As lessons concluded the next day, we've decided on a plan. We were going tell Abigail that it was us who had been in the piano room, that we had unintentionally overheard the discussion she had with the old man, and that we were going to protect Malfoy from whatever she had been tasked with, regardless of whether or not he deserved it.
We were going to do it in a public setting, where there would be other wizards and witches capable of defence against the dark arts present should the whole affair go south.
As Hermione had another tutoring session with her in the library tonight, we were also going to execute this plan then.
Hermione showed up to meet Abigail at the library that night with Ron and myself on her either side. Malfoy's absence at the table where she was sitting would've been a relief if there weren't three other Slytherins there in his stead. We exchanged looks that said 'now what are we going to do?' before squaring our shoulders and approached the Slytherin quartet.
Hermione was the first to speak, again, "Hello, Abigail. I guess it's going to be a little more crowded tonight." All four Slytherins looked up from their reading.
"Oh, you're here. Sorry about this, but they're only staying for a bit more. Please, sit."
I had to suppress a grin as I realised that the table was now shared between seventh-year Gryffindors and sixth-year Slytherins. Sure we each took up either end of the table, but that's still more than what Hogwarts has seen in centuries.
After my friends and I have settled down, Abigail checked herself. "Oh, sorry. These are my classmates: this is Hilde Weller," she gestured to the ghost-pale girl with long dark hair to her left.
"Weller, if you please," she said with a small nod. For a Slytherin who was being introduced to a group of Gryffindors, the girl was unnaturally polite.
"This is Samara Rutledge," she indicated the short-haired girl to her right.
"You can call me Sam. Everybody does." I realised that I had only mistaken her for a Slytherin; Samara Rutledge was in fact a Gryffindor. I've seen her before, among the students lounging about in Gryffindor common room.
"And that's Rigel," she nodded at the last Slytherin sitting next to Sam who had dark hair and eyes that were reminiscent of the night sky, and whose gender I could not be sure of.
"I was named after a star, because my half-blood father wishes he was a pureblood like the Blacks."
Sam laughed at this blatant show of disrespect. My friends and I almost did, too.
"Did I just make a joke, imbecile?"
I failed to suppress a chuckle while Sam only laughed some more before Weller shushed her and reminded her that we were in the library.
"And I'm sure everybody knows who you are," Abigail concluded the introduction with a smile.
Rigel extended a hand to Hermione, saying, "big fan, Ms. Granger."
She took it and blushed. "Er, thank you."
As no more was said between us in the next five minutes until Abigail's friends left, I never found out for sure whether the one called Rigel was a boy or a girl. But now that we had Abigail alone, it didn't matter.
Hermione began the confrontation, "Abigail, we actually have something to talk to you about…" but she trailed off and looked between Ron and me again.
Ron sighed, and I knew that he was going to simply throw it out there. Abigail regarded him with a questioning look.
"We were in the room, you know, when you were talking with that old man."
Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and Ron took this to mean that she needed further explanation. "We were the dolphins."
It was a clear enough explanation for Abigail; the comprehension was plain on her face. "So you have been trying to pull me away from Malfoy," she stated simply.
Well, we couldn't have been more discreet about it, but we were Gryffindors, and Gryffindors weren't known for being discreet.
"That wasn't what we were trying to do," Hermione's reply confused me a little. Weren't we trying to keep Malfoy safe from her?
"I was talking to Harry."
I recoiled at the address. My friends looked at me in slight confusion. We shrugged it off and Hermione turned back to Abigail.
"We don't want you to go through with the task. We were trying to convince you that you don't have to."
"And if we fail to, and you're still going to hurt Malfoy, well, we're not going to just stand by and watch," even after talking this over earlier, it still surprised me to hear these words uttered by Ron.
I felt sadness emanating from Abigail as she shook her head slightly. "I gave my word. I'll do it even if I don't want to."
I felt that she wasn't saying so to warn us, that it was said more to convince herself than anything. Her eyes rested on the wood of the table, but they were glazed over and she wasn't entirely with us in that moment.
I dared myself to touch her hand, which lay limp on the table and barely held her quill anymore, and brought her back to the library.
She blinked and her eyes darted to where I was touching her. She withdrew her hand and stood up, almost making me fall backwards from standing up so fast. My hand had already found its way in the pocket that held my wand. I noticed that both Ron and Hermione had reacted similarly, and that we now had the attention of everyone else in the library. It was so quiet that I could feel the gentle footsteps that were now approaching our table. I turned to find that it was Malfoy. How long had he been in the library?
"What's going on here? Smith?" Malfoy asked in a hushed tone. He looked between the four of us with an unreadable expression on his face.
Abigail avoided everyone's eye contact as she hastily gathered up her books and parchments and quill and stuffed them into her book bag. "We were just saying goodnight."
Hermione almost reached out a hand to stop her. "Abigail…"
"So, erm, goodnight. Thanks," her lips were quivering and her eyes watery. She turned and practically ran out of the library, and when Malfoy chased after her, my friends and I abruptly followed after them.
"Smith!" Malfoy called out to her.
She threw her words over her shoulder, still running, "I just remembered something, I'll see you later!"
As she disappeared around a corner, Malfoy turned towards us. I saw fury in his eyes.
"What happened in there?" his voice shook in anger as he pointed at the door to the library a few feet behind us.
"Nothing!" Ron lied, and Malfoy grabbed the front of his shirt in response. Ron lost himself in that instant and returned the gesture in kind.
"Nothing, you say?" he was almost screaming.
Hermione and I were pulling them off of each other in a flash. We each grabbed one of them from behind. I couldn't hear the words Hermione was hissing into Ron's ear, but they did their job and Ron let go of Malfoy. I however had to use more force to pull Malfoy back; his anger was giving him a strength that his thin build couldn't have had.
I managed to pull him off soon enough, but suddenly I felt a surge of pain on the side of my head, and I was knocked onto the cold stone floor.
"Leave off Draco, you swine!" I registered the voice of Theodore Nott despite my throbbing head.
I had to blink hard and shook my head. When I could see properly again, I looked up to find Ron exchanging blows with Nott. Hermione was yelling at them to stop and even Malfoy appeared to be shocked at the bizzare turn of events.
I got back on my feet and pulled out my wand. "Levicorpus!"
The two contenders were swiftly hoisted by their ankles into the air. "This was just a misunderstanding!" They took a moment to recollect themselves. Hermione mouthed 'good job, Harry' and I muttered the counter-spell. They both fell into a heap on the floor.
I helped Ron onto his feet while Malfoy attended to Nott. "Let's go before anyone sees."
Someone grabbed my hand and I whirled around to meet Malfoy's grey eyes. They were stern and determined, and had momentarily paralysed me.
"What happened in the library between you and Smith?" he was looking at me so intensely that I felt like I could not escape him with just more lies.
"You should ask her. But bring your wand." This evidently confused Malfoy thoroughly.
He let go of my hand nonetheless, leaving a tingling sensation where our skins had touched.
The sensation bothered me more than the bruise on my cheekbone did when I awoke the next morning.
[Author's Notes]
Alas, randomness did ensue. Le sigh~
Nobody is a bad guy in my story, not even Nott after what he did to Malfoy. Oh, so much inner turmoil going on inside of everyone! Seriously, what the spell is going on here?