Two ministry officials took Narcissa away and left Draco in the care Professor Snape, his godfather. Sirius and Mairead lifted Draco up and took him to a blue room in between Sirius and Mairead's bedroom and Ellie's room. They lay him on the bed and told Ellie to stay with him until he woke.
Ellie sat down, a fantasy book in hand and a steaming cup of hot chocolate on the bedside table. She curled up in the comfy chair and got lost into a world full of good versus evil where good always wins. This helped her forget the reality of the world in which she lived, where evil was becoming more and more likely to triumph.
Soon her eyes closed and her head slumped forward and she fell into the mists of dreamless sleep. When she awoke it was dark and she shivered, the house always became more creaky and scary when it was dark despite the renovations that had been done by her parents and their friends over the last few years. She shivered again and shifted slightly.
"Cold?" asked a voice from the bed, a voice she hadn't heard for almost 10 years. Draco's voice! She jumped and when she had got over the shock she said.
"A bit…I'll turn the lights on…" And she got up and went over to the lights. The light came on and she could see a pale frame of a teenage boy curled up around the blankets.
She walked over to him pulled the covers out and tried to make them more comfortable for him. He touched her and tingles shot up her arm in response.
"Ellie your freezing, come under the covers." Draco said and pulled her into the bed. She lay next to him absorbing his heat. He was wearing a pair of Ron's cord cargo trousers and a scarlet top of Harry's.
They both felt their eyes drooping and soon Ellie was asleep. Draco felt Ellie move closer to him as she slept and he fell asleep with a small smile on his face.
Draco's dream
Draco and Ellie were running around, the sun shinning and they were having a water fight. Both smiling and laughing and then a baneful figure in the background covered the sun cast a shadow over the happy picture turning it dark. The figure shot green light out of his wand at Draco and he shut his eyes tight waiting for the inevitable impact. He opened his eys a few seconds later and relised that Ellie had jumped in the way of the green light that was to end his life. Her lifeless body had fallen to Draco's feet.
"Crucio!" the man cried, for it was a man, Lucius Malfoy in fact. "Hurts doesn't it?"
END Dream
Ellie woke up as Draco began to shake and move in his sleep. Sweat mixed with the tears streaming down his flushed cheeks. His body shook violently and he screamed. Ellie tried to wake him but she couldn't. She opened the door and called for help.
Harry, Ron and Hermione ran down to the hall to her.
"What's up we heard screaming!" Hermione asked and Ellie just pointed to the figure in the bed.
"He looks like he is under the Cruciatus curse. We have to wake him up" Harry told them.
"Stupefy!" Hermione said and then whispered "Enervate."
Draco blinked twice and Ellie ran and hugged him. Harry, Ron and Hermione left quietly sensing that what Draco needed was his old friend not three almost complete strangers. The two stood in the middle of the room for a while then Ellie stepped back. She could see tears forming in his blue eyes that were dimmed by traumatic experiences.
He began to cry and clung to Ellie as if he would never let go, as if, if he did, she would disappear.
Ellie led him towards the bed and they both lay down and sleep soon claimed them.
A week passed and Draco had a nightmare every night, but still refused to talk about it. The only time he talked in the presence of anyone other than Ellie was when he was in lessons. These lessons were aimed to make sure Ellie and Draco were ready to enter sixth year at the end of the summer. Draco and Ellie, had progressed through first and second year work and were beginning to study on third year course. It was clear to anyone, even a casual observer, that both students were intelligent and were capable of catching up on the required work.
Ellie and Draco only ventured out of their room for lessons, meals and the occasional meeting that they were required to attend. Much to Molly disapproval, Ellie and Draco still slept in the same bed in the same room. Sirius and Mairead only approved because Draco was noticeably calmer during the day and sometimes as he slept if his best friend kept him company through the night.
Remus taught most of their lessons though professor Snape taught Potions and Herbology, McGonagall occasionally could be found to be teaching them the harder points of Transfiguration and Hestia Jones taught History of magic. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny joined in for a lot of their lessons to aid revision for NEWTS and to give Ginny the perfect chance to ogle Harry, though Remus was either blind or ignoring this.
One Morning Draco and Ellie were sitting in the drawing room waiting for Remus to arrive and reading up on some Potions work for Snape.
"Good Morning you two." Remus said brightly as he walked in to the room "How are you? Ready to start?
"Fine thank you, and yes I am ready." Remus answered for both his students, as all they did was nod in response to his question.
"Right then, today we will be studying Boggarts, Fortunately, Dumbledore managed to find one and had it sent here. It is currently residing in the attic. Now I have to go and find Hermione, if you will excuse me, as Hermione wanted to revise this topic she had the most difficulty doing in third year. Will you to please make your way upstairs, to the attic? Please don't open the door until I get there.
