Shorter chapter than usual, but I hope you like it x (Also if you're binge reading this at 2 in the morning, don't forgot to take a little break. Get some water or stretch your legs! - from a binge reader)

Chapter Nine: Unexpected Surprises

News spread quickly throughout Hogwarts. Everyone knew that Cathal and I had broken up and they also knew about Draco nearly bleeding to death in the abandoned girls bathroom. They knew he was in the hospital, but didn't know it was Harry who did it. Only few knew what Harry really did. He tried to explain it to me, but I still couldn't believe him. How could he use a spell he's never heard of on another person? Hermione agreed with me at least. Her and Ginny convinced Harry to give up the old potions book he found with all of the written notes in it. When I found out about that, I was a little upset that he used it to win all of Slughorn's potion competitions and slightly envious of all the cool notes he got to read. A part of me wanted to read it, but then I decided against even asking because I would probably get drawn into it as well. At least that was smart of Harry to get rid of it. Who knew what else was hidden in that book.

Late one night past curfew, I decided to visit Draco. I don't know what came over me but I just had to go tell him that Harry wasn't thinking straight and hoped he didn't think I had any part in it. I know he linked me to them. I'm not even sure why I cared what he thought, but I went anyway. I knew ways of getting around the castle because I knew the prefect schedule, being a prefect myself. When I arrived at the Hospital Wing I unlocked the door and stepped in to see Draco was the only one in there. He looked like he was sleeping. The moonlight shining through the windows was the only source of light but I could see him clearly. "Draco?" I whispered. His grey eyes snapped opened.

"Caoimhe," he said blinking and looking confused. He used my first name. That was new. "Why are you here?"

"I saw what happened to you," I said quickly. I noticed he was still covered in bandages.

"Did you?" he muttered coldly. "Bloody Potter almost killed me."

"I know," I said nodding and sitting in the seat next to him. "He didn't mean it, he was just acting without thinking and that was stupid of him." Draco's eyes brightened a bit when he saw that I didn't side with Harry.

"Yeah he'll get what he deserves," Draco added coldly. "Anything else you wanted?"

"No that was it," I answered wondering why I even bothered coming here in the first place. "I'll leave then," I said, going to stand up.

"Well you don't have to go," Draco said surprisingly. Draco always surprised me. I stayed in my seat. He was so complicated. He pushed me away, but then wanted me to stay. "Heard about you and the Head Boy?" he said turning and looking at me.

"Heard what?" I asked with a smirk, wondering why he was even bringing it up.

"You're over," he said with a smirk of his own. "Was it because of when he saw us in the hallway? Looked pissed, didn't he?" I rolled my eyes.

"No it wasn't that," I answered honestly.

"Then what? You two were the same person, so clearly you had nothing to argue over."

"Well trust me there's things to argue over." He asked me again, but I didn't tell him. 

"Was it the letter?" Draco asked.

"What?" I asked quickly, feeling my eyes widen.

"That's it. You did that look. It was the letter, you're trying to hide it from him too?"

"The letter was nothing," I lied while looking away.

"I don't believe you," Draco said. He looked up at me. "I know you're not going to tell me, but just know that it's clear your lying." How could he tell I was lying? I hid it so well from everyone else, well except for Cathal, who broke up with me for that reason. "Fine, don't tell me." 

"Why do you think I am lying?" I asked.

"I think I've had to spend enough time with you in class over these past few years to know what you look like when you're lying," he admitted. "You tend to look away when you're lying."

I'm not sure what made me do it, maybe it was the fact that Draco wasn't pushing me to tell him anything. Possibly, it was the fact that he understood me even though we were not the best of friends but I lent in and kissed him. It didn't even seem to phase him as he quickly placed his arm around my neck and kissed me back. Draco pulled back. "I knew you'd come around," he said with a smirk and I sat back. 

"I better go," I said while quickly standing up. What just came over me?

"No, now you have to stay," he replied with a smug look.

