"Snape?" I asked flabbergasted. He nodded and plopped down onto one of the sofas gazing into the murky depths of the lake outside the window. I merely sat there, my mind reeling, Draco did not trust Snape, so why should I? But the Dark Lord trusts him so why shouldn't I? Then a smaller voice in the back of my head sounded off, Bellatrix doesn't trust him either, nor has he shown any information of crucial value that I have noticed.
"Time to start leaving Snape out of our mission I believe," I murmured into his neck, he was cold and stiff.
"Let's get to bed, we have a long break ahead of us, this Cabinet must be fixed. But before we go to bed," he reached into his pocket and withdrew a Galleon, intrigued, I raised an eyebrow, it informed Draco that Slughorn would be giving Dumbledore mead for Christmas…
"When did you plant that with Rosmerta?" I asked.
"Aunt Bellatrix did it," he replied, and I saw him alter the message to her to read Poison the gift. "By the way, she wrote and said you did a most excellent curse, very strong." I smiled and drug him off to bed.
Every morning we awoke in those ancient four-posters with green silk hangings, and bedspreads embroidered with silver thread. Medieval tapestries depicting the adventures of famous Slytherins covering the walls, and silver lanterns hanging from the ceiling. We rose early, and went to bed late, every ounce of our beings focused on mending that cabinet, and slowly but surely, it was making progress. Still, we had heard nothing of an attempted poisoning of Dumbledore though.
Occasionally I would sit in the Room of Requirement, Draco muttering incantations and focusing on various parts of the Cabinet, needing my combined effort at some points, and I would just stare at the part of my skin where the Dark Mark was branded into me. One day, rather than a bird returning to us when sent through the cabinet, we received a note.
Draco and Astoria,
At this point in time, nothing has been received at this end, I believe you were advised to try a small living creature, if this has been tried, the cabinet is not fit for travel yet, keep working, and work quickly. The Dark Lord is growing tiresome waiting on your small amounts of progress. A word of advice, mend beyond the physical barriers of the cabinet. My purpose for this letter is to relay a message to you. The Dark Lord requires you to fetch a certain item from the confines of the school. In the Hufflepuff common room, there is a portrait of Hufflepuff, behind the portrait rests a compartment, a compartment in which an item of extreme importance is hidden, the cup of Hufflepuff. You are to fetch it, and send it through the cabinet, seeing as non-living things are safe to send through at this point. Do this immediately, the cabinet in Borgin and Burkes has since been moved to Malfoy Manor, so it shall be safe. Relay any messages through this way from now on.
Bellatrix
"How on earth are we supposed to get in there?" I asked after reading it.
"Let's ask Slytherin." Draco said striding off to the common room. Once there, Slytherin smiled shrewdly and got into a long winded explanation.
"The Hufflepuff common room is entered from the same corridor as the Hogwarts kitchens. Proceeding past the large still life that forms the entrance to the latter, a pile of large barrels is to be found stacked in a shadowy stone recess on the right-hand side of the corridor. The barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, will open if tapped in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff'. As a security device to repel non-Hufflepuffs, tapping on the wrong barrel, or tapping the incorrect number of times, results in one of the other lids bursting off and drenching the interloper in vinegar." He finished.
"Okay, but how are we supposed to slip in there unnoticed?" I asked distraughtly. Draco said nothing, and loped up the stairs into the dormitories, in his hands he held out a lump of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, and a shriveled hand, his Hand of Glory. I grinned, raised my wand and put a disillusionment charm on us both; hopefully they would be asleep by now. Together we clutched the hand with its candle, and set off towards the Hufflepuff common room.
A sloping, earthy passage inside the barrel travels upwards a little way until a cozy, round, low-ceilinged room is revealed, reminiscent of a badger's set. The room is decorated in the cheerful, bee-like colors of yellow and black, emphasized by the use of highly polished, honey-coloured wood for the tables and the round doors which lead to what I assume is the boys' and girls' dormitories.
A colorful profusion of plants and flowers seem to adorn the Hufflepuff common room: various cacti stand on wooden circular shelves (curved to fit the walls), many of them waving and dancing while we pass by, while copper-bottomed plant holders dangling amid the ceiling cause tendrils of ferns and ivies to brush our hair as we pass under them. Angrily I stroke my hair to ensure nothing got caught in it.
A portrait over the wooden mantelpiece, carved all over with decorative dancing badgers, shows Helga Hufflepuff, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School, toasting her students with a tiny, two-handled golden cup. I look at Draco, an evil smirk on my face.
"This is what we've come for." I whisper triumphantly, ensuring I wake nobody.
"How do we open it though?" He growled.
"I have an idea!" I whispered, comprehension dawning on me. "Open," I hissed in Parseltongue, Draco shivered beside me; I placed a hand on him to steady him. Slowly the portrait swung open, revealing the cup. I grasped it firmly, and we hurried back to the common room.