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CHAPTER FIVE: BURNING GUILT
"You look cheerful."
I sighed irately at my brother as he sat down next to me at our small circular table. He was eyeing me cautiously and in his expression I could tell he was wondering what was wrong. I hadn't exactly been chatty after my detention with Potter two nights ago and I hadn't been making an effort to see my brother which he'd noticed.
Yesterday he'd asked me why I'd been avoiding him to which I replied to with only a steely glare. He hadn't pushed the subject then but I could tell his patience was growing thin; most likely he just wanted to make sure I was okay.
Which I wasn't; I was far too irritated with myself and certain people-particularly green eyed people-to be considered okay.
I could feel my irritation growing with each passing second as I sat there in our Divination classroom. The other students were rolling in and I could feel my pulse racing with anxiety. My body was tense and my muscles were strained; it seemed like I hadn't been relaxed in a bloody long time and the aching in my body was shouting at me as a result.
Draco looked concernedly at me and raised a questioning eyebrow which I promptly ignored. Trelawney hadn't yet made an appearance in the class which was good; I wasn't in the mood for her.
In fact, I wasn't in the mood for anything.
I hadn't slept much the past two nights due to the fact that my mind had been replaying the events of Potter's stupid actions over and over again. I simply couldn't comprehend why he'd want to help me.
We hated each other; you didn't help someone you hated, simple as that.
I was surprised that the thought had even crossed his mind at all to come to my aid considering I had left him high and dry at the mercy of Snape after the fiasco with the Weasley's little snogging trinket. More importantly he had nothing to gain from helping me as far as I could tell.
And, you know, there's that fact that we Hate. Each. Other.
I thought bitterly and almost groaned aloud when I saw the object of my agonizing thoughts saunter into the room with his Mudblood and Blood-traitor friends by his side, as usual. His eyes sought mine immediately but I didn't give him the time of day as I quickly looked away-though one glance had been enough for me to see just how stupidly green his eyes were. I could only hope my expression was as stony as I thought it was.
"What's wrong with you?" Draco sneered at me, taking my foul attitude personally as I knew he would.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head at him; there was no way I was going to tell him what had happened. I wouldn't even know where to begin.
I certainly couldn't tell him Umbridge had used Veritaserum on Potter and I. Draco would have a very hard time keeping his outrage to himself if I told him that. I could only imagine the uproar that would start with him and then spread to Snape and then surely to the entire school. Umbridge would have my head if either Potter or I let slip what she'd done. It wasn't something I could share, not ever.
I also couldn't tell him that Potter had defended and helped keep my secrets to myself by semi-lying for me; mainly because they were secrets Draco and I both knew were definitely better kept to myself. Of course, as my mind had figured out last night in the early hours of the morn, Potter must've truly believed that I thought he was lying about the Dark Lord; otherwise he wouldn't have been able to tell it to the toad.
"Nothing," I answered my brother's question, my voice cold.
I felt my nostrils flare with my growing tension and I wanted to immediately storm out of the room as soon as I saw Potter walk by me out of my peripheral vision. I pretended not to hear him and his little trio sit directly behind Draco and I.
Now why did he have to do that? What was the reason he had to feel the need to sit behind me? Did he know that I was already battling internal demons in my head of how upset-not to mention how confused-I was that he had helped me? Did he plan on using his heroics toward me as a torture tactic?
Ugh, I need a Moonstone to ease this headache.
I clenched my jaw at the searing pain in my head and vaguely saw my brother sneer at Potter behind us. His grey eyes were solid as he scoffed at him.
"You just can't get enough of my sister, eh Potter? Though she's certainly had enough of you," He said as nastily as he could.
I didn't turn my head nor did I bother to stop Draco from speaking. I didn't have the energy to try and pry my brother's harsh tones away from the Lions that sat behind us. And more to the point-I didn't want to have to turn around and see Potter's infuriatingly green eyes looking at me the way he had the last time I'd actually seen him.
He had looked at me like I was someone that needed saving; a damsel.
I wasn't a damsel. And he was a stupid git for thinking so.
I admit, I was extremely appreciative that he had helped me avoid that chaos that would've ensued if I had been forced to tell Umbridge that yes, I did believe the Dark Lord had returned, but it wasn't like I had asked for his help so I certainly wasn't going to thank him for it.
If he was looking for thankfulness, he was asking the wrong person.
