Chapter Fourteen
Gwen sat happily eating her breakfast, nothing filling her head except her up coming birthday.
She had pushed thoughts of the incident between Malfoy and her to the back of her mind. Gwen knew she should have told someone about what had happened but something held her back, she wanted to handle Malfoy herself, in her own way and soon she would be able to.
She would be 16 in less than a week and then she could finally be a real witch with a real wand and real powers. Then no one would able to push her around or stand in her way. As thoughts like this entered her head, she quickly ate her breakfast, sipping her pumpkin juice fast.
Funny, it tasted slightly sour today, Gwen thought.
"Quiet, please," Dumbledore announced.
Gwen turned to face the headmaster and the rest of the school followed.
"Now it seems that."
Dumbledore's voice seemed to get fainter and Gwen leaned closer to listen but still his voice faded away. Gwen's head then started to ache and she could hardly keep her eyelids open.
"Miss. Aldan, are you alright?" McGonagall asked.
Gwen tried to speak but no words came out, the only action she could seem to perform was to shake.
As she wondered at this, something wispy and pale blue escaped her mouth; it hovered in front of her, as it did, Gwen swore she heard her voice calling to her, "help me."
But as soon as she'd heard these words, the blue thing flew away, leaving Gwen feeling weak and tired.
"Gwen, Gwen!" Dumbledore's voice said, echoing in her head.
But it was too late, Gwen had blacked out.
***
"I don't think so, the Chudley Cannons are going to be here for a while," Ron said.
"I'll take your word for it, Ron," Harry replied, with a smile on his lips.
"They will," Ron said knowingly.
"I said.," Harry began.
"What's wrong with Gwen?" Hermione asked, turning to face the girl.
Harry looked up and saw Gwen shaking violently.
At this point practically everyone in the hall had stopped and was watching Gwen.
"What's that?" Ron exclaimed.
There in front of Gwen was a blue, wispy smoke-like thing; everyone sat in hushed silence as they watched it hover for a few seconds before zooming out a window.
***
"Hey, look at the merlin," Blaise called out.
The whole Slytherin table gazed up at the girl and surprise fell onto their faces, apart from Draco Malfoy who's remained completely still, a smirk gracing his mouth.
"What's wrong with her now?" Pansy said, trying to sound casual about it.
But secretly, she was engrossed in what was happening to the merlin.
They continued to watch and saw the blue smoke slip out of her mouth and away into the world outside. Draco smiled and almost laughed at what was happening to the merlin.
"That'll teach you to mess with me," Draco said softly, sipping his pumpkin juice.
***
Gwen opened her eyes slowly and looked at the familiar surroundings of the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was standing near by, mixing something up.
".," Gwen opened her mouth and tried to speak but nothing came out.
Gwen tried again but still not a sound was made. A wave of panic hit her and she slammed her hand onto the bed.
At this noise, Madam Pomfrey turned around and walked over to the girl.
"It's a good thing, you're awake," she said quietly.
Gwen looked at her with eyes full of confusion. What was wrong with her?
"I should go and get Dumbledore, it would be better coming from him," Pomfrey said, sensing the girl's bewilderment.
Gwen wanted to call out to her, to ask what was wrong but she couldn't, so she sat there in silence, waiting for an answer to her unspoken questions.
***
Gwen waited for what seemed to be a lifetime before Dumbledore appeared at the door.
"Gwen, I'm glad you're awake," he said quietly, walking towards her bed.
Why does everyone keep saying that, she thought.
"Gwen, you may be wondering why you haven't been able to speak.," his voice wavered slightly.
"It seems Gwen," he continued, "that you've lost your voice."
Gwen breathed a silent sigh of relief, was that all, she'd lost her voice and she'd been worried that it was something important.
"I can see from your face that you don't think that this is serious," Dumbledore said, staring intently at the girl.
Gwen stopped and shook her head. What was he trying to say?
"Gwen, your voice has not only been lost but it is missing. We cannot seem to locate it anywhere; it may be gone forever, which means that you may never speak or.," Dumbledore paused.
But Gwen already knew what he was going to say, if she couldn't talk then she couldn't cast a spell and that meant that she could never become a full witch.
