PRINCESS ➳ harry potter , draco malfoy (OLD VERSION)

103 || Back to Hogwarts

Behind Katie, Draco shouted, "Protego!" A protective shield surrounded her and the glass bounced back. Bellatrix screamed as she and Lucius dived under the table for cover.

Once the glass shower ended, Katie found that the only source of light in the room was the natural sunlight seeping through the tall windows, creating beams of light at intervals.

Momentarily, she cast her gaze over her shoulder. Draco was wincing and he plucked a shard of glass from his cheek. His face and hands were bleeding profusely and Katie revived a stab of mingled gratitude, guilt and sadness. He could have cast the Shield Charm around himself, but instead he chose to protect her, and now she was going to repay him by casting the Killing Curse on herself.

For a split second, Katie began to second guess her choice, but then her eyes met Voldemort's — piercing silver on blood red — and she realised that she had no other choice. If what Voldemort said was true, if she really did have a secret, powerful talent for Dark magic, she would be dangerous. Voldemort himself was so desperate to have him join her. She owed this to the world.

She pressed her wand more firmly against her temple and opened her mouth to utter the curse.

"NO!" Draco screamed. "Expelliarmus!"

As her wand slipped from her grasped, Katie made a desperate grab for it, but it flew from her reach and right into Draco Malfoy's hands.

Perhaps she was supposed to feel grateful — that was the second time Draco had saved her life in a few short minutes, after all, but in the moment, she was only feeling one thing — panic.

She was now standing defenceless in front of Lord Voldemort, whom she had just openly betrayed. She did the only logical thing — she ran. Thankfully, the doors were unlocked, and Voldemort was too shocked to react quick enough when Katie flung open the doors and tore down the hall. She could feel the grey eyes from the Malfoy family portraits following her interestedly as she made a desperate run for escape.

She heaved at the handles on the front doors but they would not budge. Even if she still had her wand, she was sure the doors would remain locked. There was no luck with the windows either, they were also magically sealed.

Katie knew that she didn't have much time before Voldemort started pursuing her down the hallway. She did not what he would do to her, but she sure as hell didn't want to stay around long enough to find out. Pocketing her wand, she rushed up the stairs, and was about to disappear into her room when someone called her name from the top of the staircase.

"Katie?"

Of course she knew at once that the voice belonged Draco. However, instead of slamming the door closed and shutting him out, she peeked out of her room. Draco was slowly making his way down the hall, as if Katie was a deer and would get startled if he made any sudden movements.

Katie closed the door but she did not lock it. A few seconds later, Draco opened the door and, when Katie didn't protest or yell at him to leave (she always did) he slipped inside.

"Why?" Katie started. Her voice was heavy and hoarse from crying. "Why would you do that?"

"I wasn't just going to let you die." Draco said gently. He took one step closer to Katie but she backed up, shaking her head.

"I just killed my mother, Draco!" she sobbed. Her vision was swimming in and out of focus and she wasn't sure if it was due to the fact that she was crying or the nauseated feeling churning inside her. Images of Maria Blair crumpling and falling dead at her hands flashed through Katie's head.

"But she killed people too." Draco reasoned. His voice was soft and comforting, and yet Katie was not calming down.

"You should have let me die," she choked out. "I'm dangerous. You've seen that I'm capable of..." Katie trailed off but Draco knew that the missing word was murder.