A/N:

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 6: The First Attempt

For the next couple of weeks, Draco had somehow managed to push his task out of his mind. But by the end of the blissful, two-week period, Draco was rudely reminded of the job at hand.

After Defense Against the Dark Arts one Friday, Snape had held Draco back after class.

"Draco," he said softly. "I hope you are working on things other than finding out whether or not Miss Parkinson has a crush on Mr. Zabini."

Draco was quite taken aback. Had Snape been spying on him? "Yes, sir," Draco responded stiffly. "I'll...start working on it soon."

"You had better." Snape turned his back to Draco with a swish of his cloak and sat down at his desk. "You may go, Draco."

"Yes, sir," Draco said again. Feeling unnerved, he hurried off to catch up with Theo on the way to Herbology.

"What did he want?" Theo asked curiously.

"Nothing," Draco said, waving off the question. Theo raised an eyebrow. "He...erm...wanted to remind me to train hard for Quidditch. He's...upset about losing again."

Theo seemed to believe this explanation. "You'd better. I'd hate to see us lose to the Gryffindors again."

In Herbology, Draco and Theo spent the period thinking up ways to get Pansy away from Draco.

"We could tell her you have Dragon Pox."

"Nah, she'd just feel bad for me. Anyway, why would I be at school if I had Dragon Pox?"

"Good point... Maybe you could get Blaise to give her some love potion...maybe disguise it in a bottle of butterbeer."

"Blaise would never!"

"Yeah, you're right..."

This conversation carried on through most of the day, Blaise getting involved during Charms.

"You're trying to get Pansy to like me? Some friends you are."

"Not necessarily you, Blaise. We just need her to stop drooling all over Draco."

"Well...you could try to convince her that Crabbe is quite attractive and that all that fat is muscle..."

Draco and Theo burst out laughing at this as Blaise grinned. Draco was laughing so hard that he almost didn't notice the bell ring.

"Free Period next," Blaise said in an over-excited voice that sounded quite like Granger's. "Oh, I can't wait to get started on all my homework!"

Draco snorted at the impersonation, then stopped himself rather abruptly. Snape's 'reminder' flashed in his mind. Free Period was longer than Break...

"Um, I'll meet you there in an hour," Draco said to Blaise and Theo, starting to walk away.

"Where're you going?" Blaise called after him.

Draco stopped in his tracks. He needed a cover story. "Uh, the library. I, uh... need to pick up a book." He started hurrying away to the seventh floor.

"Library's the other way!" Theo called out to him.

"Right," Draco said, turning on his heel and heading in the other direction.

I'll just have to come up with a better cover story next time, thought Draco as he climbed up another flight of stairs. That way I won't have to walk so much.

Finally, he reached the tapestry, and he immediately began pacing in front of the wall across from it.

I need the room of hidden things...I need the room of hidden things...

After he had passed by the wall three times, he looked up. A door had appeared on it.

Draco quickly opened it and stepped into the Room of Requirement, which was currently full of rows and rows of shelves piled with random things. Behind a large clump of shelves, Draco could just make out a large cabinet.

"There you are," he muttered under his breath, heading toward it.

The cabinet was very large and looked very old. Draco reached for one of the handles and pulled it open. A cloud of dust flew out, causing Draco to cough and his eyes to water.

After the dust had settled, Draco peered into the cabinet, his eyes still stinging.

Immediately, his heart sank. The entire back of the closet was completely damaged, and so was part of the bottom. Boards and nails were sticking out, and Draco could tell that the faint green glow coming from the large hole in the back of the cabinet was not a good sign.

What had Montague done while he was stuck inside the Vanishing Cabinet? Create a small tornado?

Draco rubbed his forehead with his fingers. How was he supposed to fix this? He rolled up his sleeves and pulled out his wand.

"Reparo," he muttered, his wand aimed at the cabinet. The cabinet shuddered, and a few cracks on the sides sealed themselves. But other than that, nothing happened.

He should have known it wouldn't have been easy.

Draco began prodding the boards inside the cabinet with his wand, trying to poke them back into place. They moved, but instead of settling back into the cabinet, they fell off completely.

"Ugh," Draco groaned. He had no idea how to fix this. Not a clue. And he didn't think Borgin was going to be much help, either.

But Borgin was his only source of information on the Vanishing Cabinet.

Sighing, Draco pulled out a scrap of parchment and a quill from his bag and began making a list of what appeared to be wrong with the cabinet to send to Borgin. It was a rather long list. After half an hour, Draco heard his stomach growl.

I need food, Draco thought. He began looking around eagerly for a plate of chicken, remembering that the room would provide him with anything he needed. Nothing. Of course. The room couldn't produce food out of thin air. It was magically impossible.

Just then, the bell rang from somewhere outside the room. Draco stuffed the book inside his bag and got to his feet.

He was completely lost in his thoughts as he headed down to the Great Hall for lunch. He was so lost, in fact, that he almost crashed into Blaise and Theo on his way to the Slytherin table.

"Whoa, there, mate," Blaise laughed as Draco swerved around him then turned to face him. "You okay?"

"What? I'm fine," Draco muttered as he sat down. But as soon as he had taken a seat, he immediately regretted it.

Pansy Parkinson was sitting directly to his right. "Hi, Draco!" She chirped. "Where were you during free period? I missed you!"

Draco almost rolled his eyes and buried his head in his hands, but he didn't. "Hello, Pansy," he sighed. He looked across the table at Theo, who grinned at him and jerked his head toward Blaise. Draco smirked.

"I had to go to the library," he said. "But I'm sure Blaise's company was just great, right?"

Theo had to stuff a slice of bread in his mouth to keep himself from laughing. Blaise, meanwhile, was glaring at Draco gripping his knife tightly in his right hand.

"Well, yes," said Pansy, looking crestfallen. "But..."

"I'm sure you two had a lovely time," Draco cut her off. "Anyway, Theo, how was the Transfiguration homework?"

Theo looked taken aback for a moment, then realized that Draco was trying to steer away from having to have a conversation with Pansy. "Quite difficult, actually," He said, still trying not to laugh, his face turning red as Pansy lay her head on Draco's shoulder. "But what I really want to know is how to Transfigure a person into thin air," continued Theo with a rather obvious glance at Pansy. Theo always found it very annoying when Pansy hung around them.

Pansy was just about to open her mouth when Draco stood up abruptly.

"Well, I have to go down to the common room to finish my Astronomy homework. Erm, Theo, you're coming right?"

Yes," said Theo after a few seconds, still glaring at Pansy. "Let's go. Blaise? You coming?"

Blaise shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Uh, I think I'll stay here. I'm, er, not done eating yet."

Draco glanced sideways at Theo, who was looking at Blaise with a funny expression on his face.

"Okay," Theo said slowly, then he and Draco headed down to the common room.

"You know what?" Theo said as they headed for the dungeons. "I think Blaise might actually like Pansy."

"Really?" Said Draco happily. "That's great!"

A mischievous smile was creeping onto Theo's face. "Now all I have to do is get him to admit it..."

Draco laughed out loud.

"How?" He asked after they had picked up their Astronomy books from the dormitory and started to headed for the Astronomy Tower.

"I have my ways," Theo said simply as they reached the tower. "I'll get him to tell us all his secrets."

Draco just shook his head and chuckled to himself as he wondered if any person could be more of a Slytherin than Theodore Nott.