The Dark Promise// Theodore Nott

Ch 21

"How are you playing around in my head?" She asked him, trying to make out his face in the darkness. Malfoy chuckled, crossing one leg over his knee. "You're not the only one with tricks up their sleeve." He leaned forward, the light of the moon now showing his angled features. Olivia sat in the middle of the bed; her quilt still pulled up around her. They stared at each other for a long time, the silence deafening. "What is up with you?" She said softly, as if she was scared someone was listening in to their conversation.

"What do you mean?" Malfoy asked, lifting an eyebrow. "Why are you so set on me being with you?" She said, lowering her hands from her blanket, letting it fall on her lap. At this point, she wasn't angry with him. She wasn't scared like she was in the come and go room, she was just curious. One of these days, curiosity would get the better of her.

Draco turned his head to the side, thinking for a second. "I don't know." Olivia scrunched up her face. What a lame answer. She opened her mouth to say as such, but he continued. "You make something inside me feel good. Better than it's been in a long time." That was a better answer, but an ominous one at that. Was he just depressed, and she was a distraction for him? That what it sounded like to her.

"I'm going to need a little more than that Malfoy." She pressed. She was tired of this mysterious man routine. It was getting old. Malfoy hung his head, taking a deep breath. "I'm sure you know he takes things from us. So he could have enough energy to not go dormant." She did know that in fact. He was the one who inadvertently led her to that information. "He took my joy. He took part of my personality. A piece of my puzzle is gone."

A memory of Blaise talking to her outside of the girl's bathroom popped inside her head. He said Malfoy didn't used to be this way. They used to have a lot of fun. Now he was just a prick. "When you cured me, I felt happy that someone I didn't know would care enough to do that. It made me feel good. When I heard you sing, I felt a glimpse of what it used to feel like before he took that part away from me."

Olivia would never admit it, but she felt bad for Draco. Losing apart of yourself would indeed give you an existential crisis. If one of the parts that made you, well you, were gone...would it even be you anymore? Suddenly a realization hit her. He had to have taken something from Theo. What she talked with him outside of the Great Hall, he didn't seem like himself at all. It was like she was talking to a totally different person.

"What did he take from Theo?" She asked. Malfoy was silent, still not looking up from her. "Malfoy, tell me now. What did he take from Theo?" She repeated. Malfoy mumbled his answer, upset that even after he told her how she made him feel, she was still asking about Nott. "He took his love for you."

She felt a pain in her heart. So that's why he acted so indifferent to her. He probably went home, finding his father in bad shape and they gave him a deal he couldn't refuse. Just as she had just done earlier that night. She couldn't hate Theo anymore. She had done the same thing. Malfoy stood up in his chair, now angry. He walked to the end of the bed, pointing his finger in her face. "Just fucking forget about Nott. He's a lost cause. He's in the past. What's good for you now is me. Tomorrow you are going to ask him to go back home with me. Do you understand?!"

Olivia didn't reply. She only stared into his face, jealousy filling his eyes. She wasn't going to reward a tantrum. Her silence pissed him off even more. He grabbed ahold of her face, pulling her so close, the tips of their noses touched. "You sit on your high horse and pretend your fucking better than me. If you were, you would have chosen death tonight. No, you're just a fickle girl who lies to get what she wants." Tears began to form around her eyes when she heard those words. Everything he was saying was true. She had thought them many times herself. He threw her back on the bed, climbing on it himself. "Oh, here comes the tears. You weren't crying a second ago when I was fucking you with my tongue. You can rationalize it all you want. Just because it was a dream doesn't change the fact that you wanted more. Your just a greedy slut who always wants more. More information, more power. It's never enough for you."