| Girl on Fire |

78

VERONICA MALFOY

"That'll never work." Mattheo said. Theo groaned. "You say that to every idea" he said. "Which one of us has had the dark mark since they were 11 and lived their entire life with Voldemort?" Mattheo snapped. "Well then why don't you tell us what to do instead of just shooting down everything we say?" Enzo snapped. "Why don't you be grateful I'm even agreeing to humor this little brainstorming session when I should be preparing? My father will be here in a few hours." Mattheo snapped back. "Preparing for what? More power?" Theo asked sarcastically. "No. Preparing to have my mind invaded. Preparing to be tortured for even telling you guys about this. Preparing kill or torture whoever my father wants. Preparing for that." he spat.

"Why don't you all stop bickering like captious little children?" We all turned around to see Severus standing in the doorway. "Sev? What are you doing here?" Draco asked. "Narcissa asked me to speak to the twins," he replied. "Oh, ok. Um- Allison, can you take the guys and go wait in Draco's room?" I asked. She nodded and they all left. Severus walked in and shut the door. Draco and I sat down together.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "Your mother would like me to explain more about the connection you have. Because you're twins." he said. I tensed up as I remembered the last time we used that connection. "What about it?" Draco asked. "I want you two to practice using it. To communicate. Not just in times of dire need. It could be from simply sitting across the table from each other." he said. I looked at him curiously. "Perhaps in a meeting, you mean?" I suggested with a smirk. "Perhaps" he said. I nodded. "But last time we did it, I could only talk to Ronnie for a minute or two and then I passed out." Draco said. "Yes, I'm aware. But if you practice, you two could improve to the point of having full on conversations without anyone knowing." he said. "Brilliant" I said. I looked at Draco and he nodded. "Another thing you should know is what you two say or show each other using this connection cannot be seen with Legilimency." he said. "Really?" Draco exclaimed. "Correct. So I suggest if there's ever anything you don't want someone to know, you two use the connection to communicate it. Do you understand?" he asked. We both nodded. "Why do you know all this Sev?" I asked. He looked at us with the tiniest of smiles.

"I would be a pretty useless Godfather without it." he said plainly. Draco and I smiled at him. "I have other matters to attend to. I would suggest practicing. You will need it. Especially today." he said. Then he left. Allison popped her head in the door. "Sorry Ali, can you keep the boys from killing each other for just a bit longer. We have something to do." I said. She nodded. I looked at Draco and he stared at me. "Well?" I said. "Well what?" he asked. "Sev taught you how to establish the connection but I was a bit preoccupied being kidnapped. You have to teach me how to do it." I said. "Don't joke about that Ronnie, I thought I lost you." he said. "I'm sorry. If I make it a joke, it's funny. Not scary." I said. He nodded.
"Ok, let's start," he said....

TIME JUMP

"Ok! Enough!" Draco groaned. We had been practicing for 3 hours and we were almost perfect. I was sitting in my bathroom and Draco was on my bed and we were having a perfect conversation using our twin connection. I walked out of the bathroom and he sighed. "Not yet." I said. He collapsed on my bed and I rubbed my temples. "Just a little longer. We are getting so good at it." I said. He sat up and looked at me. "No. No more. We can't be exhausted for this meeting. Especially if we end up needing to talk to each other during it." he said. "Fine." I said. I laid down next to him and sighed. "I don't think we should tell our friends about this." I said. He looked at me with confusion. "Why?" he asked. "It's not safe for them. If they know what we can do, someone might use them to get to us. They already risk so much being our friends. I don't think we should add anymore." I said. He nodded. "You're right." he said. I nodded. "But that means you can't tell Mattheo," he said. I sat up and looked at him. "What? Why?" I exclaimed. "We just decided not to tell anyone," he said. "It's not the same thing and you know it. We tell eachother everything." I said. He stood up and walked over to the window. "Are you sure about that?" he said. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked. "I'm just saying, maybe you need to rethink your relationship with him," he said. "Where is this coming from?" I asked. "Think about it. Do you really think you would have gotten that task to whore yourself out to Potter if you weren't already in bed with Mattheo?" he said. "That was punishment for fathers failure." I said. "Ok, but you say you and Mattheo tell eachother everything, right?" he asked. "We do." I stated. "You don't." he said. "Name one time" I snapped. "Ok, he didn't tell you he marked you. He didn't tell you about your task. He wasn't going to tell you about Adrian and Marcus. He always-" he started. "Ok, ok, enough. I get it." I said. He sat down and looked at me. "I know you love him, Ronnie. And I do appreciate how deeply he cares for you and how he protects you. But sometimes I wonder if being with him is worth the trouble it comes with." he said....

"Don't you?" he asked.