The Project

𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

3.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞

" 𝙄'𝙑𝙀 𝙎𝙀𝙀𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙋𝘼𝙋𝙀𝙍𝙎..."

𖥸

♪ 𝚁𝚘𝚜𝚕𝚢𝚗 - 𝙱𝚘𝚗 𝙸𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚂𝚝. 𝚅𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 ♪

      The week passed in a blur for Alina. Potions class was uneventful, for they sat in their usual seats while Snape went over requirements and regulations for the assignment. She occasionally caught Nott glancing at her, and she hated it. He somehow always managed to look bored, judgemental, and completely unfazed. She didn't know how.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Alina awoke to the feeling of her pet owl pecking on her face.

"What fucking time is it," she groaned, rolling to the side to swat off her barn owl, who merely jumped over her hand and resumed pecking her.

"God, okay, what do you want??" she finally gave in, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Her owl, Tate, merely stared at her- wait, there was a letter tied to his leg. She reached out, unraveled it, and then couldn't decide whether to groan or laugh.

𝐖𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐮𝐩. 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝟓𝐚𝐦. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞.𝐏.𝐬. - 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬. 𝐇𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞.~ 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲

She wanted to strangle him, but that would mean she'd have to get out of bed anyway. She threw on her Quidditch uniform for training as silently as possible before slipping out of her room, her owl on her shoulder. He flew away once she stepped out of the main doors of the castle and into the foggy courtyard. The walk down to the Quidditch Pitch was long, and the fresh air had a bite of cold to it. When she arrived, her nose and cheeks were pink from the chill.

Most of the team was already there, bleary eyed and weary. She made her way to Blaise while Draco was lecturing one of their new teammates on the importance of early practices. Blaise nodded in greeting and she did the same, leaning on her upright broom like it was a cane.

The last two people showed up right at five, and Draco immediately started.

"If we don't train early, someone else will steal the Quidditch Pitch, and then we're fucked for the season."

Blaise snickered, and Draco cast him a glare.

"Right, everyone in the air. We'll start with some ball passes before moving on to plays."

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Practice was going smoothly... until the Gryffindor team showed up. They kept playing, until the captain started yelling at them to stop.

"The fuck does he want?" Alina heard Draco mutter as he went to land while the rest of them stayed in the air. She took the time to bring her hands to her mouth, blowing gently on them. They hurt from the cold and the constant gripping of her broomstick. When Draco started arguing with the Gryffindors, her eyes narrowed.

Blaise met her gaze and they both landed. The way the blonde was talking didn't seem like he was picking on the other team for no reason. Something was going on.

As soon as her feet touched the damp grass, Alina dismounted her broom and hurried over to her friend.

"I told you, we reserved this field!" Draco insisted.

"Well we did, too."

"I can show you the scroll, we reserved it."

On and on the argument went with Draco and the Gryffindor team captain. The rest of the Slytherin team had landed, too. Harry and the twins looked uncomfortable by their captain's shouting; she offered them a sympathetic look.

When one of their other teammates saw her looking at them, he stepped forward, looking pissed.

"Don't think you're innocent too, Dupont. We reserved this field and we all know what your mother did," he spat.

Alina's heart dropped and her eyes widened at his words, but she masked her surprise with cool indifference at his words.

Still, she must've done a poor job of it. Fred pulled the guy back with an angry look, while Draco turned to her.

"Come on, we've had enough training for today," Draco finally insisted, leading them away from the pitch.

When they were far enough away that the Gryffindors wouldn't hear, Draco leaned in to ask, "Are you alright, Alina? They may act all nobel, but they can be assholes."

She nodded uncertaintly, grateful for her friend's concern but embarrassed by it all the same.

"Thanks, Draco, but I'll be alright."

They headed back to the castle, done with practice early.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Her mother's name flashed on the Daily Prophet's headline.

Karina Dupont wanted for murder and association with Death Eaters.

If you have any information, please contact us immediately.

Her mother had been distant lately. And when she had walked out that previous Monday morning, Alina had expected her to come back for dinner, like she always did.

Not this time. Her mother never came back, and soon enough she was in the articles. She had joined the Death Eaters and commited murder. Alina had cried for days, holed up in her room until Draco had visited and found her.

"I know how hard it is to have a parent in their ranks," he'd told her, letting her cry on him even when he wasn't fond of physical touch. He'd become like a brother to her, and after that she'd grown much closer to him. She'd learned to handle it, the lonely nights with her sad muggle father and the empty house. She'd even forgotten about it, when she was with friends or in the moment. She hadn't expected it to come up at school. She hadn't expected it to hurt so much when it did.