Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of his friends and/or enemies (including his relatives and teachers). I never have. I most likely will not ever own them, so is there really a point in putting this up in every dratted chappy?
Chapter 3
The Note
Apparently Draco didn't need to think of a plan. One was already being thought up in the same castle.
Mandy Brocklehurst had been thinking for hours. Being a Ravenclaw, she loved to think, but the topic that had found its way into her head was rather depressing. "Do you think there's a way out?" she asked Blaise Zabini, her best friend.
"What?" Blaise wasn't stupid; she just wasn't thinking about the same thing as Mandy.
"Some sort of escape from the day to day teasing and family problems and all the rest of it," she said slowly. She didn't have a real way of explaining the subject, although she had been thinking about it for the first two weeks of her education at Hogwarts. "Not suicide or running away. That's giving up, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did something like that. But what if there was another way to get out of the mess that life gets to be? What if there was a way to escape?"
"What if they put you in a mental institution?" Blaise joked.
"Blaise, I'm not kidding," Mandy said seriously. "There's got to be some way to escape it all. Otherwise everyone with problems in there life, which is just about everybody, would go insane from not being able to do anything about it."
"Come on," said Blaise, trying to change the subject. "We're going to be late for Potions."
Mandy nodded, but she mentally promised herself that she wouldn't just ignore the idea. It was too . . . possible.
Draco was sitting in the library reading about Occlumency, a subject he found extremely interesting. The art of shielding one's mind opened doors that Draco had never dreamed of for his great plan. Shoved between pages 164 and 165 was a slip of paper. Draco glanced at Crabbe and Goyle. They were snoring, an activity they indulged in whenever they followed Draco to the library. Draco silently unfolded the note. Looking for an escape plan? Meet me by the lake at 10 o'clock tonight. No names, just the message. He crumpled up the note and shoved it in his bag.
Still considering whether or not to go, he looked at the clock. When he saw that it was time for dinner, he walked off quietly to the Great Hall, hoping that he wouldn't wake Crabbe or Goyle.
Mandy watched Draco read the note, searching for answers in his expression. After her conversation with Blaise, she had decided that she needed somebody else who was looking for a way out to believe her. If her best friend wouldn't believe her, it would be hard to find somebody who would, but Draco had been relatively easy to find. It only took a few days of watching her fellow students to find out that Crabbe and Goyle weren't really his bodyguards. And if they were, Draco certainly didn't want to be guarded. This either meant that Draco was the rebellious type, which she supremely doubted, or he had a family that was really creepy. Guessing the latter, she had slipped the note into the book after noticing how far he had read into it the previous evening.
After seeing Draco leave for dinner, she got up and stretched. Watching people was incredibly boring. She would only have to wait a few hours to get her answer.