Chapter 17
An Inconvenient Truth
On Tuesday morning, Alaw came down to the Great Hall for breakfast without the invisibility cloak for the first time in weeks. She knew this was a little reckless, Theodore, Crabbe and Goyle weren't the only Voldemort supporters in the school after all. But Alaw was hoping that, for the time being, the others would be cowed into silence and wouldn't bother her just yet. Most people seemed to have put together that she had something to do with the incident, and as she passed the Slytherin table, many heads turned. Alaw met the stares without flinching. Most of the students turned away and started muttering amongst themselves. Others, like Flora, very deliberately carried on with their normal conversations. Draco was one of the few to hold her gaze. His face, as usual, was hard to read, but Alaw thought there was coldness in his eyes.
Alaw shook her head and moved on to the Gryffindor table where the reception was markedly different. The whispers and stolen glances were excited, even admiring, though a few still glared. Among them were Seamus, Parvati and Lavender, but Alaw ignored them and sat down with Hermione, Neville and the Weasleys. The twins were discussing some sort of prank they had planned for Umbridge.
"The door is no good, I checked last night, she's Imperturbed it," Fred was saying gravely as he helped himself to kippers.
"We could try the window," George suggested. "You know, levitate the little guy in."
"What are you talking about?" Alaw asked as she moved the Daily Prophet out of the way in search of the toast rack. Fred grinned wickedly.
"We just got ourselves a Niffler. They wreck houses, so we're going to put one in Umbridge's office so it can tear it apart."
"Low-tech, simple, I like it," said Alaw approvingly. Ron glowered darkly over his cup of tea.
"I still say you should use those Skiving Snackboxes of yours on her, after what she did to Al. Poison the bitch."
"Ron!" Hermione cried, looking shocked.
"I'm not saying kill her," said Ron, waving his teaspoon dismissively. "I'm just saying make her sick as a dog so she has to leave."
"As much as I like that plan, I don't see how we'd pull it off without getting caught, short of me putting on the cloak, sneaking up to the staff table and spiking her pumpkin juice. Even if she doesn't notice me, one of the others will."
Alaw glanced up at the teachers as she said this and then did a double take. Professor Flitwick was talking very seriously to Snape about something, Dumbledore was tucking into his scrambled eggs, Professors McGonagall and Sprout were both reading the paper, but Umbridge's chair was empty.
"Where's the old hag gone now?" George asked suspiciously.
"Probably planning her inspections," said Neville wisely and they all exchanged dark looks. No wonder some of the teachers were looking downright mutinous that morning. None of them would relish the idea of Umbridge breathing down their necks whilst they taught. They spent the rest of breakfast discussing plans to cause Umbridge as much misery as possible. Fred and George had some wonderfully evil ideas involving portable swamps and George was just explaining how they worked when he stopped talking abruptly. A shadow fell across the table and they all looked around to find Argus Filch, the caretaker, standing over them. He smiled spitefully.
"Professor Umbridge wants to see you in her office, Jones," he said. An unpleasant chill settled in Alaw's stomach and she shared a worried look with her friends.
"What does she want with her?" Ron asked boldly and Filch's watery eyes settled on him.
"That's not really any of your business is it, Weasley?"
Ron and Neville both stood up from the bench.
"We're going with her," said Neville, a determined set to his jaw. Filch's jowls quivered in indignation.
"Professor Umbridge said I was to fetch Jones, and only Jones.
Alaw sighed and wiped her mouth and hands on a napkin before getting up.
"It's alright. You lot have lessons to get to anyway."
She gave them all a reassuring nod before following Filch out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase. It looked like Umbridge had adopted Filch as her pet which bode ill for the Flames. Filch knew more school gossip than anyone and his knowledge of the castle's secret passages was rivaled only by the Weasley twins. As they approached Umbridge's office, Alaw's feeling of disquiet increased. She hadn't been near the place since she had stormed out of her detention at the beginning of term. Filch knocked and a sugary voice came from the other side.
"Come in."
As always, that voice made Alaw's skin crawl. Filch opened the door and ushered Alaw inside.
"The Jones girl for you ma'am," Filch simpered.
"Ah, thank you very much Argus. You may leave us now," said Umbridge. She was sitting behind her desk and as Filch closed the door behind him, she smiled sweetly at Alaw.
"Take a seat, Miss Jones."
Alaw dropped into the chair before the desk and her eyes swept the room. There was no sign of the blood quill.
