Nathaniel found himself pacing the common room of Slytherin once again. This time he was sure that he would walk his feet right off. It was all he could do to keep from cracking. This was all his fault after all. Alle would be safe if he hadn't gotten sick. Everything he saw reminded him of her. Any piece of jewelry was that bracelet she always wore. The smell of fresh flowers brought back memories of her smell of rose. It was his fault. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. "Arg!" he yelled, banging his fists against the mantel of the fireplace.
"Woah there, cousin, no need to take your failure of a lost romance out on the poor common room," the Lestrange boy snickered walking up to Nathaniel.
"Shut up, you whore," Nathan spat, not turning to face the other boy.
"Woah, that's some wild language, my dear. You are pretty upset. No wonder she was so easy to persuade." This statement made Nathaniel pause.
"Persuade?" He turned to face his cousin.
"What? You didn't think that she would go to that bathroom all on her own, without any, how should I put this, encouragement." He smiled.
"You slimy little son of a bitch!" Nathan yelled, drawing his wand and holding it to his cousin's throat.
"There there, Nate. You know it was all in good spirit. All I had to do was threaten to tell her that you two had been canoodling and she was an easy target. An expensive target too. The dark lord will be proud of my work, bringing down the most powerful mudblood at Hogwarts." Nathan squeezed his eyes shut before stumbling backwards where he landed on a sofa.
"One day, Dexter. You're going to find someone who makes you happy and I will show you how it feels to fail them." Dexter opened his mouth to respond, but was quickly cut off by an entering Professor Snape.
"Mr. Malfoy, you are needed at once." He eyed Dexter with his glistening black eyes before ushering the other boy out of the common room and toward the hospital wing.
The walk was long and awkward, Snape refusing to answer questions until they arrived at their destination. Nathaniel was nearly petrified upon entering. There laid Alle Jones on a cot. He stepped closer, noting her tired eyes and half smile. Same old Alle. But something was off. There was a certain unease in the air.
"Severus, I don't understand how this will help matters," Professor McGonagall exclaimed, her arms crossed as she swayed back and forth.
"Give him a chance, Minerva," Dumbledore cut in. "We know she must have left something." Confused, Nathan looked back down at the girl for as long as he could. Her right arm was bandaged heavily with the gesture that she used to hold her wand clearly being held out. He would always tease her about it, saying that she looked like she was a teacher pointing to something with her index finger sticking out. But it was the other hand that he found more curious. It was almost a fist, with a little opening.
"What was in here?" He asked quietly, interrupting the arguing adults.
"This," McGonagall said solemnly, pointing to a tray on which laid Alle's bright red lipstick. The cover was missing and even then Nathaniel could tell something about it looked different.
"Professor," he began addressing the only lady present, "does this lipstick look used to you?"
"Well yes, of course Mr. Malfoy, but I don't see how that's relevant in this matter." She eyed him nervously.
"It can't be," he murmured. "She's only ever used this once and I dare say that the damage to this looks to be far more than one use." He paused. "She's used it to write." The adults glanced at one another nervously before nodding.
"Lead the way," Snape said. So they walked back to the bathroom where Alle had been petrified, this time ready to look for clues. Upon entering Nathaniel was disappointed by what he saw, he didn't know what he expected, red lettering across the mirror? No, she would have hidden it.
"Check under the sinks and in each of the stalls, she must have left something somewhere," He ordered. Then they began looking, leaving no stone unturned until finally they all heard Professor McGonagall exclaimed, "Bloody hell she's done it." Which caused them all to take turns crowding into the small stall to see the red letters scrawled in lipstick.