Chapter 6 Waiting
That night after dinner Draco isolated himself in his dorm. He took the invisibility cloak out of his trunk and sighed.
/ Oh well. It's not as though he gave it to me because he cared./ he thought bitterly as he wrapped the cloak /He only gave it to me because Potter has one. And Merlin forbid Harry Bloody Potter should have more than a Malfoy./ He took the wrapped package to the Owlery and smirked / That doesn't mean this hasn't been useful. All those late night rendezvous./ he sighed sadly. He was going to miss those. He attached the package to the leg of an owl and sent it home as his father had ordered.
As he left the Owlery, Blaise ambushed him. "I thought you promised us grog!" She demanded.
"I did too!" Draco cried wrapping an arm around her waist and guiding her back to the common room. Blaise cheered in appreciation and Draco smiled to himself. It was just as well he arranged these drinking binges at irregular intervals or his plan would never work.
When Seamus returned to the Gryffindor common room that night he was anxious about weather or not Draco would meet him. As he walked through the portrait hole he was ambushed by Fred and George who promptly dragged him off to the boy's dorm. The opened the door, and seeing it was empty, they pushed the younger boy in. Fred sat Seamus on his bed, and George shut the door behind them. Seamus looked at them in astonishment.
"What!" he demanded.
"Don't play the innocent with us!" Fred accused
"You still have a story to finish." George concluded. Seamus blinked in confusion. He'd had a long day and the last thing he needed now was these two loonies harassing him.
"You were telling us what happened after that night in the astronomy tower." Fred explained.
"We became a couple?" Seamus was confused. What more was there to it?
"Well, we know that!" Fred cried, "We want to know what happened to Draco when he went home for Christmas."
"Oh. That." Seamus finally clicked.
"Yes. That!" the twins chorused. Seamus sighed in resignation knowing that he was not going to get out of this one. Part of him was also glad that he now had someone to discuss this with. He had been keeping so many secrets for so long and he was relieved that he would finally have someone to share the burden. As he began to tell the story, his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about the meeting tonight. Would Draco be able to slip away? Would he even want to come? He wouldn't find out until late that night. Five long hours.
Back in the Slytherin common room Draco's housemates were baying for blood (or grog at least) and as the blond entered, a cheer rose. As his housemates demanded heir promised grog, Draco smiled falsely and released his hold on Blaise, to fetch the alcohol. He left the common room and returned with his school trunk. He had bought a new trunk at the beginning of the year for this purpose. It was just like the one Moody had been lock in the year before. He opened the second compartment and the other Slytherin's peered in.
It was a cellar.
"Oh Merlin!" Blaise breathed, "You really have out done yourself this time." The sounds of agreement rose from the other housemates. Draco smirked and indicated for them to help themselves.
He watched as the others began to drink themselves senseless. Draco had long since mastered the art of making it appear as though he had drunk more than he really had. He collapsed in a chair and waiting for the time he was meant to meet Seamus. He wasn't sure if Seamus would even come. After all, Draco had been avoiding him all day. He'd just have to wait and see. Five long hours.
Seamus looked at the twins before plunging straight into his story.
"Draco went home at Christmas. You-know-who came to Malfoy Manor and they were going to make him a Deatheater…"
Flask back
"Do you want to be a Deatheater? Do you want to fight for the rights of all pure-blood wizards?" Lucius raved "I thought I'd raised you well. I thought you believed in the cause. OUR cause."
"Of course I do." Draco agreed, fearing that his safety and his life depended on how well he talked himself out of this situation. "But what purpose would it serve? You need someone to keep an eye on Potter, and Dumbledore is hardly going to allow a Deatheater to remain at his school. The school governors are already placing pressure on him for allowing the children of suspected Deatheater to be enrolled at Hogwarts."
"Dumbledore wouldn't have to know." Lucius exploded.
"He'd find out! You can't hide something like that from him. I'd be expelled, and you would be right back where you started from."
Lucius was about to continue his tirade, but Voldemort interrupted. "The boy has a point." He turned to Draco "But you must decide here and now, will you stand with us and fight for what is right, or are you against us?"
Draco panicked. He didn't want to be a part of this at all, but if he said that, he had no way of knowing exactly how either of the two men in the room would react. It was highly likely that it would result in his death. He nodded. Voldemort patted Draco's cheek.
"Good boy." he said, "Now come."
"Where are we going?" Draco asked, still fearful.
"Just because you don't have a dark mark, it doesn't mean that you can't… sit in on our meetings, so to speak." Draco followed the two men out of the room.
