"10 minutes until the end of lesson." Slughorn announced.
Hermione looked up from the parchment she had be furiously writing on for the past 20 minutes. She wanted to get down every detail of the potion-making process and the scents she smelled. Of course they would not be able to try out their potions on anyone, Slughorn just assigned them this potion as a fun beginning of term assignment but they did have to write an essay comparing what they smell to what their partners smell. She hoped Draco was taking notes for his part of the essay. She didn't dare look over at him though. Not after the hurtful things he had said to her.
After Slughorn's announcement she stopped writing and began to clean up the mess from her potion. When everything was tidy once more she knew she could no longer avoid Draco. She would need his part of the essay for comparison. She turned to ask him for his notes only to find that he had vanished.
"Make sure you have your essays to turn in by next lesson. See you all later." Slughorn says, signalling the end of the lesson.
Ten chairs scrape the ground in unison as the students all gather their bags and leave the room. Hermione hurriedly stuffs her book and parchment back into her bag as Ron and Harry make their way over to her table.
"I can't believe you got partnered with that prat" Ron says, approaching the table. "And where did he get off to in such a hurry?"
"I don't know" Hermione barked. "It's not like we chatted all during the lesson. He didn't even help me with the damn potion. Just sat there muttering to himself about being close. He's an odd one, Malfoy is. And I don't even know what the potion smelled like to him. How am I going to write my essay if I don't know his part. He's just an inconsiderate jerk."
"Calm down, Hermione. Why don't you just ask him at dinner?" Harry replied calmly as they walked out of the classroom. "Ron and I've got free period next, how about you?"
"I've got Muggle Studies. Are you two going to go write your essays?" She asked in a motherly tone. "I know how the two of you like to put off your homework until the last second and then expect me to do it for you. That's not happening this year. We're almost N.E.W.T students after all, and I can't sit your N.E.W.T exams for you, you know."
"Actually, we're heading down to the Quidditch pitch. Harry's captain this year and I'm trying out for the keeper position. Harry's going to help me get some practice in before tryouts." Hermione rolled her eyes. Of course they were going to do something impractical instead of spending their free time getting ahead with their schoolwork.
"Fine, but remember what I said, I'm not helping you when you get behind on your work, and you will get behind." She turned on her heel, leaving the two boys at the entrance hall and climbed the stairs to her Muggle Studies class.
By dinner she had completely forgotten about the horrible Potions lesson. Her Muggle Studies lesson was the most interesting one she'd had all day. Professor Burbage had assigned a mountain of reading and Hermione could barely wait to get back to the common room after dinner to dive into it.
She walked into the Great Hall, her eyes scanning the Gryffindor table looking for Harry and Ron. Not finding them, her eyes settled on Ginny Weasley and Dean Thomas. She sighed, not sure if she wanted to deal with their lovey dovey nonsense right now. Deciding it was better than sitting alone, she walked over and sat across from the two lovebirds.
"Hey Hermione" Ginny said looking up from her dinner. She smiled up at Hermione, genuinely happy to see the older Gryffindor. "How was your first day back?"
"Wonderful, I just love the start of term. All of the lessons this year are just going to be amazing." Hermione said breathlessly. "Well, almost all of them" she added, suddenly remembering her Potions lesson earlier that day.
She turned and scanned the Slytherin table on the other side of the room looking for Malfoy. She searched up and down the table twice, just in case she missed him, but he definitely wasn't there. It was weird for Malfoy to miss a meal, not because he enjoyed the food, but because he enjoyed any opportunity to bash on anyone he deemed beneath him.
"Earth to Hermione." she turned around and gave her attention back to Ginny.
"Sorry, what did you say?" she asked sheepishly, embarrassed that she was so caught up in looking for Malfoy.
"I said Harry and Ron filled us in on what happened in Potions when we were down at the Quidditch pitch before dinner." Ginny replied patiently. She was staring at Hermione with a look of pity in her eyes. "Do you want me to cast a Bat Bogey Hex on Malfoy for you?"
Hermione smiled at the mental image of Draco caught in one of Ginny's infamous Bat Bogey Hexes. It would be satisfying but her smile slowly faded when she remembered the comment he made about her never fighting her own battles.
"As amusing as that would be, I think I'll handle this on my own."
"I need a place to work on the vanishing cabinet." Draco walked passed the wall opposite Barnabus the Barmy 3 times repeating what he desired. A door appeared in the previously blank wall and Draco, looking around to make sure he wasn't seen, quickly disappeared inside the door.
The inside of the room was filled with everything that had ever been lost or hidden at Hogwarts. The piles of old chairs, desks, and bird cages were piled all the way up to the ceiling. The haphazard piles teetered dangerously, like they would fall at the slightest touch.
Draco began picking his way through the piles of discarded junk and eventually began to wind his way through the mess towards the back of the room. When he came across an innocent looking cabinet he stopped, recalling the orders given to him by Lord Voldemort a few weeks earlier.
"Draco" Lucius Malfoy called for his son from the dining room where the latest Death Eater meeting was taking place. "Come."
Draco stood up from his place on the couch in the adjacent room, shaking slightly. His father never allowed him to come in during the Death Eater meetings. He slowly walked into the room, careful not to meet the eyes of his father. Instead he made eye contact with Severus Snape, his favorite professor and head of Slytherin house at Hogwarts. The look on Snape's face did little to comfort Draco, in fact the look of horror on his favorite professor's face made Draco's anxiety grow to full out terror.
"Young Draco, come face your Lord." The quiet voice came from the shadowed head of the table.
Draco slowly made his way to the front of the room. He pulled his shoulders back and held his head high as he passed by the parents of his fellow Slytherins . He wouldn't allow anyone to see that he was afraid. He had too much pride for that.
However, his false confidence came to an abrupt halt once he reach the head of the table. He couldn't bring himself to look into the red eyes of the Dark Lord.
"I have two important tasks for you Draco. If you fail me, you're life and the lives of those closest to you will be in peril." The Dark Lord informed him in a soft, calm voice.
Draco lick his lips nervously.
"First I need you to find a way to get the death eaters into Hogwarts. It will be essential that the rest of the staff are busy and distracted so that you may complete the second part of your task."
Draco's mind flicked back to the previous year when he found Montague stuck in the U-bend of the toliets. Montague told him about the cabinet he was stuffed in and how he could hear what was going on in Hogwarts but he could also hear what was going on in Borgin and Burkes. When he showed Draco the cabinet he thought it looked familiar but couldn't place it. Then at the beginning of summer Draco accompanied his father to Borgin and Burkes and saw a cabinet that looked just like the one at Hogwarts. It didn't take much to put two and two together and figure out what the cabinets did.
"I think I know how to get them in" he murmured half to himself.
"Good, Good." Voldemort sneered rubbing his hands together. "Now the second part of your task is the most important and it is essential in order for me to take over the wizarding world and kill Harry Potter."
Draco saw a look of pride cross his father's face and was suddenly determined that he would complete whatever tasks Voldemort gave him. It wasn't often that his father had reason to be proud of him but now the Dark Lord himself was giving Draco the ultimate task. If he could get the Death Eaters into Hogwarts he would become a legend and his father would surely be proud of him then.
"Your second task" Voldemort began, a creepy smile plastered on his face "is to kill Albus Dumbledore.
Draco trembled at the memory of the day he became a Death Eater. He couldn't even bring himself to think about the second task he had been chosen to do. So he pushed it to the back of his mind and focused on the task at hand.
He sat down cross-legged in front of the vanishing cabinet pondering ways he could fix it.