Hateful Love

Chapter Forty-One

          The more that I think about it, the more I realize that Draco and I have gotten almost too good at this.

Draco P.O.V.

          My heart pounds as Cassie walks by me, and without a word I step briskly past her, my face hard set but still slightly hurt. It’s harder than it seems to push away the stupid butterflies as her hair whips past me, sending a faint smell of soap in my direction. I’m such a moron. Who would have ever thought that I—Draco Malfoy—would care about a girl so much that I’d risk my own life to protect hers? No one sane, anyway.

          Before I can stew in the annoyance at myself any longer, someone shouts my name from across the hall and I look up to see Blaise Zabini walking over to me. Normally, I would be suspicious as to what he’s calling me for, but lately he and I have been having some sort of conversation. We only say a few brief, careful words to each other, which is a big difference from the steamy silence we used to have.

          “What?” I ask calmly, stepping to the side so the rest of my class can pass by me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Alecto glance back at us and seemingly decide that it’s alright for me to stay behind, as she continues on leading my class to Divination.

          As the hallways slowly empty out, Blaise steps closer to me and eyes me carefully. “Someone’s here to see you.”

          My stomach drops instantly; it’s got to be my father. After storming out like that over two weeks ago, I’m surprised he hasn’t come sooner. I shake my head and sigh exasperatedly, “Well, I don’t want to see him.”

          “It’s not your dad, Draco. It’s Samantha.”

          It takes me a moment to remember who Samantha is exactly, but once I do, I realize that’s much, much worse than Lucius. Blaise looks over at me seriously, waiting for my reaction. I swallow hard and snap, “Well, Lucius probably sent her here, so just tell her to leave. I don’t—“

          “Draco, she came here on her own,” Blaise interrupts. The final bell rings loudly in the silent hallway, and I jump slightly. He continues with pity in his eyes, “And trust me, you’re gonna want to hear what she has to say.”

          Despite my dread, curiosity gets the better of me and I head down to the Slytherin common room, skipping Divination entirely. I know Professor Trelawney won’t even notice my absence, and the Carrows will have no reason to be angry once they realize who I’m talking to.

          I stop in front of the portrait and snap rather harshly, “Mudblood.” I wait impatiently for the painting to slide open, then crawl through into the common room. At first, it seems that the room is completely empty. But I look around and see a short figure standing in front of the cold fireplace, facing away from me. The portrait shuts behind me, and I clear my throat awkwardly as the figure turns around.

           Samantha eyes me cautiously for a moment, almost like she’s concerned I’m going to attack her. When I don’t make a move, she relaxes slightly and I notice how exhausted she looks. From what I remember back at the Manor, she’d seemed fresh and awake, but now I see the dark circles beneath her eyes. Is it possible…that she’s just as concerned about this as I am?

          Forcing myself to take a few steps forward, I avoid eye contact as best I can and say lamely, “Um, Blaise said you wanted to talk to me…?”

          “Yeah,” Samantha replies, crossing her arms and getting straight to the point. “I’m here to tell you that you have to marry me.”

          I blink and take a step back, realizing that she’s crazy. I’d hoped she was just as against this whole thing as I am, but apparently she actually wants it. Shaking my head, I snap, “Look, I do not want to marry you. This whole ‘arranged marriage’ thing isn’t actually going to happen, so I’d appreciate it if—“

          “It doesn’t matter what you want,” she interrupts, glaring at me heatedly. It’s becoming increasingly difficult not to turn and sprint back out the portrait hole. Samantha takes a deep breath and continues more calmly, “We have to marry whether we like it or not. Two weeks ago, you left before your father could fully explain the gravity of the situation. The Dark Lord has threatened to kill both our parents if this marriage doesn’t happen, Malfoy.”

          My head spins at her words, and it takes me a moment to formulate a response. “But—but why is it such a big deal to him? And I thought you wanted to marry me.”

          She laughs at this and replies with a smile, “Please, Malfoy. Of course I don’t want to marry you.” Normally, I would feel hurt by her words, but now all I feel is sweet relief. Samantha’s smile disappears as she says softly, “I don’t know why it’s so important to the Dark Lord, but it must be because he thinks it will insure our loyalty to him.”

          Without thinking, I scoff. How the hell is an arranged marriage between two Death Eaters going to make us support him more? I quickly realize my mistake and glance down at Samantha to see if she’s looking at me with disgust for disregarding the Dark Lord in such a way, but to my surprise, she nods in agreement. “That’s what I thought. But we can’t do anything about it.”

          I swallow hard and try to process what she said earlier. “Wait, so the Dark Lord is willing to kill both of our parents if we don’t do this? Isn’t he concerned about losing four of his followers?”

          “Malfoy, he doesn’t care,” Samantha answers, the green torches of the common room illuminating her face eerily. “In case you haven’t noticed, neither of our families are on his good side anymore.”

          I shake my head back and forth slowly, wanting to tell her that there’s no way in hell I’m going through with this. But Samantha just looks at me sadly and says quietly, “You’d do anything to protect your family, right? No matter how much you hate them?”

          My shoulders gradually slump in defeat, because she’s right; I can’t just let my parents die because of me, even if I loath my own father. But the idea of betraying Cassie like this bothers me so much that it hurts.