He yawned silently; making his way out of bed and heading towards the showers. His footsteps were silent as well, and he, for once, was thankful for developing this skill over the years. If anyone woke up asking where he was off to so early on a Saturday morning, he'd go crazy. There were so many questions already being asked that he was beginning to give up on them all and just answered them truthfully. That was definitely dangerous.
As he made his way over to his trunk to gather his robes for the showers, a piece of parchment fell from a pocket and landed softly on the floor. Draco froze where he was, staring blankly at it for a few moments. The memory of how he had received this letter last night came back to him, and his stare soon turned into an almost wary gaze. Did he really want to know what the letter said? He knew that he'd feel horrible once he decided to read it. Yet… it wouldn't do any good to prolong the time before reading it.
Draco sighed as he leaned down carefully to pick it up. And instead of going off to the showers quickly, like he had been planning, he sat down slowly on his bed, dropping his robes back onto his trunk. Without waiting a minute longer, he began to leisurely open the envelope. A thin slip of parchment was drawn out; his mother's elegant handwriting printed across it.
For the next few minutes, his eyes ran across the letter, his hands beginning to lightly tremble again. And when he finally finished the last few lines, he hurriedly and nervously crumpled it up and dropped it onto the floor. His eyes were beginning to burn again, and his hands were frantically searching in his robes for his wand.
"Hell… where is it..?" He muttered anxiously, his hands fumbling through the black folds. Finally, he felt his hand close around what he was sure was his wand. Pulling it out, he held it out towards the crumpled parchment; his eyes glancing around at his sleeping dorm mates before he mumbled the small curse.
With the last small muttering of words, the parchment caught fire, turning a bright shade of green before it disappeared. Draco noticed that when this was done, he had let out a relieved breath in which he never realized he was holding. The one thought that was coursing through his mind was one of someone completely frightened of what was going to end up happening to him. Someone who was frightened for himself. And someone who desperately didn't want to leave. He didn't want to leave Harry. Suddenly, the foul thoughts started flooding in. He was trying to force out the unfamiliar sensation of fear. This entire situation could only be one person's doing, and Draco knew exactly who it was.
Theodore Nott.
That traitorous, lying, bloody son of a… well, it wasn't going to help to get any more angry. What would that change?
Glancing back at his dorm mates, whom were luckily only Crabbe, Goyle, and Blaise; he fought to not strangle them to see if they were in this as well. Irately, he snatched up his robes and stormed into the showers to see if that'd possibly relax him.
Meanwhile, the words on that letter remained burned in his mind.
My Dearest Draco,
I've written to inform you that you'll be spending Christmas break here at home with me. It's been quite lonely without anyone here to keep me company, so I'd thought this would be a good change for the both of us. Beginning the day after Christmas, you'll be catching the late train to come home for the holidays. I thought I'd give you a little time to spend with your friends.
I hope that school has been going well, and that you've been receiving the top grades in your classes. I'm sure you have. Though, I've also been informed of certain things that you've been up to during this year. We'll have to talk a bit about that, and we might even have another visitor joining us in the course of your stay.
Your father has been doing fairly decent. I've visited him a few times in Azkaban this past year, but we'll be visiting him when you come to join me this break as well. I'll be looking forward to it and seeing you again. Until then.
Your Mother,
Narcissa
Draco knew that his mother didn't care about spending time with him. She never had; not even when he was home for the summer. Something was going to happen. Why would she bring him to see his father? Something was going to change.
The next morning, it was Harry's turn to get rudely awakened. When the sun was just about rising, he felt a hard shake on his shoulder to signal the beginning of the day. Groaning, Harry reached out for his blankets and pulled them over his head. It was too bright. The person was being too loud. He wanted to sleep in; after all, it was Saturday.
"Wake up, you lump!" The person called. By the sound of it; it was one of his dorm mates trying to force him out of bed in order to get an opinion about something. And if Harry's hearing was up to par, he wouldn't doubt that the person had an Irish accent.
"I don't want to get up." Harry mumbled despairingly.
"Yes you do, mate! We're all up. I have something to ask you!" Seamus leaned over to shake Harry with both his hands this time. Without much warning, Harry threw the blankets off of himself and stared up at the other boy angrily. "That's the spirit!" The boy exclaimed; a big grin on his face.
"It's early." Harry said while glancing out the window. "What's so important?"
"Are you going to the library to study today?"
Harry averted his gaze back to Seamus, rubbing his emerald eyes. "Yeah, for a bit after breakfast, why?" A yawn escaped the newly awoken Gryffindor.
"Oh, because I'm going to go with you then." Seamus replied cheerfully. He started walking back over to his bed to change out of his pajamas. Harry had sat up in his bed; staring at the boy in disbelief.
"Why?" Harry asked softly. This definitely wasn't good.
"Because I still need to work on the essay that Snape gave us last week and my dense partner is no help at all." Seamus sighed dramatically, pulling on a shirt and his maroon and gold tie. "So, is it okay?"
"Well…" Harry started.
"I mean, if you and Malfoy need your privacy, I completely understand. Don't let someone like me intrude on your schoolwork."
Harry glared at the Irish boy as he got out of his bed, running his hands through his messy hair in order to flatten it. As usual, not one strand chose to stay down. "It's not that, Seamus! I've alre--"
"C'mon Harry. You've been going to that library with him every single day. Are you going to try and convince me that you're actually doing schoolwork?" Seamus had finished changing and was looking at Harry with an innocent smirk on his face. His eyes were filled to the brim with prying curiosity.
"No!" Harry objected, getting irritated. "I've already told you that none of those rumors are true. There's nothing going on between me and Malfoy. We get along now, but there's nothing else… and you can just tell everyone else that for me!" Harry's hand ran more roughly through his hair, and when his hand dropped, he made his way quickly over to his trunk to change. Since he was already up, he felt there was no point in trying to get back to sleep. Everyone else did seem to have woken up and left already.
"Whatever you say, mate." Seamus replied, rolling his eyes behind Harry's back. And after that small discussion, Harry tried his best to stay calm around his dorm mate. He had no idea what he was going to do about Seamus joining him and Malfoy in the library. The Gryffindor was positive that something was going to go wrong.
The only fact that Harry had to determine Draco's reaction, was the other day, when Draco had gotten furious over the fact that Seamus was bothering them.
Well, this day was going to be all fun and games.