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I threw the paper into the fire, watching it catch and then disintegrate within seconds, the ink melting and dripping onto the coal like blood.

The dorm was empty, half the students leaving after the Hogwarts express attack and the kidnapping of Luna. Many too scared to come back wearing the green colour of the enemy, while some simply left with the intent to join the death eaters: in allegiance or a plan to simply survive I didn't know.

After Christmas Draco left quickly and without a fuss, his head set on going back and making sure that he stayed alive, the necklace becoming my anchor without him actually here.

Looking at the articles written about him made my stomach churn, perhaps he was doing all of they things and was he really following Bellatrix like that? So openly, so willing to be a dog.

or was he simply surviving. Ensuring he stays alive long enough to find out if Harry or Voldemort would win.

The newspaper crackled and fizzed, the moving image of the train pixelating and then fizzing eventually staying still and not moving the smoke from the train becoming a reality as the final splinters of the paper burned and turned to ash, the fire hungry and eager for more.

I had, for a better term, given up with school completely and had resorted to wandering the hallways hoping to dodge the Carrow's and all known professors.

Only being caught twice in the past two weeks simply from foolish heavy footing resulting in a black eye and a cut lip. My earphones, remained intact, working and hidden in my robe pocket the entire beating. A point I had given myself on my imaginary scoreboard. Amycus- three. Me- two.

My second point being earned by simply knowing that I had a plan on how I was going to kill him when this was all over. Painfully and mercilessly. Draco should approve. And if he didn't, it sounded like a Draco problem.

My stomach grumbled, the lack of eating 3 meals a day taking a toll on me as I stretched, feeling my bones resisting as I walked towards the dorm door. Food finally being agreed and my hand pulling the common room door open.

If Draco Malfoy was surviving in a pit of snakes, then I would make sure I Survive too.

*/

I felt sick. Weak. An alien in my own body as the manor became a blood bath of prisoners and deaths.

The torture of Hermione by Bellatrix being the first of many, MANY more.

I turn and toss the paper into the fire, the photo sizzling and fizzing while the ink melts like blood. No doubt my father would complain at the article and hamper on to me about being better and proving myself.

The Lovegood girl had been kept in my basement for a few days eventually escaping with Harry and his gang, her whereabouts unknown as the manor fizzled and fumed with their next plan.

The body of the Caitlin girl was ordered to be left on our table for a full god damn month, her rotting corpse creating an ambiance in my own home that, for a term of better words, fucking stunk. But we all lived in it, allowing Nagini to nibble on the poor girl before she became so rotten that a door slamming 2 floors up would send a section of her flesh sliding off her bones and onto our table or floor. Her eyes sinking further into her skull before they turned a slug colour.

My mother drew the line when maggots began crawling out her nail beds and beetles began carrying her flesh off the table. Flies becoming a fun little house guest. The unseen caretakers of the biological world. She was eventually piled up in a fire drum by the house elves and set alight somewhere off the grounds.

Since then, I had followed Bellatrix around allowing her to show me the "new ways" of the world. Muggle towns and small villages becoming a target, the attack on Edinburgh being a one off spur of the moment.

But it worked, and soon we had left our mark in Scotland. A feat that Voldemort seen as fantastic.

"Draco. My boy there is a meeting starting downstairs. You are required. The Dark Lord and Bellatrix have a guest that they wish for you to see."

My mother had snapped me out my thoughts, my head turning toward her, her small frame shrunk under her dress as the bags under her eyes were sharp and unmissable.

"Ill be down soon." I reply quickly, wringing my hands through my hair and then straightening my suit jacket.

Downstairs members stood around in a circle, the cackling of Bellatrix prevalent as her head bobbed up and down over the standing guests, her dance clear without even seeing,

"Draco you are here. Move forward, see Bellatrix. Go now. Move" My father shoved me forward, my heart leaping as the crowd parted like the Red Sea and Bellatrix stood eyes level with mine, teeth white and smile clear as day.

"Draco my boy come come, come here and look. I brought you something, decided it was time to really crack on with your rehabilitation. Get you started and going."

I was pulled forward by my arm into the middle of the circle, the people spreading further out giving us more room.

