Just a little one today. I'm really sorry if it is riddled with mistakes but im impulsive and upload as soon as it's finished so let me know if it's too terrible and ill edit them.

Chapter Nine ~The Vow~

"Mr. Malfoy, I'm afraid I am going to have to insist that you make an unbreakable vow." Professor McGonagall was solemn, sitting behind her large, antique desk. "You see, for Adelaide's own safety, and in a way your own, no one must be told about... about the situation. You do understand the gravity of this situation, don't you?"

Malfoy nodded and stood, extending his right hand to the professor.

"No," Adelaide stood, too. "He'll make it with me." She grabbed his outstretched arm and pulled up her sleeve.

McGonagall pursed her thin lips "Very well then." She stood and retrieved her wand from her sleeve, walking around the edge of her desk as she did so.

She began, "Draco Malfoy, do you swear never to reveal the secrets of Adelaide Hart, not even under violent interrogation?" Draco's eyes went wide and he stared at his professor.

"I do." he simple stated before the older woman continues in a slow, even voice.

"Do you swear to do what is within your power to assist in the protection of this secret?"

"I do" Draco could feel the vow creeping up his with a burning sensation.

Finally, McGonagall added "Do you swear to be kind to Adelaide, a friend when it is within your ability to do so?"

"Yes," He nodded resolutely. "I do."

Just before the magic was complete, the golden rope weaving around the pair's joined hands, Adelaide found her voice. "I make Draco Malfoy the same vow."

McGonagall stared, confused and slightly taken aback but the magic was complete, the vow solidified in skin. Now, Draco knew that she would not betray him.

"What do you mean?" professor McGonagall questioned, curiously.

"Nothing at all, I simply thought that Draco should be given the same courtesy. Besides, even if there was something it would kill be to tell you." She was right. She could never reveal his secret, not even to her own grandmother.

Upon leaving the professor's office they heard a stern reminder that they would have detention every Tuesday and Thursday nights for the rest of the year. Which was actually quite kind seeing as though it was already November. Adelaide had unfortunately lost her beloved map and there was no using the same escape root again, it had been sealed. Without the map they were unable to find another way out of the castle. Draco, perhaps fuelled by slight intoxication, was furious. "We could have used that map to help us! I'd have not needed to fix that bloody cabinet if you had just left that pathway alone. And for what? A party?" Draco snapped at Adelaide in hushed tones when they reached the portrait.

"What? How dare you! I included you with my friends. I wanted you to have some fun. Besides I took a vowel for you!" she retorted.

"So did I!"

"You had to. I did by choice. Regardless, we are in this together now, no getting out of it. So you may as well just shut up about it." Adelaide crossed her arms over her chest and wasn't going to back down.

Draco sighed, closed his eyes and rubbed his face. "I could have just been so easy. if no one else knew that way into the castle, my job would have been halfway finished already. And you..." He stopped at her fuming expression. "We ruined it. All for a bloody party." Draco slid down the wall, frustrated and exhausted.

Adelaide sat next to him, maybe a little too close but after all, the early morning had gotten chilly and she had no coat. "Did you at least have fun?" she asked, tucking her knees under her chin.

"No." His tone was matter of fact.

"Oh. Sorry, then." Resting her head on her knees, she tilted it to the side to look at him. The light from the slowly rising sun was gradually trickling down the stairs towards them and in the receding shadows Draco's complexion had become vastly greyer than it had been at the beginning of the year. The whole thing was tearing his insides to pieces, see could see it. She only hoped that others didn't as well. "Tomorrow is Sunday. Well, today actually." Adelaide timidly tried to lighten the mood. "Slytherin have the pitch again to practice." Draco nodded.

"Why did you take that Unbreakable Vow?" Draco's eyes pierced hers,daring her to lie.

"So that we would be equal." was all she said before getting up from her place against the cold stone wall and entering the common room through the portrait.

So, they were equal? Were they equal? Draco had grown up his whole life believing he had no equal, that no one could match a Malfoy. Rich, powerful, pure Malfoys. No other family had a larger Gringotts vault, no heritage had been so pure. There was no one so proud, stupid and cowardice than a Malfoy. This girl was the daughter of a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff, he the son of a long line of Slytherins, many who dabbled in dark magic. She was kind, and excitable, and knew what she believed in. She was sure of herself. He was none of this. She wore Weasely sweaters and didn't brush her hair. She snuck out of the castle and barely flinched when she was caught red-handed. She was brave, loyal and reliable. She even saw the good in him. For the two of them to be called equal, Draco thought was unimaginable. She was so much better, he thought. To take an Unbreakable Vow willingly, solely because it was a kind and loyal act to someone who, in his eyes, didn't deserve even a minute if friendliness, that was selfless. Who could be a better person than a friend? His friend? Even her intention that night had been good, however detrimental the result was. She was trying to be nice to him. Draco decided that he would surely uphold his vow, not because otherwise he would die, but because he wanted to. He owed her now. He owed her a friend that was equal to herself.