chapter 17

When we got back to the house, I went up to my room and called Harry.

''Hello?''

''Hey, it's me,'' I said.

''What did you go and check on?'' he asked.

''Draco gave up what information he could,'' I said.

''Huh?''

''I... I had my suspicions about the Secrecy Enchantment on Draco. And I was right. A few months ago, I got sent a letter confessing to nine other murders, with similar M.O.'s like tonights.'' I explained.

''What does that have to do with Malfoy?'' Harry asked.

''Well, the name that signed the letter was ''Zodiac''. When I -for lack of better term- questioned Draco, he said that ''Zodiac'' is the same person that was at the Spevak's with him'' I said.

''I thought he was under a Secrecy Enchantment?''

''Oh, he is. But you find that someone under a Secrecy Enchantment feels more compelled to tell things they thought fell under the enchantment but doesn't when they're about to drown''

''... wait, what?'' Harry said.

''Nothing, nevermind that. What I need you to do for me, is look up any one with the alias of ''Zodiac'','' I said.

''Wha -''

''Don't ask questions Harry, just do it please?'' I said.

''Uh, yeah, sure, whatever you want,'' Harry said.

''Thanks Harry'' I said.

''Anything for my best friend'' he said.

''I've got to go, I'll talk to you later''

''Alright, later'' he said.

Closing my phone with a slight click, I set if on my nightstand and stood up walking into my bathroom. Running the water, I rubbed cold water on my neck and chest. I couldn't believe that I almost drowned Draco just to get some answers, when I might have just been able to ask. Oh well! I thought, in an overly cheery voice, giving an invoulentary shudder, I changed into a different pair of pajamas, and laid down in bed, deciding to give up on my research for awhile. I rubbed my eyes with my knuckles, causing colored spots to appear on the black surface of my eyelids. I rolled over, pulling my covers up, and slowly fell asleep, hoping for a dreamless sleep. But, I would have no such luck...

I was running hard, barefeet slapping against a cold floor. My breathing was ragged, and my chest was constricting painfully, as I willed myself to keep going. Fear seeped from my pores, vinegar sweat as I pounded down the narrow, black hall. Heat jackhammering against my chest, pumping fever toenails to follicles, blistering braincells and veins. My blood was pumping so loudly in my ears that I couldn't sense much else, except for the immense fear that filled my entire body.

Behind me, I heard the sound of what would be nails on a chalkboard, if it wasn't the blade of a knife against the stone wall, followed by a child's laughter. They say that a child's laugh is one of the greatest gift in the world, I'd like to see them in this situation, running from said laughter. Suddenly the child's voice filled the empty void around me in a sing-song voice.

Miss Mary Mac, Mac, Mac.

All dressed in black, black, black.

She had a knife. knife, knife.

Stuck in her back, back, back.

She could not breathe, breathe, breathe.

She could not cry, cry, cry.

And soon she wished, wished, wished.

That she would die, die, die.

I shot a fearful glance over my shoulder and as I did, I tripped. One foot snagged on the other, and I felt myself crash against the floor.

''My ankle!'' I moaned in pain looking at my ankle. My foot was twisted out at an odd angle,

I heard the child's laugh again, ''Did you hurt yourself Irulan?''. I started crying as I tried to crawl away. I managed to stand against the wall, to ctahc my breath. Closing my eyes, I swallowed hard, before looking down at the black dress I was wearing...

''No!'' I shouted, sitting up and wiping the sweat off my forehead. The door to my bedroom flew open, and Draco ran to teh side of my bed.

''Irulan, are you okay?'' he asked. I didn't answer, I had no idea where I was at that moment. The only thing I did know was that my hand was starting to hurt from gripping the sheets. ''Irulan?'' I heard him sigh, then he put one arm under my knees and the other around my shoulders. I felt him pick me up, and walk out of my room, I started struggling. ''Irulan, stop!'' Draco said.

I could tell that he was about to fall, because once I started struggling, he almost lost his balance. Finally, because of my attempts to get out of Draco's arms, he fell over against the wall. Draco hissed when his back hit the wall, but I had stopped trying ot get away. I was in Draco's lap in the middle of the hall, burying my face in his neck, I felt him take his arm from under my knees and put it around my waist.

''Okay, alright. We'll just stay right here then,'' Draco said. So the both of us stayed in the hallway, in the position we were in. I had fallen into a half-sleep, so I could feel Draco stroking my hairm trying to soothe me as if I was a small child.

And that's what I felt like.

chapter 18

A sharp pain in the left side of my neck is what waoke me up the next morning. When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was in Draco's lap in the middle of the hallway. My neck had a horrible crick in it from being leaned over to the right. I turned my head to the right, and it cracked, loudly, and quite painfully, but that also caused Draco to wake up.

