the girl with all of the choices

n i n e t y - o n e

9034 words

september twenty-fifth- dark arts

~ Addison ~

We had made it this far. 

The first week of seventh year had been a whirlwind, from meeting back up with Draco to being mauled by Alecto to Pansy being marked and abused and everything in between. 

Things had calmed down for us, for the most part. 

After sending my friends away when Pansy, Blaise, and Theo appeared in the room, they began to act differently towards the Slytherins, including Draco. 

Ainsley stole me once after Herbology and explained what was happening. 

"I think we finally get it," she said quietly, tucking her hair behind her ear gently. "Before, his status was this ominous thing, but now it makes more sense. He seems oddly human. And..." she faltered, "after seeing Pansy Parkinson like that, sobbing over what they did to her, it's hard to dispute the fact that not everyone wants to be marked. I feel awful that I ever thought he wanted to be one of them. I should have known though, given that you were still with him. I'm so sorry."

They were all starting to grasp the complexities of the situation. They were starting to understand, to see the lack of choices everyone seemed to have.

Of course, that didn't mean that everything was good. The Carrows were awful. In Muggle Studies, Alecto would repeatedly push the Dark Lord's agenda, even going as far as to humiliate other muggle-born students in our class. I had been lucky. She hadn't touched me or even spoken a word to me since the day she cut my face. 

Draco had healed my scar completely, but people still looked at me strangely in the corridors. Whether it was because of what happened on the first day of school or the fact that Draco and I were still very much together, I didn't know.

Dark Arts had been... interesting to say the least. Amycus was rather intent on teaching the theory behind the spells rather than how to use said spells, which was saving us so far. Class last week was about the Cruciatus Curse, the first of the three Unforgivable that he had mentioned. He taught us that the caster of the curse couldn't just say the incantation and wave their wand to produce the desired effect. They had to mean it in order for the magic to work. 

Both of them would frequently call on Draco in their classes, even if he didn't have his hand raised. They asked him about his lineage, what using truly ancient magic was like, pureblood customs, and his personal usage of the Dark Arts. I would always try to tune out when he would talk about that last part. I figured he was making most of it up, but then again, he was marked. I had no idea what the Dark Lord asked of him when I wasn't around. I tried not to dwell on it. 

He was using his occlumency frequently. He would walk with me to the classes without contact or much conversation, but we would always meet up with Theo and Blaise outside the classroom. He would walk in with Blaise and I would walk in with Theo. This was the way it was on Tuesday mornings for Muggle Studies and Thursday afternoons for Dark Arts. 

He wouldn't come over to see me during meals or if we were in the library. We would go places at the same time, but we would pass said time with our friends, keeping each other within view to ensure that we were both safe. Whenever he met my eyes, he would half-heartedly sneer at me in case the demonic siblings were ever nearby.

Today, we had spent lunch out in the courtyard. Us Hufflepuffs occupied the space where we had met the day Draco and I explained everything to them in the Room. The Slytherins were directly on the opposite side of the empty space in between. I seemed to meet a familiar pair of grey eyes every time I glanced over, always prompting me to smile.