(1) 𝐍𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐄 | d. m

Chapter fifteen

After I had left Draco in the hospital wing, I couldn't control my emotions. Instead, I broke down crying out in the hallway. I think people heard me — but in that moment, I couldn't care less what anyone thought of me. All I wanted was to go back through those doors and tell Draco everything. How I had hated him when I first met him, but grown to care about him like I had done no other. How my heart would beat so fast in my chest when he looked at me, that I couldn't keep up with it.

If only I could've told him — that I loved him.

I couldn't tell him any of those things of course — no, I had to stay focused. After all, I had come to Hogwarts for one thing, and one thing only: To kill the person responsible for the death of my parents.

To kill Voldemort.

I still had no idea how I would go about completing my task, in fact I had no idea even where to start. All I knew was that I needed to avenge my parents, and I needed to take down the man who had hurt the one person I loved as much as them. After all, he was the one had turned Draco into his slave, and who forced him to do all these horrible things.

***

Draco

I spent a few nights in the hospital wing, wanting nothing more than to run after her. She had seemed so sad, yet determined to act unbothered by my act of ignorance. I had soon regretted my decision to turn my back to her, but soon enough, I came to my senses and realised this was the better road. She would be better off.

All I could do, was make sure she hated me.

***

October

I spent all of October month either ignoring Lane or bumping into her and making sure she left with a frown on her face. As much as it hurt me to see her this way, and it really did, I knew it was what had to be. I tried to come up with another way to succeed with my mission, ever since my failed attempt at cursing Dumbledore using Lane's necklace.

Her necklace.

Ever since our little fight about it, I had kept it safe and hidden within the pocket of my black trousers. I was too scared to bring it back to her, even now that I suspected she knew the truth of what happened. I knew that the necklace was the only thing of hers that I had, and it brought me comfort somehow.

As the months rolled on and autumn turned to winter and winter to spring, all I could think about was Lane. I had almost forgotten about my mission (no, that is a complete lie) and was only ever thinking about the curve of her lips, and how they felt upon mine once upon a time. I thought of her smile and the way she would grin sarcastically to try and hide the fact that I got on her nerves. The way she argued with me 80 percent of the time and how the mere smell of her made me lose all sense of sensibility. I hadn't forgotten about our last conversation at all, or the fact that I had erased her memories of our relationship, but wanted so badly to take her in my arms and go back to how things were. But I knew, that would never happen. Not as long as I was Draco Malfoy and she was Delaney Ross.

If only I had know how much worse things were going to get...

***

Delaney

I thought about Draco all of the time, disrupting my own senses. How he had acted so weirdly when I had found myself at his family's manor, and how he had looked at me after our conversation. It was as if he knew me more than anyone else. A part of me hated him and wanted nothing to do with him, however, another part of me knew that Draco was more than just a cold hearted bad boy. My growing impatience and worry over the future seemed to catch the attention of both Neville and Luna, because when I returned to the Ravenclaw common room, they were both eyeing me suspiciously as I walked through the doors.

"What—what is it?", I said, knowing perfectly well that my lying skills were anything but perfected.

"Ever since you told us about why you first came to Hogwarts, Luna and I have been talking—and trying to come up with some sort of plan to help you". Neville smiled at me while Luna shock her head in agreement.
I took a few steps closer to the fireplace, which had not yet been lit. "...And? What have you come up with? Some brilliant plan to take down the most powerful wizard who ever lived— and preferably by next Tuesday? I grinned ironically, a big part of me worrying about the safety of my two best friends. "Come on—you really think I am going to allow you two to risk your lives for me? Not going to happen". I started walking towards the stairs up to the girls dormitory, but was interrupted momentarily.

"No! Do you really think we are going to let you do this alone?! Without any backup? That's a downright suicide mission", said Neville angrily, looking at me as if I was mad to even suggest such a thing. "—And if you would've just waited a few more seconds, you would find out that me and Neville have come up with the prefect plan". Luna's voice seemed to catch both me and Neville off guard, as it had only been the two of us talking thus far.

I traced back my footsteps until I reached the sofa by the fireplace, where I sat down. I preceded to take out my wand and point it in front of me. "Incendio!", just as the word had rolled off my tongue, fire started to irrupt, warming up the room. I made myself comfortable in the sofa and opened my mouth to speak, yet again.

"So—what is this great plan of yours?"

***

I spent what seemed like forever chasing Death Eaters and trying to find the answers to what really happened to my parents. Why they were sentenced to Azkaban and how they died. I even found myself looking for trouble.

"Expelliarmus!"

I was now holding a firm grip around my wand, which I had managed to untangled my red hair from. Greyback was looking at me, grinning maliciously. I knew for sure, that he wouldn't hesitate to do me harm. It was him or me.

Finally, I had managed to utter the words of a disarming spell, which to my surprise, had succeeded. Greyback was now thrown up and back as the beaming light evaporated from my wand. It seemed to grow more and more intense. I could sense the rage in his eyes, he wasn't done with me, neither were any of his Snatcher friends. They wouldn't give up until I was dead or close to.

Another Death Eater, Scabior, was eyeing me from were he stood, making the hairs on my back raise. It was as if he was the predator and I the bate. Suddenly, I found myself not shaking anymore. Instead, a feeling of strength and regained power came to me and I was ready to hit them with my best shot. I didn't want to kill them, but I knew all the while — that I might have to. I would have to kill another human being, in order to protect myself. I had to do everything in my power to regain the upper hand, anything to survive. Because I had to see him again. I had to see Draco.

***

That night in October, after Neville had finally forgiven me for lying to them, he and Luna told me of their plan to aid me in my mission. They told me that they would do whatever it takes to help me bring down Voldemort and his gang of freaks. I was anything but happy about putting my friends in danger, but they managed to calm me down and I soon realised I wouldn't be able to do it all on my own.

"We were thinking you could talk to Draco about it. After all, you two were quite close there for awhile. Maybe he knows something that could help us". Luna and Neville sat down beside me on the couch next to the fireplace that was crackling. I raised my eyebrow and answered:

"You really think Draco is willing to help me? We're not even friends".

Luna and Neville looked at each other and then back at me, raising their eyebrows as if I was completely and utterly mad. I had no idea why they stared at me in such a way, nor why they brought up Draco, who I hadn't exactly been getting along with. However, I didn't exactly say no, instead I agreed to whatever they were talking about, and left for bed soon there after.

I thought I had earned a good nights sleep. After all, I had been worrying about the possibility of losing one of my closest friends and hadn't exactly been sleeping through the nights. I had also been wondering about the necklace I had gotten from my dad when I was little, because it had seemed to have disappeared and I had no idea were it could be.