Hello everyone! I would like to thank eRenae, Ash-Caro-Lynn, booklovur217 and GodricGabrindor for reviewing. It really means a lot to me. :) As you can read, everyone is pretty childish and immature and trying to act mature the was pretentious children do. That's because they're pretentious 11 year olds.
Anna stood next to Draco amongst the broomsticks. She was fine today, surprisingly, though of course that was only because she'd puked her stomach out the night before. A sigh escaped her lips. She was loosing weight even with all the extra good food she got here; her skirt hung loose around her waist and her shirt was already too wide for her.
Her eyes turned to the people next to her. All the Slytherins seemed comfortable with broomsticks, she was the only one that wasn't, but then again, they knew why. Daphne stood next to her, chatting animatedly with Pansy about something they read in Witch Weekly. Anna rolled her eyes. They only read stupid, useless stuff. She, on the otherhand, had found a very interesting book in the library called 'The Dark Arts - A Legal Compendium' which worked very well for all the questions she had on wizarding 'morality', which she found questionable. They forbade a curse that kills painlessly but send people to a prison where they get all their happiness sucked out? That's more than a little messed up. And that was coming from a girl who watched Tom Riddle bully and torture other students in unnaturally vivid hallucinations daily. Though maybe they weren't hallucinations sice the trophy was actually real; she had checked.
She also read many other books lately, anything to get her mind off her unstable health. Draco said she should have been a Ravenclaw. She probably would have, if it weren't for the fact that she only read things she found would have some sort of usefulness later. 'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts', 'Nature's Nobility; A Wizarding Genealogy', 'Moste Potente Potions' and 'Updated Counter-Curse Handbook'. She had found a particular book that really caught her attention; 'A Guide to Advanced Occlumency', which she thought might help her with the memories that certainly did not belong to her, but she didn't understand anything it said so she was forced to return it to Madam Pince, who, she might add, was an incredibly unpleasant character.
Anna's attention was pulled when Madam Hooch came striding down the line of students, pulling on her gloves and goggles. Her hair shot up everywhere and shone silver in the sun.
"Good afternoon, class."
"Good afternoon, Madam Hooch." They all chorussed.
Anna hated when the teachers made them do that. What was it good for? Nothing. It was just them being incredibly obnoxious and useless and- Anna rubbed her temples. Her temper was getting the better of her lately. She wasn't usually so... disagreeable, but there was something about the Gryffindors that she just could not stand. They were loud -which bothered her migrains- and smelly and stupid. Or they weren't, as in Granger's case, which was even worse. The only one who was even slightly interesting was Potter, and he didn't even do anything special -to Draco's utter annoyance- so she wasn't even sure why she felt so... interested in him. Yes, that was the word.
"Welcome to your first flying lesson. Well, what are you waiting for?" Hooch asked, looking from one student to the other. "Everyone step up to the left side of their broomstick. Come on now, hurry up. Stick your right hand over the broom and say, Up!"
Anna raised an eyebrow and waited as she watched Draco step up next to his broomstick and call it up. It came immediately, as did almost every other Slytherin's except Vince's, Greg's and hers. Though that was because she hadn't even tried it, she didn't even want to fly on a broom. A broom was a cleaning utensil, how was she supposed to trust that? She would rather travel by other magical things, maybe Floo Powder or a Portkey. But a broom? Her eyes turned to the Gryffindors who were struggling with what seemed to be a simple task. Only Potter had gotten it in his first try, but she supposed it didn't have naything to do with having magical blood since Weasley, Vince and Greg hadn't gotten it yet.
"Connors, why haven't you done it yet?"
Because I don't want to. Anna thought as she shot Madam Hooch an apologetic smile. Beside Anna, Draco groaned and Daphne looked at her. She felt all of the class' eyes bruning into her face, but she kept her cool.
"Actually, Professor. I don't feel too well. I've been nauseous since this morning, do you think I could just sit down for a little while?"
Madam Hooch walked to her and Anna could hear the skeptic mutterings of the Gryffindors. The woman looked her up and down and put a hand to Anna's forhead. "Have you thrown up?"
Anna nodded. "Quite a few times last night." She wasn't lying, not really. She just wasn't nauseous at this very moment.
Madam Hooch nodded. "You can take a seat on the benches around the courtyard."
"Lucky bastard." Draco whispred to her as she passed. She only smiled and winked.
"That was stupid." Anna said as soon as she and Draco sat in the common room.