Potter hadn't responded to my brother's remark-which surprised me-and Draco had turned around in his seat to face Trelawney as she made her entrance. I spotted Greengrass quickly running into the room with her sandy colored hair flowing wildly behind her. She paused, glancing around the room and hesitantly looked at me before sitting down as it was the only seat available.
Theodore had sat next to Zabini at Blaise's request due to the fact that he hadn't done his Potions essay and was now trying to summarize Theodore's words and make them his own.
I felt a little sad he hadn't been next to me in my irritated state-his presence was usually a good way to ensure I would cheer up-but then again this mood I was in ran very deep and I wasn't sure he wanted to be around me to endure it. I looked sadly at him from across the room and he gave me a similar look.
It seemed that poor Greengrass would have to suffer the class with me then.
"Good morning class-," Trelawney started in her usually mystical voice that I'd grown to loath over the years. "Did everyone have a good weekend?"
No one responded to her. She smiled slightly at the silence and sighed as if delighted.
"Right, well as you can all see-," She chuckled at the use of her word "See". "We will be using our Orbs today children, isn't that exciting!"
Again, no one responded but she beamed anyway, her eyes widening in excitement behind her huge glasses making her seem even more animated than she already was.
She loved the Orbs almost as much as she loved her tea leaves.
At the thought of tea leaves I shuttered, remembering the last tea leaves that I'd encountered. Obviously Trelawney's weren't as sinister as the previous ones but it still made my skin crawl to think about being near any. I was suddenly grateful to her for making us focus on the Orbs today.
She then went on about how for today's lesson we would be trying to center our table mates' energy onto the ball with physical contact while one of us stared into the foggy Orb-where almost one hundred percent of the time nothing but fog was visible-and tried to see anything that might seem interesting in said table mate's future.
A complete waste of time, if you asked me.
"Now I suggest starting with the person who seems to have the most negative energy at your tables, please, for its far easier to see negatives energy than to pry through the Orbs to find something light. Negative energies are strong and dark and have a stronger need to be heard." Trelawney droned on, her vocal chords reaching high and low frequencies as her tones changed to make her sound even more mysterious.
I looked at my brother, who was still looking at me like he expected me to share with him what was wrong, and Greegrass who looked more nervous than Theodore had been when I had asked him to attend the Yule Ball with me last year. I rolled my eyes at them; it was clear today who had the most negative energy so I hastily placed my hand onto the cold Orb, giving them both annoyed glances.
"Who wants to read me today, huh?" I asked haughtily.
Draco took on the task and flipped open his book to chapter four, as was instructed by our professor.
"It shouldn't be hard to see what's negatively affecting you in your future today little sister, your practice with Montague is today," He said and his face hardened at his own words.
I groaned aloud this time and placed my head in my free hand trying desperately to ignore the fact that soon, in nearly seven hours I'd be alone with Montague on the quidditch pitch.
I had no doubt in my mind that he'd take this opportunity to try and secretly use a love potion on me but I'd certainly had my fill of being slipped potions without my consent for a while so if he tried anything, anything at all, he was going to regret he'd ever even thought about it.
"You'll be okay Cecily. We won't let him do anything to you," Greengrass' soft voice spoke to me and her face, flushed with nerves, seemed determined to get this message across to me.
I raised an eyebrow at her and she looked down to her lap quickly.
"The bloody hell does that mean? Who is "we"?"
She glanced up from her lap toward my brother and gave him a soft nod, he returned the favor and grinned at my expression. Apparently my irritation was humorous to him.
"Oh no-," I groaned again and glared at my brother. "You got Greegrass in on your little plan against Montague?!" I whispered, as to not draw attention.
I hoped I let enough venom slip into my tone as I spoke to my brother but he seemed completely unbothered by it, shaking off my tone as I usually did to him. Another trait we shared as Malfoy's-we could thank our father for that.
Draco pretended to look deeply into the foggy white Orb while Trelawney made her rounds near our table. He answered me almost cheerily.
"You're going to have a wonderful time on the field today, Cessy, I can see that for sure," He said and eyed our Divination professor.
"Good job Mister Malfoy! Even as Miss Malfoy's bitterness seeps through her and into the air around us you've still managed to see something positive in the midst of it-fifteen points to Slytherin! For being the first house to accomplish the task."
Professor Trelawney looked adoringly at my brother while I sat there slightly offended that she had said I was bitter. I mean I was, but that didn't mean I wanted her to announce it to everyone. She continued to smile at my brother admiringly and he grinned at her obvious adoration of him; she'd always had a soft spot for him when she'd told him in our Third Year that she had been the Seer that told our mother that she was going to have a son who would "do very incredibly great things". He never let me forget it.