My eyes come into contact with a terrified Colin Creevey, his eyes black and blue while his nose bleeds. He is scared, chest heaving as he pants and looks around for help. Perhaps he thought the Order were coming to save him, perhaps he expected it to be Harry that would walk through the crowd, wave his wand and save everyone. Lightening bolt scar and all.

But no. It was me, and I knew what Bellatrix had in store for me, and when she told me my exact thoughts, I didn't flinch. Only listen.

"kill him Draco. Kill him. Right now. Here. And then you will be forgiven by the Dark Lord. Kill him Draco. And you can become your promised name."

The room was silent, my parents watching me eagle eyed as Bellatrix curved her hand around my shoulder, pointing the the boy and mimicking the action of the wand with her finger.

"Kill him Draco. Do it!" She leered, pushing my forward a pace and taking a step back.

You could hear every single heartbeat in the room, all in unison as they each waited for my reaction. Fuck, even I was waiting for my own reaction.

"Malfoy please. You don't want to do this, please. You really- I wont tell anyone. Please. Is it the photos? I never meant to take bad- well I mean I can retake them, or maybe destroy them. Just please don't- I have a family. Brothers."

The boy was cut off mid sentence with a screech from Bellatrix and a wordless spell that doubled Colin over as he heaved and retched trying to catch his breath.

"Malfoy. Please" He begged again, his voice horse and quite.

I wasn't listening. Bellatrix drowning out the rest of the please with her hissing of commands.

"Hurry Draco."

" Do it Draco"

"Kill him Draco"

"Do you always dance or is this just a new school year special?" I ask, Watching Ophelia dance to some weird beating music. Her hips swaying as she folds a t-shirt into her drawer.

She jumps around in fear and shock, a scream escaping her lips.

"Draco Kill him" Bellatrix.

"A little bird told me that you smelled Apples and Dior in your Amortentia, I wonder who that could have been"

Me. You smelt me. All me. My body, my scent. You smelt me Ophelia. And that drives you crazy. I think.

"Malfoy Please don't kill me plea-" Another hex sent Colin's way. But I couldn't pull my head out of the canteen it had dug it's self into.

"thinking you could touch her...thinking that she would be okay..."

another hit...

"with..you...every touching her..."

My fist connects with his nose, a spray of blood splattering onto the floor.

"Draco do it now" My father leaks into my hearing as I replay beating Marcus Flint.

"Take as long as you need...I took the dress....And I reckon since we are now acquaintances you can therefore tell me Draco. But that doesn't mark us best friends."

If I kill Colin, what happens to Ophelia. Would she still look at me the same way? Or would she hear about this and refuse to even acknowledge what we have....once had?

Would she hate me? Would she maybe kill me in revenge for Colin. God I secretly hope she would. If I was to die I would want to make sure that she would be at the other end of the wand.

We walk back towards Hogwarts in silence.

"Did you enjoy the hot chocolate?" Ophelia asks watching my face, her nose red from the cold.

I thinks. And then nod.

"you know. I did actually...but...I enjoyed your company more. AND, I'm still a coffee person" I declare, capturing her blush like an image in my mind deciding to never forget it.

"Draco whatever it is you are thinking of doing. It better end in you killing this runt." My father speaks a second time, the panic beginning to etch into his words. I wonder if others could sense his fear and panic, or if that was just a thing us Malfoys could gather up.

My hand travel to her breasts, my hands sneaking under Ophelia's top playing with her nipple as I move my mouth to her neck nipping harder when she groans letting me know I had reached her sensitive parts.

I moan back, our breathing melting into one as she lets out small whimpers.I feel myself getting hard against her rolling hips against my dick allowing me to feel how wet she is, only a thin pair of pants and boxers sitting between us."

I feel my breathing quicken and stutter, the montage crashing over me as the pushes and urges of those around me phase into one long mumble of pressure and panic.

The silver blade glistens against the floating candles, the blade glistening in the black of Ophelia's eyes as Bellatrix toys with it, running it up and down her arm, the blade eventually resting on her sternum pricking her. Blood tricking out of the small cut.

"Draco come on. Do it."

I groan again, circling my tongue around the nerves, feeling her buck slightly and her breathing hitches suddenly as she grips my blonde hair.

"You taste delectable." I groan twisting my tongue and dipping further in, allowing myself to bask in her taste, the frenzied high sending bolts of electricity down my body.

