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Chapter 23
Edward took his seat at Gryffindor's table and noticed neither Ron nor Harry was there yet. He looked around the room for them.
"I wonder where they both are." He mumbled to himself as Bella settled in next to him.
"They're probably opening Ron's presents." Bella said.
Edward's honey colored eyes scanned the entire space of the room. He noted that the rest of his family, excluding Jacob and Renesmee had arrived and were already seated. However, he could not find Ron, Harry, Ginny, or Hermione.
"Bella, love, do you see any of them?" He asked, getting really anxious.
"No and I'd really like to give Ron his birthday present." Bella said, eyeing the wrapped gift resting next to her. They had gotten him a whole load of keeper equipment.
Just as Edward was about to get up and search for them, Ginny entered the Great Hall with Hermione by her side.
"Where have you been?" Edward asked, a tad annoyed.
"Jesus, you're beginning to sound like my mum!" Ginny cried.
"To answer your question, Edward, Ginny and I were dealing with Ronald. He's now having a man-to-man talk with Harry. Ron's very annoyed that Harry and Ginny were snogging on his own birthday. Ronald seemed to have thought that they would hold back for his benefit." She explained.
"He's acting like the world's ending." Ginny huffed as she grabbed the raspberry jam on the table and put some on her toast. "All Harry and I were doing was a bit of snogging."
"Well, it is his birthday and the king always gets what he wants." Bella muttered, earning a laugh from Hermione and Edward. While they sniggered, Ginny sighed.
It would be a very long day.
Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room, Harry and Ron were having a good and long talk.
"Mate, I'll let you date my sister if you follow these rules." Ron started.
Harry stopped Ron for a moment. "Rules? Gin and I don't need any rules. You know Ginny will not like your giving us rules."
"And that's why you won't be telling my sister." Ron explained to Harry like he was talking to a five year old.
"Hmm…I don't think I'll be able to do that." Harry said, scrubbing a hand down his face.
"Well, as your birthday present to me: you won't tell Gin about these rules I'm giving you." Ron supplied.
"Mate, I don't know if I'm okay with that." Harry said as he thought about it. "I can't just lie to Ginny."
"It's not lying. All you're doing is keeping it from her." Ron said.
"Ok, have at it." Harry finally said.
"Rule number 1: Don't get off with my sister in front of me. Actually, don't snog her at all." Ron started.
"You're being unreasonable." Harry said.
Ron went on without a beat.
"Rule number 2: don't hurt her. Ever."
"Ok, now, that's rubbish. You know I wouldn't dare hurt Ginny." Harry replied.
"Yes, I know that, but I'm still making it a rule." Ron declared.
"Ok, so I'm not allowed to snog or hurt Ginny. Is that all?" Harry asked, getting tired of Ron's stupid rules.
"Rule number 3: Don't make her forget about her studies. She is taking her O.W.L.S. this year."
"You're really sounding like your dad, Ron. Maybe you're taking it too far?" Harry offered.
"Rule number 4: Don't break up with her."
"Don't be a git, Ron. I'm not planning on breaking up with her anytime soon." Harry said, getting up from his seat on the couch.
"Where are you going?" Ron asked, when he noticed Harry's standing up.
"To breakfast, we're going to miss it." He said before he stepped through the port hole.
"I'm not finished with you, Harry Potter!" Ron yelled.
"You will try!" He called back.
Harry smirked to himself as the port hole door closed.
The day went through somewhat smoothly. It was later half that seemed to crash and burn.
Ron received many gifts for his birthday, but had a mishap with a box of chocolates meant for Harry. They were infused with love potion and when Ron ate them, he grew a bit of an infatuation with Romilda Vane.
Harry took Ron to Professor Slughorn's office and Ron ended up being poisoned by mead. Harry ended up saving him. Edward ended up blaming himself for the accident because he wasn't there. He thought since he was assigned Ron's protector that he had failed because he didn't save Ron.
So, Emmett, Rosalie, and Bella decided that taking him hunting would make him feel much better. And it would.
Malfoy was walking back from the Room of Requirement. He had failed, yet again. He was so unsure of what he was going to have to do to get the Vanishing Cabinet to work.
It was late at night. Malfoy knew no one was awake. Malfoy passed the Great Hall as he walked towards the dungeons.
CRACK!
Draco stopped suddenly, confused on where the noise was coming from. Then, he saw four figures appear. Malfoy may have peed himself as the group talked quietly from about thirty feet away. He was suddenly glad that it was extremely dark and they were too busy in each other to notice him. He dodged behind a statue and watched as they talked loudly to each other.
"Bye Rose, bye Em!" Malfoy heard a voice say.
The voice sounded like a girl that was in his Potions class. She was some annoying Gryffindor, one of those new pretty kids. Draco thought hard for a moment. Finally, it came to him, her name was Bella. Beside Bella was Harry's new best mate, Edward.
What were they doing out so late? He wondered. And how are they Apparating into school? That's practically impossible! Professor Dumbledore put up many spells to prevent it.
Draco's mind ran wild as he watched them from far off. They were still a great distance away. As Draco was watching, he noticed that Edward was looking all over the place.
Edward muttered something under his breath, alerting Bella of something. She, too, froze, as her eyes searched the area. It was as if they knew Draco was there. Draco pushed himself a little deeper behind the statue. He was squished in a corner that really hurt his back. He winced as he felt the corner pressed into his shoulder.
Suddenly, when Edward heard Draco's hiss of pain, he looked in his direction. He walked directly towards the statue. Draco's eyes widened as he saw Bella follow behind Edward. Shit…they caught him.
"Hello?" Bella called at the statue, even though she knew there was a person hiding behind it.
"Draco Malfoy, we see you. Either you come out now or you'll lose even more points for Slytherin." Edward said, annoyed. For they were both terrified that Draco had seen them Apparating into the school.
