A Heavenly Betrayal (Draco Malfoy Love Story)

Terror In Hogsmeade

Meanwhile, Maria was also in bed, also not sleeping. She was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling, figuring out what she would do today. As the usual pain that gripped her every morning started to surface glaringly, she ignored it as best as she could and forced her thoughts back to the day to come. She had to do something; she had to occupy her mind. Quidditch practice had been cancelled due to the Hogsmeade outing. But she didn’t want to go. She had told all of her friends that she had homework to do, which wasn’t true, and that she was planning on catching up today. Maria, truly, didn’t have any homework whatsoever; having no social life had the advantage of keeping her practically locked up in the library. She turned her head to look out the window. Maybe she could go help out Hagrid. ‘Ya, I’ll do that.’

Maria spent the rest of her day assisting Hagrid with his unicorns. He had been glad to see her come, since they usually prefer a girl’s touch and she indeed had been of much help. She enjoyed it very much, wondering why she hadn’t come sooner. But in the end, the unicorns’ pure white manes awkwardly reminded her of someone else’s very blond one, always with a stifled pain in her buried heart. She quickly finished what she had to do with them and eagerly moved over to the nifflers… who almost managed to rip her ears off, trying to get hold of her tiny golden earrings. The distraction was welcomed.

Late in the afternoon, panic took over Hogsmeade. Students were innocently about their business when no less than half a dozen Death Eaters appeared out of nowhere, two of them carrying what looked like a black wooden trunk. They were laughing wildly, shooting curses at anyone who stood in their way. They entered the Hog’s Head, and the few students who happened to be inside all managed to miraculously escape, but not without collecting a severe beating. This brutal intrusion sent students screaming in all directions. Dementors were also accompanying the escort, them too trying to get their share of ‘fun’, or rather ‘food’. As everything grew darker and colder, panic spread all over Hogsmeade like wildfire and soon, all the students were running back to the castle for their lives. The first pack of students to arrive quickly warned the teachers, and Dumbledore ordered the students to be rounded up in the Great Hall while the other teachers accompanied him to Hogsmeade. Maria, who had seen that same pack run across the land, was silently wondering what had gotten into them. But as the fifth gang of hysterically screaming students ran by, she really started worrying. She then saw some of the teachers hurrying down the hill, and Hagrid gravely ordered her to go to the Great Hall, so she did. Whatever was happening in Hogsmeade, it must be terrible, Maria thought, because the hall was simply chaotic. The younger students were all crying and the older ones were visibly shocked. When she asked them what was going on, none of them could manage putting together more than three words: ‘Death Eaters’ and ‘Dementors’. Maria’s mind immediately focused on him; ‘What foolish thing has he done now?’ However, her thoughts fast-forwarded to the last time something similar to this had happened: it hadn’t been his fault. ‘Is this the same?’ It had to be. Malfoy would never intentionally do something like that, she knew it. But this was the least of her worries; somewhere in the back of her mind, she kept going over the possibility of something she simply didn’t want to acknowledge. ‘What if they came for… him?’ The horror of what was happening suddenly became very real – too real. She looked around her; the terrified faces of her fellow students spoke for themselves. She hoped with all her might that she was wrong, and refused giving the situation further thought. It just hurt too much.

Malfoy had finally succumbed to a premature state of slumber when he was woken up by the raucous upstairs. He swiftly jumped to his feet and ran all the way to the Entrance Hall. Students were crying, others were screaming, and many were running frantically. He followed the trail of students outside, struggling against the current, and saw what he had been dreading. Apparently, Wormtail couldn’t resist bringing more devoted followers. ‘Coward.’ Or, his thoughts raced, they somehow knew about Maria and were intent on finding her. ‘Shit.’

Malfoy raced across the land for the third time that day; but this time, his newly-recovered heart had gone crazy, hammering against his ribs, and Maria was all he could think of. He kept on fraying his way through the flow, stopping people to ask what exactly had happened. A third-year managed to stop long enough to tell him that some students had been attacked in the Hog’s Head. Malfoy then dreadfully remembered that she was the one who had suggested the tavern to him. His heart clumped in his throat as his worries swelled; what if she had gone to investigate and had been cursed with bad-timing? What if she had been lured there to divulge their secret? This certainly didn’t calm Malfoy. He continued intercepting students, now aggressively asking them who exactly had been attacked, shaking them brutally if need be, his voice a hoarse roar. But this time, no one answered. The surge of students rapidly diminished, and Malfoy was soon the only one left on the grounds. 

Meanwhile, the Great Hall kept filling up with panicked students. This included Maria. What worried her more than anything was the fact that students had stopped entering and there was still no sign of Malfoy. Madam Pomfrey and the teachers that had stayed behind really had their hands full, especially the nurse. About twenty students had been injured or hexed, and some were in a pretty bad state. Maria felt her heart squeezed so tightly she was sure it was going to burst. She was constantly scanning the crowd for blond hair, or possibly dirty-reddish blond hair. But all she could see was Harry arguing with a teacher with Ron by his side, who had turned livid, Hermione covering her mouth with her hands, Ginny helping the injured kids with Luna, Cho crying in Davies’ arms, Neville seriously threatening to collapse onto the floor, Pansy whining loudly, apparently also looking for Malfoy, and a mass of other frightened and agitated students. As time passed, everybody eventually started calming down a little; everybody except Maria. Every second was more unbearable than the previous one. She couldn’t sit down, like the majority of the students had done; she had to walk, she had to move or else she would be submerged by emotion.

Malfoy ran through the streets of a deserted Hogsmeade. Only Hogwarts teachers were left, but they were way beyond him, at the very end of the village, inspecting. He finally reached his destination, yanking open the door. The interior was upside down; broken glass laid everywhere and tables and chairs were upset. The owner was sprawled out on the floor, knocked out. In the back, Malfoy caught a glimpse of the marvellously intact Vanishing cabinet and cursed it and himself, for that matter. Once again, there was no sign of Maria, and Malfoy was really starting to get short on patience he had already run out of long ago. But adrenaline – or something a little deeper – kept him running and going. His heart was alive again, but every beat made it churn horribly in his chest. He sprinted all the way back to the castle, sliding a couple of times on the wet grass and hitting the ground hard each time. When he had reached the entrance, both his hands were bleeding, his knees and elbows were heavily bruised and he had a big gash on the side of his face; he had collided with a sharp rock. But he didn’t stop. He followed the noise and found himself in the Great Hall’s doorframe. His eyes quickly swept over the crowd of people. She had to be here, she had to be safe, or else he would never be able to forgive himself. After what felt like an eternity, he finally found the face he was so desperately looking for. His heart stopped altogether and he felt dangerously lightheaded. The emotion that linked their eyes was startlingly powerful. A fierce feeling of warmth spread through their bodies and burned their skin as their hearts threatened to leap out of their throats; nothing seemed to matter anymore. Without thinking, without planning, they both threw themselves in the other’s arms and planted a deep, passionate kiss on the other’s lips.