Chapter 13
The nightmares were getting worse.
It wasn’t all ruins and whispers anymore. It wasn’t just cryptic warnings or flashes of fire and shadow.
Now I could feel it.
I awoke with a sharp pain searing through my chest, my lungs gasping for air as if suffocating in a vacuum of time. My limbs felt weighed down, as if something was pulling me down and demanding to be acknowledged. And in the back of my mind, just beneath the surface of consciousness, I swear I could still hear him.
Tenebris.
I sat up in bed, ran my hand down my face, and exhaled sharply. The room enveloped me in darkness, the faint crackling of dying embers in the fireplace the only sound breaking the silence.
Across the room, Hermione had fallen asleep at her desk again, slumped over a stack of books, her curls tangled. The soft glow of an enchanted lantern cast golden highlights across her skin, illuminating the exhaustion that framed her features.
She was still trying to fix it.
Of course she was.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up, ignoring the lingering sensation that something was missing, or wrong. I’d been feeling it for several days now.
No, longer.
Since our Eidolons disappeared, I’ve felt hollow inside.
I moved closer to Hermione, the magnetic tug of her presence tugging at something deep within me, a yearning I struggled to comprehend. It had started small—barely noticeable—but was growing stronger and more persistent.
It was as if a part of me craved something I couldn’t understand.
She shifted slightly, brow furrowing even while sleeping, and I knew.
She was dreaming.
We both were.
Again.
The ruins were endless.
Jagged stone stretched to the horizon, the sky above swirling in gold and black, shifting like a fractured reflection of something ancient.
The pain hit me as soon as I stepped forward.
A deep, aching wound ran through my very core, as if something were tearing me apart from the inside out.
It was not mine.
That was his.
I gasped, stumbling slightly, as a voice broke the The silence enveloped us, pregnant with unspoken truths and uncharted paths.
“You have left me in the dark too long, Draco Malfoy.”
I turned sharply, and there he was.
Tenebris.
He stood at the edge of the ruins, his massive obsidian wings folded behind him, and dark flames licked his form. His piercing black-fire eyes met mine, and I felt his presence like never before.
As if he wasn’t just looking at me.
It was as if he was inside me, a force woven into my very being.
The connection was frayed, damaged, and only held together by a thread.
“You are losing me.”
I swallowed hard, forcing my voice to be steady. “Not by choice.”
Tenebris took a step forward, and the air shook with his weight.
“Yet you resist. “You fight against what has already been written.”
I clenched my fist. “You’re speaking in riddles again. Just tell me what the hell I need to do to fix this.”
His wings unfurled slightly, and his dark flames pulsated outward.
“Choose her.”
My breath got caught in my throat.
Tenebris’ gaze was unwavering.
“You resist her. You resist what binds you. And so I am cast into the void, cut off from the power I once possessed.”
I shook my head, frustrated. “I didn’t sever anything—”
“Your magic is not separate from hers anymore.” His voice was a low growl, with an ancient and powerful crackle beneath it. “Your strength equals her strength. You are not two opposing forces. “You are one, ready to be forged.”
The air became thicker and pressed against my skin like an invisible weight.
“But still, you resist.”
I swallowed, my throat tightening. “You’re saying that the only way to fix this—to bring you back—is to… deepen the bond?”
“Not just deepen it.”
Tenebris took a step forward, lowering his head slightly so that his burning gaze could meet mine fully.
“Accept it.”
I expelled a frustrated breath, vehemently shaking my head in denial. “And what exactly does that mean?”
A deep rumble vibrated through the dreamscape, similar to laughter but with a warning tone.
“You already know, Draco Malfoy.”
The ruins shook. The void above cracked open, letting light through in violent tendrils.
And then—
I was falling.
I awoke with a sharp inhale, my heart pounding against my ribcage.
The room was dark, with the embers in the fireplace reduced to smoldering coals. My skin burned from leftover magic, and my veins hummed with something I couldn’t understand.
Then I heard it.
A soft gasp, laden with fear and understanding, echoed from across the room.
I turned around to see Hermione awake, sitting up in her chair, fingers clutching the edge of the desk, face pale.
She turned to look at me.
And I knew.
I knew without asking.
She’d been there.
She’d felt everything.
For an eternity, neither of us dared to break the heavy silence that hung between us.
Then she spoke, quietly but confidently.
“You saw them.”
I exhaled slowly and rubbed my hand over my face. “Yeah.”
A pause. Then—
“They’re in pain,” she said softly, her eyes flickering with something haunting. “They think we rejected them.”
I met her gaze, my thoughts still racing.
I knew what I needed to say next.
But saying it aloud would make it a reality.
I swallowed, my voice lower than I had intended. “They said the only way to fix this is to accept the bond.”
Hermione frowned. “Accept it how?”
I hesitated, Tenebris’ words still weighing on my mind.
Then I said it.
“By choosing each other.”
Silence.
A thick, tangible silence fell over the room like a spell about to be broken.
Hermione inhaled sharply and shifted slightly in her chair. “You mean—”
“I don’t know what it means,” I said quickly, my voice sharp and my pulse racing. “But it’s the only answer we have.”
She studied me, her expression unreadable.
And, for the first time since the nightmare began, I realized—
I was not afraid of the Revenants.
I was not afraid of the consequences.
I was concerned about what Tenebris’ assertion might imply.
That she was chosen for more than just magical reasons.
It was about everything.
Was she chosen for me? That our bond was established before we even had a say?
I clenched my teeth, fury curling up in my chest.
No.
Too much had already been decided for me. My name, my bloodline, my entire damn destiny. And now they’re saying I can’t even choose who I love?
Fuck that.
Fuck fate.