Chapter 8

The news about how Pansy Parkinson had challenged Trinity Riddle to a duel was spreading like wild fire around the Great Hall during dinner. So much so, that Draco Malfoy had the nerve to sit on the Gryffindor bench beside the raven haired girl.
"You shouldn't have dueled her." Draco spat, his hormones were running high, and Pansy was the one who he went to for that, and as she was being isolated in McGonagal's office until both he and Trinity had served their detentions, Draco couldn't pleasure himself as soon as he'd have hoped.
Trinity shrugged, keeping her eyes on the table in shame. "If I hadn't have battled her, my Uncle would've gotten involved."
"Still." Draco stated, his tone dripping with venom. "Now she's not going to be back at the dorm until tomorrow morning." What angered him more was the fact that the Gryffindor acted like she was a Saint, like Harry Potter would think of himself. She hadn't saved Pansy's life from the Dark Lord, she'd put her into isolation. Draco had to admit that the duel was fun to watch as Pansy was made a fool out of, but still, Draco's needs were more important.
"I should be going." Trinity stood up and bent down to pick up her bag. George nudged Ginny and nodded his head towards Draco, who was checking out their friend. "Are you coming Malfoy?" She asked, turning around and almost catching his wandering eyes. Draco smirked, if Pansy wasn't going to be there to satisfy his needs, he'd have to do something himself for once.
He was annoyed by the way Trinity had said she wasn't attracted to him, but he knew she was lying. He was the Slytherin sex God for crying out loud - everyone was attracted to him! And even if she wasn't, he sure as hell was going to make her.

Trinity exited the Great Hall with Draco beside her. She turned left and walked along the corridor before crossing the long bridge. It was deserted, her and Draco were the only ones walking across it. Still, they walked in silence as they made their way down the stone steps towards Hagrid's hut and once they stood outside the giants home, Trinity knocked gently and waited patiently for Hagrid to open the door.
Whilst they stood outside in silence, Draco leant against the wall and turned his steel grey gaze to the Forbidden Forest, just behind the pumpkin patch. He then turned his attention back to the raven haired Gryffindor standing beside him.
Draco thought Trinity was quite a plain looking girl and the Slytherin had told Kimberly on the train on the way to Hogwarts that Malfoy's deserved pretty girl's.
Trinity's long, black hair was slightly wavy, and reached her waist. Draco had always preferred girls' with long hair. Pansy's hair was cut fairly short, and at an oddly shaped angle. That was one of the main things Draco disliked about the girl - that and her squished nose and fake tanned skin. Trinity on the other hand had a small, elegant nose and a smooth, porcelain skin tone.
Pansy's eyes were dark brown - quite dull in Draco's opinion, and Trinity's were Slytherin green. Malfoy skimmed his eyes down Riddle's body, tilting his head slightly at her slim form. Although she had slightly curved hips, a decent sized chest and nicely shaped legs. Draco prefferred girls' with a more...touchable look. Trinity looked elegant, fragile. Almost like glass, and he'd be afraid to break her, but that still wouldn't stop him from getting what he wanted.
The girl was afraid of her own shadow - not like Pansy who was loud and wild.
'I can't believe I'm comparing my mate to a girl I don't even like.' Draco thought, setting his eyes back on the forest.
"Where is the great oaf?"
Trinity shrugged, "we're ten minutes early." She replied, "he might have gone to feed Norbert and...Aragog."
"Afraid of spiders, Riddle?" Draco smirked, noticing the hesitation and slight waver in her voice.
"I would've preferred to feed the dragon." She replied in a small voice.
Draco pushed himself off the wall, he walked infront of Trinity before turning to face her. "What're you going to do if we have to feed them again?"
She hesitated, glancing up at him before setting her gaze on his shoes. "Not drop my wand." She hid her blushing face behind her hair.
