❝Just love me the way I love you.❞

»»————-　♡　————-««

The light of the moon endlessly poured inside the room where (Y/N), Draco, Alem, Crabbe and Goyle resided, creating a dim yet mystical atmosphere inside the room that would make one sleepy in a matter of seconds.

However, this wasn't the case for the Malfoy heir, who kept his silver eyes open while keeping his longing stare at the bed where (Y/N) slept with their back turned and their blanket drawn over their body.

No patch of (H/C) hair can be seen and no light snores could be heard, indicating that their a silent and light sleeper but their petite  body shape can be seen from the blanket draped over their body.

Draco smiled but it immediately faded as he heard the distant chime from the clock in the common room, signalling the arrival of midnight.

The platinum blonde haired boy breathed a small sigh before throwing the blankets off of his body gently and sat up on the side of his four poster bed.

The curtains that were slightly drawn around his bed were eventually drawn away for Draco to get out of bed.

He stepped out of his bed and slipped his slippers on before glancing over at everyone's bed to ensure that they're all asleep.

Alem lightly snored before shifting in his position and hugging his pillow with a soft groan.

Goyle sprawled his legs across the bed, his one leg hanging off and his blanket almost falling off.

Crabbe is mumbling unintelligible things in his sleep but only (Y/N) was silent and not doing anything in their sleep.

Which is what Draco liked about them; they weren't annoying, even while they're sleeping.

The platinum blonde haired boy smiled before picking his wand up from his nightstand.

He examined his wand for a moment before walking over to the door of the room but just as he opened the door to exit the room, he glanced back at (Y/N) sleeping form and smiled one last time.

"I won't be long." He thought before turning the doorknob and stepping out of the room that he resided in.

After stepping outside the threshold, Draco slowly and silently pulled the door close but a small creaking sound erupted from the hinges of the door but it was not enough to wake the others up so he is safe.

With silent steps, Draco made his way towards the entrance of the Slytherin common room.

Luckily for the platinum blonde haired boy, the fat lady in the painting who guards the common room is nowhere to be found tonight, presumably because she often goes out during the night to talk to the other paintings for reasons unknown.

So as Draco swiped the painting sideways to reveal the darkened staircase that led to the main hallways of the school, he gave out a small huff of uncertainty before stepping out of the Slytherin common room and gently swiped the painting back to how it was positioned before.

Since the common room is in the dungeons and underneath the Black Lake, the boy has to take a long detour towards the trophy room in order to encounter Harry since there's a chance that he might encounter one or two professors or even head students and prefects on patrol.

Draco slightly raised his wand and conjured a spell to brighten up his surroundings since he can barely see anything.

He had to be careful as to not cause any disruption for the paintings though as they're known to be quite loud when they're awoken by something in the middle of the night.

As the platinum blonde haired boy's surroundings have been lit up, he eventually began to climb up the stairs and walking his way towards the trophy room.

»»————-　♡　————-««

"I'm telling you; this is a bad idea!" Hermione whisper yelled at the two boy Gryffindors in front of her who were eager to go to the place where Draco had told them to go.

However, the two didn't pay attention to the brown haired girl and instead, they were on the look out for any professors or any students who were on patrol tonight since they can't get caught.

"Y-Yeah, I think we should... go back?" Neville, who also miraculously tagged along for unknown reasons, stammered and kept close to his house mates in case anything bad happens to him.

He saw Harry and Ron trying to sneak out of the Gryffindor common room at midnight with Hermione in front of the entrance to try and stop the two from going.

Neville just intervened and sided with Hermione, hoping that Harry and Ron will change their mind and just move on to the next day but of course, the determined raven haired boy refused and ignored the pleads of his fellow house mates to which Ron also did and followed Harry towards the trophy room.

Ron, who was starting to get fed up of Hermione and Neville's warnings and, overall, their presence, turned to look at them with an annoyed look visible on his features.

"So why did you two even bother to come with us? If you were so hung up on the rules and didn't want to get yourself in trouble, you could've just stayed and let us do our own thing." He frowned while walking silently and slowly behind Harry, who was starting to get annoyed of how the three Gryffindors are starting to argue with one another in the middle of the night.

"I know that you two won't listen to me either way so the least I can do is get you two out of trouble and pretend that none of this ever happened again." Hermione stated with an eye roll, almost ignoring Neville's attempt to change Harry's mind from going to the trophy room.

She looked behind her to see if anyone is coming but she turned to look at the two Gryffindors in front of her again when she confirmed that no one was coming from behind her. 

"Gee, thanks." Ron mumbled underneath his breath and silently scoffed at his fellow Gryffindor's words.

He immediately thought that Hermione doesn't trust the two of them and that they would immediately get in trouble without her.

Though Ron doesn't know that they can indeed get in trouble without someone who could control them or, in other words, get them back to their senses in order to avoid trouble.

And who can do this better other than Hermione?

"Is that the trophy room?" Harry stopped in his tracks and slightly raised his wand to get a better look at the door that led to the room where the duel would take place.

Obviously, he was nervous but his Gryffindor inside him wouldn't let him back out.

He couldn't just go and prove that Draco is better than him without a fight after all.

