[HP] Shh, it's a secret

Draco woke up from the nightmare.Panting heavily, trembling all over, cold sweat soaked the shirt under his pajamas, on his forehead and cheeks.The shattered dreams gradually merged into Potter's face——

"Draco. Malfoy is the true master of the Elder Wand."

Draco's hand tightened, his hawthorn wand was in his palm, and he tightened his grip.Suddenly, he realized what he was holding, and he threw it away.The sound of the wand hitting the bed curtain made Goyle, who was sleeping soundly on the opposite bed, turn over with a mutter.

that's it.

Draco stared intently at his wand as it rolled onto the comforter.

He used it to surrender Dumbledore's wand, and Potter used him to kill the Dark Lord.

that's it……

Draco remembered the time his father had taken him to find it from Ollivander's wand shop when he was 11 - he held it in his hand and had a strange feeling as if he was the only one left in the world With the wand in his hand, white light suddenly appeared in the small shop.How did Ollivander evaluate——

Exactly ten inches, hawthorn and unicorn hair, just the right amount of spring, very good, and you're going to make a big deal little Mr. Malfoy.

big business...

Draco took a deep breath and spread his hand, and the wand flew back obediently into his palm.The cold and sticky sweat stains on his body made him feel uncomfortable, so he lifted the quilt and got out of bed.

The Slytherins' dormitory, like their common room, was underground at Hogwarts - dark and cold, dark when the lights were out.More than seven years of student life has made Draco used to all this, without lighting or lighting spells, Draco still opened the door of the bathroom smoothly.

A candle-lit lamp hung from the ceiling of the bathroom, casting a dim halo in the small space.Standing in the middle of the aperture, Draco turned on the shower switch on the wall.Warm water fell from mid-air along with misty water vapor, Draco took off his shirt and raised his head to let them hit his face and body.

The water was pouring, and a long time passed, until the mirror embedded in the wall of the washstand opposite was covered with a thick layer of water vapor.Draco touched his face fiercely, and put his hands on the washstand vigorously.He only had a rough outline in the mirror, he raised his arm and wiped the mirror vigorously.In the mirror... he almost didn't recognize himself.She was so skinny and pale as a ghost.Soon, his appearance was covered by the newborn vapor again.Water dripped from his hair, cheeks, and chin onto the counter, exactly like sixth grade in Myrtle's bathroom.

"Nobody can... nobody can help..." Draco's mouth twitched.

Soon it will be dawn.

By the time Goyle and Crabbe were up, Draco was fully dressed and sitting by the fire in the common room.The Slytherins who came and went in the lounge would bow their heads to greet him when they passed him, no matter whether he noticed them or not, but no one dared to sit down beside him, including Blaise, who had a good relationship with him before.Zabini and Pansy.Parkinson's.Him, Draco.Malfoy wasn't what he used to be.

"Draco, are you here? Me and Goyle, we thought you were still asleep, there is no class this morning." Crabbe came out of the room and sat on the sofa opposite Draco.

"Do you think anyone really cares about what class is not taught?" Goyle also came out, yawning, "Except for Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies, everything else is bullshit. If it wasn't for breakfast, I would Too lazy to get up."

As soon as he finished speaking, Crabbe punched him in the chest and laughed.

Draco squinted at them both.

"There will be NEWTs in the spring next year, I guess both of you will forget?"

"Come on, Draco," Crabbe said, "Didn't you hear what Alecto said, a new order is being established, and whoever is in charge of the future wizarding world may not be sure."

Draco fell silent, which made his two big friends a little uneasy.They didn't know whether to stay here or suggest that Draco go to the restaurant with them.Fortunately, someone soon came to their rescue.

A first-year Slytherin came in through the common room entrance, walked up to Draco on trembling legs, handed him a note, and stammered that the Headmaster was looking for him.

"Looking at him, it's pathetic that he's about to cry," Gower said.

"Knott's youngest son is as cowardly as his brother." Crabbe sipped at the ground disdainfully.

Draco ignored it, glanced at the note, crumpled it up and threw it into the trash can, then stood up from the sofa.

Walking out of the door of the common room, Draco didn't go up, he turned a corner and came to the other side of the cellar, in front of the office of Hogwarts Potions Professor and Head Slytherin.It was the address written on the note.

Before he could knock, the brown wooden door he had knocked on countless times over the years swung open of its own accord, and Draco walked in.In the dark room, the original desk in the middle and a small set of sofa and tea table for meeting guests are gone, replaced by bottles and jars full of potion ingredients.

"Close the door." Snape's voice came from further down the room, and Draco knew it was his potion preparation room.

Draco complied and closed the door.He turned around, and Snape had already walked in front of him, took a jar of dragon hair root from the shelf and handed it to him, pointing to the processing table next to the cauldron.

"Put on your gloves and handle this well."

