Creature of Kinds [1/3] - A Draco Malfoy Love (Harry Potter)

12

Jinx could not deny what she'd felt. For some reason the boy that she'd fallen so beautifully in love with was using dark magical to cover his tracks. Her breath caught in her throat for a moment. Jinx's anger was no longer directed at herself, but at Draco. How dare he use such foul magic? How dare he act out, when even he was keeping secrets? And much worse secrets, at that.

Just why was Draco using dark magic? Jinx couldn't hold back a gasp as she realized, "no..Voldemort..."

Anger now replaced by fear and worry, Jinx shifted into an owl and flew away. With almost nothing to go on, she began her search for the Malfoy boy. She hoped nothing more to find him alone, and not with Death Eaters. Anything would be better than finding him with the dark lord.

But as the night went on, as Jinx flew mile after mile, searching, eventually the sun began to rise. And she realized as she flew back to Hogwarts empty-handed: there would be no finding of Draco until he was ready to be found.

• December 23, 1995 •

After Draco disappeared, Jinx spent many nights sleepless, unable to stop worrying. But after three nights, she finally let her mind drift unconscious, telling herself before falling asleep, "just wait; he'll be back tomorrow, when you wake up."

And so she fell asleep. However, the next morning, Draco was nowhere in sight. But Jinx's mind felt rested, so she decided to just wait it out. And every night afterwards, she'd tell herself the same thing; "he'll be back tomorrow.."

But weeks went by, and the Malfoy boy would not return.

"Silence during class, Mr. Weasley," Snape snapped slapping his pointer on the open textbook in front of Ron.

Ron jumped in start and immediately shoved his nose back into his book. Potions class was as dreary as ever, Jinx and Harry sitting side by side, bored out of their minds as Snape lectured.

Harry had noticed Jinx's odd behavior in the past few weeks, and it was no secret that Draco had vanished into thin air, but Harry didn't ask. Although the thought of his worst enemy hurting his best friend angered him incredibly, Harry tried his hardest to respect Jinx and her feelings for him. However, he couldn't stand seeing her mope any longer.

With small, quick movements of his quill, Harry scribbled a note on the bottom corner of his textbook. He then tilted his book toward Jinx and cleared his throat.

Jinx looked over with concerned eyes, then noticed the scratchy text in the book: cheer up, the sun shines brighter when you're happy.

It wasn't much, but even so a smile formed on Jinx's lips and she mouthed the words, thank you. Harry returned her smile with an internal sigh of relief.

After potions class, Jinx, Hermione, Ron, and Harry snuck into the Room of Requirement for their last magic class before Christmas break. Today, everyone would learn to cast a Patronus charm.

Harry first performed his own as an example. The class watched in wonder as the glowing, blue stag pranced happily around the room. Then, within the blink of an eye, it faded away. A roar of applause followed from the bright eyed student.

"Alright everyone," Harry announced with a hopeful smile, "your turn."

Although it took a little bit, eventually everyone was casting their patronus' with ease. Jinx stopped and took a moment to admire the beautiful, glowing creatures that surrounded her. The happiness of her many friends was so strong that she could feel it in the air. She closed her eyes, took in a deep, relaxed breath, and cast her own patronus.

At first, Jinx felt nothing; all of the noise seemed to fade, and there was a dark silence. But this only lasted a second before an enormous power flooded from her hand, into her wand, and out into the open. When she opened her eyes, before her stood a brilliant, glowing wolf with forest green eyes. A few of the other witches and wizards were watched the magnificent sight, congratulating her and smiling in awe. 

Jinx grinned wide as she released her joyous energy into the wolf patronus. All of her frustration and worry was pushed aside in her mind, and all that mattered was the beautiful creature in front of her. But eventually, class had to end.

Everyone was wishing each other happy holidays and Merry Christmas when Harry noticed Jinx's sudden shyness. He just barely caught her before she left with a gentle hand on her shoulder. Jinx stopped and turned around, and Harry noticed a sad shimmer in her eyes. He frowned and whispered, "what happened?"

But Jinx shook her head firmly and flashed a smile, "nothing; I'll see you after the holidays, Harry." And with those simple parting words, she was gone, leaving Harry alone and confused.

• • •

That night, while she walked back to the Slytherin common room, Jinx felt more alone than ever. Memories roared in her mind with fiery passion, but they were just that; memories. The past. What was once real, now faded into nothing more than a thought.

The common room was empty, as usual, considering Jinx always came back past curfew. But as she walked to her dorm, there was a small movement out of the corner of her eye. So small that she almost didn't look, she almost just ignored it and kept on moving. But she stopped, and turned her head.

There standing in the shadows of the room was a familiar blonde headed boy. He leaned with his back against the wall, arms crossed and head down.