Draco Malfoy's Perspective

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Obliviate." Violet watched Draco carefully; what would he remember? She had tried to focus solely on the books.

He blinked a few times. "September 1 already? Suppose now that you're not in my home anymore we don't have to communicate."

"Suppose not."

He brushed down the corridor and into a compartment with Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy. Violet shooed three second year girls out of another and sat with Theresa. "What was that about?" Theresa asked.

"I kicked myself out of my house and had to stay with Draco for ten days. He decided he was going to read a few books that would've had him tortured and killed by You-Know-Who, and his parents host him all the time, so I had to wipe his memory. But in the process, I made him hate me again."

"Sorry. Explain the again part."

Violet smiled. This made Theresa's eyebrows shoot up. "Well, he walked me out into the woods behind his house so his family wouldn't overhear and told me that it didn't matter that I was Muggleborn to him. Then I told him that I wasn't Muggleborn and–"

"Stop." Theresa's eyes were wide. "You're not Muggleborn?"

Violet blinked. "Haven't I told you? I thought I did. I'm Pureblood."

"Then why did you tell everyone you were Muggleborn? You made unnecessary enemies!"

"Exactly. If my blood status matters, then I don't care to have them as a friend." She smiled. "It was actually just a way to tick off Draco at first. Then word got around and people started ignoring me and I decided I didn't want to be around people like that."

"So you and he got over your differences then?" she asked, her head tilted in confusion.

"Yeah. We were really good friends for three days. But that's gone now."

Theresa read into the words spoken with a dead tone and gave her friend a sad look. "I'm sorry, Vi."

"For what?" Violet frowned.

"You like him, but he hates you."

Violet shrugged. He would come around at some point. She hadn't lost him as a friend forever. Theresa said, "And you know you just removed his memory of the books, not why he wanted to get them."

"So?"

"So he's probably going to go looking for them again. He's going to be curious about you; even more so if you don't act like you hate him. This memory charm can't last forever."

"Well if I undo it, I put both of our lives in danger. Even now I'm in danger of You-Know-Who coming to get me. My parents only left when they found out they were pregnant; that was months before the end. They'd barely enough time to convince anyone that they were against him when he vanished."

"So you're going to let this go for as long as you can."

"And hope that I can undo it after that."

~

Violet sat through the Sorting with trepidation, her hands hidden under the table and shaking. She wouldn't be Sorted again?

But the Hat was taken down without calling out a name, and Violet's heart returned to its normal pace. Theresa sighed in relief, and was it her imagination, or did Draco look a little relieved?

It was that evening that she had her first actual encounter with him since erasing his memory. She couldn't help but feel hopeful as he came up to her and watched her. Maybe she had done the charm wrong, and he remembered.

"You're back to using Spell-Check quills."

"I got them from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, when I went to Diagon Alley with you. You were in getting fitted for new robes."

He nodded. "Those aren't against the rules anymore, but can you really not spell," he lifted her parchment as a word moved around to be spelled properly, "condone?"

"Pardon me for being distracted," she hissed, grabbing the paper back.

"What are you doing anyway? We don't have any homework."

"If you must know, I'm sending a letter."

"To whom?"

"That doesn't concern you." She covered the name at the top.

He gave her a sneering yet curious look before walking away. She sighed and shook her head.

She was writing to someone who called himself Elder, and who had sent her letters since her first year. At first they were very short–Congratulations on Gryffindor, Happy birthday, Merry Christmas–and on occasion, but since then they had gotten longer and more frequent. She wrote him once from Malfoy Manor to tell him about her parents, and he had sent a return letter that very morning before she left. She'd had to read it on the train.

Dear Violet,
I'm sorry to hear that. I hope Draco treats you with the utmost respect. If he does not, jinx him anyway. Even if you're not in school; I work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Minor Division. Specifically, I handle under aged witches and wizards who preform magic outside of school. I could help you keep your wand and not be expelled. Do anything you think necessary for your safety.
Love, Elder

Dear Elder,
For reasons I can't trust to parchment, I've made Draco forget me. We had become friends, but something occurred that forced me to use a memory charm. He again hates me. But I am back at school, and things cannot remain the same in school as out. I don't condone any of the things he has done or is doing, but I hope that I can keep him from doing anything too awful. Loyal to a fault, as you've always said. At the end of this year I won't be returning home. I know you enjoy your secrecy, but I don't have anywhere to go. Think about it.
Violet

She sent the letter off that night. She knew very little about Elder, other than the fact that he loved her and wanted her to be safe. That was the main point in most of his letters. She knew nothing about his family, friends, where he lived, what he liked to do. She now knew what he did for money, but she hadn't yesterday. He was a stranger to her, but she was very sure that he deserved her trust.

Theresa closed the door to their room in Pansy's face and sat on her bed. Violet hoped it would keep Pansy out, if only for a moment.

"Draco talked to me. Reprimanded me for using a Spell-Check quill in my letter to Elder."

"Does he know about Elder?"

"No. And I doubt he'll ever find out. He doesn't care enough. Hopefully I'll be able to stay with Elder though, after this year. I'd ask to stay with you, but–"

"But my parents don't like you."

"Because my parents were Death Eaters," Violet said blandly.

"Yeah." She grimaced apologetically.

"It doesn't bother me that people don't like my parents. I don't like them either right now. What bothers me is why I was moved to Slytherin and why no one has cared to help me find out. Four years in Gryffindor, and I have no one." She shook her head. "So much for loyalty."

Theresa smiled deviously. "That's why you have me."