A/N: Thank you so much to everybody who reviewed! That was the most reviews I've ever gotten on a single chapter, I think! Please review this chapter, too! I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 23: The Second-to-Last Step

Draco turned the fragile yellow pages of the tiny book. He leaned against the dark wood of his headboard and rubbed his eyes. Reading the tiny print of the book by the dim light of his wand wasn't doing much for his eyes. Sighing, he closed the book and stuffed it along with his wand under the bed.

The next morning he slid out of bed and headed to the Great Hall. It was a Sunday, so he grabbed a slice of toast and headed up to the Room of Requirement in his dressing gown. He continued reading "A Collection of Unusual Spells" as he climbed up a flight of moving stairs. He had just reached the seventh-floor corridor when he spotted Hermione peeking out from behind the large urn near the entrance to the Room of Requirement. Draco dove into the Room, willing it to prevent it from letting Hermione enter. It did.

Draco spent the next hour curled up in an armchair in front of the tiny fireplace with the book clutched tightly in his hands. He was getting close. He could feel it.

He felt extremely anxious as he turned the page to the chapter titled "Spells to Activate Anything". He scanned the rows of thin writing until he came upon just what he needed.

At the end of the next page was a small paragraph on Vanishing Cabinets.

"...In order to activate a Vanishing Cabinet, one must know the whereabouts of its twin. Once that information is known, one must determine which pair of incantations must be used. The common incantations are as follows..."

Draco scanned the list of spells that followed the paragraph. By the looks of it, he would have to know the spell for at least one cabinet. Hadn't Borgin said he knew the spell to activate his cabinet...?

Draco jumped to his feet and pulled out his fake Galleon. He quickly sent a message to Rosmerta asking Borgin for the right spell for his cabinet. Then he grabbed a coat that had just materialized from the rack near the door, pulled it on, and headed outside.

The cold spring air blasted in Draco's face as he stepped onto the grounds. Draco headed out to the Forbidden Forest. He wandered along the edge of the forest for a while, checking his Galleon every few minutes. He was getting anxious. After half an hour, Draco decided to head inside, where he could wait without being frozen to the bone.

But by the end of the day, after Draco had hurriedly eaten a bowl of soup, no answer had come. Draco retreated to his dorm feeling let down. He was sure he would have been able to fix the Cabinet that day had Borgin replied!

Finally, a week later, Borgin did reply. Draco was sitting in the Room of Requirement when the message came. When he saw that the writing on the Galleon had changed, he quickly dropped the muffin he had been eating and stared at the message. Upon it were three words:

HARMONIA CON NECTERE

Draco snatched "A Collection of Unusual Spells" from his bag and flipped to the page with the list of spell pairs. He scanned the list for "Harmonia con Nectere" and found the complementary spell to be "Harmonia Nectere Passus".

Draco quickly grabbed his things and leapt out of the Room. He paced in front of the wall which concealed the room he had just vacated. When the new door appeared, Draco opened it and ran to the back of the enormous room full of random items until he reached the Vanishing Cabinet. He set his things down and opened the Cabinet. He pulled an apple from his bag and set it on the base of the Cabinet. Then, he closed the long wooden doors and raised his wand.

"Harmonia Nectere Passus," He whispered. For a minute, nothing happened. Then, there was a flash of light.

Cautiously, Draco opened the Cabinet. The apple had exploded. Draco let out a moan and sank to the ground, his head in his hands, his arms resting on his knees. It was supposed to work! He was supposed to be done with his task!

After a minute, Draco got up again. This time, he placed an empty jar in the Cabinet. He closed the Cabinet and tried again.

"Harmonia Nectere Passus." Another flash of light. The jar had cracked down the middle.

Draco tried again and again until nightfall, at which point he fell asleep in an awkward position on the floor of the Room of Requirement.

The next morning Draco awoke with a sore neck and an aching head. He drowsily rose to his feet and headed to class. Hermione kept shooting him looks during Potions, and Draco avoided her by turning his attention to his potion, which was shooting globs of a mudlike substance at him.

Finally, classes were over and Draco retreated to the Room of Requirement and continued trying to figure out how to work the spell.

In the weeks following, Draco caused ten more apples to explode, a few books to burn up, and the flower he had given Hermione to turn to ashes. He had found the flower on the ground in front of the tapestry of dancing trolls. He wasn't sure if it meant she was trying to forget him, or that she wanted him to remember her.

Well, he wasn't about to forget her. Not when she kept turning up in every corridor he was in or every time he was in the library.

After a moment of frustration one evening, Draco threw his bag at the wall next to the Cabinet and stormed out of the Room of Requirement. He sat on a windowsill in a corridor on the fifth floor, looking out the window at the rain falling outside the window. He watched as the raindrops hit the brick wall outside and bounced off to die. Die like he was going to if he didn't get the bloody spell right. He watched the rain cover the window, the drops racing each other along the smooth surface of the glass windowpane.

Draco stared out the window for a long time, trying to clear his head. He was almost asleep when someone came up behind him. He lifted his head to see Hermione standing behind him.

"The rain is beautiful, isn't it?" She asked nervously. Draco's nostrils flared and he took in a sharp breath through his nose. He turned his face away from her and turned to face the window. He wasn't going to look at her. He wasn't going to talk to her. He wasn't going to forgive her. Was he?

Draco battled with himself for a minute. He really did need help. But the last time he had asked for her help, he had fallen in love with her and then been completely crushed. He decided against speaking to her.

"Did you get the flower?" Hermione asked. She was so close to Draco, he could smell her perfume.

It was intoxicating.

No, no, he was just sleep-deprived and hungry. He wasn't going to forgive her; the bloody hypocrite.

Draco stared at the window until Hermione sighed and walked away

That night, Draco sat on the floor of the Room of Requirement and stared at the Vanishing Cabinet. He lifted his wand and pointed it at the Cabinet, which contained a single green apple. He exhaled slowly. He cleared his mind. He forgot everything but the Cabinet. He concentrated on it.

"Harmonia Nectere Passus."

A flash of light. Draco did not move. He waited, and much to his surprise, light flashed from within the Cabinet once again. Anxiously, Draco got to his feet and approached the Cabinet.

He opened the doors of the Cabinet and peered into its dark depths. The apple stood in the cabinet, completely intact, with a small note attached to its stem.

"Got it."