The Girl Who Lied || Draco Malfoy

The Letters

September 1, 1995

Leaving Grimmauld Place was the hardest thing Hyacinth felt like she ever had to do. At the Dursleys she counted down the days of each summer. Summers where they visited the Weasleys' home, while much better than the Dursleys, left her feeling claustrophobic and longing for Hogwarts.

But Grimmauld Place? That held the closest thing she'd ever get to parents. She never wanted to leave.

They all walked together to the train, that dreadful feeling hanging thick in the air. Reality had returned - that reality where Cho Chang was dead and Cedric Diggory was in St. Mungos and Voldemort was alive. The reality where they die at the end.

That draining feeling. She almost forgot, if just for a few weeks.

Sirius, who had joined in dog form, pulled Harry aside somewhere more private as Remus put a hand on each of Hyacinth's shoulders. He gave her a good long stare. "Be good – make smart choices – do well in classes."

"Don't I always?" scuffed Hyacinth with a good-natured eyeroll. Remus ruffled her hair.

"Then I'll give you another one: lie low." That one was going to be the hardest to follow. Like her brother, lying low was virtually impossible for Hyacinth Potter.

"I'll do my best."

Her best ran dry about an hour into the train ride. After an awkward Prefects meeting run by Edith Carrow, the amazingly snarky Slytherin Head Girl, and Jamison Hild, the overconfident Ravenclaw Head Boy, Hyacinth took the task of patrolling with her fellow Slytherin prefect - Draco Malfoy - like a death sentence.

He had grown taller since she had last seen him, his pointy jaw a little more squared than before. His hair was perfectly into place with too much gel keeping it that way, his expensive school robes ironed and tailored to fit his flat figure. She wondered how his summer was, now that Voldemort was back. Did his death eater father come home after killing muggles and gush about it to his son? Did he treat his father like a hero out slaying the evil muggles or did he finally see the unglamourous sides of his prejudice? Did he know anything about the weapon Voldemort was after or was he left in the dark of their plans just like she was?

For a moment, as they walked in complete silence with an air like the other didn't exist, she pitied him. Trapped just like Regulus Black in a family full of hatred, not truly knowing what he was getting into until he was too late. Unable to find the courage to leave but most obviously miserable in every single photo taken.

Do not sympathize with your enemies. They will use your weak emotions against you.

Hyacinth ignored Tom, thinking about that little box of memories with RAB carved on the side in her trunk at that very moment, because she couldn't bear to leave it. Not after digging through this dead man's life all summer. To hell with what Kreature would say.

Draco glanced down at her from the corner of his eye, bumping her with his elbow. For a flash of a moment, he looked like he was capable of compassion. "You okay?"

"No idea what you mean, Malfoy."

His eyes narrowed. "Right." Suddenly he had his trademark smirk on his face, his whole demeanor changing as he shifted his shoulders back into that arrogant way he always held himself; it was like the flip of a light switch. "C'mon, Evil Potter. Let's go show off our new badges."

Hyacinth walked around the train with Malfoy as he pranced around in his usual fashion. She kept her head down and didn't contribute to the bullying. She didn't try to stop it either. She just walked a good ten meters behind him and acted like she didn't see a dang thing. Lie low, Remus said.