chapter thirteen

9.7K 378 385
                                    

Draco stood a small distance away from the book on the shelf. A book, small and inconspicuous and so easily overlooked.

A book with all sorts of repellent charms surrounding it.

A book that refused to come down, dispite the hours of Draco's effort. The time had flown by once he discovered the secret, and he didn't even realize how long he had been standing in that same spot, trying to intertwine his magic into the wards and free the book. But to no success, it seemed.

He could've moved closer, but in all honesty the thing terrified him. The shit reeked of Dark Magic.

Draco realized that he had lost track of time. And, apperantly, of Harry, too. It'd been hours, Draco realizes with a quick tempus. Cursing himself for being so careless, Draco moves quickly, exiting the library, before forcing himself  to stop.

Where would Harry be? he thought. He said he'd be going to the Headmaster's office. But he'd be back by then, right? If he ran into trouble, we always said we'd met up by the Hospital Wing.

Deciding that it's not likely but still worth a shot, Draco moves dangerously fast through the hallways, ignoring onlookers eyeing him warily. The Hospital Wing is almost completely empty when he arrives, and for a moment Draco thinks that Harry isn't in there and he's completely lost the boy. He feels panic rise in his chest, the possibilities swirling in his mind.

But the moment is short lived as he spots Harry sitting on his bed, looked mildly panicked and upset. His face lifts when he spots Draco.

Draco is so relieved, that he runs over and, before he can stop to think, pulls Harry into a hug. Which is a terribly un-Malfoy thing to do but he is just so glad to have found Harry that he can push those feelings aside for a moment.

Harry melt into his embrace, the tension in his body being eased away as Draco holds him. He's with Draco, and he's okay, and everything will be fine and he's with Draco.

Draco pulls back after a bit- Harry has no idea how long it had been- and Harry wants to put him back but something in Draco's face stops him. "Where the hell have you been?!" Draco yelled angrily, then said, quieter, "I was so worried. I thought that... I might've... I thought I lost you."

Harry places a hand on his shoulder gently. "I'm sorry," he said. "I think someone Oblivated me."

Draco's eyes widened. "What?"

Harry winces. "I lost a couple of hours, I think. I-I think it was Jackson- I mean, who else would it be? But yeah, I can't remember anything. So there's not much else to say about it." He rushed on before Draco could comment, "And then I got- well, stole- the student records from the Headmaster's office."

Draco blinked in shock. "You didn't just ask for them?"

"I didn't trust her," he said, sheepishly. "We can look at them in a minute. Where have you been?"

"I never left the library," he said, moving to sit beside Harry on the bed. "I was busy researching."

"Did you find anything about him?"

Draco nods. "Apperantly, he claims to have created the spell that erased your memories, sued the person who had a book published saying otherwise, and got a shit ton of money. But he's not commonly adknowledged as the creator of the spell."

"Why so?" Harry asks.

"He publicly sided with You-Know-Who and people tried to slander him as much as possible," Draco explained.

"Oh," Harry said. "That would explain some things."

"But what's even more interesting is this book I found," Draco beamed. "Come, it's better just to show you."

Harry nodded, ensuring that his wand and the student attendee file were tucked securely in his pocket and took Draco's outstretched hand, following him closely. The hand felt right in his, he realized. Warm. Comfortable. Meant to be.

"Harry!"

Harry and Draco paused, turning to the person who called his name; Ron. He was accompied by Luna, Neville, Ginny, and Hermione. "There you are!" Hermione exclaims. "We've been looking for you two. We haven't seen you like, all day. You haven't been to your classes!"

"Apologies," Draco said dryly. "We're here; look at us in all our glory. Now, you must see us off. We have business to attend to." Harry dully remembers Draco saying that, although he and Draco were friends, he and Harry's ex-posse were not.

"Where you off to?" Ginny asks, ignoring Draco's dismissal.

Harry bit his lip. "Research," he said vaguely.

"Can we come?" Ron asked, clearly missing his friend.

Harry glanced over at his friend, who seemed to be considering something. To Harry's surprise, Draco said; "Sure." He noticed Harry's puzzled look and grabbed his hand, squeezing once reassuringly.

Luna frowned.

"Um, let's get to it t-then," Neville stuttered. This declaration was met with noises of agreement, and the group began their way to the library, Draco leading the way.

The library was exceptionally empty, just as Draco had left it. "What are you researching?" Ginny inquired. The group followed Draco and Harry around like a lost puppy, and Harry was becoming irritated. Draco seemed to be handling the situation well.

"Things," Draco answered. "Stuff."

He ignored the group's groans of suspicion in favour of leaning in close to Harry's ear. "You won't be able to feel the wards unless you try to take it down. Uss your magic and try to the faded yellow book on the shelf over there," he pointed subtly to a shelf across the library, some distance from where they were standing. "Use your magic to try and grab it and you'll feel the wards. It's important. Have a running theory here. Wiccan and Witch Relations, that one."

Harry tries to cast a nonverbal accio at the book, and his eyes widened when he feels the wards repel the magic. "I-I recognize this magic," he said smally to Draco. "It's Jackson's."

Pristina is reaching out her magic and it's screaming and she's screaming IT'S HIM IT'S HIM IT'S HIM the magical signature is HIS and then Harry can feel it and she wonders if she GOT THROUGH TO HIM or if he recognized it himself—

Draco nodded. "One would think so. The only wizards with dark magic that powerful that have ever been in Hogwarts are He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and Jackson, if your theories of him coming here are correct. I assumed it was his book. Now, I'm going to test something. Work with me."

Harry nodded. Draco abrutly turned and walked swiftly to the bookshelf where the faded yellow book sat tauntingly. Harry followed and his group of sort-of-friends and ex-friends followed closely, like a lost puppy.

As they closed in on the bookshelf, something changed. Draco could feel it too.

The wards around the book dropped. Whoever created the wards had triggered them to stop once they arrived; that was clear.

Draco pulled his wand, pointing it at the group, who froze. Harry quickly pulled his wand, too, although he was very incompetent with it. "I think," Draco said slowly, "We have our curser."

An Eventful Quidditch Match (HP) (Drarry) (COMPLETED)Where stories live. Discover now