Tears began to form in her eyes and she looked away, she had to be strong.
"Gwen, we're trying to do our best to find a solution," Dumbledore said soothingly.
Gwen took a deep breath and looked at the kind face of the old man.
She might not have her voice but she still had hope with that she squeezed his hand as a silent thank you.
***
Draco collapsed onto a leather couch and smiled to himself.
"What you smiling about?" Pansy asked softly, sliding next to him.
"Nothing," Draco replied coldly.
"Oh Draco.," Pansy said, sliding a finger down Malfoy's cheek.
"Leave it," he replied sharply, grabbing her finger and pushing it away from him.
"Fine. Have it your way," she said huffily, getting up and leaving.
At this moment, Crabbe and Goyle appeared and seated themselves opposite Draco.
"So.," Draco said impatiently.
"She's still in the hospital wing," Goyle answered gruffly.
"Good," Draco said.
"What did you do to her?" Crabbe asked.
"Nothing much, just this and that," Malfoy said, thinking about the night before when he'd snuck into Snape's potion cabinet and stolen the ingredients for his concoction.
"This and that?" Crabbe repeated, a gormless expression on his face.
"Yes, Crabbe. Let's just say that mouth of hers won't be talking back to me anymore," Draco cackled as he said this.
Crabbe and Goyle laughed too but were still unsure of what their leader was talking about.
"But what if they find a cure?" Goyle asked softly.
"Well they can't, not without this," and Draco removed from his robes a small vile, inside was the blue smoke, Gwen's voice.
He tapped the vile and the coloured fog seemed to shrink away from him, "no more talking back now, eh?"
Draco laughed again and the blue vapour sank to the bottom of the tube, as if it understood that it was trapped and there was no hope of escape.
***
Gwen walked the corridors in complete hush; her footsteps seemed to be so laboured lately. Without her voice she felt so helpless and weak, it made her insides crunch up when she knew that she'd never be able to speak again.
Gwen arrived at Professor McGonagall's classroom and entered silently. Inside she found Professor Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore waiting for her.
"Gwen, we were beginning to wonder where you were. How are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked warmly.
The girl looked at him and smiled, nodding gently.
Dumbledore beamed and continued, "good. Professor Snape may have a solution to your problem."
Gwen instantly brightened up and she focused onto the potions master who seemed very uncomfortable with the attention he was receiving.
"It seems," Snape said in a dry tone, "that you are suffering from a "captura vocis" potion. I have the antidote which will undo the enchantment."
Gwen's face burst into a bright smile and was close to jumping up and hugging Snape but decided against it because of the sour look on his face.
"I haven't finished," Snape said curtly, glaring at the girl.
Gwen forced herself to stop smiling so manically and nodded at him, to indicate she was ready to listen again.
"As I was saying, I have the antidote but.it seems that I need your voice as well." Gwen nearly fell off her chair, her hopes having been dashed against the cold stone floor.
She had a million questions to ask but no way to ask them.
Dumbledore seemed to sense this and so said, "I'm not sure that Gwen understands what you mean, professor."
Snape sighed in a patronising manner, "This potion is used to capture the voice of the drinker of it and the voice goes to whoever made the spell. They have your voice and without it, I cannot reverse the potion, I'm afraid."
A mixture of anger and tears was welling up inside of Gwen but she pushed them away and decided to grin and bear it.
"Gwen, do you know who would want your voice? To spite you in this way?" McGonagall asked, her voice full of sympathy for the girl.
One name came to her head Draco Malfoy.
***
Voldemort paced around the hall, his mind on important matters. At this moment, Wormtail entered, his eyes it seemed glued to the floor. He stopped about 10 paces away from his master and waited for acknowledgment.
Voldemort rolled his head towards the man, "what is it?"
Wormtail swallowed hard and forced his voice out, "there.there.seems to be a slight problem."
Voldemort turned on his servant, "what?!"
Wormtail tried to shrink away but Voldemort held him still with his hand.
"What were you saying?" the dark lord snarled.
"The merlin she's.she's lost her voice," Wormtail eventually spat out.
Voldemort's grip on his servant's neck tightened, Wormtail squirmed trying to escape but it was useless.
