"I know how to put on a pretty pathetic show...I'm getting pretty good at feeding them the lines they like." (Icon for Hire, "Theatre")

Copyright: I own nothing. Not even the quote above or the one at the end of this chapter.

Chapter Eight

During the prescribed day off, I spent the entire day in the Room of Requirement working on the Vanishing Cabinet. I used almost everything I brought with me to repair the magical pathway to the Cabinet in Borgin and Burkes.

I was taught hundreds of different spells-both Light and Dark-that could repair the path, and I spent the whole day casting them. I started with the lighter didn't drain me as much, but no spell that I cast held for longer than a few minutes. Eventually, I moved into the darker spells. I cast them over and over again, but nothing was permanent.

I raised my wand to cast another when my vision blurred and my legs grew weak. I instantly lowered my wand and put a hand to my head to try and steady it. After a while, I thought my head had cleared, but instead of feeling better, my knees gave out, and I fell to the floor.

I released my hold on the end of my wand and laid on the floor for a while, too exhausted to get back up.

Looking back on it, I should have forced myself to leave the Room of Requirement and gone back to the common room, but I was too weak to even pick up my wand that rested just centimeters away.

After a few moments, my eyes slipped closed as I lost consciousness. I wasn't sure how long passed, but eventually, I managed to wake myself and grasp my wand.

I rolled onto my stomach with a grunt and pushed up from the floor, forcing myself to stand. I stumbled a few steps towards the Cabinet, struggling to get my unsteady feet back underneath me. I leaned up against a wall of junk to catch my breath.

I was done for the day. I couldn't go any further.

I breathed deeply, focusing on the magical pathway to the Cabinet in Borgin and Burkes. Some of the shards had come together, making the passage a little more tangible. It wasn't enough to quit, but it was progress.

I raised my wand again waved it at the Cabinet, closing its doors, and with another flick of my wrist, the red covering floated up and placed itself over the Cabinet, concealing it once more.

I slipped my wand back into my pocket and pulled out my father's old pocket watch. It was about an hour before dinner, giving me enough time to head back to the common room and clean myself up. I really wanted to hide away in my bed and sleep, but I was starving.

I put the watch back into my pocket and stumbled through the Room's double doors. I leaned up against one of the stone columns as the doors disappeared from the wall, the world spinning to fast for me to keep walking.

Once my surroundings had settled, I started off towards the Slytherin common room, though I was still stumbling and running into things, making the journey seemed endless. I'm grateful that no one else wasn't there to see. I would have never heard the end of it, especially if it was Peeves that saw. He would've spread word throughout the entire castle like wildfire.

At last, I ended up in the common room, and I ascended the stairs to the boys' dormitory on wobbling legs.

I made my way to my bed, and pulled open the closet door. I stared at myself in the mirror, making sure that I was presentable for dinner. My hair was mussed, my cheeks were sunken in and there were dark circles under my eyes. I could fix the hair, but there wasn't much I could do about the rest of it.

I ran my fingers through my white hair to smooth it down, and adjusted my black suit, so that it would look like there was less wrong with me than there actually was.

A loud grumble from my stomach reminded me of both the time and the tonic that Madame Pomphrey made me the night before. I grabbed the small bottle off of my nightstand and hid it inside one of the pockets of my school robe.

Knowing that dinner would already be started by the time I made it to the Great Hall, I didn't bother to check my watch and left the dormitory.

I ran into Snape halfway to the Hall, and we locked eyes for a moment, making me tense again.

"Any progress?" the professor asked in a hushed tone.

"A little," I answered, mimicking his volume. "It's not enough, but I've made some."

"You look sick," Snape commented.

"I am sick," I responded.

"It's the-"

"Yeah, I know what it is," I interrupted, earning what was considered a disapproving look by Snape's standards. "Can I go eat dinner now?"

Snape didn't respond but calmly walked away, presumably heading to the door to the Great Hall that the professors always entered through. I sighed my tension away when he disappeared around a corner, and I resumed my walk to the main entrance of the Great Hall.

I caught up with a river of students from all Houses flowing into the Great Hall, each one anxious to eat. I wanted so badly to actually eat something tonight, but I wasn't sure if I could, so I was more cautious than excited.

I quickly found my seat at the Slytherin's long table and fell into it, glad I could finally sit down. I placed an elbow on the table and leaned my aching head onto my hand, closing my eyes.

I was so tired. My desire to eat paled in comparison to my desire to sleep.

"Hey, Draco!" Crabbe shouted, sending a pang through my pounding skull as he took his seat beside me.

"Finally decide to join the living, eh?" Goyle mocked, lowering himself into the seat on my other side.

"Couldn't stay in bed anymore," I lied. "And plus. My hunger got the better of me."

"Well, at least you actually want to eat," Pansy joked as she took her seat across from me.

I fake a quiet laugh as Blaise took his spot beside Pansy.

"You remembered that tonic, right?" he wondered.

"Yeah," I said, glad I could answer something truthfully for the night. "Got it right here." I patted the side of my robes.

The food for dinner bloomed onto the table, and I glanced at it all with disgust, nausea rising inside of me at the sight of it.

After a few minutes, Pansy spoke up. "You have to at least try, Draco. You don't want to starve, do you?"

I shrugged and took a small biscuit and a slice of cheese. I took the smallest bite possible of both and put it on my plate, waiting to see if I could keep it down.

"And drink a little, as well," Pansy instructed.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were Madame Pomphrey," I mocked, pouring some water into my goblet.

"Oh, ha-ha," she sighed, getting me to genuinely smile at her. It was a small smile, but it was the first real one I had managed in two years.

I sipped the water, and glanced up at the platform where the the professors and Headmaster ate.

Dumbledore seemed to catch my gaze, and I quickly lowered my head. He wasn't the Headmaster. He was a target. My target. Nothing more.

I picked up my biscuit and cheese and took another small bite. My nerves were shaken at catching Dumbledore's gaze that the tremor in my hand returned, so I dropped the food, and fisted my hand to try to get the shaking to stop.

"But I don't recognize the [boy] that I face each night." (Icon for Hire, "Theatre")

I know this chapter was short-ish, but the next one is longer!

Until next week!