of our mission but called Draco a traitor. Weirdos...
"One more day and we'll be out of here for two weeks. I talked to Snape and he agreed to let you spend the time at home because of how early you came to Hogwarts in the summer. You won't have to worry about anything while we're there either, I'll be right by your side-"
"I know that. You turned into my Siamese twin during the summer holidays. I think if you'd have ignored me over Christmas I would have been more worried," I joked, trying to lighten the mood between us slightly.
Every possible chance we'd had to talk in the past few months had been horrible. It was like we couldn't get along anymore. No matter what our conversation started out with, we would end up yelling at each other and someone would have to intervene so we didn't hex each other into oblivion.
He sent me a weak smile and started walking over to the door. Even if we'd had our first conversation in a long time where it didn't end in us arguing, we still felt awkward around each other, which is very strange for us. We'd been best friends for 17 years before this, and I missed that feeling. In a way it felt like someone had taken my left arm and was just dangling it above my head. It was so close yet so far at the same time.
"Hey, Drake," I said, causing him to turn around and look at me. "I miss us."
I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes and was refusing to let them spill over. I knew Draco could see my inner battle and he rushed over, pulling me into another hug. Even though it had been a sign of comfort on his part, my tears finally started flowing down my cheeks.
"Hey, everything will sort itself out. If he sees us breaking down he will just take pleasure. We've got to show him that we're stronger than he thinks," Draco whispered, holding onto me tighter.
I took in a deep breath and wiped my cheeks, looking into Draco's eyes for the first time in months. It was then that I realised how different he looked.
His eyes had dark circles underneath them and he was even paler than he had been throughout all of last year. I think he'd gotten thinner as well. The thing that caught my attention the most though were his eyes. There wasn't the usual twinkle they held in them, instead being replaced by a blank feeling, making the grey look even duller than usual.
"Are you okay Drake?" I asked, not sure what kind of answer I was hoping to hear from him. If he said no, would I be able to hear his answer. If he said yes, that would mean he was lying to me.
"I've been better I guess," he told me. I wasn't fully satisfied with his answer, but the look on his face stopped me from prying any further. He was my twin, when he felt like telling me, I knew that he would.
I laughed nervously, tugging on the bottom of my shirt out of habit. We weren't normally awkward around each other, but like I said earlier, things have changed between us recently.
"I've gotta go," I muttered, not looking up to meet his eyes, "I promised Neville I'd meet him to go over...things...before the Christmas break."
"Okay Mel. Just promise me you'll be careful around the Carrows?" he pleaded. I looked into his eyes determined to make him realise my true intentions for what felt the millionth time since we'd started our seventh year. I just didn't have it in me though.
"You know me, always careful," I teased, trying to ease the tension that had once again encircled us. He shot me a disapproving look, "yes, I'm going to be careful. Do you really think I want them reporting to the Dark Lord about my new intentions?"
"No, you're right," he replied, even though he had known I'd been asking him a rhetorical question. I nodded my head in his direction and slipped out of the door, heading towards the Room of Requirement.
I felt like the last two years of my life had just led to me living in the hidden room that Hogwarts had. I mean seriously, did no one realise that I disappeared for hours on end into a wall?
Without paying any attention to my actions, I pulled open the heavy door and quickly glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one had followed me. When I was confident that the coast was clear, I slipped my body between the slim gap of the wooden doors and let it close behind me.
"Took you long enough to get here," an Irish voice whispered into my ear. I jumped and turned around, ready to punch whoever was stood next to me. I know I'm a witch, but sometimes the Muggle way of fighting just seemed like a better idea.
"Woah Mel! Seamus has a point. You left the Great Hall at the same time as we did, how come it took you so long to get here?" Neville said, pulling me to sit next to him on the couch.
"Draco playing the overprotective brother again. He's just worried for me," I told them, crossing my legs underneath my body, "sorry Seamus, you've gotta remember who I've been associated with in the past year."
"Don't worry about it, I probably should have thought about that first," Seamus smiled across at me. I returned it happily, turning to Neville once again.
"What did you wanna talk about then?" I asked warily, not sure what to expect when he started talking.
"We need to formulate a plan for when we get back. We can't just go out on a limb and hope for the best. Last time we went out we almost got caught and we can't risk that again."
"You're talking a load off bull-" Seamus started, but was cut off by the sound of wood creaking. All three of us turned to the door in a panic, scared that someone was in fact trying to break into the room.
None of us were breathing, eyes focused purely on the huge door at the centre of the room. All of a sudden, a small red head walked into the room and we all exhaled at the same time, glad that no one was trying to kidnap us.
"Are you guys okay? Neville looks like he's just seen You-Know-Who or something," Ginny stated, casually taking a seat, oblivious to the fact that she'd caused this panic.
