UNBREAK | D.M (UNRAVEL BOOK 5)

[ 28 ]

A couple of days later at the Weasley's Burrow, Harry was sitting in front of the fireplace, his eyes staring at the dancing flame. The sounds of wood crackling in the background and faint bickering from the kitchen could be heard, but he wasn't paying attention to his best friend's family squabbling. His mind had drifted off towards the conversation he had overheard in the corridor after Slughorn's Christmas Party. It was the heated dialogue between Draco and Snape regarding the Unbreakable Vow. He couldn't seem to get the idea of it out of his mind, and ever since Ron had enlightened him about what happens when you break such a magical oath.

"You die..."

He exhaled, brows furrowing at the dazzling flame that was blinding his eyes after staring at it for a long time. At last, he finally tore his gaze from it, having to blink away from the white patches in his vision. 

He reaches for the brown parchment in his jeans pocket and pulls it out, revealing the Marauder's Map. He recited the secret quote under his breath and tapped his wand onto the paper. Within seconds, the contents of the map of Hogwarts presented themselves to the boy. 

The first thing he did was scan across the paper, unfolding it so he could have an entire view of the school and what those individuals that had remained behind during the holidays were up to. His blue eyes narrowed at the name 'D. Malfoy', next to him was 'A. Estoileon' and he was certain that the couple was together. However, just as he was about to fold the map back and put it away, he caught the names disappearing when they reached the end of a corridor. Their footsteps faded away at the same time. 

It wasn't the first time he saw Draco's name disappearing whenever he had stopped in front of an empty wall. He had witnessed it a couple of times but to see Aine's name disappearing along with his made Harry curious. There could be a few reasons why their footsteps vanished in front of the end of a corridor. One of the possibilities was that it means that they had entered the Room of Requirement since it wasn't plotted on the map. 

But why?

Surely they wouldn't be snogging in the Room of Requirement, would they? He thought to himself and immediately regretted thinking about it. He cringed at his imagination but got back on track when he thought about Draco's suspicious behaviour all year. How he often looks sick and grey, exhaustion evident on his face whenever he saw the Slytherin boy. Not to mention the fact that he had actually missed a Quidditch match, especially one against their own house. He never misses a match yet, he did.

Harry knew that the Malfoy family had gotten it rough after the head of their house, Lucius Malfoy was captured by the ministry and imprisoned after the battle. It goes without saying that Draco was suffering too. But Harry just couldn't put his finger on what was truly going on with that blonde git's life. 

He also thought of Aine and how strange she had become after the holidays after the death of her father— How she had always gone out patrolling, doing her prefect duties more than she needed to. Harry had originally believed it was how the girl was coping with the loss of her father, it was how she was grieving as everyone grieves differently in their own ways. But she too had occasionally sported an anaemic look on her face, she was usually pale but it seems like she has been especially languid lately. The shadows on her bags only reminded him how Hermione had once told him that Aine wasn't sleeping well.

And then there was her defending Draco when he had accused him of cursing Katie. The flash of anger beneath her golden eyes, the darkening of her gaze and aura. The bloodlust that he had felt back in McGonagall's classroom where they had been questioned about what had happened. 

Was it just my imagination?

While Harry was busy overthinking about it, Mr Weasley, Remus and Tonks made their way to the boy after he had told them he wanted to discuss the matter relating to Draco, and the possibility of Aine being involved. He broke out of his bubble when Tonks gave him a light nudge, taking the seat next to his former professor. He was hesitant about speaking about it but there was no one else he could possibly talk about such a deep, controversial topic with. And they were members of the Order of the Phoenix, maybe they could help or look into his allegations.