"Seriously, if something bad happens to the both of you, I'm not going to be responsible for that." Hermione gave one last warning to both Harry and Ron but unsurprisingly, they didn't listen and instead walked towards the door silently.

Hermione sighed and glanced over beside her to see that Neville is hesitating and obviously uncomfortable of how things are going on right now.

"Come on, Neville." Hermione beckons for her fellow Gryffindor to follow her as she walks away with Neville rapidly following in suit in fears of being left alone in a dark hallway.

But just as Hermione had followed close behind Harry and Ron, she immediately became skeptical as she glanced over at the door and if one looks at it close enough, you can see that the door is slightly open which indicates that someone is already inside.

Though Hermione believes that it might just be Draco, there's something inside of her that makes her think that it's not who she thinks it is behind those doors.

Harry seemed to have noticed Hermione's skeptical stare at the door and followed her gaze.

He's just as skeptical as Hermione is when he realized that the door is already slightly opened.

"The door is already open." Harry whispered but loud enough for the four to hear him.

Neville silently whimpered and immediately thought of worst case scenarios right on the top of his head.

"That must be Malfoy. Let's go." Ron narrowed his eyes and was about to push the door open with his hand but Hermione grabbed his wrist before he could, indicating that there was something wrong with all of this. 

"No, wait. It couldn't be him." She stated, glancing over at the small crack that the door had and you can see a small dimly lit light inside.

Ron clicked his tongue and turned to look at Hermione with narrowed eyes, ready to tell her that she's overreacting but seeing her serious look made Ron close his mouth and stayed silent for a short second.

Everyone was quiet for a moment until a soft yet somewhat strict voice came from the trophy room and it didn't resemble Draco's, causing the four Gryffindors to stop and listen to the conversation that's happening inside the room.

"...and why do you think so?" After hearing the voice that didn't resemble any student, Neville made a small squeaking sound that came from his fear of getting caught by a professor.

Hermione lightly slapped his arm, indicating him to stay quiet and not blow their cover.

"Because I trust them, professor." A familiar small voice answered and Harry couldn't help but feel that the amount of trust and belief that this student must have for someone must be large enough that you can actually tell that they mean it. 

"Do you reckon that it's a prefect?" Ron asked to the group in a whispered voice to identify who this mysterious student could be however, Ron received no response as the sound of footsteps echoed inside the trophy room and it seems to be approaching towards the door.

The group panicked, not knowing what to do.

"Turn it off!" Hermione turned to look at Harry's lit wand.

Harry, who managed to get Hermione's message despite the fact that he's also in a panic, disabled the light that came out of the wand, rendering their surroundings in darkness with only the moonlight of the large windows from the hallways giving them any source of light.

"Ah! I can't see anything!" Ron softly exclaimed, waving his hands around to try and feel anything from the darkness.

His hand made its way to Neville's face, specifically, his cheek.

"Ow! Ron, it's me!" Neville whimpered from the small pain that Ron made by almost slapping his cheek and brought his hand up to rub and soothe the throbbing part.

"Can't you guys be quiet?" Harry almost raised his voice to his normal range due to his annoyance and also tried to feel his way around the darkness.

He almost made contact with Hermione's arm but only felt her long bushy hair around his fingers. 

Hermione, who felt a tall, rough, rocky texture on her right hand, made her think that it must be a tall pillar.

Even though it wasn't the best hiding place for the four of them, it's better than being exposed to a professor right in front of the doorway.

"Come on, this way!" The female Gryffindor grabbed the nearest person next to her and it was Harry, dragging him behind the pillar.

Harry, who reacted quickly from his housemate's words, also grabbed Ron by his forearm just as Hermione dragged the raven haired boy away in order to drag the redhead along with him.

Neville, who realized and heard shuffling footsteps are drawing away from him, tried to follow the shuffling footsteps that his housemates made through the darkness and eventually bumped into Harry's body.

The raven haired boy groaned slightly from the impact of Neville's body but nonetheless, kept quiet about it.

Within a second, the door opened and the creaking sound slightly echoed around the silent hallway.

Eventually, the professor walked away from the room and his footsteps disappeared in the distance.

Once the group made sure that the professor is gone, they peeked out from their hiding spot, only to be greeted by a bright light appearing right on their faces.

Neville exclaimed in surprise and almost fell down on Ron but immediately caught himself before he could bring the redhead Gryffindor down with him.

"Huh? Why are you guys here?" The student asked in confusion but how they asked it seemed as if they already knew what their reason was for coming.

The group turned to look at the student, hoping that it wasn't a head girl or boy or a prefect who's in patrol, after they've gotten used to the bright light that's being shoved right on their faces.

"(Y/N)?" Harry was even more confused than the (H/C) haired Slytherin when he saw their presence in the trophy room, specifically, in front of the trophy room.

He was sure that they had no business in the duel whatsoever unless they had some sort of business with that professor they were talking with.

What the hell were they doing here?

»»————-　♡　————-««

What the hell was Neville doing with them?

I glanced confusedly at the other Gryffindor who stood beside Ron and Harry since I know that he wasn't supposed to come with them.

Did this world follow the book? But even so, did Neville even come with them in the book? 

How confusing, I don't know how to deal with this. 

"What are you doing here?" Ron asked, almost in an aggressive manner.

