Just your average 6th year
By serotonin
Trolls, death, Christmas surprises, near fatal Quidditch matches, it's all in your average 6th year at Hogwarts.
Chapter 2 – the hard yards
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I must have fallen asleep in the kitchen because the next thing I know, Trixie is standing over me, shaking me to try and wake me up. I sit up, startled, and she stops shaking me. Instead, she runs over to a pile of luggage that is sitting in the corner of the kitchen, and brings it over to me.
"Master Draco must leave now." She says, pushing my bags towards me.
"What? Trixie, mother and father are taking me to the station after breakfast. Don't you remember?"
"No, no. You must leave now. Bad things has happened Master Draco, bad things. Quick, you must come with me."
Trixie starts pulling me up from where I sit, but I grab her arm to try and stop her. She shakes my hand off, and pulls me up. For a small house elf, she has a lot of strength.
"Trixie, stop." I cry out.
She looks at me as if I have gone mad, and from the third floor I can hear a loud crash, followed by a yelp. Someone is in our manor, and I want to go and stop them, but Trixie steps in front of me.
"Master Draco, you will follow me. I will explain when you are safe."
It is my turn to look at her as if she is mad. How can I not be safe in my own house? But she glares at me, picks up my bags, and starts walking toward the fireplace. I meekly follow her, until she walks through the wall just beside the fireplace. I have no idea how she did it, but I don't know if I want to try. When I've been standing there for a few seconds though, Trixie's head reappears.
"Come Master Draco. It is not a real wall. Not for us."
Then I understand. The wall is just like the wall to get to the Hogwarts Express. Trixie reaches out a hand, and drags me through. I have just stepped into a dark tunnel, and the only light is a small candle that Trixie is holding in her other hand. I drop her hand, and bend down to pick up the bags, so that she doesn't have to try and carry them.
We walk through the tunnel for about twenty minutes before we come to a small round room. There are only two doors, and no windows, but it is filled with light. I look up, and see that the ceiling is covered in millions of small round lights. Trixie steps into the middle of the room, and says a word that I don't understand. A pale light circles around her, before heading off to the walls, until it has covered every inch of the room, and fades.
"You is safe here now Master Draco. Nobody can know we is here."
"But my parents...Trixie what's happened? Why did you bring me here?"
"Bad things has happened Master Draco, bad things."
"You said that before Trixie. But what kind of bad things?"
"Dark things."
"Trixie, you must tell me what happened."
"I...I must not. You would be too upset Master Draco."
"Trixie, I must know. You have to tell me."
"Ok. But Trixie warned Master. This night, after you was in the kitchen, I went upstairs to get your things ready. When I finished them, I took them downstairs. Then I remembered that your father had something in his room that he had instructed me to put with your things. I went into their room silently, so as not to wake them up, but a dark lady was in there. She was standing over them, with her wand out, but she didn't say anything. She heard me though, and looked up. Then she disappeared. I ran over to Master and Mistress, to see what she had done. But..."
"Trixie?" I ask after she trails off.
"They is dead Master Draco. They is dead."
For one moment, I thought that maybe I had misheard Trixie. Then reality slams into me like an elephant. I fall onto the floor, hard, and curl up around myself. The world is suddenly many shades of grey, and all I can see is one big blur. In the distance, I can hear someone screaming, crying out in pain. Then I realize that I am the one screaming and crying. Hot tears run down my face, but still I scream. I scream until I ran out of breath, take a gulp of air, and scream again. I can feel someone wrap their arms around me, and hold me tight, but I don't know who it is. My mind has stopped functioning properly, and all I can do is cry.
When my throat becomes dry, and my voice cracked, I stop screaming. I bury my face into my robe, and let the tears continue to fall. Slowly, my mind starts working again, and I recognize that it is Trixie with her arms around my shoulders. The tears have stopped falling now, and I start to sit up again. Trixie lets go of me, and instead stands in front of me, looking sad. I want to say something to her, but my mind is still too foggy to form an actual sentence, let alone say it aloud.
When my mind is finally working again, I stand up and pace around the room. It is hard pacing in a round room, because I am just walking in circles, and I am beginning to feel a little dizzy. I sit down again, using my bags as a backrest. Trixie comes and sits beside me, a comfort in times of need.
"Trixie, what happened to mother and father?"
"I is not knowing Master Draco. They was just dead. But we shall not talk of that. You must leave soon, and then I must go back to the manor."
"We're not in the manor?"
"No. We're underneath the woods out the back."
"What will happen to me Trixie? What am I to do?"
"You is going to school today. You must tell Dumbledore as soon as you get there. He must know of the dark lady. She may be after you now Master Draco."
"But what am I to do about the manor? I can't just leave it like this."
"You is not to worry about the manor Master Draco. We shall look after the manor for you."
"But my parents? What of them?"
"You must ask Dumbledore for help with them. I is not knowing what is to be done with them."
"How am I supposed to get to the station Trixie?"
"Here. This is a port-key that will take you and me to the station. I will leave you there Master Draco, and return here. You should sleep now. I will wake you in time to go."
"I guess I could use a little sleep."
It seems that I had only been asleep for minutes before I wake up in a cold sweat. The dream came again. And still I cannot remember a single thing about it, but that it scares the hell out of me. I look around the room, and see that Trixie is standing in the doorway, looking away from me. I get up silently, and start looking through me bags for my school clothes. Trixie hears the noise and turns around.
"What is you looking for Master Draco?"
"My school clothes Trixie. I need to get changed for the train."