Though she somehow failed to predict that I would be joining him in the world only seven minutes after his birth, but "details, details, darling" as she would say.
"Thank you, Professor. It seems my sister is going to have an-," He paused, thinking of the right word. "An inspiringly good ending to her day," He said and smirked at me while I glared at him.
Trelawney nodded and hummed in approval at his response; she continued to move along after that.
Her attention had been caught behind us where I could feel a certain someone's eyes on me which was making my already tense body even more stressed.
Stupid git.
My mind was screaming at me not to turn around but my impulse was too strong. I spun around in my chair and saw, disappointingly, that Potter was looking at me indeed with the same exact expression he'd had on when we'd left Umbridge's office. I snarled at him immediately, ignoring the dark flush on my cheeks at my anger, and turned back around to face my brother. My hand gripped the Orb dangerously; if I wasn't careful I was sure I was going to break the damn thing.
I am not a damsel!
Why did he have to single me out in all of the students in this entire room? Well, of course I knew the answer, it was a stupid question to even ask myself.
He was paying me all of this attention because he was the hero and he hadn't yet gotten to give his hero speech to me yet. Ugh; even the thought of enduring that was nauseating.
Potter's hero instincts were simply that; instincts.
He saw someone he believed needed his help and whether or not they asked for it didn't matter because he was going to give it to them anyway.
It was part of the reason I despised him so much during our earlier years at Hogwarts. He had needed to be the savior to everyone he'd met and I had thought it was because he wanted to keep himself in the spotlight which had just fueled my hatred toward him. There was nothing worse than a pompous celebrity. Everyone had their place and Potter was no more special than anyone else in my eyes but of course he'd always gotten that special treatment from everyone because of his name. There were countless times when I wanted to hex him just for existing-I was a violent little girl at age eleven.
However, because of his recent actions towards me I was beginning to believe it was just who he was.
It wasn't because he wanted fame-although most of the time I still believed he loved every second of it-and it wasn't because he wanted people to notice him-he rather seemed to hate having too much attention on him I'd noticed-but simply it was just who he was as a person and he couldn't help it.
And that was even more infuriating; how could I despise someone who just wanted to help people?
Easily, all they have to do is have a lightning bolt scar and green eyes to go with it.
At least that's what I kept telling myself.
"Cessy, you're going to break it." My brother's voice brought me out of my own head and I looked at the Orb in my white knuckled hands. I let go of it hastily.
"Maybe you should have a go at it, then," I said with ice in my voice.
Draco rolled his eyes and put his hand on the Orb instead. I looked at Greengrass to see if she was going to be taking on the task of reading him but she didn't move her eyes from her lap so I stared into the fog, expecting to see nothing as usual.
"I don't think you're focusing enough of your negative energy," I muttered and he let a chuckle slip past his lips.
"Why don't you try sharing some of your bitterness, then?" He asked, amusement in his tone.
"Oh, shove off-," I reached for his hand to push his hand off of the Orb and without any warning a shot of ice shot down my spine, chilling my entire body, as my hand made contact with his on the foggy crystal ball.
Suddenly it was like I wasn't sitting in my Divination class but rather as if I was in one of my dreams.
There was loud voice shouting around me but I couldn't make out anything they were saying; it almost sounded like they were in a different room than myself. I could tell it was a man and woman though by the change in pitch as they argued. A flash of light passed my vision and in that flash I saw a bright crescent moon blinding me against the darkness. There was another much clearer voice that shouted out to me and I recognized this voice; it was the clear proud tone of my brother. He was calling my name and he sounded agonizingly distraught and I wanted nothing more than to reach out to him and comfort him; he sounded so very sad. But I couldn't see him against the light of the moon, I didn't even know where he was and then there was another flash. This time instead of a moon I saw with an eerie chill what could only be the Dark Mark looming over a very tall building with pointed towers. It was too dark for me to recognize the building fully but a part of me had a feeling it was Hogwarts.
Another flash of light with a colder shot of ice hit my body and finally I was back in my seat next to my brother who was breathing heavily as he looked at me. He was gripping my shoulders tightly in his hands and I looked to see Daphne next to us with wide worried eyes and the Orb in her hands, off of the table.
"The bloody hell was that?" I breathed, feeling my own lungs struggle to maintain an even breathing pattern.
