Lily Black

Chapter 61: Cousins

We were back at Hogwarts. The train ride was better. I missed George too. The day in his joke shop was on repeat in my head for what felt like forever. Fred and George's business was booming. They were so proud of it. I was proud of them but I could not help the hole in my heart from my dad being gone.

"What happened to your nose?" I laughed looking at Harry as he sat down face bloody.

"Your cousin." He said simply.

"Draco did this?" I asked. He nodded.

"Harry, I am sorry." I said looking over at Draco. He was looking down. Something felt off about him. He looked broken, hurt, beat down, in...pain? That is the only way I could describe it.

"Lily?" Ron said bring me back to reality.

"Oh yeah?" I said.

"How did you do on your OWLs? We did not see you for the rest of last year and you barely came over this summer. Are you alright?" Hermoine said.

"Yeah...yeah I am fine. I did ok. Not as good as Hermoine but better than I bet you two did." I laughed. They exchanged glances then gave a small laugh.

"Are you sure you're alright? You seem off." Harry said.

"Yeah just...missing my dad." I said.

"Yeah I miss him too." Harry said.

Dumbledore made a speech but I did not hear any of it. I was focused on Draco. Something felt....wrong. I heard a small voice in my head. "Investigate Lily." It said, It sounded vaguely like dad. I keep looking at Draco who looked up. I tilted my head towards the door. He gave a small nod. He got up and walked away.

"I am going to head to bed. Finish eating." I said getting up and following him out.

"What do you need, Lily?" Draco asked. His voice sounded tired.

"I wanted to see if you were ok. You look different." I said.

"Don't pretend you care about me for a second." He said.

"I do care about you. You are my cousin, you are my family, Draco your my blood. Of course I care for you." I said, meaning it.

"How could you?" He said.

"I don't know. But you can't tell me you don't care about me. I know you do. Maybe just a little bit? You care about me enough to send that ." I said.

"I sent you no ." He said walking away I grabbed his left arm. He quickly pulled it away wincing in pain. It took me a second to grasp it.

I gasped. "Draco..." I said his eyes looked up. "Draco...no." I said.

"Leave it alone Lily, Tell no one about this or the letter." He said walking away just as others joined us in the hall. I was not a hundred percent sure if this meant what I thought it meant. If I was right then that meant that Draco took the dark mark. It meant that Draco...was a death eater.