Chapter 11
"You came rather early," Marie noted, looking up from her endless stack of files on desk.
Draco chuckled, "Well, I simply couldn't contain my excitement over getting to spend my afternoon with sickly hippogriffs."
Marie let out a giggle, and smirked, "Well, you're in a pleasant mood."
Draco shrugged, placing his hands in his coat pockets, before he supposed, "I guess I am, but who couldn't be completely ecstatic in the company of an overbearing woman like yourself?"
He gave her a crooked smile, and she crossed her arms, "Remember, this is professional, as in, no more teasing me."
Draco stepped out the door of her office, but peeped his head back in and murmured, "It's not teasing, it's just facts."
Marie rolled her eyes and followed after him. "Marie, I want to let you know before we get here, well, you won't like what you see, and you need to know-" Draco started.
"What do you mean? The hippogriffs aren't dying! Sure, they're sick, but we're making progress. Signore Malfoy, don't be such a downer!"
"Actually, it's more complicated than-" He stopped speaking once his eyes fell on the vast field of sick hippogriffs, a hundred tents set up sporadically across the meadow. "That." He finished, biting his lip.
"This…it's so…horrible." Marie uttered, placing her hand over my mouth. Stretching out for miles, hippogriffs lay in pain, being treated by witches and wizards, who were trying their best to save them, but knew in their hearts they were just delaying the process. There was so many lifeless forms graying the otherwise lush pasture, piles of hippogriffs. Marie assumed were dead laid off in corners of the field. She saw one hippogriff attempting to walk, but it collapsed, and witnessed both of its wings snapping off from the impact. Marie faltered back, completely aghast from what just happened. A couple wizards ran over to it, patting its side, but the hippogriff's breathing was becoming slower and slower with each passing second.
"We have to do something! We can't just sit here and do nothing! Give it the medicine, we have medicine! We-" Marie screamed, attempted to run down to the dying hippogriff, but Draco grabbed her wrist, jerking Marie back.
"There's nothing we can do. They know it, the hippogriff knows it, and we know it, deep down. It's for the best, instead of letting it suffer anymore," Draco whispered, trying not to focus on the tears streaming down Marie's face.
"What do you mean 'it's for the best'? What are you talking about?"
"Marie, just look at me. Look at me. Deep breathes." Draco said in a hushed, soothing voice.
"What do you mean?" She cried again, attempting to turn back, but Draco grabbed her by the shoulders, and mumbled through gritted teeth.
"Just look at me." The tears down Marie's cheeks were becoming heavier, and with all her strength, she pushed herself out of his grip, hit the ground, and flipped onto her stomach, just in time to see a witch whisper a spell into the hippogriff's ear, causing its breathing to stop instantly.
Marie gasped, sobs ravaging her body, "We're…we're killing them?"
Draco looked at her with the utmost sympathy and attempted to rationalize, "They were going to die anyway, we couldn't-"
"You said they were recovering! That the death toll was almost nothing!"
"It was! There was a lull in deaths, and the hippogriffs seemed to be in remission, but then two days ago, they all started to deteriorate more rapidly, and the doctors, well, we discovered this sickness comes in four stages. Showing symptoms, sickness, false remission, and then rapid decay. They were all hitting Stage Four so sudden, that we had to-"
"Kill them? We don't even know if they had a chance, and now we never will!" Marie shouted at him, being to hyperventilate.
"They wouldn't have a chance even if we let them live and they miraculously survived, because they would die in the wild without their wings!"
"Who authorized this? Who authorized this euthanization…this…genocide?"
"I did." Draco said blankly, deciding not the beat around the bush.
Marie's lip quivered, unsure of what to say. She knew, deep down inside, hidden away in her mind, it was probably the right thing to euthanize them, to put them out of their misery. But in her heart, she still had hope, and didn't want to believe they didn't have a chance. Instead of engaging in an argument, she just placed her head in her hands, and continued to softly cry.
"Hey now, please don't cry, it's alright. We're going to fix this, I promise. Let's go find you a place to sit and collect yourself," Draco reassured her, grabbing her by the hands and pulling her up.
"It's just, they'll never have a chance now." Marie murmured, gazing at the dead hippogriff as it was lifted and brought to one of the piles.
"I know, I know, come here," Draco hummed, pulling her close to him, as she let out one more choked cry.
Hugging him seemed to melt way all her sorrows, but she soon stepped back, brushing herself off and murmured, "Let's keep it professional."
"Oh I am, I'm making sure my partner will be productive by consoling her," Draco joked.
He advised her not to look down, or else it would sadden her worse, so she raised her head and followed him into one of the tents. It was gigantic on the inside, with a giant mattress wrapped in white linens in one corner, with a small stove and cooler in another. A small couch even fit inside, with enough room for them to walk around.
"Would you like something to drink?" Draco questioned, pulling a cooler out.
"Just water, grazie."
He threw her a water bottle and tried to lighten to mood by boasting, "Welcome to my very comfy, very nice abode."
"You slept here?"
"Some nights. It's a lot nicer than the Manor if I do say," Draco kidded around, jumping on his mattress.
Marie managed a smile, and kept the small talk ablaze by disagreeing, "I don't know, the Manor is quite exquisite, and if it was up to me, I would be there all the time."
"Oh, would you?" Draco asked mischievously, grinning widely.
Marie took a seat next to him on the mattress and rolled her eyes, groaning, "Not like that! I'm just saying that compared to my cramped apartment, the Manor is very liberating."
