✔️ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 → ℎ. 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

09 | F I R S T A I D

I just want to save you
while there's still something left
                   to save.

   HER FIRST LESSON with Dolores Umbridge, Ember had only survived thanks to Draco Malfoy's fabulous talent to be even more annoying than the old hag in front of the class trying to get Ember the same way she obviously got Harry into two full weeks of detention. But under the curious glares of Susan, Ember was kept busy to try not to act like it had a meaning that Draco Malfoy had taken the empty seat next to her, shoving tiny notes in Ember's direction whenever Umbridge turned around to the blackboard.

   After the second lesson, Ember could already see the quotation marks over Susan's head in neon lights, and after the third lesson, her red haired best friend seemed about to explode from all the nosiness she had to deal with.

   "What do I know why he's sitting next to me?", Ember hissed at her after the lesson. "It's not like I invited him."

   "But am I the only one who thinks this is highly ... unlikely?", Susan asked, help seeking throwing a gaze at Hannah. "Hannah, c'mon, you can't deny that this is creepy!"

   "Maybe just another one of his attempts to bully Em", Hannah replied and shrugged. "I think he wants to get her into trouble. Like Harry, you know? Oh, hi Neville!" Blushing from head to toe, Hannah stopped in the middle of the corridor as she met the clumsy Neville Longbottom, not paying even a second longer attention to her two friends.

   Susan seemed to be somewhat satisfied with Hannah's explanation; what both didn't know, was that Ember without Draco Malfoy already would have gotten herself into trouble trice as bad as Harry. Those tiny notes he handed her told her nothing but to breathe, to focus on whatever, and sometimes, when the familiar feeling of rage inside her started to overgrow her conscience, Ember could feel Draco's finger brush her arm without anyone noticing — anyone but herself and the monster inside of her that seemed to get startled by those soft touches.

   Ember tried to get into the boy's head so bad, but it was pointless. Draco Malfoy was a mystery. Acting like he actually did care in the one second, burrying a knife into Ember's back the next. It was impossible to find out what of his many facets represented the real Draco Malfoy; but then she started to wonder if it weren't all those confusing characteristics just were the real Draco Malfoy.

   "You look like Longbottom when he tries to figure out if he wears his shoes in their correct order", he said, catching her staring at him on their not so rare afternoons spend together in the library. "What's wrong?"

   "Nothing, nothing", she quickly replied, waving it off. "Susan is getting suspicious about you."

   "Ah, then I better look out for a new place to sit next lesson", he scoffed, cocking an eyebrow. "Because when Susan is getting suspicious ..."

   "No! I mean — uhm — don't your friends wonder why you're sitting next to me?" Her face was flushing hot and she shook her head as if it would somehow hind her cheeks from turning crimson.

   "They know that I'm just doing my job", he coldly replied, showing the side of him she knew for so many years, and Ember frowned. "Nobody would dare to question my actions, little Potter." 

   "Oh, I'm sorry", she growled in a sarcastic tone, grabbing for her bag. "So we're done here, I guess, yeah? Tell your father that everything is just as he wishes."

   As she got up, she could hear Malfoy laugh, bringing the blood in her veins to boil and her skin to glow in the brightest pink. Malfoy got up as well, but Ember just decided to just leave him standing here and started to walk away.

   Cold fingers wrapped around her wrist and pulled her back, having her stumbling against the shelf behind her. The grip removed from her skin, but immediately Ember found herself trapped between Malfoy's outstretched arms, his palms pressed gainst the shelf, his neck bowed down so his icy blue eyes were on the same level with hers, and the breath got hitched in her throat.

   "What do you think this is, Potter?", he asked, his voice dangerously low, fitting the dark smirk on his lips. "Two friends hanging out just for fun, huh? What is this to you? All games and fun? A secret date hidden in the shadows?" She blinked and his smile got triumphant. "Or do you wish it was?"

   "Don't be stupid", she scoffed through gritted teeth.

   "Fine", he replied, tilting his head, "because this, my lovely little Ember, is not a game, and it is no fun, and if anyone of us would make a mistake, we will pay with our lives!"

   Her vision got all rimmed black like staring at him through a pipe, and her heart was bumping hot blood into the last corners of her brain, filling them with the poisonous feeling of cold hatred. The only one playing games was him! He was using his miserable condition for his entertainment, of that Ember was sure. All his kind actions were just pleasures for a bored, evil kid. And he should have to pay for this, he should bleed ...

   The shadows around her grew longer, darker, like the shadows under his eyes seemed to become deeper shaded. Like shockwaves her heartbeat was pulsing through her body.

   "And what mistake would that be?", she asked, her voice as dark as her surroundings, getting ready to strike, to wrap her hands around his neck, or maybe just snap it —

   "Don't know", he whispered, his voice husky. "Maybe something like that."

   A pair of surprisingly soft and warm lips were placed on hers; not in a soft brush, not in a careful caress, but with the force of a stunning spell he crushed his mouth down on her plush lips, and she felt like being kicked out of her head, of her mind, and out of the shadows that had threatened to burry her in their deep darkness.

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