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Old 01-29-2010, 05:14 AM   #94 (permalink)
MalfoyzBeloved
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Chapter 24
The Letters


Tomorrow was the first big match for Slytherin in the match for House Cup. If we won this one against Ravenclaw with a minimum of winning 380 points, we could be in second place before the next match for champion. A few days after I was with Harry on the beach and he mentioned talking to Bryony... he did. He was right; he had to gang up on her with the other two house captains. Even that didn’t work, so I started talking to the rest of the team – they were just as frustrated with the amount of practice as much as the other house teams were - and with our combined forces, she gave in and only did two practices a week. It still annoyed the other houses because that meant they had to alternate with who practiced once a week while Bryony refused to step down, but it was better than before.

It was Saturday, a day we had off in Hogsmeade, but when Harry asked if I wanted to go with him I told him I have this ritualistic thing about how to prepare for an upcoming match and how I needed all of Saturday to do it, which meant I couldn’t go. He found it amusing and believed me and instead went with his friends. I was wary because it included Ginny, but it was already April, almost a full month since we last spoke, and she hadn’t brought up our conversation to Harry. Given all the opportunities she has with seeing him, it was a good sign for me, but still, who knew when she’d finally spill the truth.

It was lunch and I was one of the few kids that weren’t below the age of a 3rd year that was still in the castle. Just as I was finishing up, an owl swooped into the Great Hall, heading for the Slytherin table. It descended fast and landed right in front of me. I sighed, recognizing my mum’s owl, Benet. I untied the letter from his foot and, after stealing a beak-ful of bits of steak, he flew off. I opened the letter.

Rosa,
It’s been awhile since I’ve heard from you. Last I did... honestly, were you ill when you wrote that last letter? Going on about an elf I presumed dead and some story...
I’ve heard more from Draco than I have from you! How’s school? I hear the House Cup matches have started – how’s the Slytherin team? Up to par, I hope, especially with you as a member.


Draco has been writing to my mum? I’m going to have to talk to him about this...

I’ve been kind of concerned – It’s been nearly two months and you haven’t sent anything. Is something wrong? Or are you too busy with practice and studying for upcoming exams? Either way, I’m not asking for much, just a few words would be nice. I miss you.
Well, not much has happened here. I’ve been in contact with Draco’s parents and we’ve decided that, given some recent news, it would be best to postpone the date we had set until... well everything settles down. You know what I mean.
Music to my ears! Beautiful harps and airy flutes...
If all goes as planned, you two will be together by next summer. Hopefully by the latest. It all depends; it’s been crazy with some things going on.
Please write back.
Love,
Mum


I really wasn’t in the mood to write to her. My last letter where she deemed me ‘ill’ was shortly after I found out the truth about my father’s death. My mum knew how he really died... I went back to visit Kreacher once to ask a few more questions and he admitted to being ordered to tell no one except for one woman, one, Kreacher explained, ‘master knew very well and trusted dearly to keep the truth a secret’. Ever since then I’ve refused to speak to my mum for as long as I could. For so many years she fed me the lie that he died in the line of fire from an Auror when really he was trying to destroy the one thing my mum and I stood for; the Dark Lord. As Kreacher claimed, at least.

Folding up the worthless piece of paper, I stuck it in my pocket and got up from my seat, heading for the Slytherin common room. When I did make it there without issues, I found my book on the table next to the couch and sat down, opened it, and began reading. I kept reading until people started showing up.

“Hey!”

Aurelia plopped down next to me and pulled my book from my hands.

“Why’d you skip out?”

“I didn’t feel like going,” I grumbled. I tried to take back my book, but she refused to let me have it. Her eyebrows raised skeptically.

“Really?”

“Yeah, now give me back my bloody book!” I got a hold of it, but Aurelia pulled it from my grip.

“Does this have to do with a certain Gryffindor?”

My eyes widened slightly. “What?” I never told her about this.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. I had to hear it from Malfoy of all people!”

“Draco?” I demanded.

“Yeah, he found me in Hogsmeade and asked if you ditched me for Potter.”

Right on cue, Draco and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle came through. No one else was behind them, but there were a few others in the room so I’d have to be careful.

“Ah, you hid out here.” Draco smirked.

I think everyone knew what was coming; they all hurried out the portrait hole or into the dormitories. Then again, the entire Slytherin house learned after one explosive fight not to get in our way again. We (well Draco claims it was all me) broke a desk; clean in half and one of the legs has yet to be found.

“I’d rather stay in here and not speak to anyone than go out blabbering about business that isn’t mine!” I snapped, finally yanking my book from Aurelia’s hands, marked the page, and shut it. It was a hardcover, it could do some considerable damage if I was quick enough...

“It was an honest question. I figured your best friend of all people would know who you’ve been with.” He shrugged indifferently.

