UNBREAK | D.M (UNRAVEL BOOK 5)

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After the entire ordeal between her and Hermione, and how Ron subconsciously calls out to their friend, he had broken up with his girlfriend. Not that there wasn't any direct confrontation of a breakup, but Ron stopped hanging out with Lavender and realized how clingy she has been. It was like after he had taken the cure for the love potion that Romilda Vane had given Harry, his senses snapped together.

Aine's lips curled when she saw how Ron and Hermione began to talk like before, even bickering around. Something that the brunette girl didn't seem to mind. Instead, she even looked like she was enjoying it. There was snow raining down around the three of them which Ron had accidentally caused. She was about to head up to them but her tracks halted when she heard someone call his name.

"Malfoy!" Theodore Nott calls out from the Slytherin table.

Her heels spun around so quickly that she smacked one of her house seniors with her long ponytail. Towards the entrance where she had come from, her heart leapt as if it was her name that someone had called.

There he stood, rooted to the ground. His pale skin that showed his swallowed cheeks reminded Aine of the weight he had lost over the year from stress. His platinum blonde locks were slightly dishevelled as if he had forgotten to gel them today. In fact, he looked unusually different today. Not only was his hair not styled, he had not worn his outer robes despite adorning the usual white long sleeves, grey vest with black pants with his emerald-green tie. There were even wrinkles on his sleeves which were unexpected since he always looked so prim and proper, and groomed. Right now, Draco just looked like he was in a big mess and he looked like a lost child.

Draco's tired eyes met Aine's in the crowded hall. She could vividly see the grey bags under his eyes and she only became more concerned. Her brows furrowed before she softens at him. 

He must not have slept well again, or rather— Never slept at all...

His dry lips quivered slightly, and he looked like he was about to cry. The way the sunlight hits his silver eyes hints at the glassy layer of tears that broke Aine's heart.

Draco took a step forward, wanting to run into her arms but as soon as he takes the second, he froze. His eyes tore from Aine's golden pupils to behind her— To Harry and the other girl he was speaking to. Aine followed his gaze, slowly turning her head to see what had made Draco stunned.

Her heart dropped and her stomach churned at the sight. And like Draco, she could only gape at the other Gryffindor girl in front of her eyes. Aine's heart was pounding so harshly and loudly that she thought her ribcage was going to shatter. She closes her parting lips and stiffens when Harry and the other girl turned in her and Draco's direction. 

The colour in Aine's face drained away as she shares the same anxious facial expression as Draco.

She was back.

Katie Bell, the girl who almost died from touching the Opal Cursed Necklace was back. The same girl that Aine had placed under her full control was back and walking. Not a corpse or a ghost but alive— And well enough to return. She had recovered, so quickly than any of the two had expected.

Aine's head whipped between Harry and Katie and Draco, she was standing at an equal distance between them both. Light and dark, good and bad, innocent and sinners. She blinks back her shock and found herself starting to shake when Katie squinted at her as if trying to make up for the blurred memories. The older girl glanced back to Harry, muttering something Aine couldn't quite make of and the sounds of the other students were stopping her from listening.

There was no way she could have known or remembered, Aine tells herself. Even Pansy didn't recall what happened, so there was no chance Katie could remember that she was mind-controlled.