Black Rose (Draco Malfoy)

The Struggle

Chapter 54: The Struggle

After Snape dropped me off, I returned to my room and proceeded to lie down on my bed with my eyes shut. I did not get up until I heard everyone else in the room depart. Then I got up and readied myself for the day. I took a deep breath before heading back down to the common room, not knowing what to expect.

There were several Gryffindors exiting the room when I arrived. My eyes, however, were on the four who were in the middle of the room talking: Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. They slowly turned to look at me, and I froze.

"Crystal," Ginny said, taking a step forward, "are you alright?"

"No," I said flatly. "I'm worse than usual."

Ron and Hermione exchanged glanced; neither said a word.

"Crystal," Harry said in a weak voice, "I didn't mean to – I – I'm sorry."

He seemed almost sad and frightened as I looked at him. I had expected to feel anger towards him, but there was none. There was no room. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

Harry glanced down at the floor; a second later, he looked back up at me. "If it makes you feel any better, Snape gave me detention every Saturday for the rest of the year."

"Which means he misses the Quidditch game this weekend," Ron added.

"No, it doesn't make me feel better," I said, feeling slightly annoyed. "It's not going to change what happened. It's not going to change what is. Don't you get it? I don't want revenge. I want something to change."

The group exchanged awkward glances. Then Harry asked hesitantly, "Will he be alright?"

"He'll recover from what you did to him," I said without malice, "but physical injuries are not the worst kind. You would know about that, wouldn't you?"

"Are you two talking again?" Hermione asked after a moment's pause.

"It's complicated," I said. I was not sure how much I was supposed to reveal. We would be acting differently toward each other, but I was not exactly sure what that entailed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ginny asked. "We could go somewhere else."

I shook my head wearily. "No; there's nothing to say. I would appreciate your company, though. Let's head to breakfast."

Ginny gave me a slight smile. "Alright. Come on then." She turned towards the door.

I began to follow her, but I stopped when I got to Harry. There was one more thing I had to do. I faced the boy and said in a serious tone, "Look, nothing in my life or his is going to work right until Voldemort is defeated, so enough with all the distractions and useless pursuits. Do whatever you need to do to win. I will do anything within my means to help you. Never doubt me on that, alright?"

Harry had been avoiding my eyes, but now he looked at me with surprise, his mouth partly open. After a second, he nodded his head. "Alright, Crystal," he said.

I nodded once. "Good." I paused as I thought of something else. "It wouldn't have worked, you know."

Harry blinked. "What wouldn't have worked?"

"What Draco was trying to do to you. Did you see the state he was in? You've got to mean it to use an unforgivable curse." I was slightly pleased at Harry's gaping expression. Then I turned and walked out of the common room with Ginny. I could feel my weariness returning once we were in the hall; I knew the pain would hit soon.