"What do you mean?"
"It seems someone has used a "captura vocis" spell on her," Wormtail replied, gasping for breath.
"Who?" Voldemort shouted, letting go of the wheezing bag.
"I don't know," Wormtail said, gulping down breaths of air.
"What do you mean, you don't know!" Voldemort screamed, kicking Wormtail in the stomach.
"I mean, I don't know yet," the man said, winded slightly.
"You'd better. My plan will not work if she cannot cast a spell!" Voldemort yelled, pounding his fist against the wall.
Wormtail silently agreed and paused for a second to think through what to do next.
Voldemort took this pause as laziness and kicked him again, "go!"
***
Gwen lay sleeping but not soundly. Her dreams had become troubled and haunted ever since she had lost her voice.
Images of death and her mother kept reappearing, they would collide into each other and then. black.
But in spite of these nightmares they were nothing compared to the ones that she had of Draco Malfoy.
He would appear and try to kill her; his cold blue eyes penetrating her soul. His hands clutching at her throat, squeezing the life out of her.
Gwen would have woken up screaming, if she had a voice.
Gwen bolted up in bed and looked around the room but there was nothing. It was empty apart from Jasper who was cooing quietly in his sleep.
She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and climbed out of bed, making for the door. She needed a break from her dreams.
Gwen walked out into the corridor and felt the cool night's breeze blowing gently through the air. She breathed it in, hoping it would settle her nerves. It didn't.
Her footsteps sounded so heavy on the stone floor and Gwen found herself walking towards the Slytherin house's entrance.
For some strange reason, she was inexplicably drawn towards it; something or someone was pulling her there.
Malfoy sat on the leather couch, next to the fire, black flames dancing in his eyes. He rolled the vile in his cold hands and he smiled.
Then he felt it, the slight tapping hitting his fingers.
He peered down and saw Gwen's voice, smacking itself against the sides of the glass, as if it was trying to escape or at least, get attention to itself.
He held up the tube to his eyes and stared viciously at the blue smoke.
It seemed to sense his presence and quickly stopped, slumping against the sides.
"That's better," Malfoy said, smirking.
But as soon as the words had come out, the smoke started again but with even more vigour. The tapping seemed to echo around the cold room and in Malfoy's ears.
He could feel his anger bubbling within him but suppressed it due to the evil thought that had just entered his head.
He quickly grabbed his cloak which was sitting next to him and left the Slytherin common room with a flourish.
Gwen turned the corner and saw him, the boy that made her blood freeze, Malfoy.
She stopped and watched him with interest.
He was smiling to himself, his black cloak whipping around him because of the wind that was blowing down the corridor.
Gwen pulled her cloak closer towards her, she could feel the cold and wanted to go back to her warm bed but still, she needed to know where he was going.
Harry watched Gwen, he wondered at the sight. What was she doing, following Malfoy around?
He thought it best to keep an eye on them. Thank goodness, he'd felt peckish that night.
Malfoy walked towards the lake and stopped at the water's edge. He pulled out the vile and held it out.
"Meet your new home!" he shouted.
Gwen's voice then started to pound even harder against the sides and Malfoy laughed at it's pathetic attempts for freedom.
Gwen saw the scene play out and watched silently as Malfoy readied himself to throw her voice into the murky waters.
But Gwen's courage surged inside of her and she knew she had to do something. She got up and creeping quietly towards the Slytherin, prepared to grab her voice.
She watched him, draw his arm back, the vile slipping slightly out of his grip.
Then.BAM!
"What the.," Malfoy screamed, as Gwen tackled him to the floor.
As Malfoy slowly recognised the face in front of him, his mind raced to the captive voice.
Two pairs of hands reaching, stretching, longing for the same thing.
But it was too late, Malfoy's long, nimble fingers grasped the prize first.
"Too late," Draco teased, wagging the object in front of Gwen's eyes.
The desperate girl leaped forward, trying to steal her voice back but it was of no use.
"Now Gwen, didn't your mother teach you any manners?" Malfoy said, seeing the pain in Gwen's eyes with every word he said.
