The following Thursday was All Hallows Eve and Marilyn couldn't have been more excited even though Draco had no idea why. It was as if the witch had never heard of the legendary holiday the way she kept on asking questions about pumpkins and the school's obsession with bats. Over breakfast he noticed her hair was now the colour of a midnight sky when in fact he thought bright orange and black would be far more appropriate. She sat next to him at the Slytherin table, chatting excitedly about what would happen for the day and why it happened.
"And why do young Muggles go trick and treating? Isn't that begging? Why go in costume?"
"Marie, Marie, Marie; it's what they do. Frankly it's the only night the magicless idiots accept we exist – ask a Muggleborn why if you're that desperate to know." He chuckled before eating some jam on toast and then refilling his goblet with water for the third time during his meal.
"You seem to be drinking a lot of water lately." Marilyn remarked matter-of-factly.
"And you're not my mother so there… What do you propose we do today?" Draco asked her.
"We've got the feast this evening so why don't we do something afterwards?" she suggested finishing off her cereal.
"Like what?"
"I dunno, maybe we could go up the Astronomy Tower and chill." Marilyn proposed.
"Now that is not a bad idea." He said before downing his goblet in one, "Oh and that reminds me, I've a present for you."
"What? No you shouldn't have! Where is it?" she squealed with excitement.
"It's in my pocket… I'll let you open it tonight in private." He said coyly. She loved it when he played coy.
"Oh, well, you'll have to wait for mine too." She said a little haughtily. If people weren't watching he'd have tackled and tickled her until the truth came spewing out and then with a fit of kisses thank her.
"Alright then, shall we go to the Library after this?" Draco asked slightly impatient.
"Let's" Marilyn smiled before hastily picking up her bags and letting him lead out of the hall.
It was quiet in the Astronomy Tower in all senses of the word; not another soul was to be seen and the silence was warm and comforting. They were still contented and full from the feast and sat on the floor covered in conjured blankets to keep warm. Marilyn waved a warming spell over them both and Draco couldn't help but keep her lips occupied. How she managed to prize him off was anyone's guess but she managed it.
"Shh! Stop it, you're making my lips sore." Marilyn giggled as an arm snaked around her waist.
"Don't care." He whispered back.
"Ugh, ok, I give up ignoring you…What do you want Draco?" She asked mock irritated as he rested his head on her shoulder.
"I want to give you your present." He purred lovingly.
"Aww…Ok." She said before kissing his forehead.
"Close your eyes and open your hands out…" He said as he straightened up and she did so, "No peeking Marie!"
"As if you'd think I would do such a thing to you!" She giggled.
Something smooth and glassy was placed into her hands and then a box; a slender and light box.
"And open them!"
"Oh Dracie you shouldn't have!" Marilyn squealed with delight.
Her present was a beautiful spherical jar with an ornately engraved pewter lid and rim, with Marilyn elegantly etched upon the top. With the jar was a gorgeous black lacquer and gold box also with her name on it. She placed the jar ever so carefully on the wooden floor and the box on her lap and tried to figure out how to open it.
"You open it with a spell – Oeuvre!" Draco said with a flourish as he lightly tapped the box with his wand.
It gently opened up and unfurling from its small depths was a plethora of art tools; brushes for oils, acrylics, watercolour, calligraphy and ink; Pens and pencils of every persuasion, charcoal, pastels, paints of all calibres, inks and washes of numerous colours. Each category of medium flowed out of the box on a puff of smoke and hovered in the air waiting to be used. A pencil sharpener flew out and so did a whole host of erasers and putties and a lone pair of opulently carved paper scissors languished in front of her.
"Oh wow…..This is…I… Draco Malfoy….You are amazing." Marilyn said speechlessly, "You're utterly….Oh my stars…good grief… Thank you! From my heart thank you so much!"
"I'm guessing you like it?" Draco chuckled.
"Like it? I love it! This is perfect… This is too much…" She gushed as she placed it on the floor next to the jar.
"And you don't have to have it all fly out at once – if you say for example, 'Oeuvre Ink!' only the ink tools will fly out and land on the desk." He explained grinning, "I knew you liked to draw so I thought I'd get you something nice…"
"Nice? Draco this must have cost you a fortune…but I love it. It's really mine? Oh, I've always wanted one!" She smiled before giving him a hurried kiss on the lips, "And what does the jar do?"
"That is a self-cleaning, self-refilling, brush-conditioning water jar for all your painting." He proclaimed proudly.
"Ooooohhhh…..You are going to be drawn a lot more often than planned Dracie…." She gasped as if drooling over a diamond ring.
"That was the plan…anyways, Happy Halloween Marilyn."
