Twenty-Four

"Do not leave Gryffindor Tower. Do you understand me? Not for any reason."

Rolling over onto her other side, the Higurashi girl sighed quietly into the dark as she listened to the giggles coming from her bunkmates nearby. Draco's warning played over and over in her head with each passing second, but all she saw when she tried to close her eyes to sleep was the fear and anxiety on his face from when he had cornered her after dinner. Clenching her blanket until her knuckles started to turn white, remembering how his hand had been shaking when he grabbed her by the shoulder to get his point across, she finally pulled the thick material up over her head.

She wanted so badly to scream into her pillow in frustration. If he had just told her what was so horrible about that stupid cabinet, maybe… well, she probably still would not be able to sleep, but at least she would not be imagining every terrible scenario that might be about to play out somewhere in the castle. Not knowing was eating away at her, and she almost wished that she could slip into the veil just to avoid the now.

"Then… you're going to be in the Slytherin dorm, right? Right?"

Her lips thinned with the memory of him glancing away from the question, hesitating slightly when he told her he would go there immediately after he cast the spell necessary for the cabinet to work. Was that why he did not want her to leave Gryffindor Tower? Was he worried that whatever came through that cabinet would want more from him? That if she stepped beyond the security of the Gryffindor dorm he might be forced to…?

"Hey, are you okay, Kagome?"

Pulling the blanket down a little with the nudge at her back, Kagome squinted against the soft light being produced from the tip of the wand nearby. "Uh, I'm okay," she said softly, briefly irritated by the fact that the person checking up on her was Ginny Weasley. The girl had been chasing Harry Potter's robes ever since she could remember, and it was not hard to imagine that the concern she was showing was because Harry had asked Ginny to watch out for her.

Ginny's mouth twisted into an awkward little smile, as she said, "We were just worried you might be having another vision, and maybe needed something. You've been tossing and turning for a while now."

Glancing beyond the light, Kagome almost felt bad when she noticed the way the rest of her bunkmates were all gazing toward her with equal amounts of concern. The girls had been bringing her chocolate and water and all sorts of little things since they had figured out where the kitchens were hidden years ago whenever they thought she had had a particularly bad spell. It was awful of her to immediately think Ginny was only checking on her because Harry had wanted her to. "I'm fine, really," she assured them, "I just can't sleep."

Ginny released a little puff-like laugh, replying, "Sorry if we're the problem."

Kagome narrowed her eyes slightly at the way Ginny was smiling, wondering what in the world was making the girl act so strangely. There was something… off about her at the moment. "Are… are you okay?" she asked softly, wondering how the other girls had not noticed the change.

"Of course," Ginny stressed. "I just… Harry wanted me to be somewhere else, but I just… it's like I have to be here right now, y'know? Ron and Neville will be fine without me for a little while!"

"Ooohh, Harry!" another girl swooned.

Ginny only laughed, seeming to drift away with a skip in her step.

Frowning at the odd conversation, Kagome sat up in bed and watched as Ginny returned to the little circle the rest of the girls had made. Harry wanted her to be somewhere else? Today? Ron and Neville were there right now? What did any of that mean? What exactly had Harry wanted from the three of them… today? Why today? Gripping her blanket tightly, she felt flashes of Harry's wild gaze drift across her memory from before she had found Draco laying in a pool of his own blood. Did he know? Were Ron, Neville and Ginny supposed to be watching the Room of Requirement? Were they there to confront Draco?

Her feet met the floor when she heard the first horrified gasp.

"W… what is that?" a girl stuttered.

Heads turned toward the window nearby, faces falling into panicked expressions, before voices started rising to a fevered pitch within the dorm room. Ginny stood amongst the panic, her expression light and full of wonder, as she watched the Higurashi girl lift herself from the bed and move toward the window to see for herself what was happening just outside. Her eyes began to cloud over as the Dark Mark reflected in her gaze, and it was just as a name tumbled from her lips that Ginny finally felt the Felix Felicis potion pull her away from the room and running toward where Harry had asked her to be.

Stumbling away from the vision, Kagome flickered her eyes toward the doorway just as Ginny slipped through and out of sight. "No," she whispered, feeling like her stomach was about to give with the repeated flashes of Draco turning to flee as Dumbledore… as Dumbledore…

Was that real? Was that happening right now?

"Kagome?" She could not even register who grabbed her and started to shake her. "What's happening? What did you see?"

"D… don't leave the tower," the warning slipped off her tongue finally, as she pulled away and felt the veil start to press heavily against her mind. "I have to go."

"Where are you going? Don't you know what that is?!"

The voice slipped away from her reach, though, as she turned and followed the vision urging her forward without hesitation. Draco needed her. He needed her now, and she was not about to question her gift when it was pulling her into the future and through the halls that led to where he would be waiting for her.