Hallows Game || HP X Squid Game (Draco Malfoy)

27 - I Feel Pretty

"NICO!"

I don't know how he managed it, but somehow he had leapt just in time, glass splintering all around him as he flew through the air towards me.

I was knocked heavily to the ground, landing on my back with a painful thud. Nico's body, although crushing me, shielded me from the worst fragments of glass slicing viciously through the air.

His body jerked above me as he let out a deafening yell. Near to me, I could hear Draco shouting my name, but I kept my eyes squeezed shut, terrified of being blinded by the glass.

After what seemed like an eternity, but could have easily been only seconds, the world resolved itself into pain and silence, broken only by Nico's fretful voice.

"Are you okay, kiddo?"

A laugh escaped my lips instead of the cry I was expecting. Was I okay?

I could feel a sticky dampness spread across my torso between where Nico and I were pressed together. Blood.

I knew then it wasn't mine because I felt no pain. But was that just the shock? Although, by the sudden alarming paleness of Nico's face, I knew what his deafening yell had been about.

"You're bleeding," I whispered shakily, looking up into his fading green eyes.

"It's just a cut," Nico shrugged, failing to hide his wince as he awkwardly staggered off me.

Draco was at my side in an instant, pulling me urgently into his arms. I could feel the ferocious thud of his heart as he held me tight, kissing my hair and repeating my name as though whispering a prayer.

But I could not share his immediate relief, unable to tear my eyes from the horrifying sight of the dark red stain seeping rapidly across the front of Nico's tracksuit.

"It's nothing, kiddo," Nico assured me, stumbling slightly as he tried to right himself. "Let's get back to the dormitory and pray they've got something decent to drink. I'm fucking thirsty."

*****

Our journey back through the pastel corridors towards the dormitory wasn't an easy one.

Nico barely managed to stay upright as Draco and I helped him hobble back: the three of us somber and silent as Nico's blood trailed behind us, reminding me of Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs.

Ahead of us, Harry strode gaily, humming to himself as though he hadn't just witnessed twelve of our schoolmates falling horrifically to their deaths.

"Players, we sincerely congratulate and commend you all for successfully making it through the first five games. The four of you are now the finalists, and as such, we have prepared a special gift for each of you. Before we reveal the gift, please take a moment to change into the outfits we have bought."

Four smart black boxes at the foot of four lonely bunks, where once four hundred and fifty-six stood.

I watched in sickening horror as Nico staggered towards the bathroom, claiming the need for a shit and ordering us not to follow for a good forty-five minutes.

I did not even last five.

"Nico." I demanded as I flew into the bathroom to discover him dressed down to his boxers, wincing as he attempted to pull a large shard of glass out of his side. "Don't... you mustn't!"

But he did. And the second he pulled it free, blood showered everywhere, the sight before me looking freakishly like a scene from a slasher movie.

Without further ado, I shrugged off my tracksuit jacket and dramatically ripped my t-shirt clean off, shredding it in half with my bare hands.