The End of the Beginning
Draco woke up in a terrible mood.
There two reasons why.
Number 1. Parkinson. Need he say more?
The night before, Draco had been talking to Blaise and Theodore. He had mentioned about his…outing with Ila, without actually mentioning who it was with, and the two boys were yet again giving him advice.
"What do you want out of this date?" Blaise asked Draco. The three boys were in the common room, lounging in the armchairs. The majority of the students had already gone to sleep, barring a few sixth and seventh years that wanted to cram a bit more revision in.
"What do you mean?" Draco asked, leaning back in his chair.
Theodore, who was sprawled on the couch, lazily casting a spell that created a lasso of fire and was moving it in a circle in front of him, said, "Do you want to have sex with her by the end of it?"
Draco's eyes bulged at his suggestion, nearly choking in his spit.
Now, while Draco had already had sex, considering he was friends with Blaise and Theodore, he might as well been classed as a virgin. A sudden thought bothered him.
Was Ila a…
She has to be. It's not as though there were loads of guys waiting for her. Were there? There was Weasley but anyone can see that he had a thing for Granger. What about the other Gryffindor boys? No, they don't seem the type…
Draco remembered seeing how Cedric Diggory looked at Ila when she came down the stairs during the Yule Ball. He hadn't realised that he screwed his hand into a fist until there was a sharp pain in his hand.
Small crescent-shaped indents formed on his palm.
"Relax Draco," Theodore said, snorting at his reaction, "it's not a big deal. We're fourth years now."
Draco was sure he heard one of the seventh years laugh but looked up to see everyone emotionless.
"How about, even if you don't want to tomorrow, would you ever?" Blaise asked him.
Draco gripped the sides of his armchair. At this point, it felt like everyone was invested. Theodore had stopped making his rope and sat up, while Blaise stared at him intently. It felt like even the sixth and seventh years wanted to hear the answer too.
The only person that didn't was Draco himself.
He did find Ila beautiful.
Sometimes, she should do the smallest of things that caused him struggle to breathe. There was one time, in the Room of Requirement as the two were trying to find more about the Sisters. It was just the two of them. Not just in the room, but in the whole world. Ila was reading something. Draco wasn't sure what it was, but the moment he looked up, he saw her brows knit together and her nose scrunch in confusion. He couldn't do anything but stare at her. He was sure he stared at her for at least ten minutes. Sometimes he wondered if it was possible to be so attracted to a person.
But that wasn't the question, was it?
"…. Yeah," Draco said quietly. "But not the way you two do it…She's different than that."
The two boys smirked simultaneously.
"Right," Blaise said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "When?"
"When?" Draco repeated.
"When," Theodore replied. "Soon? Later?"
"Before or after marriage?" Blaise quipped.
The two boys raised their brows in unison, leaning forward, waiting to hear Draco's answer.
…
"Soon," Draco found himself saying. "But not tomorrow."
The two boys looked slightly disappointed but didn't push Draco's answer at that moment. A few of the sixth and seventh years had started to pack up, making the room even more empty.
"Does she know about this whole thing?" Blaise asked. "Cos if she doesn't…let's just say you don't want to be there."
Theodore snorted at the memory of Blaise and a Ravenclaw from last year.
Draco shifted in his seat. "Well…"
"Have you said anything?"
"No…not really – but -"
"But what?"
"I might have tried…to kiss her."
"How did she react?"
"She didn't kiss me back," Draco muttered, covering his face slightly with his hands, partly out of embarrassment, and partly so that he couldn't see his friend's reactions.
Though, their groans of second-hand embarrassment were enough to know what they were thinking.
"So she doesn't even like you back?" Blaise said.
Just as Draco was about to answer, the doors to the Slytherin Common room. Draco didn't move his hands to know who it was. The shrill laughter was already a dead giveaway. He also hoped, that hiding behind his hands would make him hidden from the girls.
Unfortunately it didn't.
"BLAISE! I need to tell you the funniest story," Daphne's exclaimed, running towards Blaise before finding a space on his lap. Draco could see any remaining sixth or seventh year had disappeared the moment the girls entered the room.
He didn't really blame them.
They had that effect on people.
It was amazing that Blaise was still with Daphne. Draco asked why Blaise was still with her and all he had to say was because she had nice boobs.
This was why Draco knew that Ila was different.