From the first few days they had claimed some armchairs beside the windows and since everyone had their own spot, no one had even bothered to try to take theirs. Anna set down her Astronomy supplies and sat on a dark green armchair, sinking slightly into the soft cushions, and taking one of her books from the table next to her. She could just leave them there during the day, no one touched each other's stuff. Everyone seemed to understand privacy and/or have too much pride to steal things.
"How was I supposed to know he was going to be put in the Quidditch Team? Stupid Potter, getting rewarded for breaking the rules!"
Anna opened a book. "Then you shouldn't have challenged him in the first place." She shrugged. "He's the saviour of the wizarding world, of course they'll make a few exceptions."
Draco still sat watching the black water, a frown marring his face. Anna sighed, she couldn't stand it when he had one of his hissy fits. No wonder all the others were staying well away from them. Theo's isolations had become something usual, but Pansy keeping distance from Draco? Unheard of. Except in these moments.
"Did you see Longbottom fall on his arse? How is he a pure-blood?" She asked, knowing it would make him laugh.
And laugh he did. It started with a small smile, which developed into a grin and a chortle, and then a full out laugh.
"His face! Oh, it was hilarious!"
"And Granger being her normal self." A small smile graced her lips. "Her stunned face was the only good thing Potter's flying prowess caused today."
Draco nodded. "She thinks she know everything." He eyed her. "I bet you know more than her."
Anna pursed her lips and looked at her book. Moste Potente Potions, the cover read. "On some things maybe. She just doesn't classify what she wants to learn so she's all over the place. That's just inefficient."
Draco sniggered.
Anna frowned. After a few days she had sort of figured out why she was so ill. Well, she had known before, but now she knew it without a doubt. Magic. This gift, this undeniable part of her had a severely negative effect on her. Her eyes trailed to Draco's and her gaze softened as she remembered why she was his friend. He calmed her, he comforted her, even if he didn't know it. At first it was just his eyes, but they got along so well he had become something like a brother to her. She had to tell him. But when? When was a good time to tell her blood-purist, elitist best friend that not only was her blood of questionable origin, but also her health seemed to be averse to magic? How could she tell him?
"What's wrong?" Draco asked, looking at her curiously. "Is it the migraines?"
Anna nodded. "I think I'll go to professor Snape to ask if he can do anything." She stood.
"It's past midnight, we're not allowed to be out of the common room."
"As if we care about rules, Draco. What was it your mother told you again?"
Draco smirked. "Don't get caught."
Anna laughed. "I wasn't planning on it."
Anna sat on the window sill in one of the hallways, her window looked over the dark fields to the Forbidden Forest and left her plain for all to see. Quirrel could see her. As he walked with his dark hood covering his face he looked up to the castle and saw her sit there with her eyes closed. A heavy weight settled in his stomach, and it wasn't completely because he had just killed a unicorn. He had seen his master's plans for her, he knew what kind of life awaited her, and he could never envy her. She would gain much, but loose more. If she survived.
Quirinius sighed as he entered the castle and walked to hallway where she was. It was a long way, but he wasn't tired, and when he arrived to where she was he realized she didn't just have her eyes closed, she was asleep. He shook his head, why didn't she just sleep in her room? Slytherin might be rather elitist, but Malfoy had her back and he was really high up the foodchain in his house.
He wrapped his arms around her small frame and picked her up. He was thankful that the Dark Lord was asleep, he didn't know what the... man would say. He frowned at how light she was, but supposed it was normal with how sick she had appeared to be lately. She must be in a lot of... discomfort. He didn't know how much it hurt so he couldn't necessarily say pain, but that excuse lost potency each passing day.
He arrived at the door to the Slytherin common room and said the password; all teachers knew them and as a teacher he could also open the door to her room, which usually had a magical lock which only the room's inhabitant could open. He set her down on her bed and took off her shoes. She didn't seem to be cold but since they were in the dungeons he supposed wrapping the sheets around her wasn't completely unnecessary.
As he left he cast a last look at the small girl's pale face. She looked so much like her mother that his first instinct was to hope she wouldn't become a second Bellatrix. It would be a terrible waste of an innocent child.
"One of a wizard's most rudimentary skills is levitation the ability to make objects fly. Uh, do you all have your feathers?" Professor Flitwick asked from atop his huge pile of charms books.
Draco scrunched his nose in disgust as Granger eagerly raised her own feather and straightened up in her seat, as if she were about to gain a medal just for being there. Beside him he could practically feel Anna's irritation, though she didn't seem to show it as she leaned back on her chair, her eyes closed and hand clenched around her pale wand.
