Let's Go Find Pansy

As soon as the bell rang, Ron sprang up from beside Draco and raced over to Harry and Hermione.

He glanced around like a thief, then lowered his voice. "If Pansy really died in her dormitory, this is serious."

Harry nodded, agreeing with Ron. "Hogwarts is full of protective magic. If someone can kill in the castle..."

"It might not have been murder," Hermione interrupted, though her brow was furrowed. "She might just be hiding. There are so many secret passages in the castle. If she meant to hide..."

"Even Filch couldn't find her," Ron finished. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Unless-"

The three exchanged glances and said in unison, "The Marauder's Map!"

They took off running toward Gryffindor Tower. At a corner, Harry nearly ran into Neville, who was carrying a potted Mandrake. The pot crashed to the floor.

"Sorry!" Harry called without looking back, her red hair streaming behind her.

Neville stared blankly after her, his cheeks suddenly turning bright red.

Seamus emerged from the Charms classroom nearby, his hair sticking out in all directions. He jumped at the sight. "Merlin's frilly little skirt! Neville, you're blushing like a Troll kissed you! Got a fever?"

Meanwhile, in the Slytherin Common Room, Draco was gripping a crumpled sheet of writing paper. It contained only one line: "I'll make sure you become the old Draco again."

"Ridiculous." He snorted, thinking that this classmate of his, whom he had known for three years, was utterly unreasonable.

Become the old Draco again? What had he been like before?

That arrogant boy who had only known how to trail after his father and talk about "my father" every chance he got? That pure-blood fool who was always saying "Mudblood"?

Irritated, he crumpled the paper into a ball and raised his hand to throw it into the fireplace—but stopped at the last moment.

When Pansy's roommate moved out, she had said that Pansy hated Harry and thought Harry was standing in her way.

If something really had happened to Pansy...

Draco refused to think any further.

Almost without knowing why, he stuffed the paper into his pocket and strode out of the common room.

He was only going to look for Pansy Parkinson, that was all. He wasn't worried in the slightest about whether Parkinson's disappearance would have any effect on Harry.

Meanwhile, in Gryffindor Tower, Harry was kneeling on her bed, searching for the Marauder's Map.

"Found it!" She dragged the old wooden box out of her trunk. Inside, the yellowed parchment lay undisturbed.

In the common room, Ron and Hermione were dealing with curious classmates.

"We really don't know where Pansy went. We were in class at the time," Hermione told a crowd of younger students gathered around them. "Don't worry. The professors will take care of everything."

"But I heard she died in her dormitory!" a second-year girl said, trembling. "Isn't Hogwarts safe anymore...?"

Ron hurriedly cut her off. "Don't make things up! Now, go back and do your homework, all of you!"

Just as the last person left, Harry came rushing down the stairs, clutching the map. "Come on, let's find somewhere private."

Ron and Hermione had no objections. They slipped into a secluded corridor, and Harry drew her wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Lines of ink immediately spread across the parchment like vines, tracing every corner of Hogwarts.

"Look, Hagrid's gone to the Forbidden Forest again." Ron pointed to a moving dot near the edge of the map. "He must be helping look for Pansy."

Hermione frowned. "If Pansy was kidnapped, the Forbidden Forest would be a good place to hide someone. But if she was on her own..."

"Then she'd have to be mad to go there." Ron folded his arms and shuddered. "Just think of all those monsters in the Forbidden Forest. Merlin, sometimes I really don't know how Hagrid can think those things are cute."

"Before you say that, remember that Hagrid also kept a three-headed dog. Honestly, if Hagrid saw that Basilisk, he might even think it was cute."

"That's impossible!" Ron retorted. "Didn't Harry say Hagrid was expelled because the Basilisk killed someone and his spider got blamed for it? He'd probably love to make the Basilisk into snake stew!"

Voldemort, on Harry's wrist, flicked his tongue out in displeasure. Harry secretly flicked him on the forehead.

Harry's finger searched the map carefully, then suddenly stopped below the girls' bathroom. There was Pansy Parkinson's name, right in the center of the Chamber of Secrets!

"That's impossible!" Harry could hardly believe it. "How would she know where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is? And how could she open it?"

He had been the last person to open the Chamber of Secrets, and Tom Riddle had been the one before him. Only the true Heir of Slytherin could open the Chamber of Secrets.

If that was the case, surely Pansy couldn't be the Heir of Slytherin?

It had been opened three times in just a few decades. Was being Slytherin's heir that common?

And Pansy Parkinson could speak Parseltongue? How had she not known about that?

Ron suddenly drew a sharp breath and slapped Harry on the shoulder. "Look! The staff room!"

Two names were clearly visible side by side on the parchment:

Albus Dumbledore

Gellert Grindelwald

"They... aren't dead?" Hermione sounded confused. She narrowed her eyes, staring at the two names. "Or..."

An overwhelming sense of suffocation enveloped Harry, but a surge of intense hope followed.

If Dumbledore was still here, no matter how bad things were, there was still a chance to turn them around!

Strength surged through Harry's body.

Just then, footsteps sounded from around the corner.

The three looked up, alert, and saw Draco Malfoy standing there, frighteningly pale.

"Are you going to look for Pansy?" His voice was somewhat awkward. Heaven knew that when he had considered everyone who might be able to help, he hadn't settled on a single person. "Take me with you."

Ron stepped in front of Harry and frowned at him. "Why should we trust you?"

Draco pulled the crumpled paper from his pocket. "See for yourselves. It's the letter she left me... Let me make this clear first: it's all one-sided. There's nothing between us."

Moonlight streamed through the high windows, falling on the crazy words on the paper.

Even with Draco's warning, their faces still twisted when they read what was written, and the looks they gave him turned strange.

Draco's face twitched, and he repeated, "There's nothing between us. You know who I like!"