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Chapter Nine

Later in the year, the morning we were all going to Hogsmeade was the best day I'd had in awhile. I had taken the tonic from Madame Pomphrey, and my sickness had lessened greatly. I continued to cast Dark Spells on the Cabinet in the Room of Requirement, which slowed my physical progress, but it was still the best I had felt in a long time. I could keep food down. My stomach, for once, wasn't protesting against me when I ate anything larger than a biscuit. I was so hungry that my stomach sent pain throughout my entire body, so I ate everything I could at breakfast that day. It earned me a little mocking from Pansy and Blaise about turning into Crabbe and Goyle, but I didn't mind.

It didn't seem like that day could go wrong. I was going to be away from the School, so I couldn't work on the Cabinet. I wouldn't be casting any Dark Spells that day. Finally.

The owls started pouring in for the usual morning post, and I rolled my eyes as Weasley's old bird crashed into Potter's distinctive white one, throwing them both into their table.

A cream-coloured owl gracefully landed on the table in front of me with a note attached to its leg. It was addressed to me.

I untied the letter from the owl's leg and gave it a bit of a muffin in payment. The bird flew off as I broke the wax seal on the letter and unrolled it. It was an encoded message from my father. On the surface, it looked like any letter a father would send his son, but it was actually a check on my progress and a reminder.

Decoded, the message read:

Draco,

How are things coming along with the Cabinet. We need to know.

And have you made any attempt at taking your target's life as of late? If you were successful, we would hear about it in the papers, but we haven't, so you have either failed, or you haven't tried yet.

I know that you will be away from the School for your Hogsmeade trip and unable to work with the Cabinet, but you can still try to accomplish your other task.

I will be proud of you when you do. You were chosen for this.

He didn't chose you. Well, not entirely. I did. Several names were brought up, and I thought you would be perfect. He and I didn't both chose wrong, did we?

Father

My hand trembled as I read the words. He suggested me to the Dark Lord? Why? He knew what would happen if You-Know-Who accepted me.

It didn't matter. Father was right. I did have a job to do, and either way, I was chosen for it. I had to do it today.

I had hardened my resolve to kill Dumbledore that morning as we went back to the common room to gather money and other things we might need for the Hogsmeade trip.

I couldn't do it personally. Not yet. If the plan I had in mind at the time failed, I would try again, but I never planned on killing him face-to-face unless I was left with no alternative. I didn't want to watch him die. My guilt was already making my stomach hurt again.

I carefully hid the packaged necklace inside my suit jacket and pulled on my long black overcoat, as I mentally rehearsed my plan.

A girl would have to deliver it to him. It was less suspicious for a woman to deliver a necklace than a man. I would cast the Imperius Curse-the least draining of the Unforgivable Curses-from behind her so she couldn't see who cursed her. The girl would deliver the necklace to Dumbledore, and I would release the curse I placed on her. The Headmaster would open the wrappings and as soon as he touched the case, he would be ripped apart.

I avoided my friends the entire trip to Hogsmeade. I didn't need any questions about how I was doing or if I wanted to spend time with them. I was already going to do something draining. The last thing I needed was to lie to them.

I would find a girl old enough in the Three Broomsticks. Everyone visited that place at least once during the trips. She had to be at least a Fourth Year. Fourth Years were strong enough to bare the weight of the Curse. Mad-Eye Moody proved that well enough.

I rushed into the Three Broomsticks and quickly shrugged off my snow-dusted overcoat, hanging it on a hook by the door.

I scanned the room to see if a girl of the right age was there, and sure enough, there were plenty.

I weaved my way passed a babbling Slughorn and the other patrons and was about to cross to the lavatories to wait for a girl to walk by, when Potter spotted me as he was sitting down with Granger and Weasley. I froze in place.

He was watching me. He must suspect me of something. Why else would he stare at me like that?

