Draco was not having a good time. Zabini would not shut up about Katie Bell. It hammered on Draco's skull like a snare drum, guilty, guilty, guilty. He hadn't meant for her to open the package! She was just supposed to deliver it! She was just…collateral damage.
Crabbe shuffled around the dormitory like an old man, popping candies into his mouth. Draco laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling. It had been a long week, an unproductive week. He'd spent more and more time in the Room of Requirement, working on the cabinet. Having exhausted the list of basic Charms, and most of the advanced spells he could find, he'd decided that he'd have to pay a visit to the restricted section of the library. Getting a pass was a simple as dropping by Snape's office, no explanation needed.
"Hey, meatball head!" Blaise broke through his trance. Draco sat up, wincing at the pounding headache that shattered his thoughts. He'd have to see about borrowing some of Melody's remedy if Blaise insisted on continuing to speak.
"What, Zabini?" he said, too irritated to argue the insult.
Blaise's mouth curled into a devilish smile.
"Shame about that Bell girl, don't you think? She shouldn't have been a Mudblood though. You'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Malfoy?"
"Why don't you just get to the point, Zabini? I'm tired of the games." Draco rolled his eyes. It sounded like Blaise was trying to bait him into boasting about Bell, which just made Draco feel sicker.
"Oh," said Blaise haughtily, "You want me to get to the point, do you? Mr. Mysterious wants little old me to get to the point?"
"Right," Draco retorted, "Then don't. I don't give a shit. I just thought I'd save us both some time by telling you to shove it up your ass right away, but if you want me to wait, then wait I will."
Draco returned Blaise's angry glare with an unimpressed expression of his own.
"Well?" Draco pressed, "No comment?"
"You spoiled little shit! I know what you're up to! I'll tell everybody!"
Draco could always tell that Zabini was getting angry when his ears turned bright pink, like they were now. Continuing his 'bored' act, he needled his roommate further.
"Please, enlighten me."
Despite his cool exterior, Draco wanted to vomit. He waited for the accusation that he'd killed Katie. Almost killed, he reminded himself, She's not dead yet. He didn't know how Zabini had found out, all that mattered was how quickly Draco could shut him up. He gripped his wand and mentally ran through which curses would be most effective. After what seemed like an eternity, Blaise opened his fat mouth.
"I bet you've been sleeping with that Foxx girl. How repulsive! You thought you'd cover it up, you thought we'd forget that you dumped Pansy for that…thing. Who knows if she's even Pureblood?"
Draco's mouth fell open. It was so far from what he'd expected, he didn't have a retort ready. Blaise took his silence as affirmation.
"I knew it!" he shouted, falsely vindicated, his voice rising an octave, "You've been sneaking out at night to shag her, that's why you're skipping class, that's why you're never at meals! You," he said, pointing a slender finger in Draco's face, "Are a disgrace to your family, and a disgrace to Slytherin House."
Draco couldn't believe his luck. He'd felt the suspicious stares of his housemates when he'd turned up disheveled and exhausted from working on that stupid cabinet. Slytherins were a remarkably astute group, and Draco knew it was only a matter of time before somebody figured out where he was going, and that's if Crabbe and Goyle kept their mouths shut. If Zabini wanted to believe that he was sneaking around with some girl, that was extremely preferable to anybody finding out what he was really doing. Blaise had given him a perfect alibi on a silver platter.
Draco paused.
It wasn't just some girl, was it? It was Melody. She would understand, Draco knew it, if she knew the whole story. The story that he wasn't allowed to tell anybody on punishment of death. Melody was smart though, and she knew that he wouldn't do this without a good reason, right? Besides, if he denied it to Blaise, what excuse would he give for his absences? There was no other option, short of showing his Dark Mark and threatening Zabini to keep his smarmy mouth shut.
To betray Melody, or to betray the Dark Lord. Of the two, Melody was less likely to murder him. So, he agreed with Blaise.
"I just can't help myself, Zabini, the things she does," he lied smoothly, shoveling more remorse atop his mounting pile of guilt, "You'd faint if I told you."
He almost gagged on his words as the image of Melody astride him slammed unbidden into his brain. Shut up, shut up, shut up, he told his racing thoughts.
Blaise turned from red to purple. "You're filthy!" he shrieked, "If that's the only thing you care about, it's better you did dump Pansy!"
Crabbe, silent and forgotten up until now, looked uncomfortably from the apoplectic Blaise to Draco's tensely controlled body. He positioned himself in between, facing down Blaise with a brutish sneer.
"Go fuck yourself, Zabini," he snarled. The lanky boy paled in the face of the much larger opponent.
"You've not heard the last of this, Malfoy," he said carefully, eyeing Crabbe, "Someday your bulldog isn't going to be around to save you."
