beautiful - harry potter

chapter 46

3 months later

"Check it," Thalia breathed out, putting her hands on a wooden table. Her gaze darted towards the blonde boy and she let out a dramatic sigh. "Draco, pay attention!"

"You're not the only one with a task, Lia," Draco sighed. "How are we supposed to kill Dumbledore if neither of us can even finish our first tasks?" He opened the wooden cabinet again and pulled the book out. He dropped the book onto the ground. "This is stupid."

"Okay, well, I'm getting close to doing mine, so once I do this, I can help you," she offered.

"I can't ask you for help. The Dark Lord would know. I need to prove myself," he scowled, turning around to face her. "Do your stupid trick so I can focus again." Draco rubbed his forehead with his hand.

"Okay," Thalia said excitedly. She closed her eyes and pressed a little harder onto the table. "Incendio." 

Her hands were instantly burned and her eyes snapped open. Thalia stepped back and cradled her hands as the horrid burns started to bubble on her delicate skin. 

Draco watched with wide eyes from the other side of the table as it was devoured by flames. It caught onto a nearby book and Draco smacked the fire out with his own book.

"Shit, Lia."

"I know," she grinned, shaking off the relentless stinging sensation in her hands. "You think it's good enough? I've set fire to a table before but it didn't go this fast." 

"Depends on what he wants you to do."

"He wants me to set fire to a building," Thalia answered, coughing through the smoke. "I've never burned a whole building before, so I don't know if this'll work."

"Keep practicing," Draco scoffed as the flames diminished and all that was left between them was a pile of ashes. "That was a table. A building is a completely different story."

"The Dark Lord says I don't have to set the entire building on fire," she pipped. "Apparently, I just have to start it, but I don't know how fast it'll spread. What if it goes out quickly? He'll kill me. Probably."

"I wouldn't let him," the blonde frowned. 

"Nothing stops him, Dray," Thalia assured. "Try to stop him and he'll kill you too. Let's just hope this is good enough for now." Thalia used the side of her shoe to push the ashes into a pile of books. "I'm done for the day. Wanna crash in your dorm?"

"Nah, I'm gonna stay for a bit longer. Maybe I can get closer to cracking this stupid cabinet," Draco answered, referring towards the wooden dresser. "It's being a real bitch. I'm convinced it's a fake and we've been tricked."

"Doubt it," Thalia responded. "We got it from Borgin and Burkes."

"Whatever," he scowled, refusing to believe that it was real and he just couldn't solve it.

"Well, good luck with your cabinet."

"You're so lucky you get such an easy job," Draco scowled. "Have to fix a bloody cabinet that hasn't worked since forever and you just have to set a building on fire. Unfair as fuck."

"Sucks to be you," Thalia shrugged, walking around the piles of crap in the room. "Tswizzle out." 

"Night, Lia," he called after her as she exited. Thalia waved goodbye as the door slammed behind her and she skipped down the hall. 

She rammed into someone's chest and she took a step back.

"Is that the Room of Requirements?"

Harry looked over Thalia's shoulder to see the large wooden door disappear.

"Um.. maybe," Thalia said stiffly. "But I have your Christmas present in there, so don't go peeking," she lied. Knowing Harry, he would probably look if she didn't have a valid excuse.

"Oh, okay," he nodded. "What's up with your hands?"

Thalia looked down at her blisters and quickly hid her hands behind her back. "Nothing," she answered quickly. "What're you doing out this late?"

"Nothing," Harry replied defensively. He looked past Thalia, at the stone wall where the door once was. "It is pretty late, like you said, so you should- you should get back to your dorm."

"I was thinking I could stay with you tonight," Thalia offered. She moved so she was standing beside Harry and she linked their arms.

"Again?" he asked as the two started to walk. "I mean, you've stayed in my dorm three times this week."

"Yeah," Thalia nodded. "Why're you counting?" She wanted to spend as much time as she could with Harry before Christmas time. 

"No reason. Come on."

-----

"Secret meeting in session."

"You don't need to address it, you twat," Draco huffed. "We're meeting without Theo knowing. It's not even secret."

"Seems pretty secret if we're not involving him," Blaise opposed. "Let me break this down. So, Lia and Harry have been secretly dating..."

Thalia nodded.

"And you," Blaise added, pointing towards Draco, "told her that she could date him until Christmas time, because everyone knows how good ol Voldy can have our minds read."

Draco nodded.

"But now, both of you come to me, the best Legilimens master ever to come up with a solution so the Dark Lord won't kill either of you," Blaise summed up. "Did I get that all correct?"

"Pretty much," Thalia said. "Got a solution?"

Blaise put his hand on his chin and leaned back in his armchair. Draco sprung out of his chair and paced around the room. Thalia tapped her foot on the ground impatiently, something she picked up from spending so much time with Harry.

"Only one I could think of," Blaise answered softly. Thalia waited expectantly.

"Well?" Draco asked rudely.

"I can go through your memories and erase all of the ones with Harry in them," Blaise offered, looking at Thalia uneasily.

"Can you put them back after Christmas break?" Thalia asked, staring at the floor. 

"I don't know," he replied. "I've never done it on someone before."

"Hmph."

"If you want, I could just keep all the memories," Blaise added, "but I'll have to replace Harry with Draco. And in circumstances where Weasley and Granger are involved, I could replace them with me and Theo."

"Hmph." Thalia leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. 

"I say, just erase all of them," Draco shrugged. "It's easier. If you insert me into your memories, then we've got to change my memories too so our stories line up. And besides, we don't even need Potter infecting your memories at all."

"I need to think about it," Thalia said. "I don't want to have him erased. And I didn't tell Harry about this whole bit with the Dark Lord and my engagement and all of that."

"Well, he's got to have seen the ring by now," Draco snorted. 

"I told him it was a birthday gift from my father," Thalia sighed, covering her face with her hands. "This is not good. Not good at all."