Another Year at Hogwarts

I held tightly onto Draco as we, along with the Snatcher, Apparated. As we did, I managed to open my eyes, and saw the Snatcher holding onto Draco’s sleeve. With all his might, Draco brought back his foot and struck the snatcher wherever he could. I could then hear the Snatcher’s cry mixed in with Draco’s painful scream as the Snatcher lost his grip on Draco and disappeared.

I groaned as I was thrown into the air and rolled onto the ground. There was a then sharp pain on the side of my stomach, but I knew this wasn’t the time to fret about a wound. I quickly pulled my wand out from my pocket and got up from the ground. I held it out as I scanned around for the snatcher who had grabbed onto Draco. Thankfully, he was nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, neither was Draco.

“Draco?” I called out into the vast open field of yellow-green grass in a panic. “Draco? Draco, where are you? Can you hear me? Draco, please answer me if you can hear me!”

I suddenly spun around when I heard something behind me. Just as I did, I saw a spark fly into the air a few yards from where I was.

I then began to run as quickly as I could in the direction the spark had come from, despite the pain in my side. Getting to where he was and his well-being, at the moment, was all that mattered.

I gasped the moment I reached him. My knees quickly gave out on me and I knelt down beside him.

“D—Draco,” I shuttered. “T—try to stay still.”

He groaned in pain. “What took you so long?” Draco gasped as he held onto his left arm, which was bleeding immensely from the shoulder. As I tried, as carefully and gently as I could, to examine the wound, Draco let out a pain cry.

He had gotten splinched.

“I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed. In that moment, I didn’t care to stay in character anymore. Draco was in badly hurt, and concealing my identity was the last of my worries. “But please, you have to try and stay still, okay? I—I’ll do something.”

But what could I do? I was in too much of a panic to think straight. Draco was bleeding to death and in pain, and I didn’t know how far off the Snatcher was. We couldn’t stay in the open field we were in, but at the same time, Draco was in no condition to move with such a wound.

“Do something, Victoria!” Draco groaned.

“I—I’m thinking!” I replied. “Um…oh, what the hell was that spell she used?” I looked tearfully down at Draco while trying to think of the spell that Snape used to heal him when Harry casted Sectumsempra on him.

“Victoria!”

“Just—just hold on a moment!” I cried. “Vulnentur—no, that’s not it. Um…Vulnera! Vulnera something…um…Vulnera San…VULNERA SANENTUR!” I suddenly exclaimed. I quickly pointed my wand at Draco’s wound and casted the spell. He, once again, let out a painful scream as his wound healed; however, a small scar remained on his shoulder. “Okay, okay,” I gasped as I placed my wand back into my pocket, “it’s done—it’s over! You’re going to be all right now.”

Draco remained quiet, but at least he was still breathing and no longer in pain. I let a tear slip from my eye as I hesitantly reached out to him and gently brushed aside his platinum hair.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

Draco managed a weak smirk. “…I never thought…that you…never that that you would be one to…to apologize,” Draco wheezed out.

“Don’t you dare,” I sobbed, “…don’t scare me like this again, you hear? I’ll kill you myself if you do this again.”

“You’re saying it…as thought it’s…it’s my fault I got splinched…”

“Just be quiet,” I ordered weakly as I gently grabbed onto his jacket and clutched it tightly in my hands. I then placed my head down against his chest and quietly wept. “Stop…just stop talking…okay? You can barely get your words out… So just stop.”

“You’re turning out to be just like her,” Draco whispered. “…Always crying when you’re around me…”

***

I woke up a few hours later to find myself in Draco’s arms. I was warm, and I had to admit that it really brought back memories of the time Draco and I spent together. Slowly, I closed my eyes once again kept my head on his chest. His heart was breathing in a soothing rhythm… It was a lullaby to my ears.

“I promise I’ll get you back,” I whispered.

Only a while later did Draco wake up, and the two of us began traveling to find a town or something. Draco was not strong enough to Apparate, so we continued on foot for hours. By the time we finally reached what looked like a house, it was almost nightfall, and Draco was dead tired.

“Do you see that?” I exclaimed as I pointed to the house. “There’s a house over there. We can possibly get help now!”

“Great,” Draco grinned. Then suddenly, he began to fall forward.

“Draco!” I cried while running to his side. I stumbled backwards a little bit as he fell on top of me, but I was able to support him leaning on me. “Come on, you can’t do this to me now, Draco,” I said to him as I held him up. “We’re almost there. You have to keep going.”

“I can’t—”

“We’re almost there!” I encouraged. “I know you can do it.”

“If you say ‘please’,” Draco requested.

“Please!” I quickly said—apparently taking Draco by surprise. “Please. I’ll say it a million times more if I must, but we have to keep going.”

“All right,” he nodded.

I quickened my pace, and Draco—amazingly—was able to keep up with me. We eventually came to a broken gate with strange signs hanging on it. As Draco and I moved towards the house along the zigzagged pathway that led to the front door, I stared in amazement at all the strange plants that formed the garden.