Malfoy smirked and grabbed her wrist before pulling her down to the Forbidden Forest - away from Hagrid's hut and the view of Hogwarts. He moved her towards an oak tree, his hands holding onto her shoulders, pushing her back against the trunk.
"Why's that, Riddle?" He asked, smirking. "Afraid you'll kiss me again and like it?"
Trinity looked away from him, and observed their surroundings. The Forbidden Forest was getting darker now and there was no moon to shed any light through the trees. The atmosphere was eerie - like it had been the last time they were in the Forbidden Forest serving detention.
She bit her lower lip and made an attempt to push Draco back, but he just pushed her in return. "Go away!" She pleaded. Malfoy chuckled and brushed her hair away from her face, the contact of his fingers against her skin, made Trinity blush and her eyes found his feet again.
"We should have detention together more often..." Draco whispered to her. Trinity felt his hand skim across her jawline to tilt her face upwards. His face was quite close to hers and her breathing became uneven as he leant closer towards her.
The leaves of the trees rustled suddenly as a colony of bats dispersed from them, flying further into the forest. Draco pulled away and both the Hogwarts' students looked up and watched them circle around before disappearing into the trees.
The door to Hagrids' hut opened and then swung shut, and as Draco had loosened his grip on her shoulders, Trinity slipped away before jogging out of the forest towards Hagrids hut.

The three of them set off into the woods, Hagrid carrying box of 'Giant Flies'. Malfoy insisted that Trinity carried the lamp as he didn't think the nervous wreck should be trusted with a wand.
"Right then." Hagrid paused once they reached a fork in the path. "Do you two want to go and feed Aragog?"
"No!" Trinity exclaimed. "We were nearly eaten last time!"
Hagrid chuckled, "nonsense! Aragog wouldn't hurt a fly!" He looked down at the box in his hands. "Figuratively speaking, of course! Alright then, you two can go and see if Norbert has finished his food from yesturday. Step carefully, it's best if you find him rather than he finds you." Hagrid took the lamp from Trinity and carried the box of 'Giant Flies' into the darkness.
"Come on then, Riddle." Draco stated from further down the path, "don't fall too far behind!"
Trinity pulled out her wand, "lumos." She whispered, before running to catch up with the Slytherin. Draco held his wand out, the white light illuminating the path, revealing dark circular patches. "What're they?" Trinity pointed to the large patches.
"Don't know, don't care." Draco replied, he paused and turned to face her, a smirk on his handsome features. "Why don't we say we've been to see the dragon?" He stepped closer to her, "and-" he shrugged "-do something else instead?" He stood directly infront of her, stuffing his left hand in his pocket and acting nonchalant.
Trinity cast her eyes to the floor and lightly pushed past him, making her way down the path at a quicker pace. Draco hurried to catch up with her and a loud, growl made them stop in their tracks. Trinity grabbed hold of Draco's arm and moved to stand closer to him.
"What, in the name of Merlin was that?" She whispered to Draco, her voice slightly higher than usual.
Draco shrugged, but didn't push her away from him, "I don't know." He replied, "but we better keep quiet, just incase we're close to the dragon." Their wands died out of light, and there was a loud thud behind them.
"Lumos." Draco whispered, holding his wand pointed in the direction of the thud. Trinity tightened her grip on his arm, they were really close now, Draco could feel her long hair tickling his neck. The white light lit up four big toes with long pointed claws and the dark patches on the path had turned out to be giant footprints. The wand moved up slighty, revealing light brown scaly skin of two large legs. Draco paused and looked up when he heard a low rumbling noise.
Trinity's hand found Draco's and she lifted his wand up higher until they were looking directly at the long scaly snout and animalistic amber eyes of the dragon. On it's back were scaled ridges and a pair of incredibly large bat-shaped wings.
"A Norweigian Ridgeback." Trinity whispered in awe. She said something which Draco thought sounded a lot like parseltounge. Norbert turned his head to face her - looking away from Draco as it did. Trinity turned to glance at Draco before looking back at the dragon, who's snout gently pushed against her shoulder - knocking her to the floor.
