It was silent. Everywhere was silent. The wind did not make the usual howling sound as it moved through the trees. Owls did not make noise, nor did any other creature. The area around the lake was quiet, the soft waves did not make the quiet sound they normally would. The hallways did not make a sound, the old stone walls did not creak and the paintings did not make a move. Every room was as silent as can be. No snoring, or mutterings or movement was heard from the dormitories. Peace and quiet had taken hold of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Everyone was asleep, apart from one curious 5th year Hufflepuff. At 3am, it was past curfew for her, but she did not care, nor was she aware of it. All around her were the books that would normally been seen in the library about Greek myths. One book was open which did not belong there, as it had come from the Restricted Section. She had a note to collect the book, of course, but no-one knew the reason why she needed to read up on Greek Mythology.
Hayley Anderson gazed down at the old, worn book sleepily, not taking in the information set in front of her. Her deep green eyes fazed in and out of focus as she attempted to read the chapter on Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Beauty. The lamp beside her was losing it's flame and dimmed a little each second, darkening the table in the library that Hayley had claimed since she started school at Hogwarts.
Since she was a little girl with frizzy red hair, Hayley had always been interested with Greek Mythology, and with the story of Pandora's Box. It amazed her that all these myths gave reasons for why the world is how it is today; especially regarding evils, ills, diseases, and burdensome labour, which had, according to legend, escaped Pandora's Box when she opened it out of pure curiosity.
Hayley looked up when everything went dark in her little corner. The soft moonlight could barely light up the table for her to see, so Hayley became very scared. She hadn't liked the dark since she was a little girl, when her parents were attacked during the night, leaving her to live with her Grandparents at the young age of 5. Anything could jump out and attack her, and if she had her light, she knew that she wouldn't be as scared when she could see their faces.
Slowly, she reached for her wand that was sticking out the back of her jeans pocket. Her hand griped the end of the 7 ½ inch phoenix feather yew wand so tight that her knuckles went white. Hayley screamed when someone put their hand on her shoulder lightly and immediately tensed up. The familiar chuckling caused her to look up, her wand lit up with the Lumos spell and she gazed into the icy blue eyes of her companion. Hayley huffed angrily and put her wand on the table, illuminating the area a little. "Why must you scare the heck out of me every night?" She asked as the mysterious person sat beside her, looking comfortable and relaxed
"Because, my love, it amuses me," Hayley turned and glared lightly at Draco Malfoy, before she looked back down at the text book and began reading again. Draco leaned over Hayley's shoulder to glimpse at the text. He sighed when he caught the words 'Aphrodite'. "Why must you always read about Greek Mythology at 3 O'clock in the morning?"
"Because, my love, it amuses me," Hayley retorted lightly, not looking up at his pale, smug face. The two had been friends since they were babies; as they were neighbours before Hayley's parents died. When she moved to live with her grandparents, the two rarely kept contact, only messaging at Christmas and Birthdays and every so often to see what the other was up to. When the two started Hogwarts together, they were more than ecstatic. . . until Hayley was sorted into Hufflepuff, and Draco into Slytherin. The only real time the two would have to be together was, really, at night after curfew, in class (But it was rare when they would be paired up together) and during the holidays. Even during Christmas and Summer break, the two would barely see each other. Their parents/grandparents and friends did not know the two still talked to each other, let alone know that they know each other and like each other, instead of hating each other like everyone thinks.
Draco chuckled at her, clearly amused at Hayley's interest in the ancient legends. He knew how interested in Pandora's Box she was, and was even interested himself. He heard how the box brought instant death to the person who opened it, and wanted to challenge the rumour. However, he knew that if the rumour was true, then he would not see Hayley again, or even his best friend Blaise Zabini, no matter how much he got on Draco's nerves by speaking badly of Hayley.
Hayley glanced at him when he chuckled, obviously amused at this. She went quiet when she looked back at her book, attempting to continue reading about Aphrodite. She at least wanted to finish reading about this intriguing Goddess before she began talking to Draco, or even before she fell asleep. As Draco began poking her in the side, purely out of boredom, Hayley knew that she wouldn't have the chance. "Do you mind? I'm trying to read here," she said, chuckling at him.
"Oh, I am so sorry," Draco said to her, sarcasm touching his words lightly, "I'll just let you read whilst I sit here, completely bored out of my mind." He grinned when Hayley sighed heavily and closed her book, making sure that she bookmarked her page. Guilt always worked with Hayley when he wanted things, but it rarely worked for anything else.
"You know, I really hate when you play the guilt card on me," Hayley said, sounding annoyed, amused and tired. She rubbed her eyes lightly, before she ran her hands through her deep red hair, untangling any knots in her side fringe. She let out a yawn that lasted 10 seconds, before she looked at Draco, tears shining lightly in her eyes.
He looked at her worriedly, knowing that she hadn't had much sleep lately. As it was coming up to the 10th anniversary of her parent's death, Hayley had been making sure that she stayed awake during the night, and during the day. It helped a little that there were spells and potions to help her stay awake, or to show that she had a night's sleep, but Hayley was beginning to take the strain, and Draco could see it in her eyes. "You need to sleep, Hae,"
"No. I don't. I can stay up," Hayley said, shaking her head lightly. As usual, her stubborn side was starting to show, which began to annoy Draco. With a swift movement of his wand, the books began returning to their original places in the bookshelves. "No, what are you doing? Don't you dare put that book back," she said as Draco picked up the book from the Restricted Section and put it in her bag. He dug around his pockets and took out a small vial, full with liquid. Hayley glanced at the vial, then up at Draco's face, "I'm not drinking it,"
"Hae, you have to. I'm not going to just sit here and watch my best friend slowly kill herself by not sleeping for weeks," Draco said, staring at her. He paused for a few seconds, seeing her slowly give in, before he took the vial's lid off and gave it to her, "Please. You won't have any nightmares, I promise. Snape helped me brew this to make sure you had a good night's sleep."
Hayley reached for the vial tentatively, knowing that when she drank it, she would instantly fall asleep, because she was so tired. She lifted the vial to her lips, not drinking any yet. She was scared at what would happen. She didn't want her nightmares back, nor did she want Draco to leave her. Glancing at him, she saw how worried for her he was. She could tell that he hadn't slept in weeks either. She hated how protective of her he was, how easily worried he was. But then she loved how much he cared for her and how he would die before any serious harm would come to her. He was her best friend, and more, and wouldn't know what she would do if he wasn't there in her life. Tilting her head back a little, Hayley drank the tasteless liquid. It stuck in the back of her throat, causing her to want some water. As quickly as the feeling came and went, drowsiness soon fogged her vision. She gripped Draco's hand as she gave the vial back to him and relaxed when she fell into the deep sleep the potion brought upon her.
Draco sighed lightly as he saw the peace on Hayley's sleeping face. He began packing away her things, making sure that the lamp was back in its place before he carefully picked Hayley up so he could carry her to her common room. He put her wand back in her bag, muttering Nox to it, before he used lumos on his own wand to give him light when he began the trek to the Hufflepuff Common Room.