"And the same to you my darling…" She purred as she kissed him sweetly and with passion, "Oh! That reminds me! You need to open yours!"
She reached down and grabbed her book bag and told him to close his eyes and hold his hands out like she did for him.
He felt something incredibly light and papery drop into his grasp.
"Open up Sexy!" Marilyn chimed.
In his hands was a long and thin gift wrapped object with a large black and orange bow upon it at one end.
"Can I rip into it?" He asked.
"Of course silly!" she laughed.
He made an opening at one end with his fingers and deftly pulled it out.
"Wow, wow, wow… Now that is what I call elegant!" Draco admired, "That's exquisite."
"Do you like it?" She shyly asked as he twizzled the gorgeous pheasant tail feather quill in-between his fingers.
"I do. It's very fetching… No doubt every love letter I send you shall be done so with this very quill… Yes, I like it. Thank you."
"Oh! I'm glad! I thought it would be too little after what you gave me – no, no, wait, there's more!" She said when she remembered something. She took out her sketchbook from her bag and opened it up to the correct page.
"Heaven's above is that me?!" He gasped astounded at the strikingly handsome portrait before him.
"Yes it's you!" Marilyn charmed.
"But Marilyn that's… Oh my…Damn you're good! That's just incredible – It's like looking into a mirror!" He enthused, "My my…wow…"
"She's good isn't she?" The pencilled Draco asked.
"Ha! It talks! Oh Marilyn you're so good! The movement, the gestures, the lighting…"
"Thank you Draco." She blushed as he took the book from out of her hands.
"This is so…I'm honoured Marilyn, I really am. Can I keep this or do you need it?" He asked dazedly.
"It's yours; let me just take it out of the book." She suggested as she took her sketchbook back. She put a firm grip on the page and with a nervous jagged rip the sketch was out. Both the drawn and real Draco sighed with relief, wiping their brows.
"I nearly was a goner then!" Drawn Draco protested.
"Shh you, you weren't. Now look pretty for your new owner and don't sulk or argue with him!" Marilyn chided to the portrait.
"Fine, Mum!" He said sticking his 2B tongue out.
Draco laughed merrily; "It really is me! Oh I love it… you've made me so handsome."
The drawing merely ran its pencilled hand through its hair as if it was nothing.
"Well you are Dracie, in my eyes at least."
Dracie didn't say a word; he simply put the sketch upon the floor and embraced his girlfriend in a warm and tender hug.
"You are the most precious thing to me, never leave me."
"I won't and I never intend to; Happy All Hallows Eve."
"Indeed… Does this mean we're … comfy?" He asked nervously as he took her hand, "It's just that I bought you something, you said-"
"Did you buy it before we talked about gifts?" She asked.
"Yes." He gulped.
"Then don't worry about it…. forget it actually. I just have to accept the fact you have money and carry on. I'll just have to make it up to you some other way I can." Marilyn smiled before tenderly kissing his lips.
Draco sighed and snuggled closer into her, persuading her to mould to his body for both warmth and closeness. He hadn't felt this blissful in a long time. "Don't worry about that Marie, just worry about not being in my arms. They feel empty when you're not near."
"Hmm, mine too. I wish we could always be like this. I feel like my full self around you; I don't have to put on a face or pretend to be someone. I'm just me with you…"
'One day maybe I could show you everything…' she thought happily.
"Good. I wouldn't want it any other way. You at least get to see something others don't; everyone else thinks I'm dirt." He said dejectedly.
"Oh come now Draco, you're not dirt. You're a diamond in the rough that's all. People are ignorant anyway; Malfoy just has so much history to it. I could start calling you Draco Gray if you wanted."
"Nah, I'll be fine… speaking of last names, you're not related to the Blacks are you?" He asked curiously whilst stroking a lock of midnight hair; the tips were starting to go pink.
"My father's family is distantly related to them but not by much. I think it was only one bloke who fell out with his parents and changed his name in medieval times." Marilyn explained as best as she could.
"Ah, I see." Draco then shivered a little and then violently, "Ha, it's getting colder!"
"Aw, my poor baby dragon let me warm you up…" She purred seductively as she straddled his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Any better?"
He blushed profusely from embarrassment; "Do you have to be so sexy?"
"Yes…why? Am I making you uncomfortable?" She whispered ruffling a hand through his hair.
"No, not uncomfortable, just a little hot and bothered – I still daydream about you when I don't see you, heck even in my actual dreams. Do you do the same?"
"Draco, Draco, Draco, my lovely piece of wizard, you're never out of my dreams and you're never in clothes either."
Then he really did turn pink. "Marilyn please, spare my ears… although, you're rarely dressed in my mind either."
"If only we could dream together…" She sighed, "Then we could do whatever we wanted."
