Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 36
"I know he's been coming to see you." Sir said as his large, warm hands grasped for her small body. She crawled backwards as quickly as she could but he caught her ankle. "Otherwise you would still want me." He whispered into her hair as he crushed his weight down onto her. "He must be fucking you real good." His words made her ear prickled and her stomach flip; putting Draco with the things Sir did to her had never even occurred in her mind. Had they occurred to Draco? Sir was crouched on the ground with the girl's back to his chest, his fingers wandered to her still hairless entrance and forced their way in violently. The action kicked the nerves in her knee against her will, she fell forward just slightly under the pain, dropping more of her weight onto the fingers and driving them farther inward. Sir let out a seething cackle from behind her. "You think that hurts? Wait until you see what he has in store for you." He withdrew his fingers, sharp nails dragging along her insides mercilessly.
Forcing her to her knees took no effort on his part. Her hands caught the ground, leaving her on all fours. Sir tangled one hand in her hair and pulled, just before pushing into her with full force. Silent sobs welled in her throat, but she fought them back and let him establish rhythm. The taunts were far worse than the pain of her small buttocks becoming accustomed to such size.
"This is how he would take you. It's the same way he's been taken." His panting voice let the words ring out as though he found them expensive or luxurious gifts for her good.
"He watches us and wishes he was me, all he wants is to screw you." He threatened as he pushed with more weight than before. She remained silent, tearless, and held her breath. His new favorite practice was to tell her that Draco didn't really care about her, but now, as his father heaved out exerted breaths just behind her, as he put forth every effort to drive home his own twisted thought in the form of sodomy, she couldn't help but pray that Draco would never want to hurt her like this. Sir's pace slowed, he was almost done, he always slowed and pushed harder for the last few thrusts, before collapsing to catch his breath.
When he was done he drew her back to him, tightening the grip on her hair as he forced her to go down on him,
"I'll never let him have you. You belong to me, and the only way you'll leave this place is dead." He said just before emptying himself into her mouth and getting up to leave. She spat the cum onto the ground in front of him and spoke in a determined but weak voice,
"You can kill me, but you can't stop him from loving me."
"I hope you enjoyed those words bitch, they'll cost you. Or better yet, they'll cost him, I'll tell a friend to play with him instead of you." Sir said before raising the back of his hand and forcing out a swing that left her seeing black spots until long after he had gone.
Illy ran water over her face in the bathroom to shake off the feeling of warmth on her cheek. She shuttered a little bit at the thought of sitting down to breakfast after a dream like that, but closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Draco gets home today." She reminded herself as she turned back towards her trunk. She chose to skip her morning run, in favor of covering all of her bruises with makeup. It took several minutes to gather the courage to put on one of the outfits Draco had purchased for her, so far she had avoided them when Harry might be around, but she convinced herself that she needed to make up for showing up on her shopping trip clothed in a sweatshirt, and so snow boots, a mini skirt, and a tight fitting sweater were carefully selected and put on. It was the first time in quite a while she had let herself get ready with Draco in mind, partly because of Harry, and partly because whenever she woke up with the thought of wowing him in mind it ended up taking an extra hour of preparations he would later call pointless. The makeup was painstaking; she had bruises from her thighs to her throat, not to mention that covering sleeplessness wasn't exactly a cakewalk, but she came away from the hour and a half of morning chores with by far, the best looking reflections she had seen since the night she went out with the twins.
Winter break breakfast was always loud, and crowded. People pushed and squeezed through narrow isles to see their friends for the first time in several weeks, and while most people might imagine the crowd would disappear after a wave of arrival, it didn't. Everyone kept shifting to see someone else, or to greet someone who had just showed up late due to a parent drop off, so Illy was surprised when she found out that Christian had actually saved several seats at the Slytherin table, in their normal spots.
His smile was sickeningly suggestive as he looked her over,
"Fuck me for ever leaving. I missed this." He said as he gave Illy a hug. She laughed freely and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I miss you too, even thought your gift was almost ripped to shreds by my boyfriend." She said as they took their seats.
