Ortum Infernum [d.m]

Chapter Ten

When the next term resumed, things fell back into the same busy routine for Odette after a relaxing time back home with her family. As relaxing as it could have been, with all her extra lessons with private tutors. Her days at Hogwarts were filled with classes, assignments and Prefect duties—now doubled because of Dolores Umbridge, the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts.

That blasted woman was getting more and more obnoxious as she gained more power over the faculty. Taking it upon herself to overwork the Prefects to their bones and implementing rules and cruel punishments as though her mere existence wasn't insufferable enough. But that wasn't the only reason why Odette felt drained of energy.

Dread filled every fibre of her being. She couldn't shake off the eerie feeling that followed her through the corridors like a Hogwarts ghost, nor banish the nightmares that plagued her in her sleep and lurked in her mind during her waking moments. It made it significantly harder to focus in class when all she could recall were fragments of her nightmares.

The only night that she had slept through peacefully without any nightmares was when she had slept in Draco's arms in the Malfoy manor. She still flushed to the tips of her ears every time she recalled that night. Remembering the flames in his eyes when he looked at her and how her nerves had been set on fire when he had touched her body intimately for the first time.

Odette could never forget the way Draco had looked the next morning, when he was still fast asleep. So defenceless and serene. It was the first real time she had seen him without a guarded façade. No fake bravado, no carefully calculated expressions or hidden meanings behind his gazes. Without the pressure to maintain his aristocratic image, he looked peaceful, young and free.

Underneath all the layers of walls he had put up, he was just a boy. He was just Draco as he was without the fear of people seeing.

She had carefully memorised every single detail in that moment. Every placid rise and fall of his chest, every strand of silver blond hair that rested over his forehead. She engraved into her memory how Draco had looked with the calm space between his eyebrows and the nonexistent harshness in his expression. Because the moment he stirred awake, all of the peacefulness would be washed away and his default reservation would have taken hold of him once again.

He wouldn't be Draco, a Fifth Year with quidditch tournaments and O.W.Ls to worry about as he slacked off to spend time with friends at Hogsmeade on weekends. He would be back to being Draco, a Malfoy heir with an image to uphold and a vigor to prove himself. And he did so by casting aside a normal childhood and taking up the roles of someone who worked hard for validation.

At the thought of him, Odette reached up to stroke the ornament on her necklace that rested at the juncture of her collarbones. It was a small golden locket in the shape of a heart, engraved with fine details. Modest yet elegant, which was just to her taste.

Draco had given it to her in the rose garden, the morning before he sent her home. He had asked her for a walk again after breakfast and Odette had been quick to agree that time, still feeling guilty about the evening before.

He had led her through the winding path, holding her hand as he gave her a brief history lesson of the estate. Then when they reached the small clearing, surrounded by all the white roses, Draco had pulled the necklace from his coat pocket and carefully clasped it around her neck.

She could feel the faint pulse of the necklace against her skin, the tremors of magic that wrapped around hers like a safety blanket; a shield.

At her inquisitive look, Draco had smirked nonchalantly. "I may have tampered with it a little. Just a small protective charm."