| Girl on Fire |

54

TIME JUMP: 1 WEEK

VERONICA MALFOY

It's Friday and thanks to Blaise, Enzo and Theo, the plan is officially in motion.

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Flashback: 2 Days Ago

"Veronica!" Blaise yelled as they banged on my door. I had just gotten back from my lessons and I was changing out of my uniform. I walked over to the door and opened it. Blaise, Enzo and Theo all stood there, out of breath. "What the fuck happened to you?" I asked.

"We set it up." Blaise said. My face dropped. "Get inside." I said quickly. They came in and I locked and silenced the room. They all sat throughout my room and Theo and Eno started smoking. "Tell me what you did, and how you did it." I said. They nodded. "Blaise, tell her. I need to smoke." Theo said. "Me too," Enzo added. Blaise rolled his eyes and I looked at him.

"Basically, Potter was sitting on a bench outside. We just happened to be talking about you while standing a few feet away." Blaise said. "What?" I said. "We made him hear what we wanted him to hear." Blaise said. I gave a smug grin. "I like it, go on." I said. "We talked about how concerned we've been for you, and how something happened this summer and how every night you go to the Astronomy tower and stay there really late." Blaise said. I laughed to myself. "Nice work, I guarantee he'll show up to the Astronomy Tower on Friday." I said. "You're welcome." Theo mumbled. "Yeah, do we get a prize?" Enzo asked. "Yes, I'm letting you get high in my dorm. And Mattheo will know about this. That means his father will too." I said. They all looked at eachother. "Trust me, you want to be in his good graces. Clear?" I asked. They all nodded.

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It was 9:45 and my heart was pounding as I walked up the steps to the Astronomy Tower. I wore my black dress with long sleeves on. The wind was strong and it was cold. I walked to the edge of the railing and climbed over the side. I looked down and I could barely see the ground. I let tears fall down my cheeks and then it heard it. Footsteps. "Action" I thought to myself.

I let my cries get louder as the footsteps grew closer. "Lumos" he whispered. There was light and I could feel his presence. He walked closer and I turned around to face him.

"Veronica?" he said. His voice was filled with shock and confusion. "Leave Potter. Please just go." I said. "What are you doing?" he asked nervously. "Please just go. Just- Just leave and pretend you never saw me." I said. He walked closer. "Veronica, come back over," he said. I shook my head. The wind swept my hair to the side and more tears fell down my cheeks.

"Please just leave Potter." I said again. "What about your friends and your brother? You can't-" he started. "You don't understand." I said. "Then help me understand," he said. "You hate me." I said. He shook his head. "That doesn't matter right now. I'm not going to let you kill yourself." he said. I looked at him and I recognized the look in his eyes. It's that same look Mattheo gets when he's about to get revenge for someone hurting me.

I'm officially Potter's damsel in distress. "Please Veronica, just come down and let me help you," he said. "You can't help me. You don't know anything. You don't know what I have to do. Or what I've been through." I said. "You're right, I don't. But I do know that your brother will be devastated if you do this." he said.

"Why do you even care? I know what you think of us." I said. "Veronica, listen to me. I'm sorry, ok. I have no idea what your life is like and I might not be able to help but I can't let you do this."

"Please just tell my brother I love him." I said. I leaned forward and put my foot out as if I was about to fall and Potter charged forward. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me back. We fell to the floor and I landed next to him. He coughed from getting the wind knocked out of him. "Why did you do that?" I said in between sobs. He just looked at me sadly and pulled me into his arms. I cried into his chest and my tears soaked his shirt. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. "You don't understand, I can't do it." I said. I pulled away and looked at him.

"You shouldn't have saved me Potter." I said. "Why?" he asked. I let more tears fall and I lifted up my sleeve and revealed my dark mark to him. "Draco isn't a death eater..." he trailed off.

"I am." I said.