What Lies Within

Sitting around in the hospital was driving Draco insane. He could do nothing but lay in bed. Madame Pomfrey wouldn't even let him get out of bed to walk unless she or Sophie was with him. He was getting anxious. Even with the success of the bird getting through the cabinet, he was still worried it wouldn't be in full working order by the time it was needed to. There was also one other problem.

Dumbledore wasn't dead yet.

Draco was terrified. He had run out of options. He was so tempted to just rush the headmaster, catch him off guard and curse him but deep known he knew he could never manage that. If it were that easy, the Dark Lord would have managed long before now.

There was one short month left of the term. The timer that was his tasks was just inches away from going off and then his and his wife's lives were going to be changed forever, possibly ruined.

"We'll figure it out, Dray." Sophie assures her husband one night. It was late, the castle was dark and all were asleep. The lights in the hospital were dimmed and dark, Madame Pomfrey long off to bed. The couple had stayed up though, curled up in their warm nest of blankets together, discussing their options. Or lack there of. Draco had broken down and was now full on sobbing into the neck of his wife; with tears of her own on her cheek, held her husband tightly.

"I'm going to get us both killed." He sobbed. Sophie's lip quivered as she hugged Draco closer to her.

"We'll get through this, together; just like we have everything else." She tells him, barely able to get her voice higher than a whisper. His hands tug at her, pulling her closer. His tears soaked her neck, his warm breathe against her skin as he let out heart wrenching sobs, his chest heaving. He finally lifts his head to look into the watery eyes of his wife. She brings her fingers up, her fingertips pressing at the wet drops on his soft cheeks, leaking from his grey eyes.

"I've failed you, as a husband." He mutters, his voice completely and utterly broken. "I've failed you." Sophie quickly shakes her head.

"No, no no, you haven't Draco." She assures him but he just shakes his own head, more tears falling. "This isn't the end, we haven't given up yet. We aren't done." She had to believe her words. Someone had to. Someone had to believe that they were both going to make it out of this unscathed. They would survive this, whatever the Dark Lord threw at them, they would make it through to the other side.

Eventually, Draco laid his head back down and his sobs turned to quiet whimpers, and then soft breaths as he drifted off to an exhausted and troubled sleep. Sophie did not follow him in slumber. Instead, she laid awake, staring at the stone ceiling, holding her husband tightly against her, afraid of letting go.

What fate wait for them? Where did this path lead them? Death? Were they bound for death? Was there no other way out? These questions flooded the young girls mind. Because that's all she was; a young girl. It was hard to believe that Sophie was but 16 years old. She wasn't even a legal witch yet and here she was: married and on the brink of death.

It was unfair.. the life that Draco and she had been given but it was what they had to deal with and to do so, they had to fight. They had come this far together, they would make it through this, whatever this was.

When the sun eventually rose, the castle awaking around her, Sophie slipped from under her still sleeping husbands arms and got dressed quickly and silently. She wasn't sure where she was going but laying in that bed any longer was going to drive her insane so she ventured from the hospital and began to wander the halls of the school.

This was it, she had but weeks left to take in the beauty of that which had been her home for the last 6 years. She had truly felt at peace in this place when she first walked in, Draco at her side. It was apt that he would be leaving at her side as well, just not in the same circumstances they had entered. Sophie came to a stop outside of a window and looked out on the grounds. The trees and hills were painted a bright orange, the sunrise barely peaking over the mountains.

"How is Mr. Malfoy?" Sophie nearly jumps out of her skin at the cold drone of a voice behind her. She turns quickly, seeing Professor Snape on the other end of the hall, staring down at her. She rests a hand across her beating heart, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself.

"Doing well. Should be out of hospital in the next week or so, as soon as he can fully walk by himself." Sophie informs her professor who nods, narrowing his eyes at his student.

"How is... everything else?" He questions, knowing she would get what he was talking about. Sophie looks down at the ground, willing the tears to stay away.

"Far from finished. The cabinet was able to transport a bird through and back but who could possibly know if it could handle an actual person just yet." She explains. "And the other thing... is proving to be almost impossible, as you could have guessed." Sophie refused to make eye contact with the older man. She could feel his judgement burning into her skull as she stared at the stone ground. All she wanted was for him to say to stop, that he would take it from now on.