"Yes sir." They said and Ellie reached out for Draco's hand ready to go running off upstairs. Remus put his hand on Draco's shoulder and said
" If you are not comfortable about doing this, please tell me now, I am not going to make you do this and if you are uncomfortable about doing it, I won't be cross. If you would like to try it another day, that would be fine too."
"I want to, this evil-" Draco called his father a rather crude swear word "-has wrecked enough of my life already, I don't want him to win."
Remus gave his shoulder a squeeze and pushed him on his way. Draco and Ellie raced off upstairs to the attic leaving Remus at the bottom of the stairs.
As Hermione was the only one present at this lesson, Remus was back quite quickly. Hermione had been to most of these lessons and knew better than to ask questions, so usually in a lesson, Hermione sat in a corner taking notes on the techniques used in each lesson.
"First, we must ask ourselves 'What is a boggart?' Remus asked the two students. "And Where does it live?" He said sitting down by the suitcase next to him.
"A boggart is a shape shifter that takes the form of what ever frightens us most and it lives in dark places such as wardrobes, cupboards etc" Draco told Remus
"Well done, I see you have read ahead. " the teacher smiled at him, "Well we have a slight advantage to day, do you see it Ellie?
"Because there are a few of us and so it will get confused about which thing to be." Ellie was proud to show; she to had read ahead. The suitcase wobbled alarmingly and Ellie looked slightly nervous.
"The charm that repels a boggart is simple but you have to be very sure in your mind that you want to do it. This isn't a charm you can do with your mind on your dinner. The thing that finishes a boggart off is laughter. So we force it to assume a shape we find amusing. All you need to say is 'Riddikulus." Their nod followed. "Now you try, just say it and hold your wand out in front of you,"
"Riddikiluis" the students both said obediently and a strong wind shot from their wands, blowing old parchment and dust around the attic.
"Perfect. Now me and Hermione will demonstrate first ok?" The two students nodded, Remus opened the suitcase with a spell and Hermione sprung froward ready to attack the boggart.
The boggart burst out as a skull, a green skull with a forked tongue. The dark mark. Hermione screamed then cried "Riddiculus."
A jug of water appeared suspended in the air then drenched the mark. It made a satisfying hissing noise and fazzled out. Hermione grinned at her work.
The boggart landed in front of Remus as a white moon. When Remus cried "Riddiculus", a giant foot, in mid air, stomped it on.
"Ok, Draco forward." Remus called. The boggart became the terrifying image of Lucius Malfoy. Draco gasped and was almost glued to the spot. Everyone ion the room froze as the boggart lunged at Draco.
But he just said "Riddikulus" and Lucius was wearing a knee length skirt and top, with an apron, he was a waitress and on his feet were bright neon pink roller skates so he was sliding and slipping all over the floor.
"Well done, Ellie forward" Ellie walked to take on the boggart. The figure of Narcissa Malfoy descended towards Ellie.
"Riddikulus" she said boldly and Narcissa stumbled forwards and her hair fell off and her clothes became ripped and her face wrinkled. She was a mess. Remus called Draco forward to finish the boggart off. As the image of Lucius Malfoy reappeared in full wizarding robes with a high collar, he was back in a similar outfit as before. This time with a shorter black skirt, button up black shirt complete with pink frilly apron and roller skates but this time his hair was pulled up into two high pigtails and his face was caked in makeup. Draco and Ellie let out a burst of laughter and the boggart exploded into a million pieces.
"Well done. I am very proud of you both. Would you re–read the section on Boggarts and jot down the main points for you revision?"
"Yes Sir," they chorused.
"How many times must I tell you, call me Remus or Moony or if you have to Lupin. If you call me Sir it makes me feel old." The two young students laughed nervously and ran out of the room.
A couple of days later, on a Sunday morning, Draco and Ellie were in their room. Having just got out of bed, Ellie was wearing a vest and a pair of pyjama shorts and Draco only a towel wrapped firmly around his waist. Draco had just got out of the shower and Ellie was just going to get in when they heard a knocking on their door and Harry started talking.
"Draco? Umm Ron and I and Ginny and … some others are going to play Quidditch and we were wondering if you wanted to play. If you don't, we won't mind but we would like you to play. See you."
Ellie looked at Draco's face, it was unreadable, as it so often was. ' He won't go and play, he is still to nervous around them.' She knew he needed more time to adjust to them, to become friends with them. He had been very bold and always ready to try new things when he was younger, but since his ordeal he was less eager to talk to people. Though Ellie didn't know Harry or the others, she felt drawn to them and wanted Draco to be friends with them; they had proved to be very trustworthy and the best friends she had, except Draco of course.
Ellie grabbed her clothes and told Draco she was going to do some reading in the library and if he wanted to do something with her to come and find her. Ellie left and Draco hurriedly put some clothes on and went down for some toast.
After Ellie had showered she dressed and went into the grand library with some toast. The Library had walls of books and then some books on shelves in the middle of the room and one big window facing the extensive gardens with a window seat. All around the room there were big comfy armchairs, but Ellie sat on the window seat.
