CURSED [D.M]

-(44) he is there to catch her

DRACO feels her magic hitting him right in his chest and it is instant suffocation. He is thrown away from her and his wand away from him. He can hear his mother's startled scream, the scuffling of feet, and Ivan's low and concentrated voice, all three mixed and merged as one as his head spins. It takes him a good minute to regain focus.

"Control, Zilliah", he can finally make out Ivan's words. The ones he keeps uttering at Zilliah with extreme heed. "Control. Breathe."

Getting to his feet with much difficulty, Draco focuses his gaze back upon Zilliah and in one single second, he can deduce that that is not his Zilliah.

Her brown orbs he so adores have turned devilishly jet black as if she is some monster, a demon, the waves of black magic surrounding her complimenting the same. Her skin turns pale white and her veins become more and more visible with time.

"Malfoy!", Ivan snaps at him, seeing that he is up and well. "Talk to her."

Draco fumbles around for words, his mouth running dry. "Wh- What?"

"Talk to her. Calm her down."

Draco slowly drags his eyes back onto Zilliah. He meets those foreign eyes and gulps because he is afraid. It takes him a moment to pull his mind back together and when he finally does, he understands. 

He understands that this is not fear he's feeling. He does not fear the person before him because he knows who is beneath. This is just shock that is mixed with some sort of familiarity. Of something so so vague and distant that he can't correctly comprehend at the moment. He refocuses upon his inner walls and builds them up, taking a moment to do so. Then he calls out, low and slow. "Zilliah."

She snaps her head at him, her eyes blinking unnaturally as they meet him. And he can sense the familiarity dawning on her, within her, around her. As if one look at him was enough for her to come back to herself.

Or that's what he had thought anyway. But she doesn't come back to herself. Not wholly. The wave of the black magic surrounding her swirls and swirls like a dangerous predator hiding in the bushes, waiting for the right time to jump up on its prey. And the look in her eyes makes him realize that no limb of that prey would be left untorn if the magic unbounds from her. He has to act quickly.

He takes a cautious step towards her, and he can hear the magic hiss at him. Mocking him almost. Mocking her. Tempting her to let go. Draining her of everything so that she loses control. She steps back, her skin growing paler and her lips trembling. He knows why she steps back. He knows she would rather die herself than let any harm come to him.

"Zilliah", he retakes a step towards her as the hissing increases. "It's me. It's Draco. I'm not scared of you. I know you won't harm me."

Her foreign eyes just stare and stare at him in warning. But he notices there is the slightest twitch of her finger towards him. The slightest motion made by the real her. That's all the affirmation he needs to keep going.

"I'm right here. You're safe. You can control it. Believe me, you can."

At those words, her whole body goes rigid except her head. It keeps twitching and twitching and twitching. He has no idea if it is a good thing or a bad thing. Everyone in the room has their breaths held, scared to make even the slightest sound or motion. But not Draco.

Not him because he would rather die himself than let any harm come to her.

"Zilliah, come back to me. Please."

He can hear a faint cry through all the hissing that increases. Her mouth moves. She is trying to speak. He moves closer to her so that he can hear her. "I- I'm trying", she mutters, so low, so weak, so drained, it breaks him in an incomprehensible way.