Hateful Love

Chapter Fifty

NOTE: I do not own any of the ideas or characters expressed in this story (except Cassie Jackson). All of these belong to J.K. Rowling.

Thank you all so much for your suggestions after the last chapter (; I'm not sure I was able to like apply them all into this chapter, but I definitely will try to in the next chapters. Anyway, I finally got this one to work! Comment to tell me what you think? Please, it really helps me out a lot :D I hope ya like it!

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Draco P.O.V.

          “He…what?”

          Blaise looks up from the letter, and I can tell by just his expression that I haven’t heard him wrong. He takes a step back and sits down on his bed in shock, stammering, “I—it doesn’t say why. Just that—just that he killed her. Two weeks ago.”

          I suddenly realize that my mouth is hanging open uselessly, so I quickly shake my head and throw the covers back. Swinging my legs off the bed and standing a bit unsteadily, I say with a slightly shaky voice, “Let me see that.”

          He hands the parchment to me without a word, and I’m too preoccupied to see that he’s watching me carefully with pity in his eyes. I hold the letter from my father up to the light, hurriedly scanning through and only reading brief parts of it.

          Unbelievable, you ignoring our letters this long…Samantha Yaxley’s been killed by the Dark Lord…he wants to see you…your mother and I, absolutely terrified…come home immediately…

          When I look back up from the letter, Blaise is rubbing his eyes tiredly and letting out a heavy sigh. The paper quivers in my hands from my shaking fingers as I slowly ask, “Why…why do you think he killed her?”

          Blaise looks up at me in the semi-darkness, both of us ignoring Crabbe’s snoring off in the corner. He replies quietly, “I don’t know, mate. I don’t know.”

          I swallow hard, not knowing what to think. What the hell happened? What could Samantha possibly have done to make the Dark Lord want to kill her? My stomach churns as I think, And why the hell does he want to see me?

          “Look, mate,” Blaise says after a moment of me just standing there, staring blankly at the floor and thinking. “Just go home. Go and see Snape, he’ll let you Disapparate.”

          Nodding slowly, I look back up to see Blaise watching me as though he’s concerned I’m going to lose it. But I just crumple the letter up into my hand and toss it into the bin, reaching to put my shirt back on as I reply quietly, “Yeah. Okay.”

          I get changed as quickly as I can, trying hard to stem the constant flow of thoughts that are getting considerably worse—it just might be possible to make myself physically sick just from worrying. I’m pulling on my jacket when Blaise asks carefully, “What are you going to tell Cassie?”

          I freeze, one arm half-raised in the air. There’s no way he can know, no one knows. He can’t know.

          “Come on, Draco,” Blaise says, seeing my expression. “The way you reacted when Flint insulted her last week…I can tell you’re still together. But relax, I won’t tell anyone. I know you’re trying to keep it a secret.”

          Goyle rolls over in his sleep suddenly, and my heart practically stops. If he’s heard any of this, it’s all over. But his snoring quickly resumes, and I let out a breath as I realize he’s been sleeping this whole time. I turn back to Blaise and snap harshly, “If you say anything about me and her to anyone, I’ll kill you.”