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Chapter 11: More Disappearances

A week had passed since that night and Draco and Elle had spent a lot of time together. It was mostly study sessions, but they had even begun to be together in their spare time as well.

They were now walking out of the library talking about the Potions paper that Draco had just helped Elle to write.

"So, once you understand the basics of the potions' properties, the rest is simple." Draco looked down at the girl walking beside him and gave a smirk at the look on her face.

"It's easy for you to say, mister-know-it-all," Elle joked as she readjusted her bag on her shoulder, "You've been doing magic long before I even knew that it existed."

"Yeah, well, what can I say? I guess I was born with more than just my good looks!" He tried his best to put on a cocky smirk.

Elle looked at him and held back her laughter. She punched him hard in the shoulder and said, "Only you could think that you have the looks that even the Gods would envy."

Draco let out a small laugh as he playfully hit her back. Even now he couldn't believe how at ease he was with her. He even had to admit that they had become fairly close over the past week and she knew quite a bit about him. He had kept it to a minimum of course, but yet it was like they had been friends their whole life. He then looked down at her again as she continued on talking about the Quidditch game that would take place the next day. All of a sudden, he got this funny feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't quite place. Was she the cause of this feeling, he wondered? Her voice suddenly become lost as Draco become caught up in his own thoughts, 'Merlin, she's beautiful…'

He was then brought back into reality when Elle jabbed him in the ribs. A mocked pain look came onto his face as he laughed, "What was that for?"

Elle looked up to him with slight concern showing in her features before looking back to the crowd of students that surrounded them. "I said," she repeated, "Have you seen Millicent Bulstrome lately?"

Draco looked at her incredulously. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Draco!" Elle half scolded with a stern look on her face. "Did you not just hear what Colin Creevey said when he walked by with his friends?"

"Would I even care what the little bug-eyed Gryffindor has to say?" Draco shot back easily while shoving his hands into his pockets.

Elle tried to ignore his nastiness but continued, "Word has it that Millicent has disappeared. No one has seen her for the last two days."

Draco stopped in his tracks. Longbottom disappearing was one thing. The Dark Lord said something about a plan involving Hogwarts students. But a Slytherin? Just what was his plan, Draco wondered.

"Are you okay?" Elle asked as she was now stopped just a few feet ahead of Draco.

Draco looked at her for a moment before answering, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Elle looked at him carefully before falling back into step with him again while they entered the Great Hall.

*****************

It was now two weeks later and the whole school was starting into a state of panic. There had been two other disappearances; Hannah Abott from Hufflepuff, and a first year student named Dane Jones from Ravenclaw. It had been rumoured that the school was going to close but as of yet, the professors had not confirmed nor denied the rumours. Instead, students had been instructed to travel with at least one other person everywhere they went - even to classes. No one was to be out of their common rooms past eight o'clock, and if anyone saw anything suspicious they were to report to their head of house immediately.

Elle was now walking past a group of fourth year girls in the Gryffindor common room and couldn't help but notice they immediately went quiet when spotting her. This made her feel sad that people thought she was somehow responsible for the disappearances - but that's how it had been for the last week. She had almost become accustomed to the hushed whispers she would hear whenever she walked by. Not many students outside her year would spoke to her and students in seventh year would only talk to her if she spoke to them first.

She walked up to where Harry, Hermione, and Ron were sitting and noticed how they too became silent as soon as she sat down with them. The silence was immediately uncomfortable before Hermione greeted her first, "Hullo Elle."

Elle looked at her and nodded her greeting. She had been wanting to ask these three something for the last week but had never had the courage to. She wasn't sure if it was because she was scared to voice the question, or if she was scared to hear the answer. "Umm…" she started uneasily. She looked up at her three friends only to find Harry and Hermione looking her in the eye. "Do you guys think I'm the one responsible for what happened to those students?" She looked down at her feet shyly before looking back up only to realize that no one was looking at her. Elle frowned when no one answered her, "Guys?"

Ron cleared his throat, "Well…I mean…you…that is…"

Elle looked at him with hurt features.

Harry saw the pain on her face and attempted to comfort her, "Elle, what Ron means to say is that…we…" Harry's eyes went from her and then to the ground. "Well…it's just that we…" Harry wasn't making things any better and Elle felt even more hurt.

Desperately she turned to the only one who hadn't said anything as of yet, "Hermione?"

Hermione looked at Elle with a sympathetic expression on her face. "Elle, of course we don't think that you are the one responsible. It's just that…well…" she struggled to find the right words.

"Well what?" Elle said without much patience.

"It's just that things really started to get kind of…out of the ordinary…after you came to Hogwarts…" she tried to choose her words carefully but noticed that they really didn't come out the way she had wanted.

Elle looked down to the ground trying to fight off the sadness that was overtaking her. Even her friends thought that it may have been possible she had some part in it all. "I see…" she said unable to hide the sadness in her voice. "So you do think that I had something to do with the disappearances…"

"No, that's not true," Harry said softly putting a hand on her shoulder. "We know that you would never do something like that-"

"Then what, Harry? Huh? What is it?" Elle whispered in a quivering voice. "Don't think I don't notice the way everyone becomes quiet when I walk into a room - the way you all became quiet when I came to sit with you just now…"

"Elle, it's just that-" Hermione tried to explain but to no avail as Elle put up a hand to silence her friend.

