Chapter 16

Draco pounded the stone for several minutes as his heart hammered in anxiety and urgency. Where is that blasted girl? He really needs to talk to her. He already figured that she knew what happened outside and inside the Room of Requirement the night before, he just needs to know exactly what comes after. He needs to know if Hermione, or him, for that matter, gets harmed by the Dark Lord. Everything will be fine, Annabelle said, but it that really the case? She never saw Hermione getting beaten up. Who knows what other things she didn't see... or saw, it just turns out differently eventually.

He cantered down the corridors, passing people as they headed to breakfast, and his school robes billowed as he went. He has walked about the whole castle, and hasn't seen is ghost friend. But he hasn't checked the area where he met Rowena Ravenclaw. He went down some stairs and through a couple of corridors and stopped. There, near the entrance to the corridor where he met the first Ravenclaw, was Annabelle talking with the very ghost woman. The two smiled as they talked, and Rowena put a hand on Annabelle's cheek, tears in her eyes. She brought her into an embrace and held her there for a moment. Draco watched, somewhat awed, at the first encounter these two have had in one thousand years. It touched his heart a bit, making a small smile stretch his lips. He would let them talk for a little while longer until he goes up and demands of Annabelle what happens next in her vision.

He watched the two converse as he leaned against the cold stone wall, arms folded. Living or not, women could talk. His mother and her friends could talk for hours on end, and about nothing. And these two haven't seen each other for one thousand years, so they most likely have a lot of things to catch up on. Maybe a after few more minutes and he'll go up to them.

They talked on, with him not hearing what they were saying, and he let out an impatient huff through his nose. There were no other students around since none of them want to be in an area where a ghost lingers. Well, this one, that is. He's heard people say that Rowena can be intimidating. He experienced that himself when he first met her, but now, he doesn't think twice of coming here, mainly since he has a mission, a mission that Rowena knows about. Annabelle probably has told her all about what has happened so far with that vision of hers, about what has come to pass. He might as well ask Annabelle what he needs to with Rowena present.

He leaned there a little longer as the two ghost women talked, and he heard the bell gong to signal the start of breakfast. Enough waiting. He leaned off the stone wall and walked up to the ghosts. Rowena saw him first. "Well, hello again, Mr. Malfoy."

Annabelle turned to face him and she gave him a dazzling smile. "Good morning, Draco! Oh my goodness, it has been the most wonderful morning! I finally came to say hello to my dear cousin, and oh, what a sweet reunion it has been! My shame of how I died vanished and I finally got the nerve to face her, and I'm so glad that I did! We were both aching to see one another."

"I'm glad to hear it, Annabelle," he said to her, really meaning it, then to Rowena, "and hello again to you, too, Rowena."

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy. And I hear that things are going rather well for you and a certain girl right now. This vision of Annabelle's seems to be coming to pass every wit." She winked.

He felt heat on the back of his neck, knowing what Annabelle has been telling Rowena. That heated kiss flashed in his memory and he cleared his throat. He kept his arms folded over his robes. "Yes, I admit that things happened that I would never have imagined happening."

"Yes, and I saw every one of them," Annabelle said triumphantly. Her eyes turned playfully sly. "Why do you think I insisted that I bring Hermione into that corridor last night, huh? I knew exactly what would happen next."

That heat on the back of his neck intensified and rose up to his cheeks. "Aright, alright, I get it. Now, there's something I need to ask you, Annabelle, and I want you to give me an honest answer, without refusing to tell me."

"Should I leave so you two can talk?" Rowena asked, noticing Draco's serious, yet weary expression. Annabelle's eyes suddenly filled with sadness as she looked over at her cousin, her gaze pleading with her to stay near her.

"No, it's alright," Draco said. "You already know enough anyway, Rowena."

Annabelle beamed and hooked her arm with her cousin's, and Draco momentarily wondered how that was possible. Maybe ghosts can touch one another, just no solid objects. The younger of the two said, "Well, what do you want to ask me, Draco? I hope you don't want to ask me about the vision. You already know that it was a real vision of the future."

