the girl with all of the choices

s e v e n t y - o n e

4750 words

january twenty-fourth- fly, fly away

~ Draco's POV ~

Things had been... better.

Of course, I meant this in both the sarcastic and literal sense.

Obviously, things weren't fucking good. I was still a Death Eater on a murder plot, trying to fix the one thing that would bring this ancient school crumbling to its knees. Theo, Blaise, and Pansy were still helping me, sealing their fate as accomplices if the Dark Lord lost and we were ever sent to trial for war crimes. Addie was still lying to her friends for me.

But that was the part that had gotten better. After that night in my dormitory two weeks ago, she had become more comfortable in her skin. She talked and screamed before I ever even brought out the whiskey. I wanted her to feel it, to recognize it and confront it so the voices would be just a little bit quieter behind her skull. She did.

"Who are you angry at?" I questioned, trying to egg her on.

"I'm angry at everyone," she mumbled through tears.

"Names, Addison. Give me names."

"You want to know who I'm angry at? It's a long fucking list," she said, her voice growing louder and her nose scrunching up even more.

"Tell me. Scream them at me."

"Fine! I'm angry at Him!"

"Who?"

"Him. No, you know what? He's ruined my life enough. I'm on a first-name basis now. I'm fucking angry at Voldemort!"

I shuddered at his name but knew that this was what she needed, so I swallowed my fear and continued to egg her on.

"Who else?"

"Cedric!"

"Why are you angry at him?"

"For leaving! He fucking left me here! And I-I'm angry at Umbridge!"

"Why?"

"For making us fight so much last year! A-And I'm mad at your father, but I don't remember his name-"

"Lucius-"

"I'm angry at Lucius fucking Malfoy! And your Aunt Bellatrix too!"

"Why?"

"For torturing Neville's parents into insanity! And for making you do this!"

"Who else?"

"Justin! I hate him!"

"Why?"

"For being right! I hate him for being right! I hate him for going after you! I hate him for being a bad friend and not letting me be happy!" She took a shaky inhale as the tears continued to stream from her eyes onto her cheeks. "But I hate Voldemort more! I hate him! He's ruining everything! He took Cedric from me and he's ruining us too!"

"Do you want to throw something?" I asked, conjuring a glass goblet for her to throw against the stone wall near Blaise's bed.

She nodded fervently, so I walked over to her and turned her so she was looking at the wall, placing the goblet in her hand.

"Who else do you hate, Addie?"

She threw the glass against the wall, wailing out a name as it made contact and shattered. "Tonks!"