Where The Beginning Of The End Begun

Chapter 10-

Over the last few weeks I have been constantly trying to talk to Adelaide but she just won't hear it.

I've been owling my mum more than usual, in desperate need of her advice. I even owled my aunt Rosalie once or twice. She had told me not to worry too much about Adelaide, that it was just in her nature to be stubborn.

The school has covered up the death of Barty Crouch and it has also been decided that the Triwizard Tournament shall continue. The last challenge is tomorrow.

I've also been having to deal with Draco and his constant attempts to make me his. And I do want to be, so badly that it hurts but I just…can't.

I have to admit though, I adore the attention that I'm receiving from him. Of course sometimes it gets to the point where others may believe that he is sexually harassing me. That is, if they don't know what's going on between the two of us. It would seem that way to an outsider because, well, Draco likes to just show up out of nowhere and shove me against a wall before kissing me like there's no tomorrow. I tend to protest at first, not only because when I kiss him I am completely caught up in 'the land of Draco' as Aibhilin likes to call it but also for the fact that there are always people around when he does it.

I'm sure he gets a kick out of seeing me so embarrassed from all the stares though. And when Aibhilin is around to witness our little interaction she spends the rest of the day mocking me. When other Gryffindors are around I receive a lot of glares and snide comments about 'fraternizing with the enemy.' With Slytherins it's a bit different. Some of them are unfazed by it and some turn their noses up. And then there's the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who just don't give a shit.

Other people aside, I can't deny I do love when he kisses me and when he's around me. It's just never boring when I'm with him.

A purr from Binx, who is lounging on my lap, brings me out of my thoughts. I smile down at him and he licks my face.

"Come on then." I whisper to him. Getting up with Binx in my arms I make sure that no one is wandering about still before making my way out of the common room.

I had mastered making a potion a while ago and after that we decided that the potions lessons weren't needed anymore. Now, when I meet with Draco all we do is talk. Although, it usually ends up in an argument leading one of us to storm out -usually me- or it ends up in an argument that leads us to kissing passionately.

The door to the classroom is slightly ajar when I get there. Holding my wand up with one hand and carrying Binx with the other, I walk in to the room.

Draco is sitting in his usual spot upon the table and his back is to me. I walk towards him quietly.

"You know, you aren't as quiet as you think you are." He says, not turning around. I roll my eyes even though he can't see it.

"I try."

He laughs and turns slightly. When I'm close enough, Binx leaps out of my arms and into Draco's outstretched ones.

For some reason Binx has taken a liking to Draco. After me, he's his favourite person to be around.

"Hello you." He says, nuzzling Binx's head with his nose.

I admire the sight for a moment. It's strange to see Draco be affectionate towards anyone or anything, in this case, other than me.

"What?" Draco asks, scratching Binx's ears now. I shake my head but smile. "Do you feel left out?"

"No." I laugh.

"I don't believe you." He smirks, getting off of the desk and putting Binx down. He stalks towards me and the smile remains on my face.

I lean up to kiss him but before I do he lifts me onto the table behind me, putting me at his height.

I fling my arms around his neck and he wraps his around my waist, pulling me to the edge of the table. I lock my legs around his waist as he starts peppering my face with kisses. I close my eyes and scrunch my nose up as he does so. After kissing every other part of my face he finally presses his lips to mine and the familiar warmth spreads through me like wildfire.

After a while, we pull away just enough so that our breaths are still mingling.

Draco moves back to sit on the table that he always sits on, the one in front of mine. He picks up Binx again and lets him rest on his lap.

"Draco," He looks up when I say his name. "Quite a while back you said you knew about my parents." His eyes widen a bit but he tries to hide it. "What exactly did you mean?"

I had been meaning to ask this for a while but I just couldn't find the right time to do so.

"I didn't mean anything. I was lying to get you interested." He says, not looking at me. I narrow my eyes at him, not believing what he's said.

"Look, if you know something…please just tell me. Because I'm clueless. About my father anyway." I mumble.

"You don't want to know." I hear him say under his breath.

"So you do know something?" I ask, jumping off the table and making my way towards him.

"Leave it alone Blakewood." He says quietly.

Ignoring Draco, I put my palm against his cheek. He leans in to my touch at first but then his whole body stiffens. Binx gets off of Draco's lap and instead sits on the table.

"Please Draco." I whisper.

"I can't Magenta!" He growls as he grabs my wrist and jumps off the table, pushing me backwards and towering over me. "Do as I say and just drop it."

As soon as he does this, Binx leaps off of the table and stands at my feet hissing at him.

