Darkness And You

Chapter 4

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Livia's POV

Upon waking up, I left the cabin (dodging sleeping Dean as I left) and walked towards a window past all the other compartments. The sun had been swallowed by a think blanket of night, and dashes of painted stars had begun to speckle the sky, surrounding a mellow-white crescent moon. I rested my elbow on the window, staring at the lush moonlit countryside, lost until...

My forearm pulsated, reminding me why I went for a walk in the first place. I reluctantly dragged myself away from the peaceful scene, and the stars blinked at me, innocent, just like I used to be.

Voices echoed, coming from further down the hall and I drew my wand. I heard his voice. He might be alone. This was my chance. I rounded the corner and flattened my body in the entrance of a compartment full of sleeping students and there, through a glass pane, I could see him. Harry Potter.

I didn't dare move as he grasped a piece of iridescent material out of his bag and slung it over his head. He disappeared. I stared , frozen solid, at the place where he had just stood; Potter had one of the Deathly Hallows. I held my position, waiting to see where Potter had gone, or at least if he'd seen me, but nothing happened for the next five minutes. Another boy walked down the hall, his black hair slick and shiny with hair gel, and opened the door to a compartment. I wasn't interested, until I noticed a commotion from the boy — the door wouldn't shut, almost as if something or someone was blocking it. After a few attempts, the boy shut the door. I crept closer, trying to see who was in the compartment, and to my discontent, Draco Malfoy was sprawled across a long seat with his platinum blond head resting on a pinch-faced girl's lap. I sat down outside the door and pulled out an extendable ear that I had acquired a few weeks ago in Diagon Alley.

"I mean, I might not even be at Hogwarts next year, what's it matter to me if some fat old has-been likes me or not?"

"What do you mean, you might not be at Hogwarts next year?" the girl cried, seeming very distressed. This conversation was turning out to be amusing, but certainly not helpful.

"Well you never know. I might have — er — moved on to bigger and better things." I froze. He didn't mean... surely he didn't mean...

"Him."

Idiot! Absolute dung brain. He was just flaunting his new position around as if it was a badge of honour. Not only this, but you-know-who had failed to specify that my 'partner' whom I had to watch over would be a snivelling naive egotistical Malfoy. And now Potter knew.

There was movement inside the compartment as its inhabitants began to put on their robes and bring down their trunks from the rack. Reluctantly, I left to get my own luggage, as students we're starting to pile into the hallway upon sighting the school.

Ginny smiled at me as I walked in, and Dean was nice enough to have brought my luggage down from the rack for me ready, so I indulged in conversation with them until the train screeched to a halt and puffs of clouded smoke trailed past the windows. We made to depart from the train, and just as I was moving down the elaborately decorated wrought iron steps, I noticed Draco hanging back. I sighed and — knowing I had no choice but to follow him — dropped my luggage and shouted back at Ginny: "Ginny! Please could you take my luggage for me? I'll only be a minute."

"Yeah sure!" She shouted back.

I fought through the thick crowds until reaching the interior of the train. Malfoy stood in his compartment, pulling down the blinds slowly and I ducked out of sight as he reached the window which I was spying through. Through a small crack, I could just about see Malfoy, who reached up to the empty trunk rack and jinxed the air. The air yelped and a loud thump could be heard as Harry Potter was revealed, staring up at Malfoy, unmoving. Malfoy spoke to Harry, his voice muffled through the thick wooden door and bust Harry's nose in with his foot. Ruby liquid spurted out of Harry's nose, seeping onto the red-carpeted floor, and Malfoy just smirked, before casting the invisibility cloak over his immobile body. Despite the whole gruesome show, I felt considerably better about having Malfoy as a partner. At least he had intuition.

Malfoy made to leave the cabin, so I hid in the one opposite until he had left. Then, taking care to check that my dark mark was covered, I reopened the door to the compartment where Harry lay and felt around until I could find the invisibility cloak. Once feeling its velvety folds, I pulled to reveal the chosen one lying helpless and perfectly alone. I thought about killing him there and then, but it was not my responsibility, and he seemed so useless that I would have been a coward to attack him now. I picked up his broken glasses from the ground and chanted "Oculus Reparo." I put them back on his face and all of a sudden, a bright flash of red light filled the cabin and Harry was sitting up. I whirled around (ready to attack) but it was only an aurora.

"Tonks!" Harry said, completely disregarding me.

"Wotcher, Harry," She winked and him and then turning to me she said "we'd better get out of here, quickly. C'mon, we'll jump."

We ran towards the exit. The train was starting to pull out of the station, its grand engines vibrating through the ground and resonating through my body. A great rush of black smoke engulfed the entire convoy, shifting together with the night, making it impossible to see the platform amidst the swirling mess of vapour. Tonks grasped Harry's hand and pulled him behind her as she jumped, so I followed and leapt blindly into the inferno.

A cool night breeze hit me and I heaved, my stomach clenching in protest to the amount of smoke I'd inhaled. This was going to be a crazy year.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