Eve

            The next two weeks at Draco's home passed pretty quickly; which was odd, because the two of us rarely left the house or did anything aside from sit around all day. We usually just stayed in his room during the daytime, sitting on his bed either in a comfortable silence or talking quietly. Even though his parents had set aside the guest room for me to sleep in, Draco would usually sneak into my room late at night and curl up next to me—because he knew I didn't want to be alone.

            After he'd told me the Dark Lord would be returning to the Manor soon, I couldn't help but be a little freaked out.

            Draco promised me that the Dark Lord wouldn't request to see me, so he told me I could just stay upstairs when he came here again. But I knew Draco was going to have to meet with him, and I wasn't going to let him go alone while I waited safely upstairs. Although I hadn't told Draco, I wasn't going to let him go to the meeting without me—no matter how scared I was.

            But just a few days before the Dark Lord would be coming to the Manor, I woke in the middle of the night to the sound of Draco screaming.

            He wasn't beside me like usual, and as I blearily opened my eyes, I realized I could hear him from all the way down the hall. I was already throwing back the sheets and halfway off my bed before I could even think, stumbling blindly through the dark. As soon as I pushed open the door and entered the hallway, I could finally make out what Draco was screaming from the inside of his bedroom.

            "Please—no, I'll do anything—"

            I was running now, practically sprinting down the length of the hallway in my bare feet and over-sized shirt. Tripping over the rug, I frantically reached for the doorknob to his room.

            "Don't do it, please—take me instead, take me instead—"

            My fingers slipped against the smooth metal of the handle, but I was eventually able to twist it and throw open the door, stumbling inside his bedroom. Through the light of the moon streaming through his window, I could see Draco tangled in his bed sheets with his eyes squeezed shut, screaming at nothing but an empty room.

            "No, don't—please—stop it, stop it, stop—"

            I ran to him, tripping over sneakers in the dark and grabbing him by the shoulders. Shaking him, I yelled over his screaming, "Draco, wake up—"

            But it was like he couldn't even hear me; Draco kept screaming and even tried to push me away from him in his sleep, but I gripped his arms tightly and attempted to hold him down. "Stop—Draco, it's just a dream, please wake up—"

            His eyes snapped open suddenly, his pupils dilating wildly as he thrashed against me—like he still didn't know where he was. Over his terrified muttering of, "No", I held his shoulders and said breathlessly, "Draco, it's me. It was just a dream, you're okay—"

            Draco's eyes finally focused on me, and I could see the disbelief in them as he struggled to recognize me. He grabbed me then, looking me over in shock with his breath coming out in ragged gasps. Draco pulled me against himself so quickly that my chin knocked painfully against his shoulder, nearly being crushed underneath him as he wrapped his arms around me tightly. I could barely breathe as he held me as close as possible—like he had to make sure I was real.

            "Draco..." I trailed off quietly, because he was seriously starting to scare me and I had no idea why he was so freaked out. Draco was shaking against me, the room echoing from the aftermath of his screaming and now filled only by his uncontrolled breathing. I could feel his heart pounding through his chest against mine.

            "He...he..." Draco's voice was so quiet and hoarse that I knew he was on the verge of tears, his words jumbled up as he tried to get something out. "You-Know-Who, he...he killed you, I—"

            And then he broke off and had to swallow hard, still gasping for air as though there wasn't enough room to breathe. I didn't say anything, my eyes wide as Draco struggled to keep himself together. He tried to speak again, his voice breaking as he said, "And he was—he was making me watch, but I...I couldn't get h—him to stop—"

            "Hey, it's okay," I whispered quickly, finally reaching up and putting my arms around him. I rubbed his back gently to get him to stop shaking as I said softly against his ear, "It was just a dream. It wasn't real."

            Draco was now trying to hide the fact that he had been crying, wiping under his eyes from behind my back so I wouldn't see. As he struggled to pull himself together, I kept telling him that it hadn't be real, that we were both okay. I felt his heart rate slowly return to normal and his breathing even out, the room sounding much quieter now that his gasps weren't filling the air.

            I helped him lie back down, leaning slightly over the bed to help him sit back against the pillows. He reached out and held onto my arm when I went to pull away, and I looked at him a bit fearfully and asked, "You okay?"

            "Yeah. I'm okay now," Draco told me quietly, his eyes unblinking as he looked up at me—like he was drinking in the image of me.

            Sleepily, I gave his hand a tight squeeze and said, "Alright. Want me to go back?"

            "What? No," Draco said quickly, tightening his grip on my hand when I started to turn away. And for the first time, I saw the slightly vulnerable side of Draco as he looked up at me worriedly and begged, "Please, stay with me. Don't leave."

            I was moving to automatically lie down beside him when I realized he was shirtless. Blushing and silently hoping it would go unnoticed in the dark, I mumbled, "It's almost morning—aren't you worried your parents will, um, you know...?"

            "Eve," Draco interrupted quietly. "I can't be alone right now."

            So I finally gave in to myself and crawled into bed beside him, my skin burning when his fingers skimmed my shoulder as he tugged the cover over us both. I shivered slightly under the sudden warmth of the blanket, not realizing how cold I had been standing out in the cool night air.