Draco shook his head at me; he had no answer. He let go of my shoulders and a hard expression crossed his face as he tried to figure out what had just happened.
Clearly he had seen what I had seen, or maybe he'd seen something different, but he'd seen something and it was because we had touched the Orb at the same time. Thankfully Professor Trelawney had been too occupied with Pavarti Patil and Lavender Brown-two Gryffindor bints-to notice our little episode.
I felt my pulse racing in my veins and I tried to take deep breaths to calm down but I couldn't find it in me. I wasn't sure what I had just seen, why I had seen it or why it had been when I touched the Orb at the same time Draco did that allowed us to see it in the first place.
"Are you two alright?"
The voice came from behind us and I looked at my brother while he snarled at who had spoken, his confusion temporarily forgotten as he took on a familiar foe.
It had been Granger, of all people, that had seen what happened besides Greengrass and of course with her being linked to Potter's side I could only assume she would have some of that silly hero complex that he bared so proudly.
Apparently it was contagious.
"Of course we're okay-," My brother's voice was dangerous. "Stay out of our business, Mudblood."
I gave him a harsh look and kicked him under the table.
"Stop that," I hissed.
He looked at me like I had just stunned him but I ignored his outraged look and continued to glare. It wasn't like I was against using the term Mudblood-because that's what she was, it's just how things were-but Draco had had trouble in the past with using it out loud and having students tell on him when they'd taken great offense. If I wasn't mistaken, I was positive using it on Granger had gotten him punched once; something I had been furious about and would never forget.
But with what had just happened with the two of us it wasn't exactly like I could afford to have him leave to get a lecture from one of our professors about language; I needed to talk to him about this. Now.
His foul language could wait until later.
"Say that word again, Malfoy, and I'll hex your arrogant blonde head off."
This came from Potter's Weasel who sat dutifully beside him. I turned around and glared at him.
"If anyone says anything else I'll turn you all into termites!" I seethed, eyeing Weasel in particular but giving the whole group, aside from Greengrass, an icy glare.
Weasel's face was reddened from anger but when he saw my deadly expression he didn't say another word. I looked to Granger who looked as though she was trying hard not to cry though she also looked simultaneously livid.
"Yes, we're fine, Granger. Thank you for asking."
I didn't believe her asking if we were alright had at all warranted my brother's vicious response to her and I saw that she had seen what happened to us and was a bit concerned. Granger wasn't my favorite person, but I hadn't really had a problem with her all that much so I figured addressing her concern would please her for the time being and perhaps it would keep her from running to a professor to tell them that my brother's foul mouth was acting up again.
As it was she beamed at me for thanking her, glassy eyes and red cheeks vanished. She nodded her head at me but didn't say anything else. Potter looked on the verge of speaking to me but with a brief glance at him-very brief, I didn't want to have to look into his gem like eyes for too long in fear of seeing that look he'd been giving me-I turned back around in my seat and ignored him. I swear I heard his annoyed sigh but I couldn't have been sure.
"Cessy, what the hell-?"
"Listen, I don't know what the hell just happened to us but I can't have you being charted off by a professor for yet another lecture on your language when we need to talk about this, okay? Leave it be," I snarled at him and he glared at me but kept his mouth shut.
It seemed he agreed with me enough to not say another word on the subject. I looked over at Greengrass and saw her rather pale face looking back and forth between the two of us worriedly; the Orb was still in her hands.
I shuttered and looked away from it almost feeling the shot of ice that had come from touching it.
As I had said…poor Greengrass certainly had to suffer through this horrid class with me.
I wasted no time after my classes were done for the day. I had told Draco not to discuss what had happened to us in Divination with anyone or even ourselves until we were in the safety of the Potions classroom. Snape wasn't occupying it at the moment which was good; we didn't need to have him worrying about yet another thing with us. So I had dragged him to the dungerons immediately after out last class.
"What even is there to talk about, Cessy?" Draco's tone seemed bored as I locked the door and charmed the room to ensure our conversation was private. Granger, Weasley, Potter and Greengrass were the only ones that had seen what had happened in our first class of the day and I didn't intend on letting anyone else in on it.
"What do you mean?!" I whirled around on him and felt my mouth gaping open at his obvious lack of interest. "There's plenty to talk about, brother!"
"Some sort of twin thing must've happened when we touched the Orb, I'm sure it's happened before. We're not the only twins in Hogwarts, you know." He shrugged, leaning back against Snape's desk with an expression of pure boredom.