"What would you like to drink, dear?" Umbridge asked and Alaw's attention snapped back to her.
"What?" she asked, nonplussed.
"A drink, dear. What would you like? I have tea, or coffee, or pumpkin juice perhaps?"
Alaw's mouth opened slightly as she had to hold back a laugh. The gall of this woman was unbelievable.
"I don't want a drink," Alaw said in as measured a tone as she could manage. Umbridge's eyes narrowed.
"Come now, you must have a drink."
"No, I don't think I do. I just had breakfast."
The atmosphere in the office became decidedly chillier and Umbridge shifted in her chair.
"Very well," she said, still smiling, though now it looked more threatening. "I suppose that, as a Muggle-born, you haven't been taught a witch's courtesy."
Bite me, bitch, Alaw thought.
"I have some questions for you, Miss Jones, regarding the attack on your housemates on Saturday evening. Now, I know you know something about it."
"Has Theodore accused me, Professor?" Alaw asked innocently. It was quite amusing to watch Umbridge's blood pressure rising.
"Evidence has come to light, pointing to your involvement," she growled.
Well, that was a load of bullshit right there. Ginny had placed a highly potent tongue-tying curse on the Slytherins so that they couldn't reveal who had attacked them, even if they wanted to.
"Are they really Death Eaters, Professor?" Alaw asked, unable to resist poking the dragon a little more. Umbridge's nostrils flared and her cheeks went white.
"I am asking the questions here, young lady," she snapped.
"But, some people told me that they had Dark Marks on their arms. Only Death Eaters have them, and they're too young to have had them from the first war."
"Enough!" Umbridge cried and Alaw bit her lip to stifle a smirk. All humour fled however when Umbridge got up, stalked around the desk and placed her stubby fingers on either side of Alaw's chair. Alaw pressed back, away from Umbridge who loomed menacingly over her.
"I know it was you who attacked those boys, Jones. I know it was you who put those ugly marks on their arms. And I know you're working with Dumbledore to undermine the Ministry and cause a widespread panic."
Alaw had had enough of being bullied. She stood up suddenly and glared at the older witch, whom she was at least half a foot taller than.
"I did not attack those boys, I'm not working with Dumbledore, and I'm not trying to overthrow the bloody Ministry. If you weren't certifiably insane, you'd see that. I'm trying to warn people that Voldemort is back in the country and you're as good as helping him! You should be tracking down his Death Eaters, not faffing about with Dumbledore!"
"Fifty points from Slytherin!" Umbridge cried. "And a week's worth of detentions."
Alaw really did laugh out loud this time and she turned and left the office without a backwards glance.
Alaw arrived early for Charms and had already taken out her books and writing equipment when her friends joined her.
"Guess what?" Ron asked in an undertone as he dropped into the seat on Alaw's left. "We just had an inspected lesson."
Alaw looked up from her textbook alertly.
"Really? What was it like?"
"Not good," said Ron gravely. "Umbridge is on the warpath today."
"It was terrible," Neville chipped in, leaning around Hermione. "She kept following Professor Burbage around the room, interrupting her to ask her all these stupid questions."
"Umbridge said she was surprised that Muggle Studies was still being taught. Apparently, they've been talking about scrapping it," said Ron and Hermione gave an angry chuff. Alaw fidgeted guiltily.
"Ah, it might be my fault that Umbridge is pissed off today. I kind of shouted at her this morning."
Before Hermione could do more than frown sternly at Alaw, Professor Flitwick climbed up onto his podium.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, we'll be continuing our work on Healing Charms today," he told the assembled students. Alaw immediately felt awkward. She'd been so busy with the Flames that she hadn't attended any of the practise sessions set up by the other Prefects and it showed. Flitwick gave them all a numbing ointment to put on their arms today, as they would be learning to heal deeper cuts. Alaw had real trouble closing her wound and Professor Flitwick tutted after watching her struggle for a while.
"Not your best work, Miss Jones," he said, shaking his head before moving on to see how Neville was doing. Alaw was feeling highly embarrassed by the end of the lesson and it only grew worse when Flitwick asked her and Draco to remain behind. Once the rest of the students had shuffled out, Flitwick fixed them both with a stern look.
"Now, I've had a word with Cho about you two," he said. "She tells me that neither of you has helped to organise the practise sessions for healing."
Alaw felt her cheeks grow hot and she fiddled with the handle of her wand whilst Draco looked down at his feet.
