CRUCIO // Draco Malfoy X Reader

Chapter 27 - The Great Hall

Over the span of the rest of the day, your nerves dissipated. You'd gotten away with it. Carrow hadn't suspected a thing. You could see the relief in your friends eyes when you'd walked out of his classroom unharmed. 

Relieved... and excited. 

You'd gotten away with it. You'd done some good, even if it was small. Those four kids that you had spared would be grateful. And hopefully, they would focus more on the kindness that had been shown to them rather than the evil surrounding them. 

Hopefully.

You slipped into your seat at dinner and dropped your bag on the floor below you. Today had been exhausting, not just from the stress of watching Carrow's every move, lest he realize that you were still trying to protect the students he picked on. With the end of the school year in sight, your coursework was ramping up. Throughout all of this - the war, the changes in school, the new minister - you would still be taking your N.E.W.T.s. 

You wanted to shove your head through a wall. Could the teachers not see that there were more important things going on at the moment?

Across the table from you, Draco caught your eye. He picked absently at his food, mostly looking at you.

You smiled. 

"Still." Blaise was saying, mildly annoyed. "You can't just end a book like that-"

"But that's the point." Lyre interrupted him. "You're supposed to want more, just like the Constable-"

"I get that it's the point, but what if I dont like that point." Blaise interjected. 

Lyre was about to respond when Draco huffed. "We get it alright? You're going to shag later, now stop bickering."

Blaise choked on his dinner. "What?"

"What, you haven't realized?" Draco smirked. "Every time you get into an argument, I hear Blaise sneaking out of the dorm later. It's some weird sort of foreplay-"

"Alright, that's enough of that." Leo coughed. "Some of us are trying to eat here."

You snickered to yourself, and for a moment, you were in a version of Hogwarts you remembered. The version where the most exciting thing to happen was whatever Potter and his lackeys got up to that year. The version where Draco and Blaise would whine and complain about the dumb things, and Lyre and Leo would gossip in French when it was about someone at the table. The version that let you and Pansy sneak out of the dorms and go share a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans by the dying fire at three in the morning. 

The version you loved. 

You smiled. 

"Y/N."

Your train of thought broke as Pansy hissed your name. You tilted to face her, a question written on your face.

"What?"

"They're looking at us." Pansy said, her eyes nervously darting to the teachers table. You tracked her gaze, following it to Amycus and Alecto Carrow. 

Terror gripped your insides.

"No." You said, mouth suddenly dry. "It's a coincidence."

Alecto noticed you looking. Her eyes narrowed and her smile widened. 

You  turned to your friends. "They're looking." 

"Who's looking?" Leo asked, his eyes immediately darting to where Theo was sitting.

"The Carrows." Pansy said. Her voice shook slightly as she spoke. 

Draco's eyes darted to the teachers table. "You said you were going to be careful-"

"We were." Lyre said. Her hand immediately darted under the table, reaching for her wand. She pulled it out, and brought it up to cast something.

Blaise pushed her wand back down. "They'll  just punish you more." He said. "We don't even know that they're going to do anything yet."

"The last time they were looking at us like that, Y/N got cursed." Lyre hissed, one hand still on her wand. "I can put a shield-"

"That's basically condemning ourselves." Blaise said. "For all we know, they're just suspicious."

You looked back up at the Carrows. They where whispering to each other again, and you could see Amycus twirling his wand between his fingers, just waiting to pounce. They knew, you were sure of it.

Amycus pointed his wand towards you.

You gasped. "They know-"

A spell flew loose, hitting Leo in the chest. He yelped and then started to convulse, a coughing fit overtaking him. Before long, a few bugs flew out of his mouth. 

"Lyre-" He coughed more insects up. "Help-"

Lyre ripped Blaise's hand off hers, pointing her wand at her brother. You saw Blaise's eyes widen, and he shoved Lyre forward. The spell was only halfway out of her mouth when the next of the Carrow's curses hit. A large slice opened up on Lyre's arm, running all the way to her shoulder before jumping over to Blaise's cheek and running up the side of his face. She shouted, dropping her wand. 

Blood was already starting to drip off her and Blaise. The cuts were deep. 

Pansy was shaking in her seat next to you. You positioned yourself in front of her entirely, shielding her from the Carrows. They couldn't curse you all. You wouldn't let them-

The next spell hit you in the stomach. It tingled for a second before spreading like fire across your skin. You screamed. It felt like you were burning alive. On instinct, you batted away invisible flames, falling out of your chair. 

Leaving Pansy exposed. 

She was almost out of her seat and under the table when the next curse hit her. She choked, before spitting up some blood. It started to drip out of her nose and tear ducts as well, rolling down her face. 

Someone pulled you back up into your seat. 

"Aguamenti!"

Water splashed all over you, and for a moment, you were fine. Your vision stopped blurring together, and you saw Draco, glaring at the Carrows like they were Satan on earth, his sleeves rolled up and Dark Mark exposed as he pulled Leo and Pansy up off the floor as well. 

The Carrows were looking at his mark, hesitating. 

The invisible flames started to burn again, and you gripped the edge of the table, fighting to stay in your seat.

"Blaise, help Pansy..."

Lyre was still bleeding as she grabbed her wand with her other hand. She pointed it at you. 

"Eatenus Exstinxisti."

The fire under your skin disappeared and you gasped for air, almost falling onto the table. Next to you, Leo was much the same, gasping and coughing as the last of the bugs exited his system.

"...get Pansy, she's going to pass out from blood loss-" Lyre was saying. 

"So are you." Blaise hissed. You looked at Lyre. She did look drained. "I can't fix it we need to get her to Madam Pomfrey-"

"Grab her arm." Draco said, quickly moving around you to help Blaise hoist Pansy up. He turned to you. "Can you walk?"

You pushed away from the table, shakily standing. 

"Get Leo." Draco directed, beginning to move towards the door with Pansy. 

You grabbed Leo by the hand, slinging his arm over your shoulder and helping him to his feet. You followed after him as fast as you could. 

You could feel the Carrow's eyes on your back as you left.