"Speaking of which…" He pulled a Santa hat from his side bag and started to put it on her head.
"Hell no! That thing could very well be carrying AIDS." Illy squealed as she tried to get away from Christian.
"You know you want it!" He teased as their banter continued until Jacky and Dolan emerged from a nearby crowd. Both boys opted to climb over the top of the table to give out hugs to Illy and Christmas greetings to one another, rather than to take the impossible roundabout walk to the other end of the table and back.
"Did you two spend your break together?" Illy asked as she started to serve herself eggs and toast. Everyone's eyes were immediately drawn to her plate.
"No, just rode here together." Dolan answered distractedly as Illy began to eat her eggs. Silence crept up on the group quickly, as the boys sat motionless, watching her eat.
"Excuse me, but are you voluntarily serving yourself real food and eating without Draco forcing you to?" Dolan finally asked.
"No of course not, she's just storing it in her cheeks to keep for later." Jacky shot back sarcastically.
"Yeah, Draco got to me. I guess eating's not so bad after all." Illy responded with a shrug. The statement seemed to be enough for the boys and they were soon piling food onto their own plates with veracious enthusiasm that was only spared on Jacky, who just pointed and had Dolan serve him every time that Christian looked away. Illy shot a quick glance towards Harry, and was glad to find that he was talking to Neville, who was describing something with animated hand signals. Illy returned her vision to the table before her and continued with her breakfast.
"His Dad should be dropping him off any minute now." Jacky answered Illy's unspoken question.
"I didn't even ask yet Jacky. Who says Draco's what I was thinking about?"
"The fact that you knew who he was talking about did." Christian said with a roll of his eyes.
"Speak of the devil…" Dolan said as he glanced to wards the door. Illy was out of her seat before she turned around, running towards Draco who still didn't spot her until a fraction of a second before she threw two arms around his neck. The impact would have sent Draco to the floor had the wall behind him not been there. Her fingers laced around his neck as she crushed her body into him full force, squeezing the air from his body.
"I missed you…" She struggled to come up with words that could describe the feeling.
"As much as I miss oxygen right now." Draco said with a smile. Illy released her death grip and looked up at him with a grin. "It was almost enough to kill me; the feeling was mutual." He said before wrapping his own arms around her waist. She buried her face in his chest as he pushed his feet under hers to add an inch or so to her height so that he didn't have to strain to plant a kiss on her head. He smiled once before releasing her, taking her hand, and ushering her from the great hall.
"I'm so glad you didn't put off coming back until tonight or something."
"Are you kidding? You would have killed me." He chuckled as they walked a little ways towards the door. "So, should we just get it over with a head strait for my bed, or continue with tradition and have passionate near sex in the hallway, because I'm game either way."
"Shut up!" Illy said with a giggle as she punched Draco in the arm. He laughed and gave her another quick hug before leading her outside.
"You look great." He said in a half whisper as he lightly ran his hands over the curve of her waist.
"I've gained a total of six pounds, and it's all going straight to my ass." She said with a little smirk.
"None sense, it's most definitely dropping to your thighs." He quipped. She took a seat on the nearest bench and waited for him to join her. "So I see you're wearing the clothes I got you."
"One more bit of money you wasted this Christmas." She replied as she rolled her eyes.
"I've never wasted a thing on you're over priced ass."
"Except your charm." They both laughed nervously and looked down towards their laps. Draco swallowed when he realized that he was still holding her hand. Her polished, black, fingernails shown in contrast to his pale skin as he rubbed a thumb back and forth across the back of her hand. He gave it a light squeeze and dropped it.
"Except my charm." Was all he could whisper back. His eyes remained downcast, even though he could tell she had caught sight of the person who had been following them since he stepped foot in the great hall. He could feel her pulse increasing without even touching her skin. It didn't feel right, this wasn't excitement racing through her veins, it was fear. Only then did he turn his face up to look at Harry Potter, as he took the last few steps towards Illy.
"Come." Harry's cold voice instructed. Illy glanced back at him before dropping her gaze to the ground.
"Harry, we're talking." She said in a weak voice.