"Now I know you both have a lot on your minds at the moment, but Professor Snape placed a lot of trust in you when he chose you to be Prefects. I expected better. Especially since you're both so gifted with Charms work."
"Sorry Professor," Alaw mumbled. "We'll do better, I promise."
"Good. We'll say no more about this. I expect you to have organised at least one study session before our next lesson. Draco, you know to speak to Professor Snape if you need more numbing potion."
Draco nodded, still studying his shoelaces. Professor Flitwick dismissed them and Alaw tried to leave the classroom without dying of embarrassment.
That afternoon, Alaw made her way to the library on a mission. The Flames had decided that Barty Crouch would not make a good ally for them and that they should not contact him, but Alaw still had her doubts. He had been an important figure during the first war, tough on Death Eaters and a symbol of hope for many. But he'd fallen from grace after his son was sent to Azkaban and Alaw wanted to know the full details before she dismissed him from her plans completely. In a dusty and seldom-used corner of the library, Alaw tracked down the old Wizengamot court records. She'd used these before when she'd been investigating Igor Karkarof, and his lucky escape from justice. Barty Crouch Jr had been committed to Azkaban right at the end of the war, after Voldemort had supposedly died and many of his followers had been rounded up or bailed out by their rich families. It only took Alaw five minutes to locate the file she needed.
Minutes of the trail of Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange and Bartemius Crouch Jr.
Alaw's smile of triumph faded slightly as she registered the other names on the page. She remembered standing in the drawing room in Grimmauld Place, studying the tapestry depicting the Black family tree. She remembered seeing the name Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, the sister of Narcissa and Andromeda. So, Barty Crouch Jr had been tried alongside Draco's aunt and uncle, presumably for the same crime, whatever that had been. Alaw resisted the temptation to read further and tucked the file safely under her arm along with several others she had collected concerning former Death Eaters.
As she made her way out into the main study area of the library she caught sight of a group of Slytherins, including Pansy Parkinson, grouped around a table by the check-in desk. A few heads turned towards her and she was met with the usual hostile glares. Alaw barely spared them a glance, as her attention fixed on a table at the other end of the room, over by the quiet Arithmancy section. Draco was there, sitting alone as he often did these days, scratching out notes with a handsome eagle feather quill. Alaw made her way purposefully over to him and stood before the table, but Draco didn't acknowledge her presence until she coughed pointedly.
"What do you want, Mudblood?" he asked boredly, not looking up from his work.
"You don't have to call me that, that lot are too far away to hear you. We need to talk about these study sessions for Charms."
With a pained sigh, Draco put down his quill and raised his eyes to meet Alaw's. Why does he have to be so gorgeous even when he's being a pain in the arse? Alaw thought irritably.
"What's the matter? Scared that Flitwick is going to dock a few points?" Draco sneered and Alaw scowled.
"No," she said through gritted teeth. "I just want to start taking my work seriously. We're the Slytherin Prefects, so organising the Slytherins is our responsibility."
Draco picked up his quill again, inked it and returned to his essay, looking supremely unconcerned.
"Pucey and Higgs can handle it. I've got a lot going on at the moment."
Alaw's frown deepened. Adrian Pucey and Phoebe Higgs were the fourth year Slytherin Prefects.
"We're supposed to be in charge of the third years, not them," Alaw protested. "Come on! Do you really want to fail this class? I thought you were looking at being a Healer once we leave school."
Draco grimaced and huffed again.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, fine! Stop hovering and sit down then. Let's get this over with."
With a smug grin, Alaw set her Wizengamot files down and pulled out a chair.
"Right," she said, taking her planner out of her bag and flicking through it. "How about…tomorrow evening?"
"No good, I'm having dinner with Pansy in the village."
Draco sounded less than enthusiastic about this and Alaw raised an eyebrow before glancing over her shoulder at the table of Slytherins. Pansy was glaring over at Alaw and Draco suspiciously.
"So, the engagement isn't going too well then?" Alaw asked and Draco glanced up at her.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, you're not sitting with Pansy for a start."
Draco also looked over at his fiance before making a meal of searching the index of his textbook.
"Keep your nose out of other people's business, Mudblood. You've caused enough trouble lately. Now can we please just pick a day for this stupid study group? What about lunchtime tomorrow?"
Alaw hummed and looked down at her planner.
"I could do that," she mused. "Actually, that would be really good because I think the Hufflepuffs are having their session then too, we could work with them. I'll talk to Hannah and Earnie."