"Actually, it is about the vision, and the fact that it's all coming to pass is what's bothering me here." He took a breath, readying himself to ask her this. "Annabelle, you have seen everything that has happened so far, and it all has been the same as in your vision. You know what happened in the Room of Requirement last night, then, right?"

She nodded slowly, and from the look in her eyes, she knew where he was going with this. "Yes. You and Hermione went to that furniture shop, and you met your mother. She knows about you and Hermione, and Hermione knows about everything else, like your task for the Dark Lord. Draco... if you're asking me what happens afterwards, I can't tell you."

He knew she would be like this. His impatience wore thin. "And why not, Annabelle? Why can't you tell me what happens so Hermione and I can prepare for it? I'm sure you know that both my mother and I worry that the Dark Lord may know about me and Hermione and what she knows." Annabelle pursed her lips, not responding. He came up close to her, desperation in his eyes. "Please, Annabelle! I know you said things will turn out fine, but it that really the truth? Tell me if the Dark Lord intends on hurting the girl I love!"

Annabelle remained silent, and her hold on her cousin tightened. The woman eyed her incredulously. "Annabelle, are you really not going to tell him what he deserves to know?"

Despite her cousin trying to reason with her, she still remained silent. Draco saw that sadness in her eyes, and he suddenly surmised that she didn't want to say anything not just because she wanted to watch her vision play out without him knowing what happens, but because of something far more terrible… something that will hurt him to know. His mouth pulled into a frown, and his chest started to pinch painfully.

"Annabelle... it's bad isn't it? That's why you don't want to tell me. The Dark Lord really does know, doesn't he?"

Tears came to her eyes and she whimpered. Yes, it is just as he thought. "Draco... please, don't make me say it."

"What?" he demanded. "Please, tell me. It will all come to pass anyway."

Annabelle looked at Rowena, and the woman nodded. Annabelle looked back at him with tear eyes. "What you and your mother suspected was correct," she confessed. "Yes, the Dark Lord knows that you've been distracted. He knows everything."

Draco went and leaned against the wall, putting a hand over his mouth as fear overcame his system to an intense degree. He knew it. He knew that the Dark Lord knew everything. How would he not know? The dark wizard can read minds. Of more, he could read emotions and that's how he can clue in to what people are thinking. Draco has definitely been very emotional lately.

"I'm so sorry, Draco," Annabelle said and he dropped his hand.

"What else?" He met her gaze, his blurry. "Tell me, Annabelle. Tell me what else happens, I beg you."

She floated up to him, sadness still in her pretty eyes. "Aright, Draco. I'll tell you, but please... it is just what I saw. Keep that in mind."

Meaning it may or may not happen, or will happen differently. "Alright."

"This is one of the reasons why I didn't want to tell you what happens in the first place, but Rowena is right—you deserve to know since it's your and Hermione's life." She took a large breath and let it out and revealed, "Your task will be changed."

He certainly wasn't expecting that. He leaned off of the stone wall, staring at her eyes in disbelief. "What? What do you mean my task will be changed?"

"Do you remember Professor Snape telling you about the unbreakable vow he made with your mother, stating that if you cannot perform your assigned task, then he will do it himself?"

Draco started to feel ill in the stomach, and he knew that he wasn't going to eat breakfast. He recalled Snape pulling him off to the side after Slughorn's party earlier in the school year and telling him this truly earth-shattering secret. Draco had confronted his mother about it, but she had said that she had his best interest in mind, that she knew he didn't want to kill another person. "Yes, I recall."

"Alright, well... the Dark Lord is going to have Professor Snape kill Dumbledore, not you."

Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing. Something strong coursed through his veins, about making them burst. It could be pure relief, strong enough to make him want to crumple to the floor. "What? I... will not have to kill Dumbledore?"

"No."

He couldn't stop himself from grinning at the fact that he may not have to kill that poor old man. He looked to Annabelle and sadness still shone in her eyes. His smile deflated.