"You can do that in front of me." He replied sternly. She looked desperately into Draco's eyes. She was begging him to exert some sort of power over Harry; power that he had spent the last three years trying to come up with.
"Potter I just got back. Give us a few minutes."
"She doesn't need to be seen with the likes of you. And besides she's been talking to you for the whole break on those stupid black boards." He snapped. Illy started to get up, but Draco pulled her back to her seat with a light hand on her shoulder. "Are you forcing my girlfriend to stay here with you?" Harry demanded.
"No, I'm defending my best friend to her oppressive ponce of a boyfriend." Draco shot back.
"It's fine Draco. I'll see you tonight." She put an emphasis on 'tonight' and not just for Draco, it was a double edged sword. It gave Draco a reminder of the fact that they lived together, and it was a slap in the face for Harry. She was just telling him again that he was the one she went 'home' to every night. He could feel the anger flare in his fists as they balled. He had been good enough not to fight with her too much about her ridiculous rules on what he could and couldn't do to her, but now she was practically telling him that she planned to fuck Draco Malfoy.
"Get up right now." Harry ground out through clenched teeth as he reached for Illy's hand. His grip was painfully tight as he pulled her back towards the castle. He didn't even check to be sure that they were completely out of sight before rounding on her. "You're going to fuck him!" Harry accused.
"What? No I'm not!" Illy shouted back incredulously.
"You are. You just said 'I'll see you tonight.' Don't think I'm so stupid that I don't know what's going on!" He screamed. The students that were within hearing distance quickly cleared the halls at the sight of Harry Potter's sudden, scalding anger. No one was ready to see something like that come from him.
"Nothing is going on Harry. Now just stop it." Illy said calmly before turning to walk away. Harry caught her arm and spun her back around right into his fist. His knuckles on her cheek felt ludicrously satisfactory. The soft give of her flesh when he pushed against it full speed was just what he hand been wanting all week. Illy was stunned, but, to his surprise, she didn't cry or even back away. She took the punch as though it were nothing. She whimpered at most of his slaps and hair pulls but now she was calm, as though she was punched in the side of the face everyday. Her hand gingerly found its way to her cheek. Illy dropped the hand upon confirming the growing bruise.
"I've warned you before not to talk back to-" Her hand found his cheek before he could finish, leaving his face with a red, stinging print.
"Let the fuck go of my hand." Illy said as she pulled on her wrist. Harry tightened his grip. "I'm sick of your bullshit Harry. You slap me around all the time but this is enough." She tugged harder against him. He put both hands over the arm to keep her from pulling loose. "I will scream." She said in slow determined words.
"No you won't." Harry said slowly. "You won't because for some reason you need me to make you unavailable to him." He said with sudden realization of the silent thoughts passing through her mind.
"Harry I can find someone else." She responded as she pulled again. He let go with one hand so that he could use it to hit her again. The slap wasn't that hard but she shouldn't have been able to ignore it like she did.
"What? Doesn't hurt when I hit you?" He asked with heated irritation.
"You hit like a girl." She whispered as she narrowed her eyes.
"Filthy bitch." Both hands went around her neck as he jerked her head. Illy remained calm, slowly, steadily, inhaling through her restricted windpipe. Harry's furry built with her resistance. He pushed both of them towards the wall behind them and shook her head against the stone with brutal force. "I could kill you, you stupid whore!" His words sounded muffled to her through the sounds of her skull smashing against the stone wall. Illy reached out both arms for Harry's shoulders to steady herself before moving to send a knee into his groin. He caught her knee just before it drove home, and pushed her to the floor. "I could finish you!" He shouted at the now only semi-conscious girl. 1Illy could feel the spots of black cloud her vision. She did her best to focus on the calm feeling that had been bubbling up like cold water in her stomach. He couldn't hurt her. He couldn't hurt her. He couldn't hurt her. The mantra repeated through her mind as she grasped for awareness of her limbs. Slowly her body was checking out, one bit of leg and arm, then her pelvis and her chest, now her stomach, and her neck. Harry continued with exasperation to kick at her ribs, only to find his foot bounding back as though it was hitting a wall. The adrenalin was wearing off and he could feel his toes hurting beneath his shoes. The flicker of purple light around her body startled him so much he almost fell over. Illy's swirling, colorful eyes opened suddenly and the thin vapor of deep purple spread. Harry was tripping over himself in the direction of the great hall before he knew it. Illy's vision finished clouding over with black and she could feel her body fall back to the ground roughly before she passed out.
