Finally, we got chapter six!

No one should know about the piano. Draco knew it might be a bit wrong and maybe selfish of him, but if no one else could hear the music or even really get into the room, who would care? Who would even believe him?

Draco was grateful that no one inquired where he was sleeping. Slughorn never asked about it, so Draco assumed nobody reported him. It was nice having a private spot where he could be alone. It felt freeing.

He woke up one morning feeling well-rested. It was nice to put good sleep back into his routine. Even if he was falling asleep at one or two in the morning, occasionally three-thirty, and waking up at seven-thirty, four to six dreamless hours was better than one or two nightmare-filled ones any day. Draco got dressed and headed to the nearest boys bathroom, where he'd taken to doing his teeth and other hygiene. He thought he'd hang a mirror in the room next.

Draco went down to breakfast a little later than normal, but it was fine, as it was a Sunday. Most of the Slytherins were already eating, and Draco sat a little ways away from Blaise, saying 'morning' before grabbing some toast.

"Alright, that's it," Pansy said suddenly, and moved to sit next to Draco. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Draco asked innocently, focusing on buttering his toast.

"Don't be daft, you know what we're talking about," Blaise said. "You haven't been sleeping in the dorm. Where've you been?"

"I don't really see why that's your business," Draco replied calmly, taking a bite of toast.

"Listen, mate, you're our friend," Theo said quietly. Draco jumped and everyone turned to stare at Theo. Theo never spoke this early. The first non-mumbled sentence he spoke was normally at lunch. "We just want to know where you're sleeping, if you're safe and everything."

"Of course I'm safe," Draco scoffed. "I'm fine, aren't I?"

"No offense, but normally you're not," Millie put in. "I've seen you a couple mornings, when you used to sleep down with us. You looked bloody miserable. Something had to have changed."

"Look, it's none of your business what I do at night," Draco snapped. "I can sleep wherever I please, and if I don't want to sleep in your company, so be it. Don't bother me about it. I'm fine." He got up, put the rest of his toast in a napkin, and stormed off, planning an early study session.

Well. He should've known that was bound to happen. They were still his friends, despite the distance over the last few months. Of course they'd notice he was missing and ask about it. It was only natural.

Obviously, he wasn't going to tell them about the piano though. It was personal and private, not something to be shared on a whim. Draco was sure that the fact no one else could get into the room meant that it was for him alone.

Evening arrived as the sun descended, the last lingering rays shining upon the lake. Draco ate later than normal, his workload a bit bigger than he expected (he'd nearly forgotten a last-minute Transfiguration worksheet). His work done and his study timeline on schedule, Draco planned to move to the piano a bit earlier than normal.

He left the Great Hall after eating, quickly heading up to the fourth floor, where the room was located. As he rounded a corner though, he ran into someone. People need to watch where they're going here, Draco thought irritably.

"Sorry," he muttered before continuing on. A hand clapped his shoulder and turned him around before he could walk very far.

"Draco," Theo said. "I've been meaning to ask, could you help out with Ancient Runes? I've got some translations that I need help with."

"Can't Professor Babbling help you?" Draco asked, itching to head to the piano and warm up. He'd been planning to start a new piece.

"That's the thing, mate, I've already asked a few times, and she's lost patience with me," Theo groaned. "She told me to ask you, said that you'd know how to help?"

"I've, err... got something," Draco said lamely. "To do."

"Please? I've got loads of other stuff to do and no one else in our year takes Runes, remember? It's, like, me, you, Granger, and that Hufflepuff."

"Ask Granger then," Draco replied instantly, regretting the words as soon as they came out. The thing's turning me into a bloody loon, he thought.

"Granger?" Theo looked confused and repulsed. "You want me to ask that Mudblood for help?" Draco winced at Theo's language.

"You shouldn't say that unless you'd like your mouth cursed off," Draco muttered. "Not by me, I mean, by everyone else. Potter, Weasley, that lot."

"You've gone soft," Theo snorted. He'd always been high and mighty in his thinking, and though Theo was more on the outskirts than Draco ever was, it made him a bit less aware of the Slytherins' current predicament. "Anyway, will you help?" Draco glanced down the corridor. The piano was just a few steps away. It beckoned to him. Draco opened his mouth to decline, but instead the word that came out was,

"Sure."

"Excellent," Theo replied, dragging him off to the library. As Theo began to ramble about the revisions he had to work on and the various attack and defense runes, Draco wondered why he agreed to this. Then again, he didn't remember the last time he said 'no.'

It was long past curfew before Draco could get away. After four hours of relentless studying which ended up extending to Potions, Charms, and Arithmancy, Draco had to follow Theo back to the dorms, choosing not to blatantly break curfew and instead waiting until everyone fell asleep. As he waited for Blaise's snoring to erupt, Draco began to idly wonder if this was just a ploy for him to sleep in the dorm. If it was, Draco felt grateful for his friends for attempting to care for him. He could excuse them for not knowing it was counterproductive.

It took forever, and Draco started wondering if the boys would ever fall asleep, but eventually, Blaise's snores filled the gloomy silence and Draco moved down the stone steps to the portrait hole.

Unfortunately, though, it was blocked.

"We need to talk," Pansy said. It was dark, but Draco could see her hands on her hips.

"Pans, why —"

"This isn't an option," Pansy snapped. "I want answers. We want answers." With the moonlight illuminating her harsh features and stance, Draco opted not to risk his safety and sat down on a nearby couch. Pansy sat down in an armchair next to him and pulled out her wand, pointing it at the fireplace. A second later, a fire was roaring, and Draco felt the warmth wash over him.

"You're avoiding us," Pansy began. "Sure, we're all a bit separated, but you haven't even been sleeping in your bed lately. Your bed isn't even here, neither is your stuff. We're all worried."

"Who's we?" Draco asked sharply. "Because from what I know, you want nothing to do with me."

"All of us," Pansy replied. "Me, Greg, Blaise, Theo, Tracey, Millie, even Daphne, we wrote her. And I don't care what my family says, something changed and you're not telling us what it is."

"I'm fine though!" Draco protested. "Why can't you just leave it at that?"

"You moved your stuff," Pansy replied indignantly. "You moved your bed. It's like you were never in Slytherin. So where the hell are you going?!"

"For the last time, I'm not telling you!" Draco said furiously. "It's private, it's peaceful, it's safe. That's all you need to know. Would you rather have me laying here on the couch waking up every other hour because of nightmares?"

"Of course not, nobody wants that, we just want to know where you're going," Pansy pressed. "This place has been home to you for so long. We want to know what changed."

"It's personal," Draco said immediately. "I'm not telling you. Just drop it." With that, he got up and walked out, seething.

They needed to drop it. He was happy, why couldn't they see that? It wasn't even close to sixth year; if anything, it's the opposite! Draco's happy, he's safe, he's doing better. They really couldn't accept that and leave him alone?

As Draco snuck throughout Hogwarts and made his way to the piano, a thought nagged at the back of his brain. Why was he so possessive of the piano? What made him claim it like it was his own? It was the castle's, after all…

As he entered the room and looked upon it, with its comfortable bed and his trunk in the corner, a nightstand with a lamp, the recent addition of a mirror, and the beautiful mahogany grand piano, Draco knew it was his. Nobody else could hear the music, nobody else could get in. This was for him only. It was home.

I started school so chapters might come less frequently, but I'll still work on it as much as possible. Stay tuned!