D A P H N E
My leg bounced anxiously under the table in the great hall. The chatter and laughter and various sounds of the dinner hall were nothing compared to the thundering of my heart. It is so unlike Eliza to lie to me—and now I am both concerned and trying to decide if she needed me to cover for her.
"Will you stop," Pansy muttered, placing a firm hand on my knee, "She will be back—"
"It's been twenty minutes," I blurted, "and the boys will be here any second. Draco will—"
Pansy looked at me, her eyes deep in thought.
"Do you think she needs us to lie for her?" Pansy questioned. She and I both knew how protective Draco was over Eliza. He is going to wonder where she is and if he finds out she has lied to us about her whereabouts and that we do not know where she is either. Merlin. . . just the thought of the destruction he would do was catastrophic.
"Yes," I said too fast, "we lie and then we go and look for her and find out what the hell is going on."
Pansy nodded her agreement and her eyes darted to the entrance of the hall, "shit, here they come."
My eyes looked up and in walked Theo and Blaise swaggering their way in alongside Draco.
My leg began bouncing again, "Is now a bad time to let you know I'm a bad liar?"
Pansy sighed, "I'll do the talking. You just follow my lead, "Her hand held my knee harder under the table, "Eliza is helping Mcgonagall in the library."
"Yes," I let out just as the boys caught our eyes, "Eliza is helping Mcgonagall in the library."
"I'm starving," Blaise said as he settled himself on the bench opposite us, Draco and Balise following suit as they began grabbing food from the center of the table.
Pansy gave me a look and I shakily smiled.
"You two alright?" Theo asked as he bit into a chicken wing.
"Yes," Pansy purred softly, "how was your day?"
"It was—"
"Where's Eliza?" Draco's stern voice cut through and Theo and Blaise both looked along the bench realizing Eliza was not here with us.
Shit. I quickly sipped some water from my cup as Pansy furrowed her brows, "Oh—she's in the library, helping Mcgonagall."
"Why?" Draco asked, "What would Mcgonagoll need help with?"
"I don't know," Pansy snapped, seeming annoyed by Draco's questions, "Eliza is just nice like that."
For a moment, Pansy's and Draco's eyes remained locked and held in an intense stare. I could have sworn the hall became quieter and the air stiffened. I anxiously looked between them.
"She would have told me," Draco abruptly said and Pansy chuckled slowly.
Draco looked at me and I instantly looked away, finding myself very thirsty and finishing the water in my glass.
"Are you two covering for her?" Draco asked, "is she—" he said quietly and then shook his head, "she isn't with someone else?"
"Oh for goodness sake—" Pansy sighed.
"Malfoy you're sounding like a crazy jealous boyfriend," Theo said, "relax mate."
"Eliza would never cheat," I said even though I promised myself I would stay quiet.
Draco nodded his head and started eating his dinner and thankfully that was the end of the conversation but I could still see the contemplation in his eyes.
~
When Pansy and I returned to mine and Eliza's dormitory, we became increasingly concerned when we found the dorm empty.
"Okay, so she's not here," Pansy pointed out and I walked toward the open bathroom door and peered my head inside just in case she was in there for whatever reason. But it was empty.
"Where the hell is she?" I said as I appeared back out of the bathroom Pansy was fiddling with the necklace around her neck.
"Not here," Pansy said, "so let's go and look for her."
I nodded my head and we left the dormitory with our worry growing more and more. The words what if—what if—repeated in my head.
"I hope Draco isn't right," Pansy said and I gave her a look which said, me too.
~
We walked down the stairs to the common room when Pansy grabbed my arm and valued us just before we could step out into the open living space. I turned around with raised brows, "What?"
"Are they there?" Pansy asked in a quiet voice.
"Who?" I whispered back although I was very confused as to why we were whispering.
"The boys!" she snapped quietly.
I very, very slowly leant forward and let one eye peep around the wall and there, sitting on the sofa by the fire was Draco, Theo, Blaise and Adrian. My stomach turned cold as I realized why this was a problem. We had already lied once to them but twice, that was both terrifying and impossible.
"Yes," I leant my back against the wall.
"Shit," Pansy cursed.
"What are we going to do?" she asked and I truly had no idea and for a few moments after, we were silent in thought.
"Okay," she said, "so we just walk out."
I looked at her like she had said the most ridiculous thing ever, "We just walk out?"
"Yeah," she shrugged, "what the hell are they going to do? Is it strange for us to just walk out of the common room?"
"An hour before curfew when Eliza is missing?" I said, "Yes."
"They don't know she is missing," Pansy made a point and I realized that just walking out could work.