"Are you kidding me? Draco, I'm positive we would've heard about something like this if it had happened to another set of twins…" I glared at him.
How could he be so calm about this? Did he know yet another thing that I was left in the dark with? Was he keeping secrets again?
He shrugged again and rolled his eyes at me.
"It's not that strange, Cessy. We're wizards-things like this happen."
"No-," I hissed. "They don't, Raco."
He looked at me with a somber and slightly sad expression after I had used the name I only used when I was being completely serious with him and I could tell he saw just how concerned I was about this. It wasn't that I was all that concerned-though I was-it was that he wasn't concerned enough.
What if what we had seen meant something terrible? What if it was some sort of omen? The muffled voices I had heard didn't sound as though they were having a particularly cheery conversation. Draco's agonized cry of my name didn't sound like he was enjoying a good game of quidditch. The Dark Mark over what presumably was our own bloody school certainly didn't mean anything pleasant for us.
But then…maybe he hadn't seen what I had.
"What did you see?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest, my voice involuntarily taking an accusatory tone.
I could tell my expression was pinched as I asked this. He raised an eyebrow at me in question.
"The same thing you saw, I'm guessing?" He asked.
"I saw a few things. What did you see in the vision?"
"Oh, it's a vision now?" He questioned and shook his head, shifting his weight around uncomfortably. He avoided looking at me but I could see his anxious expression.
I could tell he was on the verge of denying everything; as his twin I could easily tell that all of this was overwhelming him. He didn't quite understand everything which I'm sure was already bothering him enough. He hated not knowing things; not being in control of things. And I'm sure with his thoughts already having traces of darkness seeping into them-thanks to our horrid summer experience-a vision on top of things wasn't going to make it easy on him. It broke my heart to see him like that.
"Let's not pretend to say that's not what it is. It was a vision and we shared it in our heads when we touched the Orb," I said and saw his face pale at the realization. Apparently the seriousness of it had finally sunken into his thick skull.
"I don't want you to shut me out, Draco."
"I wasn't planning to," He said and glared, slightly offended. I returned the look.
"It's not like you've been sharing a lot of things with me this year, brother. We need to be on each other's side."
He rolled his eyes at me again and sighed.
"I'm always on your side, Cessy," He said quietly and I sighed with a slight smile tugging at the corner of my lips. "Whether or not you believe me is up to you, but it's true." He sighed again.
"Then we need to help each other through this-what did you see?" I asked.
He thought for a moment before answering me. His voice was shaking slightly.
"I heard voices arguing, I heard you shouting my name but I didn't see you, I saw a crescent moon, and also-," He paused and swallowed the lump that I was sure had grown in his throat. "The Dark Mark. It was over the castle."
"That's what I saw too-good. At least we don't have to worry about separate visions."
I looked at him and saw just how worried he was about that last part of our vision. I knew it was because of what he'd been thinking of-of what he'd be expected to do eventually. He, like me, had a hunch of what father's plans were for him.
It made me furious that he had such dark thoughts; a young boy shouldn't have to think of such things.
I sighed and moved from my spot on one of the desks. I found myself pacing a bit-there were too many thoughts running through my head and I needed to take a second to myself.
"What do you think it means?" He asked, his voice very quiet.
"I don't know. Honestly all I can think of is that there might be some sort of attack on the school or something…" I bit my lip as I thought of the other possibilities but the most plausible one that there must be some sort of invasion on the castle.
The Death Eaters must somehow get strong enough to regroup and be able to infiltrate the school. But how?
The school was probably the most protected place in all of the United Kingdom against the Dark Lord and his followers-Dumbledore would ensure that.
And another burning question: when was this vision going to happen?
The vision had given no indication as to the time frame of its events so it left me feeling utterly useless.
"Should we maybe tell someone? Like a professor?" I asked, thinking that maybe telling Snape wouldn't be such a bad idea afterall. This whole thing seemed to be way too dangerous for just my brother and I to take on by ourselves.
"No-," Draco scoffed. "They won't do anything helpful for us. We're on the wrong side, remember? Anything we tell them will inevitably get back to father and if he ever found out we had told something important to one of our teachers he'd-,"
"Yes-yes, I'm fully aware of what he'd do." I glared at him and shuttered at the memory of my father's terrifying voice hissing at me that if I stepped out of line once this year in any way he'd make sure I'd pay for it three times over.