In one of the arm chairs, completely enthralled by the exquisite work of Jane Austin, sat Hermione. When Ellie entered Hermione simply smiled and carried on reading.
Outside the window there was a big oak tree, and underneath it Harry and Ron stood, brooms in hand. Fred and George had just mounted their brooms and taken off, along with Tonks, Bill, Charlie and Sirius. Ellie scanned the pitch for Ginny; she spotted her up above the tree, next to someone with blonde hair some one who looked suspiciously like…
Draco had run downstairs, grabbed some toast off Mrs Weasley and sprinted out of the back door. Harry and Ron had been standing next to each other, the others hovering around them.
"Do you think I could play?" Draco asked boldly regaining some of his old self. They had all grinned encouragingly and passed him a broom. He had mounted and was soon soaring through the air next to Ginny.
The players had already split into teams: one team was Harry – seeker, Ron – keeper, Ginny – chaser 1, George – beater and him – chaser 2. On the other team there was Charlie – seeker, Tonks-keeper, Bill–chaser 1, Fred – beater and Sirius – chaser 2. It was "oldies" verses young ones. This was going to be interesting.
The match began. Ginny and Draco worked well together weaving in and out of the opposition and after 10 minuets it was 50:30 to the young ones.
Draco hadn't ridden a broom in along time, but he soon realised just how much he had missed it, as he felt the thrill of diving from a great height and the adrenaline coursing in his veins. He dived again pulled up just as his toes grazed the lawn.
Inside, Ellie was reading, well pretending to read, but actually watching Draco. The book was a potions book: "potions Made Easy". Her excuse for not reading this was that the book was so boring and dull, it was, in her opinion, enough to put someone off reading for life.
She saw the Quaffle (if the quaffle was the big red football like thing) fly around the pitch, being thrown around from a couple of players. Ginny and Draco mostly had the ball and were almost always getting it through the hoops, though Tonks seemed to block a few. Then she saw, after a few hours, Harry dive over to the where Draco was flying, just a few feet from the ground and grasp something, smile at Draco and then the game seemed to end as every one seemed to stop what they were doing.
As the teams landed there were smiles all round, team-mates clapped each other on the back and laughing and teasing about their mistakes. Soon it began to rain, as if someone was tipping buckets of water from the sky and most of the players ran in. Tonks was screaming "My hair, my hair" as she ran, only to calm when she was met by Remus at the door, a fluffy pink towel grasped in his hands.
Draco sped for the house, Sirius in hot pursuit, the elder shaking his head in denial at the teenager's words: "The years catching up with you, old man? Going slightly senile in your old age?"
Harry, Ron and Ginny stayed out in the rain, Ginny dancing and spinning gracefully around the lawn, waving her arms turning in dizzying pirouettes and performing arabesques and little jumps.
Ellie heard Hermione leave the library in a rush. Seconds later, she ran out of the front door and out onto the lawn where Ron met her. He kissed her cheek, then her mouth. Hermione smiled and led Ron under the tree, hoping for a little shelter from the pouring rain.
Ellie hid a sigh at this and looked over to where Ginny was still dancing, her boyfriend's eyes following her, full of mirth. Mid arabesque Ginny slipped and fell down in the mud. Harry laughed out loud at this, and Ginny went as red as her hair and responded by throwing some mud at him. Soon it was a full-blown mud fight.
Harry had Ginny pinned down one the floor and she seemed to be struggling to get up. Her eyes were dancing as she looked at her boyfriend. She closed the gap between them as what seemed like a diversion. It also appeared that she had forgotten her plan for revenge, distracted by the kiss.
This time Ellie could not hide her sigh and she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to see a dishevelled looking Draco walking towards her, a smirk on his face, a gleam in his eyes.
His trousers and shoes were caked in mud and his once white tee shirt was now see-through with accompanying mud marks. His arms had a case of goose bumps (1) and his face wet with rain and sweat. On one cheek he had a smudge of mud and concealed in his mussed up blonde hair, wet and windswept, was a dark green leaf.
Ellie had to stifle a giggle at this as she saw her friend's attire. Her dark eyes met his and their gazes locked. She continued to walk towards him and as soon as she was close enough, reached out and wiped the smudge of mud off his face. His skin was warm. Her hand did not move as the other stretched to dislodge the leaf that was embedded in his hair. It was very soft. She moved the hand from his face down to his chest. There was silence. She could hear her own heart beat thumping in her chest, and feel his pounding against her palm. Their eyes were still locked and it seemed as though time had stopped.
Draco lowered his lips on to Ellie's, and her eyelids fluttered shut. They stood kissing in the dark, deserted, but now strangely warm, library.
Thank you to all our reviewers and we are sorry it took so long. We just moved house and then I was in hospital so we didn't get round to it. Please review.
