Never • The Lost Daughter | A Draco Malfoy Love Story

Chapter 74 - Sectumsempra

I got out of the Room of Requirements with my hair all messed up. I pushed the curls down as I was tiptoeing.

Draco and I had overslept after a sleepless night and we were both late for our class. Usually, we left the Room before sunrise to avoid any encounters with other students who might be a bit too noisy. We woke up a tad late and thought we had five minutes before getting off the bed. Five minutes were relative when I was in his arms. They could seem like seconds if I wasn't careful enough.

I yawned and ran to towards the west tower.

"Anne!" It was the unmistakable voice of Harry Potter that had caught me.

I turned to see him approaching with a friendly smile.

"You missed Transfiguration! Where were you?" he said. "I heard Katie Bell is back today!"

I raised my eyebrows and shook the head out of my face.

"Really?" I said, trying to sound inconspicuous and interested.

Harry inspected me from head to toe.

"You can't have just woken up; you're going to the Ravenclaw tower, right?"

He came closer and looked at me with a puzzled look. His eyes focused on the collar of my sweater. I looked down.

"Shit..." I muttered and tried not to look too awkward in my realisation that I had worn my sweater inside out in my hurry.

Harry spread a hand near my neck and pulled on a tag that was showing under my tie. Then, his eyes then wandered higher, somewhere on my neck.

"Is that a hickey?" he exclaimed. His green eyes were drenched in rage and jealousy but he was trying to hide. He wasn't succeeding. His face was pale and somehow green.

"I - I have to go now, Harry. We will talk later."

I turned around and ran across the hall quickly, hiding my neck with any hair that agreed to sit in front of the scandalous spot.

By the time I had taken a shower and covered up the purple skin on my neck, it was already lunchtime. I checked the mirror more than a dozen times and made sure to let my hair loose around my shoulders. It was getting longer nowadays - thankfully.

It was one of these days that you walk into the Great Hall and think everyone is staring at you, although you're quite sure that it's just your own idea and self-awareness that creates this numb feeling.

I hadn't talked to Hermione for a long time. She seemed a bit stressed out that day and she hadn't even touched. She was constantly reading her Daily Prophet. Ron seemed rather pale today. I had heard that he was in the Hospital Wing for two days but no one had cared to explain the situation to me yet. Maybe Ron didn't want anyone to know.

There was only one thing I was doing here. I was waiting for Harry to show up and I supposed that he would come for a quick lunch. I had stormed away from him rather rudely that morning and I felt and even though it didn't sound mean in my head at the time, when I'd calmed down, I realised how abrupt I must have sounded. He was always sitting with his friends. Today he was absent.

"What's on the news?" asked Ron.

"Well, the usual, actually. Disappearances, Minister's statement that everything is under control..." answered Hermione.

"Same all, same all," I said. "I'm sorry, where is Harry?" I said changing the subject quickly.

"Why?" asked Ron.

"I want to apologize. I might have been a little rude this morning..." I said quietly.

"Oh..." said Hermione. "He did mention seeing you," she added and then glanced at my neck very quickly. Good-willed though I was today, I couldn't help but find it immature of Harry that he told Hermione everything about my hickey. I once thought that a man couldn't get more jealous than Draco. Now I was realising that Harry was just as possessive.