Inside the Fire

After successfully wrestling all of his stubborn Slytherins into their common room, Draco sunk into a leather lazy boy chair.

The Slytherins were chattering loudly, giving Draco a headache, as they attempted to piece together what had just happened in the great hall. Draco closed his silver eyes and rubbed circles on his temples with his thumbs.

His group gathered around him, Pansy collapsed into his lap, Crabbe and Goyle sat on his left and Blaise sat on his right.

“Where do you think she came from Draco?” Crabbe asked, “Is she even human? The way she healed…. Merlin.”

“A bloody demon most likely,” Goyle huffed.

“I have no idea,” Draco droned, his head was seriously hurting, his lack of sleep was really getting to him. “All I know is that Hogwarts is supposed to have some heavy duty wards up that are supposed to prevent things like that from happening.”

Crabbe and Goyle nodded as if this was brand new news to them. The idiots obviously hadn’t read Hogwarts, A History.

“Well, at long last something interesting happens that doesn’t involve Potter and his cohorts,” Blaise whispered, almost too quiet to hear. Blaise was probably the only person who he could really stand out of his group, the only other person who seemed to have some shred of intelligence.

Pansy didn’t seem particularly interested in the fireball girl, she was chattering with some nearby girl about Viktor Krum or more precisely his abs.

Draco wondered if this was a test, if he should be feigning jealousy. He shrugged, his parents had hinted to him from about the age of five that he was going to have some sort of arranged marriage to the girl.

It had been easy to fall into the routine of constantly being around her, being her so-called “boyfriend” and having her hang all over him. He could say he was kind of attached to her in a way, she was kind of one of his best friends. And for all the fawning over him she did, he knew she was sleeping with Blaise.

So he ignored her Krum chatter.

“Merlin, I’m starving,” Goyle whined, Crabbe nodding at his side.

Draco looked up, “You two could go sneak down to the kitchens and get us all some food, if you’re that hungry.”

Goyle and Crabbe looked terrified at the idea.

“Blast it, worried the demon girl will get you?” Draco snickered. “I guess I’ll go get us some food, I’m a prefect, I suppose that’s a better idea.”

“Draco, you’re so brave,” Pansy cooed at him, rubbing a hand over his chest.

A mocking grin stretched onto his face and he rolled his eyes, “Get off of me, go back to talking about Krum or perhaps you should spend some more time with Blaise.”

Pansy’s eyes widened, eyes darted to Blaise for a split second and then returned to Draco, “Blaise, why Blaise?”

Blaise just sat there, a hint of a smirk on his face.

Uncaring bastard, Draco thought. The guy was so apathetic but Draco couldn’t help but get along with the him.

“No reason,” Draco shrugged turning to his two sidekicks, “Make a list of what you want.”

The two ran to go get some parchment and a quill, and Draco took that moment to close his eyes for a moment.

-----

Harry stormed into the common room, collapsing into a comfortable chair. Ron and Hermione were still trying to calm down the Gryffindors. It wasn’t going well, seeing as Ron kept getting on Hermione’s nerves and the two kept getting into arguments.

The common room was as inviting as ever, it was a cozy circular tower full of comfy arm chairs and ancient tables, with gold and red filigree decorating their legs.

The fireplace cracked and a few of his classmates were warming their hands. In the distance over Hermione and Ron’s arguing, Harry could hear the twin regaling some of the underclassmen with some funny prank story involving the poltergeist Peeves.

The cracking of the fire was lulling Harry into a peaceful half-asleep state.

“Harry Potter,” Krum sat next to him. Harry’s eyes flashed open and he gave the man a curious half-smile.

“Oh hello Krum, it’s nice to see you again, you know not under the imperius curse this time,” Harry gave the pro quidditch player an awkward grin.

“Yes, I wanted to apologize, for that,” Viktor gave him what looked like an attempt at a smile.

“It’s quite alright, it wasn’t your fault,” Harry tried to calm the man down. “You were under a spell.”

“Er—I know, I just feel guilty still,” Krum sighed.

“You’re English is getting a lot better,” Harry commented, trying to change the subject. His accent was a lot lighter and easier to understand.

Krum gave him a slight smile, “Thank you, I moved here after the Triwizard tournament, I’ve been working on my English all summer.”

“Why did you move here? Quidditch?”

“No, er—my father’s business,” Krum explained. “And it’s probably safer at Hogwarts anyways, since You-Know-Who is back.”

“My mother doesn’t agree,” A voice said behind them. Harry turned to see his roommate and good friend Seamus. “Me mam didn’t want me to come back, because of you and Dumbledore.”

Harry stood up, the legs of his armchair screeching on the old wooden floorboards, getting the attention of everyone in the room, “Seamus, if you’re mom believes the stupid stories in The Daily Prophet , she’s a real idiot.”