"Our... guests will be arriving Tuesday after next." Sophie's head shoots up as she looks at her Professor.

"But the cabinet-" Sophie starts but he cuts her off with his cold voice and a wave of his hand.

"Will be ready." He demands, his voice cold.

"Draco is still in hospital, how could he possibly-"

"It is up to you then." Sophie felt an anxiety attack coming on. Her chest was tightening, her breathing began to race and she felt the world shrinking. This was it, they had but two weeks. Two weeks and all of this would be gone. Her world would have either ended or changed forever. "As for... the other task, Draco must make an attempt but I will uphold my vow if needed." Snape gave her a small bow of the head before he turned and vanished around the corner. Sophie took in a gasping breath and fell against the hard windowsill. She needed to get to Draco, to tell him what was happening but she couldn't move.

"Sophie?" The quiet voice was literally the last she wanted to hear right now. She didn't even look up at the person in front of her, simply bowed her head in her hands and began to cry. The sobs she had been holding in all night broke free from her chest as she broke into large shakes. "Oh my god." She was suddenly enveloped against a warm chest. She folds against her once best friend and cries, finding comfort in someone other than her husband, who lately more so needed the comforting than she did. It seemed she had kept it all bottled up until now though.

"Harry," She sobs. Harry pets at her hair, trying to keep her calm. "He's going to kill me. Draco and I both, we're going to die." She shouldn't be saying this but she couldn't stop now that she was broken. She had to beg him. If anyone could stop this, it was Harry.

"Nothing is going to happen to you, Sophie, to either of you." Sophie lifts her head, looking up into the striking green eyes that she had found comfort in since she was 11, until this past year.

"You have to stop him, you have to kill him." He gives her a concerned look, brushing her hair away from her wet cheeks.

"Voldemort?" She hiccups a little and nods, tears still falling. "I am, Sophie, I'm going to kill him, I promise."

"How? When?" She questions before breaking into sobs again, folding back against Harry's chest. "It's not possible, Harry. He's going to kill me." She was full on sobbing again.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Sophie, I promise." Harry vows, meaning every word of it. He would die before he let Sophie ever get hurt. He knew it was hard, given the life she lived, even though he didn't actually know exactly how involved she was with Voldemort, he knew Lucius Malfoy was a Death Eater, and she being married to his son put her right in the middle of it. "You're safe here with me and Dumbledore. Dumbledore won't let anyone get hurt, you know that." Sophie looks back up at him.

"But to keep me alive," She starts. "He needs to die." She whispers, her eyes widening when she see's the look on Harry's face and realizes what she's done. She pulls away quickly. "I'm sorry, I need to go."

"Sophie, wait!" Harry yells at her but she is already running away, down the hall and back to the hospital but as soon as she gets to the hospital doors, she falls against the hard wood, sliding down to sit on the ground. She needed to compose herself a bit before she went into see Draco. He by sure had woken to find her gone and would be worried as to where she had gotten to. She didn't want him to know that she had just basically revealed everything to Harry. She did need to tell him what Snape had told her though. He wouldn't be happy, but of course he needed to know.

"Where did you go?" Draco asks his wife ten minutes later when she had finally managed to calm herself and enter the hospital. Draco notices that she'd been crying but decided to let her tell him without him pushing or asking about it.

"For a walk." She tells him, sitting in the chair beside the bed, rather than on the actual bed. Draco frowns, sitting up. He manages to only grimace from the pain a small bit. It was feeling better. "Tuesday after next." She says, curling her legs up to her chest, staring at a spot on the ground.

"What about it?" Draco wonders, afraid of the answer. Sophie has one single, hot, tear fall down her cheek. She glances up at her husband, her eyes meeting his for a fleeting second. The worried look was enough to make her look away quickly.

"They'll be here. It needs to be done that night." She whispers. She didn't want Madame Pomfrey, who they could hear in her office, to overhear them. "Snape said you had to try but that he would do as he vowed, if he still needed to." Draco was silent for a long time.

"I need to get out of here." Draco starts to sit up but groans and clutches at his chest. Sophie sits up, her legs falling back to the ground.

"I can handle it from here on. The cabinet is almost done, I'll take care of it." She stands suddenly. "I'll be back later."