I was slightly offended of how Ron asked that questions since he's implying that I must be doing something bad for being out here so late.

It's not like I can tell them that I was here to refuse Quirrell's or, more precisely, Voldemort's invitation of joining his side. 

"I was here to talk with a professor, Quirrell, specifically." I rose my eyebrow, eyeing Ron.

"And what about you? I thought you two aren't dumb enough to actually accept Draco's duel because he's obviously not going to come." As I said that, Harry and Ron looked at each other in disbelief.

After a while, the redhead smirked and almost scoffed.

"He's the one who challenged us; why is he running away?" The confidence that oozed from the Weasley made me smile.

I mean, he's not wrong though; if he's the one who challenged us, he shouldn't run away.

But I guess, this is Draco's way of 'winning' without suffering from the consequences.

To be honest, I would try to 'win' something without having to risk my life as well so I kind of get where Draco is coming from.

"Never mind that! If he's not coming then we just wasted our time coming here and risked ourselves being found out by someone else!" Hermione exclaimed and looked around, in fear of being seen by a professor.

I found Hermione's panicked look funny and I managed to chuckle silently since I can't seem to hold myself in once I know what's going to happen next. 

I didn't have to worry about a thing; it's a pro of being in the fictional world of your favorite series.

"And who said that I'm not coming, Granger?" Until that familiar voice caught me off guard and made me drop my smile.

I turned around with my wand raised in surprise and to my disbelief, Draco Malfoy stood there, the tip of his wand also giving off a bright light, making our surroundings more clear than ever. 

Wait, what the fuck?

"Draco?" I asked, another set of confusing emotions rushing through my mind as I take in the platinum blonde haired boy's appearance in front of me.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

What is happening right now?

The male Slytherin turned his head towards mine and just like me, he was also surprised to see my figure standing right next to the Gryffindors.

"(Y/N)? What are you doing here?" He asked, eyeing me from bottom to top as if he was trying to confirm that it's actually me who he's seeing and not some hallucination that he's having.

He probably thought that I was already asleep. Did he even bother to lift the blankets up to see that it's just my large ass pillows lined up together to make it seem like there's someone underneath it?

I mean, he probably doesn't care that much but still, it should've gave him a little hint of suspicion.

"Scratch that, what are you doing here? I thought you weren't going to come?" I gulped, suddenly not knowing how this scenario would play out.

I didn't expect Draco to show up because he shouldn't have shown up.

This is the result of only relying on my canonical knowledge of the Harry Potter series and not thinking of any other possibilities since my actions could obviously change things up drastically in this world.

"I only said that so you wouldn't come up to me and convince me not to go." He rolled his eyes and landed them on Harry's group.

"Those Gryffindors are your precious friends after all and you wouldn't want them to get hurt, would you?" Draco rolled his eyes in sarcasm when he spat the word 'precious'.

I bit my lip and realized that I guess I've been spending too much time with Harry and the others that I'm not spending time with my own housemates.

Heck, I probably don't even know almost all of the other first years or even the house prefect.

"Can we just... tone it down a bit and start things over?" Hermione piped in once I fell silent. Before she continued, she takes a deep breath and looks at the two of us.

"Alright then," The female Gryffindor turned to look at me with a serious look on her eye to which I felt intimidated by and I can tell that I shouldn't fuck around with her right now.

"(Y/N), you said that Draco wasn't going to come right?" She asked and I seriously wanted to sass on her but I was too afraid on the possibility that I might get my body flown to the other end of the hallway if I do.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Draco rolling his eyes and crossing both of his arms in annoyance of how Hermione took control of this confusing situation.

"Since he said that, you don't have any business with any of this duel rubbish since you would immediately jump to the conclusion that everything would be alright tonight." Hermione said and I looked to the side with a shrug.

"I guess so?" The way I said that came out more as a question rather than an answer but Hermione nodded nonetheless, acknowledging my answer.

"So in order to clear this up for all of us, what exactly were you doing here then?" She asked and I stayed silent for a moment, glancing at all of them who waited for my response.

I sighed. "Professor Quirrell wanted to discuss something private and he wanted to see me tonight at the trophy room for that." I crossed my arms and it's not like I wasn't telling the truth.

"Discussing something private in a room where the duel would take place?" She narrowed her eyes skeptically at my answer.

"Isn't that too much of a coincidence?" Hermione added and I can see that Ron is somewhat agreeing with what she just said, considering that he was also throwing skeptical glances towards my way.

"It's not like he knew that all of you are going to have a duel in the trophy room, did he?" I rose my eyebrow, dropping my hands to my side.

"I didn't tell him anything about that so it's just a coincidence, as hard as it is to believe." I tilt my head towards the room.

The Gryffindors looked at each other, thinking if what I said was true.

Honestly, if they think about it, if any professor were to find out that a private duel between two students would take place, they would immediately report it to the headmaster or even get themselves detention.

I mean, unless that professor was Snape or probably even McGonagall, they wouldn't have to worry about being expelled.

"Too private that you have to sneak out of the common room?" Harry piped in and I internally screamed, wondering why he had to jump in the conversation and potentially get me marked as suspicious.

