Just Happiness │D. Malfoy ✔

chapter twenty two

"Oh, Tara. I'm so sorry." he said, squeezing her hand gently. "What did he do?" he asked the last question in a whisper. He was scared to hear the answer.

She hesitated at first, not quite sure what to say. "He wanted me to torture first year muggleborns. I told him I wouldn't do it and he got angry and decided that if I couldn't use the Cruciatus curse on them, he would use it on me. So I let him do it." she glanced up at Draco, who was squeezing her hand in his. He looked so worried.

"I couldn't let those innocent first years get tortured just because they arent purebloods. He did it three times, I couldn't move or do anything at the end, and he was about to... to touch me, so I cast a spell on him that froze him. Snape came along and took me here after I told him what happened."

Draco was not prepared for her answer. He didn't understand why bad things happened to such good people like Tara. It wasn't fair. He felt like crying, but knew that would mean she must be feeling so many times worse.

"You are so brave, love. So incredibly brave and strong, stopping him from hurting those first years and taking the pain for them, your heart is pure gold." He stayed with her for the rest of the day and noticed that Snape didn't give him detention for running out of class before it had even started. Strange.

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Weeks had passed and she no longer felt any pain from the Cruciatus Curse. She still had to see Carrow every Wednesday and it scared her every time. But he never approached her again. That didn't mean he ignored her, far from it. He made life incredibly difficult for her. It was obvious he disliked her house, as he commented on it in class frequently. 

"There are some here who are both genetically weak and that is what this class is here to fix. Those of pure blood have a disposition created for our world, a disposition some of you very clearly lack and which is reflected in your house. You," he would say, pointing at her. "and you" he would then point at Pierre because he was aware that they were friends "see if she can resist the Imperius Curse".

Pierre would then have no choice but to listen. The first time it happened he refused and Carrow didn't hesitate to hit him. It was incredibly scary to witness. At least she knew Pierre would not make her do anything dangerous. When she wasn't able to resist the curse he would say: "Your brother, the Slytherin one, tried much harder and even succeeded slightly. Luckily your treacherous parents have one child that might do well in this new world and it's not you, Hufflepuff scum".

Life continued on like that for a few months. Outside Hogwarts things were looking worse and worse. There were daily killings and raids and it was scary to read about. A few of the older muggleborn students like Dean Thomas from Gryffindor had left the school. But others like Neville Longbottom, granted not a muggleborn, were determined to fight back. They had opened up Dumbledores Army once more, and being a member since fifth year Tara happily joined. Draco had never known she was apart of it and the way he found out wasn't possibly the best.

They were in her dorm, both lying on her bed. Draco had taken of his shirt because it was an incredibly hot night out.  At first he had hesitated and she knew he was self conscious of his dark mark, but maybe also because of the scars across his chest. He kept on trying to cover them and in the end she spoke up. 

"Draco, you are beautiful, okay, scars and all. We all have our scars and all they do is show us what we have fought through and what we have survived. They show that we are strong and that we can do it. We all have scars, even I have ones, but that doesn't make us any less of a human being, it just makes us more one." Draco was looking at her with wide eyes, a slight smile on his face.