Harry was getting really tired of The Daily Prophet and the bullshit they were publishing. What was so hard about believing Voldemort was back? Did they think he killed Cedric or something? And the horrible things they said about Dumbledore… Harry couldn’t help but feel infuriated.

“Don’t you talk about me mam like that!” Seamus yelled, his Irish accent getting thicker in his anger. He turned to look around the room. “None of you believe him right? About that load of shit that happened that night? About Cedric?”

The room was eerily silent.

“Seamus, you need to calm down, there’s a lot scarier things going on right now, like what just happened in the great hall,” Hermione, the voice of reason, said calmly.

“Hermy is right, you need to call down, Seamus isn’t it?” Krum stood up, his large form towering over them.

Ron’s cheeks flushed at Krum calling Hermione by a pet name. Harry rolled his eyes, he needed to remind him it was because Krum couldn’t pronounce her full name. At least he hoped so, even though neither would admit it to themselves, he knew they liked each other.

Hermione gave the pro quidditch player a small smile.
Or had ¸ in the past tense for Hermione. Ron might have waited too long and lost out on his chance with their gorgeous brunette best friend.

“Whatever,” Seamus cursed, pushing past everybody in the common room and up to their dormitory.

“Anybody else have a problem with me?” Harry sighed. “Now’s the time, if anyone else wants to let loose on me this year, here’s your only chance.”

His outburst was met with silence.

“My gran says The Daily Prophet is rubbish, she says if Dumbledore says he’s back, he’s back and that the safest place is near Dumbledore,” Neville peeped.

Harry felt a rush of gratitude toward the tall boy. Neville had really grown on his over the years. Nobody else said anything,

“How about an interesting and totally obvious change of subject?” One of the twins snickered, the two had made their way over at the sound of a commotion. The two loved drama, “So about what just happened in the Great Hall? Thoughts? Feelings? We’re all ears.”

“Well it has to be connected to Voldemort,” Harry started, jumping on the chance to change the subject. He wondered what Sirius would make of the events of tonight.

Hermione shook her head, “Not everything bad that happens has to be connected to the Dark Lord.”

“But who else would have the powers to break the wards that protect Hogwarts, Hermy?” Krum asked, Harry turned to him, he had forgotten he was here. He wondered if this guy was going to be a permanent fixture in his group. Ron flushed tomato red again.

“You know about the wards? You read Hogwarts, A History ?” Hermione sighed, looking very pleased, she coughed turning back to the rest of them, “All I’m saying is that if it was him, wouldn’t he be the one appearing in the ball of fire? Or if he was to break Hogwarts’ wards it would be to send a bunch of death eaters through, not some girl.”

Harry sighed, rubbing a hand down his face, “Good point, Hermione.”

Hermione nodded, “We just have to be careful, as usual it seems like we’re going to have an interesting year.”

Ginny remained eerily silent the whole time, watching Harry with worried eyes.

-----

Draco darted around the dungeons, the kitchen was located directly beneath the Great Hall and the Slytherin dormitories were located deep in the dungeons.

He twisted around corners, navigating the maze of Hogwarts with ease, he could do it in his sleep. That was, if he could sleep. He shook his head, he was just teasing himself, thinking about glorious sleep.

“Mrs. Norris, do not go down these corridors! It’s not safe with the demon girl down here,” Draco jumped behind a suit of armor with grace he didn’t know he had.

Filch rounded the corner with his precious feline curled up in the crook of his left arm, the other snaked its way down Mrs. Norris’ fur.

Draco grit his teeth, hoping the dastardly cat wouldn’t see him and alert Filch to his presence. Mrs. Norris half-lidded eyes scanned the dungeon corridor. Draco shrank back further, the stone wall icy against his back. His green and gold prefect’s badge reflected in Filch’s torch light and Mrs. Norris eyes turned in his direction. He inwardly cursed, his dad might be rich but Filch sure as hell didn’t care. The bloody squib would cause an uproar.

“What are you looking at, love?” Filch asked his cat.

The cat yawned and curled further into Filch. Draco breathed a sigh of relief and waited until Filch rounded a corner and his torch light couldn’t be seen.

He squeezed out from behind the suit of armor, stretching out his tall frame, he had probably grown a good half-foot over the summer, putting him just over six feet tall.

He continued through the dungeons, list of food crumpled in his hand.

“Albus, I don’t think it’s humane to keep her in the dungeons, she’s just a girl! You met her she’s as harmless as a fly!” That was Madam Pomfrey’s voice, Draco recognized.

They were just ahead of him, probably heading out of the dungeons.

He hid in the doorway of a nearby cell just in case they turned back.

“Poppy, dear I completely agree but I have the student’s safety to think about,” Dumbledore sighed.

