Chapter 28 – Done

I woke up with a start to the sound of an alarm clock. I frantically felt for the clock. When my hand felt a clock nearby, I shut the alarm. I looked around, something didn't feel right. I'm not in my dorm in the Gryffindor tower. How the hell did I get here? And where the hell is here? The bed felt like my bed at home. I have to get out of here. I put on my socks and shoes and opened the door.

'Looks like I'm a deserted corridor'. When I looked back at the door, the door was gone and in its place was the wall. 'No, it can't be.' I spotted the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. 'Why was I in the Room of Requirement?' 'Better think about that later, I'm going to be late for class.' I rushed back to the tower.

"Where were you?" H asked as soon as I entered the girls' dorm. She was combing her hair.

"Room of Requirement." I answered while taking my towel and other stuff to the bathroom.

"Why were you there?" I heard H's voice as I closed the door.

Fifteen minutes later, I got out of the bathroom wearing my uniform. The other girls had already left. H was waiting for me.

"Why were you in the room of requirement, last night?" H asked while reading a textbook.

I didn't want to tell her that I'm having a tough time remembering, so I told her, "I was taking a walk, thinking about something. I passed by the room of requirement I went in to think but I fell asleep after some time."

I'm not sure if she bought it, "What were you thinking about?"

"A little bit of this and a little bit of that." I told her vaguely. "I'm ready. Let's go. I'm hungry." I said before she could ask me something else.

There was a commotion in the common room. A notice was put up.

APPARITION LESSON

If you are seventeen years of age, or will turn seventeen on or before 31st August, you are eligible for a twelve-week course of Apparition Lessons from a Ministry of Magic Apparition Instructor.

Please sign below if you would like to participate.

Cost : 12 Galleons.

"OMG! Apparition lessons! Cool!" I exclaimed as I signed the sheet.

"Yup!" This seemed to excite H. She signed the sheet.

"Wow! Apparition!" We heard Ron say behind us. He was about the sign the sheet but Lavender got in between and signed her name below H's name.

H started walking away from Ron. I looked at Harry apologetically and followed H.

"Looks like we are growing up. We're learning to apparate now and before we know it, we're going leave school." I said when I caught up with H.

"That is true. Oh my god! We'll be finishing school next year. What are we going to do?" H panicked.

"You can do whatever you want to do. Don't worry we still have time to figure things out."

"So, what is a little bit of this and a little bit of that?" She asked.

"Uh?"

"You said you were thinking about some things." H said. I was hoping she wouldn't go back to asking me about that.

"Mostly Harry and Draco." I saw some flashes as soon as I said Draco. We were in a room, which had a lot of old things. He had his wad drawn on me. Maybe, I dreamt of him last night.

"So, you've not spoken to Malfoy recently?" She asked with concern.

"No, na, nope, non, nada. It's driving me crazy. He's my best friend, H and I feel so helpless."

"Hey babe." McLaggen put his arm around H's shoulder. He placed a quick one on her forehead.

She blushed, "Cormac, good morning."

"Good Morning. So, I heard apparition classes are starting soon. You must be excited."

"Yes. It would be so nice to be able to apparate."

"Plus we'll save a lot on transport cost." I added.

He looked at me strangely. "O…kay." He looked at H and asked, "So, how about we go for a walk after classes?"

"I would like that, Cormac." They kissed quickly and he went ahead to join his friends.

"So, things are getting serious with Cormac?" I nudged her.

She blushed. "I don't know. Beneath the show-off, he's a pretty nice guy."

We got to the great hall and sat down at our usual places. I looked over at the Slytherin table, I saw Draco glancing at me discreetly. As soon as he realised I was looking he turned away. I heard the words 'I'm not telling you.' in my head. What the hell did I dream about last night?

"Hey!" Harry kissed me on my cheek and took a seat next to me.

I smiled and squeezed his hand. I remembered what happened last night. That was great, I want to do that again. Didn't I leave the tower with the intension of finding out where Draco was going? After leaving the tower, everything seems blurry. I ate my breakfast in silence, thinking, trying to figure out what happened. I saw Draco glance at me a couple of times.

"Shall we go to class?" Harry asked while waving a hand in front of me.

"Uh…okay!"


Throughout the day, Draco had been looking at me furtively. He knows something. The entire day, I kept getting flashes of him in my head. Now, it just feels a bit too real to be a dream. When Harry left to meet Dumbledore, I went back to the seventh floor. I stood in front of the room of requirement. I stood there just looking at the wall. If only the room could take me back in time and saw me what really happened.

I heard footsteps behind me. I saw Draco and a little girl. Draco stopped mid-step and looked shocked. So, did the little girl.

"So, who is it today? Crabbe or Goyle?" I asked sardonically.

He looked visibly surprised, "I should have known you'd be observant." He ordered the little girl, "Go back."

"But-"

"I can handle her." Draco cut his minion before he could say anything. The little girl turned around and left.

We watched the girl go until she was out of sight then we turned to face each other.

"Something happened last night. Did we met and talk or something?" I didn't know what to ask since I don't know what I'm trying to find out.

"No." He said coldly.

"No, something happened last night. You kept throwing glances at me the entire day."

"I don't know what you're taking about."

"At first I thought it was a dream but it felt more than a dream. And then I woke up in here." I gestured towards the wall. "I know I found you. I left the tower with the intension of finding you but I after leaving the tower everything feels like a dream."

He sighed but he didn't say anything. He wouldn't look at me. He is hiding something.

"We spoke. I want you to tell me." I pleaded.

