Chapter 22

The flames were dancing in the fireplace next to them, illuminating Astoria's pretty face. Tonight, it didn't quite seem enough to take his mind off their mission. At first, Draco had wanted to forget all about it and never look bad, but the longer he spent in Astoria's presence, the more he realised that doing the right thing, well, it was actually the right thing. Yet at the same time, it meant they were facing a difficult and even dangerous task.

"So, that's bad," Draco uttered quietly.

Astoria nodded in agreement. "Really bad."

"I basically traded a possible apocalypse for a spell that didn't even work."

"You couldn't have known," she tried to reassure him, but Draco knew that it wasn't true. When the woman had demanded the book from his father's library, he could have followed his instincts instead of his desperate, misguided need to erase his past. And his instincts had told him right from the beginning that handing over the book was something he shouldn't do. At the very least, he could have taken a look inside to determine just what he was handing over to a group of people who were obviously deeply in love with the idea of the Dark Arts.

"Time magic, mind control," Draco listed the contents of A Secret History of Spells, "the magic inside this book could render the Imperius Curse useless. It can affect hundreds, maybe even thousands. They could practically take over the world."

The woman had told him that they only ever used Dark Magic once consent was given, but Draco wasn't sure he could trust her. Not anymore. Maybe, he had never trusted her in the first place. Why else would they have needed this particular spellbook if not to use its contents?

"This is why we're going to get it back," Astoria said determinedly. "Judging from what it said in Acheronian Magics, the spells are incredibly complex. There is no way they memorised them all, so if we get the book back before they can cast anything, we stand a chance."

Draco raised his head to look at her and for a moment, he was tempted to tell her to stay out of it. It was his mistake they were trying to fix, it should be up to him alone. The last thing he wanted was to put her in danger. After 23 year, he had finally found a friend, a true friend. As unlikely as it had seemed in the beginning, as unlikely as he still considered it, Astoria had become his friend. They were equals in a way he had never experienced with Crabbe or Goyle or anyone else, who had only ever done what he had told them to. If he attempted to tell Astoria what to do, Draco was pretty sure she would jinx his arse. It had taken him a few weeks to admit it, but Draco could no longer deny that he had desperately needed that. He had needed Astoria in his life and he wasn't going to lose her again.

"Don't you think we're in over our heads with this?" Draco finally asked. "I mean, we're talking about taking on a dangerous secret society whose members are well versed in the Dark Arts. You keep saying I have first-hand experience, but I don't. Not nearly enough. Yes, I've used forbidden spells, but I only did it when they forced me to and I hated every second of it. I was rubbish at it. I couldn't even torture a rat. This is something for the Aurors to deal with, not us."

"It was never my intention to fight them," Astoria responded immediately. "You're absolutely right, we wouldn't stand a chance. But if we go to the Aurors, they will arrest you and your father, maybe even your mother simply because you're related. I'm not going to let that happen."

The thought of Azkaban still made Draco shiver, but he hated the thought of his mother being wrongfully imprisoned even more. Of all the Malfoy family members, she was the most innocent one and had never even attempted to cast an unforgivable curse.

"We can't fight them," Astoria repeated. "Petty theft, however-"

Draco narrowed his eyes at her. "What's your plan?"

Astoria inhaled deeply and even before she spoke, her eyes began to sparkle a little. It was obvious that she had worked on her plan all the way back from Hogwarts, maybe even longer than that, and that she couldn't wait to finally share it with him. "Okay, here's an idea. We infiltrate them," she said, the excitement audible in her voice. Draco decided to hear her out before pointing out the obvious flaw in her plan. "We need Polyjuice Potion and that's obviously where you come in because whatever I make is more likely to kill us than transform us into anything. We absolutely cannot look like ourselves when we go there, so we would need hairs from Muggles, someone they don't know. You said they were having a party, so I think we should mingle, show interest in the Dark Arts, figure out where they keep their knowledge and, once we can, take the book and make a run for it."

To his own surprise, Draco began to laugh.

"What's so funny?!" Astoria demanded to know, obviously hurt that her plan seemed to amuse him. "You come up with a better plan if you don't like mine!"

