Rendezvous ⤖ Draco Malfoy

𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

Hope sat in the stands by herself as she stewed in her thoughts. She didn't bother to cast an umbrella to protect her from the drizzle, let her get ill. She deserved it for what she'd done. She promised herself that she wouldn't let The Hollow win and she'd hurt someone.

It wouldn't be long before Snape would be dragging her up to the Headmaster's office and they'd snap her wand. She'd be expelled and never get to do wand magic again.

"Alright, what was that in the Great Hall, why did everyone scamper away from you?" Hermione took the seat next to Hope and dumped her bag on the floor. She was wrapped up warm and had a thermos in her hand with steaming hot chocolate.

Hope chuckled. "There's a lot to fill you in on."

"Get to it then, you've got the whole try-outs to fill me in."

So, Hope did. But not before she drew a discreet circle of salt around them and burnt some sage. No-one was going to listen in on this conversation.

Hope told her all about the plan she had created so that she could see her father more often and how it lead to her mother's death. How she took back The Hollow and now it's making her hallucinate. How she attacked Pansy and the whole of Slytherin were now shit scared of her.

She dumped all of it on Hermione who listened carefully. But Hope didn't tell her about the altercation with Malfoy. For some reason she kept that piece of information all to herself.

"You know it's not your fault, right? You didn't kill her." Hermione held tightly onto Hope's hand as she made her listen.

"If I hadn't hidden her away in the first place, she would still be here."

"The vampires are to blame. Not you. Your family know it wasn't your fault."

Hope nodded her head in defeat. She knew it in her heart that she shouldn't blame herself, but it was hard. Taking back The Hollow was just one of the ways she could make up for it. She would fix her family.

"Look, it's the keepers turns." Hope nudged Hermione's shoulder as they watched Ron step forward with the rest of the group.

The first five keepers were awful. None of them saved more than two goals and some even nearly fell off their brooms. Hermione's leg shook as they watched McClaggen save four goals in a row and her hand was at her mouth as he shot off in the opposite direct for the fifth.

Hope bit her tongue to hide her smile.

Hermione hit her one the arm.

"I didn't even say anything!" Hope defended as she grinned.

"You were going to."

When it came to Ron's turn, he saved five penalties in row, the two witches cheering for him each time.

As soon as it was over, they jumped up from their seats and ran towards the pitch. "You did brilliantly, Ron!" Hermione cheered.

-

Hope turned around from Hagrid's planning to make her way back up to the castle. She had walked down with the trio to the hut, wanting to catch up with the boys, but did not want to be included in their conversation with Hagrid.

She was the only one out of them that had continued on with Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid felt the betrayal of the Gryffindors deeply and Hope knew they all needed to discuss this without her there.

A flash of blonde hair in the corner of her eye, peaked her interest. Was that Malfoy walking into the Forbidden Forest?

It was.

What on earth was he doing in there?

Hope couldn't help her curious nature, before she knew it was following in his footsteps. She kept her distance, keeping as light on her feet as she could and hiding behind the trees when she thought he was about to turn around.

"You following me, Marshall?" Malfoy called out as he continued walking deeper into the forest.

She paused, wondering how he figured it out.

"No..."

"You sure? Maybe you're obsessed with me."

She scoffed. "Absolutely not."

Malfoy turned around and marched up to the witch until she was backed into a tree. He grinned at her precarious position. "You owe me a story."

"Once upon a time, there was a princess who—"

"I could just go to Dumbledore, tell him about that time you attacked another student."

Hope's shoulders dropped. "You wouldn't."

"Who do you think got the whole of Slytherin to shut their mouths? If anyone is going to rat you out. It's going to be me. Make it good, Marshall."

Hope crossed her arms over her chest as she huffed a breath. She could just obliviate him? 

"And don't even think about obliviating me. I've got contingencies in place."

Fuck sake.

She glared, portraying as much hatred as she could. "I'm possessed by an evil witch spirit that wants to kill everything around her."

Malfoy let out a loud laugh. He even bent over, not being able to hold it in. "Oh, come on, Marshall. Like I'm going to believe that."

"Once upon a time, there was a native American witch called Inadu. Before she was born, elders of her tribe bestowed her a great power in hope that she would become a symbol of prosperity. But when she was born, she only craved more power and as she grew older she sought to kill members of her own tribe. So, her own tribe sought to kill her."

"What is this, a history lesson? Binns' is more interesting than you."

Hope ignored him. "In her last moments, she cast a final spell that was powered by own death. She created the werewolf curse and bound all those present to the full moon. Yet, in her death, she became more powerful as a spirit and haunted the rest of her tribe. The tribe burned her remains, but four pieces could not be destroyed. If the pieces were together, her power increased. Therefore, the four pieces of Inadu were distributed to the first four werewolf packs. Over the centuries—"

"Merlin, how old is this witch?"

Of course, now he was intrigued.

"Around 500 AD. As I was saying, over the centuries she grows in power and once the ancestors of New Orleans were destroyed, she starts to gain followers. Followers who will sacrifice children for her rituals. She can make you see things, things that aren't really there and make you lose your mind. She will whisper in your ear all the ways to kill someone. She spoke to me then, you know? She told me to cast the killing curse, decapitation, rip out your heart. She knows all the possible ways and as soon as I lose control. You. Are. Dead."

For everything that she said, Malfoy didn't weaken. "Why you? What makes you so special?"

"She likes powerful people. Don't give me that look." Hope narrowed her eyes at his unimpressed look. "If you're a firstborn child with natural magic, you tend to be a lot more gifted with magic than others and add in the fact that my family is...old magic, I am devastating."

Hope continued on as she realised that he wasn't going to interrupt her. "So, she possessed me when I was nine years old. We managed to remove her, but it meant splitting The Hollow – Inadu – into four pieces and my family members running away with each piece. If they went near each other or me, for that matter, The Hollow would get stronger and a prophecy would start to become fulfilled. And thou shall know signs of blood from water, vipers from the rivers, larvae from the soil, ice rain from the skies, fire across the water, monsoons from the sea. And the death of all firstborns."

Hope looked up as she breathed out shakily. "They just kept interacting, one more misstep and every firstborn would die. I couldn't risk it. So, I fixed it. I took The Hollow back from my family and stopped that prophecy from ever coming true. Those black veins you see? That's The Hollow slowly tightening its grip on me."

"I'm a weapon of destruction that is failing at finding the solution. The Hollow can't be killed."