Bloodlines || A Draco Malfoy Romance Fanfiction

He's Back - 97

Aphry

Draco was true to his word, and the hate letters Hermione was receiving soon stopped.

After that, things fell into a steady rhythm, and all of a sudden it was time for the third task. That morning, we all went into the great hall together, which was full of excited energy, especially the Gryffindor table.

As we sat down, copies of The Daily Prophet were being delivered to those who had a subscription. Draco opened his copy and I leaned into him to look at his paper, expecting to see an article about the final Triwizard task. Instead, I saw a photo of Harry Potter, with an article titled HARRY POTTER, "DISTURBED AND DANGEROUS."

I glanced over the article and seeing Draco's quote, I said, "'We think he'd do anything for a bit of power?' Draco!"

He smirked, trying to disarm me with his charms. "I love hearing you saying my name."

Rolling my eyes at his attempt to distract me. I took a deep breath. "You better be glad we have final exams that I need to focus on." I huffed, then pointed a finger at him. "We are discussing this tonight, after the tournament."

Laughing and returning his eyes to the paper in front of him, he said, "That's plenty of time for me to think up a distraction."

I glared at him. "Don't think you're going to get off that easy, Draco Malfoy."

"Oh, look, there's the front page story now," he said, then proceeded to stand a bit from his seat and yell. "Hey, Potter! Potter! How's your head? You feeling all right? Sure you're not going to go berserk on us?"

"Draco!" I scolded.

He turned to me with a cheeky grin as he returned to his seat. "Don't you have a Transfiguration final to worry about, love?"

I glared. "You are nothing but an immature boy."

Smirking, he said, "Yes, but in many ways, I'm a man." He lifted an eyebrow suggestively as the Slytherins surrounding and listening in gave low "Oooohs."

Matching his smirk, I said, "Well, let me know when you're a man in the ways that count." He practically walked into that. The Slytherins repeated their reactions, some louder the second time around.

Draco even laughed. "Touché, Cytheria," he responded.

The tournament started, and once the crowd ushered the champions into the maze to find the Triwizard Cup with fanfare and cheers, it turned into a waiting game. The hedges of the maze were high and prevented us from seeing anything. So we just sat around, chatting and guessing who would end up coming out with the Cup.

Half an hour in, Red sparks flew up, and we waited as the teachers headed in that direction. Soon enough, Fleur Delacour was brought out, unconscious. She was quickly revived.

About another hour later, I leaned onto Draco's shoulder, murmuring low, "Is it just me, or is this starting to get boring?"

A chuckle left him, which I felt reverberate against our connected shoulders. "It is quite dull, just waiting for someone to come out with the cup."

"This is boring!" Daphne whined loudly from my other side, huffing and resting her head in her hands and her elbows on her knees. Draco and I looked at each other and started laughing. She looked at us with raised brows. "What?" She said with a glare.

A high-pitched whirling sound drew all our attention, and another set of sparks coloured the sky. Several moments later, an unconscious Krum also came out and was revived.

"That leaves a Hogwarts champion to win the cup," Daphne said once we knew Viktor was okay. "Oh, this is getting exciting..."

"Where is my Potter Sucks badge?" Draco said, patting the various pockets of his suit.

I glared, "Don't you dare ruin that nice suit with that ugly badge."

After fifteen minutes, Daphne declared it was boring again.

Nearly another hour passed when something was transported to the ground below us. Standing, I saw the red of Harry's shirt. The band started playing and the majority of the crowd cheered.

"Harry won!" I said, jumping excitedly. I looked at Draco, who was sneering. I slapped his arm with a mixture of scolding and playing. He just rolled his eyes at me.

Then Fleur Delacour screamed.

I looked back to the ground, but it was hard to see with all the people crowding around. "Draco, what's going on?" His height gave him a better view than me.

When I looked at him, his eyes widened, and his jaw slackened. "Aphry, I wouldn't look..."

"Oh my god," I said, finally catching a glimpse at Cedric's body right as Draco uttered his warning. I looked at Draco, and he looked back at me. Tears brimmed my eyes as I wondered what happened.

"He's back!" Harry said. "He's back! Voldemort's back!"

Everything else was a blur then. There were whispers, then the cry of Cedric's father as he wept for his dead son.

Draco

We returned to the common room in an eerie silence, taking our usual spots in front of the fire on the common room couches.

If Potter was right, and the Dark Lord was back, things were most definitely going to change. Father frequently spoke about how things used to be. How the Dark Lord had planned to set everything in its proper place by truly separating the muggle world from the magical.

I was, of course, in line with my father's ideals. But I was concerned about Aphrodite. Though their bloodline remained pure, her father didn't seem the type to follow someone like the Dark Lord. And father never seemed to speak of those days when William Cytheria was around, which made me wonder how their relationship worked back then. Would this cause a rift between our families? How was I supposed to protect her if we were separated?

I stayed in the common room, thinking, until most of the students had gone to bed, except for a few, notably the children of Death Eaters. We sat in silence for a while, with nothing but the crackle of the fire. Finally, Nott broke the silence. "So if he really is back, that means our fathers..."

Looking at him from my spot standing at the mantle where I had been staring into the fire and thinking, I said "Most likely, yes."

Aphrodite's brow furrowed as she looked between the two of us. "What about your fathers?"

Oh yes, she thought my father's crimes were only done through the influence of the Imperius Curse. 

I looked into her eyes and lied, "Nothing that concerns you." If her father had not told her the truth, I wasn't going to fill her in. "Aphry, it's been a long day, you look exhausted. Maybe you should go to bed."

That was the wrong thing to say for someone as stubborn as her. She seemed to realize my attempts at diversion. Removing herself from the couch, she moved to stand in front of me, her lips drawing in a thin, serious line. "Draco, tell me. Everyone is always keeping things like this from me. You can't be, too." Tears brimmed her eyes despite her apparent frustration. 

A pit of fear and anxiety lodged in my throat. How someone several inches shorter than me seemed to cause such a reaction was beyond me. I diverted my gaze back to the fire, not wanting to see her reaction when I let out a breath and told her. "If You-Know-Who is back, our fathers have likely returned to serving him."

She let out a strangled laugh. "Your father only did his bidding under the Imperius Curse." She didn't sound convinced of that.

"No, he didn't," I responded simply. I looked back at her. Now she was staring into the fire, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Looking back at me, I could see the fear in her tear-brimmed eyes. "Everything is going to change now, isn't it?"

I nodded solemnly, "Yes, it is."