Then again, it's not like I wasn't suspicious enough in the first place for being able to 'predict' how or what certain things will happen in the future.

"Why, you want me to just stroll out of the common room and risk myself getting caught?" I sighed, becoming annoyed since I just want to move on with this conversation already.

"He did say that he wanted to talk about it during midnight and I don't think that, even with that reason, professors would just let me go because this is still violating rules." I looked down, tapping my foot to the ground just to kill some time.

I can feel their eyes skeptically glancing over at my head.

"If you're going to ask me about what we talked about; there's a reason why it's called 'private' so no, I'm not going to tell you." I glanced up at Harry who immediately closed his mouth, assuming that he was going to say something as a reply to my previous words. 

"So, can we move on? This cleared up any misunderstanding, right?" I scratched the back of my head.

The Gryffindors looked at each other again before sighing. Neville didn't seem to be that skeptical of me and I appreciated that.

At least, I don't have to deal with anything with him.

"Not all of them." Ron said after a few moments of silence, throwing glances at Draco and I.

Jesus, this boy doesn't really trust us, does he?

I had the urge to scoff and chuckle at how suspicious he was but if I did, then he probably would hate me forever and I would never be friends with him.

I have to remember that Ron is someone who dislikes the Slytherin house and doesn't see that there are also students who aren't taking part in any house prejudice.

I'm not saying that I'm technically a 'good' student. Like, if I was 'good', didn't have any motives and kept that oblivious self that I had on my first day here in Hogwarts, I would be anywhere else other than Slytherin. 

Oh, and how could I forget Harry and Hermione? Those two are suspicious all of the time when certain things happen.

This situation is no exception and I am the one who they're suspicious about but it's not like I can blame them for thinking that way.

I've always been unpredictable and lowkey acted as if I knew everything ever since my memories of my real world came back to me.

Not like I can hold myself back from trying to reveal anything to them anyway.

"Oh, put a sock on it, Weasley." Draco snapped, clicking his tongue at the redhead Gryffindor.

I can tell that he was starting to get annoyed of this situation and if I have to admit, I was starting to get annoyed too.

There is something clearly wrong about this whole thing so I'm frustrated that I don't know anything else that might happen next.

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention elsewhere as everyone was starting to talk to each other again, probably arguing.

If this keeps up, I'd get fed up of everyone's attitude and just fucking leave them there. I'm not in the mood to give everyone some motivational speech and sort things out.

Heck, this duel started because of those two dinguses. Why do I have to act as the medium?

I didn't even come here to join this dueling bullshit, I just came here to talk to Professor Quirrell and that no nosed fucker that I wasn't going to do whatever the fuck they wanted me to do.

But, to be fair, at least this action made me kill two birds in one stone.

Just as I was on the edge of screaming because everyone's still fighting, I saw a small moving figure in the distance but I couldn't see who it was since the hallway was too dark.

"Be quiet." I told everyone in a hasty manner but they could tell from my tone of voice that this was something serious.

Everything went quiet again and we all focused on that moving figure in the distance. The more it takes a step closer to where we are, the... smaller it gets?

Once the figure was now visible to our eyes and within the light from our wands, my eyes widened and turned to look at the Gryffindors who looked somewhat confused.

Hermione was the only one who had the same expression as I have.

"What's a cat doing here?" Draco remarked, cocking his eyebrow upward and glancing down at the furry animal with slight contempt.

I lightly slapped his forearm when he didn't recognize who the cat belonged to.

Honestly, this made me think that if this followed the original scene from the book where Draco didn't go to the duel, he probably didn't pay attention to the cat when he told Filch that there would be students tonight in the trophy room.

Then again, cats almost look exactly the same so he thought that it might be someone else's though Mrs. Norris' red eyes can easily differentiate her from other cats in this bloody castle.

"Are you serious?" I stepped back, closer to where Hermione stood.

"That's Filch's cat!" When I told the clueless bunch that, panic immediately settled into their faces.

My arm bumped into Neville's which made me acknowledge his presence again.

Oh yeah, this boy came with them.

But he's not supposed to. I think.

I turned to look at the Gryffindor boy and grabbed both of his shoulders.

"Neville, did you bring your wand with you?" I asked and when he gulped and shook his head, I grumbled and thought that I was fucked.

There's no way that Neville can navigate the castle in total darkness. He would either; cry and wake the paintings up or get himself caught by a wandering professor or any one of the prefects and head students in patrol. 

There's a huge chance he's gonna do both, to be honest.

But I don't want to make him come with us. I don't want to mess everything up in this timeline more than I should be by being here.

"Here," I shoved my wand towards Neville's chest. He immediately wrapped his trembling hands around my wand when I retracted away from him.

He looked confused and overwhelmed at the same time.

"Use that to get back to the common room safely. Return that to me by tomorrow so no one suspects anything." I told Neville. He shook his head again and pushed my wand back to me but I pushed his hand away.

"W-Why? They're all g-going to run back to the common room anyway s-so I'll just come with H-Harry and the others..." Neville stammered.

Well shit, how do I tell him that they aren't actually gonna go to the common room?

I bit my lip and leaned closer to his ear, mentally killing myself for even thinking of saying this to someone who's clueless about what's going to happen next.

