Back To School

Chapter 10

Connection

A/N: So… Here is the next installment in my little story. I hope ya'll are liking it so far. Please remember to review and all that. I'm sorry this one has taken so long. I have no excuse for it. Heh. Well, enjoy it! (I don't on anything)

The mirror began to slightly waver again, the woman was fading from sight, she looked very startled as if she had been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to or she wasn't ready to sever the connection yet. And without another word she had disappeared into a mist leaving me to my own thoughts, my own reflection staring back at me, and a terrible confusion welling up inside my chest. I hadn't even gotten a chance to ask any questions, she left me more confused than before I saw her. What was her name? Who exactly was she? She didn't look like a teacher, she was hardly old enough for that or a student; she wasn't that young either. I was utterly confused about what she had been talking about. "The Key is growing quickly inside you." It was terribly frustrating, what key, what the hell, was some iron key just hanging out in my guts? "You cannot yet control it," especially after the evening I had with Draco, I couldn't control anything and my anger was one of them. As I thought of Draco I felt color rush to my face in resentment. That brat wasn't here to help me understand what was going on. I stopped short in the middle of my thoughts. Why was I expecting him to help me? It was my own dilemma; I needed to fix it all on my own. Why did I feel this horrible need to be near him, for him to comfort me at the moment?

I walked out of the tiny bathroom discouraged and furious with the questions gnawing at my stomach like mad rats. I slammed the door to the bathroom behind me; I did not want to even think of that mirror again anytime soon. I flopped down on the bed exhausted from my new knowledge. I hadn't slept in so long, I couldn't even remember the last time a bed actually felt so comfortable to me. I suppose I drifted into sleep without realizing it but I awoke to a tap at the door. The tap was faint at first but it quickly grew to be a very persistent tap. I was so disoriented from my evidently deep sleep that my first thought was that the room I was waking in didn't look anything like my dorm room. As I walked to the door I remembered that I was in the Room of Requirement and I had needed a place of my own to escape to. How was anyone knocking on the door? As I pulled it open I saw a very agitated looking blond haired boy standing in front of me. Fury welled up inside as soon as I remembered how we had parted ways last time we were together and so I basically spat, "What." It was a simple word that probably could have killed if it had had that sort of power.

"I was wondering where you had been." He seemed a bit more than agitated; he seemed more like he was feeling a mix of relief and pure rage. "I've spent so long walking in front of this damn door trying to figure out what the hell you were thinking when you walked passed it." He spoke heatedly and looked like a mess. His beautiful hair was dull and messy as if it had been left unwashed for a while; his blue eyes were now dim and had horrible dark circles under them. "You look like hell," I replied simply with a bit of a smirk, I must admit. I still would not open the door any wider than an inch or so, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of letting him into my sanctuary.

"I suppose I would look like hell since I've been pacing in front of this damn wall for about a week straight." He pushed on the door and it swung open, I had no strength to fight against it because I was still numb from sleep and quite bewildered. "A week?" I murmured the words like a secret. What was he talking about; I hadn't been asleep for longer than an hour, right?

"Yeah, a whole bloody week, Weasel." He stepped past me roughly to shut the door behind him. "What the hell have you been doing in here?" he asked as he looked around the dimly lit living area. I was still in my clothes from a week past and my hair was worse than when I entered the room. I was suddenly very aware of my appearance, no matter how mad I was at the boy staring intently back at me.

"I was sleeping." I said dumbly, it was the truth. I was completely at a loss as to what else to tell him. He looked mutinous but too tired to do anything about it. My mind kept wandering back to the woman in the mirror. I was tempted to share the experience with someone but not at this moment and not with this person.

"Sleeping!? You were sleeping!? What the hell- I ought to kill you right here Weasel and then you can sleep!" He made towards me as if to grab me but I was faster and slipped away closer to the bed. "Why you little rat! I'm so tired of you… I don't even know why I came looking for you in the first place!" He lunged again this time I was too slow. He wrapped his hands around my arms with terrible force. I knew it would leave bruises but I tried not to show the pain I was feeling.

"Malfoy, you're tired. This isn't you, you may be a prick but this isn't you. Please let go." I was quiet, he might not have heard me but I knew he did once the realization spread over his face and he slowly released his grip. He hadn't meant to do that and I knew it. "I just wanted to get away, that night after you got me dinner, something just snapped in me. I needed an escape. It wasn't your fault, you didn't have to come looking for me." I think I mumbled the last sentence but he seemed to get the message.

Draco sat down on the bed at looked over at me as I was still standing by the door. "I came looking for you because I'm Head Boy…" he paused for a moment as if he were reaching really deep, "And because I was worried for you." He looked as if he had just told me that he was gay. He was terrified of telling me how he felt and for some strange reason I didn't quite know, I was hurt by it. But at the same time, I was touched that he was worried, it made me feel wanted, it made me feel safe.

"Thank you Draco." I was back to first name basis. "But you don't need to worry about me. Look, why don't we just go back to our own dorms and not mention where I've been." Now he looked furious, I was beginning to thing this boy was bipolar. "What?" I asked, almost afraid of the answer of I was going to get.

"It's just…" he couldn't quite grasp the right words. "Your so called friends. They never noticed you were gone! It's so stupid! How blind could they be that you're in pain?" He was up off the bed pacing and ranting. I felt good… it was if I finally had someone who cared about me… for real, but I wasn't going to let him know. At least not yet.

"It's fine. Let's just go." I took hold of his wrist, it was surprisingly slender, and I pulled him towards the door. I only looked back once at the bathroom door. I was scared, but at the moment my sense of being wanted overpowered that fear. I would figure that mystery out later.

A/N: Hey, so I know it was a bit fluffy but honestly it helps the story along. Review and PM me with your thoughts and I'll get the next one up faster!!