"And I suppose I'll have to be the one to tell the Slytherins the plan," Draco complained.
"Probably best if you do," Alaw agreed. "Some of them might die of shock if a Mudblood talks to them."
The corner of Draco's mouth twitched in the ghost of a smile and Alaw jotted down the plan in her diary, feeling a wave of relief that they had managed to sort something out whilst being at least vaguely civil to one another. As she was putting her planner away in her bag, some of the records she'd set down slipped off the table.
"Bollocks," Alaw muttered, bending down the retrieve them. One file had flipped under Draco's chair and he scooped it up. As he was handing it back however, his eyes fell on the Ministry symbol stamped on the cover.
"These are trial transcripts," he said, frowning. "What do you need these for?"
"Research," Alaw shrugged evasively. She made to take the file from Draco but he jerked it out of her reach and opened it to look at the front page.
"I knew it!" he snarled in disgust. "You're butting into Death Eater business again, aren't you?"
"So what if I am?" Alaw snapped, lunging forward to snatch the file out of Draco's hand. "Did you really expect me to sit on my backside and do nothing with Voldemort on the prowl?"
Draco flinched as if she'd made to hit him, and then he glared at her. He seemed about to say something when he looked up over Alaw's shoulder and shut his mouth quickly. Alaw turned to find Snape standing over her.
"Miss Jones," the Potions master said in a chilly voice. "Would you care to explain to me why you have been given detention every night this week?"
For a moment, Alaw's mind went blank and she stared at her head of house in confusion. Then she remembered the row with Umbridge that morning.
"Oh," she said. "Yeah, I kind of had a - disagreement, with Professor Umbridge."
Snape's dark eyes flashed and he leaned down a little and dropped his voice.
"You really do astound me, Jones. It would seem that you really are as stupid as you come off. I expressly told you not to antagonise Dolores Umbridge."
"You're not going to make me do the detentions?" Alaw asked incredulously. "Not after what happened last time? The woman's a psychopath!"
Snape's lip curled into a sneer.
"The High Inquisitor has instructed me to oversee your detentions on her behalf and I expect you to attend each and every one of them. Starting tonight. In one hour, you will go to the Potions classroom. There are some cauldrons that need scrubbing."
"But Sir! I've got a ton of stuff to do. You're not seriously listening to that crazy bitch?!" Alaw protested, furious at the injustice of it all. Snape glared at her.
"One. Hour," he growled menacingly. He then swept away, his black robes swirling around him and making him look like a melodramatic bat. Alaw slumped in her chair.
"Son of a bitch," she griped.
"Well, that'll teach you not to piss of Umbridge, won't it?" said Draco, without a trace of sympathy and Alaw turned to glower at him.
"She's only doing this because I wouldn't drink her stupid Veritaserum."
That surprised Draco enough to make him look up from his essay.
"You're not serious," he said and Alaw nodded firmly.
"Totally serious. I told you, the woman is a nutcase! Snape should be telling her to shove it, not going along with her craziness."
Draco's mouth tightened and he turned his quill over and over in his hand.
"I thought she was angry about the whole situation with Theodore and the others," he admitted.
"Oh she is, that's what she was trying to get me to confess to. Cause, you know, that's the important thing right now, not the fact that there were three dirty Death Eaters running around the castle."
Draco stopped turning the quill and fixed Alaw with a truly icy glare.
"And what exactly did your little stunt achieve? Hmm? What have you actually accomplished?"
Alaw was taken aback by his sudden anger.
"Well, we got Theodore, Crabbe and Goyle kicked out of Hogwarts," she said and Draco snorted.
"Yes, and a fat lot of good it's done. The Ministry still don't believe you, and Umbridge is livid."
Alaw shook her head and stared at Draco with a frown etched on her forehead and her mouth slightly open.
"I don't get you at all. I thought you weren't friends with that lot anymore. Why are you getting arsey with me?"
"Oh you stupid - you think this has anything to do with who you're friends with?! Do you have any idea what sort of position you've put me in?"
Draco snatched up his book and stuffed it into his bag before getting up from the table. He leaned down and hissed,
"Though I suppose you wouldn't give a damn what happened to a dirty Death Eater, would you?"
As he stormed off, Alaw remained frozen to her chair and a large weight settled in her stomach. Hating herself for it, she made a mental note to put a confirmation tick against Draco's name on the Flames' list of potential Death Eaters. After watching Draco disappear through the library doors, Alaw noticed Pansy looking her way, now with a smug smirk on her face. Alaw's fist clenched and her blood boiled.
