Chapter 10
“Having a last meal, Queen?”
“What’s gotten into you Malfoy, you don’t have to be like this you know?” Harry said, turning to the boy. “I mean I could let Alyssa deal with you, you know, but that wouldn’t be quite… civil.”
“What’s that meant to mean Queen?”
“It’s just that you are a lot braver with your taunting when your backed by your goons. And without them being here.” Harry noted, crossing his arms. “You’re better than this Malfoy, you can do so much better than this. And yet you don’t.”
“Why not put your money where your mouth is with a Proper Wizarding duel?”
“A wizarding duel, really?” Harry himself sneered, “Is that really all that you can come up with?”
“What are you afraid?”
“Of course not, I’ll be nice even and name Ron my second so that you have a chance.”
“Crabbe.” Draco gave a nod. “Midnight in the trophies room that’s always unlocked.”
“I can accept that.” Harry smiled. “I’ll see you then.”
“Are you serious? You can’t go wandering around after hours. Think of the points you might lose Gryffindor if your caught, and really your bound to be.” Hermione glared. “It’s quite selfish really.”
“I appreciate the concern Hermione, but I’m not backing down.”
“And it’s really not your business.” Ron shook his head, heading off with Harry as they finished eating.
“This is going to be difficult. I don’t have that much practice with magic.” Harry let out a small sigh.
“Neither will Draco.” Ron shook his head. “You’ll be fine.”
“I can’t believe you’ve already gotten yourself into a fight.” Alyssa shook her head, smirking mischievously. “With Malfoy. I though you wanted to prove he was a good person.”
“He was raised by people like him; I do think that he could become a better person. It will just take time and effort. Patients” Harry explained, “It’s not too unlike your trust of Snape.”
“I guess. Now tell me, why shouldn’t I tell a prefects about this?”
“Because you want to sneak out as well,” Harry noted and Alyssa gave a small nod. “Why not go out tonight yourself? I know you’ve gathered all that you can for the time being without seeing that Mirror.”
“You want me to be a possible distraction for Filch and his cat if it comes down to it.” They chuckled softly, grin spreading to that of the Cheshire cat.
“Kind of.”
“Alright.” Alyssa sighed, shaking their head face falling ever so slightly. “But you better be careful Harry. As much as I tease you; and I know your strong, I need you for this. I can’t have you going and getting expelled on me."
“I know Alyssa. I will be. I promise.” Harry smiled softly. “You do understand why I didn’t choose you as my second, right?”
“Because I’m more useful elsewhere.” Alyssa shrugged. “I’ll see you around, just be smart about this. We will meet back up, I expect you to be back by one at the latest.”
“Then?”
“I’m getting a professor. I don’t care about the trouble we may get in, this a duel between students, it shouldn’t cause a big fuss.” They nodded.
“Alright. I’ll see you at Midnight. We head out together, meet back up here at one.”
That night Harry couldn’t get any sleep. Not only was he somewhat nervous, but he was also rather excited. As much as he had wanted to help Draco, at that point he wanted to put Draco in his place. He knew that Draco needed his feet knocked out from under him, to have his ego bruised a bit.
At that point he was lying awake, not able to do much of anything. Seamus and Dean had both long since fallen asleep, and after a bit he just rolled out of bed, making his way into the common room. Taking a few deep breaths he turned his attention to his notes and textbooks. Primarily ‘The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection’ to see if it had any extra spells or even tips for what he was going into.
“Nervous?” Alyssa teased, heading up to him. “You seem eager to be doing this. I thought that you wanted to fix him.”
“A bit to both. And I do want to help him, but you’re right. Draco needs to be put in his place, at least once.”
“You know how-“
“Alyssa.”
“I think there is a chance that this is a trap. He wants you to be expelled.”
“I know Al. I’m going to be careful. But if it doesn't happen tonight, I will find a way to make it happen another day.” Harry gave a small nod. “I am going to be careful, we both will, right?”
“Of course.” Alyssa nodded, checking their watch. “It’s 11:25, when are you and Ron heading out?”
“11:30.” He responded, fixing his dart braces, nodding as Ron headed up to them. “You ready to go?”
“I suppose so.” He nodded, following the two towards the portrait that acted as the door.
“I can’t believe that you three are doing it. Doing this!” Hermione huffed, crossing her arms as she flicked a nearby lamp on. “I could have told you know. Percy, any of the other prefects, the heads of house.”
“But you didn’t.” Alyssa noted, smirking slightly. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m trying to get these two to change their mind. What are you doing here?”
“I was planning on sneaking out as well. Different reasons, searching for the Mirror tonight. Harry convinced me to more of less be a distraction in a sense, to draw Filch away from them” He said with a nod. “We should be off.”
“Right!” Harry nodded. “Don’t want to risk getting caught.”
Quickly the trio headed out, Alyssa pulling a small, semi-ornate dagger out of the nothing.
“What is that?” Hermione asked, stepping out from behind Alyssa.
“It’s for you. I had a feeling you would be sneaking around.” They chuckled warmly, handing it over.
“I’m not sneaking around-“
“Hush! I just saw something.” Harry hissed, slipping a dart out of one of his cuffs before launching it towards the shadows. As it hit the wall the form quickly shifted, letting out a startled shout.
“Nevil?” Ron faltered. “Why are you out here?”
“I forgot the new password I’ve been out here for a few hours.” Nevil stammered, hands trembling slightly. “W-why did you throw that thing at me?”
“I was trying to scare off the cat.” Harry admitted, accepting the arrow dart back. “Sorry about that Nevil, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I-it’s okay Harry.” He stammered, taking a few calming breaths.
“What are those?” Hermione asked, tilting her head at the boy.
“Just throwing arrows, now why don’t you take Nevil back inside and we can be on our way.”
“One issue with that.” Alyssa chuckled softly. “She’s gone.”
“What?”
“Come on, let’s not linger here. We meet back here at one at the latest.” Alyssa said, saluting before quickly leaving.
“Let’s just get to the trophy room.” Harry suggested, leading the way down the first flight of stairs. “Stay close, we’ll do better as a group.”
“Probably.” Hermione rolled her eyes, “But we shouldn’t be out here anyways.”
“Look I know your worried about me, but you know I couldn’t back out of this.”
“I know. Let’s just get going.”