Draco's Mudblood - Draco Malfoy Fan Fiction - *Year One*

Stopping the Midnight Duel

Madam Pomfrey had never really given Isobel the 'okay' to leave, but then again there was no reason to have kept her overnight. Besides, they needed to stop the Midnight Duel.

Theodore had agreed to sneak out of the Slytherin Common Room to meet up with Isobel out of sheer adrenaline. A few hours into the wait for eleven, however, the adrenaline had burned out into pure anxiety. He'd never done something so reckless before. Scenarios of getting caught and the assortment of punishments that could be heading his way intrusively filled his head.

But there was no way for Theo to tell Isobel of his change of heart without leaving the Dungeons, and the fear of losing his very first friend highly outweighed his depictions of Filch's possible torture.

Eyelids thick and drooping with exhaustion, Theodore quietly pushed himself out of bed at half past. It was time.

Holding his breath he snuck out of the dormitory, without making a sound, and took another huge gulp of air before creeping around the staircase to the Common Room. Not a sound. The Common Room was dark and still with the exception of the fireplace. He let out another breath of air. Half the hard part was done.

"What are you doing?"

Theodore's shriek was muffled by Blaise Zambini's hand. "What are you doing?" He hissed this time. "You're going to get us caught!"

It took Theo nearly a full minute to catch his breath. "S-sorry." He gulped. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed?"

Blaise raised an eyebrow, scowling. "Aren't you?"

He gulped again and nodded. "Sorry, I just... um... you know..." Blaise didn't know. "Isobel needs my help."

This time, both of Blaise's eyebrows crept up his forehead. "Oh? Sneaking out to the Hospital Wing to see a girl? You?"

"No, no, it's not like that," Theo shook off the thought. "Draco is trying to get Harry Potter and some other Gryffindor in trouble. I overheard at dinner, and when I told Isobel she insisted we needed to do something about it."

"So you're sneaking out, risking House Points, to prevent the Gryffindors, our enemies, from also losing House Points."

"Yes."

Blaise turned around. "You're mad."

Theo didn't respond. He had a point.

Blaise threw himself into the plush velvet armchair before the fire. "Whatever. Just don't get caught. Or do. I don't really care."

"You're not coming with?"

Blaise scoffed. "What, and risk my arse too?"

Theo couldn't place why he felt disappointed by this. "Right. Well. Good night then."

He took off through the opening to the hall, Blaise's dark eyes trailing him the whole way. "Bleedin' idiot."

- - -

Isobel had just snuck past the snoozing Madam Pomfrey when Theodore's pointed nose appeared around the corner. "Theo!"

His eyes popped into view, and with two quick glances, gestured for Isobel.

"What took you so long?"

"Sorry," he whispered when she was out of sight of the hall and at his side. "Blaise was awake in the Common Room. Took a minute to get around him. Oh no," he stopped. "Do you reckon he's going to tell? Oh no, I should've gone earlier, or double-checked that he was in bed before I left, oh no-"

Isobel shook her head at him. "No, I don't think he'll tell. He didn't come with because he didn't want to get caught, right?" Theo nodded. "Then he won't tell."

She didn't know why she knew this, but something told her Blaise was only really concerned with himself.

With two more glances around the corner of the side hall they'd rushed to, Theodore and Isobel sprung into action. Theo had heard Malfoy tell the others he would tip Filch to the Trophy Hall, and even though it took them a few tries to readjust to the dark castle halls, they made quick work of getting themselves just a few doors down from it.

Isobel glanced at Theodore's watch. It was three minutes after midnight. "Keep an eye out for Filch and Mrs. Norris," she whispered.

There was very little light in the hall, but the door handle across from them flashed reflecting moonlight over them. The rows of armour surrounding them seemed to watch their every move. The hall was perfectly quiet. Almost too quiet.

And then there was a noise. "...they might be lurking in a corner..."

Had Isobel not have grabbed Theodore's hand and pulled him down the hall to the left, he would have froze on the spot and never moved again . She whipped him around the corner and slapped her hand over his mouth, his eyes bulging and pupils nearly gone from panic. The sound of shuffling footsteps came from the behind. Something squeaked to their right proceeding the sonic boom of metal armour crashing to the ground. Someone yelled.

"RUN!"

To the left ran Isobel and Theodore; To the right, the four dark figures of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Neville Longbottom.

The gallery had spit them out somewhere on the sixth floor of the castle, having shifted two floors up in the few moments they'd spent before the Trophy Hall. They ran for a staircase and shot down it, hoping the paintings wouldn't be interested in ratting on the two of them to Filch, and through the fifth floor. They had just turned a couple corners, the soles of Isobel's feet burning from her poor shoe choice, when they passed a door.

Isobel stopped. "Theo!"

He turned from ahead of her, panting, and scurried to catch up with her as she ushered him through the door and clicked it shut.

"Why'd we stop? If we'd kept going we could have-"

Isobel put her finger over her lips. The sound of something clattering to the ground went off in the depths of the castle. Following that was the sound of Filch's shuffling, taking one of his infamous shortcuts, passed the door the two Slytherins had escaped through.

Neither dared to take a breath.

They'd escaped into an unused classroom or some kind of storage space. Desks and chairs dangerously lined the walls, trunks and footstools piled in the corners, an upturned garbage bin and several stacks of dust-covered drapes. The few narrow windows in the room shone gentle moonlight into the centre of the room and bounced off a mirror.

It was a gorgeous mirror, decorated in a gold, swooping frame with polished claws to stand on. It was incredibly out of place with the rest of the mess of the room.

Isobel stretched out her fingertips to her reflection in the mirror, her gaze lingering on them as she reached to touch the reflection of her mother's face in the mirror, just as she remembered it, just as it was in the photographs in her trunk.

She didn't dare look behind her. Her mother wasn't really there, but for even a second it was nice to believe she was.

"Isobel?"

Theodore didn't appear in the reflection of the mirror beside Isobel even though he stood next to her in the room.

Isobel wasn't in the reflection for him either, but it was just as he had thought that first day at the station: his own mother did look an awful lot like her.