The castle was warm and buzzing with students heading to dinner. The familiar twinkling of candlelight was inviting after spending another night at the manor. Popular ghosts were flitting towards the Great Hall to interact with the young inhabitants. I had no appetite after everything I had already been through that weekend so I made a beeline for the dungeon dorms, pushing against emerging green robes. My cheek was still scarlet from the wand cut but gradually the crest burn had returned to it's normal aching.
I was reminded by passing conversations that it was Saturday. The common room would be active that night, making it difficult for me to hide in my bedroom peacefully. I whispered the password at the wall, watching it move aside with lifeless eyes.
My predictions were correct, there was already music playing and clusters of conversations happening. Some people had drinks in their hands which brought back memories of a night that had changed my life forever. Warrington, Blaise and Montague stood by the fireplace. I noticed that Warrington had a neck brace on and Montague's face was still changing colors from bruising. Blaise raised an eyebrow sharply as I entered and they all turned to glare at me. A vague clip of their conversation floated into my earshot as I passed by with my head down, "...just look at her face...probably beating her senseless..." then cruel laughing.
I swallowed the mortification and went straight upstairs to change. The space was dimly lit and I felt relief that I could escape from reality and hide in my own bed. It was only dinner time yet I was carelessly under the covers, drifting away.
My dreams were splattered with images of the haggish woman's face. I was back in the woods and it was late in the evening. No trail could be found this time, and I wandered aimlessly between the trees. It was colder than before and I was bleakly aware that the sun would set soon. My steps were sluggish, like the air was the same thickness as water. Movement to my left drew my eyes and there she was. Peering out from behind a tree with that maniacal expression and evil grin, showing only half of her gaunt face. I made to run but my legs wouldn't move just as they had in real life.
I cried out and the scream reverberated throughout the landscape like an echo. She was running at me now, but the world was stretching making it look like we were growing farther apart.
"Madeleine," This voice also echoed, and I twirled around with my bright blond hair swimming through the air. Draco stood on the other side of me, meters away. His hand was outstretched towards me. It was hard to make him out through the falling snow. It was night suddenly, and everything was hard to see. I reached towards his hand but the vortex from behind me stretched, pulling me from him. My arm was bent desperately towards him but the world was swallowing me backwards towards the running woman. She had almost reached me, laughing hysterical echoes around us, somehow fighting against the pull of the air. When I looked back to Draco with desperation in my eyes, his face was concealed in the Death Eater mask, the smoke from the edges of the mirage billowing towards me. The smoke seemed to grow from the mask getting thicker and enshrouding me. I screamed into the smog as a snake like skull emerged and opened it's jaws as though to swallow me whole.
"Madeleine! Mad! Wake up you blithering idiot," Hilda was on the edge of my bed shaking me hard. Her face was stricken with worry. I sat up feeling clammy and frightened, long strands of hair were plastered to my forehead.
"You were screaming. Everyone could hear you from the common room, was it just a nightmare?" She asked while rubbing my shoulder. The kindness in her voice made me reach across and hug her tightly.
"Yes, a nightmare. A terrible one." I said into her hair.
"Well, you're really sweaty," She said pushing me back carefully while trying to hide the obvious disgust at the contact, "Are you going to be alright? What are you even doing hiding up here on a Saturday night?" I took in her shiny silver dress and makeup. She had been downstairs socializing like a normal young woman. On the contrary, I was in a pale green night dress with a bow at the neck. Compared to her I looked like I belonged in an old age home. I hadn't seen her since the ball, and we hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye that night. "Your boyfriend is downstairs asking about you," she said making a cheeky grin, "Should I tell him you were murdered in your sleep?"
"E's not my boyfriend," I defended, pushing the covers off of me, "But please tell 'im dat."
She rolled her eyes, "I think he has a different idea. Fucking prat he is, going around bragging about your engagement. He's piss drunk right now it's quite a show." Hilda twirled around some of my long strands of hair while raising a questioning eyebrow, "And you, where did you two go trotting off to last night? My parents had me riding all the way back to Hogwarts alone in my own carriage."
