Little Memories

Before any of the students could suffice to believe it, May was upon them. Study halls grew more intense as the impending O.W.L’s and N.E.W.T’s, for the 5th and 7th year students, respectively, approached. The students were forced to study until dinner, where they were lead into the Great Hall, and then once dinner was over they were finally allowed back into their Common Rooms to have at least a little bit of time for themselves to socialize. However, since it was May 1st, Charlotte knew she had so much to tell a few people and that she’d waited far too long to let it be known to them.

" Draco was watching her from across the Study Hall, watching as her eyes nervously glanced around the room, as if she feared the walls would close in on her at any moment. Ever since that last night they spent together, she had been acting strangely. She would talk to him, yes, and spend time with him. There was something so much deeper within her eyes and he knew that she was keeping something dark from him. He’d even gotten so paranoid as to try to enter her mind without permission, but he had run into this fortress around what he needed. Everything else was open to him and he knew, beyond a doubt, that what he wanted to see lay beyond that. However, he knew, once he saw it, he’d probably wished he hadn’t.

Charlotte would meet Draco’s eyes across the room and on this particular day, she looked sad and tired. They both looked haggard and weary, since they both had things that were bothering them. Draco was worried about Charlotte’s anxiety and paranoia. Charlotte was worried about something completely different. She was concerned with the fact that she must have been the reason that Draco was being kept up at night and the fact he wasn’t getting sleep. She knew, tonight, no one would be getting any sort of rest.

Professor Flitwick, the teacher who had been residing over the specific N.E.W.T. study hall quietly told the students to pack up their belongings and sort themselves by Houses. Aurors led the silent students to their Common Rooms and allowed them to place their school things aside and they were immediately expected to line up once more for their dinner.

“I have to speak to you when we get back, Gregory,” Draco heard Charlotte whisper to her brother as he took his place in line in front of him. Her wide blue eyes were focused at him and her dainty, almost skeletal hand was placed on his arm. His brow creased slightly and he nodded, concern bending his features. Charlotte’s eyes swung to Draco’s for a moment and held them before she lowered her own and quickly got into the 6th year line instead. All this secrecy was putting Draco on edge and he definitely didn’t like being on the outside. He’d have to heard what Charlotte was going to say to Gregory. Perhaps, he hoped, it’d be what he truly wanted to hear from her.

There was something off about the dinner that night and it wasn’t just the fact that Charlotte was most certainly keeping a secret from Draco. The professors up at the table in front of the students looked more on edge than usual. It was as if they’d been given news of something, news that would change things or news that meant impending death for the lot of them. Charlotte could see it from where she sat, which was closer to the teachers than Gregory or Draco. They all, spare the Carrow’s, had this glimmer in their eyes and Charlotte just knew that they must have heard something more on Harry Potter. And it must have been something good and that they all now knew he was alive.

As soon as they were dismissed from dinner, Draco desperately tried to follow Charlotte and Gregory, as she immediately sought him out and looped her arm through his. What was odd to Draco, was that they were walking toward the Common Room with everyone else. They weren’t talking to each other, but Charlotte had a tight grip around his arm with her own. It was as if she were afraid of him falling away from her or fleeing from her before she could tell him what she needed to. As Alecto Carrow watched the Common Room door shut and the Slytherin’s within the crowded room did the same, Charlotte pulled Gregory off to a dark corner of the room. Draco discreetly moved to a chair close by to watch them and perhaps be able to listen in a bit on their conversation.

He watched as the blonde woman he loved leaned into her brother ear and spoke frantically. Draco cursed himself for not picking a closer seat because he couldn’t hear anything she was saying. His eyes focused on her lips but he couldn’t read them. Draco’s body went ice cold when Gregory’s dark eyes shot up to his and Draco could see the formation of tears on the brims of them. The eldest Goyle sibling, the oldest Goyle left, slowly turned to his sister and captured her in a tight hug. Her spindly thin arms wrapped around him as she buried her head into his shoulder. Gregory, however, kept his eyes on Draco for a moment or two longer before he closed his eyes and looked away. He pressed his lips to his sister’s temple in a brotherly gesture and the two of them didn’t part for the longest time.

Suddenly, the stone wall of the Slytherin Common Room slid open and Professor Slughorn stood on the other side, his chest heaving and his eyes glittering even brighter than they had at dinner. This was off schedule and of what had become normal for the students and it had the room hushing abruptly and staring intently at him. He placed a hand over his heart, trying to keep his breathing regulated long enough as he tried to get the words out he needed to say.

“All of you need to make your way toward the Great Hall immediately, don’t worry about lining up or formalities,” he said breathlessly, “just get there.” The room was immediately full of curious chatter and movement as the Slytherin’s began to fall in line behind the Head of Slytherin House. It felt odd to go without order, but the students did it regardless. Draco stepped closer to Charlotte and Gregory, noticing that Gregory looked a bit jumpy and anxious, while Charlotte wore her characteristically emotionless façade. Her eyes slowly looked over and met Draco’s for a moment before she drew in a deep breath of air and looked away. Draco wanted nothing more than to hold her eyes for a longer amount of time, but there was so much going on at the moment that he couldn’t blame her for wanting to be aware and alert.

