I could always rely on my inner clock.
It woke me up at 5:30 this morning and I was grateful to it.
I had a meeting with Potter in an hour and I shouldn't be late.
As quietly as I could, I slipped out of the room and down to the dungeons.
There I showered and changed.
At 6:30 on the dot, I stood at the agreed meeting point in the cloisters and waited for Potter.
There were many things Potter wasn't good at, potions for example or using other spells than Expelliamus, but when it came to being late, he was really the best.
Annoyed, I walked up and down the corridor.
Don't get upset Draco, I shouted my new resolution into my head and took a deep breath.
At some point, half an hour late, Potter stumbled around the corner.
His hair more dishevelled than usual and in civilian clothes instead of his school uniform.
"Fell out of bed?", I asked, arms crossed.
"Can't you care?
Where's my cloak?"
I pointed to the bundle on the window ledge and he snatched it up.
"So, have you been watching me over your fancy map?"
I was curious but mostly I was hoping to hear a negative answer.
"No I haven't", it came flippantly from him and I realised how mocking my tone must have sounded just then.
One thing at a time, I told myself.
I was already not upset, now to have a sensible conversation with him was too much for one day.
He turned on his heel and had almost disappeared behind the corner again when I stopped him.
"Thank you Potter for your help. Now we're even."
He stared at me for a moment but said nothing and then disappeared around the corner.
The night hadn't been particularly restful and it was more than noticeable in class.
I was unfocused and tired.
If it hadn't been for Blaise, who was sitting next to me in the old chair, I would have fallen asleep for sure.
I struggled through the school day for the sole purpose of being able to visit Florentine afterwards.
But even that was ruined for me.
I had known that if I went to the hospital wing at times other than in the middle of the night, others would be there too, but I hadn't realised how much they didn't want me there.
When I stepped into the room and the door slammed noisily into the lock, none of them seemed to notice, but when I stepped closer to the bed and Florentine turned her head in my direction and smiled at me, all the other heads turned too, only they didn't smile but looked at me with contemptuous eyes.
To my disappointment Newton wasn't there, he would at least have had a friendly look for me.
For a short time no one said a word.
Longbottom was the first to regain his speech and indicated that I should follow him.
We were now standing a few metres away from the group.
"What are you doing here Malfoy?", he hissed at me, so quietly that the rest couldn't hear.
I gritted my teeth and suppressed a not very friendly reply.
"I thought I'd check on Harper", I pressed out between my teeth as amiably as possible.
Longbottom looked at me with raised eyebrows.
"She's all right.
But for her to get better, I want her to avoid any stress."
I nodded in agreement.
This was nothing new and certainly no reason to take me aside.
"In case you didn't get it, YOU are the stress."
Oh, yes, well I really hadn't got that.
Now I felt a little stupid but mostly the anger started to boil inside me again.
Calm down. Breathe in, breathe out.
"Fine, I'll go but if she asks you tell her the truth why I left", I said as calmly and as little arrogantly as I could.
It was risky to put it in Longbottom's hands to explain to her why I had left but as angry as he was with me now, he was still afraid of me and that would be my advantage.
He nodded and without another word I left.
I didn't look over at Florentine again but just left.
I would come back tonight, just like yesterday, only this time without the cloak.
The plan was good but my execution was rather poor.
After the unpleasant meeting in the hospital wing, I had gone back to the dungeons and only wanted to rest for a short while.
The short rest turned into a long sleep, during which I made up for everything I had missed the last few days.
When my inner clock woke me up it was just after seven on Wednesday and breakfast would start soon.
Sleep had done me good.
I felt well rested and fit, but I felt guilty that I hadn't been with Florentine yesterday.
Longbottom could have told her anything else about why I had left again.
How stupid had I been to trust him?
I was more angry at my own stupidity than at Longbottom but still I hoped not to run into him today.
That actually worked pretty well, we didn't have any lessons together today, so I didn't see him all day.
Today I was able to concentrate on my lessons again and even started to study in the library after class.
I had neglected that the last few days and now had a lot of catching up to do.
I ate alone as usual but that didn't bother me any more. I found it almost pleasant and liked to have my peace.
Actually, I would have wanted to go to the hospital wing after dinner, but I was sure that I wouldn't have been alone there.
So I went for a walk around the castle.
At some point I almost ran into Newton because I was so preoccupied.
"Draco", he greeted me friendly and only now did I notice the two others he was travelling with.
Florentine's uncle and aunt.
I hadn't spoken to them and only knew who they were through other people's conversations.
"I don't think we've been introduced", the woman said with a big grin on her face and the sweetest voice I'd ever heard.
She held out her hand to me and I shook it.
"I'm Queenie, Daisy's aunt and this is my husband Jacob."
The little man next to her nodded at me.
"Draco", I said kindly when I had shaken his hand too.
"How are you?", Newton finally joined in the conversation.
"All right", I said, trying to put on a smile.
Queenie looked at me piercingly and I recoiled.
If there was one thing I'd learned while the Dark Lord had been living in our house, it was Occlumency.
