Let's Do It Right This Time, Chapter 28

The rogue author updates again! I don't own the fandom, blah blah blah. Please enjoy.

Draco's silver eyes flew open the minute Aurelius shook him. "G-Gaunt?"

Aurelius nodded. "Everything ok, Malfoy?"

"You ask if everything is ok?"

Aurelius flinched back. "No need to chew my head off."

Draco stared at him for a moment, and then huffed. "Right. I didn't mean it like that, Merlin!"

Aurelius didn't have the energy to deal with this, not after all he had gone through in the last few days. Why couldn't the idiotic wizard get to the point so that he could get to bed? "What did you mean, Malfoy?"

"They're going to attack you!"

"What?! Who?"

"Some of the 7th years- I think Gabrielle Nott is the ringleader. They're going to wait until you come go into the dorm and then they're going to pounce."

Aurelius sighed. "Oh. Splendid. Thanks so much for the warning, Malfoy." He paused a moment, thinking. If he had still been the Gryffindor Golden Boy, he would probably have gone to report it, but at this time of night and in this political climate, that would probably not do the slightest bit of good, and Snape, the only one who would probably have helped him, was likely in no state to deal with a bunch of bloodthirsty Slytherin upper years. "Tippy!"

His elf popped into view at once. "Master Aura, sir, what is you needing?"

"Can you please fetch my bookbag and a change of clothes without disturbing my dorm mates?" Or the students lying in wait for him, he added silently.

"Tippy be doing that, sir!"

Aurelius gave a rare smile as the elf returned with the items requested. "Thank you, Tippy."

Most elves would probably have blubbered at this, but Tippy, being used to Aurelius's excentricities, only gave him a blindingly bright smile and replied "Master Aura being a good man."

Aurelius turned towards the door, then hesitated. "Malfoy, is it safe for you to return to the dorm?"

Draco was staring at him, wide-eyed. "Um, n-no," he replied at last. "They'll know I warned you, since I stayed in the common room."

Oh, splendid, that complicated the situation. He couldn't in good conscience leave Draco to the mercies of the Death Eaters in training that were waiting to hurt them, but at the same time, he didn't particularly want to show the boy to the Room of Requirements, which he had been about to go to to use as a base. The only other options, however, were to hide in some of the great empty passageways of Hogwarts, bunk in an abandoned classroom, or go and hide in the Chamber, which currently held a live basilisk and would not be worth the trouble. Aurelius was not going to wake up and talk to, (and maybe kill) a two thousand-year-old basilisk before breakfast just because he didn't want Draco to know about the Room of Requirements. Maybe he could simply not tell him everything it did? "All right." Harry shot a look back at Tippy. "Tippy, can you get Malfoy's bags and some clothes for him?"

Tippy popped out and back with a stack of textbooks and a change of clothes for the Slytherin prince. "Here yous be, Master Aura."

"Thank you. That will be all, Tippy."

"Yes Master Aura sir," Tippy said, and vanished in an instant. Aurelius at once turned back to Draco.

"What was that about, Gaunt?"

"I don't want you being hurt for staying in your own dorm, and you can't bunk in the Common room all year. I can put up wards in our dorm in a few days, but I'm kind of drained right now, so I was going to suggest staying in a safe place that I know about in Hogwarts."

"Like what, Professor Snape's quarters? No place is safe for Slytherins!"

"Well, it's called the Room of Requirements. It's clean, comfortable and safe; better than crashing in the Shrieking Shack or the Chamber of Secrets, that's for one thing."

Draco blinked at him a few times, and then seemed to decide that he could trust him; Aurelius was not sure what had changed the Slytherin's mind. "O-okay. And we're not going to get in trouble for staying out of our dorm?"

"We may or may not; Slytherins tend to get in trouble for breathing. But we have the school rules and Professor Snape on our side, and I can probably talk to the Board of Governors."

"Okay then." Draco squared his shoulders. "Where is this place?"

"Seventh floor, by the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls ballet. I'll show you." And Aurelius heaved his bag up onto his shoulder, grabbed the clothes, motioned to Draco to do the same, and led the other Slytherin out of the common room and from there to the Room of Requirements.

The Room, in this particular instance, was roomy, with forest green walls and forest green carpet, like a cross between the Slytherin dorms and a very nice sitting room, complete with enchanted windows that seemed to look out on the Black Lake and a nice little lounge and bar. Aurelius studied the atmosphere the Room had conjured, and smiled. "Not bad, actually," he said, heaving his bag onto one of the chairs. He turned back to Draco, who was still standing in the doorway, staring at the room, and motioned him inside. Merlin forbid anyone should see two Slytherin first years this far from the common room in the middle of the night.

Draco came in, staring at everything with wide silver-grey eyes, looking so young that Aurelius was reminded, with a pang, that the boy was, after all, still a first year. An intelligent and studious first year, but a first year nevertheless. Aurelus barked a quiet laugh, thinking of the response he would have made if someone had told him that one day he would be mentoring Draco Malfoy, and then collapsed back onto one of the armchairs, (not the one which had their bags on it) and letting himself sink into the soft cloth cushion. He would have summoned a glass and some firewhiskey from the bar if he had not been with an underage student.

"So how do you know about this place?" Draco asked, after his surprise and awe had seemed to have died down. "Did someone tell you about it, or...?"

"House elves know a lot of things," Aurelius responded. "One day I needed a place to be safe and alone, and I asked the elves about it, so they showed me about this place." Aurelius smiled a little. "Anyway, house elves aside, I'm...really tired, so maybe we could call it a night?"

