I Fancy You: James Sirius Potter

51. Ellie's Weakness

She's in my dreams again. Delphini. Her eyes stare through my body, her smile rips through my skin. I wake up in pain. I feel her crawling through my veins. The past two nights since being back from break have been torturous. Tonight when I wake up I stare outside my window at the stars and the moon. She's out there somewhere waiting. Watching. Planning her next move to kill me. I close my curtains, creeped out at the thought of her being able to see me.
I sit back in bed, turn my lamp on, then pull out my journal that holds all of the notes I've taken on my dreams. It's not news to me that the nights I sleep with Daniel are the nights I don't have entries but it's rather irritating. I'm not really talking to him right now. I've mostly stayed in my room while he hangs out with my family. I hate having secrets kept from me, especially from him. I close my journal and think about the fact that Delphini can reach my dreams outside of Hogwarts now. It must mean something. Maybe she's gotten stronger.
I hop out of bed and head downstairs for a snack. When I reach the kitchen Daniel is there drinking some water.
"Sorry, I'll get out of your way," he says hurriedly setting his cup down.
"I'm sorry," I say before he rushes off. He stops and turns back to me. "Whatever it is between you and James, it's not my business. You are your own person, not just my boyfriend. You're allowed to have your own life outside of me."
Daniel studies my face in the dark then comes back to the kitchen. He leans against the counter and folds his arms. "Thanks. I'm sorry that I upset you though. I'm really not used to being on your bad side," he says with a smirk. "You're even more beautiful when you look like you want to take my head off," he says.
I smile and roll my eyes then walk over to him. I wraps my arms around his torso and lay my head on his chest. He wraps his arms around me. We stand that way for a while, neither of us wanting to let go first. Finally, we let go at the same time, kiss goodnight, then go to our respective rooms. When I go back to sleep that night, Delphini isn't waiting for me. There's no darkness or cold. Just peaceful sleep.

Daniel and I are walking through town arm in arm, snow is gently falling around us, our footprints get left behind and buried by fresh snow. When I get too cold he leads me into a bookstore and tells me to pick any books I want and he'll buy them for me. I'm halfway through the fiction section when I see something that peaks my interest and makes me laugh. I forget that this is a muggle town. The book is called How To Be A Real Witch. There are crystals and bottles of random twigs and flowers and bones inside of them on the cover. When Daniel looks over at what I'm laughing at he laughs with me.
"Shall we learn how to be a real witch then?" He opens it and reads some of the pages out loud which gets bigger laughs from me at how ridiculous it sounds. "I absolutely love muggle culture trying to mimic ours," he says in a whisper.
"We should write our own how to be a real witch or wizard book, we'd make millions in muggle money," I tell him with a laugh.
I end up picking out two books, neither of them about being a real witch. There's a little coffee shop with pastries that we duck into next. I sit at a cozy table by a window while Daniel buys us pastries and hot chocolate per my request. I crack open one of the books and start to read when I see someone staring out of the corner of my eye. A few yards out, in all black surrounded by white snow, stands Mara.
When I stand and move closer to the window she smiles a wicked, twisted smile. Then she walks backwards then runs the other way. My heart drops. I know she wants me to follow but every time I do I put someone else in danger. Daniel comes over and sets our drinks and snacks on the table then looks out of the window with me.
"Mara is out there. I saw her. She wants me to follow her," I tell him.
"Don't."
"I'm not. I just hate that they can find me wherever I am," I say while sitting down and taking a pastry. "We should probably head back though. I don't want to leave my mom alone with my siblings if Mara is around." Daniel agrees and we start heading towards the cottage.
Ellie, I hear from all around me. Daniel must hear the Parseltongue because he holds onto my arm much tighter. My body shakes inside. I feel like I could be sick at any moment. Suddenly I pull both Daniel and I down to the ground just as a spell shoots past us.
"You bitch," I scream out then run in her direction with my wand out. She's cackling so I hear exactly where she is. I take her by surprise when I jump on her and start beating her face in. Her wand has fallen out of reach. Her blood is staining the snow around us. I grab her throat and start choking her, satisfied with the terrified look in her eyes. "I'll kill you for ever trying to hurt him. Do you understand that? I'll have your life!" I scream at her. Daniel pulls me off of her once he's grabbed her wand.
Mara coughs and chokes, her throat sounding like nails scratching down a chalkboard. Daniel and I watch her carefully. "You think you're so good," she says while still coughing. "You're just the same as us. A killer at heart," she says before she apparates  away. I try to grab her but I'm too late. I just end up covered in her blood.
Daniel pulls me up and tries to clean me off. "We got her wand at least," he says quietly.
I look at him. My fists are still balled so I relax them then the rest of my body. I try not to cry when he holds me close to him.
********
Off in the distance, in a cold unkept mansion, there is a silver haired woman who looks out at the graveyard that covers the grounds of her grandfather's old home. If you could call him that. The disgusting muggle. Behind Delphini sits Mara. She's back from terrorizing the girl. She was supposed to terrorize the girl that is. Instead Mara returned wandless, blood covering her face, throat bruised.
"The girl is driven by love. This is her fatal flaw. This will be her downfall," Delphini says. "When the time comes, we will kill everyone she loves. Then it will be easier to kill her. Then we will finally have the Potter children."
Mara grunts in response, unable to talk after just having been choked. She is weak as well, Delphini thinks. When the time comes, everyone who is weak will parish.