Darkest Desire - English

19

With great displeasure, Liz realized at dinner that Luna had been right. Mattheo was basking in his new popularity with the Slytherins like Louis XIV, the Sun King.
It also led to him ignoring her completely. Even when Liz thought their eyes would meet, Mattheo simply passed over it as if she wasn't even there.

Instead, Draco peeled himself out of the crowd and came over to Liz. Without a word, he closed his hand tightly around her upper arm like a vice and pulled her to her feet. No one stopped him as he dragged Liz out and back under the ledge beneath the grand staircase.

"Have you actually lost your mind?" he growled as menacingly as Liz had ever seen him. She tried to break away, but Draco did not relent. "Do you actually have any idea! You know?!" He snorted like a bull and finally loosened his fingers as he ran them over his face and hair.

All at once, he looked just like his father. Liz felt her lungs fill with ice water. The panic she felt in front of Lucius Malfoy would send her to her grave even faster than her mother's hatred.

"Liz!" Draco pressed his hand into the wall beside her face. "You have no idea what was going on when Riddle showed up at our house."

"Mattheo went to your house?" Now her stomach tightened painfully as well. If this kept up, she was going to die here and now of organ failure. Where else could Mattheo have gone? The Malfoys were his father's greatest supporters and were more than willing to take Mattheo in and treat him like the prince they thought he was.

"You destroyed the diary!" Draco hissed through bared teeth. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Don't start." Liz tried to sound angry as well, but fear dripped from every word. "I paid more than enough for that!"

Draco snorted a snide laugh. "Oh well, that's not how our family sees it."

For a moment, Liz lost her footing. The whole room around her, seemed to dissolve, only to immediately close around her again with an icy fist. Cold and hard and unrelenting. "Draco," she moaned, crushed by the weight of his words.

The youngest Malfoy closed his eyes and pushed out his anger with a final hiss. "You must be more on your guard than ever from now on. Do you understand me?" With a sharp look, he opened his eyes again and searched her face for understanding.

But Liz still gasped in vain. "I can't," she panted, and Draco was about to urge her that she had to, when she reached for his cloak and pulled him close again. "I can't do magic anymore, Draco. If they're up to anything, they'll kill me." Her voice failed. She had known it all along, but saying it out loud made it strangely real. She hadn't just defied her family, she had thwarted their plans. She had gone too far.

"How long are you going to stand here, Malfoy," a painfully familiar voice sounded behind them. Mattheo! How long had he been standing there? Had he heard what she had said?

Behind him, a Slytherin with straight black hair came out of the hall and immediately wrapped her arm around Mattheo's. Liz had seen her prancing around Draco quite a few times, but didn't know her name. "Yes Malfoy," the girl warbled with a spiteful laugh. "I know you're related, but maybe you'd better keep it a secret in the future." She laughed, and to Liz's horror, Mattheo laughed along. And then his new clique pushed out of the hall behind them and everyone laughed along, not knowing what it was about.

Liz swallowed her tears and dove under Malfoy's arm. As much as she hated to admit it. The girl was right. From now on, Draco had better stay away from her if he didn't want to end up on the hit list, too.

The laughter of the Slytherins was still echoing in Liz's ears when she reached Ravenclaw Tower.

*

Liz had been given permission by Professor Flitwick not to take the subjects that required hands-on spellcasting, but she couldn't avoid the rest of the classes. Unfortunately, more and more students were picking up on the strange behavior and rumors were spreading like wildfire.