A/N: Hey Guys, sorry this is so late, I know you want me to update more frequently, i'll try my hardest to put them up sooner. I've been so busy this week. This chapter is a lot longer than usual, let me know if its too long, I wasn't sure if i was taking too long to get to the point. Anyway, have a read, and post a review :)
Chapter 8 - The Room of Requirement
At dinner later that day, Harry, Ron and Hermione weren't speaking as they ate their food. Ron was still sulking over Harry's tickling jinx and Hermione had her head buried in a muggle studies text book. This left Harry to survey the hall and think about everything that had happened that day. He could not believe that he had been dumb enough to be in Malfoy's presence for a long period of time without his wand. However it wasn't this thought that gave Harry a weird tingling sensation in his chest, but the thought that Malfoy didn't once attempt to threaten Harry with his wand. What was wrong with him? Harry had kidnapped the blond Slytherin boy for gods sake, and yet he did not try to defend himself in the slightest. Harry looked over at the Slytherin table at this point. He could see Malfoy sullen as ever, picking at his food while trying to ignore Pansy next to him. Peering more closely, Harry could just about tell that Malfoy's facial expression was slightly less down cast as usual. In fact, Harry would describe it more as pensive. Of course that made a lot of sense. Harry had given him a lot to think about, but it looked like he might actually be happy that Harry had interfered. This made Harry feel much happier inside knowing that he wasn't embarking along this ridiculously difficult journey for nothing. As he stared, Harry saw Malfoy glance up and look over to the Gryffindor table right where Harry was seated. Malfoy, began to blush again, as he realised Harry had been staring at him, Harry merely replied with a smirk, to show Malfoy that he didn't care that he had been caught out.
"What are you smiling at Harry? Hermione said, glancing up from her book.
Hastily Harry looked away. "Oh, nothing, just thinking. How's the homework coming along?
"Oh this isn't homework, i'm trying to read ahead so I understand the next lesson" Hermione shut her book and returned it to her bag.
"Right." Harry couldn't think of anything to say. Ron was still sitting moodily next to Hermione. "Ron you can't seriously be mad. It was a joke, I was lightning the mood." Harry could see Ron muttering curses under his breath, but as he watched he could see the angry expression on Ron's face morph into a more pleasant half smile.
"I guess. Just don't do it again! You know I hate being tickled!" Now that Ron had started talking again the three chattered away for the next few minutes, until Ron brought up a certain blond haired wizard.
"Oi, Harry, whats up with Malfoy then? Why's he acting so weird?" Harry's stomach dropped like a stone. For weeks, Harry had been trying to get Hermione and Ron to help him discover what Malfoy was up to, to no avail, only for them to suddenly take an interest in the subject just as Harry no longer wanted them to help. His friends had the worst timing.
"Dunno, but whatever it is he's become a right moody git, we barely speak in potions." This seemed to satisfy Ron but Hermione ventured further.
"So he's not still being weird and acting nice to you? Thats what you said at the beginning of the year, right?"
Harry had to think on his feet, fast. "Um, no, after a few weeks he dropped all pretence and went back to being his usual pig of a self. I guess trying to act a good guy was just too difficult for him!"
This was definitely the right thing to say, for Ron and Hermione both started laughing. Harry chanced a glance at Malfoy again. He was watching Harry and his friends with a curious gleam in is eyes, almost as if he knew that Harry were talking about him. He decided to ignore this however, as he already had too much to worry about. Turning back to the conversation he found that Ron and Hermione had changed the subject completely, much to Harry's relief. If he had to keep lying to his friends like this, he would go mad.
…..
The next morning, Harry awoke and made his way down to breakfast where he chowed down on several pieces of toast before looking up to see who was around him. At some point, Hermione had joined him, and he could already see Ron slowly making his way down the table. It was Friday morning, so one more day of lessons before the weekend where he could relax and focus on more important things than school work, like quidditch. As he greeted them both, a screech echoed around the hall signalling the morning post. Harry glanced up and was surprised when he saw his snowy white owl Hedwig, soaring down to the tables with all of the other owls. With another small screech, Hedwig landed on the table right in front of Harry, holding a small scroll in her beak. Harry's right hand automatically came up to stroke the owl whilst the left hand took the scroll from her beak. Turning it over, he saw a small scrawled not on the edge of the scroll in small thin green ink which said
'Only open when you are alone.'