Draco did it again, donning dragonhide gloves, and picked up the polished silver knife on the table.On the other side of the table, Snape was stirring the huge cauldron that was billowing with white smoke, adding one or more ingredients into it from time to time.It's unbelievable, like going back many years ago, maybe even further, when he still needed to move a high stool to get the treatment table.Memories flooded his brain like a flood, suffocating him.

"You're distracted, Draco."

Snape's deep voice sounded in his ears again, Draco put down the knife and the half-cut dragon hair root, took off his gloves and threw them aside.His light gray eyes stared viciously at the man who was concentrating on stirring the cauldron.

"I think you've already smelled it. It's white meat." Snape said, without even looking at him. "People go missing every day, and countless people are injured."

"So what?" Draco raised his chin.

"Remind you, this is war, not a children's war game," Snape said.

"I think I know that better than you do," Draco said stubbornly.

"Indeed, that's right." Snape put down the stirring rod, the reaction in the crucible had stopped, and all that was left was to wait for them to cool down. "What's the matter with the Elder Wand?" he asked, seemingly casually.

"Why don't you ask Dumbledore?" Draco raised his eyebrows, "...Or did he refuse to tell you that you tried it?"

Snape didn't speak.In fact, early this morning, while Draco was haunted by nightmares, he had a - not exactly pleasant - conversation with Dumbledore.

While Dumbledore was pretending to sleep in the soft armchair in the portrait, he brought up Dumbledore's death and the Elder Wand, and of course the Horcruxes, which they had planned before.He asked Dumbledore if the Dark Lord's serpent was one of the Horcruxes.Dumbledore said yes.Then he asked him again, what about Potter.Dumbledore was silent.What an obvious default.As for the Elder Wand...he remembered how Dumbledore had said—

"It's not fit for you to know." Then Dumbledore disappeared from his portrait.

Not suitable for...why?

"Ha! I guessed it right." Draco looked at the silent Snape opposite and sneered.

The young man's piercing voice woke up Snape, who was in deep thought, and he turned his head, "So... is there really an Elder Wand? Is it Dumbledore's original one, or is it related to his death?"

"Your sharpness can be annoying sometimes, Mr. Headmaster!" Draco said in disgust.

"Really." Snape was noncommittal, "I thought it was just a legend, so it seems that it is what the Dark Lord is looking for."

"Yes." Draco was unusually cooperative.

"I thought..." Snape narrowed his eyes, "you know where it is, don't you?"

Draco's pupils flinched sharply, and none of his reaction escaped Snape's eyes, which frustrated and angered the young man who was determined to prove himself.

"Yes, that's right." Draco said without hesitation, "It's in the hands of your sweetheart's son, maybe Mr. Potter, who will never know where his mind is at this moment, is brazenly under the nose of some Death Eater Wield it. Guess, if I tell the Dark Lord this..."

But destined to disappoint Draco, Snape's expression didn't change even a little bit.He just looked at Draco, then spoke slowly, as if weighing each word.

"Would you? I could see you were scared, you knocked everything you could when you heard Phineas say the Dark Lord was looking for that wand. So, would you really, Um, Draco?"

"Yes! Of course I will! Why not? I..." Suddenly, Draco stopped talking, and Snape's dark eyes were fixed on his again like drill holes.Shut down your brain... Shut down your brain!The tingling sensation... He was late, and he was always late when meeting this person!

"Fuck!" Draco violently shook his head violently, it was too late, the real owner of the wand, killing the wrong person... was seen.The more you want to hide, the easier it is to be peeped.

For a moment, there was no sound except Draco's panting.After a long time, that deep voice sounded again, and Draco didn't even dare to look at his face.

"You know what I'm thinking?" Snape said softly. "You'd be foolish to do that when you knew you were going to die, Draco, or do you think I'd be grateful for it?"

He knew that Snape was talking about killing Dumbledore, even if he didn't say so.

"No, I don't need your damn gratitude!" Draco jumped up.

"Then why? Heroism in your bones? I thought you were a Slytherin instead of a Gryffindor!"

"Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor..." Draco felt his brain was about to explode, "If you like Gryffindor so much, why didn't you ask the Sorting Hat to let you go to Gryffindor What? Huh? Do whatever Dumbledore tells you to do? You listen to him for everything...and so! He's telling you to die!"

"So—" Snape stood up straight, looking into Draco's eyes indifferently, "then what does this have to do with you?"

Draco paused, opening his mouth wide but forgetting to breathe.

does it matter?

Is Snape alive or dead...

Is it related to him?

What on earth had he put himself in this situation for?

So let Snape die knowing he was going to be killed?

No, he can't do it!

But he obviously hates him, wishing he could die?

No, not the same!

Almost as soon as he figured out where he was, he had already decided whether or not, he had decided to kill Dumbledore... It could only be him, him, him.

He's just...just...

"I just don't want to..." The voice escaped from his throat indistinctly.

"Don't want what?"

don't want you to die.

Do not!

"I owe you!" Draco clenched his fists, raised his head and looked at Snape, "I just don't want to owe you."