The Slytherin Princess | Draco Malfoy x Reader

Chapter 42: Scrambling

"I suspected as such," my mother mumbled. "He doesn't have a very good track record for actually finishing people off with that spell."

My tears halted at her words. "What do you mean? I-is she still alive?"

"Barely," came my mother's response. "Her heartbeat is very, very faint, but she is still mostly there. If you're quick, we can get her upstairs into the room Voldemort put her in when she came here—involuntarily—and I can do my best with some of the healing spells Snape taught me."

I moved to stand up with her still in my arms, but my legs buckled underneath me and I fell back down, dropping her to the floor beneath me with a sickening thud.

My mother looked back at me, her eyes softening as she remembered that I'd been tortured by the Cruciatus Curse not even twenty minutes beforehand. She bent down to gather y/n into her own arms, nodding back at me. "Follow me if you can, but if you can't, I'll be back down for you in a moment."

I was able to move after her, though, even though it was fairly slow and coupled with immense amounts of pain. I didn't want to leave y/n's side no matter what it meant.

Upstairs, my mother laid y/n down on the bed she'd spent a few days in during the school term just a few months before. She seemed so lifeless. I could barely even see her breathing, I couldn't tell if her chest was rising and falling or not. I trusted my mother though. She had seen the Dark Lord fail at using the Killing Curse once before—and while it was on a baby Harry Potter the last time, it was still likely that a Voldemort at less-than-full power would be weaker at the deadlier curses.

Not that the Cruciatus Curse hadn't done its damage, though. I knew I'd sleep for a while if I ever got to sleep that night.

I watched as my mother returned to the room with a black book in her hand, one I hadn't remembered ever seeing before. I sat on the floor by y/n's bed as my mother stood beside me, opening the book and raising her wand over y/n's body.

She began chanting spells in a language I didn't recognize—and I half-wondered why it had never been taught at Hogwarts. I realized with an air of annoyance that it was likely because Snape had never been allowed to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, and he'd been stuck as a Potions teacher for as long as anyone could remember. Maybe we'd know some of these healing incantations if Snape had been given the position he'd wanted.

But I didn't have too much time to pout about not learning the more advanced healing spells. I heard y/n cough, and I was on my feet in an instant. I didn't even feel any pain when I jumped up, it was only when I saw her eyes were still closed that I felt the aches creeping back in.

My mother sighed, closing the book and bringing her wand back to her side. "I've done all I can do right now," she admitted then. "We're going to have to wait and see if she pulls through."

My heart hammered painfully in my chest. "What do we do if she survives?" I asked.

My mother looked me dead in the eye, her mouth set in a grim line.

"You run."

~~~

It had been a couple of days since I'd seen y/n. I couldn't bear to go in there and see her the way she was, not knowing if I'd ever get to see her beautiful eyes again. I counted it as a fate worse than death if she didn't make it, having to go through life without her by my side.

I knew I'd caused her a lot of shit, and I meant a lot of shit. She didn't deserve any of it, and I knew she wouldn't have gotten into any of these situations if I'd just left her alone—but she drew me in. She drew in anyone she spoke to. She was eloquent, and funny, and kind. It wasn't really surprising that Potter had taken such an immediate liking to her. Even though she'd used him to make me jealous—and he'd fucking kissed her—I tried to put that thought out of my head.