"Draco, in my vision, your assignment is changed... not taken away."

He knew this was too good to be true. That relief that weakened his limbs suddenly turned to dread that made his limbs tense up. "What, then? What will I be commanded to do instead?"

A tear fell from her eye, and Rowena came over and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Honestly, Draco was glad that Annabelle's cousin was present since it made it easier for her to tell him what he wants to know. She revealed in a small voice, like she wanted to do anything else but to say it, "The same thing, but to someone else."

His brows creased, and that dread grew like a disease taking over his body. "I have to... what? I have to kill another person instead?" She nodded once, and his own tears stung his eyes. Immediately, pictures flashed in his mind of people who the Dark Lord also wants to see dead... Harry Potter... the new muggle studies professor... muggle borns in the school...

His mind went to one of them.

"No..." slithered through his clenched teeth, and those tears in his eyes fell as it felt like someone was squeezing the life out of his heart. He put hand on the cold stone wall, and it clenched into a fist. "No..."

"Draco..." Annabelle muttered.

"NO!" he bellowed fiercely, and it echoed through the cool air of the corridor and the old, withered courtyard near them. "No, please, Annabelle, your vision has to be wrong."

"I wish it was, Draco! This is why I never wanted to tell you the whole of my vision! I knew this would happen, and I knew that this would be your reaction. But as I have said before—everything turns out fine. According to my vision, you are commanded to perform the death curse on Hermione, but you never do it!"

"How do you bloody know?!" he hollered and walked off a few meters, trying to control himself, but it wasn't working. He said through a very thick voice, "You never know if your vision changes and I am forced to do it, or he does it himself, and he kills me too!"

"That is not going to happen! I saw it all!"

"It could be wrong!"

"My visions are never wrong! They all come to pass, and I tell you that everything will be alright in the end! Nobody dies! At lease, not you or Hermione."

Draco turned and glared at her face, hope in her eyes, hope that he would believe her. He wants to. He's desperate to. But the notion that he has to perform the Death curse on the girl he loves...

"Draco!"

Draco's heart pulsed at that familiar voice. He turned and saw Hermione running up to him, and alarm pulsed through him when he realized that she could have been listening this whole time. "Hermione...?" he breathed as she bombarded him, nearly knocking him over. Her arms wrapped around his neck tightly, and her body shook. Yes, she heard everything. He wrapped his arms around her petite body and held onto her just as tightly, inhaling her lilac perfume.

"Please tell me all that I heard just now isn't true," she pleaded into his shoulder.

"I don't want to believe it, either." He paused for a moment. "Did you follow me here?"

"Yes. I saw you cantering down the corridors, and I had to run to keep up with you. I was about to confront you when I saw you come into this corridor here, and then start talking to Annabelle and Rowena Ravenclaw."

"Who's following who, now?"

"This is no time to joke, you know." She let herself loose a little, but still held onto him, and he could feel her finger the little hairs on the back of his neck. Her eyes were teary and bloodshot. "So... it's all true, then? If Annabelle envisioned it?"

"My vision has come to pass so far," Annabelle said and they looked over at her. Hermione loosed herself completely from Draco, but he put an arm around both of her shoulders, keeping her close. "Just look at the two of you now. Draco, in the beginning, the very thought of being involved with Hermione sickened you."

He didn't want to be reminded of that, but it was true nonetheless. "Yes, I know. But put that aside. If your vision continues to come to pass, then what are we going to do? The Dark Lord is probably already planning to meet with me and my mother to discuss this. I'm going to have to agree to..."

His voice caught. He knew he wanted to know all of this so they all could be prepared... now he wished that he would have remained in ignorance.

"We'll think of something," Hermione said, her own voice thick with emotion. "We have to tell Harry and Ron. They need to know of what could potentially happen. They know everything else, anyway."

This startled Draco. He looked over at her with wide blue eyes. "What? Those two know about us? You told them when I said I wanted to see the look on Weasley's face?"

