Chapter Six- When in doubt…
A/N: Hi all! I started school last week- did anybody know just how hard Physics was? Definatley not me, which reminds me I have to do that homework… My teacher told me before summer we were reading Of Mice and Men, so I bought the book, but then she said that we would read To Kill A Mockingjay, and at first I was angry, but then I remembered Beautiful Creatures, one of my favourite books, talked about it so I was happy. Either way, here is the next chapter.
A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life. ~Henry Ward Beecher
Draco found himself wondering what had happened to him, because he had recently noticed that he had changed dramatically in the past hours. For Merlin's sake, he was standing in front of the library, waiting for it to open! This, this was something he would never, never do… The Ravenclaws must have realised this, because they were staring at him strangely out of the corner of their eyes, as if they were carefully assessing one who had just come out of a long-term hospitalization in St. Mungo's… Draco tapped his foot impatiently, yet kept his calm and Malfoy composure, and did not rush when the doors finally opened. He spotted Granger instantly, at the back of the library. She was floating next to a table that was stacked with books.
"Granger." He nodded curtly as he arrived at her selected table.
"Malfoy!" She greeted, far too chirpily for a Sunday morning. "Okay, so I've found plenty of books on Vanishing Cabinets, and… well… whatever this is." She gestured to her almost translucent body. "So you look through these…" She tapped the books on the left, "and I'll check these." She pointed to the books on the right.
"Fine." Draco rolled his eyes, and sat down in a wooden chair next to the book laden table. Bored already, he picked up the first book.
Half an hour later, Draco slammed his book down on the desk, earning several glares from the nearby Ravenclaws, who had been studying peacefully until Draco had so rudely interrupted.
"I can't do this, Granger." He complained, scowling at her. "I don't even know what fully happened."
"What do you mean?" Granger replied calmly, fingering the page of her book and looking up at him with her big brown eyes- brown like mud, of course, which reflected her blood.
"I mean, how can I find the counter curse when I don't understand the spell." He glowered at the ghost girl, who narrowed her eyes at him.
"I don't know the spell either, Malfoy," she hissed, shooting him a dirty, yet slightly hurt look. "I thought I'd told you. My eyes wouldn't open, and Snape muttered the spell so low I couldn't hear it. This is the book you'll need." She handed him a yellow and black book labelled 'Vanishing Cabinets for The Average Hufflepuff'. "Now, if you're not going to at least try to be civil with me, I'm leaving." She turned away from him.
"… Granger?"
"WHAT?!"
"… I'm not a Hufflepuff."
"URGH!" Granger shrieked loudly in exasperation, far loudly than she'd have dared if others but Draco could have heard her. She disappeared, and Draco huffed at the spot where she had been before waving his wand towards the books, and putting them back where they were meant to be, and leaving as well.
Hermione appeared beside her best friends' bedside. He'd fallen asleep reading, again. Hermione gave a dry chuckle. It felt strange to say that. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, had fallen asleep reading. It was the same book again- what was so special about the old book anyway? It was a normal textbook- an average book, though aged, to be used in sixth year Potions, no less, no more. She carefully slotted the book from his grasp and opened it to the first page.
"'This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince.'" Hermione read aloud. "The Half-Blood Prince? Who is that? It doesn't sound like the kind of name Harry would give himself, and it can't be Ronald… He's a pureblood…" Intrigued, Hermione began to flick through the pages. Around potion methods, the Prince had written changes and corrections that Hermione didn't doubt work. "So this is how Harry's suddenly so good at Potions…" Hermione shot a glare at her sleeping friend, before going back to the book, perching on the trunk at the end of his bed. Every so often she would come across spells in the margin, that she would never trust one bit. "Sectumsempra… For enemies… I don't like the sound of that." Around half way, she stopped. Something had caught her eye.
"Anima Remotionem- to separate the soul from the body. For more information see 'Paranormalcy in The Wizarding World: Ghosts A-Z' by Roland Finch- edition one. Restricted section." Hermione gave an uncharacteristic squeal as she recited what Harry's old textbook read. This Prince person was sketchy, but never mind that! This was what they had been looking for, what she and Malfoy had rowed over! No wonder they hadn't found it today, they hadn't been looking in the right place! She had to tell Malfoy!
"Malfoy! Malfoy!" Draco groaned and rolled over in his sleep. "Wake up! Malfoy! Malfoy!" Everything was quiet, and he smirked, thinking the annoying intruder had gone.
