Something In The Way

11

𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙖 𝙈𝙖𝙡𝙛𝙤𝙮

For the rest of the Christmas Holidays, I mostly stayed in my room.

A couple of evenings I spent with my brother, playing board games and joking around, but I was in a constant bad mood and didn't really want to pass it to him. When the holidays came to an end and it was time to go back to Hogwarts, I was honestly relieved. I didn't have to be near my parents. Apparently, I wasn't completely safe at home either.

The second I stepped into the common room on the day we returned to Hogwarts, Pansy, who was sitting on the couch sprang to her feet and rushed to throw her arms around my neck.

"I missed you so much!"

I frowned slightly but quickly forced a smile on my face.

"You too," I said, my voice laced with sarcasm which she didn't seem to notice since she smiled brightly and moved to hug Draco.

The next morning an owl flew to the Great Hall and dropped the Daily Prophet in front of me. I snapped out of my thoughts and picked it up. On the front page, I noticed a big title.

'MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN'

I felt my heart slightly jump as I saw the picture of a woman. She was pale and had long, curly black hair. Her face looked skinny and haggard. I recognized her.

"Draco," I quietly hissed and leaned closer to him. Draco turned around with a frown.

"There's been a mass breakout from Azkaban. That's Bellatrix Lestrange, mom's sister," I said, pointing at Bellatrix, who was screaming in her picture. Draco studied the article for a moment.

"How did they escape?" he asked.

"No idea," I muttered and started carefully reading.

Draco didn't say much but had a satisfied, arrogant smirk on his face. This news didn't make me happy at all. Voldemort had even more allies standing with him now, some of his most loyal Death Eaters. I glanced over at Harry sitting by the Gryffindor table. He was gazing down at the same article on the newspaper in front of him. Many others in the Great Hall were reading the article, looking startled and nervously eyeing me and Draco.

Two years ago Sirius Black, our mother's cousin, had escaped Azkaban. The article claimed that he could be their leader and was helping them.

"Black isn't leading them. He is a bloodtraitor too," Draco scoffed mockingly.

On the next page of the Daily Prophet was an article about a man named Broderick Bode, who'd been strangled by a Devil's Snare at St Mungo's. Someone from the ministry could have put it there, I thought, anxiously biting my lip.

Could it be my father?

I hated that the thought even crossed my mind, so I left the hall and threw the newspaper away.

January I spent mostly focusing on my schoolwork, often studying alone in the library for hours straight. I didn't feel like going outside and enjoying the winter cold. On Valentine's Day, Pansy managed to drag me out of bed even though I wanted to stay in the castle.

"Why am I here? You're still going to ditch me for Draco," I complained. Pansy made a quick turn.

"How do you know I'm going to meet up with Draco?" she asked, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"He told me."

Pansy rolled her eyes and kept walking.

"I just didn't want to come here alone," she confessed.