He couldn't get sick of her. And even if he did, he wouldn't want to stay with her, leading her on. She didn't deserve that.
"What's going on here then?" Parkinson said, stopping Daphne and Blaise's conversation. Parkinson took a seat next to Theodore, who instantly got up to sit on Draco's leg rest.
"Nothing," Draco said before looking at Theodore, giving him a look that they'll continue the conversation later.
He got up, telling everyone goodbye before making his way to the boy's dorms.
As he closed the door, something was blocking its way.
It was a foot. Wearing black ballet shoes, with an obvious bow at the front.
Draco slowly opened the door.
Parkinson was standing there, her arms akimbo.
"I thought we were friends," Parkinson said abruptly.
Draco remained silent.
As much as he wanted to tell her the truth, that he hated every time she was around him, it was too much effort. Parkinson pushed past him and entered the room.
Crabbe and Goyle, who were playing a game of exploding snap, whistled, smirking at the sight.
Draco told the two boys to piss off and they obliged.
"What do you want Parkinson?" Draco asked her, once the two boys had left. He started to get ready to go to sleep, taking out his pyjamas and leaving Parkinson to sit on Blaise's trunk, one leg over the other, her arms crossed.
"I want to know why you hate me," she said. Draco stopped momentarily in his search for his clothes.
"I don't hate you," he said through gritted teeth.
"What happened to us?" Parkinson said softly as if they were two lovers, grown apart due to life.
US?
What the fuck does she mean by US?
Draco turned around. "There is no us, Parkinson. Just because I don't hate doesn't mean I'm in love with you."
"That's not what you thought last year," Parkinson huffed.
And there was the crux of the issue.
Last year, Draco had a serious bout of confusion. He wasn't sure what spurred this on. Perhaps it was hearing about Sirius Black's release. Finding out what had actually happened to him. He had overheard his parents talking about it. Hearing about how he was related to Ila, what he had 'supposedly' done to get thrown into Azkaban in the first place and then, how he was framed.
Whatever it was, it had pushed Draco to the edge.
Every time he saw Ila and her friends, he would be constantly reminded of his parents and their allegiance to their supposed saviour of the wizarding race. He would get pissed off, lash out, rant about how stupid Ila and her friends were, to Parkinson, because really, she was on the only one that cared.
Draco just wanted to get it off his chest, but Parkinson must have thought the two were bonding. Draco cringed at the thought. Anyway, all of this unnecessary anger must have been pent up inside of him at a party he was at. The same party that Ila had gone to.
Draco + firewhiskey + anger = being surprisingly hormonal.
He wasn't proud of it, especially since everyone – well, just Theodore and Blaise – thought he would be saving it for that special someone.
Parkinson definantly wasn't that.
Anyway, long story short, Draco was a bit of bitch when it came to telling Parkinson to fuck off before it was too late.
i.e. now.
"You don't think people can change?" he said, finding himself echoing the same arguments he had with Ila.
Draco had turned back around, finally finding his clothes and closed the trunk. At the same time, Parkinson had walked over to him, squeezing her way in front of him.
"I don't get why we can't be together? Our friends wouldn't mind. Nothing would change," Parkinson said, her hands slowly coming off her lap and inching closer to Draco's chest. "If anything, people are already waiting for us to get together."
Draco stared at the hands that were now on his chest, moving towards his top button. He couldn't help but remember the way Ila's hands were like on his chest. It was just last week that he tried to kiss her. Her hands were small, warm. Her fingers were able to delicately pump his heart ever so faster. He would have melted on the spot if his clothes weren't in the way.
Imagine what it would be like without…
He looked up.
Parkinson's face was staring at his. She seemed to be moving closer to him. He gulped.
"I don't want to kiss you, Parkinson," Draco said through gritted teeth.
"Of course, you do," she whispered, her breath tickling his lips. Draco suddenly wished it was Ila that was here, trying to get together with him, trying to kiss him. He wished she would come up to his room. He would imagine what they would do, and a strange sense of blissful vertigo washed over him.
In hindsight, Draco supposed that the intense wanting of Ila to be there instead of Parkinson was what made him react so –
"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" Draco yelled, pushing Parkinson away from him.
She fell onto his bed, a look of shock etched deeply onto her face. Her eyes were brimming with tears. Draco did nothing but stare at her, breathing deeply.
