The Other Potter (Draco Malfoy Endgame)

The Pressure is Too Much

Chapter 18

By the time Alexis got back to the common room it was almost curfew. She was immediately bombarded by worried questions from her friends.

"Are you ok?"

"Where have you been?"

"We wanted to come find you but Mattheo told us to just give you space."

Mattheo just stared at her with an odd look she couldn't place, it wasn't jealousy exactly but something similar, before she heard him in her mind "Were you with George?"

She started to feel overwhelmed again, that peace and quiet she had enjoyed such a short time ago was gone like a puff of smoke. "I'm fine! I just needed some peace for once," she turned to Mattheo her eyes fierce, "I went to the astronomy tower, alone." She turned and stomped up the stairs making her frustration clear to everyone.

Mattheo lay in bed waiting for Alexis but after a few hours, it became clear she wasn't coming. He had no idea what had happened after Divination. What could that centaur have said to her that sent her into whatever spiral she was dealing with? He finally drifted off his mind still filled with questions that would never get answered.

Alexis lay in her bed mind spinning over everything that happened that day. She considered going to Mattheo but she couldn't forgive him yet for thinking she would go to her ex-boyfriend. Yes, she had been with Draco but they had never been romantic. Her mind swirled with thoughts of Draco, how different and kind he had been. She was still suspicious of his motives but he had felt more open and vulnerable than she expected.

She drifted off to sleep with a new vision added to her usual ones. Draco stood in a cold dark manor, a man with strange features standing before him. "You will do this Draco or I will kill you," the man said coldly, pressing his wand brutally into his arm. The death eater mark bloomed onto his skin. The pain and fear radiated from Draco as he walked over to his parents. Her view of the room widened and behind the strange-looking man was Mattheo. His sleeves rolled up showing a dark mark on his arm as well.

Alexis snapped up in bed the first rays of light drifting in through the window. She got dressed, grabbed her books for the day, and headed out. As she passed through the common room she paused looking up at the stairs to the boy's dorm. She sent a thought up the stairs unsure if it would be heard before walking out. She climbed up to the astronomy tower as the sky brightened around her. She sat watching the sky change through pinks and oranges when she heard someone coming up the stairs.

"I don't suppose you are going to tell me how I heard your voice in my mind," Draco commented as he sat down beside her. She smiled coyly still staring out at the sky, "What fun would it be if you knew all my secrets?"

He chuckled shaking his head, "The world making any more sense this morning?"

Alexis sighed heavily, "Less actually, I had a vision of your future last night." She looked over at him unable to hide the sadness in her eyes. He nodded slowly, "That bad huh?"

Alexis stared back out at the grounds as the sun rose higher in the sky. "Voldemort is going to force you to take the dark mark, and I'm not sure but I think he's going to make you kill someone." Draco's eyes grew darker, "Is this one of your visions that is inevitable? Or is there another path to avoid it?"

She couldn't look at him, she had heard the hope in his voice and she felt like someone was squeezing her heart painfully knowing she had to crush that hope. She reached down taking his hand in hers, "I'm sorry Draco, I didn't see any other possible futures. It will happen and if you don't succeed in the task he gives you, he's going to kill you." He squeezed her hand giving her a small smile, "I guess Fate is going to win no matter what. You were right last night, Fate is a bitch."