I sighed and buried my face in my hands. This was the moment that I had to compose myself, as Draco had simply put. It was torture to lie to Hilda about the second half of the ball that she had missed, and to not have her support, but her life as well as mine was at risk. Many people's lives were at risk if I wasn't careful about how I approached dealing with the Death Eater information.
I grasped at straws, willing my lying ability to get me through the conversation, "We were tired, went to bed," I slapped her knee playfully when she made a suggestive face, "Not like dat! I can 'ardly stand 'im."
She looked amused, "Hmmm, handsome and brooding not your type, huh?" She was giving me an odd look like she knew more than she was letting on but I ignored it.
"Are you coming down, Frenchness?" She asked as she stood and grabbed a goblet I hadn't noticed on the floor by my bed.
I shook my head, "Non, I am going to go wander in de green'ouses. I like it dere." I needed some familiar calm and being amongst plants was a rehabilitating experience for me. Herbology ran in my family for a reason.
She shrugged and left. I pulled off my night gown and dressed into light grey tights and a long dark blue shirt that looked more like a tunic from how far it hung down. I pulled on white dress slippers and shook my hair out, performing a cleansing spell. The nightmares had disturbed me enough that there was no chance I would go back to sleep any time soon.
I grabbed my grey satchel with my plant supplies and opened the doorway to the stairwell, instantly blasted by the sound of loud party music and the scent of alcohol. For once I wasn't in the mood and felt odd as I approached the main room, knowing that those who were not in favor of me would likely be more bold in their confrontations.
I kept my head down trying to snake along the outer wall around dozens of bodies. The room was smoky which was strictly forbidden and I wondered if Snape would catch people in the act. The floor felt sticky and questionable, and I fought not to lose my slippers more than once. Halfway across the room I was ripped back by my arm and felt my eyes roll in annoyance knowing exactly who it was. "Malfoy!" I snarled, stomping my foot as he let go of my arm.
He had on a white t-shirt and a black jacket, with black joggers, looking as fresh as ever. Except his eyes gave away that he was drunk as they glistened down at me. His expression was troubled, "You alright? Why were you screaming?" He leaned on the wall next to me and jammed his hands in his pockets, tilting his gaze at me.
Because you and your scary family give me nightmares I felt like blurting out. "Just nightmares, I am alright." I settled for admitting a half-truth.
He suddenly furrowed his brows together and reached a hand out to touch my cheek where the wand burn was still pink, "Bella, she did this to you?" He asked with a punishing glint in his pale eyes, his finger tips trailing over the fragile skin.
I pulled my face away from the embrace, "Yes. She did. She's your Aunt?" I didn't bother trying to mask any distaste on my features. I watched as he shuffled and analyzed the stone pillars in the room as though it was his first visit to the space.
"She is my aunt. How do you know that?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Oh you know how friendly she is. Told me all about 'erself," I waited patiently, but he just stared down at me. It was eerie between us for a few moments as neither of us moved, just looked at each other.
Finally he spoke, "I shouldn't have left you alone. She took an interest in you last night. It was a mistake that I won't make aga-" Suddenly he was knocked into from behind and I had to take several steps back to avoid a collision with his t-shirt. Marcus Flint and Graham Montague had drunkenly decided to intrude on our conversation and I felt my heart sinking with fear in their presence.
"Malfoy!" Flint was spilling something from a goblet as he nudged Draco's ribs aggressively, "Why don't we finish our conversation from earlier?" He was leering between me and Draco with anticipation and shivers of dread went down my spine.
Draco looked livid and stony as he stepped away from the spilling radius, the line between his eyebrows forming the familiar long crevice, "Find your manners, Flint. Did I invite you to interrupt my private affairs?"
Blaise had drifted up behind the first two boys, his eyes landing like bullets on me. He was standing with a straight spine and a calm composure, clearly not drinking with the rest of the crowd. "Not very private I'd say, from the details you were disclosing earlier." He moved his gaze back from Draco onto me in a way that made my skin crawl. My stomach started to fill with anxious butterflies, what details?
Montague chuckled darkly in my direction, "Aw, just look at her! Does she even know, Malfoy?"
Draco looked sick. Before I had decided if I really wanted to know I blurted, "Know what?"