"I told you…I will never be with you, Parkinson. I don't care about how you feel about me. I don't care if we slept together once when we were drunk last year. I don't care if you thought there was something last year. There wasn't. There wasn't and there won't ever be anything Parkinson, I don't fucking like you!"
And with that, Draco grabbed his things and went to the bathroom. Moments after closing the bathroom door, he heard the bedroom door open and close. He looked at himself in the mirror. His usual middle part had spiked up, giving him a strange mohawk. With some water, he slicked it back. For a moment he saw another version of himself, leaning against the wall and smirking right back at him.
Luckily, he hadn't seen yet today.
The second reason was surprisingly Ila.
Yes, the girl he wanted to do nothing more than to pick her up and take her back to his room, was also the thing that made him pissed off. He glanced at his watch for what must have been the fifth time. She was the one who told him to come at 11.
It was now 11:20.
Seeing a figure pass the end of the hallway, Draco bent down and pretended to tie his shoelace, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. He had heard that the statue of the witch had been a secret passageway to Hogsmeade, but he didn't think it was actually true.
"C'mon, c'mon," Draco whispered, untying, and retying his shoelaces again. It wasn't just her being late that made him pissed off.
It was what she told him.
She was stupidly impulsive. How on earth did she think it was a good idea to go to the Forest, the same Forest where she nearly lost her life, without him? While he knew that he wasn't going to be much help, she was at least in his line of sight.
The worst thing was that she didn't even realise just how stupid the idea was.
"I hope this isn't a habit of yours," Draco said, pointing to his watch, showing Ila that he had been waiting in the library, by himself like an idiot, for a whole hour.
"Sorry," she said breathlessly, pouring a stack of drawings onto the table, "I was busy taking Parvati's phone off her."
"Her what?" Draco said before Ila whipped out a…pink device that was bedazzled. She flipped it open, revealing a small reflective square and beneath it…there were letters and numbers.
"It's a muggle thing," Ila said, walking over to his side of the table. She didn't sit down, instead, standing next to him. She reached over, pulling the drawings closer. Draco had smelt her perfume. He closed his hands into his fists just as she straightened.
"Why am I here Ila?" he asked, looking up at her.
"I got these drawings from Mione," Ila said, separating the drawings out to get a better look at them, "and I got this from Parvati. They're both the same thing but…I thought you could look at the markings. Maybe it can give us a clue what the Sisters are planning."
"Oh," was all that Draco could muster, staring blankly at the drawings.
"Well go on," Ila said, pushing his shoulder lightly, "what do you think they did with the…body?"
Draco shrugged.
Ila scoffed.
"What do you mean" – she made an exaggerated shoulder shrug – "I thought you were supposed to know these things. You knew about that symbol in the Quibbler."
Draco shrugged again.
She rolled her eyes, before sitting on the table. "Why are you being difficult? I thought you would have been excited."
"Maybe you forgot, but the only way you managed to get these, was because you risked your and your friends' lives Ila," Draco said, leaning forward. "You really think I would be excited about that."
Ila's expression changed. Something had shifted in her. She sat very straight and still, looking at Draco. "I didn't risk their lives Draco. They weren't in danger."
"I didn't realise you were a fucking seer," he said exasperated. "How could you possibly know that? That thing could've still been alive. Then what?"
"It was four against one. You don't think we could've taken it on?" Ila said, raising a brow.
"In all honestly, no," he replied. "We're fourth years Ila. We barely managed to get it away. The only reason why that thing was dead wasn't even down to any of you. It was Weasley that managed to kill it. Seriously, tell me what you think would have happened if it was alive? C'mon, tell me!"
Ila's hands curled into fists.
"Nothing? Let me tell you then. You would have been taken out one by one. You would've had your stomach ripped open and every single organ would have poured to the ground. Your body would have symbols carved so deep into your skin that the knife would reach your muscles. You would be in and out of consciousness until finally it had mercy on you and slit your throat for you to bleed out!"
"Why the fuck do you care what happened?" Ila said thickly. Her hands were still in fists, her knuckles turning pale white.
"Am I not allowed to care?" he asked, standing up. He stood in front of Ila; his hands placed on either side of her. "Why can't you let me care about you?"
"I said that I already had enough people looking out for me," Ila whispered.
"Like Weasley and Granger? Am I not like them, Ila?"
"No," she said quietly.
"Why?"
"It's different." Ila stared at his forehead.
"Look at me Ila," he said and watched her eyes slowly drag down to his. "Why is it different?"
