Still Not For Sale (Book 2 of I'm Not For Sale) COMPLETE

Chapter 12

    Bethany freaked out the next morning when she woke up and still hadn't seen Lucy. She went into every dorm in Slytherin looking for her but no one had seen her. She could've sworn Zabini smirked when she asked about Lucy, but who knows what he meant by that. Malfoy wasn't in the common room or the dormitories and upon further investigation, she found that he was sent home for the day. Without regard for her morning class or breakfast, she rushes out of the common room and up to the Room of Requirement, the only place she could think Lucy to be if she wasn't in Slytherin or elsewhere in the castle. The door appears for her after she furiously paced the hall in front of it and she rushes inside. Everything looks messy as always and the stupid cabinet Malfoy obsessed over is still in the corner covered by a sheet. Bethany tears through the piles, searching every available inch of the room before tearing the cover off and checking inside the cabinet. The only thing inside is an apple with a bite taken from it. She sighs and covers it back up before leaving. The only idea swimming around in her head is to send an owl to the boys telling them that Lucy disappeared. She sends the letter off with a tawny owl and resumes her search of the castle. She'll attend the rest of her classes but will deal with Snape's detentions later. Her only thoughts now are of her friend. She'd originally thought yesterday that maybe she'd find Lucy spying on Malfoy again but a quick search had led her to the Quidditch Pitch where he was flying around with Crabbe and Goyle with no Lucy in sight. With a sigh she gives up her search for now and walks into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with ten minutes left of the course. Snape's eyes bore into her as she walks in, ending his lecture in mid-sentence.
"So nice of you to join us, Miss Cronwell. Care to explain why you're late?" He drawls.
"My friend is missing, I was searching the castle for her."
"If your friend were truly missing, Professor Dumbledore would've made it known. As it is, she is likely attending class like you should have been. Three night's detention, seven o'clock in my office tonight."
She fixes a glare at him before taking her seat. His gaze lingers on her before he resumes teaching the class.
A deep drawling voice draws Lucy out of her slumber. She remains still but slowly opens one eye just enough to try to figure out who the voice belongs to. Her gaze lands on a head of platinum blonde hair, though the length is too long to belong to Draco. It must be his father. Her assumption is confirmed a moment later when Draco's voice cuts in.
"I'm not going to kill her, Father. I still want her, she just keeps getting in the way at school."
"So you bring her here where it's crawling with Death Eaters and expect her not to die? With your past with her the school will instantly look to you when they realize she is gone."
"Zabini took the Polyjuice Potion yesterday after I took her and he stayed in the public eye the whole time, and last night I made it clear that I would be at home for the day today, so no one will be the wiser. The only friend she has left in the school anyway is a stupid first year."
His father sighs before speaking again.
"If she is under my roof she will be obedient or she will be severely punished. If she gets in his way or in the way of any Death Eaters, I will not be responsible for what happens to her, understood?"
"Yes Sir. I will speak with her when she wakes up."
After a few moments of silence the door slams, causing her to unwillingly flinch. A pressure settles on the bed in front of her by her feet and she closes her eyes again. She hears him sigh and represses the urge to flinch away as his hand reaches out to tuck a loose section of hair behind her ear.
"I-I'm sorry Luce, I just, fuck, I just couldn't give you up again." He whispers. "I treated you like garbage my whole life, but I didn't know any different. When I found out that you were free from the contract, my heart broke. I couldn't believe that I lost you, then I lost you to him and I couldn't handle it. I-I thought that maybe somehow you'd end up loving me, stupid huh?" She can hear his voice thicken with emotion, then he quietly clears his throat and continues. "Once I was given my assignment, I thought I could use it to forget about you and move on, but you stumbled into the room that day with your friend and it was over, you clouded my thoughts no matter how hard I tried to block you out. The only way I could get you to leave me alone was to act how I used to and shove you out, but you wouldn't leave. I'm under so much pressure right now I snapped and kidnapped you from the library. I don't know what I was thinking, but now it's gone on too long. I don't want you at the school when it all goes down though here is not the safest, just please, please stay in the room as much as possible and protect yourself if someone tries to hurt you. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you because of me..."
Lucy stays still and keeps her breathing even as she takes in his words. This is the most honest emotion she'd ever heard from the man in front of her in all the years she'd known him. Of course that doesn't make up for what he'd done and the situation he's gotten her into. She feels him stand up then the pressure on the mattress settling down behind her. To her surprise, he doesn't touch her or move close to her. She waits in a tense silence until his breathing stills to a steady pace. She slowly rolls over until she can see him and finds him asleep like she'd thought. He looks almost peaceful and innocent, though the dark bags under his eyes and his messy hair betrays his freedom. His shirt sleeves are rolled up to reveal the dark mark on his forearm, the winding snake drawing her gaze. She shudders and averts her eyes and they land on his wand sticking out of his pants pocket. She reaches out and carefully pulls it from his pocket without disturbing him.
She crawls out of the bed and backs away from it, holding the wand out in front of her as she racks her brain trying to remember how she could get out of here safely. As far as she knew, she could still apparate from inside the home, but she's still not old enough to safely do it. With a quiet sigh, she realizes her best bet would be to make it to the fireplace in the foyer connected to the Floo without being spotted. The blonde on the bed moves in his sleep, causing her to jump slightly and drop the wand with a clatter. His eyes shoot open and she curses before scrambling to pick it back up. He dives off the bed and wraps his arms around her, trapping the wand between his body and hers. His eyes bore into hers, almost pleading for her to calm down and listen to whatever he was going to say.
"Let me go Malfoy." She commands quietly. "I don't care about what may happen to me, I'm not staying here. Just let me go peacefully and I'll leave you to do whatever it is you're planning on doing."
"I can't do that." He replies, sounding desperate.
"Yes you can. Just release me, return my wand, then walk me casually through the house to the fireplace and let me leave. Please? You've put me through so much over the years, just do this one good thing for me." She pleads quietly.
She watches the silent war in his mind reflected in his eyes before sighing and shaking his head.
"I can't Luce."
"Stop calling me that! And stop saying you can't because you can, you just choose not to because you're pathetic."
As she spits the last word she watches him flinch. She takes the momentary silence to push herself away from him and hold the wand out in front of her. The more she thought about her escape possibilities, she'd seen the boys use apparition on several occasions and could likely perform it herself hopefully without splinching herself. She smirks at the blonde who pales once he realizes her plan. Before he can react, she focuses her mind on the joke shop and feels her chest tighten and darkness surrounds her. She appears just outside the shop but before she can move, a loud crack sounds behind her, and she's grabbed and everything goes dark again. When she can see again, she's back inside Malfoy's bedroom while he's holding her tightly. He's breathing heavily and is trembling and she imagines it was likely his first time apparating alone as well. She takes a quick mental tally of all of her extremities to be sure she didn't splinch during her travels before shoving herself away from him again and rushing into the adjoining bathroom and locking the door behind her. She can hear him beating on the other side of the door and pleading with her to open it but she ignores him and backs away from it. If she tries to apparate to the joke shop again, he'll just follow her and bring her back. Her options are becoming quickly limited.