the girl who lost it all [d.m]

twenty six: lassus

lassus: weary, tired, exhausted

———

ELARA couldn't stop staring at Draco Malfoy.

It wasn't her fault. His side profile was beautiful: aristocratic and sharp. A strand or two of his soft hair fell forward onto his forehead, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, tongue poking into the inside of his cheek as he scanned page after page of text.

It became such a problem that Orion had to kick her under the table to get her to look away just before Draco lifted his head and sighed, seemingly oblivious to Elara's admiration of his looks.

"There's nothing in this one either," he said, faintly annoyed, slamming the hefty book shut and shoving it away from him.

Three hours ago, he'd discovered Orion and Elara sitting together in the library. They'd been knee-deep in research since but hadn't been able to find one thing on how to get the ring off Draco's finger.

"You're sure you can't just take it off?" Orion asked, dubiously. He'd moved to the armchair by the fireplace, sifting through book after book.

"Why didn't I just think of that earlier?" was the sarcastic response and Elara placed a hand on his thigh to stop his temper from flaring.

Too late, she realised what she'd done and snatched her hand back, fighting the blush that rose to her cheeks as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She tried not to think of the corded muscles she'd felt under her hand in the second it had been there.

"Let's start from the beginning," she proposed, hastily, scooting her chair to the side so that their legs no longer touched either. Her headache returned with a vengeance and she gritted her teeth to stomach it. "Tell me about the Horcruxes."

Orion heaved a sigh from the armchair, shutting yet another book and balancing it on top of the small tower of them that had piled up by the armchair. "They're like—pieces of the Dark Lord's soul."

"How many are there?"

"Seven."

Malfoy slumped back in his chair, picking at a loose thread on his shirt. She caught a twinge of pain on his face and felt guilty for removing her leg from next to his. "Apparently, Potter became one when his mother sacrificed herself for him."

"And Voldemort couldn't tell that he'd just given a part of his soul to a baby?" she inquired, chewing on her lip.

Malfoy's eyes caught the movement and something raw flashed on his face. It made Elara release her lip almost immediately. "No. The theory is that since he'd already split his soul into so many pieces and been like that for so long, he couldn't feel it."