"Trust me when I say that they won't." I whispered and leaned away from the confused boy.

He looked like he doesn't believe me but somewhere in his trust.

Eventually, Neville nodded but glanced his eyes somewhere else, specifically, behind my back.

I turned around and saw Harry turning his head around to face Mrs. Norris, who was already walking her way towards us with those creepy red eyes.

I cocked my eyebrow, wondering if Harry had heard our conversation.

If he did, then it wouldn't be too much of a trouble. He would only be skeptical of me to which, I say; when has anyone ever been un-skeptical of me?

"Go on, Nev." I turned my body around, facing the same direction where everyone's facing.

It took the boy a few seconds before running away and a small tint of light moving away from the direction where Neville went on the corner of my eye.

"Ah, this can't be good." I heard the platinum blonde haired boy say when Mrs. Norris is already standing right in front of him.

The cat looked up to the panicked Slytherin boy for a moment before she started meowing loudly as if she was calling for Filch.

"Shoot." I whisper yelled and was about to take a step back again and observe where the golden trio would be going until I felt a soft hand circling itself around my wrist and basically dragging me away from the trophy room.

In the distance, I could see Draco, who was taking a step towards me and slightly reached his arm out to reach for me until he looked towards his left and just blasted off to the opposite direction.

I look up and see the person who dragged me away and to my surprise, it was Hermione.

It makes sense since she was standing right in front of me. The left side of my front, to be exact since Harry stood on my right.

"W-Wait, where are we going?" I asked and tried to catch my breath. Damn, I've only been running for like, 10 seconds and I'm already tired as hell.

I could feel Hermione's hand slipping away from my wrist as we kept running and after a few seconds, I could no longer feel her grasp on my wrist and I can now run freely.

"I don't know! Anywhere as long as we're far away from that cat!" She replied hastily, turning into a corner when the two male Gryffindors turned into a corner as well.

I sighed and followed the golden trio while glancing down at my pajamas that I wore tonight.

Why, exactly, is an 11 year old Slytherin student, in their pajamas, with three Gryffindors in the middle of the night just to run away from a creepy red eyed cat?

I'm even wearing these cute green slippers to symbolize the house.

Whose slippers are these?

Alem's, of course.

And he sure as hell ain't gonna appreciate it if I wore his slippers in the middle of the night. I don't wanna use mine; they get itchy as hell.

"Wait," She slowed down and looked around in panic, "Where's Neville!?" She exclaims but her voice wasn't that loud that it woke the entire castle.

I huff and glanced over at Harry who turned his head around to look at me for a second but he immediately looked away when he realized I was already looking at him.

He couldn't be more obvious.

"He booked his way towards the common room before any of us ran." I said to calm the brown haired female. She looked relieved and picked her pace up.

"And you gave him your wand, didn't you?" Harry said as we all stopped in front of a door after running around for god knows how long.

I don't even know where the heck we are in the castle.

"He didn't bring his wand with him; how else is he going to navigate through the dark if he doesn't have one?" I painted and crossed my arms as soon as I caught my breath.

Hermione is already face palming while Ron opened the door with a creak.

"The castle isn't that dark during the night." Harry remarked, unconvinced by my answer. I rolled my eyes and followed the trio inside the corridor.

"It may not be but did you even think about how is he going to protect or conceal himself without a wand?" I said, starting to get annoyed by his attitude of trying to prove that I have a sinister motive.

"Be thankful that I didn't leave him with nothing and I gave him something he could use when he gets caught." As soon as we were all inside, I turned to look at Harry with slight anger and dropped both of my hands to my side.

"Honestly, Potter; can't you think before you start jumping into the conclusion that I have extremely evil motives or something?" I face palmed and as I said that to the raven haired Gryffindor, he looked away in slight shame.

I could see it from his green eyes underneath those large rounded lenses in his glasses.

Ron and Hermione looked at us, waiting for another word between the two of us and when none of us uttered a word, Hermione sighed and ran her fingers through her bushy brown hair to refresh herself.

"Alright, now if you two are finishing arguing with each other, we can now move on and think about how we get back to are our own common rooms." Hermione said, annoyance clearly visible on her tone of voice.

Not that I blame her for feeling annoyed.

I just looked away from Harry, observing the creepy third floor.

"Does that sound alright?" She glanced towards the two of us and the only response she could get from us was a silent nod but it was enough for her to understand what we meant.

"Uh... Does anyone feel like they shouldn't be here?" Ron piped in, changing the subject and setting our attention to him.

When Hermione looked around and observed the creepy floor, the same look of panic that she had when she was looking for Neville returned to her face.

"That's because we shouldn't be here in the first place!" She exclaimed while I raised both of my hands behind my head, making it act as a pillow.

Honestly, this is making me look like I don't care about the situation at hand right now.

"This is the third floor; it's forbidden!" Hermione added when she saw how un-affected we looked, especially me. But I still had the same expression even though she said that.

Ron glanced towards my carefree figure and was about to complain how I was acting based on his angry expression but they immediately softened as if he realized something.

"Oh right, you weren't on the Great Hall when Dumbledore said that the third floor was dangerous." The red haired boy mumbled and my eyes softened as well since I also remember passing out in the Great Hall right after the sorting.

I don't really know why I passed out?

