Rise of the Death Eaters [3]

Chapter 47: Let's be Honest

He automatically grabbed my hands that I had aimed at his chest and pushed me away from him, to the wall with a force that made my arm throb terribly.

"Who told you about my Aunt?"

"Who do you think?" I retorted. "I warned you about Nott as a friend. He's had it out for you behind the scenes since I visited at Beauxbatons. Probably even before that when he saw me that summer. If he had it his way, he'd take everything you have of value just to feel something worthwhile. Why do you think he's been back and forth between me and Pansy?"

He stopped to look at me again for a moment, but it was different than before. He wasn't staring at my face, or me even. His mind had gone off somewhere and his gaze had glazed. But he snapped out of it just as quickly as he had entered it.

"You pretty easily swayed by Nott, aren't you? Always listening to what he says," he started and again, we walked over to me. "Never batting an eye when he flirts around you and goes for your attention-"

"What are you getting at?" I cut him short.

He stopped in front of me and looked down at me in such a way that I had to hold back myself from swallowing.

"Don't act so high in mighty on placing the blame just on Nott. We all know you like the attention he gives you."

"Why you-" I went to slam my hands again at his chest, not to exactly hurt him but to push him away. However, this time, he managed to catch my left arm squarely in one hand, sending a ripple of pain that made me yelp and tare his hand away.

"What did you do?" He tried to grab my hand but I hit his arm away and side stepped him as he tried again.

"Lumos". His wand lit up the space, showing Draco staring wide eyed at me, over a short distance. He was pale, and his hair had been racked through anxiously probably while waiting for me to come back. And most importantly, I saw how stark those grey eyes of his paled against him.

But he wasn't caring about his appearance now. His eyes were staring at my left hand that I held at the wrist. He shown his light at his own hand and to my horror I saw a line of blood on his palm.

"What happened?" he demanded stepping closer. I moved to hide my hand behind my back like a child, but he saw it coming and grabbed my wrist and flipped my cloak sleeve back revealing the message imbedded in my hand. He stilled at the sight and I watched his expression tighten up in disgust.

"Still going to defend, Umbridge are you?" I asked in deadly quiet whisper. "Because this is what you stand behind." He looked back at me with a loss of words and quickly dropped his gaze as he released my arm.

He made me stop as a thought crossed my mind.

"You knew, didn't you? That she does this—that she was going to do this if I escaped expulsion. That's why you had those portraits monitoring the fifth floor instead of the seventh."

"So what?" Draco inclined in a steady voice, looking up. I could see he was still upset by my hand but I must have hit a nerve. He was angry enough to fight me back after all. "Like you said, you don't need my help, nor would you have listened if I warned you of this-"

"But you could have warned me," I whispered.

"And then what?" He argued. "Would you have tried to escape? She'd just come after you. It's not like you can hide. Most of the Inquisitor Squad is made up of our house. Dumbledore can barely manage now that Fudge is backing Umbridge in all her requests-"

"Dumbledore is no longer at Hogwarts," I stated, feeling my exhaustion at last. My hand did not help, as it throbbed faster than before. I wrapped it back up as I held my breath to cover another wince.