"Hmm yes, speaking of dreams, I think it best we went to bed." Draco said diplomatically whilst his hands hypocritically glided around her hips and squeezed gently upon her flesh.
"Together I hope." She suggested wickedly with a moan.
"Now, now, good things come to those who wait… someone told me they weren't ready for that." He cooed with a kiss to her collar bone.
"Well… when I've got you all to myself…" She hummed whilst taking a tender nibble at his ear.
Draco then leant back from her abruptly as he realized what was happening, "Marie please, we're not old enough so hold your horses."
"So I have to wait till your birthday?" She moaned but this time in a miserable tone.
"Yes my little minx." He chuckled pinching her cheek.
"Shoot." She swore half meaning it and half for comedic value.
"Come on, back to the dorm for us!" Draco said spritely getting up on his feet and helping her up. She made the blankets vanish and they set off quickly down the tower steps back to the Slytherin dungeons after they had picked up their gifts. Draco gave her a gentle goodnight kiss whilst she stood on the first step going down to the girl's dorm and wished her pleasant dreams. "Why don't you give me some clothes tonight?" He asked her jokingly. "Ooh, no can do mister." She chuckled before a third kiss.
"Goodnight Marie." He whispered.
"Goodnight Dracie." She returned with a dreamy smile. She then turned heel and descended the stone steps to her dorm room. When she quietly entered she was nearly fit to drop off completely; it was roughly midnight so she presumed no one else would be up. She took off her robes and her camisole underneath facing the bed and she was half way through taking her bra off when a voice sounded behind her.
"You're up late for a friendless nobody."
Marilyn froze and gasped.
"I suppose you want to get thrown out. Mind you, not that anyone would care." The voice snarled.
"Yeah, no one would miss you – you don't know anyone apart from your precious Gryffindors!" Chimed a second from directly behind her; Marilyn hastily tried to redo her bra's fastener but she was too late. A hand grabbed the wing of her bra and yanked hard. She spun and yelped in pain, facing her doom. The right cup of her bra slipped and her breast fell out, much to the vicious joy of her tormentors.
"Oh look ladies! She's already willing!" The original cackled.
"Pansy! Please!" Marilyn begged as she hurriedly dragged her long hair to the front to cover her sudden nakedness, "I've done nothing to you."
Pansy Parkinson smirked evilly, "Nothing to me? You've lost me my Draco! I've seen the way he looks at you and hangs off your every word. I know the hours and hours you've stolen from him! And you even have the nerve to still be in MY dorm and call yourself a Slytherin!"
"Please it's not my fault! I haven't stolen anyone! Please just leave me alone!" Marilyn cried as tears started to form. She screamed and screamed inside her head for help.
"Ha! Liar! You've stolen all the friends you have – I bet you even bewitched Granger and Potter into liking you – with stolen magic too!" Daphne Greengrass accused wickedly.
"I'm pure for fuck's sake - it's not stolen!" Marilyn protested with tears streaming down her hot cheeks, "Please believe me I've done no wrong! Please leave me alone!"
"Leave you alone in OUR dorm? I think WE should kick YOU out! I know what you are! You're a liar and a thief!" Millicent Bulstrode persecuted.
"I'M NOT!" Gray screamed. All the glass in the room either shattered or cracked at the high frequency in her pleading scream. The dorm windows which were far under the Black Lake had started to fracture and water was ever so slowly starting to flow into the room.
"Whimpering little bitch!" Pansy spat as she slapped her around the face after recoiling from the blood curdling shriek. The impact of the slap threw Marilyn down and for a moment all she saw was black. The next few moments felt like death or something very akin to it. If only he were here to save me.
Marilyn expected another slap or another beating or even yet an Unforgivable to be hurled her way. Instead there was a crash of spells and curses and screams from her aggressors. There were angry shouts and the sounds of a teacher yelling furiously. Warm tender hands took hold of her and shook her.
"Marilyn! Please! Wake up!"
As she shook once more her eyes flashed dimly open; Silver terrified eyes looked into her, showing every shade and tone of worry and anger.
"Draco!" She breathed sorely.
"We need to get out of here!" He hissed as he hastily picked her up. He ran up the girl's dorm stairs and into the Common Room, putting her down on the nearest sofa. He hurriedly grabbed a blanket and pulled it over her semi-nude body and rushed a kiss to her cheek.
"I'll be right back!" He cried over his shoulder as he disappeared back down the stairs.
The girl's dorm had begun to flood.
The painful tinkling of shards of glass popping out of place worried Snape and Draco and the rest of the Slytherin girls fled to higher ground. They didn't even stop to sneer as they ran past Marilyn and up eventually to the Great Hall. With every new spell that Malfoy and Snape flew at the glass, it grew worse and worse. The murky lake water was starting to rise higher and higher. The tide mark had reached their knees by the time Dumbledore and McGonagall arrived.
