Flower Petals

-16-

While two teenagers found that life was simple, and lovely (If only it was truly that easy).
Death Eaters were hidden in the shadows of Hogwarts to complete a mission which would change the course of many lives, and the second wizarding war. This is true. The question is not whether they were there, nor whether their plan would work, because the fact is it would. The question is; how did they get there? And why?

Draco and Alstroemeria represented the thin, glass line between Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Both tenacious, hard workers, and both loyal to a fault. They had lava between them, harsh fire, because they valued opposites of each others key motives. Draco, self preservation, power, independence, dominance, and Alstroemeria, friendship, justice, love. This is not to mean that slytherin's are greedy, or power hungry. Most of the time in fact they are extremely cunning, sensitive, and level people. Slytherin's are strong, and versatile. This is also not to say that Hufflepuffs are weak as there are Hufflepuffs who stand between curses and friends, who scream louder then a howler to stand up for what is right, and who make trouble for the fun of it. This is only meant to say that Draco and Alli were Yin and yang. They made up the two sides of the same coin, but still, they challenged each other. All of this struggle, the love for justice, but the need for acceptance, battled inside of Paula Abbott.

Paula Abbott who came from one of the sacred twenty eight pure-blood families. Raised in Slytherin pajamas, and green comforters. Much like Draco Malfoy, showered with toys, gifts and jewelry, drowning in maids, footmen, nannies, and cooks. She was a child who thought affection was things, and she became enamored with dolls. Dolls of all kinds but mostly a stuffed rag doll. She was simple, beautiful, she had long black hair just like Paula and beautiful green buttons for eyes. When she held her it was like looking, with her deep emerald eyes, into the very picture of herself.

The image that she wanted at least. Because when she looked at the doll she saw innocence, but In the mirror, she saw a beautiful wreckage, destined for darkness.

Night after night Paula was gone, gone from her and Alli's room at least. Night after night Alli assumed her and Ginny were galavanting across the grounds. They were extremely close, Ginny was the first of Paula's friends, and in many ways her only. Ginny was courageous when she was weak, and Paula was kind where Ginny was cross, they were connected at the hip, completing a conjoined twin with the others attributes.

This was not the case though, she was not with Ginny all those nights.

Paula was in the room of requirement, setting up the vanishing cabinet, soaking the floor with her tears.

Paula was contemplating throwing herself off the astronomy tower, judging if the height was enough to shatter her frame or just kill her.

She was staring at the sky, wondering if Draco too, felt as though he was a pawn in a game which he had no control.

She was hoping that her brother was dead. That Mason, her best friend, was loose from the Dark Lord's grasp, but she was also hoping that he was alive, waiting for her to return home, honored as a pure-blood savior.

And yes, sometimes she was drinking her troubles away with Ginny. Ginny made her feel alive, and brave. She never felt brave, she always felt alone. Ginny was the spitting image of Mason. Brave, impulsive, calculated, he was popular in school, and good with the ladies. Ginny was the closest she'd gotten to him in what felt like eons. But even Ginny could not make her feel like she was seen, like she wasn't his.

Paula was reading ashamed letters from her family, how awful to break hundreds of years of tradition to be a Hufflepuff. Her brother wrote to her too, about how awful it felt to be on the wrong side of history, and how worth it it was to protect her, to keep her from that same fate. Those letters from Mason, eventually they stopped coming, they stopped coming when Paula stopped going to the room of requirement, and they had to send Malfoy instead. Withholding Paula's only contact with somebody who's insides were also in constant conflict.