"I'll see you around Draco," I said, turning and leaving the hospital wing, once again surprised with myself.

A few more days passed by. Draco wasn't allowed to leave the hospital wing, but I secretly visited him again. I don't know why but I just wanted to. There was no explanation. I felt bad not being able to tell my friends. Ginny pointed out how well I was handling my breakup with Cathal. I actually haven't even thought about it. I liked being friends with him. That night I was planning on visiting Draco once more, but McGonagall was standing in the doorway. When she saw me she said, "Back to your house Ms. Riley." I looked up at the sky, it was darker and looked as if a storm was coming.

I nodded and headed back to my dorm, wondering what was going on. "Do you know what's going on Luna?" I asked as I stepped into my dorm. 

"No idea actually," she said looking up from her book. I sat down on my bed while looking out at the window. "Curious," Luna said sitting up. I looked over towards her, she reached into her pillow case and pulled out her coin. "It's on fire," she described. Opening my drawer, I grabbed mine and took it out of the drawer, it was burning hot as well. 

"What do you think this means?" I asked her. The last time these burned was at the end of last year before our spontaneous trip to the Department of Mysteries.

"I'm not sure," Luna added. "But I'm sure it's not an accident."

"Let's go find out then," I said to her and she nodded. We tucked our coins in our pockets and stepped out of the door. The common room was packed. How were we going to get out of here? As calm as we could be, we headed over to the exit. 

"Where are you going?" someone called to us, and quickly I realized it was Cathal. Luna and I looked at each other quickly before turning around. I craddled my wrist.

"I fell off my bed. I think I broke my wrist," I lied looking at them all. Cathal was looking at me confused. 

"I was just taking her there," Luna added. Cathal got up and walked over towards us.

"The professors wouldn't have put a curfew out if there wasn't a reason," he said concerned. "I could try to fix it, or at least make the pain stop until tomorrow?" 

"I'd rather just go now," I lied once again. He looked at my wrist and that back up to me. "Just trust me," I muttered. He gave me one more concerned look before walking away. Luna opened the door and the two of us left the common room. We kept close to the walls in case we saw a teacher as we headed towards the entrance of the room of requirement.

When we arrived there, we saw Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville. Once again, it was just the six of us. They looked relieved when they saw us. "What's going on?" I asked them.

"I'll explain quickly," Hermione said. She told us that Harry was off on a mission with Dumbledore, but he believed Death Eaters would be coming to the castle tonight. That wasn't possible...how would they ever get in? Just in case, Harry left us all a drop of felix felicis. Hermione gave us all a part of the castle to patrol, just as we had last year when we were helping Harry sneak into Umbridge's office. My heart was racing. I hoped Harry was wrong about this.

We were more spread out this time, I got the area closest to Ravenclaw tower. As I was walking the hall I stopped to look out the window, it was getting worse out there as if a dangerous storm was coming our way. By now it was after hours, but I didn't plan on leaving any time soon. Suddenly, I heard a familar voice that I didn't want to hear. "How wonderful," came the dark voice. Right as I turned he said, "Stupefy!" My wand shot out of my hand and into his as I was thrown back hard against the stone wall. Looking up, Nicolai was standing there and holding my wand. How did Nicolai get into the castle?

He was smirking at me, but his eyes were pure evil. He looked as if he lost weight. I could see the bones in his face and bags under his eys. He was supposed to be in Azkaban! I saw it in the papers last year. "Surprised to see me?" he asked bending down to my level. "Crucio!" he said quickly, sending the most horrific pain throughout my body. I screamed in horror as it felt like a thousand knives were being stabbed into me. I couldn't stop screaming. When he stopped he looked at me once more. "You almost killed me last year."

"How did you get out of Azkaban?" I muttered coldly as the pain slowly disappeared. He grabbed my wrist tightly pulling me into a standing position.

