Chapter 6 – A Phone Call to Make
Draco could not look at her. It would be like staring at his worst fears and qualities. He could hear her faint sobbing and feel the pain vibrating from her body, transferring straight into Draco's heart. For the first time in his life, he felt guilty about his actions. What had he done? He had wanted to stop, but his mind had wound up like a man wanting to take advantage of the poor woman as if he was a dangerous predator. He had lost his mind. This would be the last thing he did before he died and he knew hell had a place reserved specially for him.
Suddenly, he thought of his mother and how she had always told him to make something of his life besides following others' orders and deceiving everyone. She had always attempted to change him since the day of his return from his first year at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, her voice had gone through one ear and passed out in the other. If only he had listened to her, he wouldn't be in this place or be doing horrible things…
His mind went far back to his sixth year at Hogwarts where he had been so close to doing the same thing. Apparently, he had drank too much Firewhisky one night in the middle of a traditional Slytherin party and found himself in the arms of a beautiful seventh year blond. The next morning had had woken up in the common room with no memory of the previous night. Goyle informed him that when he struggled with the girl, she slapped him senseless and fled before he fainted. Well, at least he did not remember that incident, but he couldn't say the same this time.
Her bushy hair veiled her tear streaked face, making her look demented. Her hands were strewn together as if she was praying. Her whole body was shaking left and right and Draco could see sweat pouring down her arms. Draco looked away immediately and focused his attention on the toilet. Why wasn't there water in it? He desperately needed water. He needed food. He needed a shower. He needed someone to talk to the most or he would go mad again. Draco dared not say a word to the woman in front of him. If he couldn't even look that way, how could he talk to her?
"You should stop crying. You'll just dehydrate faster."
But the crying continues. She didn't bother to look up at him. Draco sighed. Next, he tried to figure out how long they had been in the room. It must have been at least five days…or maybe six…
For some reason, an old conversation with Pansy came in his mind. It had only been a year or so ago when him and Pansy were lying in bed talking closely for the first time in months. Their relationship had always been more physical and Draco had liked it that way. Pansy didn't complain either, but that night she asked him the strangest question.
"How would you rather die, in a prison, a duel, or suicide?" Pansy asked him. He frowned and took away his hand from hers.
"What? Where did that come from?"
"I read it in an article in the Daily Prophet." she said, "So, what's the answer?"
"Hmm…nowhere. I don't want to die."
Pansy let out that hyena laugh of hers and said, "Everyone dies, silly. How would it be, then?"
"Let's see…" Draco wanted to be immortal as the Dark Lord once had. Everything would be over if he died.
Pansy waited anxiously.
"In my own house, next to you." Draco planted a kiss on her cheek. She giggled like a little girl. "That wasn't one of the choices, but I'll take it. I thought you'd chose the hero path and go in a duel."
"Well, all I know is that I'm not planning to go soon. Maybe when I'm a hundred and thirty, I'll think about it. What did you choose?"
"Prison. When you look at it, it is the best choice."
"That's scary, considering that my father is in prison." Draco commented.
"Yeah, but he's not going to stay in there till death. He'll get out sometime."
Draco snorted, "Please. He's in there for life for attempted murder and the use of the Unforgivable curses. The only way they got out before was because of the Dark Lord."
"Yeah, you can be the next Dark Lord, then, my dragon."
Draco knew he didn't have the power of the Dark Lord, because if he did, he wouldn't still be in the room. His knowledge of Dark Magic was minimal and since the room was magicproof, it didn't matter anyway. It was so ironic that they had been having that conversation but dying in a room hadn't been on the list.
He felt dizzy now. The nerves in his brain whirled about in panic and he swore he saw the room move.
Suddenly, he had an idea, but it required her help. He debated whether he should ask her for it or not. Draco just had to because this could be it.
"Hey."
No answer.
"Hey Granger."
Nothing.
"Granger!"
She didn't answer. She was lying on the ground with her eyes closed. Finally it dawned upon him and he rushed to her. Draco turned her over carefully and felt her neck, desperately hoping she still had a heartbeat. He kept his hand on her skin, which was stone cold, and waited for it. Thankfully it came. The beat was slow, but it was still there. She had only fainted. He breathed again.
Draco searched her pants pockets and then went to her purse, which was situated a few feet away from her. He fumbled through tons of tissues, some tube things with white paper covering them, lip balm, and…a phone. Thank god she still lived the Muggle way. Now, all he had to do was figure out how to use it. The phone was oval from the bottom and had a stick on the top, but how was he supposed to open it to the pad with all the numbers?
It took Draco a few minutes to open it. When it flipped open, Draco wanted to smack himself for his stupidity. Now…what should he dial? There were numbers from one to nine and a zero, and other buttons with arrows, but he didn't know what numbers he had to punch in to reach someone. He toyed with it for the longest time before he got to a screen with a bunch of names on it. Oh, now what?
According to Granger's watch, he had played with the phone for over an hour before he became frustrated. He just started to punch random numbers and when that didn't work, he flung the phone across the room. It broke and clattered to the floor. Draco screamed at the top of his lungs, the voice buzzing through the walls, and thumped the floor aggressively.
Draco's attention turned to Granger as he slightly slapped her cheek.
"Wake up. You hear me? Wake up."
He felt her heartbeat, something that made his own heart jump. The beat was faint and it was ready to leave soon. No. No. This was not happening. He slapped her over and over, tickled her belly, rubbed her feet, blew in her ears, pulled her hair, but nothing worked. Tears left his eyes slowly and dripped down on her chest. He wanted to get out, but there was no way now. They were trapped.