"Good. Now, uh, don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing, hmm? The swish and flick. Everyone." He led them as they immitated his movement. Of course, Draco rolled his eyes at the thought, Anna got away with not doing this. It seemed like Snape had told all the other teachers about her not feeling well and they seemed to look the other way when she spaced out in class. As long as she got all her work done, which -miraculously- she did. He could honestly say he was surprised, what with all the time she spent puking her guts out in the bathrooms. Mother was really worried, as was Father. They didn't know why she was so ill since, according to uncle Rodolphus' extensive gushing the first days of her life, she had been a healthy baby. All Draco could say was that she had seemed fine when they'd been on the train. She hadn't shown any of the small tell-tale signs which he could now recognise to indicate that she was feeling ill. Like now.
She closed her eyes. She rubbed her temples. She hummed. She mumbled. Sometimes she squirmed in her seat. He could see it all. And he could see that she had something she wanted to tell him. Every now and then she would just sit and stare at him for minutes on end, and when he looked at her she would either look away immediately or open her mouth to say something, close it, and then look away. It wasn't at all subtle and he was this close to just giving up and asking her straight out.
Flitwick was saying something. "-d enunciate. Wingardium Leviosa. Off you go, then."
Draco tried it a few times. He got it in his third. Looking around proudly, he saw that he was the first Slytherin, though Theo was close behind, and Anna hadn't started yet. He was about to say something when her eyes snapped open, but they didn't seem to see anything so he opted to just wait for her to snap out of it. This happened sometimes. The most dangerous until now was when they had been walking down some stairs. He'd had to grab her and stand still, pretending to be looking for something in his bag until she was back. She pretended nothing happened he didn't embarrass her by calling her out on it.
Draco looked down to where Potter and his friends were working. Granger was telling Weasley off. He really had no pride, letting himself get told off by a mudblood.
"Stop, stop. You're going to take someone's eyes out." She grabbed his arm to make him stop moving. "Besides, you're saying it wrong. It's Leviosa, not Leviosa."
"You do it, then, if you're so clever. Go on, go on!" Weasley urged her.
Granger sat up, shaking her untameable bushy hair over her shoulders, and pointed her wand at her feather. "Wingardium Leviosa." She said, and her feather gently started floating.
To Draco's amusement, Weasley didn't even try again, he just laid his head down on his books.
"Oh, well done! See here, everyone! Ms Granger's done it! Oh, splendid!" Flitwick cheered and Draco couldn't help the anger that boiled in his stomach. Many Slytherins had already mastered the spell too, including him, but Flitwick didn't even acknowledge it. Why? Because they were a dark house? He sneered, Slytherin House didn't need the approval of these teachers, they were the best and they knew it. As an explosion sounded, which he pointedly ignored, he turned to his cousin.
"Anna." He said.
For a second nothing happened, but then she blinked a few times and looked at him. Her eyes were glazed at first but slowly they cleared up as she focused on his face.
"What?" She asked.
"Go on. Try the spell, Anna. It's the first time we get to do magic since it's all been theory work until now. Try it!" He insisted at her hesitant look at her feather. She turned to him again for a second before sighing and raising her wand.
Swish and flick. "Wingardium Leviosa." She said softly and her wand tip raised the feather as if it were on a string. She made it fly around the classroom a few times, to her classmates' amusement, before she set it back down.
Grinning, Draco looked at her, but his grin slipped off his face as he saw she was slightly green. She bent forwards and covered her mouth, as if about to throw up. Worry squirmed in his chest as he rubbed her back trying to soothe her. She'd been better lately -or she had been able to ignore it more easily- and he had never seen her double over in pain. Shiver, yes, whimper, a few times, but clutch herself and crawl into a ball in pain? No, never.
The bell sounded and, before Draco could do anything, Anna got up and ran off, pushing her way through the crowd.
"Vince, Greg, get our bags!" He called over his shoulder as he hurried after her. He shoved other students out of the way, searching for the mass of black curls and calling her name. Then he saw her. She ran into the girls' bathroom and, without thinking, he ran in after her. A few girls that were inside yelled at him but he payed them no mind as he ran to the only occupied stall.
"Anna!" He banged the door. "Are you alright?"
A dreadful retching sounded through the door.
"Does that sound alright to you?" Anna's raspy voice sounded through the door when she was finished.
He sighed. "Open the door."
