Forever and Always

Chapter 16: Scorpius

The week leading up to the night champions were to be chosen was pure Hell. It was wonderful. Everyone avoided me, as they should. I acted horrible, and scared all the other students. But for the teachers, I was an angel. How else was I supposed to conquer them all?

And then there was this voice in my head that fought me, no matter how hard I tried to silence it.

That voice tried to tell me that it was the real me, but I knew better than that. THIS was the real me. I didn't know any other students that weren't idiots, I had to win the Triwizard Tournament, and after that I would... Strange. I didn't know what I'd do. But no matter.

But that Weasley girl... She intrigued me. Why was she so affected by my presence? More to the point, why was I so affected by hers? Every time I tried to think of something nice, like death, her face-her beautiful face- always appeared in my mind, and suddenly she was all I could think about, even though I tried to forget her.

I sat regally in my place at the bench that night in the Great Hall. No one, not even those two goons that had insisted they'd not give up, sat anywhere near me. I could see them squishing down the sides so that no one would have to suffer my presence.

Good. Those peasants need to know where they belong.

The Goblet sputtered, and the entire room collectively held its breath. With a faint puff of smoke, one charred paper came flying out of it. McGonagall caught it in the air and read aloud,

"From Durmstrang, Branislav Lapidus!"

A roar swept through the Hall as a tall, muscular boy stood and marched stoically to the front. He was trying to be serious, but I caught a small smile curling on his lips.

Once the Hall had quieted, another name shot out:

"From Beauxbatons, Genevia Baudin!"

This time a slightly higher-pitched roar took over the Hall. Clearly, this girl was extremely popular, as students from every school began chanting her name. She sauntered up to the front and shook hands with Branislav before blowing a kiss to the crowd. Although she seemed carefree, I could see a burning fire in her eyes even from far away.

When they had finally quieted down again, the Goblet gave one last heave and the last name fluttered out into McGonagall's open palm.

I saw her forehead crease slightly.

"The Hogwarts Champion... Scorpius Malfoy!"

There was no noise for me. No cheering, no chanting, no congratulations.

I stood and strode slowly to the front, the silence billowing off of me like a dark robe. I glanced back and forth at my fellow students, daring them to make a sound. They all hurriedly turned away.

I was almost to the front when I heard someone clapping behind me. I spun around to see Rose standing up. She stared right into my eyes and kept right on clapping, even as I shot her a glare of pure malice.

I tried to ignore her and climbed the steps to where the two other champions were standing. I shook hands with both of them.

She was still clapping, a determined look on her face. Her eyes challenged mine, until I finally gave up and looked away. Only then did she sit back down.

While most of my mind recoiled at the thought of the Weasley girl, a fairly large part sighed. She wasn't going to give up on me.