“I know you have to take extra precautions after what happened to the poor Diggory boy but this is cruel! The girl was obviously terrified of the dark,” Madam Pomfrey pleaded.

“I know, I know but we have to take the utmost precautions, until I owl the Ministry in the morning and have them send an auror to investigate her appearance.”

“I understand, it doesn’t mean I have to like it, I wish you’d let me stay down here and keep the poor lass company.”

“Poppy, I have to watch out for my employee’s safety too, please just trust me on this, what if you got hurt? Who would take care of our students?” Dumbledore pleaded with the nurse, obviously trying to compliment her into submission.

Draco stayed still, thinking about what he’d just heard until their voices faded in the distance.

“W-who’s there?!” A high pitched voice whispered behind him. He couldn’t place the accent.
Draco froze as still as a statue, slowly pulling his Hawthorn wood wand from his pocket.

“ Lumos, ” He whispered, the top of his wand lit up revealing a girl chained to the cell wall lying on an old cot. “You’re her…”

“Her who?” The girl asked, her green eyes squinting at the light, “If you don’t mind enlightening me, I’m kind of having a bit of trouble remembering who I am at the moment.”

“The demon girl who appeared in a burst of flame,” Draco sighed. She didn’t look so terrifying, “Or that’s what everybody’s calling you.”

“Everybody?” She asked, face horrified.

“The whole school,” Draco retorted.

“This is a school?” She asked. “Oh god, an entire school saw me naked.”

A snicker escaped Draco but he covered it up with a cough at her horrified face, “Well not naked, you were covered in what looked like an old blanket or shawl maybe.”

“Well it’s still embarrassing but I guess I’m kind of relieved,” She sighed, “Who are you by the way? No one’s allowed to be around me until the auror gets here. Are you the auror? What’s an auror?”

Draco’s eye twitched at all of the questions but he honestly would probably do the same thing.

She had obviously heard Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey’s conversation too.

“An auror is a specially trained witch or wizard that investigates uses of dark magic and apprehends evil witches or wizards,” He quoted verbatim from Defensive Magical Theory , oh Merlin he sounded like Hermione Granger.

“Oh, and they're sending this person to interrogate me,” She didn’t seem thrilled, she ran a shaky hand through her dark waves making her chains rattle, “Lovely.”

“I’m Draco by the way, completely forgot to answer that part of your question,” He said awkwardly, he hadn’t been this uncomfortable around a girl in years. He was Draco Malfoy!

“Nice to meet you Draco,” She looked around the cell with a blank stare in her lime colored eyes, “You know, considering. ”

Malfoy snickered at that and she gave him a devilish grin.

If she was as smart as the rest of his classmates, she would know it was in fact not nice to meet him.

What was this? Was he actually enjoying another human beings company?

“So why are you out so late?” She asked.

Draco sighed, “Well you kind of interrupted our start-of-term feast and my flu—friends wanted some food and were too terrified to sneak to the kitchens.”

“Well I don’t want to keep you, seeing as how I ruined dinner I don’t want to ruin your late night snack,” She gave him a weak smile.

“It was nice meeting you,” He surprised himself, he actually meant what he had said. “Are you going to be okay by yourself? I heard them say you’re terrified of the dark.”

He tried to shake himself out of it, he wasn’t sure why he was being so nice. He was never this nice!

He had been raised to think it was submissive and weak to show an ounce of care. He could never be weak, not with being raised by people who preyed upon the weak. A lot of things had changed the last summer, he was starting to feel… human . All it took was a classmate’s death.

She gave him a sheepish grin, “Yeah I’ll be fine, I’ll get used to it.”

“You’re afraid of the dark already and now you have to spend the night changed up in a dungeon in strange place full of strangers you’ve never met before, you can’t tell me you’ll be fine,” Draco shook his head, “Hold out your hand.”

She gave him a strange look, “Okay.”

Draco pulled out his wand again and she looked on with nervous eyes, he pointed the black tip at her hands, “ Lumos commoror. ”
It was a recent spell he learned, a modification on the regular lumos spell that made it a lot easier to carry around light.

A small snitch-sized ball of light appeared in her hand, she looked on in wonder.

“For obvious reasons, you can’t tell anyone I was here or let them see the light,” She nodded as if it was obvious, so he continued, “To make it go away you say, nox. Let’s try it.”

“ Nox, ” She whispered and the ball of light flickered out of existence.

“ Lumos commoror, ” He repeated, recreating her night light. He turned to walk out the dungeon cell, “Good night, Anya.”

“Good night, Draco, thank you,” She gave him a small smile, holding the tiny light in her palms. “I hope to see you again.”

Draco gave her a sad smile, “Same here.”

She’d probably be taken to St. Mungo’s or Azkaban for breaching Hogwart’s wards. He’d never see her again. Perhaps it was better that way; she was far too easy for him to talk too.