Rivals | D.M

69. Darkness

Aster's POV

I had to find Blaise. I had to find someone to help me. I wasn't the type of person to let Draco do this completely by himself. I had to at least give him some extra back up, even if he had no idea. I wasn't entirely sure about the logistics or the strategy that Draco and the Death Eaters had come up with. I suppose Draco was a Death Eater.

I think I had been so caught up with helping him fix the cabinet, my brain tried to push the fact that the outcome of that would be brutal. It was wrong, and I knew it. I knew that I was helping an evil propaganda.

Students were hurrying through the hallways, the sounds of crashing and yelling seemed to echo down the cavernous stone corridors. It was only a moment ago I was pacing through the grounds, my head in the clouds.

My eyes were ultimately searching for the black robes of the Death Eaters. But instead they caught the gruesome sight of the Dark Mark gleaming in the sky just above the Astronomy Tower. The glaring gleam seemed to create a striking light against the darkness now created by the muggy clouds.

My wand clutched in my hand, I felt my heart race but I willed my brain to shut off. Occlumency was hard when your body was fuelled with adrenaline.

"Aster!"

Blaise was running towards me, his robes billowing behind him, his wand in his hand. His eye's were a flurry of emotions, panic, anger, desperation flickered in his iris's. He pushed through a swirl of flustered students to get to me, his arms finding my shoulders, a heavy sigh of relief soon followed after.

"Blaise, I need to get to the astronomy tower. I need to help him! "I yelled above the panic.

"No" Blaise yelled before reaching down to grab my arm.

I yanked it away before he could pull me away from the Tower. Stepping backwards, I yelled at him in panic. I was never normally this frantic, but my blood was listening to the chaotic movement around me and my thoughts were shouting just one name. 

"Don't!" I screamed.

"Aster, we need to get out of here "he explained, his dark eyes darting between mine. 

"We need to help him" I was pleading now, I was desperate. Something was niggling the back of my mind, like I could feel the storm before it crackled above us. 

"We can't be seen with him. We can't be seen taking sides" he explains, his eyes frantically looking side to side.

"I don't care about sides, this is about him" I yelled back. I sounded like a love sick widow.

Suddenly, an image flashed into my brain.

Harper was shoving Blaise to one side, her eyes dark and tired. She was yelling at him, Blaise was standing still.

"You need to get out of here and take Aster. Go through the passage way to Hogsmeade and then apparate to somewhere safe just don't tell me where!" she ordered.

Blaise tried to argue but Harper grasped his hand and squeezed. There was a small moment where Aster could see the Harper she thought she knew before but it was quickly replaced with the coldness that had seeped through her over the past few months. She watched as Blaise glanced down at Harper's hand, the hand squeezing his. 

Then I was brought back to looking straight into Blaise's dark eyes.

"You're listening to her?" I spat, furious.

"What? Blaise's eyebrows furrowed, obviously confused. 

"Harper told you to take me. To go through the secret passageway.." I explained, my words hurried and mumbled.

He's eye now burrowed into mine, as if searching for an explanation. 

"How?" 

"I just saw it. You and her. Why would you trust her? After everything she did to us, you think its wise to listen to her. She's probably sending us into some kind of trap!"

Blaise shook his head as if he was trying to get my words to tumble out of his head.

"Aster don't make me do this" He warned.

His tone was serious and laced with something I couldn't quite recognise. 

I was stupid really. I should have seen his wand angled to me, I should have reacted sooner to his attack. 

"Stupefy"

The world went black. 

Draco's POV

I was pulled into a side-along apparition by Harper. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I heaved until my stomach and throat felt like it was on fire. 

"Gross" 

I looked up to find Harper, her lips turned up, sneering at me. 

"Fuck off"

Then I looked around me. I was home. 

"What the fuck? Why are we here?" I demanded. 

She shrugged off her black robes and threw them at a nearby elf. 

"The Dark Lord requires a meeting with you" was all she said. She didn't even bother looking at me, instead she walked down the hallway and towards the dinning hall. 

"Since when were you the Dark Lords laky?", I spat. 

She span around at that. 

She looked livid, and old. She looked old now. There were more crinkles around her eyes, her skin was now a more ashy yellow. What had she done?

"We all have our reasons for being here Malfoy" She spat before swiftly turning around and continuing towards the Dining Hall. 

Watching her walk so confidently and comfortably in my own home was so unnerving I had to swallow the bile that was already rising in my throat. 

After wiping my mouth on my sleeve, I braced myself against a wall. I needed to focus. I needed to close my mind off. If the Dark Lord was going to riffle through my head, today was going to be the day. I looked around for Snape, the sudden urge to look for someone for guidance. The foyer was empty, it was only me. I was the only one that could decide what to do now. 

Was I really going to lie to the Dark Lord? The most powerful wizard on earth? 

Fuck. 

I rubbed my temples, and let myself wallow in all the dark emotions now whizzing around in my head. 

I needed to do this for my mother, my family, for Aster, for her father and her family. I needed to stay alive. 

I finally let those mental shields raise, blocking the debilitating emotions I had felt over the last hour and shoving them to the darkest crevice in my mind. Instead I let that shiny shield beam bright and I focused on the emptiness now settling. I had to focus extremely hard if I wanted to conjure up false memories at a moment notice. 

My body jolted as I expended the last of my magical capacity. It was a dark emptiness you felt when you occluded this deep, like you were floating in a grey cloud. It wasn't pleasant but it also wasn't unpleasant. 

They key to not losing yourself in when you occluded was to remember who you were. 

I was a Malfoy. 

A/N Apologies this chapter was quite short but it made more sense to continue the next part in a new chapter! I hope you're ready for the last chapter of Rivals! 

I will also be releasing information regarding the sequel so please keep an eye out for a double (or triple) update in the next few days ;) 

Love you all!