I apologize for the delay
Chapter 24
Raven changed her clothes and went to the main stair case to meet Draco for lunch. Students who passed her gave her strange looks. She was dressed in her typical muggle-like attire. Baggy black pants, with a metal studded belt. She wore a white t-shirt with the image of a muggle rock band logo on the front. She wore her hair up in a pony tail and a thick strand of purple was highlighted amidst her jet black hair. On her wrist she wore a thick black leather bracelet that matched her belt and had on her black leather boots. To her, this was typical, but for the fellow witches and wizards at Hogwarts, she was dressed highly unusual. Even muggle-borns would look at her funny as she walked down the halls.
Her thoughts as far as dressing this way, which to her was nice, was only because she wanted to be comfortable in, what she called, 'a highly uncomfortable situation.' As she walked through the halls, she passed George, Fred, and Lee who were on their way to the Great Hall for lunch. George gave her a sweet look of adoration which made Raven smile but her smile was a façade. She was hiding the fear and dread that was consuming her at the moment.
She made her way to the bottom of the stairs where Draco dressed in his typical outfit. Black pants, black high neck shirt and black coat. She remembered him wearing something similar at the Quidditch World Cup.
“You look very…beautiful today,” he said looking strangely at her choice of attire. “Come. Lunch is waiting for us.”
They walked along the corridors of Hogwarts until they entered a familiar unused classroom. Raven hesitated going in, but Draco led her by the hand to a small table nicely decorated with two plates of food waiting for the couple.
To add to the atmosphere he pulled out his wand and lit two candlesticks. He pulled out her chair and asked if she needed anything to drink. Seeing a glass of water already on the table she declined and waited for him to sit down.
“How are your classes going?” Draco asked, beginning to eat.
“They’ve gone better. And you?” Her inner voice was screaming at her. She couldn’t understand why she was being so nice.
“Boring, as usual. What do you think of this tournament? I bet Potter won‘t make it to the end.”
Irritated by the comment about Harry, Raven decided to change the subject. “Draco, I know you didn’t plan this lunch to make small talk. What is it you want?”
“Raven, since day one I have sensed some anger coming from you,” he said wiping his mouth. “The purpose of this lunch is to make you forget about Weasley. If you would just let him go or get him out of your memory, you wouldn’t be so angry and bitter.”
“I was angry and bitter before I met George.”
“Yes, well, I feel that your problems would be better right now if you stop letting him get in your head,” he said taking hold of her right hand.
Raven looked at her hand and hoped he wouldn’t touch the ring. “I’m with you here for lunch, aren’t I? Doesn’t that count for something?”
Draco nodded and the two proceeded with their lunch. Raven could barely stomach what she was eating. The food was bland and tasted as though it never was cooked to begin with. Draco seemed to be enjoying it. He ate it as though it was the best meal he had eaten in months.
“How come you aren’t eating?” he asked.
“It’s not that good,” she said, putting her fork down. “I had better food when Snape cooked for me.”
They both laughed a little. Raven could not believe that she was making jokes with him. For the first time in months she was starting to be herself, with Draco. That feeling was not going to last long though.
“I’m glad to finally see the real you come out,” Draco said. Raven started to sense the same feeling she had when he kissed her hand at the World Cup; he was up to something. “There is something I need to speak with you about."
“Am I going to regret this?”
“Father has spoken to Dumbledore and he wants you permanently removed from Gryffindor and placed into Slytherin. He simply explained to Dumbledore that with your declining health it would be better if I was there to help you get well. That would be easier if we were in the same house.” Raven gave him a perplexed look. “Dumbledore will only agree if you want to transfer. Otherwise, you stay in Gryffindor.”
Raven threw he napkin up. “I knew it!”
Draco sat back in his chair and rested one hand on the table. “What do you know?”
“First of all, I know that Dumbledore isn’t stupid and even he knows that what your father fed him was a load of crap!”
“Was it, now?”
“Yes, and second of all, your father doesn’t want to keep better tabs on me, he wants me away from Gryffindor, mainly the ones of the Weasley sort.”
Draco started to say something but Raven shot her hand up in front of his face. “Last, but certainly not least, I would never go to Slytherin. Are you really…no, wait. Is your father really that daft to think that I would just transfer houses for the sake of a ridiculous contract? Think about it. Dumbledore gave me the choice. Even he knows that it’s a crazy idea and that I would say no.”
Draco sat up in the chair and curled one finger under his nose in an effort to hide his abundantly clear anger. “You are making a big mistake!”
“So you tell me on a daily basis.” She got up and walked towards the door. Draco ran in front of her and stopped her from leaving. “Why Draco? Why can’t you leave me alone? It’s not like we can get married now anyway. You still have three years before you are of age. A lot can happen between now and then.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Raven looked down at his hands on her arms, turned around and walked back towards the table. She grabbed her glass of water and took a drink. Raven then turned around to see that Draco was quite close to her. “How can you expect me to drop everything: my friends, my house, my loyalty? For you? I never dropped anything for George. He liked me for who I was, we didn’t have trust issues.”
“I am not George Weasley!”
“Did I hit a sore spot, Draco?” Raven took a step back and walked up to Draco‘s side and stood shoulder to shoulder. “Tell your dad that I’m not switching houses.
Raven walked again towards the door. Draco swiftly grabbed her arm and planted a kiss on her. Unable to break free, she was forced to let him have this moment, but it came at a price. A cool wave came over her, starting at her feet and rising up to her head. When he let go she saw a light vapor escape her mouth, similar to when being outside on a cold day and seeing one's own breath. Raven knew that was expressionless because there was absolutely nothing going on in her head. She felt like an empty shell about to crack.