I don't think I've ever been more frightened of Draco. His eyes are so intense and the pressure he's still applying to my wrist is really quite painful. He looks menacing and not at all the Draco he was two minutes ago.

Despite the fear and the immense burning sensation spreading throughout my arm, I manage to put on a brave face.

"Let go of me." I say sternly. He stays still and his face remain stoic but his eyes blaze with fury.

I yank my wrist from his iron tight grip, causing myself even more pain, and cradle it to my chest.

"Fine." I grit out. I pick up a still hissing Binx and head for the door.

"Magenta! Wait!" Draco calls out after me. I ignore him and keep walking, taking deep breaths to contain myself from crying at the physical pain in my wrist and the emotional pain that's competing with it.

The sky is clouded over, casting a dull colour over everything. Of course, that doesn't stop the whole school from at least trying to make everything colourful for the last challenge of the Triwizard Tournament.

Everyone rushes past Aibhilin and I to get good seats but we hang back a bit to catch Harry and the other champions.

"Harry!" I run up to him. I look at him for a moment before smiling and throwing my arms around him. "Good luck today. You'll do brilliantly!"

Harry awkwardly hugs me back and murmurs a 'thanks.' I kiss his cheek and he blushes.

"And where's my good luck kiss Gen?" Cedric asks with a smirk. I laugh at him before hugging him as well.

"Good luck Ced. Although, I know you don't need it." I wink at him before kissing his cheek, making him laugh.

"Come on M, we better go." Aibhilin says, taking my hand and pulling me away.

I wave to both Harry and Cedric one last time before fully turning around and heading to be with the other students.

I'm overwhelmed by the sound of cheering and the sound of the band as we arrive in the stands.

Aibhilin leads me to the other Gryffindors that are already seated and talking amongst themselves.

The first person to run out into the ring is Amos Diggory. He smiles and points to Cedric who walks out as well. I clap and cheer as the rest of the champions follow out behind them.

"Silence!" Dumbledore's voice booms, silencing everyone. "Only today, Professor Moody placed the Triwizard Cup deep within the maze. Only he knows its exact position. Now as Mr Diggory and Mr Potter tied for first position, they will be the first to enter the maze. Followed by Mr Krum and Miss Delacour. First person to touch the cup will be the winner!"

We all erupt into cheers.

"Some of the staff will patrol the perimeter so that if any point a contestant wishes to withdraw from the task, he or she need only send up red sparks with their wand." Dumbledore walks off of the podium and asks the contestants to gather around him.

Myself and the other spectators sit quietly, watching and waiting.

"Champions! Prepare yourselves." Dumbledore motions to the champions and they all take their position at a different entrance to the maze.

I stand up with Aibhilin and everyone else and clap.

"On the count of three. 1," The canon goes off making me jump.

I watch Harry and Cedric walk into the maze first until it closes up behind them, hiding the both of them from my sight.

I was slightly worried for my friends. My mum had often told me bedtime stories about mazes like this. And every time, the story was one of horror. Of people turning against each other and just generally bad things happening.

Of course, this is only a tournament so I take a deep breath and remind myself that they will be completely fine. Dumbledore would never let anything bad happen to any of them.

I turn to look at Aibhilin to see that she is looking at something behind us. Before I can turn to see what she's looking at she speaks.

"Tell me what happened last night." She is facing me now. Her face showing sympathy.

I sigh, not wanting to tell her about it.

"Ave… I already said that I didn't want to talk about it. Can you please just respect that?"

"I'm just worried about you." She tells me softly.

"Don't be. I'll tell you when I'm ready." I offer her a small smile but she just huffs and turns around to talk to Hermione.

I lean my elbows on my knees and bite my nails, trying to block out the sound that's surrounding me.

Aibhilin murmuring brings my attention back to her. She has a distant look in her eyes and she doesn't look well.

I touch her arm softly.

"Ave…" I whisper. "Aibhilin."

She keeps mumbling but I can't make out what she's saying exactly.

I catch a few words though; tonight, back, blood, him.

And one word that she speaks clearly.

Death.

Aibhilin's eyes widen and she makes choking noises before breathing heavily.

"Aibhilin, are you alright?" I ask her, touching her face which is extremely warm.

"What happened?" Her voice is completely normal now.

I give her a strange look and shake my head.

"You don't remember anything that you were just saying?"

"I was saying things? Like what?" She asks.

"I-it doesn't matter…" I say before giving her another strange look and turning away.

Either Aibhilin's going crazy, or I am.

Great. Just another thing to add to my ever-growing list of problems. A list that I'm really not liking. Mainly because of last night.

I hate thinking about it. It pains me to think about it but I need to. The frustration is just building up inside of me at what happened.

What does Draco know? What is he not telling me about my parents?