End Flashback
"…They made him attend all their 'meetings.' He told me about some of the things that he saw them do. He didn't tell me about the worst things they did, the things that still give him nightmares. The things he told me about were horrific enough. The whole experience left him traumatised. When he returned to school he was a completely different person."
"What did they do that could be so traumatic?" Fred asked.
"Believe me, you don't want to know." Seamus assured them. "Now that everyone knows about us, they want to keep us apart. I don't think Draco can cope with all this on his own. No one else knows and there is no one other than me he feels safe to turn to. I don't think he can cope with everyone trying to tear us apart."
"Come now, it can't be that bad." George scolded.
"Do you want to make a bet? Lucius Malfoy came here this morning to demand that we are kept apart. He threatened to remove Draco from Hogwarts if we are not." Seamus sighed. He was beginning to wish that he hadn't insisted on the two of them being honest with everyone. A secret relationship was better than none at all.
Fred looked at George. Neither of them full trusted Draco, but they didn't think that Seamus deserved all this heartache either. They didn't know what they could do to help, but they felt they had to do something. They asked Seamus what he had planned. Seamus sighed.
"I'm going to meet Draco tonight and see what he thinks. If he's taken from Hogwarts he will probably be forced to become a Deatheater. He doesn't deserve that." The twins nodded, eager to know how this situation would unfold.
Draco had hidden himself away in the Slytherin dormitory, writing a letter to his father. He was getting desperate, and w as willing to do whatever it took to ensure he didn't lose Seamus.
Dear father
You seem to have misunderstood what has been occurring here at Hogwarts.
Since that mudblood Grainger was killed during the summer holidays, Potter has become closer to Finnigan and their other year mates. I thought that if I could get close to Finnigan, I could extract information about Potter and the Order, and, possibly, get Potter to trust me and become a part of his inner circle.
I know that nobody told me to do this, but remaining aloof was getting us nowhere. If I want to gain useful information I'll have to get close to Potter using whatever means necessary.
-Draco
His father wouldn't be convinced and Draco knew it, but he couldn't stand sitting around waiting until their arranged meeting. He walked through the common room on his way to post the letter. If he went now, he might just get back before curfew. He was about to leave the dungeon when a rather sober Blaise ambushed him.
"Where are you going?" he demanded.
Draco cursed internally. He had always suspected that Blaise was one of his father's spies. He was one of the few Slytherin's intelligent enough to be capable of it.
"I'm posting a letter to my father." He said aloud, handing over said letter. He was glad that Blaise was drunk enough not to read anything into the fact that this would be the second time Draco went out to the Owlery to send something to his father.
As Blaise read the letter, Draco was struck by how androgynous Blaise was. It was impossible to tell if Blaise was male or female. Nobody knew for sure, some even suspected Blaise himself (herself) didn't know. One rumour suggested that Blaise was not one or the other, but both. Blaise finished reading and handed the letter back.
"So it's true then." Blaise stated "You are in the favour of our Lord."
"I am not saying either way." Draco called was he walked away, displaying a confidence he didn't feel, hoping Blaise would not follow him.
He was in luck. The alcohol proved too much of a temptation for Blaise, who returned to he party. Draco sighed in relief as he stepped into the corridor. His frustration proved too much. He posted the letter and instead of returning to his house mates, he headed for the Astronomy tower, determined to wait for Seamus there. He walked off his blood cold with fear that this would be the last time he would ever be alone with Seamus.
At 11pm, after all the other Gryffindor's had gone to bed, Seamus sneaked out the portrait hole. He couldn't bare the suspense any longer. He had to go see Draco. He entered the Astronomy tower to find Draco sitting there waiting for him.
"You're early." He accused.
"So are you." Seamus replied moving towards the blond boy.
"Stop there." Draco demanded taking a step backwards. "I can't do this if you coma any closer."
"Do what?" Seamus asked, fearful of the answer.
"How do I do this." he muttered "Look Seamus. We are going to have to stop seeing each other. It's too dangerous." He spun around, unable to maintain eye contact with Seamus.
"I'm not afraid of your father." Seamus stated.
"Well you should be." Draco yelled. Seamus jumped and Draco cursed himself for being so harsh. This whole situation was difficult, but it wasn't Seamus' fault.
"My father is a very dangerous man." Draco spoke softly, refusing to turn around ""You are nothing to him, and he wouldn't hesitate to kill you if he thought you were in his way. I would not be able to live with myself if anything happened to you.:
"I don't care what your father says or does. I don't want to lose you this easily. I intend to fight for you." Seamus moved closer to Draco and gently touched his elbow. Draco turned to face Seamus.
"No Seamus. Don't. Don't put yourself in danger. Just stay away from m. I'm not worth it." With that Draco fled from the room.
