Secret Love; My Escape
Chapter 3: Pinky Swears
"So Blaise is now the new Slytherin Prince?" Harry raised his eyebrows and I nodded, leaning back against the couch I was sitting in front of.
"Apparently. That's the way it looked" I nodded. "Blaise clearly said he was disgraced... even Crabbe and Goyle didn't look happy with him"
"Well it's obvious that because he didn't kill Dumbledore last year he's been shunned by the entire Death Eater clan" Hermione sighed, closing the book she was reading. "I'm surprised he's even alive"
"Doesn't mean he doesn't have a second chance" Harry pointed out.
"Oh come on Harry, since when does Voldemort give second chances?" Ginny rolled her eyes.
"The Malfoy's are the right hand family. Lucius would have pulled any kind of strings he could to get his son back in good graces" Harry argued back.
"Lucius is in Azkaban" I reminded them.
"Wouldn't stop him... the Dementors are on their side remember" Ron pointed out. Apparently he was on Harry's side. The six of us sat in silence and contemplated everything.
"Point is, the asshole got me a detention. He will pay for that" I growled finally. My friends laughed and went on with their usual things, the topic of Malfoy pushed to the backs of their minds once again.
Snape sent me a message a few days later, informing me that my detention was on Sunday the 9thth of October, starting at 8pm. So, naturally as only I would, I got there at 9:30.
"You're late Miss Vanderbilt" Snape drawled as I knocked on his office door.
"Sorry sir... couldn't find my jumper" I smiled sweetly. He peered down his hooked nose at me and obviously chose not to say anything about it. He was used to me by now.
"You are to clean all of these cauldrons, by hand. Give me your wand" He sneered, waving his hand at the room filled with cauldrons.
"Wow Snape, you must really love these dungeons to still have your office down here... what's wrong with the nice, warm place on the fourth floor?" I looked around the room as I handed over my wand.
"You have three hours" He said and then with a swish of his robes he was gone, the door snapping shut behind him.
I rolled my eyes and pulled my real wand out of the waistband of my jeans. "Thank you Fred and George" I smiled. Those trick wands came in handy sometimes, I should probably write and let the boys know... and my sister. Although she'd probably tell mum and Mum'd send me another howler. Bloody tattletale of a big sister. You's think, working on her own goddamn Dragon Reserve she'd grow up and stop tattling on me... but no, Avery always liked to keep me inline.
I flicked my wand and let the magic get to work. I propped my feet up on the desk and pulled out my book. I was reading a funny muggle book called Twilight. Apparently, the muggle woman who wrote it knew nothing about vampires and thought they sparkled! It was a delightfully amusing read that kept me entertained for the whole three hours.
Just before Snape came back I made sure I smeared some cauldron gunk on my cheek and wet my hands.
"These are very... clean..." Snape raised an eyebrow as he inspected the cauldrons.
"Well you told me to clean sir" I smiled at him. He raised his eyebrow suspiciously.
"You may go" He nodded, handing me the fake wand and pointing to the door. I smiled and skipped out of the room.
Seconds later the wand burst into a parrot and I laughed.
"VANDERBILT!" I heard Snape holler form the dungeons. I raised an eyebrow and decided it was best to run. No good ever came from investigating an angry sounding shout... especially one that was shouting your name.
I bolted up the Grand Staircase and zipped into the second floor corridor, hoping to Marlin that Snape wasn't some sort of Olympic sprinter and would catch me. I stood still and tried to hear if he was running after me. When I was satisfied he wasn't I started to wander. I wandered through the corridor and listened to the silence of the castle.
Well, I would have listened to the silence, except I was on the second floor corridor, standing next to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and she appeared to be crying – again. Honestly that ghost never stopped. It puzzled me as to how she could even HAVE tears when she was just a protoplasmic entity that didn't actually have functioning organs.
"It's such a horrible noise isn't it?" Myrtle said from beside me.
"I know! How do you put up with it?" I sighed, shaking my head. The sobbing continued and Myrtle sighed.
"Normally I don't notice it if it's me"
I frowned and turned. "Myrtle, who's in your bathroom crying if you're out here talking to me?"
Myrtle sighed again and pushed her glasses up her nose. "A boy"
"A boy... is in a girls bathroom... crying?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yes. He comes in quite often and talks to me" She nodded solemnly. "But when he cries, I leave. I hate being watched when I cry" She nodded like she empathised with him.
I frowned again and pushed open the door quietly. I stepped into the bathroom and let the door shut with a soft snap behind me. The person in here was indeed crying, hunched over one of the hand basins, head hung low. His shoulders were shaking slightly, drawing in ragged breaths.
I cocked my head to the side and tried to figure out who it was.
He was tall, and slim but I could totally tell there were serious muscles under his uniform... but not the 'I lift weights every day and take steroids' big. He was lithe and sinewy. He raised his head slightly and I saw the platinum blonde hair.
A gasped escaped my lips as I realised who it was.
