Draco sat on his bed in his dorm, leaning against the headboard with a closed book in his lap, using the hard cover of the book as a make-shift table to write his letter. Blaise was out doing who-knows-what, so it was just Draco, his parchment and his quill. Honestly, it was quite relaxing.
At breakfast that day he had received a letter from his father, he knew who it was from without even opening it due to the wax seal being a depiction of the Malfoy's family crest, which was never what people expected.
Usually when people thought of the Malfoy's they thought of snakes, but since the Malfoy's didn't support Voldemort by choice, their crest was different to what people would assume. It was a depiction of a wolf on an intricate shield, and Draco had always been rather fond of that.
When he got the letter he abandoned his breakfast and practically ran back to his room to read it, utterly baffling some of the younger students in the Slytherin common room as he ran past like a man on a mission.
Due to the Dark Lord's grip on power growing, Lucius hadn't been able to write to his son much throughout the school year, since he had to be absolutely sure that the letters weren't being intercepted and read by Voldemort. It was hard since, despite putting on his cold exterior in front of others, Lucius really did care for Draco. As soon as he decided it was safe he wrote a short letter to his son, constantly checking over his shoulder in case he was being watched.
Draco,
My apologies for not writing sooner, but you know the situation. Your Mother and I are doing everything in our power not to get on the Dark Lord's bad side, we mustn't show him our weaknesses.
He's getting impatient, you must finish the vanishing cabinet as soon as possible, I fear what he shall do to us if you don't.
Good luck,
Your Father.
Draco had re-read the letter about three times, honestly just happy that nothing bad had happened to his Mother or Father yet. The lack of communication had really made him worry.
He placed clean parchment against the back of the book and began writing a response, concentrating on keeping his hand steady. Although he was writing rather quickly, he was still trying to use good penmanship to impress his Father.
Father,
I've finished the cabinet, I'm ready to complete my task. I hope that you and Mother stay safe, please try to be careful.
Draco paused for a few minutes before writing the next section of his letter, mulling over the best way to word what he was going to say. For some reason he was nervous, holding his breath as he wrote.
I know that I'm meant to go with the Death Eaters and escape Hogwarts, but I'm beginning to think that I can't do that. I've fallen in love, Father, and I don't want to be separated from her. I'm sorry if this disappoints you.
Stay safe,
Draco.
With a large sigh (and after considering re-writing the letter about five times) Draco placed it in an envelope and headed to the owlery to send his letter. He envied those who's dorms were above ground, as they could send letters from their windows whereas he had to cross half of the grounds of Hogwarts since there's no windows in the dungeons. It was a real pain when he wanted to talk to Alice late at night, but of course he'd do it for her.
As he walked he let himself process what he had written in his letter. He had admitted that he loved Alice, albeit to his Father and not to the girl herself, but that was still something.
There was no way that he'd say it to her, what if she didn't feel the same? Although he had changed a lot over the past school year, there was still no way that his Slytherin pride would let him put himself up for rejection like that.
But he loved her, he knew he did, he just wished that he knew if she loved him too.
-----
When Alice arrived in the library Draco was already sat in their usual spot. A book was open in front of him but it didn't look like he was reading it at all, he more looked to be in deep thought, which was seldom a good sign.
As soon as Alice sat down on their small table she could feel the worry working it's way through her, it was clear by just his facial expression alone that something was wrong and it made her stomach churn.
Before Draco even started talking he held his hand out so that they were holding hands on the table, this and the grim expression on his face did little to calm Alice's nerves.
"The cabinet's done," He started, he had been trying to think of a less blunt way to say it, but he couldn't come up with anything. It was the kind of plaster that just needed to be ripped off. "They're coming tomorrow."
Alice's heart dropped. Of course she knew that this was coming, she had known for a while, but she had been trying her best not to think about it in order to enjoy her time with Draco before he went away. Heat rushed to her face and she could already feel tears building in her eyes. Draco noticed this, and it broke his heart.
"Tomorrow? That's so abrupt." Was all she could think to say, though it came out in more of a raspy whisper. Draco gave a solemn nod.
"I know, but Voldemort's been putting more pressure on my parents. It has to be soon, or who knows what would happen." He replied, noticing how upset Alice was getting, he began rubbing soothing circles on to the back of her hand with his thumb.
"Shouldn't we warn someone? What if a student gets hurt, or worse?" She asked desperately, trying to think of any possible way to stop this. Not that it made much of a difference, she had been trying to think of ways to stop it for weeks and hadn't come up with anything yet.
"They're coming at night, everyone will be in their dorms. Besides, they're not here for the students. They're here for Dumbledore." He cringed when he said the professor's name, both Draco and Alice knew that Draco probably wouldn't be able to bring himself to kill the headmaster, but the thought was scary enough.
