A/N: This is just a short filler chapter. But I'd still love some reviews!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 21: The New Plan
Draco spent all of Sunday in the Room of Requirement. He sat in front of the Vanishing Cabinet with a stack of books as tall as he was piled in front of him. The stack cast strange shadows around the room, giving Draco the ominous feeling that someone was watching him.
He had decided wholeheartedly to throw himself back into the task, to spend every last minute trying to complete it. He read through half of the books in the pile diligently that day, searching each page for any shred of information relating to the Vanishing Cabinet. He found out many interesting things, though none had anything to do with what he wanted to find out.
Draco sat on on the cold floor of the room until the light from the floor-to-ceiling windows darkened and he could no longer see the clouds of dust floating around him. He tucked five of the books into his bag and retreated to the Great Hall where he managed to grab a dinner roll from a platter before all the food disappeared.
He bit at the roll as he strolled down to the dungeons, passing the hospital wing on his way. The doors were open, and Draco could see Lavender Brown sitting in a chair next to a bed housing a tall redheaded figure, trying to coax a word out of him.
Draco swerved through the door revealed to him to enter the common room, where he expertly avoided Theodore Nott, who seemed ready to accuse Draco of something Granger-related, though nothing Granger-related existed in Draco's life anymore. Not the Theo knew.
Draco sank onto his bed and pulled the hangings around it, encasing him in an emerald-green tent. He changed into his pajamas then slid under the covers. He opened one of the books he had brought with him from the Room of Requirement, and began to read. He scanned the pages for any sign of the words "vanishing" or "cabinet". He was not successful. Finally, he drifted off to sleep with the book clutched in his hands.
His dreams were disturbed. Images of Hermione twisted with those of Voldemort, his mother, his father, and Snape. He saw his mother lying dead on the floor, with Voldemort standing over her. He saw a dementor sucking out his father's soul. He saw a snake, endless and twisting, binding itself around Voldemort's shoulders as Draco himself was killed at the hands of You-Know-Who.
Draco woke up sweaty and panting at the crack of dawn. He got slowly out of bed and slipped into his robes without waking up the others. He wandered down to the Great Hall, where he found not a soul nor a morsel of food.
He meandered down to the kitchens where he grabbed a muffin from a basket when the elf preparing it wasn't looking. Draco at the muffin as he walked out onto the slushy grounds toward the lake. He leaned against a tree, watching the giant squid stretch its tentacles and send ripples across the surface of the black water. When he heard the bell ring, he headed back into the castle for Transfiguration.
"You're late," Professor McGonagall said tartly as Draco entered the classroom.
Draco did not respond and instead slid into the seat at the back of the room. He didn't pay attention to the lesson and instead continued reading another one of the books from the Room of Requirement under his desk, looking up only when he sensed the teacher watching him.
After Break, Draco had Potions, class he never looked forward to anymore. But he really didn't want to go that day.
He wished he'd skipped class the moment he saw Hermione glaring at him from the back of the room. He felt guilt bubble up in his stomach every time he saw her expression. But he pushed the feeling down each time, instead concentrating on his potion, which he was failing miserably at making. Draco almost threw his potions book in his cauldron by the end of the lesson, frustrated with its horrible instructions. Once again, Potter had succeeded while everyone had failed.
Draco moved slowly through the day, eating lunch at the corner of the Slytherin bench and attending all his class in a miserable fashion. When classes were finally over, Draco headed up to the Room of Requirement and sat in front of the cabinet once again and began reading.
An hour in, Draco snapped his book shut. He had heard something. He stood up slowly, shoving his books behind the cabinet. He heard soft footsteps, and he hurried quietly to hide behind the nearest bookshelf. He watched from behind a shelf full of jars as a Ravenclaw girl whom he recognized to be Cho Chang shuffled into the room and hid a small leather purse on the shelf Draco was hiding behind. Draco held his breath as her eyes glanced over his face and widened. Draco ducked and waited. Cho must have decided she was imagining things because she walked away calmly, not hurriedly.
Draco let out a sigh of relief as he heard the door to the room close. He had gotten lucky this time, but the next time someone came in and saw him...
Draco needed his guards back.
To solve his problem, Draco cornered Crabbe and Goyle on their way into the Great Hall for dinner that night.
"Argh!" They exclaimed as Draco clamped a hand over each of their mouths and dragged them into an empty corridor. He shoved them against a wall and glared at them as menacingly as he could, his wand pointed at the two of them.
"You two," he said with a growl. "Need to help me."
"Why?" Goyle asked.
"We had this conversation at the beginning of the year!" Draco snarled. "You'd better help me."
Crabbe and Goyle nodded, their eyes fixed on his wand.
"Good," Draco said, lowering his wand. "Seventh-floor corridor tomorrow evening." He headed off down the corridor and toward the Great Hall, where he ate a quick dinner before heading to bed.
The next evening, Draco found Crabbe and Goyle waiting for him in the corridor.
"Good, you're here," Draco said as he approached them. He pulled two flasks out of his pocket and handed one to Crabbe and one to Goyle. "Drink." Draco commanded.
"Er, what is this?" Crabbe asked as he brought the flask to his lips.
"You'll see," Draco replied evasively. "Here," he tossed them a set of robes each.
"I'm not sure I'll fit-" Goyle was cut off as he began to shrink and his hair began to lengthen. The same was happening to Crabbe. In a few moments, both had transformed into tiny first-year girls.
"What the...?" Crabbe muttered as he turned to face Goyle. Both of their eyes widened as they saw each other's faces. They were about to scream when Draco shoved them into the Room of Requirement.
"Just change into the robes I gave you," Draco said, closing the door as he stepped out of the room. Minutes later, Crabbe and Goyle emerged from the room, stumbling a little as they tried to get used to having such tiny legs.
"Um, Malfoy," Goyle asked. "Who are we?"
Draco shrugged. "Some first-year girls," he said with a smirk.
"Why exactly are we girls?" Crabbe asked, pulling at his now long, blonde hair.
"So no one will recognize you," Draco replied, pulling a set of scales and a set of flasks from his bag. He handed one to each of them. "Drop these either when someone is trying to get into the room or if Potter and his gang come along," Draco instructed. "Oh, and knock on the door- er,wall- when the potion starts to wear off."
With that, Draco walked briskly into the Room and began reading once again.
A while later, Draco heard a tapping noise. He got up and headed for the door. Crabbe and Goyle, now themselves again, were waiting outside it.
"Good," Draco said. "Now go change."
This arrangement worked well for a few weeks, until one day when Crabbe and Goyle decided they'd had enough.
After an incident involving an invisible person whispering into Goyle's ear, Goyle marched up to Draco and said, "I can't do this anymore, Malfoy."
"Why not?" Draco demanded, surprised at Goyle's directness.
"This corridor is haunted!" Goyle exclaimed. "And besides, I don't even see the point in us doing this. You never even come out of that room!"
Draco was too shocked to respond. Crabbe and Goyle had never spoken to him like this!
"Fine!" Draco said finally. "Okay, don't help. But you'll be sorry you didn't help me." Draco swept off down the corridor.
That night, he spent hours in the Room of Requirement, reading and combing through books. He was getting sick of it. It was just like at the beginning of the year. He wanted to give up. He needed help.
But his time, there was no one left to get help from.