BANALITY : Draco Malfoy

68

"Expelliarmus," I shoot the spell at Blaise, hoping to disarm him just as Harry taught me. It is the best spell that I know, and I am good enough to cast it on multiple people at a time. I was preparing for Pansy and her cronies, but Blaise ought to be no different.

He blocks it. He doesn't even speak his shield charm.

"Let's not cause a scene, please," he says.

I sprint towards the door, "Terry! Anthony! It's-"

My body goes cold and stiff, and I can almost hear the sound of ice solidifying inside me, as if my blood has gone cold and still as well. From the momentum I teeter forward, my head slamming against the ground. I can feel the ache in my head but I cannot turn it. I cannot speak.

"There, come now," it's Blaise behind me, but all I can see is the dirt before me, and it is entirely fuzzy. "Why would you do that? You're lucky you didn't say my name, or I'd have to obliviate them too."

Blaise grabs hold of me and forces me up. A light turns on in the house behind us.

We apparate away. My entire body squeezes, but I cannot scream. Truly I cannot move. If Blaise was not holding on to me tightly, I am sure that my body would have been torn completely apart by space.

We materialize. Blaise snaps his wand, and my body is mine once more. It collapses, and I begin to dry heave, coughing and sputtering. The casserole comes up in chunks as I sob. It's slow and painful, and I feel like I'm going to choke to death. My head is pounding. Truly, I cannot afford to cry because it is just going to hurt me even more than I am hurting now. Then, the pain stops and I'm done throwing up. I curl into a ball on the ground, not even able to open my eyes or do anything besides hold myself still.

"Apparating that far is so very dangerous," Blaise muses, his voice a thin and hollow sound. "It must be worse when you can't apparate at all."

My body is trembling on the ground. He kicks me, and I let out a sob.

"It really isn't that bad," Blaise spits. "I could have done a worse job with your mind. You are lucky you are even sane at all."

He grabs me by the hair and lifts me up. I am forced quite too close to his face. I hate him. I hate that I stupidly did not even consider it could be him. He feels so very large compared to me. This feels so familiar, even though Blaise could not possibly be familiar.

"We could apparate again," he says, but his voice sounds like it is underwater.

I feel us apparate once more. I cling on to him tightly but my fingers are numb and I feel like I'm losing my grip on him and reality. My head squeezes shut, and so do my eyes, and then I am gone.

When I open my eyes, my head feels so much worse, but there is no urge to vomit. I am quite cold, but my legs are especially cold. My mouth tastes like soap I try to roll onto my side. My body lags. I am so very tired. My head hurts so very very much.

"Can you go one apparition without a disgusting bodily function?" Blaise's voice feels like a deep and powerful echo. It ricochets off me and the tight dark room that we are in, becoming the one thing I can feel other than the pain. "You are more fragile this time, it appears. You've never had a seizure before. I suppose that is what I get for apparating you that far. My body could barely handle that distance."

I turn onto my hands and knees. My fingers press down into the concrete below me. I cannot stand up; the world is spinning.

"You are so much quieter this time," he kneels down next to me. I can feel his breath on my cheek. "It is boring when you don't fight back."