Draco had a twisted smile on his face. “Stop fighting so hard and let this happen. We belong together, Raven.”
“Why did you do that? What did you just do to me besides kissing me without permission? What was that stuff that came out of me?"
“First, I don’t need permission. Second, I just proved to you that I am in more control of this situation than you think. And as for your last question, I'll let you figure that one out on your own.
“What did you do, Draco?”
“Just reclaiming what I already own.”
Raven quietly muttered some choice words under her breath to Draco. Tears were trying to come out but she was not going to let him see her cry. She had always felt, since this all began, that pieces of herself were being taken away, slowly and painfully. It felt that the kiss only took away more. She was becoming a puppet: nothing on the inside and able to be controlled on the outside.
Her words did not seem to faze Draco who smiled and left the room. She sat at the table and began to cry. She took her plate of half-eaten food and threw it at the door. She then swiped her arms across the table to finish the job. The dishes shattered and food sprayed everywhere. All that was left on the table was a piece of lettuce and a steak knife. She had a thought and wondered if cutting off her finger would be worth not having to go through this torture.
Rather be without a finger than Draco’s wife.
Raven picked up the knife and stared it down for a moment. She put her hand flat on the table and put the blade of the knife at the base of the ring. With tears rolling down her face, she was about to start cutting when the door slammed open.
“Raven!” It was Snape, who looked quite alarmed as to what he walked into. He ran to her and grabbed the knife out of her hand. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t do this anymore,” she said crying loudly, trying to get the knife back from him. “Give it to me!”
“Stop! Raven, stop!” he said trying to keep her away from the knife.
“Then kill me!" She fell to the floor and began to sob harder. “Let me die, before he kills me first.”
Snape knelt down and gave her a napkin to wipe her tears. Not paying much attention to what she was doing, she leaned into Snape and rested her head on his chest and continued to cry. Snape, who wasn’t sure what to do, wrapped his arm around her. He looked as though he was trying to remember if he ever hugged anyone or trying to figure out if he was doing it right.
Raven jumped back a little and realized she was hugging Snape. She apologized but Snape didn’t say a word. She wiped her eyes with the napkin and struggled to get the strength to stand. He then helped her up to her feet and walked her to his classroom.
Raven looked up at her uncle, who clearly looked distressed. "How did you know?"
"I knew where you were having lunch. I was going to check to see if everything was going well when I saw Draco leaving. I asked him where you were and he told me. Shortly after I heard a crash and ran over to see what it was."
When they arrived at his classroom, Snape sat her down at a desk at the front of the room and then pulled up a chair and sat next to her.
“What happened up there?”
Raven, still trying to catch her breath, explained to him the story and especially what happened when he kissed her. After she told her story, she plopped her head on the desk and felt like giving up. “What am I going to do? I can’t keep doing this.”
“You are not the type to let people tell you what to do and how to live your life. But you do have to get better. That is one command that I am not going to let you get out of.”
“You know as well as I do that things will get worse before they get better,” she said, plopping her head back down on the desk. “If you want me to rest, you have to give me more of that potion.”
“Raven, I can’t,” he said, looking disappointed. “You are already losing your power of Legilimency and Occlumency. Giving you more of that potion will only increase your odds of losing it all together. You could be committed into St. Mungo’s and I am not going to be responsible for you going mad.”
“I’m already feeling that way.”
“You only feel that way. You are in more control than you think.”
Snape helped her up and began walking her to the Gryffindor portrait hole. Raven looked as though she had been in a huge battle and lost. As they passed, they saw George and Fred talking near the main stairs. They kept walking but George and Fred followed. They were on the revolving staircase when they passed Draco, Crabbe and Goyle who saw the twins following close behind. They were quick to catch up to Raven and Snape.
“Sir, may I ask what is going on,” Draco asked, sounding paranoid.
“Nothing, Mr. Malfoy. I believe you have had enough interaction with my niece today,” Snape looked back at George who turned to Fred as if they were not listening. “I would kindly ask that for tonight, you leave her alone. She is tired and she doesn’t need you bothering her.”
“Sir, you know that I don’t hurt her. She does it to herself,” said Draco, looking oddly at Raven who still had a tired, blank expression on her face. She could barely stand as Snape pushed him aside and continued walking her to the entrance of the Gryffindor common room.
Snape walked away and left her standing in front of the Fat Lady, then gave George instructions to make sure that she got rest and ate dinner when it was brought up to her. Snape walked away and Fred kept Raven standing while George and Snape secretly spoke for a moment. George walked over and said the password. Fortunately, no one was in the common room, which made her feel more comfortable. Fred left the two alone while Raven made herself comfortable on the couch near the fire.
George went up to his dormitory and grabbed a blanket. He then came back downstairs, covered Raven with the blanket and sat next to her. “I’m not going to ask what happened. So we’ll just sit here until a girl comes in to help you to bed.”
“I’m not going to bed. I am going to regain my strength by sitting here for a while and then I am going to get started on my homework.”
“Raven. Your uncle said-”
“My uncle doesn’t understand what happens when I sleep. Let’s just sit here in this moment and take it in while it lasts. Maybe we can eat dinner together when it arrives. I just need your company right now.”
For the rest of the evening Raven and George ate and did their homework together. They never paid attention to the time and to anyone else that entered the room. Soon, though, it was time for George to go to bed. Raven made him go and he tried to convince Raven to do the same, but she wasn’t complying. He went on to bed, unwittingly, and left Raven alone in the common room. There was no way she was sleeping tonight. Not after what happened. She wondered to herself what Harry felt like when the Dementors attacked him last year. It felt as though when Draco kissed her, her soul was being taken from her, just like the Dementors Kiss. Only control of her soul wasn't what he wanted. Draco wanted control of her.
Chapter 25