Pawns | A Draco Malfoy Love Story

"That One Night Two Years Ago"

In my dream, I relived the night I was reminded of upon seeing Malfoy in the room of requirement on the first day of school. 

I felt myself running down an empty corridor, my dark green dress flowing behind me as I cut through the air in slow motion, the visual blurred at the edges. The sound of my heels echoed more loudly than normal on the stone floor. Even so, I could still faintly hear the music from the Weird Sisters playing in the Great Hall above me.

I hid behind a pillar, having left my friends at the dance in order to discreetly escape my date. While I would have much preferred to go with Harry, I agreed to attend the Yule Ball as friends with a Durmstrang boy. Though, now, he had become a bit more persistent than I was comfortable with.

He was a friend of Victor's and was Muggle-born. When we were getting to know each other, I told him about how I was raised as a Muggle, totally unaware of the world of magic that I had inherited from my mother. 

As I stood behind the pillar, I remembered one instance where we were sitting in the library together, discussing the mundane topic of traffic in our respective home towns. From a few paces away, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle overheard our conversation and the latter called us Mudbloods. 

I heard Crabbe whisper to him that I wasn't actually Muggle-born but he dismissed this and said I was close enough. He had strode over and knocked some of my schoolbooks off the desk and the two of them laughed hysterically. Ginny who was a few feet away, had overheard the slur and the sound of the books hitting the floor, and she angrily hit him with a bat bogey hex. Before they could retaliate, Madam Pince had us all kicked out. The Durmstrang boy was kind enough to walk me safely back to my dorm - how was I to know then that he would turn out to be such a creep.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps approach. My date called out my name.

"Bella!" said his deep voice in a thick accent.

Cursing myself for not having picked a better hiding place, I emerged from around the pillar.

"Oh hey, sorry to have run off like that, it was just a bit loud up there," I lied, becoming nervous.

He looked around at the empty hall. "Don't worry, now we can be alone." He took a few quick strides forward and leaned in to me, but I pressed my back against the pillar and turned my head to the side, uncomfortable.

My eyes were closed so I didn't see what happened next but I felt a huge gust and the Durmstrang boy was pushed off of me, falling to the floor a few meters away. I turned to my left to see a tall figure with his wand raised. He wore an expensive-looking black suit and he pushed his blonde hair out of his face to reveal an angry expression.

"Get out, you filthy Mudblood!" spat Malfoy, his face twisted with rage.

The Durmstrang rose suddenly, his face red with embarrassment but still full of pride. He raised his own wand back at Malfoy who disarmed him easily. The Durmstrang's wand flew out of his hand before landing on the ground with a thud and rolling pathetically away down an adjacent hallway.

Angry, he made a lunge at me, but Malfoy stepped forward quickly, aiming his wand at my date's chest.

"LEAVE!" he bellowed, furiously.

The boy raised his hands in a surrender-like motion and walked backwards down the hallway, turning around the corner to fetch his wand.

I had stayed in my place throughout, barely moving an inch, my breath heavy and my heart pounding. Malfoy stood in his place, a few feet from me, staring at the adjacent hallway, waiting for the Durmstrang to appear again and challenge him. But he didn't come back.