I Promise - Draco Malfoy

9 - Memories

Soon enough Halloween had arrived, I invited Dean and Seamus to come to Ana's, so called, "gathering".

"What costume are you wearing?" Ana says while twirling her wand around to hang plastic spiders from the ceiling.

"Costume?" I say, slightly bewildered.

She looks at me with somewhat disgust, "Err, yeah, a costume. Like we use to wear to parties when we were younger."

"You said this was a gathering."

"Gathering; party, same thing. Now find something, make an outfit, you use to be good at this." She turns back to decorating as Geoff walks in with Avery. She's wearing a yellow tutu and a striped baby grow.

"My little baby bumblebee!" Ana chirps while Avery laughs, she lifts her from Geoff's arms.

I leave them to it and go up to my room, in need of finding or creating a costume for tonight. I open the wardrobe and stare mindlessly at the items inside, my mind wondering to other things. I wrote Draco a letter over a week ago now but I haven't sent it, it's just sitting in my trunk at the foot of the bed. I'm not even sure why I wrote it... I had just fallen into a bad state and I needed to get things off of my chest, lay all my cards down on the table and say what I wanted. I had every intention in sending it at first but I guess after I calmed down I thought it would just be too much.

***

I've gone with an entirely black outfit, as I didn't have anything for an actual costume. I've come as a witch... spooky. There are already people downstairs and Dean and Seamus should be here any minute. I stand in front of the mirror for a second and stare at myself, I look different. Maybe it's because black makes you look slimmer, but either way I look a lot skinner than I use to, my face is gaunt with my cheekbones very defined and my eyes are dark and hooded. I put a fair amount of concealer on to try and cover up the dark circles but it can only do so much, so they are still very prominently there.

I walk down the stairs to see Dean and Seamus being ushered through the front door into the crowd, I head over immediately to greet my friends.

"Jasmine!" Seamus spots me first, "Looking hot as per usual."

"Well thank you Seamus, you don't brush up to badly yourself." I smile and hug him before turning to Dean; Seamus has already disappeared into the crowd of people.

"Hey," I say to my best friend.

"Jas, you look different. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. How's Hogwarts?"

He rolls his eyes and starts walking over the sofa, I follow, "Don't even get me started. You wouldn't believe how much it's changed again since you left. You were right about it getting worse, most of us just stay in the room of requirement now, like a hide out."

"Damn... Can't you leave?"

"No, I need to stay. I have to get the grades and stuff, I have to finish. Mum asks me almost all the time now; I get a letter almost every day, asking if I'll come home. I tell her no, but it's not good."

"What about the Carrows? How are their punishments going?" I ask, feeling guilty for leaving my best friend in such a horrible place.

He shrugs, "People are still getting curse all the time. I've only had it once since you left, there was a big group of us, so one hit and we were let out. It was awful though. Hannah Abbott collapsed and smashed her jaw, there was blood everywhere. The screams in that room though, it was like a nightmare."

We sit in silence as the music fills the room around us, I can see Seamus dancing with my sisters friend, Katherine. "Dean, can we go outside? I'm not feeling being here right now."

He nods and we leave for the night outside. We head to the rocks next the water and take a seat. I find myself sitting here a lot recently, just listening to the ocean and breathing in the crisp air.

"Do you remember when we first got our letters to Hogwarts?" I begin. "How excited we were. I held mine in hand and my mum was less than impressed but she knew it was coming so she smiled, and I ripped it open and just read the first line and I remember feeling amazing. Then I heard the door bell and there you were holding the same a letter and freaking out about it."

Dean laughs, "Well I didn't really know about it at that point did I?"

I continue, "Then come September 1st we drove to Kings Cross together squealing in the back of your mum's car. And we had to run through that stupid wall for the very first time. Do you remember yourself stopping every time you went run into it? And then I just ran straight through it and left you." I laugh out.

"Yeah, and I was shouting on the other side of the platform and the guy just came up to me and said, 'Are you lost? Do you need help?' And then I had to wait to wait for ages for him to leave before I could go through and I was freaking out because it was almost 11..." He trails off, clearly visualising the memory.

"Then there was Hogwarts and those little boats we crossed over the lake in, I swear I saw a merperson... and they did not look happy. And then I was sorted in Slytherin, and my family hated me for it."

Dean looks at me, "Don't say that."

"They've moved to Barcelona, Dean. They left me as soon as they could."

He shakes his head, "Have you spoken to them?"

"No," I shrug, "I don't really see the point."

"Oh well, you've still got me." He smiles and puts his arm around my shoulders; we sit quietly and watch the waves as the moon glistens down.