hermione, ron and harry stared at talia with nervousness. they looked scared, and talia did, too.
they were.
"nightmares?" ron asked.
talia didn't nod or anything, but brought her knees up to her chest in the chair in an attempt to get more comfortable in the uncomfortable situation she was in.
"what else is in these nightmares?" hermione wondered. talia didn't want to answer, but she also knew that if the three trusted her enough with the draco death eater information, she could trust them.
"usually there's this snake. and then there's this, like, voice that says my name." she said.
"voice?" ron asked again like he did with "nightmares".
"yeah. followed by screaming. and then there's that mark. this exact one." talia continued, pointing at the drawing on the desk.
"this voice. does it sound like a whisper?" harry wondered. talia nodded slowly.
"how did you know?" she asked.
"harry..." hermione whispered.
talia shifted in her seat.
"i think you-know-who is trying to get into your head." harry said.
talia put her feet down and let her head fall into her hands on the desk. it was a lot of information to take in all at once, and she didn't know how to go about it.
"this doesn't make any sense. why would he want to get into my head out of all people?" tal thought out loud. she didn't know what to call voldemort, especially around harry.
"maybe to keep an eye on draco. you know, because he's a death eater." harry assumed.
talia picked her head and hands off of the table and stood up. she was getting a little annoyed with harry talking about draco like he knew for sure he was a death eater.
"okay. i'll talk to draco tonight and see what i can find out. until then, take a break from the scooby doo theories until we figure out what's going on. you guys are stressing yourselves out." tal said.
hermione and ron exchanged looks at "scooby doo", but talia only walked away, hurrying for her next class. and, even though she had a small quiz coming up, she wasn't really paying attention. instead, her mind wandered off, thinking about the outcome of draco becoming a death eater.
harry was right, it did make sense. and, if he really was, surely he didn't volunteer to be. he couldn't have. draco wasn't a knight in shining armor, but he wasn't a cold blooded psychopath, either.
then, talia thought about how she didn't really know draco. she knew he liked butter beer, didn't like reading, took pride in being a slytherin, and had a weird pure blood thing. but she didn't know much about his parents, or his home life, or his upbringing.
how could she develop such strong feelings for someone she didn't know that much about?
after her classes were over, talia made her way to snape's room for detention. she saw draco outside waiting for her, and avoided eye contact until they were within a foot of each other.
"hey." he greeted. talia gave him a smile and opened up the door. draco looked down at her to tried to read her expression, but tal just kept walking.
snape was sitting down at the desk, and didn't look up until talia and draco both sat down by the front.
"you both missed work when you were...late." he said. he walked over to the corner of the room and picked up a stack of papers, walking back to the desks and placing the papers down for them.
"surely we didn't miss this much work, professor." draco said, looking at the papers and back up at snape. snape started walking for his desk, but turned around when draco had spoken up.
"don't underestimate your time spent..loosing track of time." he said.
then, he turned around and left the room, slamming the door shut. talia and draco were both left in silence.
talia picked her hand up to grab a paper, looking it over. for the most part, it seemed to just be notes.
"i can't believe he's making us do this. what a dick." draco said. talia didn't say anything, just kept on reading the paper.
"don't tell me you're actually going to do this?" he asked.
again, tal kept quiet.
draco picked up his hand and took the paper from her, making talia turn and look at him.
"hey!" she mumbled.
draco gave her a frowned-smile, his eyebrows pressed together.
"what's up with you?" he asked.
tal sighed, looked at him, and reached for the paper again.
"nothing. i just want to get the work done." she lied. draco stopped smiling, but kept his eyes furrowed.
"you're lying." he said, still keeping the paper from her. talia knew she wasn't going to get it back, so she went and picked up another one from the stack. again, draco took that one from her, too.
"malfoy, stop." tal said.
"malfoy?" draco asked.
talia reached to get another paper, but draco grabbed her hand and pulled it back down to the table.
"alright, what's going on? you only call me malfoy when you're upset with something." he said. talia avoided his eye contact.
"it's nothing." she said.
"are you mad we're in detention? because you woke up late, too." he tried. talia shook her head.
"i'm not mad about detention. i don't care." she said.
"what's the problem, then?" draco pushed.
talia scooted her hair so that she was facing him, and he pulled her chair in so that she was closer.
tal got nervous. she didn't know how to go about the situation, and she didn't want this conversation to end poorly.
but she also wanted the truth.
"i had a conversation with ron, harry and hermione today." talia started. even though draco didn't say anything, he looked disgusted. so, talia just kept going.
"we talked about my nightmares. harry said-"
"wait. you talked to potter about your nightmares before you talked about them to me?" draco cut tal off. she closed her mouth, but quickly picked back up again.
"i did talk about them with you." she said. draco shook his head.
"that one morning in my dorm, the first night you stayed over, i asked if you wanted to talk about it and if you're fine. and you just carried on." he explained. talia could tell he was getting angry, which she was trying to avoid.
"if you would just listen-"
he only cut her off for a second time.
"oh, i'm listening. why don't you just go whine to potter about whatever stupid problems you have. because i don't care." he said.
draco threw the papers he took from talia onto the floor. tal looked at them, then at draco before standing up out of her seat to go and pick them up before snape got back.
"i can't believe you." she mumbled. at first, she didn't think draco heard her, until he scoffed.
"you can't believe me?" he asked. talia grabbed the papers from the floor and stood back up.
"yes. i try to talk to you about a serious problem, a very serious problem, and you get mad that harry's involved. if anything, i should be mad at you!" she explained. now, talia was getting angry and frustrated like draco was.
"why the hell would you be mad?" draco asked, now standing up as well.
"because you didn't tell me..."
talia closed her mouth quickly. she didn't mean to start up about the death eater thing yet, and this isn't how she wanted it to go.
"i didn't tell you what?"
draco walked from behind the desk he was sitting in to in front of it. he leaned on it and crossed his arms.
talia dropped her arms to her sides and sighed. then, she slowly walked over to draco. she smelled his cologne when she was close enough, and he looked down at her. he tilted his head and she got onto her tiptoes to kiss him.
then, she grabbed his hand and pulled away.
draco watched her play with his fingers and rings before she pulled up his left sleeve.
talia's eyes teared up at what she saw. there the dark mark was, laced on draco's skin.
tal brushed the mark over lightly with her thumb. she looked up at draco, who was too shocked to say anything. questions filled his head.
how did talia know that was there?
what would she think of him now?
did he scare her?
but for talia, everything clicked. everything from the night of that slytherin party when draco acted weird and aggressive towards her, to him constantly sneaking around in the room of requirement, to him going to borgin and burkes. everything all made sense now.
he was working for voldemort.
talia finely gained the courage to look back up at him. when she did, she could see the fear and confusion in his eyes. and, he could see it in hers, and he could tell she already knew.
"harry has an idea. but he's not completely sure." tal whispered.
she took a step back from draco, who stayed there for a second stuck in the moment.
then, he left with his eyes wide, not being able to process what had just happened.
talia sighed, wiped her face, and made her way over to the stack of papers she would now have to finish for both her and draco.