𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧

chapter 12

talia walked down the corridor of the long black hallway, not knowing where it lead. there were screams in the distance, and a voice that kept whispering her name, as if taunting her to keep going.

"talia..." it whispered. the whisper was heavy and low, which went chills down the girls spine alone.

"who's there?" she called out into a distance.

talia heard a hiss-like sound from behind her. she whipped her body to turn, and realized it had sounded as if something was slithering. her breathing picked up and her eyes began to water.

"help!" she called out, starting to turn and run. as tears flowed down her face, she kept running.

"somebody help me!" she yelled.

just then, everything seemed to stop. there was no hissing, no slithering, no screaming, no voices. nothing. it was complete and utter silence.

it was quickly over when talia started screaming. she felt an incredible pain on the back of her left forearm, a burning bruising sensation unlike any other. when she looked down, an image of a snake wrapped up in itself, a skull replacing its head.

next thing she knew, talia was sitting straight up in her bed, panting heavily. she looked down and around the room. it was dark, but she could tell she was in her dorm with pansy sleeping a couple feet away.

"fuck." she whispered, wiping her face with her hands. it was just a bad nightmare, and now she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep.

it was strange. for some reason, at that moment of being scared and afraid of the unknown of her nightmare, talia was thinking of draco. she thought about how he would react to the situation and what he would do. would he comfort her like he had done downstairs an hour or two beforehand? would he leave her in the dirt and let her wonder about her own thoughts and what the nightmare was about?

who knew.

talia was the first one up the next morning, never having went to bed. it affected her, not having a full nights sleep. she had a headache and really red eyes. not because she was crying, but because she was tired. the slight hangover didn't help, and it made her thankful it was a saturday.

she decided to try and research the snake and skull image she saw in her dream. tal had a feeling it meant something, and she wanted to know what it was and why it was in her head.

of course, the perfect place to do that was the library.

tal made her way up and saw the last face she wanted to see. michael was standing there with his friends, and the two of them made eye contact from across the room. she tried to turn a corner of one of the book shelves and walk away, but he quickly walked up to her and started talking.

"talia..let me explain." he said, grabbing her arm. tal pulled it away from him and grimaced.

"don't touch me." she commanded.

"listen. i didn't know what that potion would do. one of my friends gave it to me and said it would loosen us up a bit." michael tried. talia furrowed her eyebrows again.

"so you just gave it to me without even-" she thought out loud, putting the pieces together. he quickly cut her off.

"i took it, too. well, i was going to before you ran off." he explained.

talia shook her head. michael wasn't as bad as she thought he was, but she was still upset about the potion and had every right to be. what he did was wrong.

"i never agreed to take anything with you. i shouldn't have gone to your stupid party in the first place." she said, starting to walk away. again, after she had told him not to, he grabbed her arm in an attempt to get tal to stay and keep listening.

just then, a certain someone walked up to the two.

"you alright, tal?" draco asked walking up to the two. talia was grateful he was there, and she walked closer to him and away from michael.

"this is a private conversation, malfoy." michael said through almost gritted teeth. he was visibly annoyed at draco intruding.

"i don't know what the hell happened last night, but your lucky i don't pull my wand out of my pocket and use it to turn you into a rat right here and right now." draco threatened. he walked closer to michael and leaned over him, both boys staring at each other like wolves.

"draco..." talia said. she touched draco's shoulder, but he stood his ground. he wanted to punch michael, but didn't want to cause a scene and embarass talia.

"draco. people are staring." tal continued, hoping he would get the hint.

"walk away." draco muttered. eventually, michael complied and turned to go back to his friends. draco watched him walk off and turned back to talia as soon as michael was out of sight.

"are you alright?" he asked. she nodded.

"i'm fine. thanks." she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

it was then draco noticed her appearance. she didn't look bad, talia never looked bad. but she was tired and it was noticeable.

"are you...feeling alright, though?" he pushed. she shrugged, and he continued to evaluate her.

"did you even sleep at all?" draco put his hand on her elbow, grabbing her attention and sending butterflies to fly through her stomach.

"i had a nightmare." tal answered. he chuckled.

"about what? snape giving you detention?" he joked. talia didn't laugh, and she was too tired to make some type of remark.

that's how draco knew something was wrong.

"i don't know. that's why i came here; for research." she said.

talia walked further into the bookshelves, heading for the restricted section. she had a feeling her "research" wasn't exactly out in the open safe.

"research on?" draco wondered, following close behind.

she turned around and looked up at him again.

"promise you won't tell anyone?" she asked. he furrowed his eyebrows and nodded.

"i had this mark on my arm. right here. it was, like, a snake with a human skull. and it hurt like hell." she explained.

draco's face quickly turned from being concerned to being horrified.

"christ." draco muttered, looking down at the floor.

"what? do you know what it means?" tal asked. draco turned and started walking out of the library in a hurried pace.

"malfoy!" talia called back. he turned and pointed.

"meet me at the room of requirement tonight at twelve sharp." draco called back.

talia stood there, not knowing what just happened. at first she thought she said something wrong, but quickly realized draco would have to tell her everything later that night.