After wasting her entire Tuesday evening in Snape's classroom, trying to shift some foul smelling sludge from the bottom of a cauldron bigger than she was, Alaw was not in the best of moods. It didn't help that Umbridge seemed to have set Argus Filch to tailing Alaw wherever she went. Filch was mopping the floor outside the Ancient Runes classroom when Alaw entered it for her first lesson of the day and he was still there when the bell rang an hour later. After having him shadow her all morning, Alaw became fed up and donned the old invisibility cloak so she could escape and make her way to the Great Hall and eat her lunch in peace. She was just making herself a cheese sandwich when Neville looked up from the textbook he was sharing with Hermione.
"Don't you have that Charms study thing now?" he asked curiously and Alaw choked on her pumpkin juice.
"Oh bollocks! Thanks for reminding me."
Grabbing her sandwich, Alaw scrambled off the bench and bolted out of the Great Hall. The Hufflepuffs had found an empty classroom on the ground floor for the practise session and they and a handful of Slytherins were already there when Alaw practically fell through the door.
"Sorry!" she gasped, clutching her sandwich in one hand and a stitch in her side with the other. "I uh, I just stopping in the Great Hall to grab some food."
Cedric Diggory looked up from healing a cut on Ernie's hand.
"Oh there was no need, we brought lunch in with us."
He indicated a big platter on the table between them all, containing bread rolls and lunch-meats, as well as salad and two-dozen boiled eggs.
"Never mind, you're here now. We've all partnered up already I'm afraid, but Draco's got the numbing potion from Professor Snape," said Hannah.
Alaw sat down and put her battered cheese sandwich to one side.
"Can I borrow that please?" she asked Draco politely, gesturing to the earthenware pot near his elbow. Draco pushed it towards her wordlessly and kept working on the cut on Pansy's arm. As Alaw rubbed the ointment, which smelled strongly of sage, onto her skin, she saw Pansy sweep a strand of Draco's hair back from his forehead.
"You look so serious when you're casting," she said soppily. Draco gave a quick shake of his head to dislodge her hand.
"Stay still," he said irritably.
The numbing potion worked quickly, after poking her arm to ensure all feeling was gone, Alaw picked up her potions knife.
"Whoa there, how about you let me do that?" Cedric asked hastily. "We don't want any accidents."
Since she hadn't been too keen on slicing open her own skin, Alaw gratefully let Cedric take over. He made a clean, two-inch long incision and gave her plenty of gauze to mop up the blood before letting her attempt the spell.
"It'll be nice to go into the village tonight. We haven't had time for just the two of us in ages," said Pansy, drawing Alaw's eyes back to her and Draco. Draco acknowledged this statement with a nondescript hum. Shaking her head, Alaw tried to concentrate on her work.
"Conprimo," she said, swishing her wand tip over the cut. It healed a little, the blood flowing more sluggishly, but it wasn't exactly a good casting. It didn't help that Pansy's next words were extremely distracting. From the corner of her eye, Alaw saw her lean in close to whisper, not exactly quietly, into Draco ear,
"You know, after dinner, you can come back to my room and we can have some fun."
There were a few sniggers around the table as Draco's cheeks turned a little pink and Alaw's grip on her wand tightened.
"Conprimo!" she snapped, but the spell had no effect this time.
"Careful Jones, you don't want to get mud-blood all over the place. We'll need to deep clean the table to get rid of the stink," Pansy called maliciously. Cedric's head snapped around and he was on the scene in moments.
"Hey now, none of that," he said sharply. "I don't want that sort of talk in here. If you carry on like that I'll have to ask you to leave, and you can explain to Professor Flitwick why you haven't been practising."
Pansy shrugged, unconcerned, and turned her attention back to not very subtly stroking Draco's thigh under the table. Alaw glared down at her wand to avoid looking at this nauseating display and made some very quick decisions in her mind.
That night, Alaw found herself back in the potions lab for her second night of detention. Snape had set her to cutting up a mountain of horseradish before disappearing in the direction of his office. Alaw had barely begun and her nose was beginning to itch from the smell.
"Fucking hell," she muttered irritably, pausing in her work to wipe her face with her elbow. She'd just picked up her knife again when the door of the classroom opened and Draco walked in with his potions kit under one arm. He froze when he saw her.
"What are you doing in here?" he asked sharply and Alaw lifted a horseradish.