"We're fine. Like I was saying before though, last time we went out, someone did get caught Neville," Seamus told him, flapping his arms about to try and get his point across better.
"Why are you brushing off my question?" Ginny asked, at the same time Neville asked: "Who?"
"Ginny, I never knew you were coming to meet us, so I thought someone was trying to kidnap us. I'm not sure why the other two reacted the way they did..."
"Anyway, Michael for caught. I thought we told you that Neville?" Seamus stated, his voice becoming to sound more confused with every word he said.
"It might have come up I guess. What happened to him?"
"You remember that big argument we had?" Ginny and Neville nodded in reply, "well, Mel and I decided to go after Michael to make sure he was being safe."
"He wasn't," I chipped in.
"The Carrows caught him and Mel stepped in to stop him from getting punished. She promised to take him to their head of house, and they let him go. Michael went back to his common room and Mel went to talk to Flitwick to make sure he'd cover. He agreed."
"We can't have another call like that," I stated, rubbing my temples with my fingertips, "if we have too many then the Carrows will get suspicious of me. They're the heads of punishment remember, I'm surprised they let me get Michael away."
Neville opened his mouth to say something, but Ginny placed her hand on his arm, effectively cutting him off, "they're right Neville."
"Fine, what do you suggest we do now then?" he asked.
We all looked at each other before being pulled into our own thoughts. It was clear to everyone that we shouldn't keep sending people out to do the dirty work anymore. There was only one thing left to do now.
"We'll have to carry on fighting them!" Ginny and I said at the same time, starting the two boys.
"We just agreed we couldn't do that?" Seamus asked, confusion printed all over his face. I shook my head while Ginny rolled her eyes. She sent me a look asking which one of us should explain it, to which I pointed to myself.
"We'll have to be more discrete. Try recruiting people to train like the old DA you told me about. Then when the time is right, probably when Potter comes back, we actually fight. As for the other students, we have to stop trying to save them. I can get them to the hospital wing after, but that's the most we can do for them I think."
Ginny nodded along throughout, clearly she had been thinking the same thing I had. Seamus eventually nodded his head, after taking his time in thinking it over. Neville, however, still looked doubtful.
"I don't get how we can't save them, but you can still get them to the hospital wing..." Neville trailed off, trying to
"I'm head girl. When the Carrows have finished with them, they call me to take them back to their houses to make sure they don't get up to anything else. I'll just sneak them in then," I stated, hoping he was understanding our new plan.
He sighed, "fine, but if things get out of hand, we're going to have to go back to our other methods, or maybe something more extreme."
We nodded on agreement, knowing that would be the best reply we could get out of Neville. He was very passionate about keeping the school the way it used to be, and I knew he wouldn't rest until he got it that way again.
"I'm gonna call it a day," Seamus said, standing up and dusting down his trousers. I stood up alongside him.
"Same here. I've still got to pack for Christmas. I can't imagine Drake would be very happy if I left it all until last minute again."
"You know it's weird," Ginny said, repositioning her legs as she sat down on the floor. She made no move to carry on, so I cocked my eyebrow telling her to carry on, which she didn't.
"What's weird?" I asked, almost scared for the answer she was going to tell me.
"Don't take this the wrong way. When I think of Draco, I think of him as being a bad person in a way, after he was always so mean to Ron and Harry. But when you call him Drake and talk about him, he just seems so normal...like I could be able to relate to him," she shrugged as she finished, looking to Neville for support. He nodded in agreement, a thoughtful look on his face.
I thought about what she said for a while before replying, "You'd be surprised by Draco. The way he comes across to others is just like a wall, you know, so he can hide away from people. If you got to know the real him, I have a feeling you'd all get along with him pretty well."
Ginny nodded and sent a smile in my direction, which I returned. Neville stood up now as well, "come on Ginny, we might as well leave as well now."
"I'll walk you guys back, that way you might not get into trouble," I smiled as I held out my hand for Ginny to grab hold of and pulled her up.
"I think we might just be able to get through this year and not have it as bad as we once thought," Seamus mused as he closed the door to the Room of Requirement.
"Don't hold your breath too quick. We've only been here half a year, a lot could happen in the coming months," I told him, not liking how sure my voice sounded.
"Oh, how right you are, Miss Malfoy."
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Hey guys!
I know this is short and rubbish and I know it's late, but Christmas takes it out of me and we always have people round so I've been spending time with my family. Plus it's like the most free time I've had in ages so I'm trying to soak up as much of it as I can.
Well, I guess I also need to say! Happy New Year! I hope you guys had an awesome Christmas and New Year!
Anyway, remember to vote and comment and maybe even follow me? You know as like a late Christmas present? :P
Until next time (which will hopefully be soon)
C x
P.S. I'm sorry if there's any typing mistakes, I've typed this chapter up on my tablet, let me know if you spot any mistakes :)