Chapter 12
Draco's hand runs against the wall. The golden trio went to dinner and the others went with them. Draco planned to go, but he blinked and nearly passed out where he stood. Coughing slugs up was apparently a bit more tiring than he thought. He was too tired to want to eat and after all the slugs he wasn't hungry.
Kill.
Oh. He's so exhausted he's hearing stuff. Voices echo through halls while no one is around. Sighing and shaking his head he continues to Gryffindor tower. He stumbles through the portrait to the common room and then up the stairs to the boys' dorm. He has no bed, but he can burrow Harry's until they return. An ever-changing castle should be able to add one more bed to a dorm room but that's too complicated. He pulls the blankets over his shoulders and sinks into the bed.
"Draco?" Harry asks.
He blinks. "Done with dinner?" he asks.
He nods. He moves a piece of hair out of his face.
"I'll move to a couch or something," he says.
"You look comfortable there. We can share, right?" he asks. He looks around the room and bites his lip.
Draco smiles. "Sure, Har. Thanks," he says.
He clamors under the covers.
Draco's eyes drift closed again.
Dumbledore plummets out of the window. Draco failed, again. His godfather, someone who adores Dumbledore no matter how much he pretends not to, had to come in and finish the job.
Draco's stomach clenches on nothing. He hasn't eaten in so long and he's tired. He put everything into this, and he failed. He wants to scream but can't. Snape turns back to them and talks but Draco can't hear anything outside his rushing blood.
What makes his failure so much worse is that he's happy about it. He didn't want to succeed. Killing Dumbledore would have been the worst thing he'd ever done. He didn't want to. He never wanted to. He had to and now he has to act ashamed, but he isn't.
"Do you think he died?" Ron asks.
"I don't think so. It's only been a day and a half," Fred says.
"Oh, Merlin," George says, "You killed him, Ron, after your attack he became so exhausted he died."
"Is that possible?" Ron asks. His voice shakes.
"Must be," George says.
"He went to bed and will never awaken," Fred says.
Draco groans.
Reggie coos.
"Morning, Reggie," he says, "You too, Ron, Fred, and George."
Draco opens his eyes. Ron's eyes are wide and lined with tears.
"No, I did not die, Ronald. Just needed a day and a half of sleep apparently," he says.
He dives into him and wraps his arms around him.
Draco's body goes stiff. He pats his back after a moment. "There, there," he says.
"Welcome back, Draco," Fred says.
He waves and smiles. "Bullying Ron while I nap?" he asks.
"I would say you were in a light coma not a nap," George says.
Draco shrugs. "Similar in my experience," he says. He has had spurts where he sleeps a long time.
Ron sniffles.
"Really, Ron, it isn't a big deal," he says.
He sits on the bed. Large droplets of water roll down his cheeks.
Draco jaw drops.
"He's been by your side except finishing detention and classes, even then he ditched a couple," George says.
Draco opens and closes his mouth. Ron seems genuinely remorseful but he's pretty sure he also probably just did not want to go to class.
"I'm so sorry, Draco, truly. I didn't mean to hurt you," he says.
Draco takes his hand. "It happens. Thank you for worrying. I was a bit tired, but I feel better now. Your spell was powerful, good job," he says. He doesn't want his friend to be worried about something as ridiculous as this.
He squeezes his hand. "It isn't a good job if it hurts you," he says.
"You didn't aim to hurt me. Sometimes we make mistakes but instead of dwelling on it lets grow so we don't do it again," he says.
Ron nods. He leans forward then back.
He opens his arms. He isn't big on the physical affection, but Ron seems to really need it.
He wraps his arms around him and buries his face in Draco's neck.
Draco's sight hazes. He tries to blink away the sudden blur.
Ron sighs and leans back. "I still feel bad, but I get what you mean so I'll work to be better," he says.
Draco smiles.
"We got invited to Nearly Headless Nick's 500th Deathday party. He got rejected from the Headless Hunt or something and needed some cheering up and, well, you know Harry, he volunteered us to go to his party," Ron says.
"When?" Draco asks. Deathday parties are not fun from everything he's read. Not for the living.
"Tonight," he says.
Draco nods. He scoots to the edge of the bed and stands. He changes into his robes.
"What are you doing?" he asks.
"Getting ready. I know we have a couple hours but if we want to have enjoyable food, we need to make it." He knows that they are all unbearable when they don't have enough food.
Ron tilts his head. "Nick said they would provide food."
"He likely will but it will be food for ghosts which is rotten or otherwise strongly flavored so ghosts can taste it as they walk through them. Regular food is too soft in flavor and ghosts cannot taste it at all."
"Why do you know all that?"
Draco sighs.
Reggie butts his head against his cheek.
"I was interested," he says.
"With Voldemort around you cannot roam around any longer," Mother says.
Draco opens his mouth. They've discussed way too many times.
She pushes him slightly into his room. A pile of books clunk onto the floor and she turns around and leaves. The lock on his door clicks and he is stuck.
Draco sits in his room reading for hours or days. Time blurs into a giant mess but he reads all the books, twice, three times, four.
Ron pokes his shoulder. "At least it's useful. Let's cook," he says.
They leave the Slytherin dorms and go to the kitchens.
"I didn't think we were allowed down here," Ron says.
"We aren't but the house elves agreed not to report me as long as I don't mess anything up." The house elves also generally don't mind his presence. They probably won't come out with Ron there, but they know he's there. He pulls the ingredients he needs together.
"Do you cook a lot?" Ron leans on a counter watching him shuffle around the room.