            My cold toes accidentally brushed up against Draco's leg and he jerked it away, exclaiming, "Christ, your toes are freezing."

            "Sorry," I blurted quickly, but we were both grinning so I didn't feel guilty. And I was actually glad, because he was finally smiling again.

            Draco shifted on the bed and rested his head so it was just a few inches from mine, our breath mingling warmly in between us. I took his hands in mine and ran my thumbs across his knuckles, telling him softly, "Go back to sleep."

            "Okay. I love you," he said tiredly, his eyes already starting to drift shut. And as though it needed to be said twice, he repeated even more quietly, "I love you."

            "Love you, too," I whispered, but I wasn't sure if he heard me or not.

            Draco slowly fell asleep with our arms tangled between us, and I kissed his hands gently as he gradually went back to sleep.

            I wanted him to know that I was still there for him—and that I would always be there.

~*~

Draco

            When the Dark Lord returned to the Manor a few days after the nightmare, I took Eve up to the guest room and told her to stay there until he left.

            "He'll be here in a few minutes, okay?" I told her, looking her dead in the eye so she would know I was serious. "Don't open the door until I come back to get you after he's gone. If you stay up here, he won't ask for you."

            "Okay," Eve said quietly, her eyes fixed at our shoes instead of up at me. "If that's what you want."

            "It is," I replied, and I couldn't have meant it more. Leaning forward to kiss her cheek, I said, "Just wait here 'til I come back for you, yeah? Everything's gonna be okay."

            I pushed away the nerves that were twisting my stomach as she nodded, telling myself for the thousandth time that as long as Eve was upstairs, I had nothing to be worried about. As long as Eve was staying out of whatever the Dark Lord wanted me to do, then what was there to be scared for? I finally let go of her hand and started for the door, saying over my shoulder in a quiet voice, "I'll see you when it's over. Bye, Eve."

            "Bye," she whispered, and I shut the door before I could let my calm expression falter. I didn't want her to see how scared I was.

            After I had slowly made my way downstairs, I entered the parlor to see that both my parents were standing with Yaxley and Dolohov while they waited for me. Lucius saw me come into the room and reached out for me, resting his hand on my shoulder and saying, "There you are, Draco. The Dark Lord arrived a few minutes ago."

            "He wants Draco to wait outside during the meeting," Yaxley said, and I tried not to let it annoy me that he was acting like I wasn't even in the room. He told Lucius in a low voice, "The Dark Lord wishes to speak with them separately."

            Before I could open my mouth to ask what he had meant by "them", Lucius was saying quickly, "Yes, of course. The dining room is just down the hall; we shouldn't keep him waiting."

            "Hold on," I hissed when my mother began to lead Dolohov and Yaxley out of the room, grabbing for my father's arm but missing it completely as he started to turn away. "Why did he say—?"
            "Be quiet," Lucius interrupted coldly, giving me a fierce glare over his shoulder as he reached for the door handle. "Wait here. I'll get you when the Dark Lord is ready."

            And then he was gone, leaving me alone in the parlor with nothing to do but wait.

            I sat down on the nearest chair, leaning forward on my thighs and shaking my right leg up and down nervously. I desperately tried not to think about what was being said in the meeting—not to mention what the Dark Lord was going to say to me afterwards. Focusing my eyes on the pattern of the carpet, I tried to ignore the growing nausea that was beginning to twist inside my stomach.

            I had only been alone for a few minutes when there was suddenly the sound of hurried footsteps coming from the direction of the staircase, and I looked up to see Eve running down the hall and bursting into the parlor. She didn't see me at first from where I was sitting, but I quickly stood when she automatically started for the door that led towards the dining room. "Where the hell are you going?"

            Eve jumped and spun around to see me looking over at her as though she was insane, and I watched as her determined expression quickly turned into a guilty one. As I started over to her, Eve looked down at the floor and stammered, "What—why are you out here—?"

            "He wanted to have the meeting without me first—but it doesn't matter. What are you doing here?" I asked angrily. "I told you to stay upstairs."

            "I was—I was going to the meeting," Eve said slowly, avoiding my fierce gaze at all costs. "You know. With the Dark Lord."

            "I know which meeting it is, Eve," I snapped. "Why the hell would you come downstairs after I specifically told you to—"

            She squared her jaw and said quickly, "I just—I didn't want you to be alone. Okay? You should've known I wouldn't let you go to the meeting without me."

            "But you told me you would stay in your room!" I exclaimed furiously, fighting to keep my voice down. "What was your master plan? To wait until I was with You-Know-Who so I wouldn't be able to make you leave?"

            "Yeah, actually," Eve told me, her head held high as I tried not to flip out on her. "I knew you'd make me stay upstairs if I told you I was going to the meeting, so I wanted to wait until it started before I came down. Don't look at me like that, you would have done the same if it had been the other way around—"

            I angrily ran one hand through my hair and cut her off, saying, "This is different. I could have told them you weren't feeling well if he asked about you, Eve, this is serious—"

            "You think I don't know that?" Eve interrupted hotly, throwing her hands up at me. "Of course it's serious, that's why I didn't want you to be alone. I can tell how freaked out you are, okay?"

