THE FURIES ▸ Draco Malfoy

Chapter Seventeen: PENTHOS

"Why didn't you tell me that you spoke with Snape before tonight?" he asked, his forehead creasing in confusion. "Is that why you've been acting so odd recently? Did he say something to you?"

Mia paused, her mouth going dry at the question. She glanced down at her hands, clasping them together so that she could have something to focus on instead. "The day that you missed Defense to sleep in...he pulled me aside after class before I could get away. He questioned me about Bell, just like he did you, and he was concerned about our health. We got into an argument, and that was when he tried to use Legilimency on me―" 

"He what?" Draco interrupted, his eyes wide. "Romy, why the hell didn't you come to me?" 

"Because something happened when he tried," she explained, looking back at him. "Almost like I was attempting it at the same time he was, and they rebounded off one another. I saw some of his memories, and he saw some of mine. Nothing to worry about on my end, but his...one of them was the memory of your mother when she asked him to make an Unbreakable Vow." 

Draco scoffed, rolling his eyes. "He's a fool for making a deal like that―"

"Is he? Because that Vow could be the only thing protecting you." 

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked in defense, hurt flashing in his eyes. "I thought we were protecting each other in this mess, Romy. You said that we were in this together. Have you gone and changed your mind now?" 

"We are. I haven't changed my mind. It's just..." 

Mia stopped suddenly, realizing that the words she was trying to say did not want to come out. They had been spoken before, several times, but never once had they ever been anything more than a sarcastic joke here and there. Never had it been real before, not between her and Draco. Things had changed, though. She could see the questions working up in his mind, the crease growing between his brows as he opened his mouth every few seconds to think of another thing to reply with. His words fell short when she finally built up the courage to say the dreaded words. 

Her voice barely raised above a whisper as she spoke. "But I won't always be by your side, Draco...togetherness lasts only as long as I am alive, and that statement is growing grayer by the day." 

"Wha―" he recoiled instantly, grey eyes flashing with pain. "What are you on about?"

"Snape told me the reason why I am still alive," she said quietly, swallowing hard. She could not meet his eyes anymore, staring vacantly ahead at the Cabinet instead. "I made the mistake of realizing that the Vow he made with Narcissa did not extend to my life, as well...you had to have asked yourself the same question, Draco―why the Dark Lord chose not to kill my family after my father's betrayal. Why had he recruited me instead of just ending my entire family line? I assumed it was because of the hierarchy, or perhaps a cruel final joke on my father's grave...I was wrong." 

"Romy―" 

"The Dark Lord recruited me because he believes I could be the same as him. So those are my two options left: either I become the very thing that lives inside of my nightmares or I become the no lesser than the man who died and created the nightmares in the first place."

"Andromeda," Draco hissed. Hands roughly found their way to the sides of her face, pulling her eyes back to him. His were stormy, lighting up with anger as he spoke. "Stop it. You are nothing like either of them, do you hear me? Not your father. Not the Dark Lord. Romy, you do not need to be anything like them. You are going to survive this war because you deserve to―because I know that you will fight this the right way, the way that you decide. Not based on the ludicrous words of Snape or any other. You. Are. Nothing. Like. Him."