"We don't want anything like this getting out, little sister." Draco's tone was warning me and I looked over at him to see a very similar expression to that of my father's on his own face. I frowned at the sight; I hated when Draco looked like him.
It gave me a very wrong feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"I won't say anything, then," I muttered, feeling very much like I was being spoken to like I was a child.
"Good. Meanwhile, let's not think on it for too long, okay? We have other things we can think about."
"Like my practice with Montague," I groaned and looked at the clock that was to the left of Snape's desk.
It was nearly that time-I'd have just enough time to eat dinner before heading down to the quidditch pitch.
"Like I said, don't you worry about that."
His serious expression had turned into one of mischief and I narrowed my eyes at him. I still hadn't bothered to try and figure out what he and Theodore, and apparently Greengrass, had been up to whilst preparing for my practice.
"You didn't do anything that will get me in trouble, did you?" I accused.
He placed a hand over his chest in false offense.
"Why dear sister, you underestimate me." He winked at me and I surprisingly managed to smile at him.
I couldn't remember the last time I genuinely smiled at something; my mind had been way too preoccupied to think of happy things.
"Theodore's really the one to thank for this, by the way." Draco said my friend's name like a nuisance. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh yeah? I'll be sure to thank him then."
"I think the bloke fancies you, to be honest," He said, even more annoyance seeping into his tone.
When we were younger Draco had taken his role as my big brother very seriously and had made sure to protect me from any and all things even slightly threatening. My father had always warned him about keeping his little sister safe from boys and making sure that I wasn't hurt. To this day Draco despised any boy that came near me with romantic intentions; apparently this included Theodore, who happened to be his friend as well.
"Most likely not," I said, hoping my tone didn't give away the fact that I was lying. "Theodore and I have always been and always will be just friends, dear brother. Don't you worry." I said, using his own words against him.
He looked annoyed still but didn't push the subject. He trusted Theodore and I could tell it was hard for him to have any sort of negative feelings toward him, even if it was at the expense of him having a slight crush on me.
"Well, we should get some food into you and then you can get to your practice."
Even with him throwing his reassurance of my safety against Montague at me I could see his face darken at the idea of me and that creep alone.
"I can handle my own, Draco, remember that," I said and went over to him, linking my arm in his.
We exited Snape's office together and he ushered me toward the Great Hall where my nervous stomach would hopefully be able to hold down some food.
"You look fantastic in that uniform, Malfoy"
I jumped in surprise at the voice and glared at Montague as he entered the girls' dressing area. I snarled at him as he approached-he was looking me up and down like I was a meal, which I did not appreciate one bit. I already had enough on my mind where my brother's and my vision was concerned, on top of Snape's concern for my birth mark, and also the constant nagging at the back of my mind telling me that Potter deserved an apology from me for my behavior.
I did not need to add Montague's disgusting fantasies to my list of things to worry about.
"This is the women's dressing room, Montague the least you could've done was asked if I was decent," I snapped at him.
He smirked and shrugged.
"Certainly wouldn't have been a problem with me if you weren't."
I rolled my eyes at his vile imagination and sighed, snatching my broom from where my school clothes were. He could be truly disgusting when he wanted to be and today was no exception. I eyed the water bottle that I had brought with me from the Great Hall and vaguely pushed it out of the sight of Montague.
If he was planning on drugging me it wouldn't be with my own source of hydration.
"Are we going to practice or are you just going to ogle me all night, Montague?" I asked and walked out of the tent toward the quidditch pitch.
He snickered behind me but followed nonetheless.
"Might as well do both," He said.
I scoffed in disgust. If he was going to keep this up the whole practice I was going to hex him with or without my brother's elaborate plan that I had yet to figure out.
Once we made it to the pitch I narrowed my eyes at him and raised a questioning eyebrow to him. His eyes were narrowed as well and he hastily snatched his broom from the side of the entrance to the pitch. He looked as confused as I was, though a lot more upset.
"I thought this was a private practice?"
He was sneering at the sight in front of us and I couldn't help but wonder if he knew just how unpleasant his face looked when he looked like that.
"It is," He snarled.
In the stands of the quidditch pitch sat a fair amount of students-usually about the same amount that would show up for normal tryouts. From the looks of the stands it was mainly just Gryffindor's that occupied the seats however there were a few Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's in the mix.
No Slytherin's.
