"My Lord!" Lucius Malfoy bows down to the feet of Lord Voldemort.
"Welcome back, Lucius."
"My Lord, I am so sorry. Please, I beg your forgiveness."
"Get up! So it is your fault that I have lost yet another follower."
"He wouldn't listen to me!"
"He is a teenage boy, Lucius. Surely, you could threaten him with something. What about the girl for instance? Why didn't you stop them when you had the chance? I am getting tired of this, Lucius."
"My Lord, your forgiveness! I would've done it all differently if I could."
"But you can't, Malfoy. And I'm getting rather tired of dealing with you. I will get the boy and that Potter girl myself!"
"But, My--"
"Avada Kedavra!"
-
Allison Potter sat up in bed. Her dark brown hair floated down over her shoulders and her pale skin glowed in the moonlight streaming through the window in the Slytherin girls dormitory. Her heavy breathing slowed as she slid out of the covers. She snuck quietly out of the Slytherin dorms and common room and headed up the stairs of the castle.
"Hedwig?" Alli called into the owlery spooking every bird that was sleeping. A white snowy owl with gray speckles flew down to her arm. "I'm really getting tired of these nightmares," Alli told Hedwig into her big hazel eyes. Hedwig always seemed to want to listen. Lately, Alli had been coming to the owlery every night as an excuse to not think about her nightmares. Hedwig let out a quiet hoot of agreement. Alli leaned her head against the wall just outside of the owl's den and closed her eyes. With Hedwig standing on one leg on her arm, Alli drifted off to sleep. Hours later, Alli awoke to the pecking of a school barn owl on her sleeve.
"Chester!" Alli exclaimed examining her sleeve. Another hole had been bit in her pink pajama shirt. The rust colored owl dropped a letter into Alli's lap. It was addressed to Draco Malfoy from the Ministry of Magic. "You poke a hole in my sleeve to give me a letter that isn't even mine," Alli said angrily to Chester. Chester blinked once and then took flight out of the window. Alli groaned and stood up. She placed Hedwig back on her perch inside the owlery and headed back downstairs to the dungeons. When Alli entered the Slytherin common room, Draco was sitting on the green leather couch where he always was in the mornings wearing what he always wore, boxers and a pair of plaid pajama pants, no shirt required. Alli smiled at him when he looked up.
"Hey," he called. Alli held up the letter.
"You've got another one," Alli said. She dropped the letter in his lap and crashed down beside him.
"Sleeping in the owlery again?" Alli nodded. Draco opened the letter and read the black typed font.
Dear Draco Malfoy,
We at the ministry are upset to inform you that your father, Lucius Malfoy, has been killed. A man came to the Ministry of Magic some time late last night with the story that Lucius Malfoy had been discovered dead in an abandoned house just south of Surrey. His funeral is scheduled for Friday, November 23. The reason for his death is unexplainable at the moment. Sorry to not have more news at hand. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to write back.
Sincerely,
Matilda Goosery
Ministry of Magic
Department of Unexplainable Deaths
Draco threw the note to the side and closed his eyes.
"What's up?" Alli asked. Draco didn't answer her. She reached across him and grabbed the note. Her eyes flitted back and forth over the page. When she finished, she dropped the note, her mouth slightly open in shock. Draco folded his hands across his forehead as if he were trying to block out a strident noise. Alli touched his arm. Draco opened his sad, gray eyes. Alli gave him a sympathetic look.
"I'm sorry," Alli whispered wrapping her arms around him. Draco didn't speak. "Are you going to be okay?" Alli asked wiping Draco's white-blond bangs out of his eyes.
"It was my fault," Draco told her turning his eyes down to Alli's hand wrapped around his own.
"What are you talking about? This is not your fault. How could you even think that?"
"No, Alli. It is. I rejected the Dark Lord's request. My father was supposed to encourage me and coax me into it. He failed. And Voldemort murdered him." Alli thought back to her dream.
"That was what my nightmare was about last night," Alli said suddenly. Draco's eyes caught hers.
"You saw my father…"
"I saw him pleading with Voldemort," Alli explained. "And then he argued and Voldemort…Voldemort killed him with the unforgiveable killing curse." Draco shook his head.
"Why didn't you tell me then?"
"I-I didn't think to…" Alli muttered. She let her head drop.
"Yeah, you never think," Draco snapped. He pushed out of her arms and stomped towards the dormitory.
"Draco!" Alli got up and followed him into the boy's dorm where Draco collapsed on his unmade bed. "Don't be mad at me! I didn't even know that it really happened!"
"That's not an excuse," Draco argued.
"You can't blame me for not telling! I don't know whether or not what I dream is real or just some little nightmare Voldemort puts into my head to try and scare me!"
"You could've at least warned me instead of heading off to the owlery to talk with the damn birds that don't even know what the hell your saying!"
"They comfort me," Alli retorted folding her arms across her chest. Draco laughed.
"You are such a girl!"
"And you're so… rude!"
"Oh, I'm rude? I'm not the one going around acting like everyone is in love with me. Because everyone does not love you, Alli. Most of them think you're a straight up bitch."
"Yeah, well most think we're the perfect couple. Because you're just. Like. Me," Alli said. She turned on her heel and stomped out of the room.
"Hello, Allison." Alli looked up coming face to face with Severus Snape.