Belong (D.M)

Part nineteen

Rebecka won both rounds, and the little girl was cheerful. She, however, wondered if it was because Draco had let her win.

Rebecka skipped up the stairs to go to bed, and her father turned off the light downstairs.

"Goodnight everyone"

"Goodnight"

She headed up the stairs with Draco, getting ready for bed. And as she sat at her desk, braiding her hair, he stood leaned against the door frame, looking at her with his arms crossed over his chest.

"What?" she asked, finishing the braid.

"Uhm nothing" he mumbled, like she had just caught him deep in thought "you look cute, that's all"

"Thank you" she laughed, tying a hair tie around the end of her braid "but Draco?"

"Yes?" he asked, closing the door behind him as he walked into the room.

"I was wondering... are you that bad at exploding snap or did you let my sister win?"

"I-I uhm..." he trailed, sitting down on the couch "I'm not bad at exploding snap, but she was simply better"

"Really?" she questioned, furrowing her eyebrows towards him.

"I might have let her win" he confessed, laughing quietly "but she was so excited about playing exploding snap"

"Yeah she loves exploding snap" she laughed, tilting her head to the left as she looked at him "but that's nice of you"

"Goodnight now Ellie"

"Goodnight Draco"

....

Easter break ended and everyone was back at Hogwarts once again. The weather was warm, it was slowly turning into summer. However, the longing for summer was quickly overshadowed by the news that hit Hogwarts.

Firstly it was the news of there being a mass outbreak of prisoners at Azkaban. Ron had shoved the Daily Prophet in front of her at breakfast on Tuesday, fear clear in his eyes.

"This is bad, this is not good" Harry stated, looking at his friends "what are we going to do?"

"Nothing Harry" Hermione said sternly "there's nothing you can do about this"

"This is the work of... you know who isn't it?" she asked in a hushed tone, looking between a terrified Ron, concerned Hermione and angry Harry.

"Definitely" Harry said "I suppose he's assembling his army"

"And Umbridge is going to deny there even being a outbreak" she sighed, taking a bite of her toast.

The next set of bad next news came during their first Dumbledore's Army meeting back after Easter break. Everyone was cheerful and happy to be back, seeing each other and working together once again. But the cheerful spirit in the room of requirements was short lived, for soon the wall began to shake, shattering the mirror and the stones.

The explosion revealed Umbridge, dressed in her usual repulsing tone of pink, with her weak inquisitorial squad behind her. Students dressed in black, silver and deep green. Everyone on the inquisitorial squad was from Slytherin, which wasn't a huge surprise to her, she would expect no more of a student that lives in the dungeons.

Pansy Parkinson was smirking, with her arms crossed over her chest. And she saw Crabbe and Goyle standing like two walking crash test dummies behind everyone. Then she saw him, her friend Draco Malfoy. He was holding the Ravenclaw girl Cho Chang by her robes, displaying a pleased smirk.

His eyes were glittering with achievement, and her heart was breaking more and more by each passing second.

"Draco" she breathed, barely audible for anyone around her.

Cho Chang looked at them, guilt clear in her brown eyes. Then she looked down, swallowing hard. Harry looked like he couldn't believe his eyes, and soon a hurry erupted in the room as most students rushed off to escape punishment from the pink devil herself.

She could still not believe her eyes, and she stood glued to her spot on the dusty floor.

He had been at her house just last week, and he had been totally different from the sight that was now upon her. He is different whenever he's alone with her. And seeing him in her two story house with her family, laughing with her sister and sitting by the dinner table eating lasagna, had changed something inside of her. Her heart had picked up on something that wasn't there before, something that had been growing unknowingly in silence within her.

For a moment she had pictured a quiet life with him. A two story house with a Pickett fence and a big library filled with interesting books. Dinner around a wooden table, and black and white movies in the living room. Drinking tea and eating chocolate cake, not worrying about what anyone thought of them.

But in a matter of seconds her newfound love for him had crumbled to the floor, just like the stone wall. Everything inside her that had longed for him was suddenly broken, burnt beyond healing.

"Come on Ellie, we have to go" Neville called out as he pulled her arm "come on, move"

She threw one last glance at Draco, who was staring right at her. His pleased smirk had dropped from his pale lips, and had now turned into a shocked expression with dread in his eyes.

She felt like crying as Neville pulled her away.

She spent the entire evening curled up on the scarlet coloured couch in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, not talking to anyone. Not even her house colours could seem to bring joy to her, and she loves her house. Everything they had worked so hard for had been ripped from them, leaving the world less hopeful. And he had been right there, Draco Malfoy who was supposed to be her friend had been right in the middle of it.

"Ellie"

She looked up as she heard her name being spoken softly. She saw Harry, Ron and Hermione standing there, looking at her.

"You're back" Neville said, walking up to them "how did it go?"

"I wouldn't say great" Ron sighed, sitting down on the couch "Dumbledore is gone"

"What do you mean he's gone?" Ginny questioned, looking at her brother.

"They were going to take him to Azkaban, so he left, I would've done so myself too if someone was taking me to that hell of a place" Ron said.

"It's only temporary I suppose" Hermione sighed, sitting down next to Ron "it's Dumbledore I mean"

"He'll come back" Harry added, looking at Ellie who was hugging her knees "are you alright Ellie?"

Neville, Ginny, Ron and Hermione turned their heads to look at her, but she couldn't bare to face them. Disbelief washed over her, and she felt foolish for yet again trusting Draco.

"I think she's shocked" Neville spoke softly "she's been sat there all quiet since we got back to the common room"

"It will be okay Ellie" Harry assured her.

She felt Hermione lay a hand on her upper arm, trying to comfort her.

"I can't... I don't think I can treat this burn" she mumbled, staring into the fire that was slowly dying in the fireplace.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked, furrowing her brows "no one got hurt Ellie, no one got burned"

Hermione didn't know it, of course, but she was wrong. And Hermione was almost never wrong. She had been burned, and she felt like everything she had with Draco had burned up in a matter of seconds.

"Touch me and I'll burn you"