“You don’t hear me going around asking other people ‘Hey, where’s Draco? Did he manage to lock himself in a closet and is unable to open it again?’”

Aurelia burst out laughing, amazed. Draco glared coldly at her and turned his angry eyes to me. “If you did...”

“What? You’d mail my mum and say what a naughty girl I’ve been?” I snapped.

“I-What?” Draco’s arrogant, cold composure wavered, revealing his surprise and confusion.

“I have proof you’ve been sending letters to my mother! What have you been telling her?”

“Wouldn’t that be blabbering about someone else’s business?”

I threw my book at him. It was Goyle who managed to block it from actually hitting him. I let out a single chuckle.

“Can’t protect yourself, eh?”

He rolled his eyes and turned to Goyle. “You don’t have to watch this.”

“Watch this?” I scoffed. “What do you think this is? Some sort of dramatic scene in a play where a guy attempts to control ‘his girl’ in public?” I tried to imagine that happening but quickly realized that happens regularly between Draco and me.

“It’s the most interesting thing that’s happened all day,” Goyle responded. Draco glared at his friend, his eye twitching as that vein in his forehead pulsated. Goyle took his leave at that, Crabbe following. Once they were gone, Draco turned his eyes to me, freakishly calmer.

“You were saying?” He smiled.

“Keep out of my life. It’s bad enough you feel the need to meddle.”

“This is all about how I’m ruining your life again? We went over this,” he responded pointedly, completely unruffled.

“No, you yelled and screamed about how you think I’m a selfish prick. There’s a bit of a difference.”

He started laughing. Laughing!

“You know, Rosa...” he leaned over, resting his hands on his knees while still laughing rather hard. “You tear the mickey out of me, sometimes.” He kept laughing. Even Aurelia chuckled, but stopped when I looked at her angrily.

“I don’t mail your mother when something comes up!” I snapped.

His laughter slowed until he was just chuckling.

“Why would you have reason to mail my mother? I’m not the one who picks fights and throws things to make a point.”

“I do your work for Potions, you stalk me incessantly, feel the need to comment on every little thing I do...”

Draco held up one finger. “You get ingredients and mix them; I do the rest.” He then held up two fingers. “I’m watching out for you.” He held up another finger. “And you take my suggestions as...”

“Ha!” I started laughing. “What suggestions? That I should’ve gone to the dance with you? That I’m too arrogant and stubborn for my own good?”

“You know who I’m talking about!” He cut in furiously.

“Enlighten me,” I said flatly, crossing my arms and raising my eyebrows expectantly.

“It’s not just your life you’re messing up because of your inability to accept the inevitable,” Draco snapped, his jaw clenched.

“The... inevitable?” I repeated slowly. I couldn’t believe him; I could do whatever I damn well wanted! He doesn’t control me, nor does my mum. “You aren’t my mother! Even she can’t control me completely!”

“I never said I was your mother!” He stepped closer. “Either way, you can’t do anything right; you need someone to guide you.”

I gapped in disbelief. “That person isn’t you!

“Well guess what? Your mother made it so!” he yelled back, that vein in his forehead pulsating again.

“So what? I can run away.”

Draco snorted. “You’re ridiculous. You do, and you’re as good as dead. Look at where you’ve gotten yourself. It’s all because of your stupidity.”

My arm rose and smacked him right across the face. I didn’t even realize how close he had gotten until now. “Take that back.”

He let his head get carried with my hand. When he slowly turned back to face me, my eyes followed his cheek first. A red print was faintly forming where I hit him.

“Why should I? It’s true,” he snapped. “I’d be careful if I were you.”

“What’ll you do? Write to my mummy?” I jeered. “Do you want to know why I make stupid mistakes? It’s because of you,” I snarled. “It’s your fault. If you weren’t so screwed up...”

There was a blur of motion that sent me tumbling to the ground and caused a few distant-sounding gasps. My elbows scraped across the stone, my wrists throbbing from the weight forced upon them and my face stung painfully. I blinked and looked up.

“You. Watch. Your. Mouth,” he snarled back. His grey eyes gleamed with an unhuman fury that, inwardly, freaked the hell out of me. I wasn’t about to show it and let him win. So, I started to get up.

Smack!


I looked up and saw Aurelia obstructing my view of Draco. I then saw his feet moving; he stumbled backwards in recoil.

“How dare you, you vile little ferret!” Aurelia snapped. “I knew you’re a moronic git, but I never took you for someone who hits girls.”

She turned around and pulled me upright. I looked from her to Draco, who was regaining his composure from the second hit. He looked at Aurelia, the anger radiating so strongly from his trembling form and blazing eyes, it was tangible. When he clenched his jaw, he stopped trembling and looked at me. His eyes flickered from mine to where he had hit me. They widened slightly, that stony mask he used to shield himself from the world around him starting to wane. Before it could break, he spun around and ran out of the common room, the portrait hole door flying shut behind him.
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