Chapter 16 (Ava)
“Potter, do you know where Draco is?”
I looked up at Blaise and frowned,
“No, I thought he was with you.”
I’d been sitting in the common room by the fire reading a book to distract myself from my thoughts. Pansy shook her head,
“Maybe he’s gone to the library to get another book. You know how obsessed he was with the last one. He couldn’t stop looking at it.”
A thought struck me and I stood up, my heart pounding. What if Draco was doing more research into his mission? Just the thought of it made me feel sick. The closer he was to doing his mission, the closer I got to having to complete my own.
I gulped,
“Or maybe he’s got a detention. You know Draco.”
Before they could reply, I walked towards the door and left the common room. The corridor was fairly quiet and the sound of my footsteps echoed throughout the halls. I walked up the stairs, wondering if Draco was going to be in the library.
I heard the mumbling of two prefects and ducked into a corridor that was entirely deserted. It would have been the ideal opportunity to have the Marauder’s Map that Harry kept in his room.
I started to take more careful steps so my footsteps weren’t as loud. I didn’t want the prefects catching me out of bed after hours.
As I made my way through the dark and empty corridor, the sound of cheers and laughing became louder. I realised that the Gryffindors were having a party in the common room, celebrating their victory.
I heard some voices coming from some of the classrooms and walked quickly past them so I wouldn’t be seen.
All of a sudden, there was a noise. A noise that sounded like a set of large wooden doors slamming shut. I leant against the wall and poked my head around the corner.
Draco was standing in the corridor staring at the wall. I followed his gaze and realised what he was staring at.
The doors to the Room of Requirement.
What on earth was Draco doing in the Room of Requirement? Was he keeping something there? Was he plotting Dumbledore’s death in there? I took a shaky breath and watched as the doors disappeared.
Draco looked both ways down the corridor and I darted back behind the wall so he wouldn’t see me. I squeezed my eyes shut, praying that he hadn’t caught a glimpse of me. For a moment, I thought he had, but when the sound of his footsteps faded away, I realised he’d taken the less obvious route to make his way back to the common room.
I looked around to make sure that no one was around before I walked over to the wall where the doors to the Room of Requirement appeared when the room was needed. I closed my eyes and thought about it- the desperation to know exactly what Draco was doing. I needed to see what he was doing, I couldn’t just ignore it.
I opened my eyes and they welled up with tears. The doors hadn’t appeared. I banged my fist against the wall.
“I have to know what he’s doing.”
I was just about to walk away when I felt the wall changing shape beneath my hand. I stepped back and watched the doors appear in front of me.
I placed my hand on the door and took a deep breath before entering the Room of Requirement.
It was dim- I could barely see a thing. I pulled my wand out and muttered,
“Lumos.”
My wand lit up and I gazed in wonder at the room. It was packed with objects that had no relation to each other. There was every object possible from mirrors to pairs of shoes. The room appeared to be some sort of dumping ground for students’ junk that they wanted to hide or get rid of.
Looking at all of the junk in the room, I had absolutely no idea what belonged to Draco.
I whispered into the room,
“Oh, Draco, what secrets have you been keeping?”
* * *
I sighed and glanced at the clock on the wall above the librarian’s desk. I’d been in the library for two hours now trying to research a potion as homework for Professor Slughorn. He had warned me it was a rare but important one. He’d certainly been right about it being rare.
“Ava.”
I glanced up at Draco as he walked over to my table and offered him a weak smile. He looked at my pile of books,
“What are you doing?”
I sighed,
“Some research for Potions. I’ve been at it for a while and it’s rather boring.”
He nodded,
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I need to talk to you about something.”
“And what would that be? My support for the Gryffindor Quidditch team? Because, I won't stop supporting them if you tell me to.”
I hoped he wasn’t going to bring up the other night when I’d seen him coming out of the Room of Requirement. Surely he hadn’t seen me?
He shook his head,
“I was just going to ask if you’re staying with me over the Christmas break? You don’t really have anywhere else to go.”
I looked at him for a moment, slightly surprised by the question. I took a deep breath,
“I think I’m going to stay at Hogwarts this year for the Christmas holidays.”
Draco raised his eyebrows,
“Oh. Okay. That’s fine then.”
I forced a smile,
“Thank you though.”
“I ought to go to the common room. I’ll see you later.”
Before I could say anything else he turned and walked out of the library. I put my head in my hands and sighed.
It hadn’t been a difficult decision. Did I want to spend Christmas surrounded by Death Eaters?
The answer was no. Instead, I was to be alone.