The Heir Of Gryffindor
Chapter 10 - The Letter In The Night
A week later, after sadly discovering nothing, Lily went up to her dorm room to sleep when a large tawny colored eagle owl landed at her window. The other girls, particularly Hermione, blinked up at the letter coming so late. She quickly untied the letter, giving the severe looking owl an owl treat she had picked up from the shop as she was getting her baby foxes some food. He took the food and nipped her finger carefully in thanks, then flew out the window as said baby foxes came up to investigate.
Foxes weren't exactly protected species in America with the exception of those in danger of dying out, so now and then one could see them. In the wilder areas, they roamed freely. But there was still the danger of hunters looking to bag a nice fox pelt even though it was frowned upon, as the sport with foxes in the US was fox chasing instead of hunting.
Lily played with the two six-month foxes for a moment before getting out a can of puppy chow. In the mornings, she fed them a special blend of beef and boiled eggs, sliced up together with some oatmeal, after finding out from Dumbledore where the kitchen was. It wasn't the prettiest sight, seeing the mixture, but her foxes enjoyed it, and that was what was important to her. She usually hid it under the bed for them with the water. Therefore, she'd have to be careful when she woke up not to step on twin tails.
She had simply been walking in the wooded area behind her home when there was a gunshot. She ran quickly to the source - it was winter, and it was a few days before her birthday. Hunting season fell usually square on her birthday, therefore, she knew there was something wrong.
Lily burst through the bushes to see a shot mother fox laying dead in the meadow in the middle of the forest, her body stiffening from the poacher's deadly bullet. And he was about to harm the two baby foxes who were still too young to see. Red swarmed in Lily's vision then, and she barreled into him, magically making hornets appear and chased him out of the forest. It was her first sign of magic. After pleading her parents, saying she would count it as her birthday present, they let her keep the two foxes. Lily had cared for them ever since.
She smiled, remembering that day when she remembered the letter. "F-from my dad." she lied but Hermione wasn't quite so believing. She opened the letter.
DearLily,
Meet me at the astronomy tower. I have some information regarding as to what Severus was talking about earlier today.
Draco Malfoy
Folding the letter up, she slipped it into her pocket and headed to her bed to get something from her trunk. She realized that no one in her dormitory had an owl, and that she had a brilliant idea. She could say she was going to the owlery. So she pulled out a piece of parchment, writing to her father and rolling it up, then folding it small, slipping it into her pants pocket. Skirts were not her favorite, so she decided to go with pants.
"I'll be right back. I need to send this to the Owlery." she said. Lavender Brown yawned. "Fine, but be careful." she said. The Parvati twins were asleep. Hermione was up studying. She eyed Lily suspiciously - sending a letter after dinner would probably cause trouble somehow but soon she would have to go on her rounds anyways. As long as Lily was in bed by then - in the room at least - then she wouldn't offer any quarrel.
"Be safe, and be quick. Don't let me find you on my rounds - you have about half an hour." she said. Lily nodded. She'd forgotten that Hermione was head girl. Oh well, perhaps what Malfoy said wouldn't take long. She left out the portrait of the Fat lady, slipping to the astronomy tower which wasn't very far, although she had to cross towers and hide more than once from teachers who were returning from the kitchen. She guessed from a nightcap to help them sleep.
Slipping up the steps, Lily looked around her, but no one was there. "Draco?" asked Lily softly and from the shadows, he came out, causing her to jump. "Ack, you startled me." said Lily and Draco's indifferent face showed a tiny smile in the corner of his lips. "Well, this may be more fun than I originally thought." said Draco, the smile turning into a smirk. "Found out from my side about the potion. I know that you were going to research it, therefore, I thought I'd let you know. My mother admitted giving it to me as a young boy because my father requested it after I . . . well, apparantly we were quite close." finished Draco, his face warming even with the air being so chilly.
"I see - I just wrote a letter to my father asking the same thing. I had to convince Hermione though. . . she's going to be on her rounds soon." she added. Malfoy sneered. "Granger, of course. But then, she can't do anything to me." added Draco with a grin, pointing at his head boy badge. Lily was surprised and grinned. "Interesting developments." she said. Just then, there was a sound of footsteps coming up towards the tower where they were talking. "Quickly, here." he said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the shadows. Then she felt something warm wrap around her. "An invisibility cloak. From my grandfather. It has bald patches in it, but just be still and we'll be fine." he whispered.
She nodded, swallowing hard, wondering who it could be, her heart thumping hard in her throat. Was it from the fear of getting caught she wondered, or was it the fact that she was so close to Draco. She looked up at him, but he was staring unhappily at who it was. Lily let out a gasp, then bit her lip.