Gwen made a final attempt to grab the vile but Malfoy roughly pushed her away, causing her to fall onto the bank.
"Manners. Say please and then I'll give it back," Malfoy said, laughing.
Revenge was sweet, he thought to himself. He was almost sad to have to stop it.
Gwen's eyes started to fill with tears and she tried to push them back but without any such luck.
"Awww.don't cry Gwen," Malfoy said so sweetly, that it was sickly. He then bent down next to her and wiped a tear away from her cheek.
Gwen felt his cold skin touch hers and she cringed. She couldn't stand it, knowing Malfoy had won.
She pushed his hand away viciously and Malfoy grabbed her wrist tightly, staring at the merlin, their eyes meeting, brown seeing blue.
The hate between them was so thick, it was almost suffocating but still, they couldn't look away from each other.
Gwen felt scared, seeing the darkness in his eyes and she forced herself to break his gaze.
Malfoy too, was disturbed by what he'd seen in her eyes, an emptiness and hollowness that seemed couldn't be filled.
"Anyway, I'd better be getting rid of this," Malfoy said loudly, holding up Gwen's voice.
"Wait!" a voice cried out.
Gwen looked up and saw the figure of Harry coming towards them, his green eyes illuminated by the moonlight.
"Should have guessed. What do you want, Potter?" Malfoy spat, holding the vile tighter.
"Hand it over, Malfoy!" Harry shouted.
He'd watched the scene play out and it had made him shake with anger, seeing the torture that Gwen had been going through.
Draco Malfoy was a snake and deserved nothing less than a good seeing to which Harry was quite happy to do.
Malfoy raised his eyebrows in mock surprise and smirked, "ok, Potter. Here you go."
With that he began to hand the vile over but at the last minute, turned and threw it into the lake.
"Butter fingers!" Malfoy screamed, his face turning red from the uncontrollable laughter that had taken him.
No! Gwen yelled in her head and before she knew it, she'd dived in with her voice.
Harry watched Gwen's body splash into the water and disappear under it's dark surface.
Malfoy also seeing what Gwen had done, stopped laughing and both boys stood waiting.
But Gwen didn't reappear.
Gwen sat happily eating her breakfast, nothing filling her head except her up coming birthday.
She had pushed thoughts of the incident between Malfoy and her to the back of her mind. Gwen knew she should have told someone about what had happened but something held her back, she wanted to handle Malfoy herself, in her own way and soon she would be able to.
She would be 16 in less than a week and then she could finally be a real witch with a real wand and real powers. Then no one would able to push her around or stand in her way. As thoughts like this entered her head, she quickly ate her breakfast, sipping her pumpkin juice fast.
Funny, it tasted slightly sour today, Gwen thought.
"Quiet, please," Dumbledore announced.
Gwen turned to face the headmaster and the rest of the school followed.
"Now it seems that."
Dumbledore's voice seemed to get fainter and Gwen leaned closer to listen but still his voice faded away. Gwen's head then started to ache and she could hardly keep her eyelids open.
"Miss. Aldan, are you alright?" McGonagall asked.
Gwen tried to speak but no words came out, the only action she could seem to perform was to shake.
As she wondered at this, something wispy and pale blue escaped her mouth; it hovered in front of her, as it did, Gwen swore she heard her voice calling to her, "help me."
But as soon as she'd heard these words, the blue thing flew away, leaving Gwen feeling weak and tired.
"Gwen, Gwen!" Dumbledore's voice said, echoing in her head.
But it was too late, Gwen had blacked out.
***
"I don't think so, the Chudley Cannons are going to be here for a while," Ron said.
"I'll take your word for it, Ron," Harry replied, with a smile on his lips.
"They will," Ron said knowingly.
"I said.," Harry began.
"What's wrong with Gwen?" Hermione asked, turning to face the girl.
Harry looked up and saw Gwen shaking violently.
At this point practically everyone in the hall had stopped and was watching Gwen.
"What's that?" Ron exclaimed.
There in front of Gwen was a blue, wispy smoke-like thing; everyone sat in hushed silence as they watched it hover for a few seconds before zooming out a window.
***
"Hey, look at the merlin," Blaise called out.
