𝒯𝒽ℯ 𝒫𝓇ℴ𝓂𝒾𝓈ℯ𝒹 𝒪𝓃ℯ | 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 |

#12 Forgotten Betting Debts

As Saturday and the Hogsmeade visit came around, Maribel and I skipped along the path leading down to the small village. El, Hermione, Ron and Harry kept us company as we chattered away.

Maribel and I fell asleep earlier last night, everyone caught up in his own train of thoughts. Besides, I didn't sleep much this night.

Nightmares were torturing me, probably since I was a little kid. Not just casual nightmares, it was mostly the same one I couldn't escape from. Every time I stand in a black hall without anything to focus on, a voice rang out calling my name, whispering poisoning words in my head in a hissing language, a long and sickening tongue in the very back of my mind. It ended up the same way like it always did. I felt as if two hands guided me in front of my sister laying on the ground, surrounded by green light on which I focused. And then she just vanished, faded. Disappeared with lifeless, grey-vailed eyes.

Only this time it wasn't my sisters' body. It was Dracos'.

I woke up as sweaty and pacing as I always did, but luckily only for my sister to notice. She grew up with them, knew how to act when I'm frightened and upright in my bed. The sun was already beginning to rise, so I simply stayed awake while Maribel turned around just for a bit longer. Giving me the time to proceed what changed my sister to the bright-headed boy as the main character of my dream.

I didn't tell her, I didn't tell her ever for that matter. I never could, because I felt ashamed for the way I felt being a killer, being bad in a way I never felt before - not even clear. Sometimes I couldn't even look her in the eye for the first time I was awake, but Maribel somehow knew and never asked about it. That's another thing I cherished about my sister.

"I'm drooling for this for weeks now", El breathed out as she caught the fresh breeze once we entered the village. It started to snow right as December came around and as soon as the flakes started dancing, they stayed on the cold floor. Maribel and I decided to go with our friends, keeping us both distracted. And quality time with the group which does not include studying in the library was long overdue.

"Same here. A day away from all the tournament stuff is a blessing", Harry agreed.

"So, did you come forward with the quiz in the golden egg?", I asked curiously, intertwining my arm with Maribel on one and Hermione on the other side while Ron and El stroked along behind us.

"No, it's a long story. But I don't wanna talk about that right now, I will think about something", he answered clearly uncomfortable with the topic. Harry didn't like talking about the tournament a lot, mainly Hermione was laying in his ear about getting the quiz solved. I was wondering if Hermione would already find a solution in the first place if she would be the champion for Hogwarts. The girl probably would sneak herself through every single one of the tasks.

We spend a good amount of time in Honeydukes first, getting all our favorite candies stocked for the next weeks. There was nothing better than Jelly slugs (not the yellow ones, I hated the yellow ones) and chocolate frogs. Harry bought practically enough for not only him but his whole dorm room, Hermione sticked to her favorite toffee and Maribel got herself jellybeans for our favorite twin play - jelly bean roulette. I won't lie, I had always bad luck with that and after just a few rounds I often had to skip in case I wouldn't wanna throw up.

After almost two hours sorting through the new sortiment, we left quickly as soon as Maribel spotted Cedric in an aisle - heading straight for the Three Broomsticks.

"So, friends, the Yule Ball is coming up", El snickered excitedly as she placed herself down on her seat at the our table. As I remember her suspicious look on the face when I told her about all the things happening on our train ride, I giggled.