''Hey'' he said, his voice slurred with sleep.

''Hey,'' I replied.

''Are you feeling better?'' he asked, removing the arm around my wait to rub his eyes.

''Why what happened?'' I asked, dumbly.

''You had a nightmare Irulan'' Draco said.

''Oh, I guess I forgot there for a bit,'' I said, laughing lightly to myself.

''I'm worried about you Irulan, I really am,'' he said.

''That's sweet, but I'm more than capable of takign care of myself'' I said kissing him quickly before I stood up. Draco stood up from the floor and crakced his knuckles. ''Um, why don't we take a shower, and after we'll have breakfast''

''Take a shower? Together?'' he said raising an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes, ''there are two bathrooms Draco. You'll do well to keep your mind out of the gutter around me''. With that, I walked into my room and into the bathroom to take a shower. When I got done, I threw on a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt, then dried my hair putting it in a bun at the back of my head.

I walked out of my room and headed downstairs into the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. Behind me, I heard Draco enter the kitchen, he walked up behind me and kissed the nape of my neck.

''What do you want for breakfast?'' I asked.

Draco walked from behind me and sat on the counter, ''I don't want breakfast''.

''Alright, we won't have breakfast,'' I said. ''What do you want then?''

''I'm a guy, what do you think I want?'' he said.

''What did I tell you about that mind of your's Malfoy?'' I said.

Draco smirked, ''what can I say?'' I sniggered to myself and poured each of us a cup of coffee before we sat at the table.

Draco sat on one side, and I sat on the other. We sat in silence for a few minutes, until I looked up, finding him staring at me. ''What?'' I asked.

''Tell me all your secrets,'' he said.

I laughed and glanced across the table at him, ''That's a lot of secrets Draco'' I said.

''Alright, well start from the beginning'' he said.

''Which beginning? Of my life, or from when you met me?'' I asked.

''Alright, I'll narrow it down; Why weren't you at school a lot?'' Draco asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

''That's basically the very beginnig'' I said. ''I was left at an orphanage when I was still a baby. As a child, I was always the one to get really sick, sicker than most other children would. When I turned ten, I got the flu, and then the flu turned into amonia and I had to go to the hospital. The doctors ran tests and found out why I got so sick all the time,'' I explained, staring out the sliding glass door into the backyard.

''Why?'' he asked.

''It had to do with my blood. I had some kind of blood deficency where my body didn't produce enough white blood cells, so my immune system is very weak.'' I said.

''So what did they do?''

''Well, since then I've had a number of bloos transfusions to attempt to up my white blood cell count, but my body rejected it, at least until two years ago, when I had my final transfusion'' I said.

''Who's blood? Anyone I know?'' Draco asked.

''Uh... Harry's actually. Him and I have the same blood-type. I got sick over the summer and I was staying with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Well, we went to St. Mungo's and found out that my body was refusing the blood from the previous transfusion. Somehow they found out that Harry had the same blood-type as me, so I got a final transfusion'' I said.

''But you're better now?''

I smiled, ''yeah, I'm better now''.

''I'm glad'' he said.

''Ugh, I so bored. Wanna go play pool?'' I asked.

''Yeah sure'' Draco said. I took my last sip of coffee and stood up. Draco followed me into the basement and over to the pool table.

''Rack 'em'' I said, tossing the triangle to Draco and grabbing my pool cue.

''Want to make the gma emore interesting?'' he asked.

''How did I know you were going to say something to thay affect?'' I said. ''What did you have in mind?''

''What you get a ball into the pocket, the other person has to strip'' he said.

''You're on. And I'm breaking. Hope you didn't decide to go commando today Malfoy,'' I said walking past him to break the pool balls.

Draco merely smirked, and took aim for the seven ball, which thankfully missed the pocket. ''Damn,'' he said.

I took aim for the four ball and got it into the left side pocket. ''Oh yeah baby! Your rules Draco, you gotta strip!'' Draco sighed and took off his shirt. ''When did you get that?'' I asked pointing to the ring in his right nipple.

''What? You don't like it?'' he said taking aim for his next ball, I only laughed.

The next ball he aimed for, made it in. ''Bastard,'' I said, lifting my shirt over my head.

Draco got better as we continued, and it must've been a long time since I last played because I'm down to boy shorts and bra, while he still has pants on.

''I can show you, you know? How to get the ball into the pocket,'' Draco said moving behind me.

''I know how to play pool Draco,'' I said, feeling his chest press against my bare back. His finger tips lightly brushed against my sides and I turned around. ''I'm really hating you right now''

''That's okay'' he said, bringing his mouth to mine. He lifted me up so that I sat on the edge of the pool table, and I started crawling backwards until both of us were laying on the table.