"MALFOY!" Draco shrieked and fell off his bed with a loud thud. Theodore Nott, from his bed to the left of Draco's, sat up grumpily.
"Whappened?" He mumbled.
"I… uh… I had a nightmare." Draco lied once he had calmed down. "I dreamt a Mudblood was stalking me."
"Well, have a quieter nightmare next time." Theo snapped sleepily, lying back down into his emerald sheeted bed.
When Draco was sure his roommate had fallen back asleep, he turned to glare icily at the translucent spirit who had woken him.
"Granger, what the-" His eyes flashed with anger.
"I have good news, Malfoy!" Granger reported, twirling around in the air.
"And it could wait until morning because…" Draco raised his eyebrows grumpily, climbing back into his bed. Granger acted as if she couldn't hear him, and Draco snorted. How ironic…
"I've found out what Snape's done to me!"
"And now I can go back to bed, right?"
"No." She frowned, and then continued. "There's more about it in a book." Draco raised his eyebrows. "In the Restricted Section." Of course.
"So… Go read it. Or is the Gryffindor to scared to go out in the dark without the big brave Slytherin?" He mocked, turning over so he didn't have to look at her. She moved around his bed so she could look at him, and he scowled at her.
"This is something we should do together."
"Then it can wait until morning."
"In the morning you can't sneak in!"
"I'll get permission, Granger, like a normal person." Granger snorted.
"Yeah, right. Because you're a normal person. Besides, who would give you permission to go into the Restricted Section?"
"Snape."
"Urgh…" Granger groaned, and pulled Draco out of bed. "Stop arguing. We are going to do this whether you like it or not, and we will do it together!"
As Granger dragged Draco out of the room, you could hear Draco grumble quietly, "You sound like my mother."
"WHAT?!"
"Nothing… Nothing…"
After around half an hour, as the distant Hogwarts bells chimed two, Draco and his spiritual companion stood in the middle of the Restricted Section. Draco held a large, dusty tome in his hands.
"This is it then?" He sounded bored.
"According to my source, yes. I'd go straight to the glossary and search…" Granger began to advise, but Draco cut her off.
"I know how to use a book, Granger." He snapped, turning to the correct page with a flourish of his wand. "And you know there's a spell for that, right?" The spectre rolled her brown eyes, and Draco read out the introductory paragraph.
"Soul Removal, for years it has been a lost magical art, which many have wished to master. First used in the medieval ages, magical beings used it in the Darkest of ways. Whether it was to get rid of competition, or to replace those people where jealous of, Anima Remotionem was the easiest way, when not wanting to commit murder, of course. Anima Remotionem is the act of taking ones soul and ripping it from the victim's body, possibly like a Dementor would. However, the body does not continue as a hollow shell, instead it turns into a deep slumber that can only be awoken by a soul entering the body once more.
"A soul? Any soul? Is this book saying that at any time a soul could… could possess my body?!" Shrieked Granger.
"Ow, Granger! Really, in my ear?" Draco grumbled.
"We have to find my body, Malfoy, we have to… what are you doing?" Draco. The adolescent in question, was shrinking the book, and placing it in his robe pocket.
"YOU CAN'T STEAL A LIBRARY BOOK!" Granger shrieked once more, and Draco winced at her tone.
"And why not?"
"You'll get caught, besides, it's immoral, and wrong, and…"
"If I duplo the book, I won't get caught." Draco said, taking the book out and duplifying it. He placed the copy amongst the other books, then shrunk the original and placed it back in his pocket. "Besides, do you want to get your body back or not?"
"I… I… Oh, shut up Malfoy." Granger snapped, and receded to thin air.
Thin of the ghost-like girl at last, Draco laughed shortly, before leaving, to return to the Slytherin dormitories. He then continued his interrupted slumber, giving neither the book nor Granger another thought.
A/N: Okay, onto thanks!
Thanks to moonlight fire xx, Rose-Blue775, Dark Goddess109, awesomerthanyou555 and LookingforNirvana for following.
Thanks to Poppy Popyncourt and Pho1297 for favouriting.
Thanks to luna and marauders rock (it's not so much that she can fly, it's more like randomly floating and not being able to stand on the ground for some reason ghost-like things never be able to, and yes, you may have a digital cookie!), Kaliana Silver (I mentioned you again! And here is your cookie! Thanks for the compliment, it made me blush!), StarkidFangirlFullOfRandomne ss (you're welcome!), Sophia Lena Duchannes Riddle (yum cookie dough) and Dark Goddess109 (thank you!) for reviewing.
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