"Your plan isn't bad," he admitted, "but none of that will work because we can't find them. We need one of the enchanted Galleons and Mr Borgin will not hand it over to someone who looks like a Muggle. He is their gatekeeper and he will only give it to trustworthy wizards who know the current password, which, by the way, probably changed since I last talked to him. He won't give me another coin and I doubt he'll give you one."

Draco watched Astoria's shoulders sink when she realised that her plan was deeply flawed. However, her eyes betrayed the turmoil that was going on inside her head. She was racking her brain to find a solution. Then, her expression changed abruptly as if her mood had taken a sudden turn.

"We will find a way," she said determinedly and rose to her feet. "But I doubt we'll find it sitting here, brooding over the matter. Inspiration will strike eventually. After all, I had this idea when we stepped into the Floo Network this morning."

Both his eyebrows raised in her direction, Draco watched her for a moment, unsure of what she was going to do next. That was another thing about Astoria that he liked, the moments of surprise in which she was utterly unpredictable. Right now, however, he hated it, because she was leaving him in the dark. "What are you going to do?"

With a sigh, she straightened her shoulders and put on a smile. "I'm going to take my mind off the matter completely. How about we go to the Leaky Cauldron and have a drink?"

Draco's first instinct was to agree on the spot, jump up from his pillow and follow her down the street to the well-known wizard pub. Merlin knew he could use a drink right now after everything they had figured out. However, once his initial thoughts had settled, the doubts began to surface.

"I can't," he said, granting her a sad smile. "People won't want me there."

Astoria made a dismissive gesture. "People won't care," she argued. "They probably won't notice you at all."

When she held out her hand to help him up, Draco was tempted to take it. On his own, he would never dare to step inside the Leaky Cauldron, but Astoria's presence made him want to be brave. It made him want to lead a normal life. What kind of friend would he be if they couldn't even visit a pub together?

"Drinks are on me?" she offered cautiously.

"Well, the Leaky Cauldron sells this ancient, vastly expensive Firewhisky," he replied with a shrug and finally reached for her hand.

As she pulled him up, Draco heard Astoria chuckle. "Don't push your luck."

The air had cooled considerably since the sunset and Draco instinctively pulled his cloak a little tighter around his body. Glancing at Astoria next to him, he wanted to make sure that she wasn't freezing, but she seemed impervious to the cold. The memory of her cool fingers entwined in his entered Draco's mind and for a moment, he wondered whether he could dare to repeat the intimacy they had shared in Hogsmeade. A part of him wanted nothing more than to reach out and hold her hand as they walked down Diagon Alley. He had been an idiot the day before, making a rude remark when he had been so grateful for the gesture. Was this his second chance? Was this the right moment to make it better?

Yet before he could even attempt to take her hand, Astoria looked at him and smiled. "Stop worrying," she told him. "I can see you're worried about something."

Draco managed to smile at her in return. This time, he knew, she was definitely wrong about what was going on inside his head.

"We'll figure out a way to get to the secret society. We'll stop them, whatever they're planning," she reassured him. "There has to be a way. But until we find one, there's no use brooding-"

Astoria broke off suddenly and glanced over her shoulder. Draco followed her gaze, yet found nothing that could have attracted her attention.

"What's wrong?" he wanted to know.

Her eyes still fixed on a dark corner where Knockturn Alley melted into the street, she shook her head. "Nothing," she replied. "Probably just a cat."

Luckily for them, the Leaky Cauldron was merely a stone's throw from Draco's flat, so they didn't have to bear the cold for very long. Once inside, they were engulfed by almost stifling but pleasantly warm pub air that carried the smell of alcohol and pipe smoke. When Astoria pointed towards an empty table in the back, Draco nodded in agreement. He didn't want to sit anywhere too public just so the entire world could gawk at him. To his surprise, however, the guests were either too drunk or too immersed in their conversations to pay him any attention at all. Maybe, coming here hadn't been such a bad idea after all.

They had already crossed half the pub when Draco's hopes of having a normal evening were shattered in a heartbeat when Tom stepped into their path.

"We don't serve his kind in here," he growled and nodded unmistakably towards Draco.

He was inclined to leave immediately and not cause a scene in the middle of a pub, but Astoria certainly seemed to have other ideas when she stepped in front of him, facing the barman.

