dragonfly || d.m. [✔]

obliviate,

[Trigger warnings: mentions of death, blackmailing.
A/N: "Plot twist? Plot twists selling here! Plot twists! No one wants 'em? Fine. I'll take 'em." And that was how this chapter was written.]
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At that moment, I realised that we weren't supposed to be together.
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a r i a  s t u n n i n g s

A date. Romance, fluff, blushing. Certainly not flirting with every other girl or boy (two can play at a game, you know?) and being aggressively suggestive about wanting to get yourself laid.

And even if the latter does happen, don't be an animal, thank you very much.

Either way, what happened next absolutely dispelled all thoughts of the terrible date Nott and I had had.

It all started with a letter.

A black, Persian eagle owl landed at the edge of my bed post -- I was no longer sleeping in the same dorm as Draco, having moved in with Madeline instead. It was an easier way to avoid him after the birthday present.

Yet, he always seemed to be there; getting me breakfast, waiting for me, walking with me to classes -- he never left.

Untying the letter from the owl's foot, I opened it.

𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬,
𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝, 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭. 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥, 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐞.𝐄𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐀𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐧, 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐞𝐱-𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲. 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐭, 𝐑𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐚? 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭. 𝐔𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧, 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐢𝐭?

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭:
𝟏. 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐩 𝐛𝐲 𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦.
𝟐. 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭, 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦.

𝐎𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞, 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐞𝐱-𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 . . .

𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐊𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐯𝐫𝐚,
𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭
𝐯𝐢𝐚
𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲

I stared at the letter, dumbfounded, as I felt the world crash into pieces, shattering in front of my eyes.

Aunt Couldings, who spent a fortune on that Yule Ball dress was . . . dead? Aunt Couldings, who was there for me when everyone else was gone was now gone too? Who's going to be my home now? Or rather, will I ever have a home again? I think not.

Did my picture even reach my Aunt before fucking Lucius Malfoy killed her?

I felt bile rise up to my throat at the thought of Draco -- that git, had he planned it like this from the beginning? So that I would get close to him and forget all about protecting my late aunt? In that angered and hurt state of mind, I thought so.

Luna -- Madeline -- came running into our dorm. I stuffed the letter away immediately. 

"Malfoy has been hurt! He was flying around the pitch for practice and banged his head on the maze walls by mistake!"

"Which maze walls?"

"The ones for the Triwizard Tournament, duh! Honestly, do you even hear anything?"

I shake my head at her, just wishing that she'd leave so that I could dramatically throw myself on my bed and sob. She must've noticed that something was wrong because she asked, "Everything okay?"

"I'm fine . . . just the news of Draco falling down kind of surprised me," I say, lying my way through the question smoothly.

Madeline seems satisfied with my answer because she leaves, muttering something along the lines of, "soulmates" and "denial".

I didn't want to visit Draco -- at all. I thought about it for a bit -- I hated that guy. I need to get him out of system. And get the idea that we were ever close out of his system.

There's only one way to do that; make him forget. There's an easy way to do that too, but in the end it all comes down to my guts.

Can I? Can I not?

Do I love him? Do I love him not?

Sometimes, I wish I hadn't taken the decision in that split second.

I walked through the halls, which were strangely deserted -- but then again, everyone was probably in their rooms celebrating Gryffindor's victory from the Quidditch match yesterday.

And here I am, standing in front of the Infirmary as if my entire life was going to made or broken in the next few seconds.

I can see Draco, lying there, unconscious, shallowly breathing as if every breath cost him his life. A slight breeze from the open window blew his hair into a tangled mess of snow. I was the sun who he melted under.

I had single-handedly ruined this angelic boy.

But that was about to change.

He shifts suddenly, as I move closer, his lashes fluttering open. "Libelle?"

"Hey, Draco," I say, suddenly smiling as I look into his silver eyes. I can never quite stay angry with him -- not when he looked at me like I was his everything.

"You came to visit me?" He sounded so hopeful, as if the very idea of me visiting him made his day. 

And then he cleared his throat, "Why do you look like a ghost?"

He could never be nice for long.

"I don't," I argued.

"Nott dumped you?"

I stared at him. Just after waking up from a coma of a few hours he remembered my date? That's impressive.

"No. I dumped him."

He raised an eyebrow, a ring-clad hand reaching up to straighten his hair, "Doubtful."

I couldn't spend anymore time with him. I would lose all my willpower. I look down, "I'm sorry, but I have to do this."

"Wha-"

I concentrate on us together, laughing, kissing, smiling, and say, "Obliviate."

He looks confused for a second and I'm afraid I've wiped his memory completely.

Then he frowns at me, "Who are you?"

It was my own heart I chose to break in the end.