"They are here, Master Draco. I has already got them out for you."
She picks a bundle of clothes up off the floor, and hands them to me, before walking back to the door once more. I take off the light robe I had on before, and pull on my school clothes. When I am finished, I fold the light robe and place it in the top of one of my bags.
"We should be leaving now Master Draco."
"Yes. I am ready."
"Take my hand then Master Draco, and we shall leave."
I take Trixie's hand in one of my own, and grab some of my bags in the other hand. Trixie takes the remaining bags, and then picks up a coin off the floor. I feel the unique sensation of travelling by port-key, and then we are there. There are only a few people on the station already, but more will come soon. I take the rest of my bags off Trixie, bid her farewell, and get on the train. I walk all the way to the end of the train, and sit in the very last compartment. After pushing my bags into the racks, I sit down and wait for the train to leave. After a few minutes, I close my eyes, hoping to get some more sleep. They remain shut for about five minutes, before I get interrupted.
"What's this?" A voice asks from the doorway. "You're all alone Malfoy. Where's your cronies?"
I don't need to look up to know that it is Potter, but I look anyway. He's alone for once, no Weasley or Granger by his side. I can feel my neck straining to look him in the eye. Potter seems to get bigger every year. Well, he gets taller, and gets more muscle. He's still as skinny as a runt though. As for me, I haven't grown much since I turned 13, leaving me a short and skinny runt.
"Leave me alone Potter." I hiss at him.
"Leave me alone Potter." He mimics. "Why in the name of all that's sacred should I leave you alone."
"Get lost Potter. I'm not in the mood."
"You're not in the mood? When did you ever care whether I was in the mood or not?"
"Look, Potter, just get lost."
"No. I don't think I will."
I get up and stand in front of him, with my arms folded across my chest. In reality, I know that I'm not all that intimidating, because the top of my head only reaches his eyes, but I can still try.
"Potter, just go."
"Why should I listen to you? You've never listened to a thing I've said."
"Yes I have." I mumble, hoping he won't hear. Unfortunately he did.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing Potter. I said nothing."
"You said that you have listened to me."
"Why ask the question if you already know the answer?"
"Because I want to make sure I heard you right. You, Draco Malfoy, have actually listened to something that I have said in the past six years. What?"
"Look Potter, I'm not in the mood. Just get lost."
"Or what? Your cronies will fight me? Cause I don't see them anywhere around here."
"I don't need them."
"That's right. Who needs people like Crabbe and Goyle when you have your father to do all your dirty work?"
I turn away from him, tears beginning to form in my eyes. I walk over to the window, ignoring him, and stare out of it. We've left the station, and are on our way to Hogwarts.
"What's wrong Malfoy? Can't think of a comeback."
"Look, Potter, just rack off." My voice shakes slightly as I yell at him and I pray that he doesn't notice. The last thing I need is for him to think I'm a weakling.
"Are you going soft or something Malfoy?"
"Potter. Rack off!" This time my voice cracks, and I know that he has noticed it. Let him think what he wants, I don't care. I don't care about anything anymore. I wait for him to say something, but all I hear is silence. Maybe he took my advice and went away. When I still don't hear anything, I slam my head against the window. It doesn't crack, but it stuns me for a moment. I slam my head again, this time harder, but the glass still won't break. I'm swaying on my feet, and just as I think I'm about to fall, arms grab me around the waist, pick me up, and lie me down on the seat. I look up into Potter's bright green eyes, staring at me through his glasses.
"Shit." I mutter to myself. I thought that he had left already. I look behind him, and see that the door to the compartment is closed. He must have shut it while I was trying to break the glass.
"What do you think you're doing Malfoy?" Potter asks me quietly. I don't want to answer him, so I turn my head, and face the back of the seat. He grabs my head, turning it to look at him, and holds it there so that I have to either shut my eyes or look at his face. I shut my eyes, hoping that he will just leave me alone.
"Malfoy, open your eyes." When I don't respond, he takes one of his hands off my face, and tries to force my eyes open. I squint them shut as hard as I can, but somehow me manages to get my right eye open. When I see that he will do the same to the other eye in a moment, I open it myself. It's not worth it to keep them shut.
"Now. Tell me what the hell you think you were just doing."
"Isn't it obvious?"
"Not to me."
"I was trying to break the glass."
"Why on earth did you want to do that."
"Because I damn well wanted to okay? Will you leave me alone now?"
"No. For all that you hate me, I'm not about to let you hurt yourself like that. You could have killed yourself"
"Who says that's not the point?"
"Is it?"
"Rack off Potter. I don't need your help."
"I think you do."
"And I say I don't. Now get out of this compartment before I curse you."
"You wouldn't."
"Try me."
"Look, I'll leave you alone as long you as promise me something."
"Why should I?"
"Draco!"
"Harry."
"Draco, just promise me that you won't try to kill yourself."
"No."
"Then I won't leave you alone."
"Alright, I promise. No get lost."
"Swear it."
"Okay. I swear that I won't try and kill myself."
"Good."
"Good." He is still standing above me, hands holding my head firmly in place. I stare at him, but his mind seems to be elsewhere.
"Potter?"
"What?"
"Are you going to leave now?"
"Oh yeah. Bye Malfoy."
"Good riddance Potter."
I watch as he walks out of the door, and shuts it behind him. Turning my head into the back of the seat again, I close my eyes and pray for sleep to come.
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Well, wasn't that fun. Originally that was two chapters, but I thought that they were a bit short. So I made it one. Just for you guys.