"If you or Illy end up here carrying the other one more time I'm going to have someone investigate what the two of you do with your free time." Madam Pomfry threatened Draco.
"I wasn't even there for whatever happened this time. She was just passed out in the hallway. She walked off with Harry and the next time I saw her she was like this." Draco explained partly to himself.
"Well…I guess I'll call Snape, Dumbledore, Lupin, and McGonagall back in here. They have a meeting every time she gets sick like this, so if you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it if you could go get them." Draco looked down at Illy's bruised face. The knuckle imprints were clear in their dark blue rings against the purple of the rest of her face. Her hair was matted with blood. This wasn't like usual, someone did this.
"I guess I can go…" He said with quiet struggle in his voice.
"N-No." Illy's stutter startled both Madam Pomfry and Draco. Her fingers moved to the edge of the bed where Draco's hand was resting. Two of her fingers wrapped around his thumb, like a child clinging to their parent.
"I'll stay." He told her as he crouched down to be eye level with her. "Just tell me who did it." He whispered. Illy squeezed her eyes shut, as though she was wincing in pain.
"Mr. Malfoy, she's more exhausted than she is hurt. I promise you, this could be from a seizure. She does have a knack for passing out and getting sick suddenly, she could have just taken a nasty stumble."
"She was fighting with him!" Draco half shouted back to the witch.
"Mr. Malfoy, please lower your voice." She hissed back. "You are accusing the boy who lived of beating up his girlfriend rather loudly."
"That is quite a heavy accusation Draco." Lupin's voice rang from the doorway. "I've already sent for everyone else." He told Madam Pomfry. She nodded once before casting a glare towards Draco and leaving the three alone. "You can go now." Lupin told Draco.
"Fuck off." Draco spat back as he pushed his fingers through Illy's. "I'm not leaving her alone with friends of his."
"I am impartial to students Draco. And if it makes you feel better Professor Snape will be here soon." Lupin said calmly.
"I don't care if you bring her parents down here, I'm not leaving." Draco said firmly as he moved even closer to Illy.
"We'll see what Dumbledore has to say about that."
"I think it's rather noble of him." Dumbledore said with a smile.
"I don't care about noble. I'm not going to let her be on her own."
"I'm fine with that. Anything that she's willing to let your hear is her own business. Just as long as you don't interrupt us or repeat anything we talk about." Dumbledore said with a wistful smile.
"A little help." Illy requested as she tried to push herself up into a sitting position. Draco immediately propped her up and took a seat on the edge of her bed, with her hand still clasped in his.
"Now, I think that we can all see that Miss Enquirous is not only here due to some sort of mental exertion, but also due to her physical injuries, of which Madam Pomfry informs me there are many." These words jerked Draco's attention away from the adults encircling Illy's bed and to Illy herself, who was now trying to pull her shirt down at its sleeves. Draco took her hand lightly in his and pulled the sleeves up. Illy closed her eyes and bit her lip as Draco licked his thumb and proceeded to rub at the spots that still showed bits of grey beneath the makeup. The bruises ran up as far as he pulled the shirt, and centered in a deeply purple ring around her wrist. It looked as though she had been banging her own hand against a table top. Blotches of black and blue dotted the injury that, when Draco tested it, was just slightly smaller than his own hand wrapped around her wrist.
"That fucker." Draco whispered.
"Language please." McGonagall scolded, but Draco wasn't even paying attention. He was pulling the sheets up from the bed to inspect Illy's legs. No bruises there.
"You can stay there or you can pull the curtain shut, but she's got more of these and I'm going to look at them." Draco said in a quiet voice. Dumbledore nodded to Snape and everyone but the black haired professor stepped back behind the curtain as Draco started to peel the clothing off of Illy's body while she did her best to will herself into sleep. He gave up in inching her skirt up and started to unbutton it.