The two sat in silence for a few minutes, but not a nice silence. The kind of horrible silence where you feel suffocated, as though you can't even talk because you'll burst out crying.
"So... so you're leaving tomorrow?" Alice asked tentatively, trying desperately to keep the tears from spilling down her cheeks. Draco sighed.
"I'm not sure," He admitted, causing Alice to raise an eyebrow. "I don't want to, I don't want to be stuck with death eaters all summer, and I also don't want to leave you." Draco admitting this made Alice blush, obviously she already knew that, but him saying it still meant a lot to her. "I'm going to try to sneak away, hopefully I can either get away and hide or get to the Slytherin dorms, if I'm in there they can't get to me." He explained his plan.
"Just be careful, okay? Or at least try to be?" She asked, Draco brought her hand up to his mouth, giving it a kiss.
"Anything for you."
-----
The next day Alice felt like a dead girl walking. She, of course, had gotten no sleep the night before due to tossing and turning all night in worry, so when Harry called her, Ron and Hermione in to the common room that evening, she was already prepared for more bad news.
"Dumbledore and I have found the location of a Horcrux, we're leaving right now to go and destroy it." Harry announced to the three of them. Hermione went about three shades paler instantly, Ron cringed and Alice simply sighed, knowing that something like this was coming.
Why could nothing in her life just be simple?
The last twenty-four hours had already been awful, of course it would get worse.
"Now? but that's so soon! Surely you need more time to prepare?" Hermione asked worriedly, clearly already panicking even though Harry was still sat right in front of them, not gone out on his dangerous quest yet.
"We're ready, and Dumbledore wants to go now so we are. I just came to give you this." He pulled the vial of Liquid Luck out of his pocket, handing it to Alice. "Dumbledore thinks that death eaters might try to attack while he's gone, if they do then I want each of you to take a bit of this to stay safe, and for the love of God, stay in your dorms."
"Yes, Mother," Alice said sarcastically to be met with a glare from Harry, who clearly wasn't in the mood for jokes. Carefully, she put the vial of liquid luck in to her pocket.
"Well, stay safe, mate." Ron announced, giving Harry a pat on the shoulder before heading to their dorms. It was already pretty late, after all, and Ron knew full well there was nothing that he, or anyone, could do to stop Harry.
Hermione went next, giving Harry a tight hug and wishing him luck, before heading to hers and Alice's dorm, leaving just Alice and Harry stood in the common room.
"You know I'm not just going to be able to sit here all night, right?" Alice asked, Harry nodded, his lips pursed.
"I'd rather you stayed safe in-"
"I'm not staying here." Alice cut him off.
"Let me finish. I'd rather you stayed safe in here, but I know you better. That's why I gave you the potion. Dumbledore and I are going to be apparating in to the astrology tower when we come back, drink the potion before you come out, and watch your back. The death eaters are coming." He warned. Alice sighed, she already knew.
Harry knew that Alice was probably well aware of the looming attack because of her relationship with Malfoy, and he also knew that there was no way he'd be able to convince her to stay in her dorm the whole night, so he decided not to try. Both of them were far too stubborn to ever be told what to do, but maybe that's part of why they got along so well.
They hugged tightly, as if it was the last time they'd be able to. To be fair, neither of them were all too sure anymore. Alice watched Harry leave the common room, the portrait door swinging shut behind him and leaving her alone.
Obviously, there was no point in leaving for the astrology tower straight away since she guessed it would take Harry and Dumbledore a while to get rid of the horcrux, but Alice couldn't get herself to calm down. Of course she was worried about Harry, from what she'd read and been told horcruxes were dangerous, destroying them even more so. Not being able to help it, she began pacing up and down the common room.
And, as well as being worried sick for her best friend, she was also worried about Draco. She knew how awful he felt, since he didn't even support the death eaters, letting them in to the castle. As well as that, she also knew that he was terrified at the prospect of killing Dumbledore. Internally she was still trying to convince herself that the Headmaster would find a way out of it.
And now, as well as all of that, she was worried about the death eaters turning on Draco if he tried to escape them and got caught. All that was going through Alice's head was ways that everything could go horribly wrong.
After a while she couldn't wait anymore, her own thoughts driving her mad. Pausing in her pacing she pulled the vial of Liquid Luck out of her pocket, took a huge swig of it, and placed the vial back in to her pocket before heading out the common room door.
Of course she was scared, there could be a death eater around any corner, but she knew that she had to get to the astrology tower. The potion she had drunk was telling her that it was time, and to hurry there.
Pushing her fears aside, Alice set off at a sprint towards the astronomy tower.