"Sophie!" Draco calls but Sophie rushes from the room, grateful that he couldn't follow. She wanders the halls again, this time they were filled with students milling about. She was envious of the laughs, the jokes, the carefree feel everyone else had.

Oh how she missed the time where her biggest worry was if she'd had her transfiguration homework done on time or if she did in fact have a crush on Draco or not. It was such a more simple time back then, and she missed it. She ached for her small spats with Draco between class, she missed flying on the Quidittch pitch with nothing to focus on but the quaffle and bludgers. She missed sitting by the lake with the trio, talking about what was going to be served for lunch or trying to get Harry to ask Cho Chang out.

Now her biggest worry was if Lord Voldemort wanted to either murder her or turn her into a Death Eater. Neither were her first choice, but honestly she'd rather be dead than be marked with that atrocious mark for the rest of her life. It haunted her every time she helped Draco change, seeing it there on his arm, screaming at her that this was their life, this is what they had to deal with.

"Harry told me what happened." Sophie jumped for what felt like the millionth time that morning and found Hermione standing beside her. Sophie hadn't even noticed that she'd come to a stop in the middle of an empty hallway halfway down the hall from the room of requirement. She's absentmindedly been wandering towards what in reality was her demise.

"Yeah... we all have our bad moments. This morning was mine." Sophie says, crossing her arms over her chest. Though Hermione knew everything, she felt so vulnerable. She felt so exposed, knowing how easily she could break again, after having already done it once that morning.

"He's really worried, Sophie." Hermione reaches out to rest her hand on Sophie's forearm. Sophie closes her eyes, taking in a deep breath.

"I'm sure he's happy that I all but basically told him Draco runs with the Dark Lord." Hermione shook her head.

"Sophie, all he cares about is you, and how scared you were." Sophie then shakes her head as well.

"I just.. I need to get things done, and they need to be done soon, is all." She lifts her shoulders up in a shrug, letting them fall back down. She stared at her best friend, unsure of what to say or do now. Hermione too was at a loss for words. She wanted to help but just didn't know how.

"Show me the cabinet," She finally says. "I'll see what I can do about it. I've done some research on it since you mentioned it to me, maybe I can help." Sophie breaks into a small smile and reaches forward to hug Hermione tightly. Hermione holds on, not wanting to let her best friend go, afraid that if she did, that was it. Her best friend would be lost forever.

"Oh, Hermione. You are the best, but seeing as you're fighting for the other side," Sophie pulls back, still smiling. "It would be a little wrong for me to enlist your help. Thank you for the offer though."

"Sophie, I'm on the side of you living. That's all I want." Sophie smiles again and shakes her head.

"Maybe he won't kill me. Maybe he'll keep me alive just to torture me for as long as he possibly can. That would be more fun to him than outright killing me, right?" Hermione felt tears welling up in her eyes at her best friends words. The thought that her best friend was in such a terrible position and she could do nothing but watch her deteriorate in front of her was breaking her heart. She wanted to help so badly, but didn't know how.

"Let's just hang out today, yeah? We can hang out in the hospital with Draco, just the three of us. Draco and I get along for you. I'll be fun, yeah?" Hermione wanted to get her friend away from this room, away from the cabinet. She could put up with the guy she hates for a few hours to do that, and she knew Draco would put up with her to make his wife happy, they had both done it before.

"I have things that need to be done, Draco needs to rest." Sophie responds, shaking her head. She did want an escape, she wanted to relax for the day but knew now with an exact deadline in place, she wouldn't relax ever again.

"Okay, we can go hang out with Ron and Harry, him and Ginny are dating now, so that's cute. All of us can hang out and relax, just like old times. Please." Hermione begged but knew it was no use. Sophie was already long gone. She wasn't sure she would ever have that peace and calm with her best friend again.

"I need to go, Hermione. I'll come find you later, maybe we can have dinner together, yeah?" Hermione could do nothing but give a small nod as her friend gave her one last smile before turning and heading down the hall. Hermione stood rooted on the spot, watching her friend as she disappeared into the room of requirement moments later. She was so lost and upset for her best friend and had no idea what to do.

When Sophie was finally alone in the room of requirement and knew she could no longer be interrupted, she fell to the floor, her face in her hands and sobbed.

This is it, this is the end.