i s o b e l
Isobel slammed an elbow backwards, straight into the stomach of her attacker. She wrenched a heavy hand from her eyes and staggered forward, her head reeling.
She felt rough fingers curl into the neck of her coat, hauling her back into the alleyway. The man shoved her past him, and she glimpsed a sheet of white hair.
She stumbled forwards, off-balance. When she turned back around, Lucius Malfoy was advancing towards her with his wand pointed directly at her heart. His eyes were livid; his pale face was pulled into a sneer. "Back again, are we?"
Isobel walked backwards until she hit the wall at the end of the alleyway. She flattened herself against it.
Lucius followed her. "Do you know who I am, Miss Young?"
Her heart thundered. She looked back at him, assessing him. Calculating. Then, slowly, she nodded.
To her relief, this didn't appear to dissatisfy him. He loomed over her in the alleyway, ice-white hair and moon-pale face so like Draco's but so radically different in the way he carried himself. In the way he regarded her - which in Lucius' case, was with pure and unfiltered hatred.
When he reached her, he pressed his wand into her chest, hard. "Do you know who my son is?"
Her breath caught. "Yes."
He narrowed his eyes. Pressed his wand harder. "Tell me everything you know about my son."
Isobel's heart sped fast and her palms were damp with sweat. But she glared right back at Lucius. Be brave, Gryffindor.
She knew Draco's grey eyes on hers, his intense concern. She knew the way he gripped mugs of tea, even when they were fresh and hot enough to scald his hands. She knew the way his slender fingers traced over her cheekbone, the way his gaze had dropped to the pendant at her neck.
The pendant, which was now red-hot: the shape of a star searing itself into her flesh.
She knew that he was waiting for her now, in his apartment. That he was expecting her to arrive any minute now.
She lifted her chin. "He's a Death Eater," she replied, her voice icy. "He tried to kill Albus Dumbledore. He bullied my friends and I in school. I hate him." She watched Lucius, refusing to be the one to break eye contact first. "And I hate you, too."
His mouth curled into a thin smile. "Very good," he said. "And do you know where you are, right now?"
She knitted her eyebrows together. "No, I don't."
This appeared to content him. "Very good," he said again. "Then let me leave you with a warning. If you ever attempt to go near my son again, there will be repercussions. I will find you and your mother, and I will punish you both for your thoughtless actions." He finally dropped his wand. "And I will make Draco forget ever laying eyes on you."
Isobel kept her gaze steady. "Why would I go near your son?"
He smiled maliciously; raised two fair eyebrows. "I have no idea."
Then he clamped a hand around her arm again. There was a loud crack, and she felt herself pulled into dark spirals.
Seconds later, she slammed to the ground. She dropped to her hands and knees, found herself on icy grass.
She sat back on her heels, breathing fast; digging her fingertips into the cold ground. She looked around her at an expanse of grass and trees, poorly lit by sparse streetlights. Lucius Malfoy was nowhere to be seen.