The moment the siblings got outside of the Great Hall, Charlotte stopped and looked up at Gregory. She gave him the slightest unperceivable nod before turning and looking back at Draco. The blonde man stopped beside the two of them, wanting to reach out and take Charlotte’s hand in his but he could already tell that she was tensed up. He’d only seen her like this once before and that was before he had attempted to kill the previous Headmaster of Hogwarts. Crabbe managed to huddle around the group and Charlotte began to speak in a hushed voice.

“Okay, Snape’s left the school,” she started and no one looked surprised at the fact that she already. “And they’ve just pulled us together to let us know that those of who aren’t age have to leave.”

“What, why?” Draco asked, cutting into what Charlotte was saying. Her eyes slowly turned to his and she stared directly at him. Crabbe’s expression mirrored his own confusion, but Gregory looked like he already knew.

“Harry Potter is here, Draco,” she said softly. “And the Dark Lord is on his way here at this very moment. Professor McGonagall is going to try to protect the school. Harry Potter will make his way up to the Room of Requirement, more specifically the Room of Hidden Things.” There was a long silence between the four of them as Charlotte glanced around at all of them. “We’re going to have to meet him there and we can’t go into the Great Hall. The Slytherins are about to be tucked away because of Pansy Parkinson’s abnormally large mouth.”

“We’d better go now if we want to head them off,” Gregory murmured softly. Charlotte nodded slowly and began to walk against the flow of students.

“Walk slowly until all the Professors have passed, we can’t have them getting suspicious of us or everything will be ruined,” she hissed to the three men that followed behind her.

Amazingly, the four most suspicious Slytherins weren’t noticed as they crept up the staircases toward the seventh floor of Hogwarts. They kept quiet, as quiet as the school was, and they knew what they had to do. Charlotte had to put forward the front like she was going to hinder Harry Potter, but she was going to help him as much as she possibly could. Her own brother and boyfriend didn’t know that she had divided allegiances and she knew they probably never would know.

Once they reached the seventh floor, they heard the sound of students walking back into the staircases drifting to them and they knew they had to hide out for a moment and wait until Harry Potter was already in the Room of Requirement to make their move. Charlotte fell back from her brother, walking next to Draco. The last time they had been this close had been when they woke up next to each other in that room, after they had spent the night in each other’s arms.

“This is going to be it, isn’t it?” Draco asked her softly, leaning in close to her ear. Charlotte stopped abruptly and looked up at Draco with an almost horrified expression. Crabbe and Gregory stopped as well and Charlotte looked over to the two of them.

“Hide out in the empty classroom closest to the Room of Requirement, Draco and I will be there in a moment, I promise,” she said softly and waiting until they had turned the corner to look back up at him. “What do you mean by that, Draco?” She asked, her voice trembling slightly.

“I just meant that this is the end. One of them is going to have to die in the end, right?” He asked. Charlotte visibly relaxed and let out a soft sigh, causing Draco to become even more concerned about her but choosing not to say anything about it.

“Yes,” Charlotte said softly, “one of them will have to die in the end. It’ll be either both of them, or just one.” She nodded slowly to him, looking into his eyes.

“Do you know who it will be?” Draco asked and Charlotte slowly shook her head, keeping her eyes glued to his to prove she was telling the truth. “And will you die, Charlotte?” He asked, his voice quivering slightly. This was it. This was what he had wanted to know since she broke down that night. Charlotte merely let out a soft sigh and wrapped her arms around him. Her thin body was pressed against his and he wrapped his arms around her. She pressed her lips briefly to his cheek before pressing her warm cheek against his. In that moment, their hearts were close and Draco could feel Charlotte’s heart beating in her chest.

“No, Draco,” she whispered in his ear as she stared past him and to the opposite wall, “I’m not going to die tonight, nor will I die tomorrow.” She pulled her lips in and bit them hard, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Good,” Draco murmured in her ear before turning his head just enough to kiss her on the cheek. Charlotte looked up to the ceiling of the corridor, willing away the tears that had sprung up. “You have no idea how calm that’s made me,” he whispered, kissing her cheek once more before pulling away and looking over Charlotte’s face. Thankfully, she didn’t look like she had gotten teary eyed. “Everything’s going to be alright,” he said softly, placing his hand on her cheek. Charlotte slowly nodded and smiled up at him.

“Yes, everything’s going to be perfectly fine,” she whispered, leaning forward and kissing the tip of his nose and letting out a small sigh. “You, your family, my brother, and myself,” she continued, looking deep into his eyes, “we all make it through and we all live long lives.” Draco believed her, as her eyes definitely weren’t lying and he nodded slowly. He noticed she didn’t add “full” onto the list of lives they would live, but knew it was probably just something he was getting nit-picky over. He took her hand in his and silently began off toward the Room of Requirement.

“I told myself last year that I wouldn’t step foot in this room again,” he murmured to Charlotte. She glanced over to him and managed a small smile over at him.

“Just be strong, Draco,” she reassured him. “Just be strong and let nothing stand in your way.”