For the first time, her hands began to relax.
"Before school finishes would be great," Draco yelled as Ila sprinted towards him.
"Shh! Not too loud," Ila said before turning to the statue of the witch and muttered something that he couldn't hear. The next moment, the statue opened slightly, leading to a dark passageway. She glanced left and right before entering. Draco had done the same, being quick to close the door before anyone could see anything.
"Why are you so – Lumos" – Draco's wand lit up the path in front of them – "late this time?"
"I had somethings to take care of," Ila replied. "Lumos."
Now with the double the light, they could see at least another few metres in front of them. The first thing that struck Draco was just how narrow the path was. It could only fit one person width-wise.
"How the fuck did you find this place?" Draco whispered.
Ila waved the map in front of his face, before placing her wand in front of him. "Hold it up for me."
Draco did as he was told and watched over Ila's shoulder as she tried to locate where they actually were and how they were supposed to get out. The map was littered with footprints, from his friends in the Slytherin room, well barring Blaise, and Daphne, who were alone in the boys' dorms…
He made a note to check his bed for anything…suspicious.
He could see Ila's friends at the Quidditch pitch. He could see Dumbledore and Snape in Dumbledore's office. The latter was pacing back and forth. There was something…. strange…
"Do you see that?" Draco asked, leaning forward. It was too late before he realised just how close the two were. She was practically leaning on his chest, while he was a few inches away from her neck. He felt like a vampire, waiting to pounce.
What was wrong with him?
"See what?" Ila murmured, bringing the map closer. "Is someone coming?"
Draco placed his wand in his mouth, bringing his finger down to point at the Dungeons. Specifically, someone who was currently roaming Snape's classroom.
"Moody?" Ila exclaimed. "That's who's been framing me?"
"What does he want with Polyjuice?" Draco asked, taking the wand out of his mouth.
"Who knows? This is the same man that thought the bins were out to get him," Ila said before she started to walk forward.
Draco quickly followed her, making sure one wand was pointed to the map and the other was in front of them. The two were walking in silence for a long time. Draco wasn't sure how long.
Ila knew it had been ten minutes since they were at the entrance, occasionally glancing at Draco's watch that was Infront of her. But for the most part, she kept her eyes glued to the map. Every time she could feel his breath on her neck, she cringed internally.
Not because of him but…more because it reminded her of lots of things. The near kiss they had just last week, their conversation in the library. She was surprised that she allowed herself to come in such close contact with Draco. Especially after how the other two times went.
"It just is," Ila replied, her hand itching towards her ear. Her heart was already beating out of her chest. In her peripheral, she could literally see her heart poking out of her chest. But she didn't want to leave.
For some reason, she liked how lightheaded she felt. She liked that couldn't think properly. Gave her brain a rest from all the other things.
"You're a shit liar," Draco murmured, the corner of his lips twisting up. There were only a few times that Ila saw him smile.
Well, that's not true.
He'd smile all the time; she would catch him bursting out laughing with his friends, but…it was always different whenever he was around her.
It was strange. He was always so confident, boisterous, and annoying at times but whenever he was around her…
He was quiet. He would speak more softly, even if he was annoyed at her. It was like the hard exterior he had in his prior years would melt away the moment Ila was within 10 metres of him.
She didn't mind it.
"How would you know?" she asked. Her eyes moved lower to his nose.
"I know you enough to tell when you lie," Draco answered.
Ila's brows knitted together.
Draco replied, raising a brow up.
He leaned even closer, moving towards her left ear. She moved away slightly as a reflex. "You have a habit of touching your ears," he whispered.
Ila glanced at him.
"I never knew you had a second piercing," he said. Ila could feel his voice vibrate in her ear drums. Once more she clenched her fists, unsure of what to say. "They suit you."
"Do earrings suit people?" Ila mumbled.
Draco moved away from her red-hot ear and back to her face. He shrugged. "But they suit you."
Deep down she knew his crush for her never went away.
And deep down she was glad. Because at this moment, with Draco a mere inch away from her face, she wanted nothing more than to grab his face and kiss him.
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Draco asked for the umpteenth time.
"You can see the map too, can't you?" she grumbled.
"Not really, your hairs in the way," he replied before stopping. "Hang on."