She shot him a stern look and quipped, "Do you think that matters anymore, Draco? They're my best friends. They deserve to know what's going on with me. They know about Annabelle's visions, too, so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that the two of us came together because of one. We'll tell them everything about this one, and they can help us come up with a plan." She looked to Annabelle. "Wait, Annabelle, you know what happens. What is the plan that we come up with that saves my life?"

"You can't come up with it if I tell you, now can I?"

Irritation and impatience gripped Draco. "Just tell us, Annabelle. Hermione's life depends on it!"

She looked between the two of them a couple of times, unsure. It really annoyed Draco that she was unsure about telling them how they save Hermione's life.

"Well... how else will it be done? You have to face the Dark Lord."

"I can't believe it. I won't."

Draco couldn't help but chuckle at Weasley's remark as he held out his sleek, black wand, the voice enhancing spell going, as he and Hermione walked to the Great Hall to see if they could find Hermione's two friends. As it turns out, they were waiting by the large doors, and staring at him and Hermione as they approached hand-in-hand.

"Oh, stop it, will you, Draco?" Hermione chided and Draco stopped with the voice enhancing spell and put his wand in his back pocket.

"You really should have had a camera when you told them."

"Just give it a rest. It's already done."

The two new and unlikely lovers approached the two boys, with Weasley's mouth pulled into a jealous frown, which Draco tried really hard to smirk at with pride, and Potter's lips were pursed, like he didn't know what to make of this situation.

"Potter, Weasley," Draco greeted, coaxing them to say something. Potter cleared his throat and Weasley still frowned. People walking out of the Great Hall stared at the four, especially eyeing Draco and Hermione and their clasped hands. "Hello," Potter said, and he himself eyed their clasped hands. Draco huffed. They need to get passed this, regardless of their reasons of being bothered by him and Hermione being a couple, especially Potter. Draco just needs to obliviate his mind of what happened in that bathroom.

"Alright, get over it will you two?" he quipped. "Everyone saw it coming, considering what has happened."

"Still," Potter said. "It's shocking."

"And disturbing," Weasley added. Draco surmised that the red-head isn't going to be okay with this no matter what, so might as well just let it go. But he couldn't help but like how jealous he was. Draco liked winning at at least something.

"Okay, okay, fine, it's shocking, and who would have thought that Draco and I would start dating, but it is how it is," Hermione said in finality. "Now look. Draco and I have something very important that we have to talk to the two of you about, and I'm afraid it's rather serious. It's very, very serious, actually."

Potter could see that this was no joking matter. He leaned in and asked quietly, "What's going on?"

People walked out of the Great Hall, loads of them. The bell gonged signaling the end of breakfast, and that the students had ten minutes to get to class. Hermione said, "It's something that we have to talk about where there is nobody around to hear. How about during the lunch hour, at 12:30. the four of us go down to the Black Lake's edge, near Hagrid's, alright? We can talk about everything then."

Potter nodded. "Alright."

Weasley didn't say anything, and the four headed on to their classes. Draco walked Hermione to hers, and people all around stared at them, and the Slytherins they passed had open-mouthed shocked expressions. Draco found them a bit comical.

"Well, there's a light side to all this," he said.

"And what's that?"

"I'm having a grand time seeing the shocked looks on everyone's faces as we walk by, especially people in my house. I mean, they could guess that this would happen, but actually seeing it..." He chuckled. "Golly, it's funny."

"Yes, at least there's that."

"And I quite enjoyed the look on Weasley's face when we came up to them earlier. It looked like he wanted to murder me." He glanced behind him and saw that Weasley and Potter walked several meters behind them in the crowded corridor. "And it still looks like he does."

Hermione stopped, which made him stop as well, and people passing had to dodge them. She gave him a stern look, much like his mother has given him countless times when he was younger. "Draco, there are more serious matters going on here. You need to focus on those and not on the fact that you won this non-existent battle with Ron over me."

"Oh, it existed, that's for sure. And I won."