Draco was confused, was she speaking to the dragon? Or talking to him and not realising she was speaking parseltounge? Malfoy had no idea, but he figured they'd served an hours worth of detention. He slowly stepped closer to Trinity and grabbed her forearm before apparating them outside of Hagrid's hut - where the giant was waiting for them.
"Alright, you two?" He asked, unfased by their sudden appearance.
Draco ignored him and pulled Trinity to her feet. "He had eaten." The Gryffindor informed the giant as Draco began to pull her away from the stone hut.
"Thank you for checking up on him!" Hagrid called, waving to the raven haired girl.
"Stop dragging me!" She pulled her arm out of Draco's grip, and the platinum blonde turned to face her.
Two Deatheaters apparated beside them and one placed their hand on Trinity's shoulder. "Your Uncle would like to speak with you." The croaky voice stated. Trinity's eyes widened and she shook slightly with nerves and fright. She nodded once before disappearing with the Deatheater and apparated outside of the Headmasters office.
Draco saw the sudden change in her eyes, one moment ago she had been relieved to get out of the Dark Forest, then the Deatheaters' mentioned her Uncle and she seemed almost terrified of him. As the second Deatheater apparated him outside the Slytherin common room, Draco debated about going in search of Pansy or not.
He sighed, 'No.' Draco wasn't going to go and find her. Not tonight anyway - after the previous night, he needed to get away from her for a while and that meant a few days at least. The girl was an annoying nightmare and Kimberly was right to call her 'Pansy pissing pug Parkinson'. Draco chuckled to himself as he made his way upstairs to his dorm room. He stripped himself of his clothes and stepped into the shower, allowing the hot water to fall onto him, slowly turning his pale skin slightly pink in colour.
After his shower, Draco toweled himself dry before pulling on a pair of black tracksuit bottoms. He lounged on his bed, staring to write the Potions essay he had to hand in tomorrow. His quill glided over the piece of parchment effortlessly, leaving behind his neat, cursive writing in green ink. The colour reminded him of Trinity's eyes.

Trinity sat on a chair in her Uncle's office, whilst he began pacing around the room, his wand held tightly in his hands behind his back, his facial expression annoyingly calm, his eyes fixated on the floor infront of him as he paced slowly infront of his niece.
"I'm a little disappointed in you, Trinity." He finally began, stopping infront of her and glancing at her frightened face. "You've been attending Hogwarts for three days and you've already recieved four detentions. One on which, I heard you had a duel with a girl from Slytherin?"
"Yes, Uncle." Trinity replied, her voice almost inaudiable. She was frightened, terrified of him and to make things worse, he was holding the Elder wand.
Voldermort began to pace again, eventually coming to a standstill right infront of Trinity, he lowered himself to his knees so that he could see into her face. "And to top it all off, you're failing Potions." He shot to his feet. "No Riddle has ever failed Potions before." His voice grew louder.
"I'm sorry, Uncle." A tear slipped down her cheek. "I'm trying my hardest - I swear!"
"Well, your hardest isn't good enough, Trinity." His snappy tone silenced her and Trinity closed her eyes as he raised his wand above his head. "Crucio."

Slowly and painfully, Trinity made her way to the library, keeping an eye out for any students that she thought would talk to her if she ran into them. Once inside the library, she shut the door and walked to the furthest row of books. She saw Draco and Blaize at the desk in the corner, and tried not to bring any unwanted attention to herself as she carefully scanned the bookshelves for a book about Dragons.
The book was heavier than she had anticipated and she dropped it with a loud thud. Her arms were in too much pain to even hold it. She sighed when she heard Blaize and Draco no longer whispering; which meant that they had looked over in her direction and were probably watching her. Trinity pulled out her wand, "wingardium leviosa," she muttered, watching the book float back onto the shelf. She put her wand away before finding a smaller book about Dragons, she took it and then left Malfoy and Zabini behind, they broke out into whispers as soon as she had vanished from their sight.