His head shot upright and he drew his wand. He spun around and aimed it straight at me. The tears streaking down his face told me he had been crying for a while, which only shocked me even more.
"Vanderbilt" He said in a low hiss "What are you doing here?"
"It's a girl's bathroom" I let my big mouth speak before I thought about it and silently kicked myself. I didn't know what else to say, I was pretty much like a deer caught in headlights.
This was DRACO-effing-MALFOY standing in the girls bathroom, crying. I mean, Draco obviously wasn't my favourite person in the world, so of course I was stunned.
"Go away Rosalie" He hissed, his wand still drawn.
"I heard someone crying and thought it was Myrtle... Why are you crying Malfoy?" I asked, ignoring his request.
"I said go away" His voice broke slightly and his hands were shaking.
"No" I said simply. "Not until you tell me what is wrong"
"Why do you even care?" He spat, his wand raised a little higher "I don't want you or your pity so just fuck off, ROSALIE!" He yelled, his voice echoing around the bathroom.
His question caught me off guard as did his use of my first name. He never did that but that wasn't what bothered me... what bothered me was I actually cared that he was crying. Why the hell did I care!
I guess it's because I'm not heartless like him and when someone is genuinely in pain, I want to at least TRY and help them.
I pulled my own wand out of my pocket for safety and continued to stare the blonde down. I wasn't afraid of him like most. He may have been rich and a death eater in the making, but I wasn't scared to face him.
"Petrificus total-"
"Protego" I countered his spell. "Was that really necessary?" I sighed, brushing some hair off my face.
"I said get out Vanderbilt. I meant it" He growled.
"Fine. See if I care that you're in a girls bathroom, alone, crying your eyes out" I rolled my eyes and turned to walk out of the bathroom.
"Tarantalleg-" Malfoy started up again.
I deflected it without even turning around. "Malfoy, please –" I said and turned to face him. He was right in front of me and I gasped.
His eyes were cold and empty, not showing one ounce of emotion. He gripped my arm tightly in his hand.
"You're not to tell a soul about this Vanderbilt. You have no idea what I'm going through and you have no idea who I am. I don't need some stupid Gryffindor whore taking pity on me" He spat at me.
I slapped his face and he stared at me.
"You totally deserved that. I only asked what was wrong" I pointed out. His face blazed his anger for a moment but then that slowly faded away and despair took its place.
I could feel my own hate toward him soften as he slid to the floor. He let go of my arm and held his head in his hands.
I knelt down before him and put a hand on his shoulder.
Like a traumatized child he threw his arms around my neck and leaned into my shoulder. The contact startled me and I fell onto my butt but I put my arms around his torso and held him while he sobbed into my shoulder.
If someone had said to me last year "in a years time you will be sitting on Myrtle's bathroom floor, while Draco Malfoy (your sworn enemy) cried into your shoulder" I would have laughed and ordered them straight to St Mungo's.
But here I was, sitting on the floor in moaning mytle's bathroom while Draco Malfoy (my sworn enemy) cried into my shoulder.
Maybe I should check myself into St Mungo's, just to be safe...
"I don't know what to do... I've been given a mission... because I failed the last one... and if I fail this one... I'll be killed" His voice was raspy and cracked, like someone under a lot of pressure. "My father is in Azkaban and my mother is insane. I... don't want to be either of them. I don't want to be a Death Eater" He sighed, the sound escaped weakly from his mouth.
I just sat and listened. I didn't exactly know what to say so listening was my only option.
"I can't be like them... They're evil..." I could feel tears rolling down my neck from him and I patted his hair.
We sat there for five minutes more before I felt him go rigid. Feeling this, I stopped stroking his hair and he looked at me as if realising who he was talking to.
The side of my body where he had been resting felt cold and I shivered slightly.
I looked at him and saw the former non-emotion had returned to his face. His normally pale skin was flushed from crying and his eyes had taken an icy hint to them.
He opened his mouth to say something, but I raised my hands to silence him.
I stood up. "No one will hear of this Malfoy. I promise..." I brushed some hair off my face "I'd make an unbreakable vow if it didn't end in death" I smiled half heartedly. "So a Pinky Swear will have to do" I held my little finger out to him. He raised an eyebrow at it and I realised he had no idea what it was. "A Pinky Swear is the highest promise you can get from someone. If they break it bad things happen. My sisters and I do it all the time and it's never failed us..." I trailed off. He looked startled for a moment before he hooked his pinky into mine.
Without another word to him I left the bathroom.
Draco Malfoy, the one person who hated me more than anyone else (apart from Harry) had just pinky sworn with me that I would never tell a soul that he'd cried into my shoulder and admitted his deepest fears.
What kind of freaky alternative universe had I stepped into!
Hey guys, just a really quick update tonight. Not feeling my best which sucks because I have my bestfriends Harry Potter SURPRISE party on friday... Arghh!
This chapter is dedicated to GYPSYTRAVELER for the AMAZING banner she made me - go check it out on my blog ( www . pleaofinsanityfiction . tumblr . com ) without the spaces.
xo
plea