"Ah, I see. That is totally what you meant," Draco sneered, trying to get her to make that exasperated noise she always made when he frustrated her. It was somewhere between a growl and whimper. But, despite his attempts, the noise did not escape her mouth, and instead, a sad glaze glassed over her eyes, as she saw the horrors occurring outside the tent.
Draco jumped up, and closed the opening to the tent, turning back to her and exclaiming, "Hey! Let's go over strategies to fix this instead of mulling over how bad this situation is, okay?"
"You shouldn't close the tent, people will get suspicious," Marie reminded him, turning herself over to lay on her stomach.
"Accio notebook e pencil!" Out of some basket in the tent, a blank notebook and pencil flew into her hands, and she pulled her hair out of its ponytail, letting it fall in soft waves along her back and side. Draco couldn't help but stare at her for a few seconds, his eyes scanning over her long body taking up the length of the bed, and her big, brown, doe-eyes staring back up at him. He couldn't help the word "beautiful" from popping up in his head, but he immediately shot it out of his mind. She wasn't beautiful, she wasn't lovely, she was just another emotional woman who he was forced to work with. Enough, Draco. No more flirting around, he thought to himself. He felt his heart clench for a moment, and thought he was going to have an attack, when he took a deep breath, and cleared all his thoughts.
She was just his work partner, nothing more. "There's nothing to be suspicious of, if there is nothing between us, which there isn't," Draco mumbled, taking his spot next to her. Marie nodded slightly, not making eye contact with him, although he didn't want her to. After about two hours of going over hippogriff population, possible causes for the illness, and possible solutions, Draco took the notebook from Marie and threw it across the bed.
"What are you doing?" Marie grumbled.
"I think we've done enough today, and you're practically asleep now," Draco protested.
"I'm fine, just keep…going…" Marie moaned, before placing her head on the mattress, and her breathing slowed down to a mere inhale every now and then. Draco smiled slightly, and placed one of his blankets over her before gently prying himself off the bed. The sunset's light was filtering in through the tent, casting an orange hue on everything. He replaced his work shoes with loafers, and glanced at Marie before changing his suit top quickly into something more comfortable.
"I just need to go on a walk, clear my mind," He told himself, before sliding on a coat and walking outside. It was beginning to snow lightly, which was making all the witches and wizards throw protective spells all over the hippogriffs to protect them from the cold. But before Draco could walk more than ten feet, he was stopped by Edward O'Brien, a man he thought was more of an imbecile than Harry Potter.
"Ah, just the man I was looking for!" Edward declared, offering his hand for Draco to shake, but Draco didn't even look at the hand, so Edward awkwardly placed it back down at his side.
"Why would be looking for me of all people?"
"Well, I'm actually looking for Marie, but I figured you would know where she is."
"Marie? Why do you need Marie?"
"I'm taking her out on a date tonight, did she not tell you? That's why she can't stay late tonight."
"Oh, she, she didn't tell me that, no." Draco said flatly, trying to hide his frustration.
"Oh, well, now you know! Now, where is she?" Edward pressed further with his relentless questions.
"I'm not sure, but let me go check. If I find her, I'll have her meet you at your tent," Draco told him, articulating every word very carefully.
"Alright, sounds good pal!" Edward laughed, giving Draco a solid pat on the back. Draco bit his lip, gave him a nod, and disappeared into the tent. Just before he was about to wake up Marie, he stopped himself. There was an unidentifiable feeling inside him, one he had never really felt to its full extent. It was a deep anger, not with what was happening, but with what wasn't happening. He was…jealous? No, he couldn't be jealous, he didn't even like the stupid woman to begin with. Maybe he knew she deserved better than a bumbling oaf like Edward O'Brien. But, why did this matter? Marie was free to choose who she wanted to be with, and Draco was completely out of the question. Totally…or was he?
Yes, she doesn't like you, and more importantly, you're not interested in the likes of her, Draco thought to himself, trying to convince himself he didn't care. Eventually, after a lot of contemplating and soul-searching, he carefully shook Marie awake. She rubbed her eyes, and made a tiny squeaking noise as she stretched out her limbs.
"How long was I sleeping?" She asked sleepily, her eyes barely open.
"Not very long, probably about 15 or 20 minutes. But, uh, Edward is looking for you, since you guys have a date tonight. Or something, I don't know, that's just what I've heard," Draco stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh, that? It's not a date, just friendly."
"It's okay to say it's a date."
"But if it's not a date, then why would I call it a date?"
"Well, you don't have to feel like you have to call it something else around me."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Marie inquired aggressively, now standing up. Draco's mouth agape, he wasn't sure what to say, just a bunch of short noises escaping.
He finally found an excuse and answered, "I just know talking about dates and stuff can be awkward with a man, but I'm your work partner, so you don't have to feel awkward, since I have no opinion of these things."
Marie's glare softened, and her posture relaxed slightly as she replied, "Oh, well, either way, it's still not a date. I made that very clear to Edward. It'll just be nice to clear my mind of all these things today, and enjoy myself, so I indulged in his offer."
Draco managed to plaster on a smile and lifted up the cover of the opening to the tent. "Well, I hope you have a wonderful time, Ms. Benedetti. He's expecting you at his tent."
"Thank you, Signore Malfoy."
"Oh, and Ms. Benedetti?"
Draco called out before she walked away, "Can you stop by the Manor tomorrow, or are you still undecided?"
Marie pursed his lips then shouted two words back, "I will."
Hope you all enjoyed, don't forget to leave a review, have a lovely Thanksgiving!
-April