Slytherin Princess (Draco Malfoy Fanfic)

Chapter 48

~A/N : Sorry for the long wait! (And for such a short chapter too... But the one after this should come a lot sooner due to Thanksgiving Break!)

This chapter has been sitting around half finished for quite a while, but I could never quite come up with the middle...

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I sat in Dumbledore's office, tapping my feet on the floor. While Hermione and I's wounds were mostly healed by Madam Pomfrey, there were still minor injuries she left to heal naturally to teach us a lesson and remind us about how horrible what we did was. The constant soreness and stinging only made me hate Hermione more. Hermione sat in the chair next to me, not taking her eyes off me for even a single second.

I turned to face Hermione and glared back at her. I stared straight into her eyes, daring her to move. The room was completely silent. Dumbledore was taking an awfully long time to arrive.

"You're insane," Hermione fumed, her face red with fury, "You were actually trying to kill me, weren't you?" Her face was covered in small cuts from the pieces of bowl, just like my hand.

"Trying to kill you? That sure won't land well with the ministry," I sneered, "I was merely going for severely injuring you, traitor."

Hermione opened and closed her mouth several times like a fish out of water, unable to speak.

"What's gotten into you?! You're acting all... Evil! " She finally yelled, standing up suddenly and lifting an acusing finger at me, "You're the traitor! I'm just helping the Wizarding World, and you're running around siding with the Death Eaters!"

"Why look at you, acting all high and mighty!" I spat back, getting up as well so we were equal height, "Helping the Wizarding World! Since when does my romantic life endanger the Wizarding World?"

"Are you helping him with his mission? Are you supporting him? I think you are!" She acused.

"And I think you're taking your sense of justice too far!" I hissed, "I most definitely have not been helping him with his mission! I'm not-"

"This is for your own good too, Alice! Can't you see he's not a good person? He's only messing with you!" Hermione said in frustration, "He's probably using you to fix the-"

"I said I'm not helping him with-"

"He'll make you-"

"Why don't you just-"

"I-"

"I believe that is enough arguing," A voice said. I nearly jumped out of my skin when Dumbledore appeared out of nowhere infront of us, apparating to his desk. He sat down in his seat and motioned for us to do the same.

He was listening the whole time! And he had planned for us to yell at each other?

"I think Hermione shouldn't interfere with my personal affairs," I said carefully, trying to control my anger in front of Dumbledore, "I don't need her help in those things."

"I'm just looking out for you like a friend should!" She said in exasperation. What the hell?! She called that looking out for me? Giving me the cold shoulder before tricking me into chugging Amortentia?

The expression on my face must have been pretty weird, since Hermione immediately switched from disbelief to a murderous expression. Her face was red with frustration. I was tempted to make a snide comment about how she was going to suffocate and kill herself if she didn't start breathing, but decided against it when I remembered Dumbledore was watching.

Madam Pomfrey said I should be expelled. Would Dumbledore really expel me?

When Harry almost killed Draco, he got off with just detentions. Harry Potter gets special treatment. The unfairness of it was burning into me.

When I turned to look at Dumbledore, however, he wasn't even paying attention to us. He was looking down at his lap where his hands rested. He seemed to be lost in thought. Hermione noticed this as well, and stopped talking. Part of me was curious about what he was thinking, but at the same time I felt frustrated that he had called us to his office just to think about other problems.

After what seemed like forever, he finally snapped out of his thoughts.

"Hermione," he said slowly, "I'd like you to wait outside the door." Hermione furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but listened to his instructions and got up to leave. As the door closed behind her, Dumbledore turned to look at me.

"Alice," he said in a grim tone that made me extremely nervous. I waited for him to continue, but he only sat completely still and looked into my eyes. I quickly looked away. I stared at the bookshelf to my left, too scared to look directly at Dumbledore.

Was he going to expel me?! Why did he send Hermione away?

"I want you to stay at Hogwarts and help him," he said as he continued to observe me.

What? I looked at him in confusion at the sudden change of topic. Help who? Dumbledore noticed my confusion and spoke again to explain.

"I want you to help Draco fix the Vanishing Cabinet."

Help...

Help Draco...

Fix the cabinet?

I looked at him in horror He knew Draco was a Death Eater! He knew about his mission! He knew everything! Panic was building up in me. I wanted to run. To get away.

I couldn't do what he was asking me to do. I couldn't fix the cabinet. I didn't know how to, and wouldn't be able to bring myself to even if I did. How could I do what he wanted me to do when I knew it could cause his death? Dumbledore sat and waited for my answer so calmly that I half wondered if he even knew what would happen if the cabinet was fixed.

"I couldn't possibly do that!" I cried in horror, "They would get into Hogwarts! They'll try to kill you!" It was one thing to keep a secret from my friends, but to actually help...

"I am fully aware of what I am asking you to do, as well as the consequences," Dumbledore said calmly, "I trust you to understand and hope you will consider what I have told you."

Dumbledore was asking me to help Draco. He had to have a plan, right? He had to know what he was doing... He was Dumbledore. There was no way he would just let himself be killed. But then why did he sound so grim earlier?

Dumbledore inspected me as I sat, wide eyed in shock at his request. No matter how much I thought about it, it didn't make sense to me.

I opened my mouth, but was unable to speak. I nodded stiffly instead.

Dumbledore smiled as if there was nothing wrong with what I had just agreed to, and motioned for me to leave so he could talk to Hermione. I stood up quickly, stumbling out of room. Hermione looked at me in alarm when she saw my expression of shock and horror, but I went straight past her without a single word.

I was going to help Draco fix the Vanishing Cabinet.

Dumbledore told me to.

But deep down inside, I knew that I would have eventually broken down and helped anyways.