Emerald (Lazuli Book #2) Harry Potter Fan Fiction (Draco Malfoy)

Chapter Twelve - A Hidden Correspondence

I'm sorry that this update took so long!

I had another version of this chapter drafted, but I went away and when I came back and re-read it I hated it, so I decided to re-write it.

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The couple of weeks between my meeting with Harry and Slughorn's dinner crawl by so slowly that if they went any slower, I'd consider stealing Hermione's time turner just to make the time go quicker.

Everything is frustratingly repetitive, the lessons always seem to be the same, the meals consisting of the same food, even the conversations seem to always be about the same thing.

Sophia starts begging me to rejoin the Quidditch team after they play and lose terribly in a practice match with Hufflepuff. Despite the fact that the rival team were two players down, they still managed to catch the snitch and throw the quaffle through the goals 20 times before the game was over. Slytherin - much to the delight of watching Gryffindors - scored only 7 goals.

I'd promised Draco that I would avoid Perseus, but that wasn't always possible. He waved at me when I walked into the Common room, sometimes saved me a seat when I arrived for meals in the Great Hall. There's only a certain amount of times you can make up excuses and say no to someone before they start to get offended. And for some reason, the last thing I wanted to do was upset Perseus Black.

When the day of the dreaded meal came, I managed to sneak away from Honey when she was busy reprimanding Blaise about his choice of tie for the evening. Since she hadn't been invited herself, Honey had elected herself as mine and Sophia's personal stylist for the evening. Both Sophia and I had the good sense not to argue

When I escaped, I headed straight for the Owlery. I had a couple of letters I had to post, and could think of no better time than the crisp but fine November morning. The steps leading up to the Owlery were slippery so I took my time, my thoughts drifting towards Draco once again.

He'd grown even more distant over the past couple of weeks, disappearing for hours on end and nobody having seen any sight of him. It would get to the point where he would have been gone for nearly the entire day and I would start to worry. But just as I was getting dressed to go and alert the teachers that Draco was missing, he'd appear. Completely calm as if nothing had happened, like he'd only been gone a few moments. He'd make up excuses as to where he'd been; studying in the library, sending some letters. The list was endless. But I forced myself not to pry - Draco is secretive and he likes his privacy, even from me.

However today was one of the days where he was gone. I'd woken up to find him already gone, even though it was incredibly early. When I arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast, he was absent there too. Neither Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise or any of the others had seen him. With a sigh, I sat down and accepted that I most likely wouldn't see Draco today. Again.

So as I headed up to the Owlery, the last thing I expected to see was my boyfriend lurking up there, seemingly talking to the shadows.

I jumped backwards before he could see me, hiding just outside the door. Neither Draco nor whoever he was talking to heard my sharp-intake of breathe and the sudden shuffle as I walked back. Placing my hand over my mouth to muffle my frantic breathing, I peeped around the corner and saw that he wasn't talking to anyone at all, but to a Howler in his hand. Who would Draco need to send a Howler to?

"...small improvements in the entrance..." He muttered so quietly that it was a strain for me to hear all of Draco's letter. "...managed to transport a bird which lived for three minutes twenty-seven seconds after return."

I frown, what is he talking about?

"...target remains unaware, but attempts have failed thus far. More soon."