Quickly Harry pocketed the scroll before anyone saw what it said and looked over at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was sat there looking at Harry, he could just about make out a tiny nod from Malfoy before he got up and left the hall. This confirmed what Harry had suspected, the note was from Malfoy. He turned back around to find Ron and Hermione waiting expectantly.
" It's from a Random witch in Ireland, wanting to meet 'The boy who lived' Pretty pathetic really. With that, Harry got up and made an excuse to go back to his room before lessons started, leaving Ron and Hermione even more confused that they were to begin with. Harry almost fled down the corridors until he had safely made his way into his dorm room. Sitting on his bed, he un-scrolled the note, his heart pounding in his chest as he did so. On the note, scrawled in the centre said:
Meet me by the room of requirement at 7 tonight. Don't be seen. Tell no one.
Harry stared at this for a long time, Malfoy was actually letting him help. He thought about this request for a moment, if they were going to be in the room of requirement, then no one would be able to find them. If Malfoy were to try and curse Harry, there would be no one to help him, which could be exactly what Malfoy wants. On the other hand, the last time they were together, Malfoy never once brought out his wand, there must be a reason for that, and Malfoy did say he didn't want anyone to know. Harry decided that trying to understand what Malfoy was up to would never work, so he decided that he would go to the room of requirement at 7, but he would use his invisibility cloak as well, partly so he wouldn't be seen, but also so he could spy on Malfoy a bit.
As soon as he had decided on a plan he heard footsteps clamouring up the stairs, quickly he shoved the note under his pillow and sat up to greet the people approaching. Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville appeared, all back from breakfast. Dean and Seamus wittering on about something football related, and neville not saying anything, as he picked up his bag and left quickly.
"Why'd you leave breakfast so suddenly Harry?" Ron asked, his voice, was calm and collected, like he didn't care about the answer, but his face betrayed him. Ron looked anxious.
"I remembered, I forgot to finish Mcgonagall's Essay, you know she hates it when it's not finished on time. I just finished it when you lumbered up here." Lying to Ron, was slowing getting easier, and harry wasn't sure if he liked it. Harry could tell Ron believed it, as his face visibly relaxed, and he moved to his bed and began shoving things in his bag. Harry did the same, and once they were done they moved out of their dorm room and out of the common room, making their way to their charms lesson, on the way, they bumped into Hermione who tagged along. Harry watched as Ron pulled Hermione into a hug, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her into him. Hermione reciprocated and laced her arms around his neck. The stayed like that for a while, then as they pulled apart, Ron lean down and placed a small kiss on Hermione's lips. Hermione, pretended to be embarrassed by this public display of affection, but Harry could tell, she was loving it. Harry himself however, grew sullen. He was jealous of his best friends' relationship, he had that once with Ginny but now, what was left for him? Arriving At the classroom, Harry walked in and took a seat near the back by the window. He was not in the mood to concentrate today. Instead he looked out of the window, and thought some more about what he would find when he eventually made his way to the room of requirement. Once again, Harry felt butterflies in his stomach, but he had no idea why.
…..
Finally, it was time to meet Malfoy. Harry had been pacing the floor of the common room for the better part of an hour in anticipation. Ron and Hermione had made some excuse to Harry and went off together, probably to find some secluded area of the castle to snog. Now it was 6.30, so Harry gathered up his cloak and slipped out of the portrait entrance. Pulling his cloak around his shoulders, he made his way up to the 7th floor, where he knew the entrance to the room of requirement would be. When he got there, Malfoy wasn't there yet so Harry went to lean against the wall, still under his cloak. The closer it got to 7 the more agitated Harry became, eventually, 10 minutes to 7, Malfoy strolled round the corner, a sneer already planted on his face. Looking around however he saw that Harry wasn't there, and his pretence dropped. Harry could see his shoulders sag, and his smirk fall away. Harry wondered, how this was ever the snarky Malfoy boy whom Harry loathed; what stood there before Harry was a shell of the old Malfoy, and in its place, someone who no longer cared about picking on little kids, got bored go talking to his friends, and most importantly, someone who Harry felt the need to help.
Suddenly Harry didn't feel like spying anymore. He whipped his cloak off, and revealed himself to a very shocked Malfoy.
"What the hell Potter! How long have you been here for?" Malfoy yelled. Harry could see that Malfoy was actually angry, so decided not to taunt Malfoy as much as he wanted.
"A while, long enough to see you walk in." Harry saw Malfoy's eye twitch as he tried to control his temper. "You told me not to be seen, so I was thorough. Come on, we don't have very long. Ron and Hermione will wonder where I am." With that Harry wandered over to the wall and looked at Malfoy expectantly.
