𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍 ! [ draco malfoy ]

five

TW: brief depictions of abuse ("**" indicates where to stop and start reading if you would like to skip that part)

     ** SHE FELT A SHARP slap across her face, sending her stumbling backwards. Jade grasped onto the fireplace behind her to steady herself and Eugenia Rosier stepped closer to her.

     Jade looked to the corner of the room where Vincent Rosier stood. She looked panicked and tried to telepathically scream at him to help her but he did not budge. He simply ignored her gaze. His indifference was a betrayal that cut as deep as physical pain.

     "Please," Jade pleaded with her mother.

     Eugenia snarled, "Stupid girl."

     "Expulso," Eugenia cursed at her, causing Jade to slam into the fireplace and crumble to the floor.

     Jade felt a shooting pain in her back due to the collision. Eugenia spat at her daughter who looked like she had no fight left in her. Yet, she still inched closer to Jade, it was not over. **

     Abruptly, Jade jolted awake, a gasp escaping her lips. The room, bathed in moonlight, held an eerie tranquillity, oblivious to the turmoil within her. Her eyes darted around in desperation, finding that the four other Gryffindor girls were still in a peaceful slumber.

     Her mother had plagued her nightmares since her first night at Hogwarts. It had been almost two weeks of consecutive nightmares that were really flashbacks. Even far away from her, Eugenia still had a hold over Jade. She was glad at least the nightmare had stopped there and not continued.

     Jade continued panting as she wiped the sweat that had formed off her forehead. She laid back down and tried to relax, unsure she could fall back asleep. A glance at her nightstand revealed the time, 2:23 in the morning.

     That meant it was officially Friday, the day of the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts. Jade needed plenty of energy from a good rest for the tryouts, but Eugenia seemed to have thwarted that idea.

     It seemed that after a painful hour alone with her thoughts, she succumbed to exhaustion, the grip of sleep reclaiming her.

❦ ❦ ❦

     A few hours later, Jade walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. She was a tad late as she felt sluggish getting ready for Quidditch tryouts. She urgently needed some food and coffee in her system to get her through the gruelling day.

     As she approached the Gryffindor table, the animated chatter of her friends caught her attention. Jade slid into her usual spot, eyes flicking towards the cover of the Daily Prophet that Hermione held.

     "Yeah, that's him," said Har­ry, "I dun­no what they're play­ing at, tak­ing Stan se­ri­ous­ly."

     "Morning. What happened?" Jade inquired, her gaze shifting between her friends.

     "They arrested Stan Shunpike on suspicion of Death Eater activity," Harry informed her.

     "They prob­ably want to look as though they're do­ing some­thing," said Hermione, frown­ing. "Peo­ple are ter­ri­fied– you know the Patil twins' par­ents want them to go home? And Eloise Midgen has al­ready been with­drawn. Her fa­ther picked her up last night."

     "What! But Hog­warts is safer than their homes, bound to be! We've got Au­rors and all those ex­tra pro­tec­tive spells, and we've got Dum­ble­dore!" Ron exclaimed.

     "I don't think we've got him all the time," said Hermione, looking at the staff ta­ble, "haven't you no­ticed? His seat's been emp­ty as of­ten as Ha­grid's this past week."