The outcome of Dumbledore's wrath wasn't the worst, but it wasn't the best either. Ellie and Silas received detention with McGonagall while Nikolai rested in the hospital wing. Ellie was a little spun out about the fact that she felt as though Dumbledore knew everything, it was an inkling, a twinkle in his eye, something in his voice and his choice of words.
Dumbledore had said to her, before she left, when it was just the two of them left in his office, "Miss Greer. I'm aware of the choices set out for you. I once knew a young man not unlike Mr Orlov. Determined, charming... a person who wears a mask. Go now, but hear this... should you ever find your self in any trouble, find me."
Ellie went over their conversation in her head as she served her time in detention in Professor McGonagall's classroom, Silas alongside her muttering furiously to himself. Ellie glanced at him, feeling guilty that he was in there with her, but she didn't voice it; she knew what he would say. There's nowhere else he'd rather be than right beside her. Ellie smiled shortly... he truly was the best friend she could ask for.
Once McGonagall was pleased, Ellie and Silas were free to leave the classroom. Silas immediately exhaled louder than he needed to and threw his hands in the air.
"Finally! My hands are killing me. They're all gross and clamped up," he said loudly, examining his hands and rotating them. "You good, Ellie?"
"Huh?" Ellie said, snapping her head towards him. "Yeah. Just thinking."
"About what happens now? Honestly, nothing has to happen. Move out, come and stay with me and my family. Be happy," Silas advised.
"No, no, I mean..." Ellie started, crossing her arms. "I don't want that arse to get away with everything. He's up to something beyond being such a bully, I can feel it. It's bad -- I know it."
"So what are you thinking?" Silas asked seriously, looking at his friend with such determination.
Ellie glanced up for a moment as the pair of them pulled to a stop in an empty corridor -- everyone had made their way for the Great Hall. The redhead stared out the window for a short minute, her eyes feeling glassy and her skin growing cold.
"I want him to get what he deserves."
"And he will. Every arse has their day -- karma-"
"I'm not sticking around long enough to watch karma serve him right. I'll be his karma."
Ellie could barely eat that night; only sat there, pondering the big mess she had been thrown into, a mess she hadn't asked for. A mess her parents had made for her. Lavender and Parvati conversed back and forth, not noticing Ellie sitting there in silence refusing to touch her food.
Once dinner ended, Lavender and Parvati grabbed onto each other and almost ran out of the Great Hall, giggling and talking excitedly about something that was probably just stupid -- something Ellie would have laughed about with them if her plate wasn't so full and her mind wasn't racing with things it shouldn't have been.
A hand pulled on the hem of her sleeve from the back.
Ellie spun around and came face to face with a tiny Slytherin, a blue-eyed little boy who couldn't have been older than twelve. He held up his hand.
"I was told to give this to you."
He handed her a scrunched up ball of parchment. Ellie stared at it for a moment and furrowed her eyebrows, opening up the parchment just enough to see the scribble of ink on it.
"Are you sure this is for me?" Ellie asked the boy kindly.
"Yes..."
"Who by?"
"I'm not supposed to say. All I was told was to give it to the Gryffindor girl with auburn hair and blue eyes. You're all I could find," the boy said with a careless shrug, before running off to join his friends.
Ellie frowned and slowly opened up the parchment, immediately looking for a name at the bottom of the parchment but there wasn't one. She read through it quickly, silently hoping it wasn't from the idiot who was lying in the hospital wing.
Meet me at 11pm. Astronomy Tower. Important.
"Hey!"
Ellie jumped, but calmed down once she realised it was just Silas. He caught onto this and raised an eyebrow, opening his mouth to say something but was cut off by Ellie shoving the parchment into his hands. He read it, and once again raised an eyebrow.
"Stuff that! Don't go there."
"But it says it's important. What if it's not Nikolai?" Ellie whispered in a rushed voice.
"What if it's one of his goons? If it was that important, the dunderhead who wrote this would have signed their name at the bottom. At least put some initials -- something to let you know who it is so you feel safe enough to go. Only an idiot would wander the castle alone at night."
Ellie stared at the parchment for a minute, examining the handwriting. She couldn't tell whose cursive handwriting this belonged to... the parchment was too scrunched. It was already hard enough to read.
"Okay... so come with me. If it's not safe, at least we'll be together. And if it is... you can wait for me while I talk to whoever it is," Ellie suggested.