It was Ron of all people. 'Guess he couldn't sleep.' Lily thought. Ron sighed and stared up at the stars. They were beautiful tonight, thought Lily, so she certainly couldn't blame him. "I can't choose - and then its unfair!" he complained bitterly. "Hermione and Lily both are really beautiful and smart, but Lily was engaged to that foul git - what exactly does this mean now? Does it mean I won't stand a chance with her at all? And what to do about Hermione? I really like Hermione too. What to do. . ."
Draco's lips became a thin line. He had just found her again. Old memories or not, she was special, and he would not allow her to be with that jerk. He had abandoned Potter - oh yes, he saw that - in fourth year. Practically in third year too, because he was furiously arguing with Granger about that stupid cat and rat. It didn't take a genius to figure out that if one has a rat, it should be caged or someone's cat could eat it. Then again, Ron's standards at school were quite a bit lower than genius. He was nowhere near Granger's or Lily's level.
"He likes me?!" thought Lily very quietly aloud, unsure of what to say or do. Ron was sweet, but then she was confused already over old memories and the fact that she and Draco had been betrothed before. "Well, that is. . . interesting." she said quietly, unsure of what else to say as Draco turned his eyes on her. "As you said earlier, interesting developments. So, now that you know, what will you do?" he asked, a faint smirk pulling at his lips. He had a backup plan if she would choose Weasley over him, even though she might dislike it.
"Nothing. He's really fun to talk to, but I - eep!" she started to say in a quiet voice but as she moved her foot, the cloak slipped and she stumbled, catching Draco's leg with hers and bringing them both falling. The sound alerted Ron and his face went bright pink - then his brown eyes widened and his coloring shot to red.
On the ground with a loud thump was Lily. And on top of her was . . . MALFOY?! "You loathesome little cockroach!" Ron leered at him, reaching for his wand while Lily went desperately for hers. There was a clash as magic hit magic, a stunning spell hitting a protective shield, and it hit the old bricks that made up the castle's balcony, making one stone blackened.
"What the hell are you doing to Li- what?! Ack!" cried Ron, watching Lily finally grab her wand as the spell he sent at Malfoy bounced off a shield created by the very person he was trying to save. Draco quickly rolled to his feet, then helped Lily up quickly, grabbing her under her arms to hoist her up, causing her to laugh. "Ack, quit, I'm ticklish there! And its -haha- not what it seems like." she said, interrupted by giggles, Malfoy grinning. "More intersting developments. . ." he teasingly whispered before letting her down.
Ron's ears grew red and his anger was boiling his blood or that's how he felt. How dare he place a finger on sweet Lily! Unless - his face went pale, which mixed to an odd pale pink on his face. "You and Malfoy have went back to being betrothed?" asked Ron, anger still in his voice. "Haha, and just as I was spilling my feelings to the stars - you heard everything, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?!" he accused, seeing the cloak. Of course, it made sense. He was rich, and he could buy anything he liked. Including an invisibility cloak.
"I - yes, we heard, but no! We haven't - that is - I haven't had much time to look up the memory potion cure, depending on even if it will work for how long the potion has been in effect. But no, we haven't -"
"Its none of your business Weasley." added Draco, his mouth in a twisted smirk. He had been considering the matter throughout the day. What if he were to have his parents bring back the betrothal contract? The contracts with the Malfoys had always been signed magically, so it was binding. Therefore, he could use it as his advantage.
"Stay out of this Malfoy, before I jinx you with slugs!" cried Ron angrily. He pointed his wand at Malfoy. "Sure, try it. Since you don't have a broken wand as an excuse now, if you fail, its because your a rubbish wizard. Maybe you should join that oaf Filch and see if he can give you any pointers on Kwiki-spells." he sneered.
"That's it ferret boy! Keep running your mouth - and while your running, why don't you run out the door before I do what I threatened?" he snarled, grabbing Lily's arm, yanking her towards him. "That guy is a terrible person Lily. You should be careful being around snakes."
Lily, who had been worried, suddenly eyed Ron coldly. "Excuse me? My father was a Slytherin too." she said and Ron looked like he'd been struck. "As was my mother, but they are both wonderful people." she declared. Draco stood smirking at Ron, impressed by Lily's outrage against anyone bad speaking about Slytherin. "Shame you weren't in Slytherin. I bet your Uncle would have given us lots of points."
Lily smirked back at him. "Yeah but then, it wouldn't be so much fun would it? Opposing houses - its kinda like Romeo and Juliet, without the romance -" she said and both boy's brows rose. Naturally, as both of them were Purebloods, they had no knowledge of Shakespeare. "William Shakespeare. Greatest playwright the world has ever seen." she asked and frowned whenever they both stared at her. "It figures. . ." mumbled Lily, not noticing they'd went back to fighting.