"I've got detention haven't I? You?"
Draco glanced down at the leather case he was carrying.
"Snape asked me to brew some more numbing ointment for Charms," he explained grudgingly.
They looked at each other for a moment, neither sure what to say. In the end, Alaw simply decided to get on with her cutting and leave Draco to it. Draco followed suit, walking over to his usual station and lighting a fire beneath his cauldron with a wave of his wand. They worked in silence for several minutes, the only sounds in the room were the slicing of Alaw's knife and the faint clinking of crystal vials as Draco measured out his ingredients. He had just reached the stage where he needed to let his potion simmer when Alaw, not really paying proper attention to what she was doing, let her knife slip.
"Fuck!" she cried, dropping the blade and clutching the deep gash in her finger. It was so painful she was sure she'd cut right to the bone.
"What the hell have you done now?" Draco called, just barely up from the bubbles forming on the surface of his potion. When he saw Alaw's pronounced distress however he turned fully towards her. "Bloody hell woman, you're a complete disaster!" he cried, hurrying around the work benches and drawing his wand.
"No wait, it's fine, I'm fine," Alaw said, gritting her teeth against the pain even as tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. "I can heal it myself."
"The hell you can, put the wand down you idiot, you can't just heal that right away. You need to clean it. Come here."
Draco hooked his foot around the leg of a stool and dragged it over for Alaw to sit on before going to the cabinets behind the teachers desk. He rummaged through them and stood up holding a bottle and a clean rag.
"Sit down, come on, don't be a moron," he said irritably when he saw she hadn't moved.
After hesitating, Alaw did as she was bid and settled herself on the stool. Draco pressed the rag to the mouth of the bottle and tipped it up to get some of the liquid out.
"Alright, this is going to sting, a lot," he said once he'd set the bottle aside. "But it's great for cleaning cuts. Give me your hand."
Still quite reluctant, Alaw extended her arm and Draco gingerly took hold of her wrist. Alaw whined when he started wiping the rag over the cut but she did her best to stay still and not squirm.
"Alright, now I can heal it for you," he said after he'd thoroughly disinfected the area. He tossed the rag away and caught up his wand. "It might take a while, you really got yourself here."
Because he was no longer trying to stop her from pulling away, Draco's grip on her wrist loosened and he simply held her hand steady. He kept his gray eyes fixed on her cut, moving his wand back and forth after it and murmuring under his breath. Alaw watched him in silence for a while, trying to ignore how his touch was making her skin tingle.
Stop it, she told herself sternly, just stop. It's never going to happen.
"Why aren't you in the village with Pansy?" she asked to break the awkward silence. Draco's mouth twisted into a humourless smile.
"She's feeling a bit under the weather," he said shortly and Alaw couldn't help but smirk. Yes, a handful of Puking Pastels dissolved in one's afternoon tea will do that.
"You don't seem very sorry you had to cancel your plans," Alaw said carefully and Draco shrugged.
"I didn't really want to go in the first place. She's tedious company."
"Then why are you marrying her?"
Draco paused, and then lifted his gaze to meet Alaw's.
"It's not like I have much choice in the matter. There's a lot of things I don't have a choice in anymore," he said pointedly and Alaw let out a sad sigh.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I know you don't want this. And I'm sorry if we caused problems for you, you know, with the whole Theodore thing. But he really was a complete bastard and everyone here is better off without him. You don't know what he tried to do."
Draco's eyes went back to Alaw's hand, now healed. But he didn't immediately let go on her.
"I do know," he muttered, now seemingly unable to look Alaw in the face. "I know. And I'm glad you got him first. But - you should leave now. Please, it's not safe for us to talk. Not even in private."
Alaw wanted to stay, in fact, there were a lot of things she wanted to do in that moment. She wanted to take Draco's face in her hands and kiss him, she wanted to ask him to join the Flames, to abandon Voldemort and all his vile machinations. She wanted to tell him how she felt about him. But she didn't do any of those things. She took her hand out of his, turning it so that their fingertips brushed over each other for just a brief moment.
"I'm supposed to finish cutting those roots," she said, nodding over to the plants. Draco pointed his wand at them and muttered a spell, causing the knife to begin cutting to roots of its own accord.
"I won't tell Snape I helped you. Please leave. Now."
Draco turned his back on Alaw and walked away towards his potion. The helpless weight had settled back on Alaw's shoulders again and she left the room without saying another word.