Chapter 13: The Holidays

The next day, Draco rose early. He headed up to the Owlery in the cold morning air, shivering slightly. He sat down on one of the frosty benches and grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from the small table near the door.

Dear Mother,

How are you? I hope you are fine. I'm sorry I cannot come home for Christmas, but as you know I have a lot of work to do. Please try and enjoy the holiday. I'm enclosing your present with this letter. I hope you like it.

Love,

Draco

Draco knew the letter was full of lies, but he couldn't tell the truth. His letter would surely be read by a teacher or Filch. Hopefully they would not question his request for Muggle tools. He had to come up with a believable backstory.

Rolling up the letter, Draco pulled a set of earrings out of his robes. The diamonds sparkled up at him as he gently pried one of them from the silver disk it was stuck onto. He grabbed another piece of parchment and wrote on it six words in miniscule writing

Please send a hammer and nails. -Draco

He ripped this line of writing off of the parchment, folded it up, then placed it upon the silver disk. Then, he reattached the diamond to the disk over the parchment piece.

Draco knew that it was a habit of his mother's to take the jewels off her jewelery. Everytime she received a set of earrings or a new necklace, she would take all the jewels off, then replace them with emeralds from the ornate box she kept in her dresser. Unless, of course, the jewels were already emeralds.

Narcissa loved emeralds.

Draco put the earrings into a small box then wrapped it in a piece of gift wrap he pulled out of his pocket. He tied the package and the letter to a nearby owl's leg. Then, he let the brown owl out through the window. He watched it fly to the window of Filch's office and perch there, waiting to be inspected.

Good, thought Draco. Filch was too stupid to check the earrings' diamonds.

A few days later, the same brown owl came soaring to Draco's plate at breakfast. It was carrying a large box. After it had dropped the package next to Draco's plate, it soared away.

"What's that?" Asked Crabbe.

"I don't know, do I?" Snapped Draco. "I haven't opened it yet." Draco stuffed the bag into his bag, then stood up and headed to Ancient Runes. After the rather dull class, Draco had a free period, which he used to head up to the Room of Requirement.

Once he was inside, he pulled the box out of his bag and opened it. Inside, he found a hammer and a box of nails. He took them out of the box and set them on the floor.

"Okay," Draco said out loud. He picked up the hammer and took a nail from the box. Holding up a board to the back of the cabinet, he pushed the tip of the nail up against the cold wood, brought the hammer back, and...

"Shoot!" Draco cried out as the metal of the hammer hit his thumb, pressing it flat against the cabinet. "Ugh!" Draco stepped away from the cabinet, throwing the hammer onto the ground. After he had allowed his thumb time to stop throbbing, he picked the hammer back up and set back to work. This time, he made sure the hammer hit the nail -not his thumb- and went through the board. "There!"

Draco took a step back to admire his handiwork. The board stayed on the cabinet for all of two seconds, and then fell off.

"Stupid cabinet!" Draco kicked the cabinet, sending beetles scuttling away from it, their homes disturbed. Draco watched the shiny black bugs, hurrying away to find another safe place. Draco knew they would. And he hated them for it.

He couldn't escape this. He either failed in his task and was killed, or he succeded in his task and was killed trying to do something else for Voldemort. No matter what, Voldemort would kill him.

That day, for the first time ever, Draco realized what it was like for Harry Potter. Harry had already lost his parents. And he might, at any moment, die because of Voldemort.

Draco found himself sympathizing with Potter. But then, reality cam back to him. At least, his own reality did. Potter was an arrogant brat who always won. Everything. And Draco was going to make sure he lost at least once.

Standing up, Draco brushed the dust off himself and headed for the door. He had to go to Herbology first.

After Herbology, an idea occurred to Draco. It was not a very good one, but since he was having so much trouble with the cabinet, he figured he should try another easy way out. He took the fake Galleon from his pocket and wrote to Rosmerta:

"SEND SLUGHORN POISONED MEAD AND ASK HIM TO GIVE IT TO DUMBLEDORE FOR CHRISTMAS."

Yes, it was a bad idea. A very bad idea. But it was worth a shot.

