Chapter 2: Memory
Draco was running in the forbidden forest. Something had scared him. He tripped over something sharp and solid. Getting up, he looked at the rock he tripped over.
It was too big and smooth to be a rock. It had chain seals on it. The stone began to shake. Softly at first, but the shaking grew more violent until the chains snapped off and the stone lifted. It almost fell atop Draco, but he jumped back and it fell to the ground with a bang. Looking back at the coffin, something was climbing out. It looked like a woman.
Her arms were bone thin and she was dressed in a very old dress still kept in perfect condition. A mass of white hair veiled her face. Draco couldn't move. When the woman got out of what he now knew was a stone coffin, he tried to move, but couldn't.
"Augustan, why?" she said. Her appearance was that of an old woman, but her voice was that of a girl no older than Draco was.
She reached out to touch him and Draco bolted. The woman ran after him and grabbed his wrist pulling him back. Draco turned to slap her away and choked back a scream.
Her eyes were blood red and glowing against the light and tears ran down her hallow cheeks. Her fangs were ready to bite. She pulled Draco closer to her. "Augustan, I love you, why would you do this to me?" She lowered her jaws to Draco's neck, ready to bite.
Draco woke with a start. Every inch of him was covered in sweat. Getting out of bed, he quickly cleaned the sheets and headed into the bathroom. He turned the water on and stripped out of his wet clothes.
He berated himself for the nightmare, but every time he thought of it, shivers ran down his spine. Turning off the water, he grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist. He grabbed fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
He took a book and went downstairs to read. But the words didn't process in his brain. Closing the book, Draco leaned back. "It was just a dream," he said to himself, "Just a dream."
"Draco?"
Draco looked up at Pansy. "What are you doing up?"
"I could ask you the same," she said, taking a seat next to him. "Is something wrong?"
Draco shook his head. "It was just a dream, nothing worth talking about."
Pansy frowned. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," Draco assured her, snarling. He wasn't sure why he was snarling at Pansy for being concerned. It was stupid, and yet he still glared at her. Pansy bit her lip and stood.
"Well, alright then," she said. "I'm going back to bed. I just came down because I heard something. Guess I shouldn't have bothered."
Draco said nothing and Pansy stomped back upstairs. Lying on the couch, Draco gazed at the stone ceiling, decorated only by iron chandeliers, and drifted back to sleep.
The stone coffin flashed through his mind again and he wrenched his eyes back open. He sat up and banged his head into something hard.
"Ouch!" he shouted, clutching his forehead. The thing he hit had clattered to floor and he reached for his wand, only to realize that he left it upstairs in the dormitory. He lowered his hand from his forehead. "Who's there?"
"None thou shouldst be concerned with," said a rich, feminine voice. "Please, I'm starving. I need to feed. Will thou not be a kind heart and give me something to feed upon?"
"And risk detention?!"
"What is detention?"
Draco looked at the outline of the person in the dim light. It looked like a girl. "How would you not know what detention is? It's a punishment in which you're assigned to a task to complete and…yeah."
"Odd," she said. "How would doing a task be a punishment?"
"Because it's not something you want to do."
"Oh." There was a slight pause. He wasn't sure what to do to help this girl. Draco got off the couch and walked to the clock. Looking closely, Draco knew that it would be pure suicide to go to the kitchens right now. He doubted that the house elves would be up at three o'clock in the morning.
"Can you wait until morning? You could probably join me and my classmates in the Great Hall. Er…who are you anyway?"
"Oh!" she said, startled. "Forgive me for not being polite and introducing myself first. I am the daughter of Headmaster Godric Gryffendor, Octavia."
Draco laughed. "Right…you're Octavia Gryffendor."
"Why dost thou jest?"
"If you're really Octavia Gryffendor, you'd be at least a thousand years old."
The girl who claimed to be Octavia was silent. "A thousand years? Pray tell, what year is it now?"
"1997."
"But then…Father is…"
"Godric Gryffendor's been dead for centuries," Draco said. "And supposedly, his daughter was locked away in a coffin somewhere near the school. If she's still alive, she'd be there."
"But the seal came off! I was freed from my sleep! I even stayed away from humans, feeding only on animals—not unicorns, of course, but still!"
She began to cry. Loudly.
"Sshh!" Draco said, panicking. "Do you want to wake the house?!"
"Be silent," she shouted. Draco jumped back. "I have every right to be upset! My father is dead! I didn't even get to tell him goodbye or apologize for my folly!"
"Folly?" Draco asked. "Oh…you mean your rondevouxs with your old boyfriend, Augustan."