"Ooh Weasley, look! Someone dropped a galleon - better get it before it rolls away." teased Draco and Ron nearly snapped his wand at the bottom, as tight as he was holding it. There was a crack of light and she saw it was aimed for Draco. Lily leapt in front of Draco and felt a spell strike her in the chest. The next thing Lily knew, she was flying with great speed. The ground was coming up to meet her and then . . .
Suddenly, she stopped. Opening her eyes, sure she was dead, she looked. And found herself floating off a foot from the ground. It had been a close call. Above her, Draco had sweat running down his face. Suddenly, she was lifted upwards, her robes rippling and she was so glad she didn't have a skirt on when Draco lowered his wand, setting her down gently onto the astronomy tower. The moment he saw that she was safe, he slipped his wand in his pocket then . . .
Malfoy struck Ron square in the nose, making Ron stumble backwards, hitting the safety of the balcony wall. Blood was running down his nose and there was an angry hissing sound coming from Draco. He seemed to be trying to control himself before he spoke. "If you ever touch her again Weasley, I will kill you. No, scratch that. I will bring you to Malfoy Manor and torture you until you beg me for death. And then I will hand you over to my father, who I am sure, with reasons listed, would be happy to finish you off in an ingenius, yet elegant style." said Draco, leading a protesting Lily by force away from the tower. Then he turned to Lily. "That was very stupid of you. Brave, but stupid."
"B-but he's hurt and I couldn't let you get hurt. . ." she said with a pout. "He'll be fine, if some of those bones didn't hit that tiny thing called his brain." retorted Draco, angry at Lily, but angrier at Weasley for doing something completely stupid. "Cartelige actually - the nose doesn't have a bone in it." said Lily. Draco's brows raised. "Yeah, I'm going to be a healer, so I can help people." she said then turned to see Ron - they weren't that far away. . . yet. So Lily drew her wand. "Hey what are you going to do - oh jeez, he would have been fine." Draco mumbled as Lily called out the spell Epipskey. It hit Ron's nose and with a muffled yelp from Ron, his nose stopped bleeding and fixed back in place.
"I'll walk you to your dorm." Ron heard Malfoy say and he glowered in the corner of the astronomy tower. Well, if Malfoy thought this was over, he was dead wrong. He held his hands over his nose - dear Merlin it hurt! But now it was hurting less - and the bleeding stopped. She really was a kind soul, he thought and he sighed, angry at Malfoy, angry at himself for being responsible - though accidentally - for almost killing Lily.
Moments later, he heard footsteps - was that Draco back to finish the job? But no, he saw, it was Hermione. "Oh, hey Hermione." he said, eyes downcast. "Ron, what happen- RON! Your nose! Who did that?!" asked Hermione in surprise. His nose was coated by aging blood now - it had turned a dark red, and he wiped at his nose.
"It was nothing. You probably will hear it tomorrow anyways." Ron mumbled. "Ron, tell me what happened." she asked. "Fine." he said. "I came up here like I do always before my rounds and well, I had stuff on my chest I needed to get off. So I was talking to myself and suddenly, Lily was there with Malfoy on top of her - and I dunno, I went ballistic. They had been in an invisibility cloak - Malfoy's I bet. I think she slipped or something - that fabric is easy to slip on anyways, and then we got into it. She jumped into a spell that I shot off that was meant for Malfoy, a stunning spell, and it shot her off the tower - but Draco used the Leviosa charm to bring her back up. Then he socked me and said that if I ever touched her again, he'd torture me and have his dad finish the job." he said, sulking in the shadows. "Then I felt a strange tingling in my nose, it snapped and bloody hell it hurt! Then it stopped bleeding. The pain went away too, but I doubt the black eye will fade as fast."
Hermione's eyes widened. "You and Malfoy were fighting up here?! Why in the world would you two - ahh I see. But still - this is the most dangerous place at Hogwarts, hence why its not to be used for anything except under close supervision. And Malfoy saved more than just one life tonight. He also saved yours from Azkaban for doing that if it were found out and if Draco testified." she swiftly reminded him. He nodded, though he didn't seem very pleased. "Best get on your rounds. Your late, and neither Professor Dumbledore nor Professor McGonagall will appreciate that. Especially concerning the situation of why you were late."
Ron nodded and stood up, irritated. He ended up sending three couples viciously to bed, with them wondering why the nice Prefect of Gryffindor would be so terrible tonight. And had that been blood on his mouth and nose?!