The night before term ended, Draco Malfoy wasn't packing, eating at the feast, or having "fun" at Professor Slughorn's party. He was holed up in the Room of Requirement, hammering boards onto the Vanishing Cabinet. He was, in fact, almost done. As he hammered the last nail into place, he rubbed his hand across his face and let out a sigh of relief. Now he actually had time to sleep.

Draco staggered out of the room and began heading down to the Slytherin common room. He was so tired. So tired...

"What are you doing out so late?" A scratchy voice snapped Draco out of his sleepy reverie. Filch was standing feet from Draco, his moldy lantern clutched in one gnarled hand.

Draco stood there, frozen. Of course! It was past curfew! He wasn't supposed to be there.

"Uh," he stammered. "I was...uh...heading to Professor Slughorn's party!"

"Were you?"

"Yes, I was! As a matter of fact, I'm late!"

Filch smiled at him twistedly. "Yes, you are. Well, I'll escort you there, then, won't I?" Filch grabbed Draco's ear and dragged him down six floors to Professor Slughorn's office.

"Evening, Professor," Filch said, shoving Draco in front of Slughorn.

"Filch! How are you and," Professor Slughorn spotted Draco. "What's wrong?" He asked Filch, hiccuping slightly.

"Mr. Malfoy here was out past curfew and-"

Snape, who was standing beside Slughorn, cut FIlch off. "I'll deal with him," he said coldly, pushing Draco through the crowd of people and out the door. He shoved Draco through the open door of an empty classroom.

"Let go of me!" Draco exclaimed, trying to move Snape hands off of his shoulders. Snape didn't respond. Instead, he closed the door behind him. Then, he let go of Draco's shoulders. Draco rushed to the door as soon as he was free, but it was locked. He began pulling his wand from inside his robes, but Snape caught his wrist, preventing Draco from extracting the wand. "What're you doing?!" Draco spat.

Snape looked at Draco, an odd but nevertheless chilling, expression on his face. "What were you doing out so late?" He asked quietly.

"I'm not going to tell you!" Draco sneered, struggling to free his hand from Snape's grip.

Snape's hold on Draco's wrist tightened. "There are other ways to find out," he said, staring straight into Draco's eyes.

Draco laughed. "That won't work. You can't see my thoughts."

Snape's nostrils flared. "Tell me, Draco!"

"No!" Draco yelled, and he yanked his hand free, pulled out his wand, unlocked the door, and stormed off. And, unbeknownst to Potter, Draco had seen him. He was just too angry to care. Anyway, it wasn't like the conversation revealed much. But, knowing Potter, he would tell someone about it. And no one would believe him.

Draco entered his dormitory and slid under the covers. It took him a while to fall asleep.

The next morning, Draco woke up to find the dormitory deserted. Draco glanced up at the silver clock hanging on the emerald green wall. It was twelve thirty. In the afternoon.

Oh well, Draco thought, falling back onto the bed. He woke up an hour later and groggily headed for the Great Hall. A few remnants of lunch were lying on the table, and Draco snagged a chicken leg just as the food disappeared. He ate it as he headed up to the Room of Requirement. He was still in his pajamas and dressing gown, but he ignored the odd looks he got from the remaining students who had stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays. He really did not care in the slightest anymore.

In the Room, Draco sat in the corner near the Vanishing Cabinet, eating his chicken. Once he was done, he wiped his hands off on a rag that was lying atop an ornate chest, then stood in front of the Vanishing Cabinet. It was fixed for the most part, and Draco quickly mended the remaining broken parts.

Once he was satisfied with his work, Draco took the fake Galleon from his pocket and wrote to Rosmerta:

"TELL BORGIN I FIXED IT. WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO NEXT?"

Then, Draco went back to the empty common room, curled up on one of the couches in front of the fire, and immersed himself in a book his mother had sent him for Christmas.

Three days later, Rosmerta replied back.

"HE SAYS TO LOOK UP MORE INFORMATION ON VANISHING CABINETS. YOU NEED TO FIND OUT WHAT THE SPELL IS TO ACTIVATE THE CABINET'S SPELL. HE SAYS THE SPELLS ARE DIFFERENT FOR EACH CABINET. HE SAYS YOU'LL FIND IT IN THE HOGWARTS LIBRARY."

Draco headed for the library after putting the coin back in his pocket. He spent the rest of the break looking for the spell. But it was to no avail.