"He freed us all," Nicolai smirked darkly. He didn't need to specify who 'he' was. I knew he meant the Dark Lord. "Now time to take you to your father. I know he's dying to meet you." My eyes widened, he was here in the castle? I tried to pull away from Nicolai who gripped my wrist even tighter...until he fell to the ground. I ripped my arm away and grabbed my wand. Someone stunned him from behind, and when I turned it was Colm.

"Colm?" I asked confused while stepping over Nicolai. "What are you doing here?" I hadn't seen him in a year. He looked the exact same. Except now I noticed the Dark Mark plastered on his arm.

"No time to talk," he said quickly. "Get out of here now, or you'll regret it. Go that way there was no one behind me." Colm pointed to the hall behind him. I was going to trust him, as he just stunned Nicolai for me. "GO!" he said and then I ran. Death Eaters were in the castle. Harry was right.

I kept running down the hall, but felt guilty. I was leaving everyone behind, what if they didn't know the Death Eaters were in the castle yet? My friends could die. I didn't want to be a coward and run, leaving them behind. Stopping at the end of the hall, I knew there was no one was around me. I also knew Ron would be in this area. I just had to warn him. Sneaking behind the statues, I kept an eye out for anyone else. I spotted Ron standing by the corner casually, as if he didn't know what was going on. "Ron," I whispered. He jumped and then turned to look at me.

"Caoimhe," he whispered back rushng over to me. I stepped out from behind the statue. "What are you doing here. Why did you leave your spot?"

"They're here," I answered frightful. "Death Eaters are in the castle. I saw them. They're on my floor." Ron's eyes widened. 

"We have to tell the others!" he said without even thinking. 

"Let's go this way," I said to him, motioning back to where I came from. There weren't any Death Eaters that way yet according to Colm. But right as we began walking that way, we heard unfamilar dark voices coming towards us. Ron and I shared a look before taking off in the other direction.

We ran, eventually running into Ginny and having her join us as well. "We need to tell Hermione!" Ron said nervously. "Luna and Neville probably don't know either," he added. 

As we were debating which direction to take, we saw them. A group of Death Eaters coming our way. Without even thinking Ginny raised her wand, "Reducto!" she shouted, causing bits of the ceiling to collapse on them. It didn't knock them out, it only pissed them off as they came after us.

"Run!" Ron said loudly. We quickly ran with them on our tail. I let my legs take me as fast as they could. They were shooting spells our way, so we ran in all different directions to make it harder from them to hit us. We ran to where Hermione and Neville were and they quickly discovered what was going on. Luna probably didn't even know yet as she was the farthest from us. 

We were surrounded by Death Eaters. "The order's on their way," Hermione said to us as she fought off one of the Death Eaters. I only hoped they got here soon. As we fought back, we began getting seperated. I could barely even see straight. Everyone was moving so quickly around me. I was being attacked by a young looking Death Eater, but I managed to hit him with a direct spell and shoot him back. One turned to come after me and without thinking I ran quickly from the mess when I was hit. My wand was thrown from me.

Pulling myself up into a sitting position, I turned to look over my shoulder. My wand was being picked up by a wizard and when I looked at his face my heart drop. I have never seen this wizard in my life, but everything about him was familar. He looked like an older version of Colm. "I'm assuming you know who I am. I've heard you're quite clever," he said slowly while smirking.

I tried to back away, but I was defenseless. "Lorcan Riley," I stated coldly.

"What a pleasure to finally meet you," he said in a dark and cold tone. This was by far not a pleasure. "You haven't gotten the information I have asked for, but that doesn't mean you're unnecessary." My eyes widened. "Imperio!" he said. A cloudy sensation came over me. I felt like I lost control of myself and my actions. "Don't talk to anyone until we get back to Headquarters. Follow me." He smirked as he turned, I took a step towards him. Tears burnt in my eyes. I tried to fight it, but I couldn't. I wanted to run in the opposite direction, but I followed behind him. I was trying to pull back each step, but it was useless. I wanted to scream for someone to help me, but no sound came. He lead me outside the castle.