Her Darkening Shadows
Chapter One: Shadows Lining
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Draco, hence why I am writing on a fan fiction site.
Crack!
Capella woke with a start as yet more thunder rolled over the castle. Once the noise subsided, she could her the snores of Pansy and Daphne in the rooms next to her. Being on the Inquisitorial Squad had its perks.. like her dorm away from the rest of the slytherins (mostly) and being out of the dungeons. Sleeping in the warmth she thought to herself was a plus. Across the commons, she knew the boys shared a similar situation.
As the thunder and lighting continued on, Capella wrapped herself up in her duvet and counted. One..one thousand, two... one thousand, three... one thousand. Boom. The roar of thunder seemed to shake her whole bed. Capella looked at her watch. The storm was three miles away and she only had five more hours before she could go to breakfast. Snuggling back into her bed, Capella tried to get some sleep. The storms had been bad the past few days, and the circles under her eyes were starting to match the dull black of her hair. Before she could fall back asleep however, there was a bright flash of lightning followed by an even louder roar of thunder less than two seconds later. This sent her into a small fit of tears and shakes magnifying as the storm increased in size and moved closer to the castle, causing ominous shadows to fall on her window after the flashes of lightning. Capella threw herself over on her bed and buried her head in her pillow. She knew the shadows her harmless, but in the state she was in, her paranoia has extremely high and her dresser was casting a man-like shadow on the far wall. Three hours after midnight, the storm was right of Hogwarts, and it sounded enormous. To Capella, it felt as though the walls would cave in from the vibrations, and the walls didn't cave, she would. The girl was petrified, she had moved off her bed and sat against it, clutching her knees and burrying her head in her arms, breaching hysteria.
Capella sat like this for hours, around six, the storm moved away. She sat, barely able to untangle herself, for nearly an hour trying to calm down. She couldn't calm down, but Capella was able to collect herself enough to stand up, and make her way to the bathroom across the hall.
Capella looked at herself in the mirror, what she saw, wasn't pretty. The past few nights she'd had very little sleep, and it showed. Her face looked pale and sunken, shadowed. Under her eyes, two dark bruise like circles took up residence. As she thought of how bad the storms had been, especially last night, tears started welling up again. Capella splashed her face in hopes of removing the tear stains that covered her face in vertical stripes. Make-up couldn't conceal the damage that the storms had done to her. I look as bad on the outside as I feel on the inside... she thought to herself as she unsteadily made her way back to her room. Cautiously, she made her bed and changed into her school uniform, making sure to avoid looking out the window, nor to look at the far wall.
As careful as she was, walking into the great hall was not a good idea. The enchanted sky reflected the torture she went through the night before with dark clouds sitting low and thick in the sky. This sight nearly made her faint with anxiety. After a mere ten minutes, Capella couldn't handle the ominous feeling that the ceiling was portraying. Having only eaten a piece of wheat toast with jam, Capella made her way back to her room, summoning a tall goblet of warm tea on her up the stairs.
When she got back to the common room of the Inquisitorial Squad, Capella walked over to her favorite sofa near the fire, and, setting her goblet on the table, collapsed onto it. She was still sitting there when Draco woke up around eight. He too, did his morning routine, including a steaming hot, long shower that clouded up the air feet from the males dorms. Draco, freshly showered, walked into the common room where he saw Capella Luca sitting on the small sofa near the low burning fire. Draco moved towards her, slowly. He knew that there was usually someone up early in the morning, he himself, was rarely ambitious enough to catch them, figuring it was a ravenclaw or something. Draco took a step closer to the sofa when he recognized the deep purple house robe draped over the thin body.
Capella leaned towards the table to pick up her tea when she
saw Draco moving towards her.
"Hey Draco..." She said
to him, holding her tea tightly.
"Uh, hey... rough night?"
Draco, by curiosity, got himself stuck in a jam by asking. It was
likely that his mates would be sluggishly awake soon and wanting to
head down to breakfast. Capella, on the other hand, looked like she
desperately needed someone to talk to... You are a Malfoy
Draco! Malfoy's don't talk remember? Draco remembered all to
well from his childhood that Malfoy's don't talk.