And as bad as it sounds, that isn't the worst part. I can live without knowing something about my parents. I already know that our family has secrets but I'm confident that my mum would tell me if she thought that I was ready but despite how much I act like I don't care about my father, I really want to know more about him.

And although it sounds like such a pathetic thing to say, I'm actually the most upset about the way Draco snapped at me. I was afraid of him. And it is killing me.

I want to talk to him but at the same time I don't because I know that I'll break down in front of him.

And… as much as I try not to accept it, along with the fear, last night there was a hint of excitement that I could feel when he shouted.

I shake my head, wanting my thoughts to be clear of Draco. He could wait until tomorrow.

I look up just in time to see Harry land back on the grass with Cedric. A smile spreads across my face and I head down to get closer to congratulate them both.

A roar of applause surrounds me and there are cheers coming from every which way as I rush down the stands.

Just as I am about to get into the ring, Fleur lets out a blood-curdling scream.

My blood runs cold when I see that Harry is crying…over Cedric's inanimate body.

"No!" I shout. My hands fly to my mouth and I fall to the ground, a few steps away from Harry.

The tears begin rushing down my face before I can stop them and I can feel my heart pounding in my ears.

I stand up and run to Harry, my tears blurring my vision.

I look at Cedric. His eyes are still open but there is no life in them.

I close them out of respect for him before moving away as all the teachers gather around a screaming Harry.

Aibhilin's arms wrap around me and I lay my head against her as she cries along with me into my hair.

This isn't fair. Not for Cedric, not for anyone. He had so much going for him. So much to live for and now he's just…dead.

I never knew that losing a friend could hurt so much. I mean, we only became close this year but I feel like I've known him for so much longer.

Thinking about it makes me cry harder.

"Voldemort's back!" Harry cries. "Cedric, he asked me to bring his body back, I couldn't just leave him!"

I shake my head as the tears continuously flow from my eyes. Somehow, I feel like I can feel the grief of not only myself but Harry as well, his cries of sadness still filling the air. He obviously watched him die.

Not even just die but he watched him get murdered. By Voldemort…

"That's my son!" Amos cries out. My heart breaks for him. "That's my boy!"

Sobs wrack through my body, making me shudder. Aibhilin holds on to me tighter.

I don't even notice when another set of hands grab onto me.

"Now is not the time Malfoy." I hear Aibhilin say quietly.

"Shove off O'Malley and give her to me." He says.

"Get lost." Aibhilin protests. I hear Draco scoff before yanking me out of Aibhilin's arms and into his own.

I turn into his chest and cling on to his shirt as his arms wrap around me tightly. I feel him kiss my hair before he runs his fingers through it in a calming way.

My crying slowly stops and I just stand in Draco's embrace, breathing in his scent.

I'm not sure how long we stand there for but eventually we are all dismissed.

"Come on." Draco whispers. Keeping me close to him, we walk out of the ring and back to the castle.

I don't pay any attention to where we are going until we arrive outside of the potions classroom.

Keeping one arm wrapped around me, Draco unlocks the door and leads me into the same place I stormed out of last night.

He lifts me onto the desk and I keep my head down. I don't make any noise, I just stare at nothing. He gently takes my face in his hands and forces me to look at him.

Looking into his eyes brings me out of the trance I was in and I become mesmerized by his beautiful grey orbs, like always.

"Are you okay?" He asks sincerely.

I shake my head, not trusting my voice.

Draco pulls me closer to him and I lay my head on his shoulder.

"I didn't know you and Diggory were close." He mumbles, his voice taking on a slightly jealous tone. I find that absurd, considering what's just happened.

"We weren't that close but he was still my friend. A good friend." My words are muffled against his neck but I'm sure he still heard me.

"Today, we acknowledge a really terrible loss." Dumbledore begins to stand and we all sit in a respectful silence. "Cedric Diggory was, as you all know, exceptionally hard working. Infinitely fair-minded and most importantly a fierce, fierce friend. Now I think therefore you have the right to know exactly how he died. You see, Cedric Diggory was murdered! By Lord Voldemort! The Ministry of Magic does not wish for me to tell you this. But not to do so, I think would be an insult to his memory. Now the pain we all feel at this dreadful loss reminds me, reminds us, of while we may come from different places and speak in different tongues, our hearts beat as one. In light of recent events, the bonds of friendship we made this year will be more important than ever. Remember that, Cedric Diggory will not have died in vain. You remember that! And we celebrate a boy who was kind and honest and brave and true, right to the very end."

I blink back the tears and instead take a breath but remain silent.

