Toxic Crush

~7~

As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted them, but she had heard, and she was staring at him with such a puzzled look in her eyes that it kept him going.

"You're in danger." He repeated, trying to come up with something to say.

"What do you mean?"

"You're..." He racked his brain urgently, and found a lie he thought was convincing enough. For now.

"Your brother." Yes, that would work. "Your brother was a death eater." This was the truth.

She gaped at him and sunk against the railing.

"And he told The Dark Lord about you."

He had started to lie, but she didn't know this.

"The Dark Lord really liked your brother until... you know... and he sort of wants to recruit you."

This was complete bullshit, but he figured that Clara didn't need to know the truth about her family just yet.

"Recruit me? He's dead isn't he?!" She asked in disbelief.

"Ahh."

"Isn't he?!" Clara asked, standing tall and looking at him seriously. "Oh my god. How did I not see it?"

He watched her pace the tower room. How did she not see what?

"Why would you need to become a death eater if he was dead?"

"Ermm."

"Oh god he's coming back." She clutched the roots of her perfect hair in stress. "Say something!"

"You're right?" He offered weakly.

"I'M RIGHT?" She shrieked.

He rushed forwards and covered her mouth with his large hand. "You can't tell anyone."

"How many secrets of yours am I keeping?" She whispered defeatedly.

He smiled teasingly. "Oh, we could make a few to share right now if you're keen."

"Malfoy!"

"Listen listen, we aren't meant to be talking about that. It's inevitable, I have no idea how to stop it. Can we talk about detention?"

"I want to talk about the end of the world."

"Well, Filch will make it the end of ours if you keep yelling."

She thought for a second, and then gave up. She didn't have the energy to panic.

She'd just found out her brother was a death eater, and that The Dark Lord was trying to recruit her. Panicking wasn't sustainable.

Unfortunately for her, she wasn't even freaking out over the truth.

"What about detention?" She asked quietly.

"Well. Is the mirror broken?" He joked.

She didn't pick up on his sarcasm and her heart sank into her stomach.

He didn't want to like her, he was looking for excuses.

Clara sighed and pushed herself off the railing, headed for a stairwell. "Probably."

Draco watched as she left, his heart desperate to follow her, but his morals gluing him to the spot until he was sure she was long gone.

He had been joking. Did she really want it to be broken? Did she hate him that much?

He inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down, but he only felt worse.

The smell of her perfume was lingering in the air, and it was intoxicating.