"Ahem." Snape cleared his throat and shook his head 'no'. Draco flipped him the bird and continued.
"She never wears thongs with skirts…or at least not with short skirts." Draco informed the teacher as he slid the denim gently down her legs and tossed it to the floor. Bruises ranging from black to yellow, softball sized to the ping-pong ball dotted her thighs and hips, and even showed from the edges of her underwear. "See, boyshorts." Draco said to Snape, who was now doing his best to avert his gaze without leaving Draco unattended. Next her shirt slipped off over her head.
"Put your arms up Killy." Draco instructed. She did so without opening her eyes. The same ample bruises were all over her ribs, back, and near her breasts. "Are there more underneath there?" Draco asked as he tugged lightly on her bra strap. Illy nodded yes and looked down. Draco sighed and pulled the bed sheet up around her before turning back to Snape.
"They can come back now." He said in a soft, broken voice. The curtain rod clinked as it opened again to let the teachers and headmaster through.
"Damage report." Lupin shot towards Draco.
"She's covered all over her shoulders, arms, breasts, and hips in bruises, along with a few nail marks on her wrists and inner hip. This isn't some falling over accident bullshit. Her boyfriend is hitting her."
"We don't know that, we have to ask her." McGonagall said kindly, but firmly.
"Ike, who gave you all these bruises?" Snape asked quietly. Illy remained silent and leaned her head into Draco's chest. Draco draped an arm around her and faced the adults.
"She's protecting him."
"Draco, I understand your concern, but you're throwing some pretty serious accusations towards a student with no violent past." Lupin said.
"Bullocks! He beat the fuck out of me last year." Draco retorted.
"Why did he do that?" Lupin asked, as though he knew that Draco's face would turn red and his mouth would shut the second the question was posed.
"Mr. Malfoy, the point is that unless Killious is willing to come forward we can't do anything. Now I don't think we're going to get much out of Miss Enquirous, so why don't we just let her sleep." Dumbledore said with a finishing force that killed the conversation. Everyone nodded and headed out of the room.
Draco slid down in the bed and took Illy with him, careful to leave himself out of the sheets. Her breath became steady as her stomach rose and fell, pinning Draco beneath her head until she woke up again, which was fine with him. If he was free to walk around at the moment he just might go find a good way to make Harry Potter's death look like an accident.
"Stupid, filthy, bitch!" Sir screamed as he grabbed at the girl's arm tightly. She tried to pull away, but his grip only tightened on her arm, threatening to snap it in half if she didn't stop struggling.
"Now he's gone and called someone to take you away." Sir lifted her into the air by her arm, only to drop her back to the hard ground and kick her square in the stomach, the contents of which spilled all over the floor. He put a boot to the back of her head and forced her face into the bile.
"Don't think that will mean escape, I'll come find you, and I will kill you." He said the last few words as though he were answering a question. When he lifted his boot her head bobbed back up from the floor, only to have him plant a kick that lined up perfectly with her mouth and knocked her back across the floor. The skid took skin with it as she went.
"But before they come, you won't want to move." He took out his wand. "Sectumsemptra!" He shouted, before sending several ribbon like gashes across her face, and torso. She curled into a ball, as though she was keeping her organs from spilling out.
"You turned my son against me!" He shouted the words with anguish as well as loathing as he stomped down on her good leg, crunching the bone inside. He seemed to enjoy the sensation beneath his foot because soon after he did the same to her ribs. Suddenly there was shouting from above them. Sir narrowed his eyes on her,
"I guess this is goodbye." He whispered as he withdrew a knife from his pocket. The blade slipped through her wrists like butter, from left to right and back again. Sir stood up and turned to leave,
"Lucious your house will fall by me, and your son will fall to his knees for me." She promised before another figure practically broke the door down. 2
Illy woke up with a small start before realizing where she was. Draco was breathing lightly beneath her head, obviously in a lull of sleep. She curled her fingers around his shirt before nodding off once again.
