A/N: Helloooo! How have you been? Good? Good! So... I tell you this: just because I happen to post this chapter my hiatus is NOT over. Because it's not. I'm working on Un An D'Amour, but I might post a chapter for this fic from time to time.
This chapter's particularly short. So, yeah. See you next chapter!
[Draco]
"Yeah Draco," Uncle Sirius smiled, his long brown hair trailing behind him. "I've been the lucky" - whack - "fine, not-so-lucky one protecting your girlfriend for the past few days."
"B-But," I whispered. "How did you convince You-Know-Who?"
"We're part of the Noble House of Black, my boy," he laughed. "We, the Noble House of Black has always hated Muggles and Muggleborns, full stop. And I'm part of it. You are too, Draco. Your mum's one of us. He was able to look past the fact that I was in Gryffindor - since Wormtail - that ass - was in that house too - and a betrayer to Lily and James Potter, who were my best friends. Though I had to prepare one hell of a speech to convince You-Know-Who. But thankfully, there was already a spy in the Order to help me: Snape. He helped me make this fake Mark."
He revealed his wrist open, and there the Dark Mark was, in all its snakes and roses glory. Ginny, Hermione and I couldn't stop staring at it. It looked so... real, though.
"But how did it get past Voldemort?" Hermione asked. I had to shush her as she raised her eyebrows at me and rolled her eyes as she turned back to Sirius.
"Be careful with that name, Hermione!" he whispered. "You're even worse than Harry with it! Did you know You-Know-Who isn't the one that makes the Marks, funnily enough? In actual fact, it's Snape."
"Really?" I asked. Hermione too was shocked, muttering to herself how it could be logical.
"Oh yes! Snape makes sure all the Dark Marks are absolutely perfect, and he makes it special for each and every one of us - which I think is ridiculous - since they all seem to look the same. Well, I tell you, they're not. Some are darker than others. He made sure that mine was made with temporary ink, but the only way you can take it off is if Snape does it himself, with some crazy incantation. He wrote it down somewhere and gave it to me just in case the worst happens, but I lost it."
"Typical," I joked. Sirius and Hermione laughed.
"Yeah, it is typical for me isn't it?" Sirius nodded.
"Why have you been so quiet, Ginny?" Hermione asked, looking concerned at her best friend. "It's not like you."
"I don't know what we're doing here!" she sighed angrily, walking all around the room. "We might as well be going back home. And by home, I mean our hotel. We've found Hermione, we've got Sirius who can help us, we're all safe and sound, let's just go home! Oh wait... I have no idea to get to the Burrow without Mum or Dad."
"We can't!" Hermione and Sirius protested. "We've both got tracking charms on us!"
"Oh crap," I sighed, walking and sitting on the couch abruptly, making it jump. "We're dead."
"We might not be," Ginny smirked. "We'll just send a letter to Dumbledore and McGonagall by Muggle post. It's not as fast, but it's the best we can do."
"Well!" Hermione smiled happily. "One of you should get a piece of parchment and a quill and start writing! I have an envelope in my pocket."
I whipped out a piece of parchment and a pen (oh how I love these Muggle things! They never run out of ink!) and started writing a short letter. When I finished writing the letter, I folded it neatly and got an envelope in pocket and put it there.
"You know Draco?" Sirius grinned. "I don't know how you manage to remember being a Pureblood, stay neutral on Muggleborns and avoid being hit with the Killing Curse by You-Know-Who."
I smirked. If he had any idea.
"I'm pretty sure it's called luck," Ginny grinned. We all laughed.
"I'll go put the letter in the post office," I suggested hopefully.
"There is no way you're doing that!" Hermione yelled concernedly. "Even though Sirius and I have tracking charms on us, instead of using Muggle Post, just in case we get sent to the wrong address, I think someone should just Floo to Dumbledore's place and give him the letter. The Ministry don't monitor them anymore!"
"That's good!" Ginny beamed. "That way, I can send the letter to Dumbledore and McGonagall without waiting, and without chance the message might be intercepted! Unless Death Eaters pop up in Edinburgh, which is not that likely..."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Sirius asked. "Go send them the message."
