"What do you mean you can't have me? I don't even know what that is supposed to mean, Draco." He rested his fingers against my cheek, allowing me to feel his ring against my skin. He leaned in just a bit. I shove him away. "Don't touch me. Talk to me."
"I'm not the person you think I am." He pauses. "I'm not a good man."
"I think half the fucking school thinks of you as a bad man already."
His eyes bolted to mine. "Watch the attitude." He snapped. "I'm opening up to you here. Do you not want me to do that?" He was right. I needed to calm down a bit, though I was still angry at him for the things he'd been doing to me. I couldn't help it. I nodded for him to continue.
"People see me as a bully. I understand that that's how I portray myself. I learned from my father how to be a true pureblood. To be better than everyone else. And he taught me to hate anyone that was not worthy of my time." He inched a bit closer to me, then stopped and lowered his head. "But you are an exception. My exception..." His words drifted away from him, and I could see in his face he was beginning to break down.
"What is it?" I urge him to tell me more.
"You are not pure. You are not worthy of me. Not in the eyes of my family."
"What about in your eyes?"
He paused, just staring into me. "You are my weakness, Eleanor. And I can't fucking figure out why." He stomps away towards the bed and sits down, covering his face with his palms. I am glued to the floor. The part of me that cares for Draco wants to give him the hug he may need, the other part of me is still pissed at him.
"Draco..." I approach him slowly, making him raise his eyes towards me. I stop at his shoes. "Get up."
"What?" His voice cracks. Aw, how cute.
"I said stand up." He slowly straightens himself in front of me. I wrap my arms around his waist, allowing him to hold on to me and hug me back if he wants to.
He was stiff at first, not knowing how to react since the girl that was just yelling at him was hugging him. But he loosened up and let his arms embrace me. We just stood there as one for a moment, his cheek on my neck, just being close with one another.
I step back to look at him. "Thank you for opening up to me tonight. But I need to go, Draco."
He opened his mouth to say something, but the only thing that came out was "Okay.." He tugged at his long sleeves and he let me go. He seemed like he was holding something back, but I wasn't ready for any more heart-to-hearts tonight. Even though I enjoyed the night we shared, and I enjoyed the hug we just had, I was still too furious with him to hear more. Why would he tell me how much he cares about me in private, and then treat me the way he does in public as if these conversations didn't exist?
~~~
I wake up the next morning and Iris had already left the dorm. That's odd. She's hardly ever up before me. I hurry out of bed and throw on some jeans and a t-shirt and grab my black coat as I run out the door.
Rounding the corner towards the common room I hear a commotion. There were a lot of people in there, that's for sure. I found what seemed to be a good majority of the Slytherin house gathered in the common room, all chit-chatting and whispering among each other about who knows what.
I find Iris on our normal green sofa, speaking with another girl from our house that I wasn't necessarily best buddies with. She turned to greet me.
"What's going on around here?" I ask, looking around at everyone engaged in their own conversations. I spot Draco Malfoy on the other side of the room looking down at his feet not participating in any conversation.
"You didn't hear?" The other girl pipes up. I thought her name was Amber, but I wasn't completely sure. I shake my head.
"He who must not be named is back." She said.
"I thought that was something everyone already suspected?" I question.
"Amber, you're leaving out the important part." Iris chimed in. Amber was her name. I was right. Her orangish hair must have reminded me. "He is back. And he is bringing Death Eaters with him. Bellatrix being one of them. You know she escaped from Azkaban. Along with many others that are now following him."
"What does all this mean? Why is everyone making such a fuss all of a sudden?"
"Well.." Iris glanced around, and looked back at me. "They've done some investigating on what happened to Katie Bell a while back... and she was cursed."
"Cursed with what??" I interjected.
"Shhhh.. We aren't supposed to be making a big deal out of it, but of course everyone is." She leans in to tell me more. "They think.. he.. put a curse on her."
I sat in thought for a moment. "But why would he curse her specifically?" I ask.
They both shake their heads. "Don't know. But that's the thing." Amber squeezed back in to the conversation. "They don't think that the curse was for her, ya see."
"They think it was for Dumbledore." Iris finished her thought.
"How would Voldemort manage to do that? How would Katie be cursed instead of him?" I was so confused.
"Voldemort isn't here.. yet at least." Amber leaned in. "Katie was carrying a necklace when her incident happened, right? We're hearing that she was cursed with the Imperius Curse. She had randomly found the necklace in the girl's bathroom at the Three Broomsticks, but no one knows how it got there."
The Imperius Curse. That was one of the three Unforgivable Curses. When casted, the victim is completely under the casters' control.
"We think the reason she was not injured any further than she was was because she didn't touch the necklace how it was intended to be touched, or else it may have killed her. That's why we think it was meant for Dumbledore, sent by Voldemort."
I was intrigued. I saw first-hand what had happened to Katie, but never thought about the reasoning behind it. I remember seeing Draco there that day in Hogsmeade. There's no way he would be involved in something that terrible, right? I look over at him, only for him to already be looking back at me. He adjusted his stance, broke eye contact, and abruptly left the room. He really has been suspicious lately.
~
Later in the afternoon, I was strolling around Hogwarts by myself. Students were running around as if they had somewhere to be on a weekend. I find myself nearing the end of a corridor when I hear arguing up ahead. After a few Slytherins move out of my way, I finally notice Pansy who has Draco practically cornered up against the wall. I slowly move closer to hear what she is saying.
"WHO in the HELL are you going with then?" She seems a bit furious.
"I told you. I don't want to go with anyone. I don't even want to go. Especially not with you, Parkinson." I assume he's talking about the Yule Ball. There he goes lying about me again. He meets eyes with me, knowing that I just caught him, yet again, treating me as if I was never there. As if we never shared anything special.
"I thought we had something Dray Dray. Do we not have something special?" She reaches for his wrist.
He shoved her away. "Don't fucking call me that. Since when have we ever had anything special? All you do is follow me around like a fucking puppy. Since when do you think we've had anything special between us?" He looks back up at me, as if looking for approval for the performance he just put on.
"But.. I-" Pansy stammers. She turns and finds me where I had stopped to watch this encounter. She huffs, and looks back at Draco, a tear forming in the corner of her eye, and marches away.
Once out of sight, Draco hesitantly walked up to me.
"So I see you have decided not to go to Yule Ball with anyone." I blurt out rather aggressively.
"I'm going with you, aren't I?" He asks as if he didn't know what he was doing.
"That's not what I just heard."
"Don't be like that." He whispers.
"I'm being myself, Malfoy. You, on the other hand, need to figure out which version of you you're trying to be. Because I am not okay with this lying and then making shitty excuses as to why you've lied about me."
"But-" Now he is stammering.
"I am worth more than a lie, by the way." I cut him off and back away to leave. "If you decide to go, then I'll see you at 8:00 at the stairs. If not, then that's on you and I will take Cedric up on his offer to take me." I make my leave without another word from either of us.
*********
A.N.
Hello friends! I apologize for a rather boring chapter. I just got back from a vacation and I've got a bit of writer's block lol. I'll be back and better than ever soon! Thank you for the support so far!
Let me know what you want to see ;)