the girl with all of the choices

f i f t y - e i g h t

6062 words

october twelfth- imperio

~ Draco's POV ~

October twelfth was the official day I became a terrible, genuinely awful person. 

I was going to put someone under the Imperius Curse. Something that could end me up in Azkaban.

More like should end you up in Azkaban, tosser.

Theo had wrapped the necklace last night. I had owled Mr Borgin about it two weeks ago, at which he promptly sent it here. I didn't want to have to make an attempt at murder so soon, but I needed to at least get something going since the Cabinet was taking so long. 

The necklace had come already enchanted to curse anyone it touched. It was beautiful, ironically enough, and reminded me of something that Mum might wear to a gathering. All I had to do was get it to Dumbledore.

We had planned it all out, with help from Blaise and Pansy of course. I was going to bring it with me to the Three Broomsticks, where I'd use the Imperius Curse on Madam Rosmerta and instruct her to pass it on to another person with the use of her own Imperius Curse. As soon as Rosmerta was under the curse, I would enchant her so that the curse would only lift after her choice of the suspect had left the Three Broomsticks. I would also make sure she would enchant her victim so that their curse would not lift until their part of the task was done. The second person would be the one to give the package to the Headmaster, so the deed was as far away from me as possible while still being able to be effective.

I would leave as soon as I knew Rosmerta was completely under the curse. 

The thing was, now I had Addie to worry about. 

I was so upset with myself about how I had been treating her, how I had made her cry, that I completely forgot about everything that was scheduled to happen today. While we talked, all I knew was that I wanted to make her happy. I couldn't stand looking at her and knowing her turmoil was my fault. 

So I asked her to take a trip to Hogsmeade with me, just like I did two years ago. 

Which was extremely stupid, might I mention. 

It wasn't stupid when I asked her, but afterwards, I realized just how fatal my mistake was. I was going to walk with her to Hogsmeade with a dark, potentially lethal object in my coat. I had no idea what effect it would have on her. I mean, I had been around dark magic and dark artefacts my entire life, and the necklace still had a detrimental effect on my thoughts. 

She was too pure, too good, too warm for me to put her in this position. 

But I didn't have a choice, because I had put myself in a bad position. 

I shrugged on my nice black jacket while Theo double-checked the wrapping of the necklace.

"Are you sure you're alright to do this, mate?" he asked.

"I don't really have a choice, do I?"

"You actually didn't forget about this yesterday, did you?" he queried.

I rolled my eyes. "You don't actually think I would be stupid enough to invite her if I remembered."

"I mean, I would hope you wouldn't be that stupid, but I'm not so sure. You've been all over the place lately."

"I wonder why," I sighed. 

"Why don't you just ask for a rain check?"

Images of her tear-stained face flashed behind my eyes.