I wasn't quite sure if this was what my brother and Theodore's and Greengrass' plan was but it certainly made me feel a little bit better that there would be a crowd to witness any of Montague's creepy advances. I doubted this was what they had been up to-they were Slytherin's after all and they were much sneakier than this. Not to mention the fact that Montague had clearly said that there was to be no one else allowed in the pitch.
Draco wasn't stupid enough to defy his rules straight out-especially when his Seeker position could be compromised in the process.
But that left me with even more questions: who else had heard that we were having a private tryout?
And as if my mind was answering its own question my eyes found a black head of hair in the stands, flanked by a redhead and a bushy haired brunette.
Potter's here? But why?
As I looked it seemed that most of the Gryffndor quidditch team was present, as well as some of Potter's other friends in their house.
This couldn't have been his plan, could it? No, that's ridiculous he has no reason to want to protect me from Montague…
Montague himself looked ready to explode from his anger. His ears and neck were very red and his dark eyes looked black with hatred.
"It's not like we can kick them all out-besides, don't you want to see how I play?" I asked.
He looked over at me, still livid, but he nodded once.
"Right, let's get to it then."
I mounted my broom as he did and then quick as a flash we were in the air. He had already set up the quaffle and bludgers-I didn't need to practice with the snitch, I wasn't trying out for Seeker. I could only imagine how mad my brother would be if I tried to steal his spot on the team.
The thought made me laugh.
Montague's tryout was relatively easy, if I was being honest.
A Chaser's position was probably the easier position on the team and I was very good at it. Montague pretended he was on an opposing team and would try and chase me with the quaffle under my arm. He could hardly keep up with me and-not to be boastful-but I could tell he was really putting in an effort. It made me giddy to see he was struggling to keep up. He switched to the Beater's position half way through my tryout and nearly hit me several times but I managed to dodge them with sharp, swift motions as Draco had taught me to during the summer. To my complete astonishment, I had even heard some polite claps from the stands. And finally he had changed to a Keeper's position to try and block me from scoring any points with the quaffle. He managed to save only one-which was mainly due to his stupidity-but overall I believed I had a good tryout.
My muscles were full of pent up energy and my chest was heaving-it was quite the workout.
Montague and I landed on the pitch I looked to the stands and my eyes found Potter again; he seemed to be watching us intently even out of the sky. I felt an annoying prick in the back of my mind again and shook my head of it, focusing back on Montague.
I wasn't going to bother myself with any of Potter's antics at the moment.
Montague was looking at me still like I was a meal to be devoured and I internally groaned. I couldn't have been the most attractive thing in the moment and yet he still had time to imagine repulsive scenarios in his head of us. It made me sick.
"You did great, Malfoy. You've definitely made the team. Try to work on scoring, though. We're trying to get as many points as we can," He winked at his innuendo and I shuttered.
"Sure, thanks Montague," I said, hoping my voice didn't let on that I was slightly repulsed by him. "I won't let the team down."
I was ecstatic that I had made the team but I would've rather celebrated when Montague wasn't around.
"I'm sure you won't. Shall I help you get out of those sweaty clothes now?" He suggested with a wink as we started to head back toward the dressing tents. I nearly gagged out loud.
Before I could even respond to his vile suggestion he shouted out in pain and dropped his broom in the process. I raised an eyebrow at him as he continued to shout profanities.
The hell was that…?
"You alright?" I asked, taking his broom off of the ground.
He paused and looked to the broom in my hand and then back at his now reddened hand.
"I-uh, yeah." He said, a very deep confusion in his tone.
I couldn't blame him; who the hell knew what had just happened. I gave him back his broom and we started back towards the tents. I had gone to the girl's and he had left to go to the boys. I quickly tore off my sweaty clothes and hurriedly put on my normal school uniform in fear of Montague deciding to barge in at any time. Just as I was about done I heard a blood curdling scream come from the boys dressing room and I hurried over there, wand in my hand and heart beating loudly in my ears.
"Montague!" I shouted and saw him groaning in pain on the ground.
Off to the side I saw what looked to be smoke coming from his broom and he was clutching his groin area for some reason.
"Montague, what happened?" I asked.
He was still moaning and wasn't able to give me a response. I was beyond confused and just as I was about to ask what had happened again I looked around to see if there was any explanation. To my utter horror, I looked upon the tent's side and saw that he had cast a charm on it that seemed to allowed him to see straight through into the girl's dressing room. Only I hadn't been able to see him looking at me on the other side; it had the effect of a two-way mirror. I gasped in horror.