"I'll do it!" Ginny volunteered, waving her arms frantically in the air. Sirius passed Ginny a little bit of Floo Powder.
"Hotel de Ville," she whispered.
Swallowed by green flames, she disappeared, leaving the rest of us watching.
Back in Edinburgh...
In Edinburgh, the students were in panic, in shock or going about their daily business.
Luna and Lavender were both panicking. Lavender, unsurprisingly, took it harder than Luna. She was hiding in her room all the time and she always seemed tired.
Hermione had disappeared four days before, while Draco and Ginny had disappeared the day afterwards. When Dumbledore and McGonagall had failed to mention it, many of the students find it a little suspicious. However, being cuaght up in trying to explore Edinburgh and in the amount of rumours that spread around the schools everyday, the students immediately forgot about it and assumed that they have gone into the nearby towns to explore the tranquility of the countryside. (Though you do admit that was a very long trip.) Meanwhile, Luna and Seamus were replacing Hermione and Draco as Heads that evening until they came back.
"So Luna," Seamus sighed, smirking at her on her dining table. "Do you want to hang out at the Cafe Rouge later? You know, to discuss some head duties?"
"Oh hell no," Luna bitterly replied, staring away from him. "What's your girlfriend going to say about it? We're going to be in a cafe in the middle of Edinburgh. Won't she be suspicious of me?"
"Wait, what?"
"Lavender and Ginny said you asked Cho out. I bet you two are in the middle of bloody paradise right now."
"Well, what they didn't tell you was, she said no."
Luna stared at him for a second. She nodded.
"Well," she sighed. "I'm still going to reject your offer, Seamus. I'm sorry. Besides, Hermione and Draco shouldn't be gone for too long."
She turned on her heel before she returned to her hotel room.
But neither of them know that right at that moment, a certain redhead was sweeping through the villas, away from sight.
That night, Luna was just checking everyone had gone back to sleep. She and Seamus had agreed to do their patrols separately, since Luna was obviously going to kill Seamus if he tries to talk to her again.
She took the upstairs floor, and she had covered half of the floor so far. So far, she had found nothing unusual. Everyone seems to be holed up in their doors sleeping.
At least, until she heard a suspicious noise.
Luna stayed where she was. She put her hand behind her ear so she could listen to it better. She followed it where it leads her. She took each step very closely, making sure that she doesn't lose it. After a few metres, Luna smirked, found her stride, immediately ran over to the noise and...
"OWWW!"
Luna had bumped into a broom closet, which was precariously located near a stairwell. She raised her eyebrow, rubbed her forehead and the noise stopped. She then knocked the door of the closet gently.
"Hello?" she whispered in her dreamy, mysterious voice. "Is anyone in there?"
Silence.
Luna simply opened the closet doors and found two people in an embrace. One of them had the carrot red hair only the Weasleys had, so she knew it was Ron, since Ginny wasn't here. The other person, however, had shoulder-length, jet black hair. Well, she knew only one person like that, and it was...
Pansy Parkinson.
"Oh my God!" she sighed. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt! But it's way past curfew, you two. You better get back to your dorms or it's 30 points off. Each."
Ron and Pansy immediately ran out of the broom closet and headed off in two separate directions. She then closed the doors of the broom closet and heard a mysterious noise.
"Who's there?" she yelled, pulling out her flashlight. She turned around and saw a thin familiar figure with untidy black hair right behind her.
She smiled.
"Harry!" she gleamed. "If you weren't my roommate I would've yelled at you."
"It's okay," he laughed. "Umm... who'd you catch in the broom closet?"
"You're not going to believe this."
"Try me."
"Ron and Pansy."
Harry laughed even louder. "I'm not surprised. They've been staring at each other all the time at meals and they bump into each other on purpose. Which I think is crazy considering the amount of time they hated each other."
"I agree."
Luna looked up at Harry and realised how close they are to each other. She took a step back, but then she took his wrist.
"Let's go back to our dorm together," she smiled.
"Yeah," he replied, smiling back at her.
They walked back to their dorm together hand in hand, not having a care in the world.