Or more like, I don't remember why.

But I do remember Alem saying that my eyes turned a bit red just before I passed out. I wonder why though, maybe I should ask Erised sometime about that.

"Agh, this is no time to act so carefree!" Hermione's frustrated voice echoed in the creepy floor and I could've sworn I saw her narrowed eyes glance towards my way in an aggressive manner.

"Anyway, we should get out of here and get back to our common rooms before anyone finds us!" She turned her heels around to get out of the floor from the door we came in until the door opened first before Hermione could even put her hand on the door handle.

The bushy brown haired girl took a few steps back towards where we were, wary of the figure who entered the third floor. I lowered my hands and turned my attention to the slightly opened door.

From the side of the door, the familiar red eyes glimmered in the dimly lit corridor and we all realized who it was from the small figure.

Mrs. Norris looked at us with wide red eyes as if she was examining the misbehaving students who were out at midnight and taking in their features.

We all took a few steps back away from the bloody cat out of fear that Filch may be standing behind the door as well.

"It's Filch's cat!" Hermione exclaimed and that got me wondering how this cat managed to find us in the third floor.

More like, how did she even open the closed door? I know this cat is smart but damn, she must be on a different level of smart if she knows how to open closed doors.

"Run!" Harry piped in for the first time in the first few minutes that we were here.

After the raven haired boy said that, we all blasted off as we heard the blasted cat meow loudly to call for Filch.

As we ran through the corridor, fire would burst from the torches on the wall.

I don't know why they do that but damn, if these torches light up when someone enters the third floor, why did Filch just walk away when he entered the floor then?

Surely, the torches would still be lit after Harry and the others entered the room where Fluffy resided in.

Why am I thinking too much about this?

This is a world full of magic and other bullshit you can't do in reality.

You shouldn't question the laws of magic because it just makes you more confused the more you think about it even though you shouldn't even think about it in the first place.

"There's a door!" Ron said, pointing towards the distance.

As we reached the front of the door, Harry stepped in and grabbed the handle, trying to open the door but it wouldn't budge.

The frustrated Gryffindor slammed the lock to the door and looked at us. "It's locked!" He clicked his tongue.

"That's it! We're done for!" Ron stressed and looked into the distance, on the lookout for Filch and that bloody cat.

"Oh, move over!" Hermione almost shoved Harry away from the door and pulled her wand out, pointing it towards the locked door.

"Alohomora!" She casts and the lock on the door was immediately pulled up.

"Get in!" Hermione said and basically shoved the three of us inside the room.

Ron was the one who had to close the door and keep it shut, pressing his ear at the door to hear if Filch or anyone is coming.

"Alohomora?" Ron asked, eyeing the brown haired female as if doubting that a spell like that actually exists.

"Standard Book of Spells, chapter seven." I said before Hermione could, reassuring the red haired boy of any doubts that he might have about the spell. The two Gryffindors looked at me with slight surprise.

Hermione gave me a small smile, making it seem like she acknowledges my knowledge for spells. I returned the smile back with a little bit of hesitance.

I mean, who wouldn't hesitate smiling back at Hermione when she was just pissed and clearly wanted to throw you off the edge of a cliff a few minutes ago?

"He's gone." Ron gave off a sigh of relief and leaned away from the wooden door.

You don't really need to ask him to know that he's talking about Filch.

Ron and Hermione looked very relieved at the confirmation that the man is gone from the third floor and I just turned to look at Harry, who just froze right on his spot at the realization that we entered the wrong room.

"Probably thinks that this door is locked." Hermione said as the two walked and stopped beside Harry's side, who hasn't moved an inch and kept his eyes on the huge three headed dog in front of us.

"It was locked." The raven haired boy said which made the other two look at Harry and then at the direction where he was looking at.

"And for a good reason, too." He added as we all stood in our spot, petrified and scared.

To be honest, I am a little bit concerned and overwhelmed at how huge Fluffy is. One wrong move and the dog could chomp my head off.

Fluffy sniffed, picking up our unfamiliar scent and opened his eyes to see who could've entered the room and disturb him in his happy sleep.

Once he realized that it wasn't anyone who he recognized, like Hagrid, Fluffy growled and his eyes narrowed in anger at the sight of us, intruders.

"Shit." I murmured, hoping that the three hadn't heard me swear. I can't tell if Fluffy is just huge because of my small eleven year old body or if he is actually huge than how I expected him to be.

Since I was the closest to the door, I placed my hand on the handle of the door without Fluffy noticing and I am inches away from letting the door fly open if it wasn't for the three standing there as if they were on death row and waiting for the three headed dog to eat them all.

Like, jesus, I commend Gryffindors for being brave and for having full of determination but if a large ass dog is awake and is ready to eat you, don't just stand there and wait for it to attack, immediately run as soon as you see it.

"What are you three standing around there for!?" I exclaimed and flung the door open, making a somewhat loud noise and snapping the three from their paralyzed state.

They screamed and immediately dashed out of the room as Fluffy lunged his heads towards us as an attempt to bite any of us.

But as they were out of the room, I immediately shut the door close and locked it tightly.

I could still hear Fluffy barking aggressively at the other side of the room and it looks like it's going to be noisy in the third floor for a while.

