Innocence

Chapter 9

CAMILLA'S POV

"Cam, did you hear me?" Hermione said, nudging me. I had zoned out but I snapped back to reality. "What, sorry no" I said. "I said Cedric has been looking at you for the past 10 minutes" she said nodding towards the opposite end of the library. Surely enough, when I looked up I saw Cedric looking over at me. He smiled and looked back down at his book. "Someones got a crush," Ginny whispered. "Wait what, you think he likes me?" I asked. "It sure seems like it," Hermione said. "Go talk to him," Ginny said. "And say what? I'm not good at this kind of thing" I said. "Well you better think of something because he is coming over here" Ginny said with a giggle. I looked up to see Cedric walking over. "Hey ladies, mind if I sit," he asked. "Go right ahead, Hermione and I are just leaving," Ginny said, giving me a smirk. "But I'm not-" Hermione started. "Weren't we?" Ginny said. Hermione nodded and they got up and left. Ginny gave me a thumbs up right before she disappeared past the library doors. Cedric sat down in the chair right next to me."Hi" I said shyly. "Hey, how are you?" he asked. "I'm good, how are you?" I asked. "Good." he said. "Are you nervous for the first task?" I asked. "Yeah. Harry told me today what it is." he whispered. "What is it?" I asked. "Dragons." he whispered. My mouth dropped open and my eyes widened. "Dragons!?!" I yelled. "Shhh" he said. "Are you crazy?" I exclaimed. "Cami, calm down" he said. He took my hand and pulled me to the back of the library. We stood in the back corner of the back row. "We aren't supposed to know about the task until it happens so you can't tell anyone. I don't even know how Harry found out." he whispered. I do... Nate. He must have found out and warned Harry. But only to keep him alive like a pig for slaughter. It made me sick. "Cedric, you can't be serious. You are actually going to fight a dragon?" I said. "There's no going back Cam, I've already been selected." he said rubbing the back of his neck. "But what if you get hurt, what if you die?" I said. "Awww, are you gonna miss me?" he teased. "I'm serious, Diggory," I said, punching his shoulder. "I'll be fine. You'll see" he said as he tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. "You are really beautiful Camilla," he said. I felt my cheeks blush and he smiled. "Thank you," I said. "Can I kiss you?" he asked. I felt butterflies in my stomach as I nodded yes. He leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. I ran my fingers through his hair and he placed his hands on my waist, pulling me closer to him. "Are you fucking serious?" a voice spat. We quickly jumped apart and I saw Nate standing there glaring at us. "Nate, what are you doing here?" I asked. "I could ask you the same thing. First you get sorted into Gryffindor, and now you are fucking some Hufflepuff like a slut" he spat. Nate sent a message into my head- Wait until father hears about this. I winced from the pain in my head and I felt my eyes water. Who was this boy? This was not the Nate I know. "Woah there mate, that is uncalled for" Cedric said stepping in front of me. "Get the fuck out of here Hufflepuff, I'm not your mate" Nate said pointing his wand at Cedrics throat. "What are you going to do? Hex me" he said. I knew that that is not what Nate would do so I quickly pushed Cedric out of the way. "Please don't. I'm sorry Nate. Let's just go" I said. "Wait, Camilla" Cedric said. "I'm so sorry" I whispered before Nate dragged me out of the library. He dragged me up to the Slytherin dungeons and to his dorm. Then he locked the door and put a silencing spell on the room. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" he yelled. "Me? What is wrong with you? You hurting people, threatening them, having stupid predjudices, you are acting crazy, you are acting like-" I stopped. I didn't want to finish that sentence. He turned to face me and he was mad. A type of mad I have never seen before. "Finish that sentence" he said. His voice was calm. In fact he was so calm it scared me. "No, I didn't mean-" I started. "Finish that sentence!" he yelled. "No" I said standing my ground. Then I felt the sting across my face as he slapped me. He hit me. On his own, nobody made him. He just laughed as my tears fell. "Finish. That. Sentence. I want to hear you say it." he said, enunciating each word slowly. "You are acting like father." I said. I wanted to run but I couldn't. The fear held me there. Just standing in his room, my hands shook as I held the side of my face. "Finally she figures it out" he yelled. I stumbled back. "What?" I asked, my voice was shaky. "This whole time, having to pretend to be the good guy was exhausting. You have no idea how difficult it was to pretend to care about you and your pathetic moral compass all this time." he said laughing. It felt like my whole world was shattering. My entire life with my brother was fake. "Did you really believe I was like a good person?  The brave brother that became a death eater to protect his sister" he teased. "I - But you" I stammered. "I'm a real death eater and I'm going to serve our father as we should." he said proudly. "So you don't care about me?" I asked, trying to find even one last shred of humanity. "Not really. Why else would I let those guys teach you a lesson" he said with a smirk. That's when I broke. He knew. He knew the whole time, and he let it happen. "Oh my god, you- how could you?" I said. I couldn't breathe. I started hyperventilating and my hands shook harder. "My whole life, you lied to me?" I asked. I didn't want to believe it. "Yes" he said plainly. "No, I don't believe you. All the times you had to torture me or curse me or beat me, you cried, you hated it." I said. "It's called acting, and I got pretty good at it having to be around you all the damn time." he scoffed. My mind was racing but the first thing I came to was Harry. I can save Harry now. I drew my wand and pointed it at him. "What do you think you're doing?" he said in a bored voice. "You made your choice. You want to be the bad guy, fine. I don't. I'm going to save Harry." I said and I started back towards the door. "I don't think you are actually," he said with a smug look. "Because you know we both die. And a supposed 'good guy' isn't going to get their own brother killed, are they?" he said. I stopped. He was right. "And if that's not enough, if our plan fails I'll make sure the Malfoy family and Cedric and anyone else you care about suffers our same fate," he said. I can't let him hurt all those people. Not Draco, not again. I turned back to face him. "You wouldn't," I said. "You still underestimate me," he said smiling. "Let's change that, Expelliarmus" he yelled and my wand flew across the room leaving me defenseless. "Now I'm thinking the cruciatus curse should be fun, bring back old memories" he said digging his wand into my chest. "Do your worst you prat" I snapped. "Ah there's that Gryffindor spirit" he said. "Crucio" he said and a light flashed from his wand. The pain hit me instantly and engulfed me like a flame. It got stronger and stronger. I couldn't stop screaming even though I thought my vocal cords were about to tear. Then it stopped. I felt dizzy and my vision had blurred but I saw my brother kneel in front of me. "Don't underestimate me again. I think by now we both know what I'm capable of. Now get out" he said. It took every ounce of my remaining strength to get up and outside his room. I tried to get out of the dorms but the cruciatus curse completely drains your body of energy. I could barely walk. I clung to the walls for support but still struggled. Then I heard voices coming and the next thing I know I feel a body pick me up. I can't tell who it is at first but then I smell mint and I recognize the voice talking to me. "Camilla, what happened?" Draco said. I couldn't speak or move and my eyes just closed. "Camilla" he whispered. Then I went unconscious.