"Okay," I loosened a breath but it did not make me relax, "then let's go."
And just like that, we walked out into the open wilderness of the common room, feeling the eyes of the boys narrow on us but we didn't dare look over at them.
"Go. Go. Go," Pansy gripped my arm and picked up our step.
"What?" I snapped.
"They're looking," she seethed in my ear and I made the terrible mistake of looking over and Merlin, Did Draco look like a feral beast waiting to pounce at us. His face was full of confused and concerned rage but we were out of the common room and speeding down the corridors.
~
D R A C O
~
The moment that common room door shuts behind Daphne and Pansy, I'm standing. Mid-conversation and I am standing and quickly following them, leaving me with a trail of complaints from Theo and Blaise. Asking where I am going and what the hell am I doing. I don't turn back and their whining is nothing more than a distant echo in my mind.
They are hiding something. They are covering for Eliza and I am determined to find out why. It could be anything, it could be anything. She could be with someone else—the thoughts make unspeakable thoughts scream in my head. Or it could have something to do with the Avarias family who are after her—
She isn't safe. Not anywhere and no one seems to be worried or doing anything about it. There is only so much I can do to keep her safe but there is so much more Dumbledore or The Ministry could be doing.
In the distance I see Pansy and Daphne turn around a corner and I pick up my speed. I am about to go up to them and demand they tell me what they know and where Eliza is but I instead decide it's better to just follow silently behind.
I do exactly that for an hour and my patience is lessening. On each floor they thoroughly searched while avoiding every single teacher since it was well past curfew now. Every single room on every single floor and now we are on the seventh. It was almost like they were looking for her?
The two of them walk into the girl's bathroom and I am a few feet away and then I am steps away and then I hear Daphne's voice.
"Eliza!" my heart stops at that tone. That worry and fear in her voice. My feet come to an instant halt and my eyes look up, almost as if I am deciding if I want to know what is in there—
I take another step and I am in the doorway of the girl's bathroom. Pansy was looking at something on the floor. Daphne was out of sight.
Pansy whipped her head up and turned to me and then her eyes widened. My blood is cold and my muscles are tense and all I see is Pansy's mouth moving. She held up her hands, as though to stop me but I walked in anyway.
"Wait," the words are coming from somewhere far away, "wait."
I am not prepared for what I see.
On the floor, in the darkness of the bathroom which is only lit by the glow of the moonlight, is Eliza. Lying lifelessly on the damp floor with Daphne knelt beside her trying to get her to wake up.
Trying to get her to wake up—
My steps were slow as I approached.
The small puddle on the floor that she is lying in is tinted red—Blood—My heart falls again. But then I saw the cracked mirror and its shattered fragments on the floor. I then see Eliza's hand and her delicate knuckles are cut and bruised and blood is reddening the floor water beneath. I then see the empty bottle, lying next to her leg.
Not dead. . . Drunk. . . Unconscious.
Only a small relief settles through me. Not dead.
"Eliza," Daphne was saying, "Eliza can you hear me?"
How much did she drink? Why?
I walk around and my knees dampen as I kneel beside her. Her eyes fluttered open but not long enough to register who we were. It kills me to know that she had gotten this way, to a state where she doesn't even know who is beside her. To a state where she is too weak to scream, to call for help. To protect herself. Fuck, what the hell was she thinking?
"I—" Eliza muttered, her voice cracked.
"You never knew where she was?" I look up and ask Daphne, more than annoyed, "She wasn't helping Mcgonagle?"
"Draco, we're sorry," Pansy said as she stood behind Daphne. I look between them, only guilt and tears in Daphne's eyes.
"You should have told me!" I snarled out of my rage.
"We didn't know—" Daphne said, her voice just as sad as her eyes.
"I don't want to hear it," I looked away at Eliza who had tried to sit up but both mine and Daphne's hands gently pressed down on her shoulders.
"Don't try and sit up," I said, "You will be sick."
"What are we going to do?" Daphne asked, "Should we take her to Pomfrey?"
"No," Pansy said, "she will be expelled for this."
"I couldn't—" Eliza tried to speak again.
"Shh—shh," I muttered to her, "It's okay. don't try to speak—"
"No I—" she tried again.
"I couldn't—find it," she muttered and I looked down at her half-open eyes full of fear and I realized this was much darker than any of us realized.
"What did she say?" Daphne asked.
"I'm not sure," I lied because if this is something to do with Noah, then the less people know the better until I figure out what the hell happened.
Eliza's eyes fell shut again as a tear slid down her cheek.
I am going to kill him.
--------------------------------------------------
Copyright © Kirsten Enn
Insta & TikTok @ Kirsten.enn