Waterfall, Wash Me Away
Draco Malfoy sat on a green beanbag chair in the Room of Requirement, head in his hands.
How could I let this get to me? he asked himelf, choking back sobs. It was the middle of the night, and he had snuck out to be alone once every one was asleep. He just didn't think he could face the darkness of sleep, after what he'd done. What I've done? What did I do? I just jinxed a mudblood. Father would be proud. At the thought of his father, the tears pumped harder out of his eyes, and he stared at an abandoned butterbeer bottle on the floor, between two beanbag chairs- one red and one yellow. It wasn't quite empty yet, and in his misery he grabbed it and was about to empty the contents down his throat when he saw a small, green piece of what looked like a clump of thread on the neck of the bottle. Upon closer inspection, the green mass revealed itself to be moss. The startled boy dropped the bottle, and it spilled on the floor, staining the light carpet a pale yellow.
Granger must have been in here last night, he thought to himself, sighing a breath of relief before realizing what he was relieved about. Good, she's okay. The thought surprised him- what did he care if the muggle-born girl made it back to the school or not? He decided that he did care, but only because if she hadn't made it back eventually the responsibility would fall to him. Though it probably will anyway- I bet when I wake up in the morning she'll have told on me. Why did I do something so stupid? She could have been- she could have been killed! He shuddered at the thought. Not, he reminded himself, because he was worried for her sake- he only cared about his future, and killing someone was not a good start.
He stood up to leave, to go back to the Slytherin dormitory to do who knows what, when he noticed a shelf full of alcohols that were much stronger than the butterbeer on the floor beside him. He wasn't really one to drink, but since he was probably getting kicked out of school tomorrow anyway, he grabbed the nearest firewhiskey and took a long gulp. The flavour burned his throat, and his stomach churned at the feeling of the alcohol, but he didn't care. He finished the entire bottle, and then stumbled his way out of the Room of Requirement, grabbing another bottle on the way. "Amazing, that room ish," He slurred drunkenly to a nearby portrait of a young girl as he passed. "Anything you want- anything at all- it givesh you!" At this, he swayed dangerously, and had to grasp onto the frame of the girl's portrait to keep from toppling over. "You're pretty."
Somehow, he made it back to the room he shared with Crabbe, Goyle, and a few other Slytherins and ended up on his bed, firewhiskey still in his hand. "Know who else is pretty?" He addressed the sleeping room. He grinned sleepily, as he began to drift off. "Me."
---
All he could see was the girl sitting on the white rock. She looked peaceful, her brown eyes closed, head back, long, bushy brown hair sweeping the rock. He could hear the waterfall, smell the scent of the churning water mixed with the pine of the forest. He felt sand under his bare feet, but all he could see was the girl. Beautiful wasn't the word to describe her- in fact, she was quite plain- but for some reason he found her to be the most attractive person he had ever seen. Then, another figure came into his view- a blond monster, with a red face and hatred in his eyes. The monster said something in a venemous tone, and the girl's smooth voice retorted coolly. He could not make out the words, but he could tell the monster was threatening her, as it was now holding a stick aimed in her direction.
"NO!" He shouted, running towards the girl as fast as he could and holding his arms out to block the oncoming spell. The monster smiled at him cruelly, eyes glowing red, and with a twitch of his wand, the spell went straight through him and the rock holding the girl exploded. He heard a muffled scream, and then a large splash. "HERMIONE!"
He looked for where she had gone, but he couldn't see the pond. All he could see was those glowing, red, eyes, glaring at him from the face so similar to his own.
---
Draco Malfoy awoke, clinging to the bottle of firewhiskey from the night before as if his life depended on it. His bedsheets were tangled around him, and the sun blaring in through his window was causing him the worst headache he'd ever had. The other beds around him were empty, so he closed the curtains of the window and took his time getting dressed. He stashed the firewhiskey beneath his bed for another day. When he finally made it out into the Slytherin common room and examined the ornate clock with the snakes for hands on the wall, it told him that he had twenty minutes left to get down to breakfast and eat his fill.
The smell of food hit Draco's nose like a wave of poisonous gas. His stomach began to churn, not out of hunger, but out of revulsion. He managed to find Crabbe and Goyle, and grabbed a seat between the two. The goblet in front of him was filled with water, and he drank it without hesitation. It refilled itself, and he finished it off again, in one gulp. He hadn't noticed until he began to drink the water how thirsty he had been, and now he took to it like... well like a horse to water. Crabbe and Goyle hadn't noticed his strange behavious, or late entrance, because they were so immersed in their own, huge breakfasts. Malfoy was thankful about this, and took the opportunity to look around the great hall unhindered.
Granger was sitting with the Weasley girl, quite a distance from the other Weasleys at the end of the Gryffindor table. There was another person with them- that strange Ravenclaw girl with the funny glasses- but he remained focused on Hermione. She looked exactly as she had in his dream, and the feeling of attraction he had felt for her then had returned. No! That was just a dream! Stop it! He told himself, and was relieved to find that the emotion was fading.