"Sometimes. I come here when I'm stressed. Following a recipe gives me something else to focus on," he says. It's like making potions or learning a spell. It's right there, he doesn't have to think.
He nods.
"Grab me a couple of bowls, pans, and spatulas," he says.
He opens cupboards and drawers.
Draco shuffles around the kitchen following directions he remembers from Dobby.
Ron sets the stuff on the counter and sits on the counter staring at him. Reggie perches beside him occasionally taking pieces of food from his fingers.
Draco shakes his head. "I do all the work and you two just steal snacks?" he asks.
Ron shrugs.
Reggie coos and eats another piece.
Draco rolls his eyes.
The door creaks open. "Oh, I didn't know anyone was in here," Cedric says.
He laughs. "You're always playing into the Hufflepuff stereotypes," he says.
He rolls his eyes. "Hello to you too, Draco. What are you doing?" he asks.
"Cooking. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I were invited to a Deathday party, and we all know ghost food is not edible," he says.
Cedric raises an eyebrow. "Do we all know that?"
"We should," he says. That seems like a good thing to know just in case.
Ron nods. "Exactly. If you're getting yourself invited to a party you should know about these things," he says.
"Ah, you didn't know either," Cedric says. He grins at Ron.
Draco nods. "He knew nothing," he says.
Cedric laughs and hops onto the counter by Ron.
Reggie coos.
"Where's the rest of the crew?" he asks.
Draco shrugs. "When I woke up, Harry wasn't in bed," he says.
"He was talking about going to visit Hagrid and Hermione joined him," Ron says. He tosses a piece of food in the air and catches it in his mouth.
"Hm. Wait, why is it that every time someone joins this little party they sit and watch?" he asks. He's doing all the work for the ungrateful heathens.
Cedric drops some cashews in his mouth. "You're dominating the kitchen. We're scared," he says.
"Sure," he says. He flips the chicken and moves a piece to a plastic container. He'd actually prefer if they stayed out though.
"You're doing great, Draco," Ron says.
Draco shakes his head. "Reggie's the only one with an excuse," he says.
Ron laughs. "Seems like you're almost done already. It would be pointless to help now," Ron says.
Draco puts the rest of the food into containers. "You're on dish duties, prat," he says.
Ron stands. "Okay, okay," he says. He picks the dishes up and takes them to the sink.
Draco jumps into his spot on the counter.
He gets his wand ready.
"Nuh-uh. Have to do it by hand," he says.
Ron raises an eyebrow. "Why?"
"To gain more experience as a muggle."
"Why?" Ron glares at the small pile of dishes.
"You won't always get to use magic and on such a simple task it would be better to learn how to do some things by hand." Draco kicks his feet.
Ron wrinkles his nose and turns the water on.
Cedric laughs. "You two are quite amusing," he says.
He drops a small handful of nuts onto the counter and Reggie pecks at them. "Why are you here?" he asks.
"Afternoon snack and there was nothing to do in the dorms."
"Don't you have friends?" he asks.
"Of course, I do...That being said I didn't feel like hanging out with them." He moves peanuts out of his hand.
Draco nods. "Sometimes that happens," he says.
Reggie nips at his fingers.
"Finish your pile," he says.
He coos.
A small number of peanuts lay to the side. "Picky birds," he says, "Both of you." He catches Cedric's eye and points to the peanuts he set aside.
Cedric shrugs and dumps the nuts in his mouth.
Regulus nips at his fingers again.
Draco gives him more to pick through.
Ron finishes the dishes. "Can we go?" Water puddles on the counter and on the floor.
"Yeah. It's almost time anyway. Nice talking to you, Cedric," he says.
Cedric hops off the counter. "Time for dinner," he says.
Draco rolls his eyes. "Right, because you must be starving," he says.
He shrugs and drops a handful of almonds in his mouth. He leaves.
Ron and Draco take the containers. Reggie sits on his shoulder.
"There you two are," Harry says.
Draco hands them containers.
"Food will be provided," Hermione says.
"Not living human food. You'll see when we get there," he says.
They enter the room full of ghosts. Weird music echoes along the stone walls. Rotting food lines the tables.
Hermione whispers, "Moaning Myrtle is here. She is unbearable. Let's get away." She pulls them away.
"Myrtle, I believe this group was just talking about you," Peeves says.
"Me?" She turns to him.
"We were discussing how well you cleaned up for the celebration," Draco says.
She sobs. "I bet you were talking about how ugly, fat, and mopey I am. I know you were," she says.
Peeves says, "Also very pimply."
She wails louder and floats out of the room.
Nick comes in. "If I could have everyone's attention, please," he says, "I-"
A group of ghosts come in and throw a head around. Nick stands to the side, slouched. Harry puts the last bite of food in his mouth.
"We should go," Harry says.
Draco nods. He's not sure how much he can help with a ghost that was not fully beheaded.
"Thank, Merlin, you brought food," Ron says.
Draco smiles. "One of us has to know something," he says.
Harry wrinkles his nose.
Hermione laughs.
Kill. It's time to kill.
"Oh," he whispers. It wasn't just a dream.
Harry runs along the walls until we're in front of...Mrs. Norris and blood on the wall. Draco's mind flashes to the first time he saw this. It was from further, but he saw it.
"The chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, Beware."
Footsteps come toward them. Hundreds of them.
"Looks like someone has finally decided to take revenge against those filthy Mudbloods," someone says.
"You'll be next, Mudbloods!"
Draco gags.