Draco Malfoy went missing the morning after he met with Harry in the Trophy Room.

Gone, not even on Hogwarts grounds. Harry checked on the Marauders Map. He individually sifted through each and every name during the night, when everyone should have been in their dorms. Malfoy was nowhere to be found.

There was only one place that didn't appear on the Marauders Map. The Room of Requirement.

But why would Malfoy spend nights at a time there? It had been three days. Harry supposed the room would simply conjure whatever he needed, such as food, or a bed. Or maybe it wouldn't, since the Slytherin was in the room where everything was hidden. For what, Harry couldn't even hazard a guess, but he assumed there was a reason behind his location.

Harry hadn't spoken to Ron and Hermione, at least in depth, since that night that Draco left. He could see the pair occasionally whispering to each other, sending concerned looks his way when they thought he wasn't looking. The point at which they decided to actually take action was obvious when the two warily approached Harry where he sat reading in the armchair closest to the blazing fireplace.

"Harry..." Hermione started, sitting down on the two-person seat next to him, motioning to Ron to sit as well. "Are you... are you alright?" Her hair was especially frizzy today, Harry noticed. Like she had forgotten to brush it.

"I'm fine," Harry said quickly. He hadn't meant to snap at her, but her hurt expression and Ron's sudden defensive expression suggested that he did.

"Bloody hell, there's no reason to be a git about it," Ron pointed out with narrow eyes.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly in Hermione's direction. He took a deep breath and tried to redeem himself. "Why do you ask?"

He knew why she was asking. He hadn't spoken to them in days, and sparsely left the common room, spending all of his hours obsessing over Malfoy's whereabouts.

"You've just been... a bit distant lately," Hermione explained, more tentatively than she normally would have, as if she were afraid to set him off again. It genuinely made him feel terrible. Were his friends really too scared to speak to him normally in fear of causing him to blow up? Had he been that irritable lately?

Harry attempted to conjure up his calmest and most sincere expression before saying, "Really, I'm fine, I promise."

Ron smiled for the first time since the conversation began. "Well, that's good, because we're going to visit Hagrid, and we told him you'd be there."

Harry suppressed a groan and simply settled for a pained expression. He loved visiting Hagrid, he really did, but he just wasn't in the mood at that moment. "You two go without me, it's fine."

Ron raised an eyebrow, and a tense and awkward silence fell between the trio. Hermione and Ron made no sign of interrupting it or leaving, and it only took a few moments for Harry to groan out, "Alright, alright, let's go."

The freckled boy grinned and unfolded his lanky limbs to stand from the chair, Hermione following and offering a hand to help Harry up. He took it gratefully; his legs were stiff and he felt as if he hadn't stood up in days. It wasn't too far off, actually. He had sparsely moved except for going to his classes.

The three walked in silence until they were outside of the portrait hole. As they began to make their long descent down the many staircases between them and the entrance to the school, Hermione struck up a halfhearted conversation.

"So... have you two started studying for our astronomy exam on Wednesday?"

The two boys groaned in response. Ron looked at Harry frantically, eyes wide as if asking for a valid way to change the subject.

"Why care about Astronomy when we have more pressing things to talk about?" Harry said quickly, earning himself an appreciative glance from Ron.

"Which pressing thing out of our pathetically long list were you thinking of?" Ron asked, to which Hermione unconsciously nodded her head in agreement.

"Well, Malfoy's been missing, if you two haven't noticed."

"Of course we noticed," Ron said, exasperated. "We are still looking out for his Death Eater activity and all."

Ignoring his comment, Harry reluctantly, as if he didn't want to be the one who suggested the obvious, added, "Do you reckon he's doing something for Voldemort?"

Hermione paused for a moment thoughtfully before beginning to walk again. "Perhaps. But maybe he's just ill," she suggested unenthusiastically.

"Yeah, maybe," Harry answered, not wanting his friends to know that he already knew that wasn't the case. He didn't want them thinking that he cared any more than they already probably suspected.

Luckily, the conversation came to an abrupt end when the trio found themselves in front of a large wooden door covered in scorches and teeth marks from Hagrid's many... experimental pets. Harry swore he could distinguish the whole that Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback had torched in the thick wood.

Hermione reached up and knocked twice, resulting in immediate, loud barks to come from the inside. A moment later, the door swung open to reveal the Hagrid, his tangled beard containing something that looked suspiciously like embers.