Silas was silent in thought, but, eventually, nodded grimly.
Later that evening, Ellie snuck out of Gryffindor Tower at 10:50pm and met Silas, who was waiting for her on the staircase outside of her tower. He looked worried for a moment, and when Ellie opened her mouth to speak, Silas quickly put a finger to his lips and beckoned her to follow him.
Ellie shut her mouth and obeyed, quickly darting across the castle as quietly as she could, constantly looking around and behind her to make sure Filch and his cat weren't lurking about. Her heart was racing with fear and anticipation, and for the past few hours time went by so slow as she wondered who she might be meeting up with.
Silas sighed once they reached the astronomy tower, and he instantly nodded at her and retreated to the shadows with his wand held to his chest, and further retreating until he couldn't be seen. Ellie bit her lip and walked over to the railing, where she could see far out across the grounds, the lake, the forest... the dead of night. It was a peaceful scene when the world was asleep, and so she looked up at the bright, twinkling stars, counting and counting. Ellie closed her eyes and breathed in deep. The scenery and the smell were enough to overwhelm her with a calm feeling, washing away all her worries and anxiety.
"Ellie..."
A soft gasp left her mouth and she whirled around, her eyes looking straight into a pair of tired grey ones. From the corner of Ellie's eye, she could see Silas sneaking out and saluting her before he completely disappeared.
Draco Malfoy looked so tired. Not tired because of how late it was, or how much homework he'd probably be doing, but tired in a sense that he had a lot of weight on his shoulders. Even in the darkness, their only light being that of the moon and stars, Ellie could see the shadows beneath the Malfoy boys eyes.
"Draco," she greeted him, her voice sounding relieved. She huffed slightly. "Why didn't you sign your name? Or get that kid to tell me? You have no idea how worried I was to come here. I almost didn't."
"I thought it might be obvious it was me," Draco said to her, walking up beside her and placing his hands on the railing. Ellie turned around and looked outside with him. "I come up here sometimes late at night. Just to be alone. It's almost like you've got nothing to worry about once you look out at this."
A slight breeze wafted through the night, making the top of Draco's hair turn over and Ellie's hair to blow back. It was a nice feeling; almost like it was getting rid of negative feelings. She could feel Draco's stare on her, and she was right when she looked at him and he was looking back at her. He looked plain, so Ellie couldn't figure out what was going on in his head, what he was thinking, why he had even asked her here. Maybe he just wanted company.
"I was thinking the same."
One side of Draco's mouth lifted and he looked down away from her, before turning back to look outside.
Draco chuckled. "This is probably dumb of me to even voice out loud since we don't really know each other, and other things... but I've found myself missing you. Even just hearing you speak about things."
Ellie's heartbeat picked up and her voice caught in her throat, but she definitely felt her face heating up with a small smile. Draco looked at her and smiled back, before he quickly lost it.
"But I know I shouldn't," he said quietly, frowning and turning away from her again. He closed his eyes and a sour look took over his face.
Ellie stepped closer to him and shook her head. She said nothing, only slowly slid her arms around him, just waiting for him to push her off before she got the chance to completely hug him, but he didn't, only let her hug him. Ellie felt his arms hesitantly wrap around her.
"Guess it's pretty dumb of me to miss you back then," said Ellie, smiling when Draco chuckled lightly into her hair.
"No," Draco said quietly as they pulled away from each other. He reached over and tucked Ellie's hair behind her ear. "Orlov's dumb. I mean, he's gotta be. He has you and he doesn't realise just how..."
Draco trailed off and pursed his lips, but Ellie nodded at him anyway with a grim smile.
"Can we do this more often? Meet here? Talk and stuff..." Ellie asked him, smiling when he looked at her. "I'm going crazy in my own head. I do miss talking to you, sending letters all the time and everything."
Draco nodded slowly. "So am I, you have no idea... But maybe. We may just have to now; you make me feel pretty grounded when we're near." He finished with a small cheeky smile, but his eyes were rather distant, like he wasn't a hundred percent here with Ellie.
"Are you okay?" Ellie asked, her voice laced with concern. She took a step closer to him.
Draco nodded. "I am now."
Ellie smiled, but Draco looked away from her and dug through his bag he had hanging off his shoulder. He pulled out one of Nikolai's journals. Ellie stepped back a little, shocked that he had actually nicked it for her. She looked up from the journal and into Draco's stern eyes.
"We don't have long, Greer."