He'd made a terrible mistake. He knew without a doubt that leaving Remington there in the entrance to the Great Hall with no closure, no promise that he'd forgiven her or that he loved her, was a horrible, horrible mistake. It was too late now, though. And he was in too deep to pull himself back out of the Dark Lord's grip. Perhaps it was for the best. If something were to happen to him, Remington could believe that he'd forsaken her completely. Maybe it was better that way.

He needed to stop thinking about her. He'd never have an upper hand against Potter if he was distracted.

His feet carried him silently through the Room of Hidden Things. Crabbe and Goyle navigated the paths ahead of him. He had never thought he'd be in that room again. And God, did he wish he didn't need to be. All that room reminded him of was a thousand pound weight hanging over his head – not that that was much different than where he was now, but at least now he'd gotten used to it – and a better time for him and Remington. Which was really a testament to how horrible things were at that moment, because things weren't great with Rem a year ago, either. Things were never particularly great with Remington. But they'd gotten through it together nonetheless.

Oh, yes. He'd made a terrible mistake.

The noise of others' footsteps were the only sounds that met his ears until he heard Potter's voice, saying something to himself, and he knew they were very close. Almost immediately, they rounded a corner to see Potter, just as he went to reach for something-

"Hold it, Potter." He said. The dark-haired boy froze, then turned to look at the three Slytherins, all of whom had their wands raised and pointed at him. "That's my wand you're holding, Potter."

"Not anymore," Harry returned, "Winners, keepers, Malfoy. Who's lent you theirs?"

Draco didn't want to sit here and talk. The more time he had to sit there and think about it, the more he didn't want to do it. He knew if he waited too long, he wouldn't be able to go through with it at all. "My mother."

Harry laughed, though there wasn't any amusement in the sound, just a knee-jerk reaction. "So how come you three aren't with Voldemort?" The dark-haired boy asked.

It was Crabbe who responded, his voice oddly soft, almost giddy. Like a child who had been promised presents or candy. "We're gonna be rewarded," He said, "We hung back, Potter. We decided not to go. Decided to bring you to him."

"Good plan." Harry returned in a mocking sort of tone. He started to move, ever so slightly backwards. Draco didn't think he knew that his slow shift had been noticed. "So how did you get in here?"

Now Potter was trying to make small talk. Trying to buy time, to distract them. Draco felt a flare of irritation. "I virtually lived in the Room of Hidden Things all last year." He said, forcing his internal conflict out of his voice. "I know how to get in."

"We were hiding in the corridor outside," Goyle began. Draco wished they'd all just shut up already. Couldn't Crabbe and Goyle see that they were actively being tricked? "We can do Disslusion Charms now! And then you turned up right in front of us and said you was looking for a die-dum! What's a die-dum?"

"Harry?" A voice broke across their conversation, cutting off anything Potter might have been about to say. Surely it was Weasley. Draco knew that Harry's sidekicks had gone in with him, but they hadn't spotted Granger or Weasley since. "Are you talking to someone?"

Crabbe reacted first, snapping his wand towards the fifty-plus foot wall of junk near where Ron's voice had come from. "Descendo!" He shouted, sending the top several feet of furniture, books, and whatever else cascading down the opposite side of the mountain of stuff.

Harry yelled Ron's name, and Granger's voice could be heard from somewhere as she screamed, but it was soon nearly drowned out by the sound of all the falling junk crashing into the ground. Harry pointed his wand towards the wall. "Finite!" He shouted, and the avalanche of stuff ceased.

Crabbe went to cast the spell again, but Draco seized the boy's arm. "No!" He snapped, shoving Crabbe's wand hand away from the mountain of junk. "If you wreck the room you might bury this diadem thing." If it was so important to Potter that he'd risk the lives of everyone in Hogwarts, it was clearly too important for them to ignore.

"What's that matter?" Crabbe demanded as he yanked his arm away. "It's Potter the Dark Lord wants, who cares about a die-dum?"

"Potter came in here to get it." Draco explained, both annoyed and impatient that he needed to spell it out. Why did he decide to bring Crabbe and Goyle, again? "So that must mean-"

"'Must mean'?" Crabbe shot back, livid. Draco had never seen him so angry, nonetheless have it aimed at himself. "Who cares what you think? I don't take your orders no more, Draco. You and your dad are finished."

It was a good thing that Ron Weasley chimed in again at that exact moment, because Draco didn't believe that he could have restrained himself from hexing Crabbe then and there otherwise.

"Harry?" Ron's voice called from over the junk mountain. "What's going on?"

"Harry?" Crabbe repeated in a slightly girlish voice, mocking Ron, "What's going on-" Potter lunged back towards a stone bust, upon it was a moth-eaten wig and a small tiara. That must be the diadem- "No, Potter! Crucio!"

The spell narrowly missed, hitting the bust and sending both it and what it was wearing into the air, past the pile of objects where it had been before.

"STOP!" Draco shouted, reaching for Crabbe's arm once more. They would never get ahold of Potter if things got out of hand. "The Dark Lord wants him alive-"

"So? I'm not killing him, am I?" Crabbe yelled back, pulling his arm out of reach. "But if I can, I will. The Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what's the diff-"

But before Crabbe had finished, Granger had rounded the corner. She sent a Stunning Spell at Crabbe, and Draco couldn't deny it was a damn good shot as he yanked Crabbe out of the way, cutting him off as a red stream of light sailed by, right where Crabbe's head had been.

Not missing a beat, Crabbe turned on Granger, "It's that Mudblood! Avada Kedavra!"

The next few moments were punctuated with yelling, spells flying everywhere, Draco trying to plead with Crabbe not to kill Potter, but against all reason, what came after was far worse. Crabbe had set loose Fiendfyre in the Room of Hidden Things. Regardless of whatever Draco's intentions of capturing Potter were, they needed to get out before they were all killed by the awry spell.