𝐖𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐋 | draco malfoy

chapter 21

She didn't show up to Herbology.

I stared at the door the entire time in Herbology, our last class for the day. I was waiting for her to walk in with a justifiable excuse for where she had been all morning but she never showed up.

When I left class, I saw the Weasleys, Potter and Granger gathered in a circle and quietly murmuring amongst themselves. It didn't take a genius to catch their concerned expressions.

To Azkaban with it.

I shoved my way past the students in the hallway, pushing into their circle. "Where is she?"

All their eyes settled on me. They all simultaneously concealed their expressions.

"Who?" Hermione asked innocently.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't play dumb with me, Mudblood. Where is Ambrose? I haven't seen her all day."

They all stayed silent, sharing looks amongst themselves.

Something is wrong. I can feel it in my bones.

"She was feeling ill today," Fred finally answered, his tone levelled. "She took the day off. Spent some time in the hospital wing. She just needs a day-or two to recover."

I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest. I bullshitted enough in my life time to know it when I hear it. "What did you say it was that she came down with?"

"The flu," Hermione answered, retorting just as quickly as I did. "Or maybe a stomach bug. She just wasn't feeling well."

"You lot are-" I snapped my mouth shut. Frankly, they were not worth the breath. I already knew they wouldn't tell me jack.

Eventually, I had settled on what the Gryffindors had told me to be true.

What else could it be anyways?

Then, the following day, she was nowhere to be seen again.

By the third day, I had to see her.

All of her Gryffindor friends were walking around as if they had bricks chained to their backs. Something was going on, something they were all trying to conceal. I could see it.

Something was wrong.

I could feel it.

"Granger?" I pulled Hermione's shoulder back when I spotted her walking down the hallway.

She gritted her teeth as she turned to face me. "Did you need something, Malfoy?"

"Where is Elysia? Don't bullshit me, Granger. Tell me now."

"We told you, she's ill."

I scoffed. "If she were, she'd have been healed by now with a potion or spell."

Hermione inhaled sharply. "It is nothing for you to concern yourself with, Draco. She's-it's family stuff. Personal. Nothing you need to know."

I narrowed my eyes, hardly buying a word she said. "Well, is she alright?"

Hermione glanced elsewhere. "I'm sure she is."

"You're sure-"

Hermione brushed past my shoulder and walked away before I could question her further.

I found Pansy and Blaise walking through the dungeons later. Surely they'd have heard from Elysia by now.

"Have you lot seen Elysia?"

They both looked at me as I fell into step beside them. Blaise shook his head. "No-it's actually been a few days since I've spoken to her."

Pansy huffed a breath. "Fredrick told me she was ill. I threw a fit when they wouldn't allow me in the hospital wing-when I got sent to the headmaster's office Dumbledore told me illness was an excuse. Apparently she's back home with her family for a few days, dealing with some sort of personal issues going on."

My eyebrows pulled together.

I didn't believe that for a second. The Gryffindors are acting far too strange for it to merely be "personal family issues".

"Strange she didn't say anything before leaving, innit?" Blaise shrugged lightly, not reading too far into the situation.

All Elysia's Gryffindor friends were walking around as if there was a ghost hovering above their shoulders. Their hushed whispering, gathered together as if they were planning to overtake the Wizarding World.

I could see it on their faces-fear hiding behind their eyes. Anytime a professor or Dumbledore walked past, they would hold their breaths as if they were anticipating bad news awaiting to be told to them.

Storms of fear in their eyes, rocky seas from a thousand stormy nights. The looks in their eyes, as if staring down a deep, dark endless pit while standing over the edge and fearing that one wrong intake of breath would knock them right over to fall endlessly.

I don't know what it was. Just something about the looks in their eyes-they were all scared of something. Just looking at them and their expressions made my blood run cold.

Something is wrong. I know it.

It was the end of the week when I was walking past the headmaster's office. It was late at night when students were expected to be in their rooms already. I had too much on my mind to be able to sleep.

I slowed down when I heard muffled voices coming through the cracked door of Dumbledore's office. The door was left slightly agar.

Carefully, I pushed the door open further to see.

Gathered in the headmaster's office with Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall were both alongside Elysia and Potter's parents, along with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

"How the hell did this happen?" Nicholas Ambrose was yelling at Dumbledore, his fists balled up. Sirius held him back slightly, afraid that Nicholas would seriously strangle Dumbledore.

"She's-she's just a kid," Elysia's mother, Althea, was crying hysterically, wheezing words out. "How could this have happened? We trust you-sending our kids here because we believe they are safe within the walls of Hogwarts!"

Lily Potter had an arm wrapped around her shoulders, comforting Althea as she continued sobbing.

Dumbledore exhaled heavily. "I assure you, these circumstances are unusual. We could have never anticipated such a thing to happen."

It felt like ice cold nectar was running through my veins. Dread filled inside me like a dragon taking habitat in the pit of my stomach.

"You shouldn't have to anticipate these things!" Sirius spat out. He looked at Dumbledore with such fiery hostility, I wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore turned to stone from Sirius's gaze. "It shouldn't have been able to happen in the first place."

"We all just need to breathe-take a moment to compose ourselves so we can properly discuss how to handle the situation." Dumbledore spoke evenly, remaining calm. Judging everyone else's expressions and concern, Dumbledore looked far more unruffled than he should.

Nicholas exhaled slowly, pulling himself out of Sirius's grasp.

This time when he spoke, his voice was levelled but icy-cold and near trembling.

"Samael Hadeon. He's back, isn't he?"