"Draco please" she gasps out.

"Draco. NOW"

The drums and music start and the beat turns into an uproar of dancing.

I begin to boogie. Awkwardly and rigid. My hips bucking side to side as I swing my arms around my body, like a bee was attacking me.

She stares in bewilderment, her eyes big and round.

I grab her hands and swing them with me, pulling her around the room as the song celebrates.

I dip and turn, pulling her away and then close, spinning her around and then catching her. Moving around the room fast and crazy.

A smile begins to appear on her lips. And I jump and turn almost knocking into the wall.

She laugh, the harmony dancing around us as I smile back.

And we dance. Jumping and clashing into each other, swing our arms and ducking under each other, her hair spinning as she begins to move her feet and her arms.

Her dancing is timed. Elegant. Mine is a fish out of water.

But we move together, safe in our little bubble.

"Draco"

She was stunning, her hair flying around her like a fan, her body moving with ease and grace. Each movement matching the music, almost like it was using her as a puppet.

I don't know anything about dancing. But she was breathtaking, her body flying like a bird. Her legs twisting and spinning, pulling the air out of my lungs in pure admiration. Her body connecting with the floor as if she was a swan coming down from the sky to land in the lake.

She was like the light as it creeped through your window in the morning, reflecting life, reflecting beauty.

The violins would go off, her head would roll back, her lips slight parted the music changing to anger. Intensity growing.

"Draco please don't kill me"

"Do you want children Draco?" Ophelia asks, sweeping the strand of hair out of my face at it fell onto my forehead.

"I think so. Two. But the boy needs to be called after a constellation. I like that tradition in my family, there's loads I hate, but that one I would like to carry on." I lay back down, reversing our positions as Ophelia then moved onto her elbow.

"Okay. Two it is. And then I can choose the girls name"

"Deal." I say, engulfing her in a hug.

"Draco"

"Draco, when the time comes..when they...call you back. When you are told to fight, are you going to choose your side then or..?"

"I don't know. I really don't know. I keep glancing over the problem and them pushing it aside when it gets too ugly." I gulp, my throat suddenly dry.

"You'll need to decide Draco. If not now then when the time calls. You-"

"Ophelia I know. You will also need to pick a side too you know."

"Me? Why?"

I glance up at her, raising an eyebrow "you're a Slytherin, a known follower of Voldemort even if you don't want to be, your house decided that for you."

"Malfoy. Do it"

"Tell me.." I began, pulling Ophelia out of her thoughts. "If you had to pick a side, and the bad side had me on it- assuming I had to choose that for forced reasons- would you follow me?"

She gulped, her eyes widening and her throat constricting as she glazed over the question nibbling her lip.

"I would choose the side that would keep you alive" she finally reply.

"Kill him. Kill him right now!"

"I would choose the side that would keep you alive"

And I would keep you alive Ophelia. Because somehow. We need to stay alive. Even if that means others don't. Even if we don't stay together, even if we are alive without being in each other's lives. We need to stay alive. We need to just survive somehow.

And I raised my wand, the words thundering out my mouth and the green sparks emitted from the end of my wand.

It felt like electricity pounding out of a conductor. The current buzzing at my nerves as the screaming screeches in my ear to a halt. Hallow eyes as they come into contact with my blinking ones.

And suddenly there is one less heartbeat beating in unison to the rest.

Body hits the floor.

Room erupts into claps.

Bellatrix screams in delight.

Arms are slapping my shoulder.

Arms are around me.

I'm walking towards the door.

Lights. Stairs. Another door.

The clapping fades out.

I keep walking.

Porcelain bowl.

I heave and vomit, hitting the toilet as I gargle and feel the sweat drip dow my forehead. Heaving a second time allowing the acid to burn my throat as I do. It hits the toilet pan spraying and dribbling down my chin. The smell of half digested meat and wine swimming into my nostrils.

I continue to vomit until my stomach aches and my muscles spasm. But event then I shove my fingers down my throat and continue to force it up. Roaring and splashing as it comes out my nose and mouth. Blinding me and stopping me from breathing, my fingers down the back again before I can even take a breath.

And I stay that way, creating a routine of it until I lay on the floor, faint and slick in sweat.