𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐄

𝟔. 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭

𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨.

Your favorite place to study in the whole castle was in the very back of the Slytherin common room, at the table wedged between the tall wall of bookshelves and the large window that overlooked the depths of the Black Lake. I took you there whenever I craved your undivided attention because I could look at you for hours on end and you wouldn't even notice while you studied. You were just that oblivious.

But today was different. Today I brought you here because otherwise you would have gone with Nott again to Hogsmeade and I just couldn't have that. Not after what transpired yesterday.

There were two dusty textbooks open in front of me, weighing down either side of the roll of parchment I was currently scribbling on. We were studying for the upcoming Transfiguration exam.

Well, I was.

You were too busy casting charms onto a bowl of candies to make little tinfoil-wrapped chocolate hearts float in orbit above our heads. I try to focus on the half-written term paper in front of me, but my mind was constantly wandering.

Theo returned to the dorms yesterday covered in blood. It pooled in the collar of his shirt and his nose was slightly crooked. "Fucking psychopath," he sputtered on his way to our shared bathroom, leaning over the sink and spitting bright red into the basin.

"Who?" I asked, barely sitting up in bed. This wasn't an unfamiliar sight – Theodore after a fight. I usually sent him out to do my dirty work at the end of the day; roughing up the kids who thought themselves above my rules.

"Potter," he spat, craning his neck to look back at me. I could tell that he was ashamed to admit it. His eyes were pink, hair wet with snowmelt that dribbled down his face. He was an absolute mess. Potter did this? Harry Potter?

"You took care of him." My words were gritted through my teeth. It was meant as a question, but it sounded expectant. I was already anticipating an answer and if it wasn't what I wanted it to be, there would be hell to pay.

Theo scoffed. "Took care of him," he mocked, grabbing a nearby towel and running it down his jaw. "You take care of him. He's deranged. I'm not going anywhere near him again if I have anything to say about it."

"You don't have anything to say about it," I wanted to say, but instead settled for; "Where is she?"

Theo tensed up and reached in front of him to turn off the faucet. His silence made me nervous. "Where is she, Theo?"

He still didn't reply as I stood up and entered the bathroom, jabbing his shoulder from behind. We made eye contact in the partially shattered mirror that hung over the sink. I already knew the answer when I looked into his vengeful eyes. "You fucking left her there?"

"For Christ's sake, Malfoy. Give it a rest. I've just been beaten within an inch of my life!"

And for a moment I consider taking that inch that Potter so graciously spared him.