Draco raised his fingers to the nape of her neck. He hesitated. This was what Blaise and Theodore were talking about it; finding ways to touch her without making it obvious. Draco pushed the hair that was resting on her back and moved it aside, towards her left shoulder. Her hair was incredibly soft. Pushing down any thoughts that regard her hair and his hands brushing through it, he looked at the map.
Ila didn't know how long he looked at the map. It wasn't for long because for the entire time they two were silent, she held her breath. She steadied her hands, waiting for him to finish.
"This is us?" he pointed with his finger at their footsteps. How close were they? She noticed that ring on his finger was the same as the one from the Yule Ball. The snake that tried to bite her.
"Yeah," she said, her voice coming out hoarse.
"How long do you think it'll take to get us" – he moved his finger further, making him lean even more forward – "to there."
"Five minutes."
If Ila didn't spontaneously combust by then.
"Right," he said, drawing back his finger and…well himself. And the two carried on walking. Ila was making sure there was a big enough gap between them, so she didn't feel faint again.
What the fuck was going on with her?
"How much longer do we have left?" Draco asked ten minutes later.
"We're right...here," Ila said, putting down the map and seeing the ladder that would lead them to the basement of Honeydukes. Pocketing the map, she turned around and said, "You go first."
Draco looked at her suspiciously. "Why can't you go first?"
"It's rude for girls to go up first," she said, brushing down at her shirt that definantly didn't cover the necessary parts that needed to be covered.
Draco stared at her.
"I thought they taught you this in Pureblood Etiquette," she said quickly.
"Oh," he replied, the recognition burning his cheeks red. He quickly turned around and started climbing the ladder so Ila couldn't notice. "Is that how you think I spend my summers? Learning Pureblood Etiquette 101?"
"I don't know anything about you out of school Draco," Ila said, starting to climb up as well. She made sure there were a few gaps between them just in case an unfortunate accident occurred with her head and his…
"I could say the same thing about you."
"My summers are pretty boring compared to the person who lives in a mansion."
Draco pushed on the door, taking a few peeks to make sure no one was coming before pushing it open fully. He climbed out of the hole.
Ila soon followed. Draco held a handout for Ila. She stared at it momentarily before deciding to take it.
He pulled her up with surprising strength though she stumbled momentarily when she was on the ground. She grabbed on his shirt to keep her balance while his hand snaked around her waist, a familiar place where his hands seems to move every time the two were close. Surprisingly Ila's eyes weren't staring at his.
Instead, they were at eye level with his lips. His vibrantly red lips, perhaps the only colour, minus the colour in his cheeks, that was on his face. It seemed the two wanting to kiss each other was a weekly thing.
"Ila?"
"Hmm?" Ila hummed in response, still staring at his lips.
"It's a manor," he whispered, smirking. "Not a mansion."
"The more you talk," Ila said, looking up at him, before pushing him away, "the more you sound like Hermione." Draco smiled, watching as she walked towards the door. Ila briefly pushed a cold hand against her warm cheeks as she checked to see if anyone was walking down.
She couldn't hear anything so, motioning towards Draco, the two started to walk up the stairs. The two zipped up their jackets, covering the lower parts of their faces. Draco put a hat on, covering his blonde hair while Ila took off her glasses.
"Can you see my scar?" she asked, pushing her fringe around to make sure it was hidden.
"Hang on," Draco said, stepping closer. With a cautious hand, he separated a few pieces of hair from her head and strategically placed them in front of her scar.
Or at least Ila hoped.
She wasn't paying attention.
She was paying more attention to how Draco's fingers lingered on her cheeks for a few more seconds than what was necessary.
"Done?" she whispered.
"Perfect."
Luckily for them, there were enough people to hide behind. There were many families that were roaming around the shop. Many wide-eyed children running around, high on just the fumes of the sweets, while their mothers were also running around, high on the fear that their children would turn into rabid sugar monsters.
Draco and Ila sidestepped crying children, dodged a few shoes being thrown around and jumped over the spilt display that the children were already going through.
"You never finished about how you spent your boring summer holidays," Draco asked once they left the shop.
"I feel like I've told you about this," she said before walking down the road that Hermione had mentioned. "I usually spend them with my auntie and uncle and cousin."
For a day in May, it was completely depressing. The clouds were deeply overcast, allowing little light to come through. In fact, it was so dark that all the streetlamps were turned on. The last time she checked, it was only 2 o'clock.
"The ones that don't like you?"