Malfoy, looked like he was about to explode, but carefully, he walked over to where Harry stood, then closed his eyes and began to pace up and down, 1, 2, 3 times, and when he opened them, where a plain wall used to be, stood a magnificent door. Malfoy, walked over to it, and pulled the door open. He waited there awkwardly, for Harry to walk in first, then followed behind, closing the door.
As Harry entered, his breath caught. The room had transformed into what Harry could only describe as, the Gryffindor common room. Or near enough, there was a fireplace, with sofas surrounding it, and tables off to one side where people would attempt to do work. The stair case had gone, understandably, but everything else had the same set up. The only main difference that Harry could see was that rather than the usual Red colours Harry was so used to, Everything was green, The carpet, the walls, even the sofas. Harry guessed this was because it was Malfoy who conjured the room. Once Harry had gotten over his initial shock, he moved over to one of the tables and sat down. A few moments later, Malfoy joined him, sitting on the opposite site, facing Harry. Harry looked up at Malfoy, he couldn't be sure but it looked as if Malfoy was a bit green as well.
"Right, shall we get started then?" Harry asked. Malfoy mumbled a reply looking down. To start with, Harry brought out all of the death threats, and laid them out one by one on the table, facing Malfoy.
"Have their been anymore since we last spoke?" Harry was trying very hard to stay professional, but Malfoy kept looking down, mumbling all of his slammed his hands down on the table. "For gods sake Malfoy! I'm trying to help, what is your problem. I know you don't like me helping, so the quicker we find whoever is doing this to you, the quicker you can go back to hating my guts!" Harry finished his rant with a huge exhale of breath. He felt almost exhilarated.
"I don't hate your guts." If Harry hadn't seen Malfoy's lips move, he wouldn't have believed that it had come out of his mouth. Malfoy looked up, his cheeks tinged red. "I'm glad you're helping me, even though it pains me to admit it."
Harry believed him, he could see that Malfoy definitely did not want to have this conversation, but looking at Malfoy, Harry could tell that he meant what he said. All of a sudden, all the hatred Harry had felt towards this boy all seemed meaningless, Harry decided that if they wanted to figure out who was sending these notes, then they would have to try and work together.
"Well, uh, thanks, Malfoy. Come on I meant it when I said we don't have very long, have their been any more death threats?" Harry had relaxed his voice a bit so he sounded less commanding. As he waited, he saw Malfoy draw out two more pieces of parchment, and handed them over to Harry. Malfoy withdrew his hand very quickly. On the first one it said
IT'S NEARLY TIME MALFOY, TIME TO GET WHAT YOU DESERVE!
And the second one said:
YOU DESERVE TO DIE! HARRY SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU WHEN HE HAD THE CHANCE. WELL, NOW IT'S MY TURN!
The second one made Harry feel sick. Swallowing his feelings, he looked up at Malfoy. "Okay, can you put them in order of when you got them, and tell me when and where they arrived."
Malfoy, began moving the pieces of parchment around on the table, and at the same time, began to speak. "The first one arrived the second day of school, the one about Hogwarts, when i first saw it, i tossed it aside, thinking someone was just trying to be funny, or trying to mess me around because of what happened last year, with you know who," Malfoy glanced up at Harry quickly at the mention of Voldemort, like he thought Harry would be angry, then continued, "But then a few days later another one came, and i started to think, maybe this isn't a joke. The second note was the 'tick tock, your time is running out,' the third one was about me not having my death eater pals. This was the 4th one…" Malfoy pointed to rather that said the note about his 'lover'. Harry wondered who this could mean, but just pointing to it had made Malfoy blush deeply and look down, his blond hair falling over his face to hide it.
Trying to ignore this, Harry carried on, "And then these two came last, the one about me was the last one? When did it arrive?"
Malfoy, slowly composing himself looked back up at Harry, but something was different, there was a pained look in his eyes all of a sudden. "Yes, the one about you was the last one, it came yesterday morning. All of them arrived with the morning post, at random times, some arrived with a week on between, others just a few days."
Harry began to think. It didn't seem like there was a pattern to when they were being sent, but each time they were send via the same method. The morning post. This could mean it was either someone from Hogwarts, and also someone outside of Hogwarts. Harry decided that he would need more information. He gathered up all of the notes and pocketed them, much to Malfoy's horror. "I'm going to look these over when I get back to my dorm, there may be a clue left on them which could tell us who is doing this. For now, can you think of anyone that might want to hurt you? Maybe you did something to someone, said something? Or it could be something your father did before he was sent to Azkaban?"