Octavia stopped crying, and looked at Draco. With speed that Draco had never seen before, she was in front of him. Red eyes, redder than blood, bore into him. He wanted to take a step back, but was already against the wall. "Never," she hissed. "Mention him to me. He stole everything from me and made my father hate me."
"I thought it was because your father loved you that he couldn't kill you," Draco said.
"For love he couldst not take my life. For the protection of his precious school he imprisoned me. I'd rather he had driven a stake into my heart that shall never beat again. That would have been love, to have killed me, but no. My father did not love me after I became a daughter of the night and decided that I would sleep forever—never to be released." She spat the last four words as if they were venom.
Draco wanted to run. However, he wondered, if he did would Octavia chase him? He wasn't sure what else to do. "You've been living on animals for how long?"
"A long time," Octavia said. "A little boy with sweet smelling blood broke the seal and freed me. It was his scent that woke me. But I didn't want to scare him because he was already scared. I could smell the fear off of him. I think his name started with an M."
Draco blinked. Well, that narrowed it down considerably. Anyone could have a name that started with M, both first and last. Hell, he thought, it could be me.
"Thou didst not give thy name in return," Octavia lectured.
"Oh, right. Sorry. I'm Draco Malfoy."
"Malfoy? That name sounds right…Could I taste your blood?" she asked. "Just to make sure," she added hastily.
Draco blinked. Well…what's the harm? "It won't turn me into a vampire right?"
"No, I don't think so," she said. "Not if I take thy blood from thy wrist."
Draco took a breath and held out his arm. "Here, not all of my blood now."
"I thank ye," Octavia said, taking Draco's wrist in her hands. Draco tried not to pull back. Her touch was like ice. She fastened her jaws on his wrist and Draco felt the fangs puncture him. He winced and his vision blurred.
"Hello, child," Draco saw a man with long brown hair and bright red eyes in an old style wizard robe approach him. "Dost thou know the way to the inn?"
"Of course, sir," Octavia's voice answered from Draco's throat. "Follow me."
The vision blurred. The man was still there, but now he was at the Three Broomsticks.
"Lady Octavia, thou art ravishing this fine night."
"I thank ye," Octavia answered, again from Draco. "I am glad thou could come in such haste. Sir Augustan, I want to know why thou hast not kissed me yet."
The man—Augustan—smirked. "Thou art still a child, dear Octavia. If thou so wish it, when thou hast become a full grown woman and no longer under your father's tutelage at the school—may it be a great success for many years to come—then I will grant you a kiss."
His vision blurred again.
This time, he was in Augustan's embrace. "Octavia, live with me for eternity," he whispered in Draco's ear.
His jaws clamped down on Draco's neck and Octavia screamed. Draco tried to wrench himself free from Augustan. Everything went black and when the vision returned, Draco was on the ground, covered in blood.
He woke up on the couch, tired and dizzy. Octavia was no where to be found. Rising, Draco felt his vision blur and he laid back down. His arm felt numb and heavy. He raised it and looked at his wrist. Two puncture marks were on his wrist.
So I was visited by a vampire who claimed to be Octavia Gryffendor.
Draco turned on his side and looked around the room. No one was there. The clock began to sing. Draco maneuvered himself to look at the clock. He felt too tired to do anything regarding classes. It was Transfiguration, which was usually began at ten thirty and ended at twelve. It was eleven thirty.
Draco went back to sleep, wondering what he was supposed to do now. He couldn't go to the Hospital Wing. He'd pass out before getting there. Instead, he just closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.
When Draco woke again, it was fifteen after noon. Millicent was there. She smirked.
"Guess we didn't need to get you a prince huh, Sleeping Beauty?" she joked.
"What's going on?"
"Well," Millicent said. "Blaise said to let you sleep because you were tossing and turning and had trouble sleeping all night, and you were so peaceful no one felt right waking you for school. We let Professor Snape know that you had a rough night so he talked to the teachers and though some of them wanted to wake you up brutally, he kept them off you. End of story. Ready for afternoon classes?"
"No," Draco mumbled. "I feel really sick."
"You look sick. I've never seen you look so ill before. What did you do? Eat dragon dung?"
"Shut up," Draco mumbled, "I'm dizzy, is all."
"Don't get a cockney accent too quick now. A house elf will be by with food soon. Eat it and see how you feel after that."
Millicent left.
Draco began to wonder what happened to Octavia after she drank his blood, but otherwise went back to sleep.
Sorry for the long wait-I was hoping for A) more reviews and B) another chapter to be finished. Oh well.