The whole Slytherin table gazed up at the girl and surprise fell onto their faces, apart from Draco Malfoy who's remained completely still, a smirk gracing his mouth.
"What's wrong with her now?" Pansy said, trying to sound casual about it.
But secretly, she was engrossed in what was happening to the merlin.
They continued to watch and saw the blue smoke slip out of her mouth and away into the world outside. Draco smiled and almost laughed at what was happening to the merlin.
"That'll teach you to mess with me," Draco said softly, sipping his pumpkin juice.
***
Gwen opened her eyes slowly and looked at the familiar surroundings of the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey was standing near by, mixing something up.
".," Gwen opened her mouth and tried to speak but nothing came out.
Gwen tried again but still not a sound was made. A wave of panic hit her and she slammed her hand onto the bed.
At this noise, Madam Pomfrey turned around and walked over to the girl.
"It's a good thing, you're awake," she said quietly.
Gwen looked at her with eyes full of confusion. What was wrong with her?
"I should go and get Dumbledore, it would be better coming from him," Pomfrey said, sensing the girl's bewilderment.
Gwen wanted to call out to her, to ask what was wrong but she couldn't, so she sat there in silence, waiting for an answer to her unspoken questions.
***
Gwen waited for what seemed to be a lifetime before Dumbledore appeared at the door.
"Gwen, I'm glad you're awake," he said quietly, walking towards her bed.
Why does everyone keep saying that, she thought.
"Gwen, you may be wondering why you haven't been able to speak.," his voice wavered slightly.
"It seems Gwen," he continued, "that you've lost your voice."
Gwen breathed a silent sigh of relief, was that all, she'd lost her voice and she'd been worried that it was something important.
"I can see from your face that you don't think that this is serious," Dumbledore said, staring intently at the girl.
Gwen stopped and shook her head. What was he trying to say?
"Gwen, your voice has not only been lost but it is missing. We cannot seem to locate it anywhere; it may be gone forever, which means that you may never speak or.," Dumbledore paused.
But Gwen already knew what he was going to say, if she couldn't talk then she couldn't cast a spell and that meant that she could never become a full witch.
Tears began to form in her eyes and she looked away, she had to be strong.
"Gwen, we're trying to do our best to find a solution," Dumbledore said soothingly.
Gwen took a deep breath and looked at the kind face of the old man.
She might not have her voice but she still had hope with that she squeezed his hand as a silent thank you.
***
Draco collapsed onto a leather couch and smiled to himself.
"What you smiling about?" Pansy asked softly, sliding next to him.
"Nothing," Draco replied coldly.
"Oh Draco.," Pansy said, sliding a finger down Malfoy's cheek.
"Leave it," he replied sharply, grabbing her finger and pushing it away from him.
"Fine. Have it your way," she said huffily, getting up and leaving.
At this moment, Crabbe and Goyle appeared and seated themselves opposite Draco.
"So.," Draco said impatiently.
"She's still in the hospital wing," Goyle answered gruffly.
"Good," Draco said.
"What did you do to her?" Crabbe asked.
"Nothing much, just this and that," Malfoy said, thinking about the night before when he'd snuck into Snape's potion cabinet and stolen the ingredients for his concoction.
"This and that?" Crabbe repeated, a gormless expression on his face.
"Yes, Crabbe. Let's just say that mouth of hers won't be talking back to me anymore," Draco cackled as he said this.
Crabbe and Goyle laughed too but were still unsure of what their leader was talking about.
"But what if they find a cure?" Goyle asked softly.
"Well they can't, not without this," and Draco removed from his robes a small vile, inside was the blue smoke, Gwen's voice.
He tapped the vile and the coloured fog seemed to shrink away from him, "no more talking back now, eh?"
Draco laughed again and the blue vapour sank to the bottom of the tube, as if it understood that it was trapped and there was no hope of escape.
***
Gwen walked the corridors in complete hush; her footsteps seemed to be so laboured lately. Without her voice she felt so helpless and weak, it made her insides crunch up when she knew that she'd never be able to speak again.
Gwen arrived at Professor McGonagall's classroom and entered silently. Inside she found Professor Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore waiting for her.
"Gwen, we were beginning to wonder where you were. How are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked warmly.