All of us panted and tried to recollect our composure from that somewhat traumatic experience.

To be fair, I didn't really feel traumatized after seeing Fluffy. I was just stressed due to those three not running immediately after seeing a huge dog.

Oh wait, I forgot this world was only following what happens in the series so it's not entirely their fault for acting like that.

"Let's just get out of here." I clicked my tongue and began to walk away from the door, running my slightly sweaty fingers through my hair while thinking about the things that just happened in that room and in this night.

»»————-　♡　————-««

"What do they think they're doing; keeping a thing like that locked up in our school!" Ron exclaimed in a hush, careful not to wake any paintings up as the four of them walked their way towards their respective common rooms.

(Y/N) rolled their eyes as they placed their hands behind their back.

"Based from what you said, you don't really use your eyes, do you?" The only Slytherin in their group remarked but kept their bored eyes locked away from them.

"Yes, didn't you see what it was standing on?" Hermione asked as the four turned into a corner.

The red haired boy scoffed and found the words of the two unbelievable as if they were a completely different creature.

"I wasn't looking at its feet! I was a bit preoccupied with its heads!" He slightly growled at them, "or maybe you two didn't notice; there were three!" Ron put up three fingers for the two to see, emphasizing the number of heads Fluffy has.

The group stopped walking as they reached the Gryffindor common room after Ron's reply as (Y/N) gently swatted Ron's hand away from their face.

"Yes, Weasley. I noticed that the dog has three heads so keep your hand away from my face, thank you." They said, crossing their arms and glaring at the red haired boy.

"It was standing on a trap door." Hermione sighed when she noticed that this could lead to another argument that (Y/N) and either of the boys get into.

"Which means it wasn't there by accident." She added as the group turned their heads to look at the brown haired female.

"In other words, it's guarding something." The Slytherin supports Hermione, dropping their arms to their side to make it seem like this is a serious subject.

"If you ask me, it must be pretty important that they had to keep a three headed dog to guard it." They added and shrugged as they give their thoughts about Fluffy.

Hermione nodded, agreeing with the (H/C) haired Slytherin.

Harry, however, looked confused at what they said but not saying that he doesn't believe them or anything.

"Guarding something?" Harry asked, glancing at (Y/N) and waiting for their reply.

"They're right." Hermione said, making the raven haired boy turn to look at her.

"Now, if you two don't mind, I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed," Hermione said as (Y/N) smiled since one of their favorite lines is now being spoken.

"Or worse, expelled." The brown haired girl emphasized the word 'expelled', glaring at the two Gryffindor boys in front of her who didn't know what to say after she just said that.

"Good night to you, (Y/N)." Hermione turned to look at (Y/N) with a smile, who was already starting to doze off.

They looked surprised at Hermione's words but returned her smile anyway.

"Oh... Good night, Hermione." They replied as Hermione gave Harry and Ron one last glare before entering the common room and leaving her house mates behind.

"She needs to sort out her priorities." Ron shook his head, groaning.

He turned to look at (Y/N), who was still standing there as if they were waiting for the two to enter the common room.

"Aren't you going back to your common room?" Ron asked, glancing them up and down.

(Y/N) sighed and scratched their head, slightly offended at what the red haired boy just asked.

"Geez, you really want me gone, don't you?" They asked in a joking manner.

A flicker of regret flashed in Ron's eyes and (Y/N) had seen it as clear as the day even though their surrounding was dim.

"I'm kidding, Weasley." They laughed and the red haired boy's features softened but still felt annoyed that they were only teasing him.

"But I'm gonna head back anyway so, good night to you two." (Y/N) smiled, waving their hand at the Gryffindors and turned around to walk away from them.

"Can you find your way back through the dark?" Harry stopped (Y/N), taking a small step forward.

The Slytherin turned around, their smile widening in every second and this really made Harry uncomfortable.

"Oh, are you worried about me, Potter?" They teased as Harry blushed slightly however the small color on his cheeks immediately disappeared as (Y/N)'s smile became a normal one, making them look somewhat trustworthy.

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid to get myself caught on my way back to the common room." They reassured Harry, turning around once more with their back facing the two Gryffindors.

"And wasn't it you who said that the castle isn't that dark during the night?" (Y/N) tilted their head towards Harry, smirking.

The raven haired boy blinked in surprise at their words as (Y/N) began to walk away from them.

The two were silent for a moment until Ron nudged Harry's forearm, beckoning for him to enter the common room.

"They're really strange, aren't they?" Ron asked as they went their way towards their dorm.

Harry looked down, his mind drifting somewhere else but in the end, it always makes him think of that strange (H/C) haired Slytherin that he couldn't figure out.

"Yeah." Because of his thoughts, this was all he could reply to his red haired friend.

»»————-　♡　————-««

Okay, I admit that I don't have a particularly good eyesight and heck, it's not like I have a night vision so I can navigate myself through dark places but somehow, I still managed to get myself to the Slytherin common room and avoid everyone else who's awake in this castle right now.

I may have to thank my luck for that.

As a plus, the fat lady in the painting is nowhere to be found tonight so I can just go back in without any trouble of getting caught.

I mean, the other person in this house who caught me was Draco and I still have to ask him a bunch of questions.

