Dare - Draco Malfoy

Chapter 15: Carer

Draco:

I enter the common room, see Isy and Blaise on the couch chatting. Nott walking away from them. Maeve and Aria are not there. I walk across the busy place, concentrated on disappearing into my room. But someone calls, an annoying sound.

I hold still, and turn slowly. Nott stares at me as he walks, head high towards me. An annoyed look on his face. I raise an eyebrow.

"Can I speak to you?"

"What do you want?" I spit, looking him up and down.

"What are you doing to her?" He starts.

"Excuse me?" I ask amused. I check around us for any listeners.

"I'm not an idiot. I'm warning you, whatever is going on you and Maeve, it needs to stop." He says quietly, a menacing look on his face.

"Nothing is going on between Maeve and I. And even if it was, I bet you'd be mad she choose me instead of your pretty face" I try to keep my cool.

"What?" Nott steps back, a look of fake surprise on his face.

"Oh come on Nottie" A mad sneer on my face.

"I see how you look at her... touch her" My voice shakes with fury as I say the last words.

"Shut up Malfoy." he spits.

I glare at him. The conversation is now noticeably more heated.

"You know Nott, I've always thought you were a bit dim. Now I know you are just stupid." I take a step closer to him.

"You can think whatever you want with that brilliant little brain you think you have..." Nott scoffs.

"...But I want you to stay away from her" He continues.

"Who I stay away from, is my business" I reply raging inside at his audacity. I drop my bag to the floor.

"So you admit there's something" His jaw clenching. He drops his own bag next to him.

"As I said, there's nothing between Maeve and I." I glare at him, trying to collect as much credibility in my voice as possible.

"Well that's great, because I was actually thinking it would be worth a try with her. See if her legs spread for me first." Nott boasts.

A ball of fire pierces my insides with fury bubbling inside my head I take two firm leaps at him and strike a punch on his jaw. His head turns from the impact.

I see his eyes widening in anger. He takes his own fist and aims for a punch but I dodge it and it lands between my chest and shoulder. It leaves me breathless as my chest aches.

"Guys! What the hell! Stop!" Blaise calls in panic.

I dive for an other hit at his stupid face but before my hand reaches him, I feel a force pulling me away. Goyle is behind me holding my shoulders to stop me from moving my arms. Blaise in front of me is pushing Nott away. As we are finally separated Blaise looks at us in turn, from between us.

"What the fuck is going on? Are you both mad?" He reprimands.

I scoff and free myself from Goyle's grip, my shoulder aching. It was a good punch from him.

"Honestly! Fucking hell" Blaise continues baffled.

The common room is now dead silent, every head turned towards us.

I look at Blaise, give him and evil look and walk away from the scene, bumping purposely at Nott's shoulder as I pass. Nott reacts but Blaise stops him before he can move closer.

"Enough!" Blaise yells angrily.

-

I shut the door behind me as I enter my room. Fuck. I kick my bag as I drop it on the floor. I sit on the bed, elbows on my knees, my face resting in my hands.

Nott is right. That's what makes me angry. He knows something is up and I can't afford people knowing I am close to her. The letter resurfaces in my mind.

"We are being watched, all our moves monitored."

It disgusts me to think anyone touching her. It makes me sick. Nott was trying to get under my skin and he succeeded. That's not the only thing that makes me sick. If it is true, that our moves are watched, Maeve can be used to get to me.

This is not safe anymore. She is not safe. These things that are happening are not random. We need to be safe and there's only one way to ensure that, even if it means hurting her again.

Maeve:

We walk up the stairs and get up to our room, we are alone.

"Maeve what's wrong? I know there's something" She says, a reproving look on her face.

"Aria honestly I'm fine" I say cheerfully, trying to fake a smirk.

"I'm not dumb, none of us are" She starts, a more annoyed look on her face.

"What?" I try to say but she opens her mouth and continues.

"We all noticed, Nott and Blaise too. Since when do you skip a Hogsmeade visit to study?" Aria asks annoyed now.

"Aria are you serious? I had herbology to finish. NEWTS classes are hard on me. Maybe not on you but I am not finding it as easy" I scoff in return, now truly annoyed.

To be fair I did skip the visit to study.

"You are distant, we barely tell each other anything anymore. Nott-" she stops, a look of concern now on her face and her tone calmer.

"What about him?" I spit.

"Nott noticed more." Her hesitancy makes me realise this is not gonna be good.

I raise my eyebrows questioningly.

"He told me he saw you crying." Her eyes are to the floor now.

"Maeve if there's something going on—" She sighs "I am your best friend" she concludes looking back at me, a sad look on her face.

"Aria-" I start gently, apologetically.

"I'm sorry if I didn't notice something was wrong" She cuts me off.

"Aria, I am fine. It's just the NEWTS are really stressing me out" I lie to her.

I feel so miserably stupid lying to my best friend. What am I doing? If it were anyone else in this school I would have told her immediately. But him. I just don't want anyone to know. Not even her.

"I'm sorry" I continue. Aria looks at me with a confused look.

"I haven't even ever asked you about Isy" I mutter.

"Hey look, let's just catch up a bit tonight" She says quickly, a warm and more animated tone.

"Okay, yeah" I respond happily, honestly this time.