NUMB WITHOUT YOU | Draco Malfoy

| 11

I'm not a very sentimental person. I don't really have much of a reason to be, I guess. My mother left when I was very young. I couldn't really fault her for doing so because my father was so horrible. However, I was still very angry at her for so many years for leaving me with him all on my own. Why couldn't she have taken me with her when she bolted in the night? Either way, it didn't leave me with many positive memories, or items, that I wanted to keep from my past.

Still, there was something about that trinket box. It was hand carved out of wood that was destined to become wands for eager witches and wizards. The top of it had the phases of the moon and a dragon that circled them. The box was magical in its own right, and very valuable despite its innocuous appearance. It was the only thing I wanted from my old apartment, and now it had found its home on my new vanity and I quickly forgot about it.

Things had calmed down again. There had been no further break-in attempts anywhere, and my arm stopped burning as intensely, though the mark never faded away. Draco and I were re-branded, and there was no escaping that fact. I had suddenly remembered the importance of investing in long sleeve shirts. Hermione had advised us to keep the marks covered as to not raise concern within the community while they investigated the Gringotts break-in further.

It was really early in the morning, far earlier than I ever intended of getting up. I awoke with a start to the smell of burning. I opened my eyes and saw that my room was beginning to fill with smoke. "Help!" I screamed as I jumped out of my bed and grabbed my wand. "What's happening?" I began to panic and my mind began to swell. I looked around desperately for the source, and found it there on my vanity. My trinket box had burst into flames.

"Aguamenti!" I shouted as a jet of water burst from the tip of my wand and put out the flame. The door burst open at the same moment and Theo came stumbling in wearing an unbuttoned shirt, his boxers, and one sock because he hadn't had time to finish getting dressed. So much for a proper rescue squad.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Theo coughed as he waved his arms around to dissipate the smoke. "Why is the room full of smoke?"

"That bloody box was on fire." I said as I rubbed my eyes. They were irritated from all the smoke and flames. I blinked a few times to readjust my vision and pushed my hair out of my face in frustration.

"This?" Theo pointed in disbelief as he pointed at the box that looked untouched. He picked it up and shook it wildly. "It's made of wood. There's no way it would have made it through being on fire looking like this."

"Do that again." I frowned at him.

"Do what?" He asked as he examined the damage surrounding where the box had been. The once pristine, white vanity was now black.

"Shake it." I nodded encouragingly. "And be quiet while you do it this time." He shook the box again and it jingled like it was full of something. It hadn't made that sound before. I was even more confused than ever as I snatched it out of his hands to take a look for myself.

"It's enchanted." I told Theo as I flipped the box over in my hands. "The box was likely protecting itself. But does that mean something was trying to get out of it?" I let my fingers trace the edges of the box until I found the ridge to open it. Inside was an ornate silver necklace. I reached in to touch it and pulled my hand back immediately. The necklace was still searing hot.

"Careful." Theo warned me, "It could be cursed."

"Yeah, I would say that's obvious." I rolled my eyes. "It just tried to set my entire room on fire. You can leave now, I need to get dressed."

"Going somewhere?" Theo raised a brow. "Take that bloody box with you. I don't want it burning my flat down whilst you're away." I glowered at him and shoved him out into the hallway so I could change.