Our Little Secret || Draco Malfoy

Chapter 7.

We had hit rock bottom.

Months passed, and as the news about Harry became more and more scarce, the beatings became worse. I had turned into the Death Eaters' favorite punching bag, no matter how much the other professors tried to defend me. Between the interrogations and the "discipline", it was a miracle that I was still sane. No matter what they did, I refused to say anything about my brother - I didn't know a single thing about his location or his plans but the Death Eaters didn't believe me. But I figured that if they were abusing me that meant they weren't hurting some other student, so there was an upside to it after all. 

By the spring, I was practically permanently bruised and scarred, and I was drastically thinner than I had been at the start of the school year. The students of Hogwarts had been forced into submission out of fear under the rule of Snape and Voldemort's spies. All during the second term, though, whispers floated through the halls of a possible rebellion against Voldemort and his army. Nobody spoke too loudly for fear of being discovered by the Death Eaters, but you could feel it in the air - the time to fight back was coming, and fast.

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It was late in the night on May the 1st when I got the alert from Neville that something big was happening - that this might be it. I made sure that the coast was clear before I hurried from the Common Room and into the dark halls of the castle. I snuck through the corridors swiftly, skidding to a halt in front of the Room of Requirement. 

"I need an army, I need an army." I thought over and over, waiting for the large wooden door to appear. Soon enough it did, and I slipped through quickly and quietly. "Alright, I got the message, where is Nev?" I said, turning around and looking into the hideaway we had created for the army and other students. I gasped, however, when I saw my brother and Ron and Hermione standing by the large fireplace. 

"Harry!" I yelled, running over and hugging him tightly, tears running down my face. "You're here, you're alive!" I cried, clinging to him. Harry held me against him, his own tears wetting my shirt. "You're alive too." He croaked, pulling back to look at me. "Merlin, Isabelle! What did they do to you?" Harry said, looking at the bruises and scars on my body, and how thin I looked. 

"The DA has been taking students to this room when they don't feel safe enough to go to classes anymore, but I stayed behind in Gryffindor Tower to protect the rest of the students. I took a few beatings." I said, flinching a little at the memory of my last session in the dungeon with Amycus. "She's a champ," Neville said, rubbing my shoulder. "Isabelle didn't let anyone push the younger students around. She showed everyone this year how tough she really is." Neville finished with a hint of pride in his voice.

"So, why are you here? What's happening?" I asked, and Harry seemed to remember why they had risked their lives to come back to Hogwarts in the dead of night. "Right. There's an item that we need to find, it's somewhere inside the castle. It would have been something belonging to Ravenclaw. Can anyone think of something that's been in the Ravenclaw house for years?" 

There was silence in the room for a moment, and then Luna Lovegood spoke up. "Well, there's Ravenclaw's lost diadem." She offered. We all turned to look at Luna, and Michael Corner gave her a withering look. "Yeah but the lost diadem is lost. That's kind of the point, Luna." Michael said. "Hold on, what IS a diadem?" Ron interjected, confused. Terry Boot piped up from the back to explain. "It's a kind of crown. Ravenclaw's was supposed to have magical properties, enhance the wisdom of the wearer and what not." 

As people began to offer up different theories about the diadem and what Harry could possibly be looking for, Harry's eyes seemed to go out of focus and his hand drifted up to his forehead. I moved towards him, placing my hands on his shoulders to bring him back to reality. "What do you see Harry?" I said quietly, aware that Hermione and Ron were watching us now too. "He's coming. They're all coming." Harry said when he opened his eyes, a flash of fear tainting the green irises.