The Girl Who Never Lived¹ | h. potter

💎Chapter 10💎

Ciara didn't even try hiding her smug look when Malfoy came down for breakfast. She knew he expected them to be gone, not sitting at the breakfast table cracking jokes. The teachers weren't sitting at the table yet, most likely still preparing for the day.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here," Draco hissed viciously. His grey eyes were wild with rage and his hair, which was usually styled perfectly, now seemed to be standing up straight, almost reminding her of Harry's hair.

Harry wears the messy hair better, Ciara thought.

She didn't notice Harry smiling into his goblet.

She grinned smugly at her cousin's crazed and angered look. "What," she questioned, "You thought we were going to get caught? Maybe expelled?"

The flush on his face was all the answer she needed.

Ron laughed loudly, "Gonna have to try harder than that Malfoy!"

He turned his glare to Ron, "At least I don't have to worry about where my next meal is coming from, Weasely. You'd probably-"

As fast as lightening, Ciara rose to her feet and grabbed Darco's collar, dragging him towards her. His grey eyes suddenly shone with fear as her brown eyes bore dangerously into his. In that moment, Harry and Ron were gone. Only Ciara and Draco existed in the moment. As Ciara stared into his grey eyes certain memories surface in her mind. How her Uncle Lucius was always neglectful towards her and Draco, or the first time he used the Cruciatus on her.

The first time he used it on Draco.

They were four the first time the Cruciatus curse was used on them. It had been the four year anniversary of Lord Voldemort's defeat and every single lead he had turned up to be a dead end.

In short, Lucius Malfoy was furious.

In all honesty, Ciara could remember what exactly happened. All she knew was that one minute they were sneaking into the kitchen, the next a vase (a real ugly one) was on the ground broken. That was all it had taken to set him off. They had taken off down the halls. But their short legs were no match for Lucius.

"Curcio!" He had shouted, and the spell slammed into Ciara's shoulder. The agonizing pain hit her before she could begin to process what had happened. Her screaming sliced through the manor and played through the air like a broken record.

"Stop it," Draco had shouted, "Leave her alone!"

It only took half a second, but the curse was quickly transferred onto him. Soon, the screams in the manor that had been Ciara's soon became Draco's. As he withered on the floor, Ciara could only stare weakly at him and reach for him. "Draco," she whispered, but it was all lost to his screams.

That was the difference between her and Draco; Draco always learned the lesson quicker than she did.

Or, rather, Draco always learned his lesson.

Ciara never did.

"Leave us alone Malfoy, before I make you," her voice was stone cold, her eyes never betraying the whirlwind of emotions that she was feeling on the inside. As soon as she realised his collar, he scrambled away like, as Ron put it, 'the slimy snake he is.'

"Bloody hell, Ciara," Ron exclaimed, "I don't understand why you don't just punch him in the nose already."

"Violence never did good for anyone, Ron," she said after swallowing her food, "And we're one of the same. The only difference is that he learned his lesson. I never did."