"We're paying customers," she argued loudly. Maybe it was her intention to arouse the other guests' attention, but even if they had noticed, they certainly wouldn't have come to his aid.

Tom grunted. "You can stay. He leaves now."

At last, Draco found the courage to reach for Astoria's hand, if only to pull her back. "Let's go," he urged her quietly.

"No," Astoria said determinedly. She was now glaring at Draco. "Stop letting people treat you like you don't deserve their respect. You were acquitted-"

"They're treating me like I treated them," Draco barked in reply. "It doesn't matter that I was acquitted, I was still a jerk and I'm paying the price for it. Let's leave."

"Listen to the boy," Tom said menacingly. "And go."

Astoria threw one more deadly look at the barman and, if Draco had been in Tom's shoes, he would have given in regardless of his conviction. Right now, he would have been afraid of Astoria - and maybe rightly so. Her hand was hidden under her cloak, but Draco could still see the subtle flick of her wand before she spun around and headed towards the door. He had no other choice but to follow her and, if he was entirely honest, he was glad to be out of the pub.

"What did you do?" Draco wanted to know as he followed Astoria out of the pub. "I saw you cast a spell. You didn't jinx him, did you?"

Astoria didn't turn around. She just continued her stride, even walking past the entrance to his flat, radiating anger without ever saying a word. "Let's just say he will get a little surprise when he looks into the mirror tomorrow morning!"

"Astoria, wait!" Draco called after her, but she didn't stop. Only when he broke out into a run, overtook her and positioned himself in her path did she finally come to a halt. The only time he had seen her this angry was when she had faced his father in the hospital. That hadn't exactly ended well for him and Draco was afraid of what Astoria might do to him if he crossed her right now. Still, he had to try. "You can't just go around jinxing people like that. Especially not because of me."

"And why not?!" she demanded angrily. "He had no right to refuse you! Especially not so publicly!"

"He had every right," Draco said in a calm manner. Astoria might not understand, but he did. Before Voldemort's downfall, he had walked around the wizarding world, intimidating people, delivering threats, treating anyone who didn't bear the Malfoy name like they were inferior to him.

"The war is over. You were acquitted. It's time they stopped punishing you for choosing the wrong side when you were just a teenager," she replied. Her voice had calmed down, but Draco could still see the flashes of anger in her dark, brown eyes. Even in the dim streetlight of Diagon Alley, they seemed to be glowing.

Draco did what he had wanted to do all evening. He reached for Astoria's hand and held it gently in his own. If words couldn't reach her, maybe he could convey what he was trying to say through a more physical connection.

"You know me," Draco explained quietly. "They don't. To them, I'm only the son of Lucius Malfoy, I'm a former Death Eater, Voldemort used my family home as a base from which he terrorised the world. You can't force them to trust me just because the Ministry said I'm not guilty. I have to earn their respect and that might takes years, if it's even possible at all."

Astoria looked like she was going to protest, but she finally seemed to have run out of arguments.

"I changed my mind about something," Draco announced suddenly. "That secret society, I don't just want to steal the book back from them. I want to bring them down. Maybe, that will help them win back their trust."

To his surprise, she frowned at him in response. "Why this sudden change of heart?"

Draco opened his mouth, but then suddenly felt unsure whether he should actually say it. It had been a spontaneous idea, maybe even a stupid one. He certainly couldn't tell the difference, not when his moral compass was still spinning out of control.

"Because you deserve to go to the pub with whoever you want," Draco replied eventually, hesitantly. "I don't want to be the reason people look at you with suspicion and distrust."

At last, Astoria's face lit up and a smile spread across her face. In all those times Draco had seen her smile, he had never actually seen her quite like this and suddenly, something tightened in his chest. His heart was beating so fast that he thought it might try to break free from the confinements of its boney cage. He became increasingly aware of how close they were and that he was still holding her hand and Draco had no idea what any of it meant. Never before had he experienced a moment as strange and as wonderful as this.

Then, Astoria's attention was diverted. Her eyes fell on a spot behind him, her hand slipped from his grasp and she distanced himself from him the moment Draco began to hear a loud clap.

He spun around on his heels and watched Blaise Zabini emerge from the shadows, applauding something he didn't understand and grinning broadly at the two of them.

"That was a wonderful speech, Malfoy," he congratulated him.