Draco stepped out from the corner he was in. He rubbed his shoulder as he appraised the couple standing before him.
Bella noticed how different Draco looked from the beginning of the year to now. His grey eyes were hallowed and rimmed with red. He looked like he had been crying earlier. His face was gaunt and his skin, pallid. His white-blonde hair was ruffled, unlike its usual sleek look. He looked really upset. Bella sighed as she understood that he must have been through something truly hard.
"And what makes you think you can take points away from my house? You're both out of bed, as well." Draco replied.
"We were making our rounds, Malfoy." Bella said. "We happened to find no one out of bed, except for you."
Malfoy sniggered loudly.
"Twenty points will be taken from Slytherin." Edward said, pulling out his
"You think you have the audacity to take points from my house?" He cried.
"Not the audacity, the right, to take away points. It's not because you're a Slytherin. We would have done it to anyone else." Edward said.
Bella nodded her head in agreement to Edward's reply. Draco only grimaced and glared at them.
"And what about you two? It's way past the time that the prefects do their rounds. You should be getting points off as well." He said.
Bella was trying to think of an excuse when Draco spoke again.
"And you were Apparating into the school. Dumbledore won't like that." He said, gaining the power over their conversation.
"And what if Dumbledore is letting us do this? Maybe he's letting us Apparate into Hogwarts." Bella taunted.
"Wellthen, Dumbledore would be exactly the idiot I have always thought he was." Draco smirked, before turning on his heel.
"You take that back, Draco Malfoy!" Bella quailed. How dare he insult Dumbledore?!
"We're still taking points off!" Edward called.
"Do whatever the hell you want. In only a few months, I won't be here!" Draco said before he turned to go down another hallway.
Instead of going to his dormitories, he went in direction of the Owlery.
When he got there, he got some parchment and wrote a letter to his Aunt Bellatrix.
Dear Aunt Bella,
I know we haven't spoken in ages. I've been sorely busy trying to complete the Dark Lord's task. It's coming along, but not quite there. I plan on getting the cabinet fixed.
However, the task isn't what I wanted to ask you about. I wanted to know if it were ever possible to Apparate into Hogwarts.
Please tell my mum how much I miss her. I hate this damn school. Everyone here stills eats all the shit Harry Potter spews out. I can't wait to be home.
I await your reply.
Sincerely,
Draco Malfoy
With that, Draco placed his letter in an envelope and tied it to his owl. Then, he waited, watching, as his owl flew off towards his aunt.
Tiredly, he went towards the library, hoping to dig up some dirt on the new kids.
How was it that they all went to Beauxbatons and Durmstrang? Then, all of a sudden, they choose to come here, all at once. It just didn't make sense in Draco's head. He tried to come up with excuses, but nothing seemed to fit. They said all of their families were close friends, but they all acted like brothers and sisters.
Bella seemed too close with Edward's sister, Renesmee. And when Draco was insulting Bella in front of Rosalie, the ice queen, she seemed too eager to protect Bella, a girl who wasn't even her sister. They didn't even look that much alike.
Sure, Draco could see the similarities in the Black family. Bella, Alice, and Jacob all had black hair. But, their facial features looked nothing alike. Jacob had russet colored skin, while Bella and Alice had pale skin. Bella and Alice had honey colored eyes and Jacob had black. It just didn't make a whole lot of sense.
And then there were the Cullens. Renesmee and Edward looked like they could be brother and sister, but Emmett was just there in the background. He just didn't fit. And rumor had it that the Aurors that were staying in Hogsmeade were their parents. And none of the children looked like their parents.
Rosalie and Jasper Hale didn't look much alike either. Sure, they both had gold eyes and gold hair, but—wait gold eyes. They all had golden eyes. That really struck Draco as odd. How could three different families all have gold eyes? And why was it that only Renesmee Cullen and Jacob Black had different colored eyes?
Draco slipped into the library and started going through every book possible. He looked up each of their names: Cullen, Hale, and Black.
He could find nothing on the Hales and nothing on the Blacks. The only information he found about the Blacks was that they had the same last name as part of his family.
Then, he reached the Cullen. Halfway through one of the newspaper clippings, he found an old photograph. It was of Dumbledore, young and youthful, with a blonde haired man.
The picture was dated back all the way to the early 1900's. Draco read the description below the picture.
Albus Dumbledore with close friend, Carlisle Cullen, at the Ministry of Magic. April 25, 1907.
Draco smiled as he noticed the name. Carlisle Cullen…wasn't that the name of the auror in Hogsmeade. He looked exactly like the auror! Draco jumped up and ran back towards the owlery.
He noticed that his owl was back. He must have spent most of the night in the library, for it was now dawn.
He opened the letter he received from Bellatrix Lestrange.
Dear Draco,
The Dark Lord would be proud to hear you're working hard on the assignment he gave you. Don't give up, your life depends on it.
I've never heard of anyone being able to Apparate into Hogwarts. Haven't you ever read Hogwarts: A History? Because then, you'd surely know that no one can Apparate into the school. And why do you ask? Is the project too hard? Are you too scared?
Don't let us down, Draco.
-Bellatrix
Damn it, Draco thought. His aunt thought he was a nutter!
He quickly wrote a reply.
Dear Aunt Bella,
I've haven't let you down yet. I was simply wondering if one could Apparate into Hogwarts. For some odd reason, I thought four of my classmates Apparated into our school.
Another question: have you ever heard of Carlisle Cullen? He's an auror working at Hogsmeade.
-Draco
Draco sighed as he sent off the letter to his aunt. Then, he decided he needed sleep or he wouldn't be able to do more research later that day.
He was going to figure this out. If he had some tangible way of getting people into Hogwarts, he'd find it.
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