The boys stole devious glances at each other as if asking who was going to say it. Blaise laughed and shook his head premonitorily. Flint started making suggestive moaning noises when Montague replied, "...you know, details..." He was cut off by Draco's wand at his throat.
"Enough!" He thundered and I saw Montague flinch. He was still covered in painful reminders from their last fight and I wondered to myself why on earth he would start another fight with Draco barely a week later. Some students in the vicinity wisely made space with the group and watched from the rims of their drinks.
The realization was now dawning on me what they were implying. I shot Draco a painful, questioning look and he swallowed noticeably. Had he told them details about having sex with me? I searched his eyes, gently shaking my head in disbelief, seeing the regret laced in his, "Why... why would-" My stammers were cut off as a large slop of ectoplasm that had been lodged to the arched ceilings since Halloween detached itself. It hurtled as a singular, gooey blob landing directly on Draco, Montague and partially on Blaise.
The glowing slime slowly rolled down their bodies as if digesting them. It dripped in putrid gobs from their hair and clothing while other students erupted in giggles. "Fuck!" Draco cursed, shaking his hand off and looking down his assaulted body.
I decided it was a perfect moment to leave for the greenhouses before I cried in a public space. My heart was fluttering from humiliation as I jumped up the dungeon stairs skipping as many as I could.
Stepping through a small archway, I emerged into the brilliant glass and stone green houses. The air was musky, damp, and the pungent notes of soil and water floated in the atmosphere. Dripping sounds feigned white noise in the background, and even though it was past dark, the glass ceilings had a dull green hue to them making the space seem brighter. Several arched glass buildings were conjoined by central doorways, each housing unique species of magical and herbal plants.
I ran my fingers along the metal tables as I passed by beautiful red flowers which leaned invitingly towards me, giving off small squeaks. I breathed in deeply trying to find my center, trying to find peace against the building rage in my chest.
How could he do such a thing? What had he told them? It seemed so irrational to let any details slip of our intimate moments, especially after the Quidditch pitch incident. The men of Slytherin house were dogs, not a question about it. Why would he ignite a flame, encouraging them by giving them something to picture?
I paused at a cluster of potted flowering plants; signature black stems and white vivid flowers. They were swaying gently as if sleep walking in their potted beds. Moly I noted in my head, drifting my fingertips up the gentle, arching black spines. Used to counteract powerful enchantments. Excellent also for uses in potions. The flowers invited the contact openly leaning against my palms.
The greenhouses at night were unfortunately forbidden, but I had been there the year before under the same circumstances. Not yet caught, I was now feeling overtly assured that I was able to come and go as I pleased so long as to not cause any trouble. At night, tiny glowing spores tended to blossom into the air and float up to the ceiling like miniature stars. The walls were covered in vines, the air was warmer than the dungeons by a long shot. I was in a microcosmic heaven.
Except this time my anger was catching in my throat - an uncharacteristic mood to be in while visiting the greenhouses. I clenched at my fists and swallowed hard, feeling overwhelmed by the Malfoy prison I was invisibly trapped in. A tear slipped down my cheek and I furiously swatted it away as if the plants might pass judgement on my reaction.
"Curse de day you were born!" I yelled as Draco's eyes swam in my vision, and kicked at an innocent bucket nearby. He was so sadistic, so manipulative, when he cried was it even real or just a part of his games? Was he a psychopath?
I shook with fury. I could feel the heat in my body swelling to a dangerous temperature and some leafy plants nearby began to lean away from me.
I screamed then, uncontrollably loud. It was a miracle that the glass walls didn't cave in from the vibrations. The need to expunge the secrets and the pressure from within had finally roiled to the surface. I felt flames ignite - literally, and looked down in shock. My fingers had small blue flames dancing along the tips and swirling in the palms of my hands. My shirt sleeves were smoking. The flame wasn't burning my skin though, just hovering almost orb like in my hands, and I found myself dropping to my knees transfixed by the wandless magic I had just conjured.
And just like that, as though it were tied to my emotions, it disappeared as my mind was distracted and no longer angry. I sat there in the pale light of the green house in shock on my knees. The dripping noises were the only sounds echoing around the glass rooms.