Like, why the fuck did he lie to me.

I was on my way to my room as I tiptoed my way there and to my surprise, the platinum blonde haired boy was waiting for me by the door with his back on the wall and his arms crossed.

"You're still awake?" I asked, clearly surprised that he could stay up for that long. Draco turned his attention towards mine as he sighed and began to walk towards me.

What's his problem?

"Let's have a quick chat." He said, passing through me and making his way downstairs.

I wasn't in the mood to answer his questions because I thought he'd just move on the next day and forget about it.

"Draco, the thing is; I'm really tired so I think we should call it-"

"If you can stay up late for those fools, then you can also stay up late for me." He interrupted as he stopped walking down.

"Besides, I won't take as long." Draco added and began walking downstairs again.

I groaned slightly and I can already feel my eyes drooping.

I mean I can stay up late when I'm in my original age but I'm eleven years old and the thing I'll forever regret is getting eye bags since it ruins my face and makes me look like a full fledged zombie.

I'm not gonna make it happen when I have the chance to reverse it.

So as I have no choice, I walked downstairs and found the dip shit sitting on the sofa as the fireplace was warmly lit.

It wasn't a big fire or anything but it just felt right and it looks like it could disappear in about five minutes or so.

"Sit down." He said, patting the empty spot beside him. Why he wants me to sit next to him for a simple talk, I have no idea.

But I followed anyway and sat next to him, resting my back on the sofa and feeling satisfaction course through my veins as I did so.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked as I finally made myself comfortable.

Draco leaned close to me as I turned to look at him and it really caught me off guard.

"Woah, what the-"

"You're quite the mystery, aren't you, Rosewood?" He said, gazing into my eyes and I felt uncomfortable at how he was staring at me.

I was about to scoot away from him but it seems that he knew I was going to do that since I felt an arm circle around my waist.

"Draco, what are you doing?" I asked, feeling a slight twinge of fear and panic in my mind.

He didn't seem to notice it though since he didn't do anything about it.

"You always act on impulse and even though everything looks new to you, you always know what to do next." Draco said but I wasn't paying attention, all I wanted to do was get away from him.

"No, it's more like," He closed his eyes. "You already know what's going to happen." He opened them again and based from what he said, he seems like he's already suspicious about my behavior.

But fuck, I don't care about that.

This is this already giving me a bunch of big red flags and I'm already panicking.

"Tell me, (Y/N)," He leaned even closer that our noses are touching and I could feel his breath hitting my lips.

"What is it that makes you so special and unpredictable?" Draco dropped his head at the crook of my neck and I am already paralyzed out of fear.

I hate any form of close human contact.

"I-I don't have any idea what you're talking about." I gulped, as small tears are appearing in the corner of my eyes.

"You can't even say?" He asked as he leaned away from me. At first, I felt genuine relief that he's finally retracting away from me but the fear immediately came back as he placed his finger under my chin, making me look up at him with slightly tear filled eyes.

How the hell does this boy not know that I am already scared of what he's doing. Christ.

When I finally realized that he's leaning closer to my lips, my eyes widened as I suddenly had the imagery of those dirty old men leaning closer towards me as they licked their lips and looked at me with both lust and greed.

"Get the hell away from me!" I pushed the platinum blonde haired boy away from me, almost shoving him off the sofa.

I panted heavily as I heard a faint groan in front of me, indicating that he's somehow hurt from the force of my push.

But I realized what I have done and snapped out of it. I stood up from the sofa, took a few steps back before running to the room, not even looking back as Draco was calling for my name.

I hastily yet silently opened and closed the door, jumping to my bed and drawing the curtains close around my four poster bed.

I messed up.

»»————-　♡　————-««

Draco sat there, keeping his eyes up on the ceiling while wondering what has gotten into him to do such things. He didn't mean it but he couldn't help but... like it.

It's his guilty pleasure, to say the least.

After all, (Y/N) is indeed a smart, unpredictable witch.

He didn't know that it was only a stack of pillows lined up together with a blanket draped over it to make it look like it's actually them sleeping.

While it is indeed foolish and a somewhat stupid technique, he couldn't help but adore it.

Their actions tell him everything he needs to know too; it feels like they know what's going to happen.

A true clairvoyant, he thought but found the title that's been bestowed upon the (H/C) haired Slytherin idiotic.

It just doesn't roll off the tongue that well, does it?

He thought that (Y/N) pushing him away due to his actions was understandable since it is creepy but it was only now that he noticed their fear filled eyes as they pushed him away.

Why was fear present in their eyes?

He expected anger and sure, it was also there but he could see the fear on their eyes more.

He couldn't really understand it but he does understand that there are some things that (Y/N) is genuinely afraid of.

And of course, it is the knight's duty to protect the princess from any harm, no matter what.

»»————-　♡　————-««

(A/N: Hello! Please enjoy this 9000 words worth of chapter.

I literally had to finish this in one day since y'all were waiting patiently for, like, 4 months for a new chapter and it's already December.

I hope this makes up for all the waiting I've caused!

I know this took way too long to upload and I'm sorry because I've been procrastinating.

Anyways, stay lovely as ever, everyone! Consider this as my early Christmas gift to you!)