Draco had spent months trying to decipher the dream he had held, each night it getting more and more haunting until finally he placed it down to one thing. Now, holding the coin Hermione had given him from the DA in case they got separated in Knockturn Alley, Draco focused on the date and time he wanted to meet the barkeep. Never before had he used an Unforgivable Curse, having never seen the purpose of using one until now. Now, he had Madam Rosemerta, the bottle-haired blonde, obeying his every command.
"Are you coming?" Blaise asked, walking into the dormitories as he looked over at Draco. Softly Draco pocketed the immitation galleon like a precious stone before looking back up at the other Slytherin.
"Yea," He answered, "Let's go. I'm ready to get out of this blasted school for a while. Maybe meet some of the others down at Three Broomsticks. I could use a butterbeer." He said, causing Blaise to stare at him in awe. It had been the most words he had spoken in months. "Come on Zabini." Draco snarled, standing up and walking out of the room as Blaise followed him up the stairs, out of the castle, and into Hogsmeade.
Draco took his time, appearing to eyeball each shop before heading down to Three Broomsticks. He had the barkeep already waiting upstairs in the rooms for rent under his command, getting ready to get her next request from her seventeen-year-old master on what to do. Heading towards the stairs, Draco froze in his tracks, his mind going blank as he stared on at the trio sitting at the table right on the opposite side of the stairwell. He was face-to-face with Weasley and Potter, neither of which were his concern as he saw the frizzy brown hair that had once flowed freely across his pillow, cradling the beautiful face he kissed. His heart sank.
This is who you are doing this for, Draco reminds himself as he heads up the stairs to the empty room. Number 7.
Opening the door, Draco faced a single four-poster bed, a couch and two chairs. Madam Rosemerta sat in one of the chairs, awaiting her master's next command which she would obey with nothing more than a peaceful mind.
"Did you get it?" Draco asked, shutting the door behind him, causing Madam Rosemerta to turn around.
"Yes, just as you requested. One from Knockturn Alley." She answered with a very pleasing tone to Draco.
"Good," He answers, "And it is cursed?" He asked with concern.
"Yes." She answered honestly, just as Mr. Borgin had told her about the necklace.
"Good," Draco answers, hoping this would be enough. "Put the Bell girl under the Imperius Curse. make her give it to Dumbledore." He demanded.
"Yes sir." Madam Rosemerta answered, no fight in her body or mind as she stood up and walked out of the room.
Draco sighed as he put his head in his hands, not wanting to do this. He knew he wasn't a murderer but this way, if he used the Imperius Curse, technically he wouldn't be the one killing Dumbledore. Madam Rosemerta was, the barkeep of The Three Broomsticks. The plan was fool-proof, no way for it to fall back on him. Even if it did somehow get tracked back that Katie Bell, respected member of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, gave Dumbledore the cursed necklace, even if someone figured out that Madam Rosemerta had given Katie the necklace, it was nearly impossible for anyone to put together that Draco had put Madam Rosemerta under an Unforgivable Curse. It worked out perfectly and then...Draco heard a scream from the other side of the window.
Draco couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl who had been cursed. Rumors filled the halls for months afterwards, a select few of them owning truth to them, which was normally mixed in with the lies.
"They say it was a dementor, drove her mad enough to grab a cursed necklace and see how far she could run with it before she fell over dead."
"Hole in her glove, I heard but don't know. When I saw her, she wasn't wearing gloves."
"Nearly exploded when she was floating in mid-air. Hagrid had to jump up to grab her body."
"Bathroom floor, just found it laying there."
Those weren't the rumors that sent a chill down Draco's spine though. No, the ones that were quality entertainment as school-girl gossip were something Draco couldn't help but have little interest in. It was the ones that he heard Hermione speak of. The ones that she whispered softly to Potter in the library when they thought no one could hear. The only place Draco could still secretly be close and hear Hermione's sweet voice that he wasn't ready to let go of yet.
"It doesn't matter Harry," She said with a sigh. "Even if you do think Draco Malfoy is up to something, we can't prove it."
"But Hermione-" Harry started as Hermione shook her head. She couldn't explain why, but for some reason, in the pit of her stomach, Hermione couldn't see Draco Malfoy being a Death Eater. She couldn't see him trying to kill Dumbledore.
"I just can't see it Harry, I'm sorry." She answered after a moment of silence, shaking her head as Draco silently sighed out in relief on the other side of the bookshelf. "Anyway, who are you taking to Slughorn's Ball?" She asked, leaning up against a table, the back of her head only a few books away from the front of Draco's as he listened intently.
"Umm...I don't know yet," Harry answered nervously. "I was actually thinking we could go together. As friends of course." He added in lastly, causing Draco's blood to boil with jealousy.
"Why hadn't I thought of that!?" Hermione answered with a huff.
"Why? Are you already going with someone?" Harry asked, trying to hide his shock.
"Well, yes." Hermione answers, "but it's a surprise. Anyway, it's not me I'm worried about. See that girl behind me?" She asked, turning her back to a girl studying in the corner as both Harry and Draco looked over from opposite sides of the bookshelf, seeing a beautiful girl with a dark complexion and even darker spiral curls floating down her back. "That's Romilda Vane. I heard from some of the other girls she was planning on slipping you a love potion, most likely a Wheezing Weasleys product."
Draco didn't hear the rest of the conversation. He honestly didn't care to hear about Potter's girl problems but, if the Vanishing Cabinet he was still attempting to fix didn't work next time he tried using it, maybe a poison would. He could sneak it in easily as this Vane girl had done with the love potion. If she could do it, risking getting caught for a pathetic Slug Ball that he hadn't even been invited to, he could easily sneak in a poison to slip to Dumbledore. Maybe one that smelt like his favorite food...what was it that he had told Draco and Hermione he liked...focus Draco. Yes, that was it. Black Licorice. If the Vanishing Cabinet didn't work whenever he tried it over Christmas break, he would write his Auntie Bella from Hogsmeade, telling her to send him a poison that smelt like black licorice. It was genius. Once again, Hermione's genius mind was helping him. He could kiss her for such a brilliant idea, if he didn't think that it too would risk her safety. No, this was best. He had to keep her safe.