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Kaimana Valencia | May 1997

"What?" Draco sounded befuddled on the other line. "Repeat that again, Clover. I need to make sure I'm hearing you right."

"You heard me right, Draco." Kaimana rolled her eyes and turned the water off. She leaned back and soaked in the bath that she dropped oats into.

"Hogwarts isn't a living thing, darling." He coughed viciously on the other line before he cleared his throat.

"Are you sick, stalker?" Her brows drew together as she held the phone higher to her ear. She sank lower in the bath until her chest was drowned in the oat water.

"No. I choked on my water." His voice was scratchy as he cleared his throat again, something rattling in the back of his throat. He coughed yet again and cleared his throat once more. "Sorry about that."

She chuckled, amused. "It's okay."

"Hogwarts isn't a living thing," he said again, and she heard shuffling on his end, as if he was getting settled in bed. "Voldemort needed to bound his life to something living, and Hogwarts... Hogwarts is not alive."

"But it possesses life, Draco," she said pointedly. She scratched her head with her free hand, her bun limp on the top of her head. "Think about all the lives and old souls that this castle possesses—it's possible, it really is. He links his life to the one place he hates, which possesses souls over thousands of years old. He refuses to come near here to start a war. He praises Nagini and it's plastered all over the paper. He's a fucking genius. He made us all think his life was bound to hers."

Silence.

And then he said, "That's definitely looking outside the box."

She couldn't help but smile. She had been telling all her mates and even Draco to think outside the box and to read between the lines.

"But the only question now is, how do we kill Voldemort without destroying Hogwarts?" Draco mused, his voice rough from his coughing.

"We destroy Hogwarts too."

"You can't be serious, Clover." By his stern tone, she knew his expression was hard. "Did you even think this through?"

"Of course I did."

"Care to share?"

"I know I might come off as selfish since I want to save my own family and my own bloo—"

"It's not selfish." His tone softened and grew with warmth. "I'm sure anyone would do the same if they were in your shoes."

"I'm risking everyone's lives for two lives. Just two, Draco." She felt the corner of her mouth pull into a slight frown. "Hell, maybe I'm the fucking villain here."

"Do not fucking talk like that, Kaimana, I swear to fucking Salazar," he spat, and she could hear in his voice that his jaw was clenched. "This is your father we're talking about. This is our daughter we're talking about. This is you we're talking about. Do not think for a second that yourself and our family are less important. Not only are you saving our family, but you're saving me. By killing Voldemort, you're saving my mother and I from having to serve him and stand by him."

The smile took over her lips and she felt her entire body relax simply by his words. "If Voldemort wants me, he can come here himself. I'm not leaving this castle," she stated in a stern tone. "He'll get impatient soon enough, and he'll show up. The war will destroy Hogwarts, surely. Once Hogwarts gets destroyed, Voldemort will die. We rebuild Hogwarts and he stays dead because it's impossible for him to come back just as the castle is—he isn't something that could be rebuilt as easily as a castle. He'll be dead forever. Now I could easily blow up the school, but I want to fucking see him die in front of my own eyes. I want to be the last person he fucking sees before he dies. I want to be the last voice he hears. I want to have the last fucking word with him, so I'm luring him here."

She heard Draco chuckle hoarsely, yet so sensuously on the other line. "Why are you laughing? This isn't a time for bloody jokes, Malfoy," she drawled and swirled the oat water with her finger.

"People will be calling you Malfoy soon as well." The cheeky grin on his face was evident by his voice.

"I'm not taking your last name." She was kidding. Of course she wanted to take his last name.

"Then I shall take yours."

"Yeah?" She was smiling again.

"Draco Malfoy-Valencia," he said out loud to hear it, "It sounds... exotic."

"You know when we get married, we'll basically be having sex with our own family," she thought out loud, "Because we'll be family and we'll be having sex. A lot of sex."

"Please don't say that, Clover." He sighed heavily on the other line. "I don't need that put in my head, thank you, darling."

She let out a hearty laugh. "Have you been thinking about baby names?" She changed the subject.

"Of course. You?" Through his voice, she heard a smile.

"Tell me what names you thought of."

"Draco Junior."

She actually face-palmed.

"And we can call him DJ." He sounded genuinely proud of this.

"No, my love. No." She was shaking her head.

"Fine. Then Scorpius."

"Absolutely not."

She could tell by the silence that his mouth fell open. "Why not?" he sputtered, "It's a cool name."

"Our child is not going to be named Scorpius, stalker." She rolled her eyes and let her feet rest against the end of the tub, her knees poking out of the water. "Tell me another name you've been thinking of."

"Alzirr."

"You like Astronomy names, huh?" She felt her chest bubble with warmth as they talked about baby names. "What about for a girl?"

"Margaux."

"Margaux," she echoed more to herself, hearing it roll off her tongue. "Margaux Malfoy-Valencia."

"I think it sounds elegant," he said serenely.

"I agree." She nodded.

"What names have you been thinking about?" he murmured to the phone.

"I don't want anything too common, you know? Not fully unique or crazy, but not too common."

"So tell me the names. Let's hear them."

"Sovida for a girl," she mused.

"Sovida Malfoy-Valencia," he sounded out. "Sounds pretty."

"Let's make a deal," she suggested, and sat up straighter in her bath.

"Name it."

"I'll name our girls, you name our boys."

"So—"

"Please not Scorpius."

"Fine."

She smiled. "Thank you."

"Clover, I think it's funny how psychotic you can be one minute, and then all heroic the next," he said almost as if he was amused.

"I don't know if you can consider what I'm doing heroic," Kaimana mumbled and poked her big toe in the faucet of the tub. "More like a bit hasty and daft." She frowned when the white polish on her toenail chipped from the faucet.

"You may be everyone's villain, but you're my hero."

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