"Whats with his face?" Theo asks me. Draco hasn't moved or said anything since he read the letter. That was like 15 minutes ago though.

"Why isn't he moving? Is he okay?" Blaise asks next as he pokes Draco's arm.

"What did that bloody letter say?" Pansy asks me.

"Why are you all asking me? I haven't read the letter either!" I snap at them.

"Well, he's your boyfriend! You should know what's going through his head." Daphne adds.

"Oh yeah, thanks." I say and roll my eyes. I grab the letter out of Draco's hand and he doesn't even flinch. "Oh shit, I get it now." I mumble.

"What? You two are freaking us out! What's going on?" Blaise asks as he pokes my arm now.

"They caught Potter and he's at Draco's house."

Silence.

The group of us went completely silent. No one knew what to say. What does this mean?

"What does she want us to do about it?" Theo asks me.

"Narcissa wants Draco to come home and identify him because apparently something is wrong with his face." I add.

"Are you going to go?" Daphne asks him. He finally moves his head to look at us.

"I have to go." Draco says to him. "But what do I do?"

"What do you mean?" Theo asks him.

What do I do...? As in, what should he do about if it actually is Potter that they caught. Should he identify him? Because that would mean they call the dark lord and he'd probably kill him.

Then there's no chance of him not winning the war.

"I don't know." I reply. "If you don't, it's dangerous but if you do..."

"Yeah." Draco replies.

"What are you two talking about?" Theo asks us.

"If it actually is Potter and they call the dark lord, that would mean the end of the war and no chance for us to get out of-"

"Wouldn't he kill you if he found out you lied about it?" Daphne asks us.

"Probably." Draco says.

"Then how would that make lying to the dark lord okay? If your life if on the line." Pansy adds to Daphne's point.

"Because the Wizarding world would still have a chance to defeat him." Draco says.

"But it would destroy your mother if you died." Astoria adds. "She loves you."

"I love him too but I get it. I understand why he wants to lie if it's actually him." I add.

"I don't get it." Daphne says.

"Do you really want to get the mark and join his group of death eaters Daphne?" Theo jumps in. "Because if he wins the war, that'll happen."

"Either that or he'll kill you." Blaise adds. "He will kill everyone who doesn't join him or bow down to him."

"So you want to lie to him for us?" Astoria asks.

"For everyone." Draco says. He's now awkwardly playing with his hands.

"I'll come with you." I say to him.

His head shoots up and he immediately says no.

"Draco, don't be stubborn. You can not do this on your own. You can't even talk about it without getting anxious."

"I'll occlude." He says firmly. "You can not come."

"I don't remember you being the boss of me."

"Avery, this is going to be dangerous." Draco says.

"Yeah, I know." I say. "But we've done dangerous things before. We're a team Draco."

"Would one of you like to help me out?" Draco asks the guys but they shake their heads no.

"She's not going to listen to anything we have to say." Blaise says.

"This seems like a relationship argument." Theo adds.

"A relationship that you put yourself in the middle of until it's time to actually make decisions?" Draco asks Theo.

"Yup, pretty much." Theo jokingly says as he puts his hands up defensively. "I don't want to get in the middle because I don't think you'll like what I have to say."

"You think she should come with me?" Draco asks him in surprise.

"I-" Theo begins but pauses. "I don't think you should go alone. It's always better to have back up."

"Even if it's extremely dangerous? I'm talking about lying to the dark lord and my father!" Draco says. He tries to keep his voice down so no one else can listen in on this. Everyone's pretty much busy with their own conversation anyway. Perks of being Slytherin is no one cares about what we're doing.

"Yes, especially if it's dangerous." Theo says. "Avery can handle herself. You know this."

"Against the dark lord?"

"Against anyone." Theo adds. "She's tough."

"I can't believe you agree with her." Draco complains.

"I told you that you wouldn't like what I had to say." Theo says as he grabs some pumpkin juice from in front of him and takes a sip. "Blaise and I can come too if you're really nervous about it just being you and Avery."

"Oh right, that's what I need. More to worry about." Draco says dramatically.