“What is this place?” Draco asked as the two of us made it to the the black, vine-covered house.

“Our only hope,” I said as I left his side and ascended the stairs leading to the large black door with eagle-shaped knockers.

“Do you think there’s even anyone in there?” Draco asked.

“One way to find out,” I said over my shoulder.

Just as I raised my hand to knock on the door, it swung open—making me jump back in surprise. Before me stood what looked like a strange-looking man with white, shoulder-length hair. He looked thin and weak, and I could see stress lines on his face.

“What do you want?” the man demanded.

“Um…my friend and I,” I said glancing back at Draco, “we—we were chased by some snatchers, and we both are injured. We’ve been traveling for hours as well, and were wondering if we could rest here for a bit.”

“No,” he answered before beginning to close the door.

“Mr. Lovegood!” I exclaimed as I placed my hand upon the door and prevented him from closing it. “Please, we are in desperate need of your help. I know you are reluctant to help us because Death Eaters took Luna, but in return for your assistance, I can assure you that I can help get her back.”

Slowly, the door began to open, and Xenophilus Lovegood stared at me through the small crack in the doorway.

“You can trust me,” I assured while staring sternly into Xenophilus’ eyes.

Xenophilus hesitantly nodded. “All right then. C—come, come inside,” he invited as he opened the door.

“Thank you,” I smiled before turning to Draco.

The inside of the house was small and cramped with papers and books. Many of the papers were clippings of Death Eater activities, as well as clippings of articles talking about Harry. Other things scattered around the room were quills, ink, parchment and Xenophilus’ printing press.

“Where is your friend?” Xenophilus Lovegood asked as I came down the stairs from the third floor.

“He’s resting in Luna’s room,” I replied as I walked into the sitting room. “Thank you again for letting us rest here. And thank you for the food.”

“You’re welcome,” Xenophilus replied dully while slumped in his chair. His eyes then went lowered to my side before he asked, “Would you like me to take care of that wound for you?”

I looked down to my side and that was when I finally noticed the small gash in my side. I had been so occupied with Draco that I had completely forgotten about the pain I felt earlier.

“Um…sure, if you don’t mind,” I replied.

Xenophilus got up from his chair and pulled out his wand as he walked over to me. It didn’t take long for him to heal the wound and cast a quick spell to repair the rip in my dress.

“Thank you,” I muttered as he quickly turned around and went back to his chair. I followed behind him and sat in the chair across from him. “Mr. Lovegood, I’m very sorry about what happened to Luna.”

“How do you know about what happened to my Luna?” he asked in a shaken voice. I could immediately tell that he was sensitive about the subject, for he was already on the verge of tears.

“Let’s just say that I know things other people don’t,” I answered.

“Are you—are you a prophet?” Xenophilus questioned.

“One can say that,” I smiled.

“Can you really get my Luna back?” Xenophilus asked. “She—she will come back to me? Won’t she?”

“Based on my knowledge, I can assure that Luna will be all right. Harry—”

“Don’t mention that name!” Xenophilus shouted while rising to his feet. He was livid, and I knew exactly why he was. Xenophilus was aware that his public outburst and support for Harry is what got Luna taken away from him. Because he was so supportive of Harry, the Dark Lord took Luna away as punishment.

“I’m—I’m sorry,” Xenophilus shuttered as he slowly sat back down in his chair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to raise my voice at you like that.”

“No, it’s all right,” I quickly said. “I knew that was a sensitive subject for you. I really shouldn’t have brought it up. I—I’m sorry.”

“N—no, no, it’s fine,” Xenophilus said. “Anyways, how is it that you know my Luna?”

“Oh…um… I go to Hogwarts with her,” I answered. “Actually, I just started this year.”

“I see. And that boy upstairs? Who is he?”

“He…he’s also a student at Hogwarts,” I explained.

“Are you two runaways?” Xenophilus asked. “You mentioned earlier that you were running away from snatchers.”

“Oh… Um…we were actually on Christmas Break, you see. We just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I—I’m a Muggle-born, you see, while my friend upstairs is a pureblood. Snatchers were going to take me back to the Ministry, but my friend wouldn’t allow that. So…we got into a duel with the snatchers, and as we Disapparated—”

“One of the snatchers grabbed onto you?” Xenophilus finished.

“Yes. My friend, unfortunately, got splinched,” I finished.

“I see,” Xenophilus nodded. He then got up and went over to a desk covered with paper before saying, “Well, excuse me but I have some work to do. You’re welcome to stay the night.”

“Yeah… Thank you,” I replied before getting up.

I then headed back up the stairs to where Luna’s room was. As I ascending the staircase, though, I couldn’t help but glance back at Xenophilus. And as I looked back at him, I happened to notice the necklace he wore around his neck.

“The Deathly Hallows,” I whispered.

“What was that?” Xenophilus asked as he glanced up at me.

“N—nothing!” I shuttered. “I just said…um…good night.”

Xenophilus simply nodded before returning to whatever he was doing.