The lock opened and he pushed the stall open, not paying any mind to the girl that ran out of the room, and pulled the chain of the chamber pot. Anna kneeled in front of the toilet, face sweaty and pale and small drops of puke on her chin. He resisted the urge to vomit himself and grabbed a bit of toilet paper. He wiped her chin gently and dropped the paper in the pot, then he grabbed more paper and wiped away the sweat on her forehead. She closed her eyes and let him do as he pleased.
"Come on. You're alright now." He whispered and helped her stand. Gently, he guided her through the bathroom to the wash basins where he helped her lean against the cold stone. Her frail body was shaking and when they got there she threw up again, this time in the sink. He held her hair back and looked around them as he whispered soothing words in her ear. All the other girls were gone. He sighed and grabbed a towel, wetting it in another sink before starting to pat her newly-sweaty face.
Then the door burst open and McGonagall strode in.
"Mr Malfoy!" She exclaimed looking offended. "Why are you in the girls' bathroom?"
Draco looked at her for a second before going back to rubbing Anna's back as she stood leaning on his chest. He reached and turned the tap of the sink.
"Anna hasn't been feeling well, professor. After class she ran out suddenly and I followed her. She's been retching her guts out."
As if on cue, Anna pushed him away and vomited into the sink again, almost sinking through her knees as they gave out. She would have fallen if he hadn't caught her and helped her sit on the floor. He grabbed the towel again and started wiping her mouth. McGonagall hurried over to Anna's side and felt her forehead.
"She's burning up." She mumbled and whipped out her wand. With a swish a silver cat appeared."Get Poppy." She said and the cat drifted away through the wall.
Anna groggily opened her eyes. It was dark and she didn't know where she was. Groaning, she pushed herself to a sitting position and looked at her body. She was wearing a pair of white pyjamas and the sheets around her were white too. Anna frowned. A hospital maybe?
"Oh, good. You're awake." The white curtains around her bed parted and a plump woman walked in, followed by a score of candles that lit everything up.
In the candle light, Anna could tell it was Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse. She was an old woman, though she walked straight and nobody could say she was or had ever been frail. Her face expressed both worry and relief at the same time, and something else Anna couldn't identify.
"What happened?" Anna asked. "I don't remember how I got here."
"Now, don't go straining yourself." Madam Pomfrey chided her as she walked forwards and pushed her back into a lying position. "You passed out this morning, right after puking a few times after your morning charms class."
Anna was silent. She remembered that. The sudden nausea that had appeared when she had used magic, the bursting pain in her head and the acid of her vomit rushing up her throat. A shudder ran down her spine.
"Mr Malfoy is very worried about you. He tried to stay here all day but I made him go to the Halloween feast." The nurse said as she conjured up a chair next to the bad. "Now, what I have to tell you is very serious miss Connors. Your health is in grave danger."
Anna just frowned in response.
"Do you know what the magical core is?"
Anna shook her head.
"It is the origin of your magic. Like a box, without an opening, with all you magic inside. It can flow out when you need to use it, the outside is one way permeable for magic, as we call it, but nothing can enter it from the outside. Do you understand so far?"
Anna nodded, looking at her curiously.
Madam Pomfrey sighed. "This will come as a great shock to you, seeing as you're an orphan, but it is every bit true." She paused. "It seems as if someone forced that box open to tamper with your magic. It is a very dark ritual, opening the case, but closing it is just as dark. The human body can barely survive both one after the other, but your case is different. The information the school has on you says that you arrived at your orphanage when you were only a few days old, since it must have happened before that we can only assume that whoever performed the ceremony knew that a newborn child wouldn't survive opening and closing their core in a single day. They left it for later, but as you can see it was never done.
"As a result, there is a large gap in the defence of your magic. Your magic cannot just exit your core more easily, giving you easier access and making using magic more instinctual, anything can enter it as well. That in itself wouldn't be so bad if it weren't that you are in a place where everything is saturated with magic. Magic flows into your magical core without control and that is very detrimental to your health. While every spell you use is much stronger than it should be, your body becomes sick at the amount of magic it absorbs. It destroys your body from the inside."
"Is..." Anna cleared her throat. "Can anything be done?"
Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "The only one who can properly close this is the same person who opened it, but we have no way of finding out who this is. The only thing we can do for now is supply you with a special potion that partially blocks your core. To any normal wizard it would serve as an extreme blockage for his or her magic, but in your condition, you would be as you normally should be. Though I must warn you; if you stop drinking the potion, the whiplash of so much magic all at once could kill you."
"And if I don't take the potion?"
"The moment your body saturates itself with magic, which is soon, you would die. Painfully."