"No. Please, don't." She hesitantly brushed Harry's hand from her shoulder and stood up to face the three of them. "I don't want to hear lies from you. You are all my friends, and I thank you for that." She took a deep breath as she tried to hold back tears. "Perhaps everyone is right. Maybe I do have something to do with all of this. The only question is…how?" She looked at them one last time with a vacant expression before turning on her heel and heading out of the common room.

As soon as Elle heard the portrait click shut behind her she broke into a run, not knowing - nor caring, where she was going. She felt so confused. She wasn't watching where she was going as her vision was clouded by her tears. So when she came to a short set of stairs, she stumbled thanks to her own clumsiness and could feel herself falling down. She didn't make any attempt to stop herself from falling and landed hard on her side.

Elle carefully sat up and winced through her quiet sobs at the pain that went shooting through the side of her torso. She didn't know what hurt more now - the pain in her heart, or the pain in her side. She attempted to get up to her feet, but she stumbled again back onto the cold floor.

Suddenly, she felt a pair of hands grab her gently from behind and pull her up to her feet. "Elle?" she heard a voice ask.

She turned around and could make out a head of platinum blond hair through her blurred vision. She continued to look around at her surroundings and found that she had ended up in the dungeons.

Draco grabbed onto her waist to hold her steady as she began to loose her balance once more. "Elle, what's wrong?" He felt his heart wrench at the sight of her tear streaked face.

Elle looked back to him and her mind finally registered as to who it was. "Draco…? I…It's all my fault…"

Draco looked at her with concern etched in his features, but Elle didn't notice. "Come on," he said as he took her hand and began to guide her into the empty Potions' classroom.

"Now," he started quietly, "Tell me what happened." However, he had a feeling that he knew what this was all about. He, too, had heard the gossip around the school about the potential danger that Elle may be to them all. If they only knew, he thought.

Elle looked down at her feet and a few silent teardrops fell to the floor. "It's my fault they're gone," she whispered before looking back at Draco. "I don't know how, but I know that it's my fault."

Draco took her hands and looked her straight in the eye. "I don't think it's your fault. In fact, I know that it's not your fault." Uh oh, he thought silently. I shouldn't have said that. But yet he knew that he didn't like seeing her like this - he had to say something, even if he wasn't sure what had caused him to say it. Was this betraying his master's trust? Probably.

Elle looked up at him hopefully, "How do you know that?"

Draco looked at her, his gaze unwavering, "Because I know you…you don't have it in you to kidnap students."

Elle let a small smile escape from her lips. "Thank-you," she said quietly as she reached up to give him a hug. He didn't know how just that one simple statement had made her feel. She felt as though he truly believed her - believed in her.

Draco was caught somewhat off-guard as he felt her arms tighten around him. But then he began to relax as he took in her surprisingly feminine scent. His arms automatically wrapped around her waist and he buried his head into her neck, "Everything will work out…I promise."

Both stood there in each other's embrace for a few more seconds before reluctantly pulling apart. However, they had next come face to face and were still standing incredibly close together. Elle looked up at Draco almost shyly as she felt her breath catch in her throat. What was this feeling she was getting? Her stomach had never felt all weird like this before.

Draco looked down into Elle's violet eyes and knew that there was no way he could stop himself from what he was about to do. But just then, her eyes dropped once more to the floor. "Ah," mused Draco to himself with a small smile on his face. "Such innocence she has." He tilted her chin upward so that their eyes met again. Draco then cupped her face in his hands so that they wouldn't loose eye contact again. He then started leaning in closer and closer so that their lips would meet.

Elle could feel her heart pounding in her chest and couldn't help but wonder if Draco could hear it too. She knew what he was going to do and she thought that time had actually stopped while she waited for their lips to connect.

They finally did and Elle was surprised at how soft the kiss was. She could feel Draco gently probing with his tongue to gain entry into her mouth and she opened just a little bit to allow him access.

Draco moved his hand down to Elle's waist as she moved her hand and gently ran her fingers over the back of his neck. Draco felt a great rush of contentment flow through him and pulled Elle even closer towards him. He slowly deepened the kiss and lifted her up so that she was sitting up on a desk with her legs straddling him.

Elle couldn't describe what she was feeling at that moment as she brought her hand down and placed it onto his chest. She felt such a surge of happiness flowing through her that it would be impossible to describe to an outsider. She mused over what would happen when she told Draco that he was the first guy that she had ever kissed. She smiled at the thought…

*********

'Stupid Snape and his stupid essays,' thought Blaise bitterly as he made his way through the dungeons towards the potion's classroom. He had forgotten his textbook and hadn't even started the essay that was due tomorrow. Blaise continued cursing to himself about his 'bloody luck' and went to turn into the classroom. But he stopped short and immediately went back around the corner when he saw who was in the room - apparently not doing their homework, either.

Blaise looked on with narrowed eyes at Draco snogging the Carter girl. 'This is good,' thought Blaise with a smirk. He knew that Voldemort had told Draco to get close to Elle, and this was a possibility, but there was something in the way that Draco touched her - he was gentle. Blaise had never known Draco to be gentle with any girl. He had seen him in action quite a few times - accidentally of course - but Draco was known for snogging in the strangest of places, even having…*ahem*…well you know, when he was supposed to be in class. And he was never gentle about it. No Slytherin ever was from what he heard. He definitely wasn't, that's for sure.

'Malfoy, my friend, you have made one terrible mistake…' Blaise left his spot at the entrance of the classroom. Delivering news of this to Voldemort was definitely worth getting a zero on his essay.