Mr. Malfoy, Are You Sure?

I stood on my old sidewalk, facing the ruins of my home. Professor Neville Longbottom was at my side. There were fifty MEC agents within a five-mile radius, all made undetectable from unfriendly eyes. Neither I nor Draco had spoken since I called him a prick. We had used the Floo Network to get to Diagon Alley. We apparated to my hometown from there.

The only things left of my former life were piles of ash and an ancient oak tree with a decrepit tree house. I didn't know what to feel. I knew the plan. Nothing could go wrong. I was devoid of emotion, just as instructed. I expected to have wave after wave of nostalgia hit me, but nothing came. I kept my mouth shut as I had for the past hour.

"So," Neville spoke, hoping he was listening. "You can start looking through the wreckage. I doubt you'll find much."

I walked forward and began sifting through the dirt. I knew it was pointless. I knew it was part of the show, but my heart stated pounding. I wanted to find some part of my old life. I didn't like this.

"Did you find anything? Do you want me to help?" Neville asked.

No," I recited. "I didn't want you here in the first place."

It was silent for a long time. My hope began dissipating. There was nothing left here. I stopped looking, but continued going through the motions. My thoughts went to the man who was hunting me. The man who had successfully hunted my parents. I could think of nothing else.

"You know we can't stay here for long, Sid," Neville said.

"We'll stay as long as I want," I said. I didn't like the way I sounded. Professor Longbottom seemed like a decent human being. Even if it was acting, I didn't want to be a brat toward him.

"Do you think I'm stupid, Sidney?"

I whipped around. That wasn't part of the script. Neville wasn't even looking at me. "Did you say something, Professor Longbottom?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"I think you've known all along that when we face one another, we will be alone."

I looked around again. Neville and I were the only ones in sight. He still hadn't spoken. I peered down at all the ash. Could somebody be hiding underneath all of that? I pulled out my wand and did a quick detection spell.

We were alone.

"Your spies should have known better than to underestimate me. It's true that I've been waiting to confront you for a long time, but I am not so foolish as to play directly into the hands of your kind."

I grabbed my head. My hands were shaking. This could not be real.

"I promise you that we will meet again. It will be you that makes sure of that. You care too much about these people to put all of their lives in danger. I look forward to a decent fight, however; therefore, I'll be giving you some time to train up. I'll be seeing you in your dreams until then. For now, run. Run, or all of you will perish."

This was real. This was not a joke. This man was not kidding. I had to get everyone out of here. I turned and ran at Neville.

"Get everyone out of here. He's not coming. Everyone's going to die if we don't apparate now!" I screamed at him, taking his hand and running away from the empty lot.

"Neville, please! Get everyone to leave. I'm not kidding! We have to disapparate now!" I yelled.

He was being dragged along behind me, a look of utter confusion on his face.

"Draco!" I bellowed.

Neville was keeping pace with me now. I hoped to Merlin that something clicked inside him and he was aware of the danger everyone was in. "Don't let go of my arm," he commanded.

Then, we were being sucked through a suffocating rubber tube. My chest was constricted until I couldn't breathe. I heard a loud Pop!

We were at the Leaky Cauldron. We had disapparated. I searched for the other MEC spies. Once again, Neville and I appeared to be alone.

"Where are they?" I demanded.

"Take a breath, Sid. Everyone's fine. We had to disapparate to different locations so that we would be more difficult to track. We need to get you back to headquarters. What the bloody hell happened back there? It felt like a bomb went off just as we left."

Pop!

"Hogwarts," a voice said. "She's not going to headquarters. We need to get her back to Hogwarts right now.

Neville released me without objection, and a different set of arms latched on. We disapparated again. I felt a headache coming on.

For a moment, I thought we were in the middle of nowhere. Then, I spotted Hogsmeade in the distance, about a mile away.

I sat down in the middle of a field, the grass tickling my skin. He sank down beside me and didn't say a word.

I didn't know what to say, or how to begin, but I took a deep breath anyway. "He talked to me, Draco. His voice was inside my head. He knew."

His arm came around behind me and he touched the back of my head. I leaned against him and exhaled. He was right. I didn't want to talk about it right now. We were safe for the moment. Everyone was safe for the moment. I only had a matter of time, however. This man was right. The fight was between he and I. I would face him a lone in the end.

"I'm not going to apologize," Draco whispered. "If you had listened to me -"

"At least we tried," I said, standing up. "Nobody got hurt."

My professor was as disinclined to argue as I was. "Do you want to go back to school?"

We said nothing more as we walked back toward Hogsmeade a safe distance apart. I didn't feel as close to him as I had moments ago. I needed to be alone for a while. I needed a week of school where I was just a student, and he was just a teacher, and my parents were still here, and Rafe was just a friend, Professor Longbottom was chubby, and Kassidy Blane was not a soiled pair of underpants.

Of course, I didn't get any of this. Professor McGonnogal intercepted the pair of us in Hogsmeade, and she personally escorted me back to my dorm, sending Draco on his way. I felt guilty for feeling relief at his departure.

The Headmaster asked me nothing of the trip. She said I was to report to her after my morning classes tomorrow during my free period. Draco and I had never properly altered my timetable, so I would be following my original schedule.

Finally, I was able to peel of all my clothes, shut the curtain to my four-poster bed, and fall into a deep, comfortable sleep, clad in only my knickers.

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