"Mr Malfoy! What are you doing in the Girls Dormitory!?" She questioned incredulously; she had put the anti-boy spells on the dorm herself many years ago.
"Not now Minerva!" Dumbledore implored. He waved his wand at the water and made it vanish before even more poured into the even bigger holes in the window.
"I'm sorry Headmaster but you're making it worse!" Draco pointed out waving his wand at the glass furiously, "Repairo! Repairo!"
What the teachers and her lover didn't know was that the water had been magically charged. It heard her. It heard her screams for help. 'Such silly girls…' Marilyn thought, 'they should have known better not to threaten me next to such a large body of water.' She stood up from the sofa, casually redoing her bra. Marilyn heard the water gush further and further in, trying to reach her – trying to soothe her – trying to help!
She swiftly transformed her blanket into a robe for coverage and walked determinedly to the dorm. The tide had reached the top of the last step and no one noticed her enter apart from the water. It rushed up to greet her, spiralling up her legs and reaching her fingertips. As she walked into the centre of the room Draco panicked and tried to grab her arm. Dumbledore held him back.
"Let her boy. Observe. Minerva – Severus, lower your wands." He ordered in a hushed voice. When Marilyn turned to look at him her eyes and hair had gone ghostly white as if possessed. She smiled serenely at her headmaster and then at Draco who fought against Severus' and Albus' grip to reach her.
"Marilyn! What are you doing?! Get away from there! You'll drown!"
"Oh my silly boy… my lovely silly boy. Don't you know? He, he – Water is my patronus…"
He watched in utter confusion as the inky dirty liquid around Marilyn suddenly turned crystal clear and pure as it surged upwards around her.
"The shattered glass is not your problem Professors, it is the water. It heard me. It only wants to know me…" She purred. They saw how no more water entered through the cracks, even starting to flow backwards back into the Lake.
With her arms outstretched she wandlessly raised the water up including herself, hovering above the ground. The water flew and flowed into a bubble all around her, sealing her off until all they could see was a glassy liquid orb beginning to fill with white light. The remaining droplets in the room gravitated towards her, leaving everyone and everything dry. Like a black hole, all of it collapsed inwards into Marilyn, for a second turning her body into vapour and tears and then vanished. The bright white light exploded from her heart outwards and blinded all who saw. When their hands had lowered from their blinking eyes not a soul could be seen.
"Marilyn!" Draco screamed, "Where is she?!"
"I-I-I don't know." Dumbledore stammered dumbfounded. He had never seen a spell like it.
"How can you not know?!" He snapped.
"Draco! Hold your tongue!" Snape snapped.
"No! No! Where is she?! Please sir, tell me!" He cried. 'My Gray – my darling Gray – she's dead! I'll kill that Parkinson if it's the last thing I do!'
"Draco, I just don't know… maybe she has gone to heal herself…That was powerful magic – water magic only she could understand." Dumbledore said wisely and impressed.
"McGonagall please!" He cried on the brink of hysterics, "Your opinion!"
Professor McGonagall despite all her Gryffindor instincts took the shattered boy into a motherly embrace; "I don't know either…it looked like some form of total body transfiguration… she may have turned into water for all we know. I'm sorry Mr. Malfoy I truly am…We just have to hope she comes back to us."
"And if she doesn't?" He whimpered crying.
"Assume the worst." Snape said plainly staring at the space she had occupied. He walked over to the windows and every shard and splinter was in place, perfectly bonded as if the drama which had unfolded had never existed.
Dumbledore cleared his throat, "There will be an investigation and a school wide search in the morning Draco to find her – I assure you we will find her. She is not dead; merely wandering between worlds. Please, I think it's best you went to sleep Mr. Malfoy."
The boy nodded silently but made a move towards his lady's bed. Before anyone could stop him he took hold of her night dress and wordlessly draped it over his arm before clasping it to his heart. Minerva made a pleading face to Albus and he sighed. "He can't be in this room any longer…" He whispered to her.
"Draco, you can't stay here." Severus stated.
"Please." He spoke seething yet soft. Desperation.
"I'm sorry Draco but you mustn't. Fawning over the site of her disappearance won't bring her back my boy." Albus explained gravely.
"May I sleep in the Common Room sir?" He asked looking up at them.
The Headmaster nodded understandingly, closing his eyes and as Draco re-joined them he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Malfoy's eyes began to water when he saw the sofa he had laid her on and as the dorm door locked behind him he refused to let his tears fall.
"Goodnight Headmaster, McGonagall, Snape."
