MEMENTO MORI | DRACO MALFOY

TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

     As October came to a brisk end, along with it came the first Quidditch match of the year. The Slytherin team had spent countless hours on the pitch practicing since the start of term. Montague had them trying to catch up on practices since the Quidditch Cup had been completely canceled last year due to the Triwizard Tournament.

It had been quite the ordeal when Professor Umbridge had decided to disband all clubs earlier that week, and that unfortunately included the Quidditch teams. She had immediately allowed the Slytherin team to reform, but she wasn't nearly as willing with the Gryffindor team, especially since Harry Potter was on it. In any other circumstance, Slytherin would have been thrilled that the Gryffindor team got shut down, but this was finally the first year they actually had a chance to win the Quidditch Cup now that Ron Weasley had made the team. Apparently he was rather clumsy.

The Great Hall was bustling with excitement the morning of the first match when Ophelia arrived. She walked to her usual seat at the Slytherin table impassively, ignoring all of the chatter and bets happening around her. She still hated Quidditch.

Ophelia hadn't seen Snape for days. She wondered if the Dark Lord had just murdered him the moment he set foot in his presence, but she was sure they would have at least heard about it by now. Dumbledore would have thought it strange that the Potions Master had disappeared for longer than a few days. In preparation for the worst, Ophelia had completely dissociated. She was practically a shell of the girl she once was— an even more horrible, miserable version of herself. Knowing what had happened to her emotions when she'd broke before, she wasn't willing to take that chance again, especially now with Voldemort practically watching her every move. The only way to be able to hide things from him would be to completely separate from it all.

Despite it being an entire week since her last encounter with Snape, there he was this morning, present once again at the Staff table for breakfast as if he hadn't even been gone at all. Their Potions classes were canceled, much to Umbridge's displeasure. Ophelia was sure she would have taught it herself if it didn't coincide with her other classes. She continued to watch Snape carefully as he continuously avoided her gaze. She knew he would reach out to her when it was safe to speak, but she couldn't help but be curious. It must've gone well if he was sitting there, perfectly unscathed.

Her eyes then shifted towards Thomas further down the table, his gaze was directed lazily at his breakfast. Gemma had finally loosened her grip on his metaphorical shackles, but Ophelia wasn't interested in speaking to him anymore. The further she positioned herself from her cousin the better. Thomas didn't exactly seem too inclined on speaking to her, anyway.

"Ophelia!" A loud booming voice shook her from her trance, and she watched as the Slytherin Quidditch team bounded into the Great Hall with Cassius at their lead. Ophelia couldn't help but roll her eyes as he leaned down to kiss her before he sat down roughly beside her. "Coming to watch us pummel Gryffindor this afternoon?"

"Wasn't particularly planning on it." She mumbled in response, taking a bite of her toast.

"Oh, come on, O." He groaned. "Please?"

"Because I want to spend my afternoon freezing my arse off up in the stands while watching you fly around on a bloody broomstick?" She drew in a sharp breath through her nose upon noticing the frown forming on Cassius' lips. "Fine. This is the only game I'm coming to, alright?"

"Brilliant." He grinned, kissing her hard against her cheek.

Ophelia's attention was quickly drawn to the boisterous laughter from further down the table. The rest of the team was cheering tauntingly at Weasley and Potter who had just entered the Great Hall. Draco, Nott and Blaise were all pointing at their chests as the two boys passed.