"I was thinking we could come for more protection. We'll look out for Avery even though she's completely capable of looking out for herself and you can lie your ass off to your father."

"So pretty much the same as any Christmas break." Blaise adds and I nearly spit my juice across the room. 

"Fine." Draco says as he leans his head on my shoulder. "But can you three at least behave?"

"What are you going on about? We are always on our best behaviour!" I protest jokingly.

"When you and Nott went to get your bloody marks, you were laughing and joking around about throwing up all over the dark lord." Draco reminds us.

Theo bangs his hand off of the table and starts laughing all over again.

"Oh Malfoy! Thank you for reminding me! That was bloody hilarious." Theo starts laughing louder, causing people to look over at us to see what's happening.

"What did I miss while I was hiding in the bush?" Blaise asks me but neither Theo and I could answer because we're too busy laughing and Draco's annoyed all over again so he doesn't answer him either.

"Sorry-" Theo manages to mumble in between his laughter. "I'm done- I- I think I'm done."

"Take your time, not like we have a lot of shit to do now." Draco says and he rolls his eyes. Oops, we pissed him off again.

"Okay, okay." Theo says as he calms himself down. I put my hand over my mouth to quiet the laughter and calm myself down. "I'm good now."

"What do you want us to do while you guys are- you know...? Dealing with Potter and your father." Daphne asks us.

"Blaise, Avery and Theo can come with me. My mother wrote in the letter that you guys can come if you feel like you can identify Potter. The more people who can identify him, the better." Draco explains. "But you'll need to lie so make sure you are prepared to lie to my father, my mother, my aunt and possibly the dark lord."

"I can lie to your father, that's easy." I say to him.

"And Bellatrix?" Draco asks me, raising an eye brow. "Can you lie to her?"

"She barely even knows me, it shouldn't be hard to lie to her." I say. "But Narcissa. She knows us all really well. She'll know if we're lying."

"Yeah, my mother will probably see right through us but she won't say anything in front of Bellatrix or my father." Draco adds.

"I don't think I'll be very helpful." Blaise says. "I can stay with the girls and make sure no one asks any questions. We can spy on Potter's friends and see if they know anything. To see if they're in contact with him."

"That'll work." Draco says, nodding to his friend. "Make sure to follow Weasley and Longbottom. Lovegood too maybe."

"When do we go?" I ask Draco.

"Well, we could go after dinner and after we talk to Snape." Draco suggests.

"Ugh! Why do we need to talk to Snape. He's always so moody after dinner." Theo complains and Blaise laughs. He's not wrong, Snape is always cranky around dinner time.

"Because we probably won't get back till later and we'll need someone to know why we're out past curfew." Draco explains.

"Do we though? We already know we are getting special treatment." Theo says, "it might not even matter."

"You aren't getting out of talking to Snape." Draco says to Theo.

"You're so mean." Theo mumbles and dramatically throws his arms up in the air.

"You'll get over it." Draco says to Theo. "Eat your dinner."

"Draco's in a grumpy mood." Theo says to me. "I guess today is going to be a long day."

I laugh and lean my head on Draco's shoulder. "What's wrong, love? Why are you in a bad mood all of a sudden?"

"I'm just worried about you and Theo coming. You know how my family can be, and I'm worried you guys might get hurt."

"We'll promise to stay out of the way as much as we can." Theo says to Draco.

"You better." Draco says to him. "Do you have to come though? Can't you two stay here and spy with Blaise?"

"No. You know we're coming and you know you can't talk us out of it." I say.

"I know." Draco says as he leans over and kisses my forehead. "My stubborn girlfriend and-" he looks at Theo. "My stubborn Theo."

"I'm done eating, let's get this shit over with, yeah?" Theo says as he pushes his plate in front of him and stands up.

"Good thing I'm done eating too." I say as I stand up.

"We'll see you guys later then." Draco says to Blaise and the girls. "Try not to get caught spying on the Gryffindors."

"We'll see but I make no promises about not getting in to trouble." Blaise mumbles and Daphne giggles beside him.