"I guess so," Draco replied; he had, after all, had a very long night as well. Aurelius conjured a Japanese folding screen between them- he was not going to change in front of a student, despite the fact that he was technically one himself at the moment- and then shrugged out of his uniform. He then summoned a book from his bag- some muggle novel that he had never before had a chance to read- and walked over to lay down on the bed that the Room had supplied for him. A few quick swishes of his wand added some silencing charms and intent wards; he didn't want to be vulnerable, even if he somewhat trusted Draco, and anyway, he didn't want to wake the exhausted Slytherin by screaming and thrashing in his dreams. He surreptitiously made sure that the Slytherin was preparing for bed, called a languid "Goodnight," and then curled up with his novel, waiting for sleep. He began to read, but the novel could not hold his attention, and he was already tired from the exertions of the day, so at last he slumped back down onto the pillows, the book falling from his nerveless hands. His last thought before he sank into oblivion was that he hoped to Merlin that the portraits were not reporting to Dumbledore at this very moment.

Aurelius awoke without knowing where he was. The bed he was in was much softer than the one in the Slytherin dorm room (or the Gryffindor one, for that matter) which felt incredible to his aching bones. Wait, aching. Why was he sore?

His memories came rushing back. The dark spell, and the parseltongue counter that he had used. Dumbledore's intimidation session. Updating the wards, with the Bloody Baron watching. Meeting Snape on the way back to the common room, when he had collapsed from magical exhaustion. The interrogation and legilimency Snape had subjected him to after giving him potions to soothe his core. His own response. Going back to the common room and seeing Draco on the couch, and learning that some of the Dark upper years were lying in wait for him. Going to the Room of Requirements and falling asleep at once. Oh, Merlin, what time was it? There would be hell to pay if either one of them was late, especially because they were Slytherins, and it would be worse still for Aurelius, what with Dumbledore's unofficial vendetta.

Aurelius drew his wand, which he had previously kept under his pillow, and cast a quick tempus. Oh, good; it was only seven in the morning. Breakfast would open at half past seven and classes wouldn't start until nine, so they had a reasonable amount of time to get freshened up and get to class, and (though Aurelius had not noticed this the previous night, what with how late it was) the Room had thankfully conjured a bathroom. Aurelius rose quickly, cast a washing and drying charm on his uniform from the previous day and, after a lightning-fast shower (Aurelius honestly didn't think himself capable of having a long shower after his experience with the Dursleys: ten minutes was generous, and Merlin help him if he wasted soap or didn't get it washed out by the time Petunia had dragged him out of the bathroom. By this reckoning, a fifteen minute shower, (with the ability to spell any soap out of his hair if he didn't manage to wash it all out) was positively lavish. Aurelius then put on the newly cleaned uniform and went to wake Draco up.

Draco had evidently charmed his drapes closed, but when Aurelius's alarm did not seem to wake the boy, the older wizard dispelled the weak warding with an easy wandless flick of his wrist and hesitatingly opened the drapes.

Draco was thrashing in his sleep, tears silvering his pale cheeks. Oh, Merlin.

"Please," the boy whispered, his usual arrogant tones softer, pleading. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry!"

Aurelius hesitated. For one thing, he didn't particularly want to shake Draco awake; it could traumatize him still more than whatever his nightmares had (although now that Aurelius thought about it, he wasn't sure how much worse he could make it) and he might possibly be hexed for his troubles, either because Draco thought he was someone else or because he was angry that Aurelius had seen him at a vulnerable time- what would garner sympathy in Gryffindor tended only to render someone and easy target in Slytherin- although Aurelius had seen Draco at lower points. But all the same, he didn't want to leave the boy to suffer, and they needed to be getting up anyway; the longer they were not in recognized and public parts of the castle, the more likely their absence was to be discovered.

And so Aurelius, yet again, shook him.

Draco exploded awake, trembling ever so slightly, staring at him with glazed and panicked silver eyes, fumbling for his wand. A hex exploded by his head, and Aurelius cast a quick wandless shield, then waited for Draco to calm down; saying something trite and kind would probably only make things worse.

"Oh," Draco gave a little halfway sob, seeing him, and something that might have been gratitude flashed momentarily across his face, (though it was quickly subsumed by a blush of shame and anger, so Aurelius couldn't quite be sure. "What? Why?"

"It's almost breakfast time," Aurelius told him calmly, without mentioning the nightmare. "We should probably be getting going soon, or someone's going to notice that we were out of our beds."

Draco nodded. "Right. I'll be there in a moment. Please leave me alone to change."

Aurelius nodded and went back to his side of the shoji screen, picking up the neglected novel. It wasn't particularly interesting, mostly car chases and gun fights with a vapid romantic subplot, but it would distract him, he supposed. He could hear the water begin to run in the bathroom, which was honestly probably more interesting than the book, and so he huffed and pulled out his History of Magic text instead. Draco appeared in another thirty minutes all the tears having been scrubbed from his face and his uniform impeccable as usual, as he had charmed the wrinkles out. Draco cast a quick charm to style his hair and then swung his bag over his shoulder, seeming to dare Aurelius to mention the condition he had found him in. Aurelius said nothing but: "Let's hurry; we don't want to be late to classes," and in a few moments, they had left the Room of Requirements and were heading down to the Great Hall behind them.

Later, Aurelius would be furious that he had not noticed the portraits watching them and disappearing from their frames.