If Potter saw me disappear into the girls' lavatory and then have a girl walk out with a cursed necklace, I would be his only suspect. He would catch me and turn me in. I wouldn't kill Dumbledore, and I wouldn't repair the Cabinet.

He would kill me.

The tremor in my hand reminded me that I had a job to do, and I couldn't let anything get in the way of that.

I bowed my head and quickly disappeared around the corner and into the boys' lavatory, leaving the door open a crack. I watched as Potter's two friends argued about something, and eventually, Slughorn came by their table. "Hey, my boy!" he exclaimed.

"Hello, sir! Wonderful to see you," Potter responded just as loudly as the professor, standing from his chair.

That was my chance.

I swiftly exited the lavatory and slipped into the girls', hiding myself in a corner out of view of both the door and the mirror. I didn't have to wait long before a Sixth Year entered. I couldn't remember her first name, but I thought her last name was Bell. Either way, it didn't matter.

I drew my wand as she approached me, and muttered, "Imperio."

A mist extended out of the end of my wand and overtook the Bell girl, making her freeze. Once I was sure she was fully controlled, I left my hiding place and pulled out the packaged necklace from inside my suit.

"You must deliver this to Professor Dumbledore and no one else," I instructed, giving her the parcel after I made sure it was securely wrapped. I didn't want her to die, after all.

The girl dutifully took the parcel and exited the bathroom with me following close behind. I ducked behind her and wormed my way through the other patrons so no one would notice me.

I sat at an empty table hidden in a darkened corner, far off from the other customers and ordered a butterbeer. It got to me in a minute or so, and I fixed my gaze out the window, closing my eyes so I could keep track of the Bell Girl's movements. Things seemed to be going well, but the girl's friend kept interrogating her, trying to get her to reveal what was inside the parcel.

"Katie, you don't know what it could be," the friend warned. "You shouldn't touch it."

Katie's friend moved in front of her, but because of the Curse I placed on Katie, she was so narrow-sighted that she didn't notice and ran straight into her friend, dropping the package I gave her.

The wrappings had come loose, and Katie bent over to pick up the parcel.

She touched the edge of the necklace and the curse in the jewelry took hold, forcing away my Imperious Curse.

"No," I muttered under my breath as I opened my eyes. "That can't be. She was supposed to…" I had to get out of there.

I dropped the payment for the butterbeer on the table and rushed out of the shop.

"Malfoy!" someone called, making me look up from the snow-covered ground. It was Goyle.

"What?" I yelled over the howling wind.

"We've got to go!" he answered. "Something happened to Katie Bell, and all the professors have ordered us back to the castle! Where's your coat?"

I glanced at him in confusion then looked down at myself. I hadn't noticed I had left my coat at the Three Broomsticks.

"Doesn't matter!" I shouted back. "Let's just go! We probably don't have time to go back and get it!"

Goyle nodded and we both started back for the carriages that would take us back to the castle.

The news about Katie Bell spread quickly through the whole school, and we all got the rest of the day off because of it. The teachers needed to investigate or something like that.

I used that time to respond to my father's letter in the relative privacy of the boys' dormitory. I wrote it in the same code that he used to right to me this morning and hid the information about what happened that day:

Father,

I have made some progress with the Cabinet. From what I can tell, the pathway is almost formed and holding steady. I just need to run some tests on it to see if it can still be used as a transport. I'll try objects first. Then maybe a plant and see if it can survive the trip. Then something like an animal to see if complex life can still pass through.

I did recently make an attempt on my target's life, but I have failed. I Cursed a girl to get her to send him the cursed necklace I brought with me, but her friend prevented her from doing so, and she accidentally touched the necklace.

I don't know what has become of the girl, but I heard that she was transported to a real hospital, and is no longer in the school.

She didn't see me when I Cursed her, so she won't be able to name me as the one who made her do it, but I did fail.

I'm sorry, Father.

Draco

Hope you guys enjoyed! Until next week!