Not wanting them to find her at any of the desks, Trinity sat on the floor, huddled in a corner - hidden behind a few of the tables.
She sat looking at the pictures for half an hour before a shadow loomed over her book, she didn't look up, but carried on looking at the pictures. Trinity heard that person sigh before sitting on the wooden floor beside her, expecting to come face-to-face with Malfoy, and not having the energy to keep telling him to 'leave her alone'. She looked to the right to find Ron sitting beside her with concern filled eyes.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
It was nice to have someone care about her well-being. Especially someone she'd only known for four days, Trinity was so overcome by emotion that she began to start crying. Ron put his arm around her shoulders for comfort.
"What're you reading?" He asked, once she composed herself. "Dragons?" He asked.
"For detention, Malfoy and I had to go and see if Norbert had eaten his dinner from last night." Trinity wiped away the last of her tears and sniffed. "I started to talk to him and...it was almost as though he listened. He was looking at me and everything. Then I heard him speak."
Ron frowned, "what did he say?"
"He said 'thank you for talking too me', but then Malfoy grabbed me and apparated us back to Hagrids'."
Ron flipped a few pages in the textbook. "This looks like Parseltounge. I'm sure your Uncle can read it if you ask him about it?"
Trinity shook her head, "no! I don't want to go and see him!"
Ron nodded in understanding, but didn't ask her anything about it. "Professor Snape can, I think? I don't know, go and ask him if he can read it."
The raven haired girl nodded, "I'll ask him tomorrow after Dark Arts."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, Ron cleared his throat. "You know you can talk to us. George, Ginny and me...you know...about anything."
Trinity smiled, "thanks Ron, that means a lot to me."
"How sweet." A sneer broke through the silent library. "Weasley and Riddle, looking all cosy together." Blaize stated. "What do you make of this Malfoy?"
The platinum haired blonde came into view and glared at Ron, "remove your hand Weasleby." He snapped. "You know what Umbridge said - stick to your own mate."
"I don't see you sticking to your own mate, Malfoy." Ron glared at him. "I saw you with Parkinson in the corridor the other day looking very...busy."
"Shut it, Weasleby!" Malfoy snapped, glancing at Trinity from the corner of his eyes. "If it's any of your buisness - she used a love potion on me!"
Professor Snape walked past then, and Trinity slowly and painfully got to her feet, making her way over to him with much difficulty. It was as if her muscles had siezed up, and it made it very difficult for her to walk, she was hoping the boys' behind her thought she just had pins and needles, "Professor, may I have a word with you please?"
"Make it quick, Riddle, it'll be curfew soon." Snape drawled, picking up a book from Madam Pince's desk and walking out of the library and down the corridor towards his classroom.
"I was just wondering, if you would be able to read this?" She held out the book. "Ron said it was in Parseltounge and that you might be able to read it?"
"I am not a Parselmouth." Snape stated, "but I may be able to help you if I know what information you're after."
Trinity cleared her throat and told the Professor what she had told Ron about Norbert being able to understand her.
"You speak the second side of Parseltounge." Snape drawled, leaning back in his desk chair. "You can speak Dracore, which is Dragon tongue."
"Dragon tounge?" Trinity frowned. "But I thought the last person who spoke that died over two hundred and fifty years ago?"
Snape cleared his throat, "that doesn't mean the gift wasn't passed down through generations." He informed her, "now, you should head back to your dorm room. It's a little past curfew."
Trinity inclined her head to the Professor and thanked him before heading back to the Gryffindor common room. She made her way back with much difficulty, her muscles ached painfully and she became slower with each step she took.

Thank you to those who've alerted/fav'd and reviewed this story, I really hope you're enjoying it! Please review! :) x