The girl looked at him and smiled, nodding gently.
Dumbledore beamed and continued, "good. Professor Snape may have a solution to your problem."
Gwen instantly brightened up and she focused onto the potions master who seemed very uncomfortable with the attention he was receiving.
"It seems," Snape said in a dry tone, "that you are suffering from a "captura vocis" potion. I have the antidote which will undo the enchantment."
Gwen's face burst into a bright smile and was close to jumping up and hugging Snape but decided against it because of the sour look on his face.
"I haven't finished," Snape said curtly, glaring at the girl.
Gwen forced herself to stop smiling so manically and nodded at him, to indicate she was ready to listen again.
"As I was saying, I have the antidote but.it seems that I need your voice as well." Gwen nearly fell off her chair, her hopes having been dashed against the cold stone floor.
She had a million questions to ask but no way to ask them.
Dumbledore seemed to sense this and so said, "I'm not sure that Gwen understands what you mean, professor."
Snape sighed in a patronising manner, "This potion is used to capture the voice of the drinker of it and the voice goes to whoever made the spell. They have your voice and without it, I cannot reverse the potion, I'm afraid."
A mixture of anger and tears was welling up inside of Gwen but she pushed them away and decided to grin and bear it.
"Gwen, do you know who would want your voice? To spite you in this way?" McGonagall asked, her voice full of sympathy for the girl.
One name came to her head Draco Malfoy.
***
Voldemort paced around the hall, his mind on important matters. At this moment, Wormtail entered, his eyes it seemed glued to the floor. He stopped about 10 paces away from his master and waited for acknowledgment.
Voldemort rolled his head towards the man, "what is it?"
Wormtail swallowed hard and forced his voice out, "there.there.seems to be a slight problem."
Voldemort turned on his servant, "what?!"
Wormtail tried to shrink away but Voldemort held him still with his hand.
"What were you saying?" the dark lord snarled.
"The merlin she's.she's lost her voice," Wormtail eventually spat out.
Voldemort's grip on his servant's neck tightened, Wormtail squirmed trying to escape but it was useless.
"What do you mean?"
"It seems someone has used a "captura vocis" spell on her," Wormtail replied, gasping for breath.
"Who?" Voldemort shouted, letting go of the wheezing bag.
"I don't know," Wormtail said, gulping down breaths of air.
"What do you mean, you don't know!" Voldemort screamed, kicking Wormtail in the stomach.
"I mean, I don't know yet," the man said, winded slightly.
"You'd better. My plan will not work if she cannot cast a spell!" Voldemort yelled, pounding his fist against the wall.
Wormtail silently agreed and paused for a second to think through what to do next.
Voldemort took this pause as laziness and kicked him again, "go!"
***
Gwen lay sleeping but not soundly. Her dreams had become troubled and haunted ever since she had lost her voice.
Images of death and her mother kept reappearing, they would collide into each other and then. black.
But in spite of these nightmares they were nothing compared to the ones that she had of Draco Malfoy.
He would appear and try to kill her; his cold blue eyes penetrating her soul. His hands clutching at her throat, squeezing the life out of her.
Gwen would have woken up screaming, if she had a voice.
Gwen bolted up in bed and looked around the room but there was nothing. It was empty apart from Jasper who was cooing quietly in his sleep.
She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and climbed out of bed, making for the door. She needed a break from her dreams.
Gwen walked out into the corridor and felt the cool night's breeze blowing gently through the air. She breathed it in, hoping it would settle her nerves. It didn't.
Her footsteps sounded so heavy on the stone floor and Gwen found herself walking towards the Slytherin house's entrance.
For some strange reason, she was inexplicably drawn towards it; something or someone was pulling her there.
Malfoy sat on the leather couch, next to the fire, black flames dancing in his eyes. He rolled the vile in his cold hands and he smiled.
Then he felt it, the slight tapping hitting his fingers.
He peered down and saw Gwen's voice, smacking itself against the sides of the glass, as if it was trying to escape or at least, get attention to itself.
He held up the tube to his eyes and stared viciously at the blue smoke.
It seemed to sense his presence and quickly stopped, slumping against the sides.