"If making me spend my childhood in a cupboard under the stairs wasn't enough."
"What do you mean?" he asked with a smile on his face. "They'd lock you up if you misbehaved or something." His smile faltered when she didn't reply. He glanced over at her. She was completely serious.
"I told you this before."
"What? When?"
"New Years," she muttered. "When I was trying to fix your nose."
"Seriously?" Draco replied. "Well…I must've been too angry to remember."
"It was my room for eleven years. It was pretty big for a cupboard. I mean – I could fit a small bed – small enough for ten-year-old me. And…I'm pretty sure that's all you could fit."
"Ila," he said darkly, stepping in front of her.
"What?" she said looked up.
"How are you saying this so casually?"
"I don't know. I don't think it's…. ok, yeah no I can see how it can be quite bad," she said quickly.
"Quite is an understatement," he said as the two started to walk again, "please tell me you don't live there still."
"Oh no, I got upgraded to my cousin's old toy room." Draco narrowed his eyes, looking unconvinced. "Listen, not everyone's room is the size of a fucking dining room. I've got my bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. That's all I need really."
"How big's that wardrobe?"
"Pretty big too. But I don't have that many clothes, so it's only filled…a quarter of the way."
"Wow," he said deadpanned.
"Why?" Ila asked, placing her hands in her pockets after a particularly sharp wind nipped at her fingers. "How big's yours?"
"A room."
"A room?" she exclaimed. "Who needs that much space for clothes?"
"One day, we need to go shopping."
"Right, so apart from shopping for your room-sized wardrobe -"
"It's a big room. It's like a small bathroom-sized wardrobe."
"What else do you do in this manner of yours?" she asked.
"We have our library," he said, glancing around. "I usually spend most of my time reading in there. Sometimes I'll go outside and play Quidditch. Otherwise, I'll usually be out of the house."
"Do you not like spending time in there?"
He shrugged. "Even before the whole…thing, I'd usually get out of my parent's ways. It's just after…I don't know, after coming here, I've spent less time with them."
"Do you think they've realised?"
"I think they think I'm being a teenager and want my alone time."
The two walked once more in silence. They had just passed the Three Broomsticks. Further out, she could just about make the cave that Sirius had been living in. The number of people were beginning to thin out and she was sure that they were heading in the right direction.
"…Do you think John Dawlish would get closure?" Ila asked after a while.
"Depends on how he'll hear about it. I mean, the only people that actually know is us, maybe some people from the Quibbler and Dumbledore."
"Do you think Dumbledore would tell him?"
"I wouldn't trust Dumbledore with that kind of stuff."
"Since when do you know so much about Dumbledore and what he's like?"
"He just doesn't strike me as the person who's great with all that stuff. He's always got a motive. It doesn't matter what it is but…I feel like he'll only do something if it benefits him."
"Are you only saying that cos he made you look into the Sisters?" Ila said.
"Maybe…But…like I said the only way John Dawlish would get closure is if we tell him, the people from the Quibbler or an anonymous letter. And even then, he'll probably want to see the body."
"Where did you even bury the body?" Ila asked.
"It was some village that my father said. Little…Hanging? I can't remember the name."
"Maybe you should send in an anonymous letter about where her body is."
"Don't think people would get suspicious about this anonymous tip?"
"But it's not like they can do anything. If there's no trace, they can't do anything."
"Remind me to never get on your bad side."
"It wasn't me that thought of it. It was Hermione."
"I'm surprised she hasn't done anything to Weasley yet."
"Maybe she's just waiting for the right time," Ila said, walking past the gates that lead to the Shrieking Shack. "Anyway bugsy not me telling him. Not after what he said to me."
"Did you get anymore…things like that after that night?"
"Well…I know you're on somewhat speaking terms with Ron and Hermione, but you can't tell them this," she said quickly.
"Why not? You've got to let people know."
"I'm telling you, aren't I?"
Surprisingly, Draco was flattered at the thought.
"Months ago, before the Yule Ball I had this massive breakdown and I dunno, I put all the bad things in a box in my head and locked it so whenever any of those things end up being the topic of conversation, I just let the box rattle so that none of those…outburst happen."
"So, what happened at the Yule Ball?"
"You caught me on a bad day." Draco laughed. "No but - I don't know it was loads of things. I was trying to figure out what the fuck was going on with you. I was just coming off the First Task high. You Know Who…being You Know Who…it was loads of things that pushed me over."