"Harry, Ron, Hermione, good ter see yeh," he said warmly, swatting at the fire that was threatening to ignite on his face.

"You too, Hagrid," Harry said.

"Would yeh like ter come in? Fang's goin' mental, 'magine that," he muttered, looking down at the dog trying to force his way through the cracked door. "C'mon now," he invited, waving his hand to motion the trio inside. They complied, and the door was immediately shut.

The hut was warm due to the small, flickering fire in the corner, over which it seemed Hagrid was making tea. Fang jumped onto Hagrid's oversized bed and made himself comfortable, seeming content now that Ron, Harry, and Hermione were inside.

"I got yer owl this mornin', Ron. Surprised it didn't fly into the fire," he said gruffly, referring to Ron's excitable owl, Pig, that he had gotten the year before. "Yeh've been so busy, how're yeh doing?" Hagrid asked, removing the kettle from over the fire and pouring it into several chipped mugs.

"We're doing great, thank you," Hermione said politely, gratefully taking the cup offered to her and taking a sip. Luckily, Hagrid was turning away when she cringed and turned to the other two. Bitter, she mouthed, and the other two discreetly poured a bit on their own beverages onto the edge of the fire to look as if they had drank it.

Hagrid turned back to them with a large, crazy grin that covered half of his face, presenting them with his famous rock cakes. They each took one and made eye contact, coming to a silent agreement to be polite at the expense of their teeth. They ate reluctantly, the baked goods crunching painfully as they attempted to chew.

"So, Hagrid," Ron attempted to say through a mouthful of food, "what have you been up to?"

"Mostly tending to ol' Buck-- I mean, Witherwings out there," he said fondly, gesturing outside his small back window at the hippogriff that was lying in between several of the twelve feet tall Christmas trees that Hagrid had been magically growing since Thanksgiving.

Harry bowed his head at the hippogriff, and it seemed as if the creature nodded his head back in return. The smile he had had plastered on his face all day finally reached his eyes.

Suddenly, a painfully high-pitched whine emitted from the forest next to the hut. Hagrid let out a grumbling groan before standing from the seat he had just situated himself in, knocking over his mug of tea and spilling it everywhere.

"That'd be the centaurs attackin' the blasted doxies again," he muttered. He focused his full attention on the three students and explained, "They've been goin' on 'bout some nonsense, sayin' the moon's angry at the other planets or somethin' I dunno. But you three best get goin'."

They all nodded and stood up, careful not slip on the tea covering the floor.

"Good luck with... that, Hagrid," Ron said sympathetically, and the other two nodded in agreement.

"S'alrigh', I've bin doin' it a few times already," he said dismissively, herding them out the door. "See yeh next time yeh think it's time fer another visit, yeah?"

The three nodded in unison before turning away, trudging up the hill with only Hagrid's still audible, "Bloody Ronan and his bloody thing abou' doxies," interrupting the silence.

Once his voice faded away into the distance, Ron tried to break the silence. "What do you reckon the centaurs are seeing in the stars or whatever? What bad things do they think are going to happen?"

Hermione shrugged. "Probably just everything with Voldemort."

Ron winced. "Since when do you say You-Know-Who's name?"

She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Ronald, you need to get over it. The name isn't the actual being, you know." She rolled her eyes. "If names could summon their respective owners, I would be calling you He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

He huffed indignantly. "Rubbish," Ron accused, sending a glare in Hermione's direction that didn't seem as angry as the Harry was sure he wanted it to be.

Harry simply shrugged wordlessly.

Ron let out an indignant huff, and the rest of their trek was made in silence. It was eerie. Not even the paintings lining the halls made any noise, as if the entire school was holding its breathe, waiting for something bad to happen.

When they finally reached the Fat Lady, Harry muttered the password and stepped inside, immediately slumping onto the armchair he had been in when Ron and Hermione had first come to talk to him. Of course, he knew that he couldn't stay relaxed for long. Seeing Hagrid had only been a distraction from what he should really have been focusing on. He couldn't just sit there without doing anything any longer. He had restrained himself for three days.

It was time to go looking for Draco Malfoy.

A/N: This chapter took me way too long to write. I had to keep looking up how Hagrid would say everything (Rowling really made a complicated dialect for him!) and apply it to the situation. But it was fun to write! And hopefully, I'll be updating a lot more often now. I was in a huge writing slump for a while, but now I'm super inspired. I wrote over 3000 words today for this story alone. Hope your enjoying the story so far!