She saw the prideful smile on his face, and he was doing it mainly to see her reaction. Her gaze blazed, as he expected. "Oh my heavens, Draco! Just move on from that!"

He nodded. "Alright. But one more thing first."

He let go of her hand, took her soft warm face in his hands and leaned down. Several cheers were heard around them, along with ooos. He also heard Weasley holler, "I'm gonna kill 'im!" Hermione disconnected her mouth from his and gave him an appalled look. "Draco!"

He released her face and they both stood there. "What? Just giving everyone some shock therapy. Now we won't get so many looks."

Hermione looked over and Draco did as well. Weasley was red-faced, and about ready to pummel Draco if Harry and Finnegan weren't holding him back. "Well, good luck getting along with Ron."

That gave him a start. "What?"

She walked on and he kept up with her. "Well, if you're going to be my boyfriend, you're going to have to get along with my friends, and that means not calling them 'Potter' and 'Weasley' anymore. In fact, no calling any one of my friends by their last names. We don't call you and your friends by your last names anymore." Draco was about to retaliate, but Hermione continued. "And I expect you to be kind and gentlemanly, especially toward Harry and Ron. Understand?"

When he decided that he wanted to be with Hermione, and be her everything, he didn't think about the terms and conditions that came along with them. "Hermione... you know the history that I have with Pott—I mean, Harry and Ron. Especially Harry."

She stopped again and looked up at his blue eyes. Understanding filled hers. "Draco, I know what has happened in the past. Don't you think it's about time that you and all of us move passed it all, especially if we want Harry and Ron to help us out with what's to come?"

He really, really wanted to retort, but he couldn't. She's right—they need to move passed what has happened in the past and move forward. Plus, having Hermione's friends as allies isn't a bad idea, and could benefit whatever they have to do so he and Hermione can be together. Harry and Ron were fair wizards, after all. And, Annabelle said that he and Hermione will change the wizarding world, maybe it's by defying the status quo. No one would imagine a Slytherin and Gryffindor dating, especially when then the Gryffindor is a muggle-born and the Slytherin is a Malfoy. He certainly is defying his family traditions now, like Annabelle said as well.

"Alright," Draco said. "But be patient with me. I'm not going to get along with them right away."

Hermione smiled and linked her arm with his. "That's good enough for now."

They walked on with the rest of the students, and Draco wondered how they are going to go about this. If what Annabelle said is correct, he will have to point his wand at Hermione. The Death Eaters will come, and maybe even on the same night that is scheduled for Dumbledore's demise, they will coax him to perform the death curse on her, the girl who made him a better person, and the girl that he loves. This is far worse and far more difficult than his assignment to murder the headmaster of Hogwarts.

"Oh, wow, Draco! Six skips!"

Draco smirked with pride and skipped another rock along the gray surface of the Black Lake as the noon sun was trying to peek through the clouds in the overcast sky. The wind felt cool, blowing through his very blonde hair. "Only five there."

"Still, that's impressive. Show me how to do it."

"Alright." He picked up a rock. "Now, it has to be flat like this so it can travel across the water easier." He put the rock in her hand and moved her fingers over it. "Hold it like this, then swing your am back in this manner." He demonstrated. "Then flick it like this."

She did as she was told and off the rock flew, and they counted the skips. Draco's brows rose and Hermione squealed with glee and pounced onto him in an embrace, and her arms flung around his neck. "Oh my gosh, that was seven skips!"

He held onto her, loving that they could do this so easily now. "Great job. Looks like you're better than me."

"Well, it's not the first time I was better than you at something."

He smirked as he held onto her and her hair tickled his cheek. He brought her out to face him, and he stared at her pretty hazel eyes. "Blymee, you're beautiful."

She smiled sheepishly as pink filled her cheeks. She probably doesn't even think about using that anti-blushing spell on herself anymore. "And you are very handsome. It irritated me how much you were back when I couldn't stand you."

His brows rose deviously. "Oh, you thought I was handsome before?"

"Just as much as you thought me pretty."

