Spare Me; Draco Malfoy

Arrows and Targets

A couple weeks have passed since I got detention. The new Professor, Umbridge escorted me personally to the kitchens where the house elves cooked our meals. They had me rolling loads of dough for the pumpkin biscuits, which make me sick to my stomach from just thinking about it. Umbridge told me I was already on her radar of students to watch out for. The year has just begun and I was already starting off on the wrong foot with her. She's got a big role in the ministry, so I don't want to get on her bad side.

Draco somehow managed to put in an extra word about me sneaking out, he alerted Umbridge that I was getting hostile with him that night, for giving me detention. As if he isn't the one who insulted my family and I. It was now enforced to have extra watch on students sneaking out after curfew, secret hang out spots were being discovered and were being guarded nightly. Such as, the astronomy tower and the spiral staircase that led to the clock tower, usually where lots of snogging happens.

Tonight, is another cold and rainy night. I can hear the thunder rumble above the ceiling. It's colder down here, since our dorms are placed next to the dungeons and under the black lake. It's going to be another sleepless night for me. Every time I close my eyes, I've been getting flashbacks of my mother, on the kitchen floor. They're not voluntary thoughts, but they still appear. As much as I would like them to vanish from my memory, I can't make them leave.

I grab my wand from my night stand, as well as my diary and quill. I bring light from the tip of my wand closer to the parchment. In the distance, Orion and Frida sleep peacefully, completely unaware of my restlessness. The other girl in our dorm, her name is Portia, also is in a deep sleep. This night will be like the past nights again. I'll write for a couple hours, usually until four in the morning, then I'll sit and stare at the ceiling as I count the grey stone tiles and wonder if my insomnia will ever end. I'll get about two hours of sleep before I wake up in a cold sweat, and by then it's 7:30 am, which is when I get up to shower and change for breakfast.

Today my diary is different, much more dark than it usually is. In the corner of my page I sketch a woman without facial features, I draw scribbles as her eyes and she's completely surrounded by dark clouds. My quill doesn't drop until I'm satisfied with the outcome, and at last it is completed. I silently close my diary and hide it at the bottom of my closet drawer, charming it with a disguise spell, not wishing for anyone to find it. It turns into a regular old potions ingredient book, if anyone were to find it, I'm sure they won't pay much interest in it.
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The next day is cool and the wind dances through my hair as if caressing it with gentle fingers. I breath in the smell of wet grass that's been watered by autumn rainfall. The chill from the grey clouds above gives me goosebumps, as the cold slides against my legs. It wasn't the best idea to wear a silk skirt today. It was my favorite though, it was black and had small brown flowers. Grass and mud stick to the bottom of my leather boots.

I'm standing in the middle of the stone circle with my arrow in hand. No one is here at the moment, it's the afternoon on a Wednesday. People are either studying in the library or doing homework in their dorms. I didn't have the energy to do my homework with Frida and Orion, so I'm here practicing my archery instead. I cast a charm on my arrow board to keep it in place as I pin it up against one of the stones.

The last time I did archery, was the day my mother was killed. This moment doesn't have to bring me bad memories, I just need to concentrate my emotions on this board. Shooting arrows was the only way that I ever let go of my stress. Sure, it's a muggle thing, but it is actually a very hard sport to learn. My mother actually taught me archery, as a little girl. We used to aim at trees in the forest by our manor.

The floating board stares back at me with its scarred canvas. I breath in and shake the nerves off my body. I need to get the arrows all in the target, I always do and today is no less. My mind suddenly takes me back to that day and my anger makes me more determined to shoot at something.