Draco scowled at Zabini's retreating back. He could not believe the sheer audacity Blaise had, speaking to a Malfoy that way. Crabbe was useful for scaring off prey, but Draco could hex Blaise sideways if the opportunity presented itself. He did not need saving from the likes of him.
In an uncharacteristic show of intelligence, Crabbe actually spoke.
"I sure hope you know what you're doing."
Vince knew what Blaise didn't; that Draco was spending every extra minute between the library and the Room of Requirement. He'd had to stand guard in turns with Greg, in the guise of whatever other students they could get hairs for. Just what Draco was up to, Crabbe didn't care to know, but he'd certainly not seen him towing that dumb girl along.
His flunky's statement unsettled Draco. He didn't have a clue what he was doing, and if Vince was asking questions, it wasn't just peeking through the cracks, it was rolling off in waves.
"'Course I do," Draco said, trying to convince himself as well as Crabbe, "It's part of the plan."
Luckily for him, Crabbe shrugged it off and shut up. Draco's mind skipped from problem to problem, trying to figure out what he needed to do first.
Find Melody, tell her…what, exactly? That he'd lied to save his own skin? That he'd had to cover up such a dark secret that he threw her under the bus? That he'd painted an even bigger target on her back for Pansy to take her revenge?
Draco massaged his temples, letting the pressure ease the pain. Blaise likely wouldn't be able to get the news of his fake transgressions far before breakfast, and if he could catch Melody before she heard from someone else, he'd be able to control the narrative. He had a chance.
He didn't find her in the library or the Great Hall, so he stalked the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower until somebody approached.
"Hey!" he shouted, too loudly.
"Merlin, Malfoy, don't you have anything better to do?"
It was one of Potter's lackeys, Terry Boot, and his 'not'-girlfriend. Melody's roommate- and her favorite one, from what Draco could tell. Betsey Something-or-other.
"I was just looking for Foxx," he said, appealing to Betsey, as he was sensing Boot to be the type to be openly hostile.
"I'll bet she's already upstairs," Betsey said, silencing her companion with a light hand on his arm, "It's her turn to lead the study group. Do you need her for something?"
Draco balked at interrupting Melody's homework, and not just because she could be an absolute dragon about her studies. If he pulled her aside in front of all of her friends, and she came back upset, the likelihood of him getting blamed was pretty high. Besides, if she was upstairs, she probably wouldn't come back down until morning, and he'd have some more time to work on getting his story straight.
"Erm," he said, aware of the couple's eyes on him, "No, I'll catch her tomorrow. It's not important."
Why did walking away from the tower feel like he'd dodged a curse? As he made his way to the Room of Requirement- he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep with this looming over his head- he suddenly felt queasy.
What if Melody didn't believe him? It was only a little lie, that Pansy was behind the rumor. For all he knew, she'd sent Blaise to pressure a confession out of him. A false confession that would definitely make Melody's day-to-day life uncomfortable. It wasn't so much the lying that bothered Draco, as the fallout. If Pansy felt righteous in her anger, who knows what she would do, and he was already strapped for spare time, he couldn't possibly play bodyguard.
His stomach turning cartwheels, he ducked into a bathroom. It was a girl's, but he couldn't care about that if he didn't want to spill his guts all over the floor. He retched over the sink, rinsing down whatever had been left from lunch. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
It was too much, to have Katie Bell on his conscience and to function like a normal student. He was so far from a normal student at this point.
"Ooh, helloooooo," came a thin voice, echoing off the empty bathroom walls.
Draco spun around, drawing his wand in a practiced movement.
"Who's there?" he demanded.
"Can't you see me? I'm right here." The voice came bubbling up from the sink.
Draco looked behind him. There, wisping up from the drain…a ghost?
"Put that wand away, you silly boy," the ghost lisped, "didn't you come here to visit me? What are you doing in the girl's room? Are you confused?"
Draco lowered his wand. There was a strangely calming floaty quality about the ghost's voice, like smoke clearing a battlefield.
"I'm very confused," he admitted.
"Oohh, tell me all about it! It gets dreadfully boring in the pipes around here, always somebody wanting to play pranks on poor little me, so I just stay hidden most of the time." The ghost let out a quiet wail. "Lots of horrible children here, they like to throw things at me. You're not a child anymore though, are you?"
Draco shook his head numbly. He wasn't sure when that transition had happened, but he definitely had shed the innocence of being a child.
"Oh, thank goodness! I can't stand the terrible people who think, just because I'm dead, I don't have feelings!"
"Who are you?" Draco probed carefully.
"Ohhh, I'm Myrtle," the ghost said brightly, "I died a long time ago, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends!"
Draco paused for a moment, intrigued. He'd never considered having a ghost as a friend. There was the Bloody Baron, but he was rather terrifying and not at all friendly. On the other hand, it could be useful to have an ear inside the…pipes, had she said? He held out a hand cordially.
"Draco Malfoy," he introduced himself, "Nice to meet you, Myrtle."