the boy who had no choice [d.m]

𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖞

ELARA WISHED THE GROUND WOULD OPEN AND SWALLOW HER UP.

She stared at Indigo, her hearbeat racing in her ears, as she tried to calculate how to play this. But she could see it all over her friends' faces - they believed it without a doubt.

Elara was saved from speaking when Stuart interjected, stunned, "Why the hell would you even ask that?"

Indigo didn't look away from Elara, her hands clenched into fists on the table. "Why isn't she answering?"

Elara opened her mouth but Stuart jumped in again, his tone sharper, "Indigo, you're being ridiculous."

"Really?" Indigo demanded, finally flicking her dark eyes over to look at Stuart. "So tell me why the fuck Fletcher Smith would lie about assaulting Elara?"

"I'm sorry - what?" Elara gaped, her heart dropping. She caught Draco shift in his chair nearby, obviously eavesdropping now that Indigo's voice was raised.

"Tracy found Fletcher bawling his eyes out in an empty classroom," Indigo went on, furiously. "Apparently, Malfoy's been making his life hell -" She glanced over at Draco as she spat out the sentence but he was doing a remarkable job of nodding along to Marcus Flint. "And as soon as Tracy asked why, he broke down and explained what he'd done to Elara."

Elara's tongue was frozen, her palms damp. They knew about Fletcher - and she couldn't come up with an excuse as to why he would lie.

"What? Are you going to say Tracy is lying?" Indigo hissed from across the table. Tracy stared at the table, letting a tear roll down her face. "Or are you going to come clean and explain to us why the fuck you've been sleeping with the enemy?"

Draco's hand stopped twirling the quill.

"Enemy?" Elara retorted, feeling her own temper flare up. "Even if I was sleeping with him - "

"Which you are," Indigo cut her off, her voice a cutting edge. "You are because I asked. When Fletcher said that Malfoy came to your fucking rescue and has been tormenting him since, I put two and two together. Your disappearances in the middle of the night, the stupid smile you can't keep off your face in any class we have with him - it was all so fucking obvious. So I asked Zabini."

"You'd believe what he says?" Elara exclaimed, clutching at straws. But it was all unraveling - all falling apart in her hands.

"Oh, Merlin, no," laughed Indigo, harshly. "But I believe the eight portraits in the Slytherin common room."

She sent a look of disgust in Draco's direction. He still seemed unfazed, saying something to Marcus, but Elara caught the twitch in his jaw.

Elara sat back in her seat, helplessness rising in her like a nauseating wave. She couldn't get out of this.