In The Shadows² ★ Draco Malfoy

*Third task

Briar had never been so tense in her life. She was waiting, terrified of what could be in that maze, and what was happening to Harry and Cedric at that moment

After hours of waiting there came a sudden bang and everyone shot to their feet, as they saw Harry, Cedric, and the Triwizard cup appear on the ground of the quidditch pitch. At first everyone cheered in relief and pride, but Briar quickly noticed something was wrong when she looked at Cedric

So she pushed past her friends and ran down the steps, and when she got close enough she could see Cedric wasn't moving

A scream tore from her throat and it seemed everyone else began to realise what had happened too. Briar clasped her hands over her mouth and felt tears cloud her eyes, but she rushed towards Harry, along with several teachers and judges

"He's back," Harry whispered. "He's back. Voldemort." 

"What's going on? What's happened?" Cornelius Fudge asked "My God - Diggory! Dumbledore - he's dead!"

Chaos ensued on the pitch. Teachers were ushering everyone back into the school, the judges were deciding what to do with Cedric's body, there were frantic whispers about what Harry had said, and emotions were running high

Briar was ushered back up to the castle but she found herself being pulled into a deserted corridor by Theo

"I told you to keep your mouth shut!" He snarled "That scene you pulled in front of everyone was disgusting!"

"Cedric died!" She shouted back. Usually Briar let him have his way to make him happy, but right now her anger had reached boiling point as her fear grew in her "I'm sick of you and your shit! You push me around and treat me like shit! Then you guilt me into staying! I'm done!"

Theo's face was red with anger and he grabbed her shoulders, shoving her against the stone wall. "Shut up!" He yelled "You filthy half breed!"

"Leave me alone!" She cried 

"I said shut up!" He raised one of his hands and was about to bring it down against her face, when a hand grabbed his wrist. Briar and Theo both whirled to the side in shock, and came face to face with Remus Lupin, who was holding Theo's wrist, and his eyes were dangerously angry

"Keep your hands off my daughter" He nearly growled and Briar jumped in surprise when her dad's fist met Theo's face

The Slytherin teenager fell to the ground because of how hard the impact was and Remus took Briar's hand before pulling her away from him and leading her up towards Gryffindor tower

When they were alone he pulled her into his arms and Briar buried her face in her dad's musky vest, letting her pent up tears of frustration and anger fall. 

"Thank you," She whispered

"Of course," He said softly "I'm never going to let anyone hurt you,"

They stayed like that for a long time until a voice interrupted them

"Miss Lupin, Mr Lupin," Professor Dumbledore said "Unfortunately it appears I require your presence in my office immediately. Mr Potter and Mr Black are already there"

The pair shared a nervous look but followed after him and they sure enough found Harry and Sirius in his office. Briar immediately hugged Harry and took in his various bruises and cuts

"Why did you need us, Professor?" She asked her headmaster

"Harry has encountered Lord Voldemort tonight" Dumbledore sighed and turned to Harry, gesturing for the young boy to continue, so Briar turned to him

"He mentioned you," Harry sighed "He talked about how his men killed your mother and how if he found you, he intended to finish what they had failed. Killing you."

"Why?" Briar asked, looking between Remus, Sirius, and Dumbledore in surprise. It seemed that they all knew something she didn't and the latter two looked at Remus, who nodded with a heavy sigh

"Your mother was gifted," Remus began "A half veela. But strong. She had this ability to make any man fall head over heels for her, and when she was angry she was dangerous. When Voldemort was coming to power he wanted every nature of magical creature. As far as I know, you're the only child in this world who has the genes of a werewolf and a veela"

"But I'm not a wolf," she said in confusion

"But you carry the gene for it" He continued "One of Voldemort's followers Fernir Greyback wants to find you to finish what he started. He's the one that turned me and he wants to finish his job. But Voldemort wants you alive. When you were born he heard of a pureblood witch who carries the genes of a veela and a werewolf. A sort of hybrid if you will. He made it his mission to get creatures as powerful as he can"

"But I can assure you that both you and Mr Potter are safe under the protection of Hogwarts-"

"We weren't this year" Harry said suddenly and Briar turned to him "Professor Moody was under Polyjuice potion this whole year. It's been Barty Crouch's son this entire time."

At that Remus stiffened. Death Eaters were after Harry and Briar 13 years ago and now they had nearly gotten them, within Hogwarts. If they weren't safe at school then they weren't safe anywhere. 

Professor Dumbledore soon dismissed Harry and Sirius to the hospital wing, while Remus walked Briar back to her dorm. But despite how exhausted she was, her brain wouldn't quieten. All she could think about was everything she had learned tonight and at some point in the night that information finally overwhelmed her and her eyes closed, pulling her into a deep sleep