𝐚 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 {a Draco Malfoy story}

chapter twenty-nine

3rd person 

     As the Christmas break came to an end, the students all came back to platform 9 and 3/4. Everywhere, there were parents waving their children goodbye. Narcissa Malfoy had chosen to come with Draco and Rosalind. 

     Because of the events of Christmas evening, Draco had locked himself in his room for the remainder of the break. He only ate when he was forced to, only went downstairs when Voldemort called for him. To him, the girl with brown hair and beautiful big brown eyes was no longer Rose. The girl he knew, Rose, was caring and loving, and above all, she was his. Whoever this new girl was, he didn't want to know her. 

     Still, he visited her everyday. She would be participating in all of the activities and planning of the other Death Eaters, but this did not stop Draco. It was the same routine every day: knock on the door, enter, look at her, say goodnight, and leave. He never got a response, yet Draco never lost hope.

     When they finally arrived at the platform, Rose sat with Pansy, Theodore, Blaise, and Draco, but she didn't speak a word the entire ride. Every now and then, one of the others would stare at her in confusion. 

     The train finally came to a stop, and the students exited. Everyone gathered in the Great Hall, filling it up, yet the group of Slytherin friends - excluding Rose - felt more empty than ever. The dinner passed quickly and Rose ran off to the seventh floor's Room of Requirement. Draco, too tired to think properly, didn't join her. Instead, he left with Blaise and Theodore back to their dorms.

+++

     Many months had gone by, and Rose still had her emotions off. In these months, they spent many hours working on the Vanishing Cabinet, Rose becoming more and more frustrated with each passing day in which the Cabinet was not fully prepared. 

     "Malfoy, it's March 1st. We need to get this done. We've been procrastinating and look where that's gotten us."

     Draco stomped his foot and calmed his breathing. He hated seeing Rose like this. After the first 2 months, Draco lost all hope of Rosalind ever returning to him. He thought that if he couldn't fix her, nothing could. And so, he became increasingly annoyed with her as the days wore on. "I'm not an idiot, Esparay. I know we're behind."

     "Good, at least you know. Try this spell, 'Harmonia Nectere Passus.' Take the bird - go on, it won't bite - and put it in the cabinet."

     Draco clenched his teeth at the girl, bothered by her directions for even the simplest actions. "Goodness, Rosalind, I know how to put a bird in a Cabinet," He spat.

     Rose's eyes flickered green for a mere second, as though she felt saddened by his words. However, almost instantly, she simply rolled her now brown eyes and was exasperated. "Calm down, rich boy, just making sure you know what to do."

     Draco placed the white bird in the Cabinet and close the door. He muttered the incantation and opened the door, revealing an empty Cabinet. Rose smiled, "this might work."

     Draco closed the door again, repeating the spell. "Harmonia Nectere Passus."

     When he opened the door again, the bird lay dead. Draco tilted his head back and muttered underneath his breath, "Merlin's beard."

     He stepped back, putting his head in his hands. In a quiet, whimpering voice, he spoke. "I can't do this." The boy's sobs were heart breaking, as the pain he was going through was unmatched. Not only would Voldemort kill him if this task wasn't completed properly, but he had also lost his only form of support. He looked at Rose with teared eyes, his already pale face now grey. "Rose, if you're still there, this would be a really good moment to come back."

     Once again, her eyes flickered a deep shade of green. She took a step towards Draco, but before she could reach him, her eyes went back to brown. "You're worse than a baby, Malfoy. Suck it up. We'll just study some more." 

     Draco sighed, giving a fake smile. "Any day now, Rose. Any day." And with that, he sped out of the room and fled. 

+++

Rose (the one you've all been waiting for :-)

     It's like I'm trapped in my own body. As much as I try to climb back into my own state of mind, as much as I just want to run over to Draco and hug him, telling him everything is okay, I cant. My other emotionless self won't let me. Whenever I try to somehow overpower her, she... kind of pushes me back down. I feel weak and useless.

     Let me out.

~

     God, the side of me that thinks can save the world is a bothersome prick. Honestly, what was I thinking? Dating Draco Malfoy? We should've known this would only stop us from progressing on the Cabinet. As I was walking to the Slytherin common room, I noticed Potter and Weasley going over to Slughorn's office. Ron was draped over Harry's shoulder, as if he was too weak to walk by himself. 

     "...do you think Romilda will like me?" Weasley said. Potter scowled, but then put on a smile. 

     "Of course, Ron."

     I laughed to myself at the sight in front of me. I pushed a door open and walked into the common room and -

     Wonderful. Rose dearest wants to come out.

~

     Something was up with Ron. I'm not sure how I can do this, but I can somewhat communicate with my other personality. I tried to shove her towards Professor Slughorn's office again, so that I could see what was happening. 

~

     She never shuts up, does she. I walked over to Slughorn's office window, hoping this will quiet Rose down. It's strange to think of myself in two different ways, one being the pathetic, lovestruck Rose, and the other being an Esparay. "Will you stop being a twat?"

     I peered into the window, glancing to see what was happening. Just as I was about to back away, I saw Slughorn open the bottle of mead that Malfoy and I had poisoned previous to the break. 

~

     Oh Merlin no. Not Ron.

~

     Weasley fell to the ground, foam emerging from him mouth.

+++

If anyone's confused, I tried to put both perspectives of Rose's personalities into this chapter. The '~' is a way to switch them up. Basically, what's happening is that Rosalind still has some control of her emotions. The side of her that still has emotion (or as I like to call it, the "Rosie" side), is much, much weaker than the emotionless side (I call her the "Esparay" side). They can sense the other's thoughts, but the Esparay side just refuses to pay attention.

The Rosie side has to fight in order to come back. There needs to be something major that overwhelms even the Esparay side with emotion. I won't spoil the rest of it, but you'll see what I mean in a couple more chapters.

~Kiana