Closer to Love | Draco Malfoy [4]

Chapter 6 ~ Late Night Talks and Spying

It didn't take Mrs. Weasley long to get Harry and I settled in. It never took long, actually. The Weasleys always considered Harry, Hermione, and I family. It had been that way since the day we met them. It had been nice having them around. Especially whenever I needed a laugh. The twins sure knew how to do that.

Once Harry and I took our trunks into Percy's room, we changed into our pajamas and headed into Ron's room, where a newspaper was crumbled up and in the middle of our circle, creating fire. Harry was controlling it with his wand.

"So when did you get here?" he asked Hermione.

"A few days ago," she replied. "Though, for a while, I wasn't sure if I was coming."

Ron looked like he had to say something. So he said it. "Mum sort of lost it last week. She said that Ginny and I had no business going back to Hogwarts, saying hat it's too dangerous."

"Oh, come on!" I protested.

"She's not alone," Hermione added. "Even my parents, Muggles, know something bad is happening."

"Dad stepped in, told her that she was being barmy. It took a few days, but she came around," Ron finished.

"But this is Hogwarts we're talking about. It's Dumbledore. What could be safer?" Harry inquired.

"Harry, there's been a lot of talk recently that Dumbledore's getting a bit old," Hermione said.

"Rubbish!" I intervened. "He's only...What is he?"

Ron looked confused. "Hundred and fifty? Give or take a few years?"

We started laughing at him. Genuinely laughing. We tried keeping it down since everyone else was sleeping, but it took some time for that to happen. When it did, we were silent again. Until Hermione looked at me.

"So...I hate to ask you this, but..." she started. "I've been reading the Daily Prophet and I saw the Malfoys up there. Lucius broke out of Azkaban, didn't he?"

I froze. All I could think about was the last time I saw him. He was beating me. He almost killed me. I looked down at my hands and started fidgeting with them.

"Hermione, she doesn't like talking about that," Harry told her.

"But it's important. If Lucius is one of them, then surely--"

"Lucius is one of them, Hermione," I interrupted. "I'm not stupid. He was gone for a few days. When he came back, he..." I trailed off.

"He what?" Ron questioned.

I shook my head quickly. "Nothing. He did nothing." I stood up and left Ron's room and went into the one I was staying in, shutting the door behind me.

*******

It was around midnight when I was still sitting up in bed. I saw Harry, who fell asleep beside me. I carefully crawled over him and left our bedroom and walked down the hallway, where Ginny's room was, seeing a light through the crack at the bottom. I knocked on the door softly and entered the room, finding Ginny on her bed. She looked up and smiled at me.

"Hi," I said, waving awkwardly.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked.

I nodded. "Pretty much." I plopped down on her bed, sighing. "How was your summer?"

"Pretty good," she replied, flipping her red hair out of her face. "The boys didn't bother me as much. What about you?"

"Take a wild guess," I chuckled. "It was horrible, as always."