Once Harry had finished speaking, he could see that Malfoy had gone ridged, his face slightly paler than usual, and his hands were tightly clasped together. "I don't know."
Harry, tried a more gentle approach, this could be really important information and Malfoy decides that now is the time to clam up! "Malfoy, this is important, I really need to know who might want to do this, we still don't know if these are just someone trying to spook you or if they are an actual threat. Please, talk to me."
Malfoy stood up, his face in anguish. "I DON'T KNOW HARRY! You don't understand, I have done so many horrible things, to so many people, Voldemort forced me to, or he'd kill me. I've lost count of how many people I tortured, any one of them could want me dead, and to be honest, I don't blame them. I hate myself for what I had to do to survive, can't you see that?" He pushed his fingers through his silky smooth hair in frustration.
Harry could see it. Malfoy had changed, absolutely, but hearing that made Harry shiver. Malfoy hated himself? What had happened? Harry watched Malfoy for a while, then started to get angry. Angry with Malfoy, angry at the person sending these death threats, but mostly angry and Voldemort, for destroying so many lives, one of those lives belonging to Draco Malfoy.
Harry got up and walked around the table so he was next to Malfoy. "You're such an idiot Draco! Don't you see? You said so your self, Voldemort made you do those things! What sane person wouldn't want to fight for their life, no matter the cost. Yes, they may be horrible, and that pain will never go away, but you have to use that pain to come back and be a better person, like you already have. This time last year there's no way either one of us would have voluntarily been in the same room for this long without one of us ending up on the floor, thats just how we were. I hated you, You hated me. The ministry acquitted you of all charges, they don't do that to just anyone, they must have actually believed that you were not to blame for the things you did. I don't believe your to blame for the things you did. Whatever happened before the war was in the past. This year is about starting fresh, not going back to the old ways. So who ever is doing this to you does not have the right. Which is why i'm here helping you find out who's behind it. No one deserves to die, not even you."
Harry finished his rant, all the fight leaving him. He looked at Malfoy to find him staring at Harry in amazement. Harry wasn't sure but he thought Malfoy looked happy. His eyes had watered up at some point, but Harry didn't know whether that was because he was upset, or whether it was because of what Harry had said.
Harry placed his hands on Malfoy's shoulders and said, "So stop getting upset and lets carry on. We still need more information." Harry did this to try and cheer him up, make him see that Harry wasn't there out of malice, but it had the opposite effect, Harry felt Malfoy tense, his face had gone white as a sheet, and his hands started to tremble. Immediately, Malfoy tore from Harry's grasp and bolted for the door. On his way out he yelled "Got to go, il talk to you tomorrow." And with that he was gone. Harry stood their dumfounded. It was only then he realised that he had suddenly gone cold. When Harry had placed his hands on Malfoy's shoulders a warmth had spread through his entire body. What had happened to Malfoy? Why did he run away? Harry had so many questions, but still no answers. So he gathered up his cloak and made towards the door. Harry would have to forget about Draco's weird behaviour for now. Harry had some death threats to look over.
…..
Back in his dorm, Harry pulled out the death threats. He had been a little over an hour with Malfoy, and dreaded what Ron and Hermione would say when he got back, however, as he entered the common room, he saw that Ron and hermione had not gotten back yet. With a sigh of relief Harry climbed up the stairs. If they asked what he had done, he could say he did some homework. Now as he looked through the notes, he tried to see if he could tell who the person might be. They looked like they had been written on with an ordinary quill and ink, so that lead no where. The parchment its self was completely clean aside from the writing, so Harry decided that the words them selves might prove useful. Harry could tell by the handwriting that the person sending them was male. If Hermione's handwriting was anything to go on girls just didn't have very messy handwriting, and these notes were messy. Harry read them through again, the one about the lover caught his attention though. Who ever wrote these threats, must have had access to Malfoy. This note alone was very personal, not just anyone would know about Malfoy's secret lovers, which could suggest the person was either someone Malfoy talks to frequently out side of school, or the person was in Slytherin.
Harry made a mental note to ask Malfoy about this in the morning, and then decided he should probably do some work. Ron and Hermione wouldn't believe his homework lie, if he was failing his classes. So he settled down to work, and only stopped an hour later, when Ron crept in.
A/N: So what did you think? Let me know your thoughts, if you have any questions, or ideas on how the story should proceed let me know :)
