The Vow Stealer

1

" Ellery!" 

Heart racing with excitement, Draco Malfoy ran down the corridor with a letter in hand, searching every room with an open door for his friend. When he reached the end of the hallway, where her room was, he shouted her name again. This time, the tall elegant frame of Ellery Sinclair peeked her head out the door.

" What is it?" she asked, giving him a curious smile. Draco thrust the letter into her hands.

" Read it, read it!" he pressed eagerly, his pale blue-gray eyes shining. Laughing she began to undo the wax seal, carefully peeling back the delicate paper.

" Dear Miss Sinclair," she read aloud, " You've been accepted into Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry!" she gasped, a grin forming on her face. " Yes!" 

" I know! Isn't it exciting? I didn't think Mother would agree!" 

Ellery threw her arms around him for a moment, and then released him to twirl around the room joyously.

The last few weeks of summer had been unbelievably stressful at Malfoy Manor, especially for Draco and his mother, Narcissa. Ellery had done all she could to comfort them, but almost nothing worked. Death Eaters had been in and out for days, and there had been one meeting in particular that had made Draco so uncomfortable he'd thrown up later. Ellery didn't sit in this time, because being around the Dark Lord overwhelmed her senses. That, and Narcissa worried about her as if she were her daughter. In her mind, Voldemort was to know nothing more about Ellery than he already did, which wasn't much. Still, it made Narcissa nervous, so Ellery kept her distance whenever there were Death Eaters around.

On top of all that nonsense, Draco had been begging his mother to let Ellery attend school with him this year. It had been extremely hard, since she kept arguing that it wasn't safe for Ellery, but Ellery had eventually convinced her that Hogwarts would be safer than here. So, Narcissa had sent a request to the headmaster by owl. Two weeks later, since she was technically a transfer student, Ellery had taken an entry test. The letter in her hand confirmed that she'd passed that test. It was a big relief, being as Ellery felt obligated to protect Draco from everything.

At the end of Draco's last school year, he had discovered an old spell book, full of dangerous spells and potions, most of which he was unable to perform. There was one, however, that he could try, and he satisfied his hunger for the result of the spell by finding the cottage Ellery had been staying in for the past two years and testing it on her. The spell had been a powerful blood pact that chained her to him as his servant for life. In turn, Ellery had dragged him back in time to find the author of the book so the spell could be broken. The side effects were erased. The blood bond proved everlasting, and some of the stronger effects stayed, like the impulse to protect her master with her life. That was the main reason Ellery decided to try getting into Hogwarts.

She had something insanely dangerous in mind for the sake of Draco's protection.

Ellery knew little about unbreakable vows, excluding what the name suggested. A couple of weeks ago, she'd heard one being made between Narcissa, Bellatrix LeStrange, Draco's aunt, and Severus Snape, the mysterious man who'd given her a time orb so she and Draco could break the spell. It had something to do with a task Draco had been given to perform, a task that could kill him if he did it wrong. So, feeling compelled to do something about it, Ellery had taken it upon herself to find a way to take that vow. The only problem was she had no idea how she was supposed to do that.

" Earth to Ellery!" Draco snapped his fingers in front of her face. She blinked and shook her head.

" Sorry. What was it you were saying?"