"You bastard!" I snarled and drew my wand on him, shouting the first three jinxes that came to my mind.
I hadn't realized what I was saying until I saw him with some sort of oozing slime coming out of his orifices and I could tell he no longer had any use of his legs for they had gone limp-jelly legs jinx was very useful sometimes-and apparently I had thrown in a tongue tying jinx because his loud groans were now even more muffled. He looked positively horrid.
"Serves you right!"
I stormed out of the dressing room, my ears ringing from the humiliation and my fury because of it.
I wasn't sure what my brother had done to stop him from looking at me for too long but clearly he'd seen more than enough and that was the last straw. I could deal with vile language and crude remarks when it came to Montague but seeing me undressed without any type of permission and in the creepiest way he could manage was beyond disgusting. Those jinxes were child's play compared to what he had coming to him.
He would pay. For that I would be sure.
"I'll kill him! I swear, I will! How dare he, the fucking nerve, he has to peep on you like that?! He's a dead man, Cessy mark my words!"
"You can say that again, bg brither, I'm not going to elt him live the next time I see him," I snarled.
As soon as I had left Montague I had run right to my brother and Theodore and told them what had happened. They had told me that they had jinxed his broom so that any type of vile words spoken out loud would burn him. I explained to them that he had been watching me through the boys dressing room and must've said something aloud to himself with his broom in his hands or leaned against him or something because he was badly burned when I had run into to the room. I told them it must've been near his groin too because he had been clutching that area very harshly.
"Good! The foul git deserves to be burned in the bollocks!" Theodore was seething as well and it fueled my anger even more.
It was a rare occasion when something made Theodore even slightly upset and to see him this angry was upsetting; I hated seeing him like this.
"He's going to pay; I promise you that." My voice was as icy as ever.
I still couldn't believe it. He had actually had the nerve to peep on me through some charm that he'd cast. What a bastard! Did he know what someone with my reputation could do to someone like him?! Clearly not but I was positive he'd be finding out extremely soon. I didn't know what had become of Montague in the current moment but frankly I didn't care.
He could be suffering from my jinxes still and I would gladly rejoice at the thought of it.
"I'm so sorry, Cecily. I really didn't think he'd do anything like that. I am so, so sorry." Theodore looked at me with the same fierceness in his eyes that I had seen that day when he'd come to see me in my dorm after he had told me he wouldn't let anyone hurt me.
"It's not your fault, Theodore, there's nothing to apologize for," I muttered and crossed my arms over my chest.
Since returning to my dormitory I had thrown on the largest jumper and pajama pants I could find; subconsciously trying to hide any and all traces of curves or any aspects of my female body. I felt violated, betrayed and quite frankly I felT disgusting. Montague of all people had been the first to see me that way and it made me sick to my stomach. I wanted to punch something.
Jojo, my poor cat, was looking at me with a sad longing in her eyes. She could sense my uneasiness and I could tell she wanted nothing more than to make me feel better. She was curled up on my lap and was watching me like a hawk. I scooped her up into my arms and buried my face in her soft fur. She purred.
"I hate this; I hate that he saw me like that! Ugh!"
"Cessy, I'm so sorry," Draco said and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.
I looked at the two of them, so vastly different looking, but their expressions were the same. They held pity in their eyes and sorrow on their faces for me. I wanted to snap at them; I wasn't a damsel! Ugh!
But I knew it was just because they cared about me so I kept my mouth shut. Instead of reprimanding them I simply sighed and turned my table light off, signaling to both of them that I wanted to fall asleep and be alone with my thoughts.
"We'll let you get some sleep," My brother's tone was softer now; realizing I wanted to be alone.
Theodore gave my shoulder a hard squeeze before petting Jojo and bidding me a goodnight. Draco lingered for a moment longer before leaving as well. I didn't even want to look at Greegrass, who had been staring at me the whole time while Draco and Theodore were in the room so I simply rolled over onto my side and let Jojo curl up into me. Truth be told I was too overwhelmed with everything that had happened today. My mind could only take so much; I was just a girl after all.
I tried my best not to let any tears fall as I drifted off into peaceful darkness.
Author's Note: Poor Cecily! Montague's a real creep, isn't he? Any guesses as to why Harry and so many others were at their so called private try out? Any guesses as to how the hell Draco and Cecily managed to have a vision together? All questions will be answered along the way!
Hope you guys are enjoying the story! And again, thank you to The Cynical Prince for your very nice review!
~Alyssa~