I'm honestly not sure why Cedric's death is taking such a big toll on me. There are people that were so much closer to him and they seem to be at least hiding their sorrow. I'm not used to death. I've not been surrounded by it like others have. I guess you could say it's because I'm compassionate person. A very compassionate person. I'm just so emotional all the time and losing a friend...I feel like the impact of sadness is so much greater on me than everyone else.

"What are you doing this summer then?" Aibhilin asks as we walk through the school.

"Ehm, I'm not too sure really. Maybe just spend time with mum, attempt to mend things with Adelaide." I sigh. Just thinking about the amount of effort it will take to even try to talk to her gives me a headache.

"You?" I ask her.

"Getting shipped off to Gran's." Aedan answers for her, slinging his arms around our shoulders.

I just laugh but Aibhilin attempts to push him away.

The three of us make our way into the crowded courtyard where everyone is saying their goodbyes to the boys from Durmstrang and the girls from Beauxbatons.

Aedan leaves us to go and talk to his mates so Aibhilin and I head over to a group of Gryffindor girls.

We start chatting to them pointlessly until Viktor comes over to talk to Hermione, then all of our attention turns to the two of them.

"I swear to Merlin if you do not write him Hermione I will kick you up the backside." I say before laughing.

She blushes and smiles.

After a while, it's time for the other schools to actually leave.

First, the French girls make their way to their carriage, followed by the Durmstrang boys going to their ship.

We smile, clap and wave at them as they depart from the school.

"O'Malley!" We both turn to see Blaise walking towards us.

"I'll just be…over there." I point to somewhere away from them .

Oh, I truly cannot wait until they admit their feelings for each other.

I walk away from them and catch sight of Adelaide. I take a deep breath before walking towards her at a quick pace.

"Adelaide…" I say as I approach her. She takes one look at me, turns up her nose and turns away with her snobby friends. "Adelaide, wait. Please."

I reach out for her but she keeps walking. I sigh and look down at my feet.

This is becoming ridiculous. How is it possible for her to be so rude to me?

Somehow, I end up back with Hermione. Chatting to her and Angelina Johnson about anything really. After a while though, I decide that it's probably time to go and find Aibhilin.

"I'll see you after the summer then yeah?" I ask with a smile.

"Of course. Make sure you write me." Hermione says, pulling me in for a hug.

I hug her back before embracing Angelina as well.

"Have a good summer Gen." She says.

"You too." I wave at them before walking away.

"Come to say your goodbyes Blakewood?" I stop walking and look up to see my path blocked by Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and of course Pansy.

"Ehm…no. You just happen to be in my way."

"Actually, you're in ours." Pansy says snidely.

I raise an eyebrow, unamused by her comment.

"Yes, I can see how much of a hassle getting around one person is for you lot." I tell her sarcastically, motioning to the space around us.

Draco chuckles quietly but Pansy still catches it and huffs before pushing past me. Crabbe and Goyle follow her, sending me a pathetic glare at which I roll my eyes.

When I look back to see Draco still standing in front of me I sigh and move to the side making a dramatic sweeping gesture with my hand.

He smirks at this but walks by anyway.

"I'll see you at Pierce's ball darling." Draco winks.

"Adelaide actually invited you?" I ask. I didn't think she would. Then again, she probably knew it would piss me off.

"Of course she did." He shrugs before walking away to catch up with his gang.

I huff and continue my search for Aibhilin.

Eventually I find her, saying goodbye to Blaise. Well, that was an awful long talk.

"Have a nice summer Blakewood." Blaise nods to me as he brushes past.

"You as well." I call out after him.

I raise my eyebrows suggestively at Aibhilin before smirking.

"So, you and Blaise?" I ask, falling into step with her back to the dormitories.

"No. Not 'me and Blaise.'" She says with an eye roll.

"If not that, then what the bloody hell were you talking about?"

"He was trying to convince me to accompany him to Adelaide's ball…" Aibhilin tells me, looking sheepish.

Of course she invited Blaise. She's bloody invited everyone and I probably won't be allowed to attend.

"And are you convinced now?" I ask her, brushing off my thoughts from before.

"I told him that I would think about it."

"Which means that you're going to say yes." I say matter-of-factly with a small smile tugging at my lips.

Well, if Aibhilin says yes to Blaise then she is definitely going. And then there's Draco who's going and… Draco's date.

His date. Who the hell's he going to take?

Probably some gorgeous posh girl. Oh gods, what if he ends up really liking her? And what if he just completely forgets about me? I most certainly did not go through everything with him this year to just be replaced.

So, now I definitely need to be at that ball. Which is in three weeks. Which means… I have three weeks to get back in Adelaide's good graces.

And at this rate, I think taming a dragon might be easier.