Draco Malfoy, Seeker Of Souls

Chapter Two

Jailbreak

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Late the next night I wrapped Harry's invisibility cloak around my shoulders and sneaked out of Snape's room where I had taken up residency. He was sound asleep in bed, his arm resting over his face, so he didn't hear a thing. I shut the door as silently as I could and headed down towards the dungeons. I was too afraid to sleep. I couldn't stand the dreams any longer. I felt the need to act, rather than sit around waiting for Snape to get the chance to rescue Ginny. After all, getting Ginny out of the Blackschool was one thing…getting her Soul back was another.

It grew steadily colder as I walked down into the depths of the dungeon. I wondered how I had ever lived there before I fell out with the Slytherins. Snape's room was in the lower part of the castle, but the deepest dungeons were freezing and dripping wet. A big glob of wetness landed on my head and I made a gurgled cry. "Yuck!" Part of me wished that Harry and maybe Hermione was with me, but the mission I was on was potentially dangerous and could possibly get me in trouble. I didn't care much. Ginny was everything. But I didn't want to involve the others this time. They had fallen behind enough as it was.

I advanced towards the line of locked dungeon doors deep under the school. "Tom?" I whispered. "Which one are you in?" I had been forbidden to go down and visit Tom Riddle since he had arrived at Hogwarts.

"Draco, is that you?" His voice was sleepy. I could hear bedsprings creak.

I ran to cell that held his voice and peered in, pulling off the cloak. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would have been. There was a four poster bed like we had in the dorms and a chest of drawers, a table and chair, plus another door that I figured led to the bathroom. It was really quite nice. "Wow. It's not bad down here."

Tom pulled a robe on over his bare chest and crouched down by the fire. The cell actually had a comfy fireplace! He warmed his hands near the flames. "It's nice to see you, Draco. But Severus will be a bit shirty if he finds you down here."

I shrugged. "I know what I'm doing."

Tom raised an eyebrow and stood. "Do you?"

I gave him a lofty look. "Yes, I do."

He grinned at me. "So what is the plan? What is being done to help Ginny? Where are the others? No one ever tells me anything down here."

I rested my hands on the cell bars. "The others are asleep upstairs in the Gryffindor tower. I don't want to get them involved. They're going to classes, but they're not happy. Their faces are drawn, especially Ron's. I think they have nightmares just like I do. We're all going to classes to try to keep up, but I can't concentrate. Something has to give and I need your help."

He gave me a surprised look. "My help? It's all my fault that Ginny was taken away in the first place. How can I help?"

My eyes lit up. "You can come with me to the Chamber of Secrets."

Tom's eyes popped a bit. "What?"

"Oh, not for evil purposes! I need to contact someone and the only way to do it is down in the Chamber."

"You're crazy!"

"Please!" I banged on the bars once. "You have to help me!"

He hugged himself and let his dark bangs flop into his eyes. "And what am I supposed to do with no powers?"

I glared. "Like you said, you got us into this. You'll help me get us out! You're the Heir to Slytherin, aren't you? You can help me!"

He turned his head to the side and that innocent profile of his was illuminated by the firelight. "I don't know what you want to do, but whatever it is, I'll do it."

I smiled. "I knew you'd help! Let me get you out of here. Just for the night…is that alright?"

"Yes. I actually like it in here. I feel safe. I won't fight coming back."

I pulled out my wand and held it to the lock. "You won't be in here for long. Nothing to worry about." The lock popped open at my command and I stepped inside. "Get dressed and let's go."

Tom anxiously pulled on jeans and a button-down shirt. "We're going tonight? Now?" He stifled a yawn.

"Come on, Tom! Where's your sense of adventure?" I grabbed onto his hand and pulled him out of the room. I felt a sudden rush of joy at the prospect of doing something to help Ginny and I pulled him down the hall at lightning speed. We must have been a sight - me, a painfully small kid dragging Tom, a lanky handsome youth. At least that's how we looked in my mind's eye. "Mr. Thomas Riddle, we are on the hot pursuit to finding Ginny's beautiful Soul!"

Tom just rolled his eyes and let me pull him in the direction of the girl's bathroom. We were going back! Only this time, the Heir to Slytherin was on my side.

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Note: Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I wrote more. I've been wickedly busy lately and haven't written anything in about a month. But it shouldn't take so long now. Thanks for your patience!

Next Chapter: What is Draco's idea in the Chamber of Secrets? Can anything good come out of that place? We'll see.