"That's better," Malfoy said, smirking.
But as soon as the words had come out, the smoke started again but with even more vigour. The tapping seemed to echo around the cold room and in Malfoy's ears.
He could feel his anger bubbling within him but suppressed it due to the evil thought that had just entered his head.
He quickly grabbed his cloak which was sitting next to him and left the Slytherin common room with a flourish.
Gwen turned the corner and saw him, the boy that made her blood freeze, Malfoy.
She stopped and watched him with interest.
He was smiling to himself, his black cloak whipping around him because of the wind that was blowing down the corridor.
Gwen pulled her cloak closer towards her, she could feel the cold and wanted to go back to her warm bed but still, she needed to know where he was going.
Harry watched Gwen, he wondered at the sight. What was she doing, following Malfoy around?
He thought it best to keep an eye on them. Thank goodness, he'd felt peckish that night.
Malfoy walked towards the lake and stopped at the water's edge. He pulled out the vile and held it out.
"Meet your new home!" he shouted.
Gwen's voice then started to pound even harder against the sides and Malfoy laughed at it's pathetic attempts for freedom.
Gwen saw the scene play out and watched silently as Malfoy readied himself to throw her voice into the murky waters.
But Gwen's courage surged inside of her and she knew she had to do something. She got up and creeping quietly towards the Slytherin, prepared to grab her voice.
She watched him, draw his arm back, the vile slipping slightly out of his grip.
Then.BAM!
"What the.," Malfoy screamed, as Gwen tackled him to the floor.
As Malfoy slowly recognised the face in front of him, his mind raced to the captive voice.
Two pairs of hands reaching, stretching, longing for the same thing.
But it was too late, Malfoy's long, nimble fingers grasped the prize first.
"Too late," Draco teased, wagging the object in front of Gwen's eyes.
The desperate girl leaped forward, trying to steal her voice back but it was of no use.
"Now Gwen, didn't your mother teach you any manners?" Malfoy said, seeing the pain in Gwen's eyes with every word he said.
Gwen made a final attempt to grab the vile but Malfoy roughly pushed her away, causing her to fall onto the bank.
"Manners. Say please and then I'll give it back," Malfoy said, laughing.
Revenge was sweet, he thought to himself. He was almost sad to have to stop it.
Gwen's eyes started to fill with tears and she tried to push them back but without any such luck.
"Awww.don't cry Gwen," Malfoy said so sweetly, that it was sickly. He then bent down next to her and wiped a tear away from her cheek.
Gwen felt his cold skin touch hers and she cringed. She couldn't stand it, knowing Malfoy had won.
She pushed his hand away viciously and Malfoy grabbed her wrist tightly, staring at the merlin, their eyes meeting, brown seeing blue.
The hate between them was so thick, it was almost suffocating but still, they couldn't look away from each other.
Gwen felt scared, seeing the darkness in his eyes and she forced herself to break his gaze.
Malfoy too, was disturbed by what he'd seen in her eyes, an emptiness and hollowness that seemed couldn't be filled.
"Anyway, I'd better be getting rid of this," Malfoy said loudly, holding up Gwen's voice.
"Wait!" a voice cried out.
Gwen looked up and saw the figure of Harry coming towards them, his green eyes illuminated by the moonlight.
"Should have guessed. What do you want, Potter?" Malfoy spat, holding the vile tighter.
"Hand it over, Malfoy!" Harry shouted.
He'd watched the scene play out and it had made him shake with anger, seeing the torture that Gwen had been going through.
Draco Malfoy was a snake and deserved nothing less than a good seeing to which Harry was quite happy to do.
Malfoy raised his eyebrows in mock surprise and smirked, "ok, Potter. Here you go."
With that he began to hand the vile over but at the last minute, turned and threw it into the lake.
"Butter fingers!" Malfoy screamed, his face turning red from the uncontrollable laughter that had taken him.
No! Gwen yelled in her head and before she knew it, she'd dived in with her voice.
Harry watched Gwen's body splash into the water and disappear under it's dark surface.
Malfoy also seeing what Gwen had done, stopped laughing and both boys stood waiting.
But Gwen didn't reappear.
