Muddy Green Waters || Draco Malfoy

22 - Confessions of a Slytherin Prince

"Draco?"

I tried to make my voice as tentative and as gentle as possible. I didn't want to alarm him. It felt like I had walked in on something extremely private.

Draco froze, his sobs ceased immediately. He furiously wiped his face with his shirt sleeves before eventually looking at me. I saw the horror in his eyes at being caught like this.

"Carter, I uh- I didn't - I didn't..." he trailed off. He looked down at his feet, sighing.

I approached him and hesitantly perched on the edge of the sofa he was sat on.

"Draco, you can talk to me. Please, just let me help you." I started to move my arm so as to place my hand on his shoulder to comfort him, but I changed my mind at the last second and decided to squeeze both my hands tightly in my lap instead.

"You can't help me Carter, no one can." He said dully, still staring down at the floor.

"But something must have happened to make you get in this state. What is it? Please at least talk to me." I knew I must have started to sound pushy but seeing Draco like this frightened me. But he just shook his head saying nothing. I couldn't understand what could make him be this way.

And then suddenly I heard Harry's voice in my head. "Malfoy gave this necklace to Katie Bell. I'm sure of it." I didn't want to believe it, but Draco was in a state about something so I decided to test the waters.

"Did you go into Hogsmeade this morning?" I asked as casually as I could.

He shook his head, still not taking his eyes off of the floor. "Detention." He muttered.

Oh, well that put him out of the picture a bit. But I decided to go for the jugular.

"Did you hear about Katie Bell?"

I saw it instantly - his shoulders stiffened, his breath froze. It was him.

"Draco?" He finally looked up at me, fear in his eyes.

"Is- is she... OK?" His voice quivered. I thought he was going to start crying again.

"I don't know, I came straight here after it happened." I swallowed, my heart racing. There was no doubt about his involvement.

There was noise outside the common room - Slytherins were coming back from lunch. Draco stood up suddenly, giving me a nervous glance before stalking off to his dormitory.

There was nothing I could do. So I remained on the sofa and waited. Slytherins came and went around me, ignoring me. I didn't care. I just sat waiting and watching. I couldn't just leave it like this. I needed to find out what was going on with Draco. I was not afraid of him. I was afraid for him. And I wanted to help.

Eventually, he emerged from the dormitories. He headed straight for the common room exit, not looking my way at all.

Good. That just made what I was going to do easier.

After a few moments, I got up on my feet and followed.

I was careful to stay far enough behind but not too far in case I would lose the white-blonde hair leading the way. Luckily, he never looked back - I'm sure he would know what I was doing the instant he saw me. Eventually, we were in a corridor on the seventh floor. This was where the Room of Requirement was. We had used it for Dumbledore's Army last year.

Draco came to a halt besides the tapestry of dancing trolls, closed his eyes and began to pace.

I stayed hidden behind a statue as I watched the door appear. As soon as he entered it, I sprinted forward - willing the door not to vanish before I got there.