Severus had taught it to me and I was very grateful to him for it.
I was so well trained that I could tell directly when people were trying to take over my mind and that was exactly what Florentine's aunt had just tried to do.
"Don't ever do that again!", I approached her possibly a little too harshly but she was, after all, the one who was just trying to get into my mind.
"I told you not to", Newton reprimanded her from the side in a tone I hadn't heard from him before.
She seemed to admit defeat and bowed her head in embarrassment.
"Sorry", she mumbled.
I didn't know if it was directed at me or Newton but just accepted the apology.
"I can't help it, it just happens sometimes without me wanting it to."
A legeliment, I thought.
I have heard about them in class and read about it in books but I have never encountered one.
"Will you please leave us alone?", Newton asked his companions, who left without comment.
Still perplexed, I looked after them.
"Sorry, she's quite rude about it."
I just nodded.
This family was so full of secrets and so unusual that mine suddenly seemed insanely boring to me.
"It's okay."
I shook my head to give effect to my statement.
"We need to talk."
Only now was I really looking at him.
Before, I had still been staring in the direction where the other two had disappeared shortly before.
'We need to talk', that sentence never actually meant anything good and my heart clenched.
"I'm going to leave."
I could have sighed in relief but refrained.
Of course it wasn't nice that he was leaving again but if it was just that, Florentine was fine.
"Queenie and Jacob will be joining me", he continued and I hung on his lips.
"Daisy is feeling better and I have some business to attend to at home."
"That's understandable", I tried to somehow become part of this very one-sided conversation.
"Daisy and her godmother get on very quickly.
That Neville is very nice but his priority would always be his girlfriend.
I want you to look after Daisy. She seems to like you and trust you and besides, you saved her life.
Please look after her. She won't want help but if you watch her from the background I would be deeply grateful."
It was not a request but an order, nicely put but an order.
An order I didn't need.
Even if he hadn't taken me up on it, I would have looked after her, because I couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to her.
I had been too close to losing her.
"Of course", was therefore my quick, decisive reply.
"I thank you. I owe you a lot."
He patted me on the shoulder in what almost amounted to a hug, which made me uncomfortable.
He smiled once more and then disappeared in the direction Queenie and Jacob had also disappeared in shortly before.
And again I stood here, perplexed and unable to move.
This man had come into my life a few days ago, had shaken everything up and now left as quickly as he had come.
Like an apparition. And for a moment I was worried that I had only imagined him.
It was as if a dam had burst inside me.
A dam that had absorbed all the information of the last few days because my brain was not capable of it.
But now it was broken and everything that had happened came crashing down on me in a great tidal wave.
On wobbly legs I rushed into the next empty room and as soon as the door had fallen shut I let myself sink onto the cold stone floor.
My mind was racing and I felt naïve that I had only written questions on a piece of parchment after Florentine had told me who she was.
I had thousands of questions and they would never fit on a piece of parchment.
How could I have been so composed?
Maybe it was a long-lasting shock or side effects of the medication?
My hands began to shake and I had to concentrate on my breathing, because I felt a panic attack making its way to the surface.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Daisy Harper was a Scamander.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Florentine Scamander.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Granddaughter of Newt Scamander.
Breathe in, breathe out.
She's an Animagus.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Breathe in, breathe out.
The breathing exercises helped and my pulse calmed.
But the calm did not apply to my thoughts.
On Monday I had tried to write them down, but now I couldn't even grasp them properly. Everything was buzzing around in my head and it would take me forever to get it in order.
Unconsciously I must have grabbed my arm, because now I noticed my fingernails digging into my left forearm.
Now that I noticed it, I quickly pulled them back and looked at the red marks I had left.
I have to calm down, have to make it to the hospital wing.
Not to get a calming potion but to see Florentine.
I needed her, needed her presence, because otherwise I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't hurt myself.
I closed my eyes to reduce the stimuli that flooded my brain.
And indeed it worked.
With my eyes closed and my breathing calm and controlled, I was able to calm down enough to be able to get to Florentine.
I straightened up.
My legs were wobbly and my hands were still shaking but I managed to push down the handle and drag myself through the corridors to the hospital wing.
Again and again I held on to walls or pillars because I was afraid of losing my grip and more than once I was looked at strangely by younger students but I was unable to react.
As I stood in front of the big wing door to the hospital wing, I hoped Longbottom wasn't there because I didn't have the strength to stand up to him and I was sure he wouldn't let me get to Florentine without a fight if he was there.
Contrary to my suspicions, I was lucky and there really was no one there when I stepped through the door.
Florentine's head snapped in my direction and she must have interpreted my condition correctly within seconds because she jumped out of bed and came towards me.
She took me in her arms and thus supported me which caused me to let out a relieved exhale.
"What happened?"
Yes, what had happened?
I didn't know exactly myself, only that I had a panic attack or something very close to it.
She supported me on the way back to her bed where we dropped down together on the edge of the bed.
Her signature smell of peach and vanilla hit my nose and I exhaled.
Everything was going to be fine, she was here.