He couldn't argue with that. His gaze went to her inviting pink lips, and he was about to go in for it when they heard someone clearing their throat. They looked over and saw Harry and Ron standing there in their school robes, Ron with a jealous look on his face and daggers in his eyes, pointed at Draco. Hermione and Draco let each other out of the embrace they were in.

"Harry, let's just go back to lunch," Ron said in disgust. "I don't want to watch those two snog."

Harry disregarded what Ron said and walked up to Draco and Hermione, his steps audible on the rocks. Draco shoved his hands in his robs pockets. "Hey," Harry greeted them, and Ron begrudgingly walked up to them but said nothing. He looked off at the lake, frowning.

"Hi, Harry," Hermione said. "Thanks for meeting us out here. Now, we have something we want the two of you to know. It has to do with one of Annabelle's visions. One that I haven't told you about. It's actually the reason why Draco started watching out for me and ultimately became what he is now."

"You mean your boyfriend?" Ron spat. "I don't want to hear it."

Hermione huffed in irritation. "That's not all, Ron. It helped with him becoming a decent human being, one that none of us thought he would be."

Draco looked over at her indignantly. "Hey," he quipped.

"It's true," Ron said, glaring at Draco. "You were a foul, rotten git who didn't care a blinking for anyone other than yourself, and pushed people around for pleasure. It makes me sick that you and my best friend have been snogging. I would rather her be with a manky skunk."

Draco frowned, those truthful words plunging into his heart like a rusty dagger. He was quick to respond. "Yes, I admit I was those things before, and I regret it all."

"Do you?" Ron tried. "I bet you hexed Hermione, making her believe all that condswollop."

"Codswollop?" Draco repeated, disbelief in his voice, and his chest pricking with hurt, "Do you not remember how I saved her life?"

"Fine, it was that ghost who hexed you! They're capable of doing that, you know."

"You're just angry because I asked Hermione out before you bucked up the courage to do it yourself."

Ron's eyes flamed and he drew his wand at him, and Hermione jumped in between them. "Will you two stop it, already?! Will we all just please accept the fact that Draco's a different person now and leave it at that? And Ron, put your wand away!"

Ron was hesitant, but he lowered his arm and slid his wand in his robe pocket. He looked away at the lake, a low frown on his face, and Draco took a similar stance, but his expression remained firm. Harry placed a hand on Hermione shoulder, and she noticeably eased. Draco would be jealous by that, but he knew that Hermione saw Harry as a brother. "Hermione... what did you want to tell us?"

She took in a large breath and let it out, trying to compose her annoyance with Ron and Draco feuding. "Well, as I was saying, this vision Annabelle had showed Draco saving me from Crabbe and Goyle and eventually showed us falling in love."

Ron snorted, but Harry remained curious. Draco said, "There's more to it than that. A lot more. She saw this vision one thousand years ago, back when she was alive. She died at seventeen, but continued waiting until the time when Hermione and I showed up. It was only last month that I met her and she told me about it. I didn't believe her, because I couldn't fathom the thought of falling for a muggle-born. I eventually did, against my will, because she said it would happen."

"And that's how you came to protect her from Crabbe and Goyle," Harry concluded.

"Yes. Annabelle saw me protect Hermione in her vision, and saw... other things." He looked to Hermione and she nodded. He commenced telling Harry and Ron everything about the vision that was applicable at that moment, and that included him revealing his dark secret. He left out the bit about he and Hermione changing the wizarding world and him presenting Hermione to his parents... well, he kind of already did that with his mother, but Hermione wasn't present for that.

"I knew it!" Ron shouted. "You're a Death Eater! I knew something was off about you! Well, more off than normal, that is."

"There's more," Hermione said. "He was commanded to do a horrible thing by the Dark Lord, something that no normal person would want to do." She gulped. "He was commanded to kill a person, but not just any person... Professor Dumbledore."

To Draco's great surprise, the two didn't seem as shocked as he thought they would be. "Then..." Harry started, his brows pushed together, "Katie Belle... and the poison cider that Ron drank... it was you trying and failing to murder him."