"Well, the next time that happens, I know to get some hot chocolate on hand….by the way, how did you know that Voldemort was back?"
"…Night of the Cup Final. With the Dark Mark," Ila said, glancing at her feet. She scrunched her hands into fists, stopping them from travelling to her ears.
"But that could have been anyone," Draco said, staring at her.
"Well, all the Death Eaters were shitting bricks when they saw it. Weren't the faithful ones either killed or sent to Azkaban. Some loyal followers," she said as casually as possible.
"But that doesn't prove anything. For all, you knew the Death Eaters could have gotten it wrong."
She glanced at Draco, who knew that she was lying. She gave up trying and sighed.
"Fine….it was during the summer, right before the Cup Final. I had a dream. It was really weird, it was like I was actually there - it was real."
"What happened?"
"It was at some old house…I could see Voldemort…Pettigrew…the Sisters. They were talking about…that I was meant to kill You Know Who unless he asked for the Sisters to help him. I can't remember much but Voldemort wanted them to prove themselves. They opened the door and in came…in came Lauren Dawlish."
Draco stopped walking. Ila looked back at him in concern. "You saw her death?"
"No, I woke up right before."
"Fuck…" Draco said, slowly catching up to her, "when did you realise that it was actually real?"
"When I talked to Dumbledore. It was the night when they are calling out all the Champions. Dumbledore told me about it. I guess it was a bit of coincidence that you picked me to help you."
"I thought you knew because Dumbledore mentioned – I didn't realise…."
"But now that I think about it, who told her?"
"About the meeting?"
She hummed in response.
"Do you think the same person who told her was the same person who told the sisters or something?"
"It might have been someone from the Quibbler."
"The Sisters have been known too ruthless. If someone was making articles about the group…they would've done anything to stop her."
"Didn't they kill her mother?"
"And her cat."
"So why not kill her straightaway?" Ila asked. "I'm pretty sure her cat lived with her."
"Maybe they got scared with John being there too," Draco said. "It's one thing if Lauren went missing, it's another if a high-up Ministry member went missing."
"That's fucked."
Ila stopped in her tracks when she came to a building that she assumed was the Hog's Head. Well, she knew it was.
There was a massive head of a pig that seemed to be smiling, with the words Hog's Head floating below it. Technically it was actually the "og' Hed" but it was close enough.
"Granger went into this place?" Draco said, wiping a finger against the window. His fingertip turned black.
"She said the owner was nice," Ila said, looking through the grimy window. It was covered with too much dust to see through it.
"Whatever," he said, looking left and right, "let's take the potions now."
Draco took out two vials from his trouser pockets. Looking at it, he handed one to Ila before swapping it.
"Who is this?" she asked, opening the lid. The smell had burned a few of nose hairs as her eyes watered. It must've been a Slytherin.
"I dunno," Draco said, staring at the bubbling liquid. "Some seventh years."
"I'm sorry, you don't who these people are," Ila repeated, waving the vial in his face.
"This was from last year. It was either this or go through Snape's stash and get a detention," Draco said. "Besides, Crabbe and Goyle picked them out. If you want someone to blame, blame them."
Ila watched Draco down the drink. He coughed a few times before he slowly stretched out. His jaw widened, his nose hooked slightly, drooping down. His chin was littered with stubble. Draco's brows and hair darkened to jet black. His once grey eyes were now bright blue. Ila stared at the new Draco for a long time.
"Do I really look that bad?" he asked before crouching down in front of the mirror, trying to see the reflection.
"I know who you are," she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "You're the guy Parvati had a crush on! Merlin I made fun of her for it so much…small world…"
"Go on," Draco prompted. "Your turn now."
Ila tipped the vial back without a second thought. She shook her head as she threw the vial on the floor. "It tastes horrible."
"Really?" Draco said smiling. "Mine tasted like dessert."
"Fuck off!"
Ila stared at her hands as they slowly turned white. Her legs had grown in length, while her torso had shrunk slightly. Her hair turned platinum blonde. She too crouched down to see that her eyes had turned green.
"I know who I am," she sighed.
"Who?"
"You're girlfriend."
AN: Sorry for the late update - I had my final exams but I've finished all of them and I now have the summer free. I've finally finished all of the chapters for this story, so expect more updates to come regularly. Please keep reviewing! Thanks for sticking for so long!