"Alright, goodbye then." Draco says. He takes my hand and the three of us start heading towards the door to leave the great hall. Draco's tense and I know it's because he's going home. He always gets tense before going home. I don't blame him though, going home is never fun.

At Professor Snape's office, which used to be Dumbledore's office, Draco hesitates for a moment.

"Are we going up?" Theo asks him hesitantly.

"Yeah, come on." Draco says as he opens the door. "I hate this office."

"Me too." Theo mumbles. "I got so many detentions in this office."

"That doesn't surprise me." I mumble and Theo laughs.

"Can't help it if I get a lot of detentions. They were all for stupid reasons though." Theo adds.

"You hexed some first year Hufflepuffs for- what did they do?" Draco asks, he laughs softly from amusement.

"I don't remember, they did something to me." Theo says as he shrugs his shoulders.

"Theodore! That is horrible." I say and smack his arm hard.

"I'm sorry! It was a rough time, okay? And it was a long time ago." Theo says. "But I paid for it, okay? Detention for a long time."

"What do you three want?" Snape asks us when we get up to his office.

"We are here to tell you that we will be out past curfew tonight." Draco says firmly.

"And why is that?"

"My mother wrote to me about needing us to go home and help her and my father out with something."

"Okay." Snape says to us. "You may go ahead and leave. Come back whenever you are finished. If anyone asks why you are not in bed, tell them to come and talk to me."

"... thanks." Draco mumbles in surprise.

"Is that it?" Snape asks when we don't leave the office.

"Yes." Draco says. Theo and I aren't sure what is happening. Is he going to tell him about why we're going back or not?

"They think they found Potter and they need us to identify him because I guess something is wrong with his face." Draco says fast and then let's out a loud sigh.

"I see." Snape says to us. "Go and do what you need to do."

"Okay...?" Draco says. "We'll be going now."

"Okay, get going then. You don't want to be late." Snape says to us. "I'm sure your Aunt will love a reason to come down here and get you."

"They didn't give us a time to get home but we should be getting there now. Get it over with." Draco says. I look at Theo in confusion and he shrugs his shoulders.

"Is there something else you need, Draco?" Snape asks him.

"I don't know what to do." Draco says to him. Theo and I look at him like he's insane. You can't tell the dark lords right hand man that you don't know what to do about identifying Potter for the dark lord.

"I'm not sure what you mean, Draco." Snape says.

He's not going to make this easy for him either.

"Do I identify him if it is him?" Draco comes out and asks him flatly.

"If you think it's him, you should tell your parents." Snape replies.

"But wouldn't that mean the dark lord would come and Potter would be handed to him. That would be it. He would win and everyone would have to submit to him. The world would be dark." Draco rants without taking a breathe.

"Ah, I see what you mean now." Snape says. "Do what you guys think is right Draco."

"Okay." Draco says. "We should get going now."

"Yes, you should." Snape says. "Do what you need to do. If you need me when you get back, you know where my office is."

"Okay, thanks." Draco says awkwardly to him. "We'll be going now."

Draco takes my hand and the three of us walk out of Snape's office quickly and quietly. Theo and I are pretty confused as to why Draco told Snape all of that. He trusts him that much? I didn't know he trusts Snape as much as he apparently does.

It was a quiet walk to the apparation point. None of us said a thing. What are we supposed to say? We're going home to possibly identify Potter for the dark lord and it could possibly end the war.

"I guess we stick to the plan and try our best to not identify him." Draco says. "Even though he doesn't deserve our help for all our the shit he said to us over the years."

"Are you okay?" I ask him and gently squeeze his hand to show support.

"I'm worried about what's going to happen when we get back." Draco admits. "If it's obvious that it's him, what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know." Theo says. "We'll figure it out, okay? Don't worry about it too much. There's not much we can do until we get there."

"I know but you guys are coming and now I'm worried that something will happen to you."

"Draco-"

"No, nothing you say can make me stop worrying. Let's just go and get this over with." He says. "Meet you two outside of my house, yes?"

"Yes." Theo and I both say at the same time, and then we apparate.