Draco honestly felt sick to his stomach. He found fists clenched against his collar, and Hermione and Harry tried to pry their raging friend off of him. "It was you! You nearly killed me and Katie Belle, you monster!"

"Ron, get off him!" Hermione hollered and used a spell to break Draco free of Ron's hold. "Yes, it was him, alright? But he didn't want to do it! Why do you think he was so stressed and Harry found him balling in the bathroom? He couldn't take the pressure anymore! He had no choice but to do those things!"

Draco fixed his collar and tie knot, and Ron stood off, pouting.

"Or the Dark Lord would do something to you," Harry said to Draco, "like hurt you."

"He would kill me," Draco corrected bitterly. "But... thanks to Annabelle telling Hermione and me about the rest of her vision, we found out that I no longer have to kill Dumbledore. At least, that decision hasn't been made yet, if Annabelle was correct."

"You don't have to kill Dumbledore?" Harry asked, surprised. "That's good, then, isn't it?"

Draco dreaded getting to this part, and he predicts that Ron will use a spell to throw him into the Black Lake with rocks attached to his ankles. He said as his throat started to tighten a bit, "Not exactly. My assignment will be changed, not taken away. According to what Annabelle saw, I have to perform the death curse on someone else."

He glanced at Hermione, and she looked down at the rocks. The cool afternoon air became thick and suffocating when the two boys realized what Draco was trying to say. He heard Ron huffing through his nose, then bellow, "NO! No, that stupid ghost was lying! She has to be lying!"

Tears came to the red-head's eyes and fell down his cheeks, and Harry had tears in his own eyes as well. "I don't think she was, Ron," Hermione said sadly. "Everything that she saw has came to pass, but... the good part of all this is... I don't die, nor will Draco. We figure something out, and Draco doesn't have to kill Dumbledore or me."

Ron's eyes continuously produced tears, and Harry had to wipe his eyes of them. Even though Annabelle insists that everything turns out alright in the end, the fact that he will be forced to point his wand at her... he doesn't want to think about it.

"What did she say that we have to do?" Harry asked.

"She wasn't specific, she just said that we have to go against the Dark Lord," Hermione said. "She vanished after that, not wanting to tell us anymore."

"Go against the Dark Lord?" Ron questioned after he wiped his teary face off. "Are you barking mad?!"

"Yes, Ron, but it's the only way!" Hermione retorted. "Annabelle didn't see how we do it, we just have to do it."

"When?" Harry asked.

"We... don't know. It could be tomorrow, next week, next year... Annabelle wasn't clear on that either."

"Well, then make her be clear!" Ron screamed. "This is your life, Hermione! Make that bloody ghost talk!"

"It's difficult to do that, believe me," Draco said. "But I can talk to her later today and demand that she tell me when and how..."

Searing pain suddenly enveloped Draco's left arm, making him holler and grab onto it. "Draco!" Hermione shouted as he dropped to the rocks on his knees, sending pain up his leg, but not like the pain in his arm. Whenever he is summoned, the Dark Mark hurts a bit—that's how he knows he's needed—but it hasn't hurt this much before. He moved his robe sleeve up, then his white uniform collar shirt sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark tattoo. The three others ogled at it, especially Harry and Ron. Draco let in sharp breaths through his nose, knowing why this was happening.

"No..." he muttered through gritted teeth.

"What?" Hermione demanded as she knelt next to him on the rocks. "What's wrong?"

He looked over, meeting her hazel eyes, tears in his. "I have to go. He's calling me."

"He, meaning..." Ron started, not able to believe all this was happening.

"Yes," Draco answered and pulled out his black wand. "He's going to talk to me about all this and change my assignment, I think. I'll leave it up to you lot to talk to Annabelle to get the rest of the details." He touched his wand to the mark and it started moving. "Now back, all of you! And don't you dare tell anyone about any of this!"

Hermione sprung up and backed away with the others. Draco zipped away out of sight.