In the next few days, April turned to May, and I turned into a stressed mess.
Harry, Ron and the rest of the Gryffindors had been strutting around ecstatically for the last week, as Harry had flown beautifully and they had won the Quidditch cup.
I was not in similarly high spirits. It was hard enough to try to communicate with Malfoy, and he lived in the same castle as me. Trying to get a message to Mrs. Malfoy in the den of snakes? I was at a loss at what to do. Everything I came up with was too risky for either us or her.
One gloomy day I was sitting with Malfoy in that splendorous room. We had been meeting whenever we could manage it to brainstorm possible solutions, but we had yet to come up with anything viable. The bracelets turned out to be invaluable and perfect for our communication.
As we sat contemplating the situations, Malfoy spoke up.
"Granger, didn't Dumbledore say that if we needed help we could go to him? Why don't we do that?"
I normally wouldn't have considered the idea. I loved to solve problems, and asking for help was not my strong suit. It felt like giving up to me. But we had reached an impasse with our reasoning and we really had no idea what to do next.
So we wrote a letter that I would send off with an owl requesting a visit with Dumbledore, and once again, all we could do was wait for the meeting.
I lounged on my favourite narrow library window bench some time later, doing some more thinking. It seemed like eons since I'd had nothing to worry about. I was definitely shaving years off my life because of it.
I was brainstorming on a problem that would be approaching us soon: summer vacation.
Malfoy could, obviously, not go back to Malfoy Manor. That would be exactly the opposite of a good idea.
So we'd need somewhere to put the boy for summer months. The Order's opinion on Malfoy would also affect his lodging.
I would love it if he could stay at a safehouse, where he could be safe and protected by seasoned adults. But logically I knew that most Order members might not trust him or want him in their homes when the dust clears.
I wondered if it would be a better idea just to keep him with me. At least if I was with him he'd be in less danger from anyone on the Dark Side and there'd be someone with him to vouch for him to the Light Side. I was of legal age too, so I could use magic in defense if it became necessary. That didn't seem like it was the solution that would win me any points with the members of the light side that didn't like Malfoy though.
I was thinking all this when I heard slightly loud whispers in my section. As a rule, the homemaking section of the library was incredibly deserted and unused. In all my time sitting here I didn't think I'd ever seen anyone venture into the section, except for one severely lost first year.
So naturally my curiosity was piqued. I crept down the stacks and as I did their words became audible to me.
"Don't shut me out again!" a female voice whispered harshly.
"I'm not shutting you out." A vaguely familiar male voice responded.
"Yes you are, you always do this. I am not in anymore danger with you than I am without. In fact I'm probably safer with you."
"That's not true." The male voice said desperately, "people get hurt and die around me. I love you too much to let that happen."
"Well I love you too much to let you push me away. I love you too much for that, Harry. And you think people don't get hurt and die on my parents' side?"
The voices went silent as I nearly gasped, realizing the male voice was, in fact, my best friend, Harry Potter. I had now crept close enough that I was a bookshelf away from the pair.
I dropped down low and peered through the books (any eyes looking from the other side would not be looking for someone near the ground).
I peered through the stacks and was met with the sight of my best friend passionately making out with Daphne Greengrass.
At first my face scrunched up with disgust, because, ew, no one wants to see their best platonic male friend playing tonsil Quidditch with a girl.
Then pieces started to fall into place as Daphne's strange behaviours around us and Harry's recent quietness and bouts of staring off into the distance and daydreaming were explained. The occasion at which I'd seen the two together at Hogsmeade suddenly made more sense. They hadn't simply been at the same place at the same time, but Harry had skipped out on Ron to probably see Daphne.
I realized with a start that I could use this secret to my advantage. I slipped back to my bench without being seen or heard as I started to plan (in an altogether too Slytherin way) how to use this enormous gift/bargaining chip I'd just been handed.
The events of the next day forced me to put my Slytherin plan on the backburner temporarily.
Dumbledore owled me over breakfast, telling us that we could meet him later that day. I conveyed the message to Malfoy via the bracelets, and it seemed like we were set to move things forward on the Mrs. Malfoy front.
And so soon we were once again seated in Dumbledore's office, fidgeting, as the man beamed serenely at us.
Once we explained our dilemma, Dumbledore sat pensively for a moment. He then jumped out of his seat, startling me and Malfoy, and proceeded to race to his window, scratch a message onto parchment, tie it to Fawkes and send it out the window.
Malfoy and I were understandably confused by his actions as he went went back to his desk, sitting serenely once again.
"Er, sir?" I began tentatively, when several minutes of Dumbledore staring off into space had passed.
"Not to worry, my dear Ms. Granger." He said jovially, "Your answer shall be here soon."
We waited a few more awkward minutes as Dumbledore hummed a tune.
We were pulled from our waiting as the door to Dumbledore's office was suddenly pulled open and Professor Severus Snape strode in.