            Was I really that terrible at hiding it now? After a moment, I said in a forced voice, "Go back upstairs."

            "No."

            "Eve," I snapped, "go back upstairs. Now."

            "No."

            I reached for her angrily, wanting to push her back towards the staircase, but she ducked out of my reach. The nightmare I'd had only a few nights ago was flashing behind my eyes, and I was so furious that she wouldn't listen to me. "God damn it, just fucking go upstairs—"

            It was then that the door opened and Lucius walked into the parlor.

            I exhaled furiously, doing everything I could not to completely flip out. Lucius looked between the two of us with a raised eyebrow, like he knew we'd only just been yelling at each other. But his voice was even as he said, "The meeting's over. The Dark Lord is ready for you now."

            Eve automatically started forward, but I grabbed her wrist as quickly as I could to make her stop. As she turned around to face me, I hissed, "Go upstairs."

            From his place in the doorway, Lucius drawled, "He's ready for both of you. The Dark Lord wishes to speak with Evelyn also."

            "He...what? No," I stammered as Eve pulled her arm out of my grip. "Absolutely not. I thought he just wanted to see me, not her—"

            "He wants to speak with both of you," my father repeated, reaching out his arm for us. "Let's go. I don't want to keep him waiting."

            Eve was starting towards the door and I rushed after her, snapping furiously to Lucius, "You told me you would keep her out of it. You promised you would leave her out of—"

            "Things change," Lucius interrupted coldly, and it took everything in me not to leap across the space between us and crack my fist across his jaw.

            It felt like the room was spinning as Eve started down the hallway after Lucius, leaving me to stumble after them. There were black dots spotting on the edges of my vision as Lucius began to open the dining room door, realizing that it was over—that Eve was going to be involved in this no matter what I tried to do. It was all happening too fast, and it felt like everything was spinning out of my control.

            And this meant that the Dark Lord wanted Eve to help with the task he was going to be giving me.

            Lucius opened the door and led Eve inside, and I tried not to vomit as I followed closely behind.

            The Dark Lord was still seated at the head of the table when we entered the room, and I quickly stood beside Eve, glancing at her to make sure she was okay. She probably looked calmer than I did.

            My mother wasn't in the room like I thought she'd be, but when I turned to ask Lucius where she was, he just shook his head and motioned for us to sit. I would find out later that my mother had been crying when the Dark Lord explained the task and had had to leave the room.

            "Please, sit..." the Dark Lord commanded quietly, watching us as Lucius left the room and shut the door. I quickly sat on the left of Eve, doing whatever I could to keep her as far away from him as possible. The Dark Lord was running his fingers over the bumps in his wand as he continued, "I'm sure Lucius has told you both that I will be requiring your assistance during your sixth year at Hogwarts."

            "He has," I replied in a tight voice, my hand clenched into a fist on top of my thigh. I didn't know what to feel anymore—my chest felt like it was about to burst from all the anger and fear, but I wasn't sure which one I was feeling more. Eve was completely still beside me, and I was suddenly filled with the desire to know what she was thinking.

            "Good," he mused in a thin voice, looking down at the both of us with a cold stare. I held my breath then as the Dark Lord opened his mouth slightly, trying to somehow brace myself—though I never could have prepared myself for what he was about to say. "This year, both of you will repair the Vanishing Cabinet found in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts. Once it is fully repaired, you will owl Lucius so he can lead a group of Death Eaters into the castle through the cabinet's twin at Borgin and Burkes."

            Before I even had time to suck in a shaky breath, the Dark Lord was adding coldly, "You will kill Dumbledore on the same night you lead the Death Eaters into the castle."

            It was suddenly very hard to breathe.

            He wanted me to kill Dumbledore. He wanted me to kill Dumbledore. The bile rose in my throat and I was convinced I was going to vomit now.

            Underneath the table, Eve reached over and slipped her hand into mine.

           The Dark Lord continued to say something to us, but his words sounded muffled and I had no idea what he was saying. The entire dining room was spinning as my mind conjured up terrible images of me using the Killing Curse on Dumbledore, killing him and seeing everyone's horrified faces at what I had done. I squeezed Eve's fingers hard, staring down at the smooth black oak of the table and trying to keep myself from passing out. My head was pounding, the blood rushing to my ears as I realized I was going to have to kill someone—

            "Draco," Eve whispered, and I snapped back to reality.

          She was looking at me carefully with shining eyes, but her lips were pressed into a thin line. Her fingers were warm against mine underneath the table, and I remembered that I wasn't alone.

        "Sorry," I said quickly, my voice hollow against my ears and not sounding like myself. I was surprised I was even able to get anything out.

           "Will you...be able to perform the task?" the Dark Lord asked, and I almost jumped in my seat—as though I had forgotten he was there. My heart was pounding against the inside of my chest, and I was sure it was about to burst from my ribcage.

          The fear was choking me and making my fingers shake, so I slid my other hand across my lap to clutch Eve's hand over my own. Swallowing hard, I finally forced myself to look up at the Dark Lord as calmly as I could.

           "Yes," I said quietly. "I'll do it."