Transfixed: A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction

Chapter 25

The rest of the week went by uneventfully. We returned to classes on Monday, all of my professors taking me aside before the lesson to offer their condolences. They offered to excuse me from class, but I declined. I just wanted to feel as normal as possible.

Cassady was progressing well, and was on track to leave the hospital wing by Friday, just in time to go home. She would still cry most times I would go to visit her, but she was in remarkably good spirits most of the time.

I could tell Harry, Ron and Hermione were still worried about me. I was nervous about the funeral, and though I didn't admit it to Hermione, it was hard to think about much else. I was also feeling increasing guilt over not telling them about my little history with Malfoy. I felt as though it was the final piece to truly being honest with all of them, of having no secrets left unsaid. I just couldn't do it.

However, in the middle of the week, we were all eating lunch in the Great Hall when we got the news from Neville Longbottom: Draco Malfoy had returned.

We all looked at each other in disbelief. No one knew what to say. He had kidnapped my sister and was a Death Eater. How in the world was he just "back" at school?

"We need to talk to Dumbledore about this Harry," I hissed.

"Don't worry. I will," he said, his jaw clenched.

...

I decided not to go along with Harry, since his meetings with Dumbledore were private, and I didn't want to lose my temper. When Harry returned to the common room, he looked just as upset as when we all had just received the news earlier in the day.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"Lucius Malfoy got Fudge to sign an official excusal for Draco, saying that he was away for a 'personal family matter.'"

"Are you kidding me?!" I shrieked. "That's a total lie!"

"I know," said Harry, running his hands through his messy black hair. "But Fudge signed it. And he's refusing to comment on Cassady's kidnapping, saying that nothing of the sort occurred in the Ministry building."

I wanted to break something. This was a complete coverup from the Ministry, our government who was supposed to help protect us. I opened my mouth to scream, but just put my head in my hands. There was nothing I could say that they didn't already know. Ron, who was sitting on the other side of me, put his hand on my back.

"It's OK, Audrey," he said.

"It's not OK," I said, my head still in my hands. "This is ridiculous."

"You're right, it is," Hermione said. "They're complicit. All of them."

...

We all went to bed tired and frustrated. As I laid awake in my bed, staring up at the ceiling, I just wondered why Malfoy did it all. Why would he flirt with me, when he was also planning to kidnap my sister? Why would he take care of her when he was supposed to be aiding in her torture? Did he ever have any feelings for me at all, or was he just an amazing actor? I couldn't wrap my head around it. But I still wanted to kill him. As far as I was concerned, I was just an idiot who got manipulated by a Death Eater. All the time I spent with him just ended up in one big nightmare, and he was still to blame. He still was the one who shoved her in that cabinet.

The next day, I woke up wanting answers. I wanted to hear what kind of sorry justification he had for himself, what lies he was spreading to Slytherin house about why he was gone. I was leaving tomorrow for Dorset, and I didn't want to have any questions unanswered when my father was put to rest. I wanted to understand.