He sighed again, "I have nothing to say to you."

I slapped him. "Don't you dare say that again. I've been really patient with you these past few months but now my patience is waning. Tell me what happened last night."

I expected him to get angry after I slapped him and in that anger end up telling me something. Instead he kept looking at the floor like he deserved to be slapped. He didn't say anything. I took a few breaths to calm myself.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. It's just that I'm so angry with you not telling me anything. The most I've gotten out of you is 'I'm not telling you anything'. I'm already agitated since everything about last night is so hazy and then you said that and I got very angry."

"You don't have to apologize. I get it. I understand." He said in a low, gentle voice. "You have every reason to be angry."

Maybe we are finally getting somewhere. "Are you going to tell me?"

He looked up at the ceiling like he was gathering courage and finally said, "You found me. You put a freezing spell on Goyle and sprung up on me. We got into a little argument and I disarmed you. After I disarmed you, I used the memory charm on you. But midway I realised I didn't want to do it and then I put my energy into putting your memories back and I screwed up. But then you fainted so I let you sleep it off."

"You WHAT?" I shouted. "You did what?" I slapped him again . "You have no right to take away my memories. You can't treat me however you want. You know what, I'm done with you. You want to go get yourself killed then it's our choice. I don't want to be in the corner and watch anymore. I don't want to watch you kill yourself. I didn't expect this from you Draco. I've never been this angry before."

I started to walk away from him but he held my hand, "Don't do this, please. Don't." He sounded desperate.

"I don't want to do this anymore. I can't be your friend when you don't want to be my friend." I pulled my hand and ran back to the Gryffindor tower. I didn't look back at him. This time he crossed the line.


I sat by the fire crying. The common room was empty when I got in. I kept thinking about Draco's confession. I remembered reading about memory charms in the Charms textbook. Memory charms are all about the intent. Not only do you have to be able to cast the spell properly but it is also about having strong intent. If the caster is set in his mind, then the victim successfully forgets the memory that was erased. But if you cast it the way Draco did then the victim remembers the incident like they happened in a dream.

I realised he could not do it because he was performing the charm on me. I'm relieved that at least he could stop himself but I'm just so angry. If I was in front of him, I don't know what I would have done to him. So, I left him before I could do some real damage.

I'm so tired of trying. Everywhere I turn it's a dead end. No one will help me. My friends won't help me. Draco won't help me. His mother won't help me. My family can't help me. I'm so annoyed. All I know is that Draco is doing something in the room of requirement. But that blasted room can turn into a million different rooms! I remembered the room that had old things. Was he looking for some antique? Ya right like that's possible! I definitely remember seeing some books and old furniture.

Wait a minute! Why am I thinking about this? I just decided I'm not going to be involved. I'm not thinking about him or what he is up to anymore. I wiped the tears and stared at the fire.

"Nat." I felt someone shaking me.

Only then I realised that Harry was sitting next to me. "You're back."

"Yeah, I have been trying to get your attention for a while now. What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing important. How'd it go with Dumbledore?"

"How do I put this? It was…appalling." He said wryly.

"Appalling?"

"He's a really twisted person. I mean, I shouldn't even be surprised anymore but I wondered if someone dropped him on his head when he was a baby and activated the evil side in him."

"That's pretty strong emotions. You seem damn angry. Tell me everything."

Harry told me that once Tom Riddle had come to school he was obsessed with finding his wizard father. But he never found a wizarding family with the name 'Riddle'. With the reference of his grandfather's name 'Marvolo', he found out that he belonged to the Gaunt family. He paid a visit to the Gaunts' house. He found his uncle, Morfin. He told Tom about his father and that he was a muggle. By the looks of it, Tom killed his father and his paternal grandparents and magically managed to convince his uncle that he was the one who killed them. His uncle confessed to the crimes and was sentenced for life in prison without trial.

"Wait, so you're telling me that fresh out of school, Tom killed his father and grandparents? And got his uncle sent to prison for it." All this felt unreal, like was watching a TV show!

"No. I think he was more like fifteen sixteen when he killed them." He said with a deadpan expression.

My jaw dropped, "What?"

Then Harry went on to tell me about the second memory. This memory was tampered with and it involved Prof. Slughorn. Dumbledore had set him up with the task of retrieving the real memory.

"Do you know what a horcrux is?" Harry asked.

"Never heard of them. Why didn't you ask Dumbledore? You were right there."

"He dismissed me before I could ask him anything. And it sort of slipped my mind that I was sitting in front of one of the best wizards in the world." He confessed.

"Maybe we'll understand the word once you get the memory."

"I'll just ask Hermione. She must have come across the word somewhere." He hoped.

"Yup, there's a high possibility. Did you think of a way to get the memory?"

"Maybe I should attend one of the Slug Club dinners, hang back and ask him for it."

I raised my eyebrows at him, "Are you serious?"

"What?"

"That's exactly what Voldemort did. Do you really want to recreate the scene for him and make him uncomfortable? Besides, if he didn't give the memory to Dumbledore then it means that there's something to hide."

"Look that's the only thing I can think of now. Do you have a better idea?"

I took a few seconds before I answered, "Can't think of anything right now."

"Okay. We'll figure something out." He pulled me closer, "Now do you want to tell me what you're upset about?"

"It's really nothing." I took out the map from my pocket and handed it to him. "I won't be needing this anymore."

"You were going to tell me why you wanted to use it in the first place."

"I don't want to talk about it, please."

"Okay."

"Did you notice the Ministry often passes judgement without a trial?"

He nodded.


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Enjoy! Neepa :-)