The Bracelet (Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

Chapter 63

"Just...working." I answer after a long and silent pause.

"Right..." She says. "When is it all going to...well, you know."

"It'll be ready soon. I just have a few more things to finish up, like I said."

She peers up at me from beneath her chin, her eyes hopeful. "If you want me to help you, I can. I know Dumbledore, Draco - it's not too late. I can talk to him and tell him what Voldemort wants you to do. He'd understand, and he'd help you and protect you."

I shake my head. She really doesn't get it. "If I let that happen, Voldemort would go after you, Jen. It's not going to work."

She pouts for a moment, frustrated, like she's trying to figure something else out. The moonlight looks fresh on her face, hitting those deep green eyes at just the right angle. It reminds me of stained glass.

"You don't understand, Draco. I could help you - I know I could." Her eyes flit downwards, her voice lowering significantly as she speaks. "I would give up my life to help you."

I sigh, a tight ball lodging itself in my throat.

I was waiting for this to happen - it was only a matter of time. She knows that I hate the sound of this, judging from how quiet she goes when she says it. I was looking, searching for any reason I could find to not do what I'd decided on. But now - after that - I know I have no choice.

"I know you would, Jennifer." My voice is a tired sigh.

I can barely get the words out.

"And that's why I have to make you forget about all of this."

The last thing that I see on her face before I do it is confusion - it's in the wrinkle between her eyebrows, seeping from the gap between her parted lips, blended throughout the hurt in her eyes. It kills me inside.

I pull my wand from the inside of my jacket once again, gently gripping her collar and pushing her back from me. I point the tip of it directly at the space in between her eyebrows.

"Obliviate."

Her eyes go cloudy for a moment, all white like milk. And then, every trace of emotion and memory on her face disappears, dissolves into a nothingness like no other. Her body goes limp in my arms.

It feels like my chest is shrinking, and I mount her in my arms as fat tears spill from my eyes, leaking saltily past my trembling lips and into my mouth.

I tell myself that this was necessary - it was a mistake to tell her about my task at all, and I never should've done it. She really would've given her life to save me, and she would've found a way to do it no matter what, even if I'd locked and chained her to the floor. All she'll know now is that I'm a death eater, maybe just a busy person - and that's it.

***

Jennifer's POV -

The rest of May passes by quickly.

I spend most of my days preparing with Harry and Dumbledore. The day that we plan to destroy the horcrux is growing closer by the second, and I feel like a stick of dynamite about to blow with the constant abuse from my classmates.

They've only grown more hateful since Blu and Kyle's funeral, and I wait in Draco's dorm whenever I'm not with Harry and the headmaster - something that Draco still doesn't know about. He tells me not to worry about my peers, says that eventually they'll realize the truth, and that the truth of the night Blu and Kyle died is only being withheld right now for safety reasons.

To be fair, though, it seems Draco is hiding something from me. He is always gone, always away, and doesn't come back until late at night. He says (with a hint of sorrow in his voice) that it's death eater business, and that I can't know for now. Eventually, he'll tell me, and I do trust him to. However, that doesn't stop me from being curious.

I can't ignore the feeling that something is missing, also.

Missing from me. I feel as though I've lost a part of myself, or maybe my mind. I don't know why, but it feels like there's a block on my brain. I've talked to Draco about it, and he says not to be worried - says it's most likely just the effects of post-trauma settling in. Still, though, it freaks me out.

But like I said, I trust him.

***

It's the twenty-fifth of May.

Tonight, Dumbledore, Harry, and I are going to destroy Voldemort's third horcrux - an event that I still haven't told Draco about. It's best if he doesn't know. He'd try to stop me from going, and I would still go, whether he liked it or not (he wouldn't).

I have been sitting on top of my four-poster most of the day, instead of Draco's. I need to be in my own dorm to prepare for what I have to do tonight.

It's storming outside - not ideal weather for horcrux hunting. The entire sky has turned an ugly shade of grey-blue, and there's a frigid draft floating in through the closed windows. The sky is crying, and small pellets of silver water throw themselves against the glass.

I stare down at my paled wrists, veins of blue rooted beneath my flesh. They're gross, ugly - but I can practically feel the power surging through them like an electric current. My body always feels abuzz now, like it's home to a swarm of vicious bees.

By the time dusk descends upon the castle, I have only semi-collected myself for what I'm about to do. Of course, I won't be alone, but that doesn't make it any less mentally-disorienting. I haven't moved an inch all day. Draco will be looking for me, I'm sure, and I might just have to quickly conjure up some lie about where I'll be. Either that, or he'll be working on his so-called task that he refuses to tell me about, and won't notice my absence.

I take a few more deep breaths before leaving my dorm and ambling on over to the side of the castle where the headmaster's office is. I whisper the password under my breath, allow the stone gargoyle to slide away from the entrance, and hike up the stairs.

In the circular room, Dumbledore and Harry are already waiting for me. I feel self-consciously late.

"Good evening, Jennifer." Dumbledore's voice is not peaked with happiness as it usually is, but rather grave. It's scary to see a man who's always ready for everything look so unprepared.

"Professor." I say. I turn my eyes on the boy standing beside him, and nod. "Harry."

Harry, now more trusting of me than he was in our first meeting, gives a solemn nod in return.

"I suppose there is not much that can be said in a time such as this." Dumbledore sighs. "We must leave soon, and when we arrive at the sight of the horcrux, I ask both of you to listen to and follow my instruction as though your life depends on it. Quite frankly, it does."

The room is silent for a moment. I look over at Harry, who is standing uncomfortably still. I can tell that he's just as nervous as I am, and I don't think any of us know just what to say. Don't know whether once we leave this room, that all of us will actually return later in the night. Don't know whether we'll actually destroy the horcrux. Maybe none of us will be coming back. 

"Both of you," Dumbledore says, extending slender fingers in each direction, "take my hand."

Tentatively, I grasp the charcoaled tips of his fingers. There's dread in my heart - blossoming like dark paint or an unholy flower. It spreads like a plague inside of my chest. What we are about to do is more dangerous than anything that any other wizard has ever attempted. 

Before another thought has the time to wisp through my scrambled mind, the headmaster takes a pivot in the other direction, and all three of us spin into darkness.

***

Well guys, what do you think will happen next? 

There are only a few chapters (and a lot of drama) left to come! 

I'll see you guys soon with another update, thanks for reading!