Thunder rolled in violent sounds just outside the large glass windows as she lay in bed, listening to the pitter patter of rain, and watching lighting split the sky with purple and white light. Her door groaned open slowly. She bolted upright in seconds, looking to see if the intruder was young or old.
"Can I sleep in here?" Came Draco's small voice. She sighed in relief.
"Of course, but do you have a reason this time?" She asked playfully.
"The thunder scares me." He said mischievously as he crawled into her bed, warm looking flannels clinging to his hips but not his shirt.
"Bullshit. 'I'm cold' might have worked better. It's hailing some out there and you have no shirt on."
"You can keep me warm." He responded as he started to kiss her shoulder.
"What if your dear old dad comes to check on you?" She asked him as she brushed the hair from his face. He looked up at her with his biggest puppy dog eyes.
"I really came because the thunder reminds me of you. That day out in the field when we were younger…we weren't together then, you almost let me kiss you. It was the closest we came that summer, it almost killed me. I spent the night lying on the shower floor."
"With the cold water turned on. The next morning you were blue and I let you stay in my bed all day."
"So now I want to stay all night." He said before slipping the strap of her camisole from her shoulder. She didn't protest as he pushed the shirt past her breast and began to place small suckling kisses over its nipple. Finally she let out a soft giggle.
"I've told you I'm ticklish." She said in a huff as she pushed him away.
"Your laugh is my second favorite sound. And the first might just wake the house up, so I restrained myself." He said as he pried the strap back from her fingers to drop it down and proceed with kitten-licking in lieu of kissing. She lifted his face up by his chin and leaned in for a kiss, swirled with tongues and nibbles of teeth. Suddenly he went rigid as she slipped a hand inside of his pants and wrapped her fingers gently around his member, stiffening it within the second.
"I'd prefer the second sound. We would shame our poor teachers if we couldn't even figure out how to use a silencing charm." He moved from his place by her side, to straddle her, pressing his erection against her panties and pulling both of her hands above her head with one of his own.
"Whatever you prefer." He purred. 3
This time Illy's shot awake beside Draco, shaking with a cold sweat.
"Where the fuck is a blanket." Draco's voice rang from the dark.
"End of the bed." Illy said as she grabbed at the blanket and pulled it up around both of them.
"You have weird fucking dreams." He said suddenly, once they had settled back into comfortable spots.
"What?"
"Your dreams, they're fucked up."
"How would you know?"
"Well I did read that journal thing but…that was far worse in person than on paper." Illy moved away from him, turning on her side in the opposite direction.
"You could see them?"
"We were touching…I think it has something to do with the clairvoyance thing…but…I don't think other people would see them. You blacked out things you didn't want me to see. Like her body in the first dream, it was fuzzy, I could still tell she was naked, but the only things that really showed up were parts of her he hurt. And the last things she said to him…"
"You saw the second one too?" She asked incredulously.
"That one was quite a bit more enjoyable."
"I can't believe you saw that." She said, sounding thoroughly abashed.
"That's the one you're embarrassed about? All I missed of that one was what I said thunder reminded me of."
"So…do you see them from my perspective?" She was now turned back to face him.
"I think so…I'll admit that it was a little bit kinky to have me lick my own breast, almost as kinky as sticking my hand down my pants."
"Yeah that would be my perspective." She sighed and started to turn her back to him again.
"Stop that, we're going to figure out what all of these things mean together." He said as he snaked an arm around the sheets that she was still wrapped in, pulling her nearer as he did so.
"I don't invade upon your dreams…how would you feel?"
"On most nights, it would be nice to know that someone is cataloging my fantasies involving yourself."
"Ugh, Draco!" He laughed at her reaction and pulled her head back to his chest.
"I'm just kidding. I don't usually remember my dreams, so I don't know how I'd feel, but I'd rather have you looking at them than anyone else." He said in a whisper, before they both slipped back into sleep.
1 Illy's first experience with a force field
2 Narcissa enters here, Lucious leaves with her to yell and Draco, and while they fight Snape arrives
3 Second vision involving future Draco