"Ghastley..."
Capella replied, looking down into her cup. "Sometimes the
storms keep me up..." She didn't want put her shadowed burden on
someone unless they were ready to bear it, and Draco, wasn't.
"Looks
like all the time..." Draco murmured to himself as he walked
toward Crabbe, Goyle, and Zambini as they were walking out of their
dorm area. With grunts of greeting, the foursome left the commons and
went to breakfast, leaving Capella to embrace herself on the sofa,
preparing for the emotional toll of the day.
After waiting as long as she could, Capella Luca threw her schoolbooks in her bag, grabbed her wand, drank her tea, and left for her first class.
By Lunchtime, Capella had seen enough stares from her classmates, and looks of concern from her teachers, to last her through her N.E.W.T.S. in seventh year. What she wasn't sure of, was how much worse things could get at lunch.
"Hey Luca" Draco said, as he took the seat to Capella's left. "Something's been off with you the past few days, what's up?" Draco's tone of voice made it seem to Capella, like he was actually concerned.
"Light sleeper. And if you havn't noticed, Hogwarts has experienced some major storms recently." She wasn't going to tell Draco of her fear of storms, atleast, not her in the Great Hall. She wasn't even sure when she would tell him, if she did tell him at all. Being afraid of storms was silly, light and noise, everyday experiences. But it wasn't the storm really, that she was afraid of, but the events behind the dream that the storms encourage.
"Well Luca, you should probably fix that. My beauty sleep isn't the only sleep being affected by your late night roaming." To emphasize his words, Draco seized Ella's spoon and held it up in front of her face. It was not an attractive view. Her blue eyes and turned sullen grey and sunken, and while her hair, though brushed neatly, looked nothing up to her usual standards. The light in the Great Hall made the dark bruise colored circles taking residence under her eyes look even darker than before. "Beauty sleep," put gently, was not what she needed, though sleep seem like a pleasant idea. Capella gave Draco the Luca glare. A glare that only, before now, she knew her grandfather had been able to accomplish in the last fifty years. She put as much piercing evil into it, and meant none of it.
"So sorry your beauty sleep has been affected...Malfoy." Capella said, when she met his eyes, she saw concern in his eyes, covered by the Malfoy facade. She yanked the spoon away from Draco and stabbed it in her baked potato. "Not that beauty sleep would help you any..." She said, taking a bite of her potato.
"Tonight, Luca..." Draco said before leaving the Great Hall without so much as a backwards glance. Personally, Capella thought that Draco did this to her on purpose. Giving her an invitiation, but to what she didn't know... to talk maybe? Or did he simply mean that he wanted his sleep tonight? For a guy, Draco Malfoy was complex, intriguing, and a headache to figure out. A real puzzle.
Capella continued to pick at her potato as she wondered about tonight. Not that all the thoughts of anxiety running through her head weren't enough already. On top of the threat of a potential storm and getting through her classes, Ella now had the enigma of Draco Malfoy stuck in her mind. Capella Luca had no idea how she was going to get through Muggle Studies, let alone Ancient Ruins and History of Magic.
The five minute warning bell pulled her from her thoughts. The Great Hall was nearly empty and the food had vanished. How long, Capella thought as she got up and headed towards Muggle Studies, before the teachers wonder what's wrong with me and send me to Pomfrey, or, worse, a shrink. Thoughts such as these only added to her stress and anxiety level as she ascended the last of the steps and walked across the landing towards the door to Muggle Studies. Dashing in as the tardy bell rang across the castle.
Author's Note: Her Darkening Shadows takes place in Draco's fifth year at Hogwart, in an alternate universe. Umbridge's takeover of Hogwarts succeeds and the Inquisitorial Squad is treated exceptionally well by her, and consists of more than just slytherins. Roughly 12 or so students make up the squad from various houses (except Gryffindor) and they have their own commons area and dorms apart from the other students. Just to clear that up.