kalon ~ d.m

{48} A hell of a fucking mess

CHAPTER FOURTY EIGHT; A HELL OF A FUCKING MESS

❝ it was a christmas present.❞

♫:'and the lights were as bright as my baby.'~hozier, as it was.

Leah Nightingale rubbed her eyes as she sat up, driving a hand over her face as she rolled out of the makeshift bed she was lying on. She was the first one up, as usual, and took the hour she had before the others woke up, to practice some wandless magic. She hadn't been keeping up with her training schedule at all, because of the raging War, but with everything coming so close, she figured practice wouldn't do any harm. She might need it soon.

She'd been doing a lot of thinking the past days. Hermione's claims had stirred up a conflict inside her mind. It felt like she was fighting two bloody battles. One with herself, and one with Vol- He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The more she thought about the possibilities, the more it seemed likely that perhaps she did have some sort of connection to an ancient enchantress. It still made her head spin, though. She let her hair fall down from her bun, and yelped in surprise as the lock of hair she was holding wasn't auburn, but a soft blue. She ran out of the tent, towards the lake they were still staying by, and looked at her reflection.

The Trio all shot awake at the sound, and sat up quickly. "Where is she?" Ron spoke up first as he got up, and walked out of the tent to follow her. The other two weren't far behind him, and all three of them followed the trail the Slytherin girl had before them. Her hand was shaking. The water, she'd touched was no longer in liquid state. Instead, beautiful swirling ice crystals had replaced it. Their eyes widened in surprise as they saw that the girl had again, shifted between hair colours. She turned around at the sound of leaves rustling, and tears stood in her eyes.

"What is happening to me?" She whispered. Harry Potter stepped closer to her shaking frame, only to have her step away from him. "Don't." She whimpered, her voice small. "I could hurt you."

[⌁]

"My turn!" The boy said, excitedly looking out of the window, trying to spot something. "Oh! I seeeeeee, something green."

"Hmm.." Leah hummed, and looked outside of the window as well. "The leaves on the trees?"

"No!" The child in the back of the car squealed in victory, and Leah laughed.

"Is it the grass, Scorp?" Draco's voice sounded, and Leah looked to her side in surprise. The young boy pouted and mumbled something.

"Speak up Scorpius. You know what I've said about mumbling."

"Why does dad always get it right?" He spoke up, and his bottom lip trembled.

"Because your daddy is a bit of a stubborn man. Instead of watching the road like he should, he looks around to find the thing you spotted." She explained carefully to her son, giving her husband a side glare, which was enough to make him gulp.

"My daddy is stubborn!" Scorpius repeated cheerfully, making the Malfoy couple laugh.

He woke up in confusion, and drove a hand over his face. Sweat stood on his forehead, and he felt like he'd ran a bloody marathon. "Mum?" He questioned when he heard a knock at his door. It was opened, and in fact, his mother stood at the entrance of his room.

"I was just coming to tell you breakfast is ready." He hesitated for a brief moment, but decided against letting the opportunity slip.

"Wait, mother." He demanded, almost. Narcissa Malfoy nodded, and stepped further into her son's room, closing the door behind her.

"Yes?"

"Tell me about the ring? The one with the serpents." He asked hopefully. Narcissa Malfoy raised an eyebrow, but nodded, and sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Cygnus, my father, once told me the ring had been passed down into our family from generation, to generation. He gifted it to me for my birthday. And though I never wore it, it always held a sacred place in my heart. My mother used to wear it everywhere, and always. She used to say it was like her lucky charm." She smiled warmly at the apparent memory. "Once, she even told me that sometimes- the ring allowed her and my father to communicate, if you will. Through a complicated charm." She sighed. "They shared dreams as well."

"Dreams?" Draco repeated, and blinked a few times.

"Yes." She answered quickly. "Why do you ask, Draco?"

"I think I shared a dream with Leah, mother." He stated bluntly, and diverted his gaze to his hand, where his equivalent of the ring sat.

"She has the ring?" Narcissa Malfoy questioned her son, out of genuine curiosity.

"...Yes?" He said awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck, to try and feign innocence. "It was a Christmas present." He chuckled briefly.

"Let's pray that it protects her the way it protected my mother." She said softly.

[⌁]

"Let her sleep! She passed out from the bloody stress!" Ron shouted, clearly too loudly. As Leah groaned and opened her eyes, again rolling herself out of the 'bed' and walking over to where the Trio sat.

"I'm awake." She stated before plopping herself down onto a chair. She looked at the unfamiliar radio that stood in front of them. "What are we up to?"

"Just listening to Potterwatch." Hermione said softly, smiling gently.

"Yeah. We're trying to find out whether Voldemort has been up to anything." Harry added. Leah's eyes widened in horror as she heard crack after crack from outside of the tent.

"Fuck!" She cursed loudly. "Run!" She quickly grabbed her wand from the table, and followed the others as they too ran into the forest. Leah didn't dare look over her shoulder as she ran forward, and deeper into the forest.

Bloody Snatchers.

She felt a sharp sting in her left leg, which once was torn open when Bellatrix invaded the safe house, warm blood trickled down her leg, but she couldn't stop now. Curses flew everywhere around them, and soon enough, they were trapped.

The sick feeling of apparition never failed to overwhelm her. She only looked up from the ground when she was pushed forward, towards a familiar gate. Her breath hitched in her throat, and suddenly, her voice felt hoarse as she spoke. "Draco-" She whispered, as she felt the blood leave her face.

This was a mess not even he could help her out of.