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Aware...
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Snape wasn't in his office when Draco went to meet him. Realizing that it was lunch time and the potions' master will be in the great hall, the Slytherin decided to hide the diadem in his trunk until he could meet with Snape and leave for home using his floo.
So Draco headed for his dorm. Luckily there was no one there. He quickly put the diadem with its case in one of the many hidden compartments of his trunk before locking the whole thing with a series of spells. He then headed for the great hall as all the work that he had put in the room of requirement along with Harry and Neville had made him hungry.
Half an hour later he was coming back after having lunch, when he received a mirror call. He stopped and took it out to see Henry's face on it. Wondering why the man was calling him Draco walked into a nearby empty classroom and picked up the call.
"Why are you calling me at school?" he said.
"Young master..." Henry's tone told Draco that something was wrong and as the death eater told him everything, the Slytherin's legs started to shake. The moment the call was cut he ran out of the classroom and towards the Slytherin common room. He then barged into his dorm as Zabini and Goyle looked at him in confusion. Ignoring them Draco went straight for his trunk and quickly opened it up. He then took out the crown case and opened it to find the diadem still there.
A sense of relief washed over him for a moment as he sighed audibly before sitting there on the floor but then from the corner of his eye he noticed something odd. The sapphire on the diadem wasn't as shiny as before. A feeling of dread filled inside him as Draco felt numb from realisation.
"Draco? Is everything okay?" Blaise asked sounding worried.
For a moment the Slytherin said nothing but then he slowly stood up. "Was anyone by my trunk before I got here?" he asked slowly. He didn't even look at Blaise.
"Theo was," Blaise said. "He said you had sent him to get something for you."
It all made sense now as Draco felt his head getting light. He stumbled but before he could fall Blaise caught him and made him sit on the bed.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"I messed up," was all Draco could say before he ran out of the dorm. Blaise looked at Goyle in confusion who simply shrugged his shoulders.
Draco went straight to Snape's office, hoping to catch Theo before the boy could do any irreparable damage but when he walked into the office he saw no one there except for Snape. The potions' master was looking at him with an expressionless face before he slowly stood up and stepped aside from his table.
Draco was panting. He took a few seconds to catch his breath before looking at his faculty head. "Did...Did Theo came by?" he asked.
"No," Snape said sounding a little sceptical. "Has something happened?"
"Do you know where he is?" Draco asked ignoring Snape's question.
"I don't," Snape said. Before he could say anything Draco had left. Snape watched him go, knowing full well that something bad had happened.
Draco came out into the corridor and stopped. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't find Theo and he was sure that that boy had stolen the diadem from him. He didn't know what to do or who to go for help. Suddenly a name came to his head and he pulled out his communication mirror with trembling hands. A few seconds later Daphne's face appeared on it.
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(Twenty minutes later...)
"He's not in the castle," Harry said looking in the marauder's map. He and Neville were still on the seventh floor when Draco joined them. He looked at the map for a moment before ignoring it and focussed his attention on Harry.
"Did you find him?" the Slytherin asked. "Daphne said you could."
"He's not in Hogwarts," Harry said.
"He knew," Draco hissed as he looked at the floor angrily. "All this time...he knew."
"Do you know where he could go?" Harry asked.
"Our orders were to leave Hogwarts using the floo in Snape's office," Draco said. "But Snape said that he didn't see Theo. Is that thing supposed to show everyone's location?" he asked looking at the map in Harry's hand. Harry and Neville exchanged glances before the former nodded slowly. Draco wanted to know more about the map but he controlled his thoughts knowing full well that now wasn't the time to get distracted. "So Theo is not on this map?" he asked. Harry shook his head. "Well, is there a place in this castle that doesn't show up on this thing?"
"The room of requirement," Harry said. "But we know he's not here." Harry didn't say anything about the secret chamber. It wouldn't have mattered anyway because no one other than him and Daphne had gone down there or knew the way. The only other person was Ron and he no longer studied at Hogwarts.
There was silence for a moment as everyone thought where Theo could be when Neville came up with a guess. "He could've used one of the secret passages," he said. That grabbed Harry and Draco's attention.
"What secret passages?" Draco asked.
"It's possible," Harry said.
"Will any of you tell me what you are talking about?" the Slytherin asked sounding a bit annoyed.
"There are secret passages in the castle that lead you out of Hogwarts to various nearby places," Harry said. "If Theo is not in the castle and he didn't use Snape's floo to get out, it's possible that he used one of these passages."
"Well, can you look it up on you map?" Draco asked.
"You can only look for someone who is inside the castle wards," Harry said. "Since we can't find Theo, it's safe to say that he used one of the passages to get out."
"He probably used the one-eyed witch passage," Neville said.
"Where does that lead to?" asked Draco.
"The cellar of Honeydukes," said Harry. "If he did use that passage then it's possible that after reaching Hogsmead Theo used one of the floos to go wherever he wanted to."
Draco leaned on to the corridor's railing looking helpless. "It's over," he said in a whispering tone. "I shouldn't have done it. I should have just done what the dark lord had asked me to." He then looked up and clenched his teeth in anger. "What was I thinking?!" he shouted before punching the pillar next to him. He hurt his knuckle which started to bleed a little but he wasn't bothered by it. His breathing was shaky and he had the rage in his eyes. "I will kill him," he said in a low tone as he looked at the lower floors from the corridor.
"Draco, whatever it is you are thinking right now, it's your anger talking," Harry said carefully. "I know this isn't a good time for you but please try to calm down. Chances are Theo is already with Voldemort. If you go there without thinking who's to say what will happen to you?"
"My father is already being tortured because of what I did," Draco said.
"And you going there will not save him," Harry said. "If there is one thing that I know Voldemort won't do is stop torturing your father. To punish you he will torture him even more, right in front of you and then he will kill him before killing you. You can save your father from that by not going there."
Draco thought about it for a moment and realised that Harry was right. He needed to visit his mother. She must be worried sick. "Show me which passage leads to Hogsmead," he said looking at Harry.
"Promise me that you won't go after Theo," Harry said "At least not now." Draco did his best to not shout at Harry and gave him a curt nod. "Okay," the Gryffindor said. "Come with us."
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Thanks for reading...
