Chapter 6
It's been about 5 weeks since I spent that last night with Fred. I've been to Hogsmeade once already and today the third years are going again. The last time Hermione wanted to go to the shrieking shack but we never got to. Mainly because Ron wanted to explore every inch of Honeydukes. I ended up buying a lot of stuff for Ron and Hermione and very little for me. There were only a few things I wanted to try anyway. They kept telling me I didn't have to get them anything but I did anyway.
After the first Hogsmeade trip, everyone had to sleep in the great hall, almost immediately. Sirius Black had tried to enter the Gryffindor common room but was unsuccessful.
I walk with Hermione and Ron through some sort of forest to get to the Shrieking Shack. Ron still doesn't like me, so the whole time he stayed away from me. I don't care though because I'm listening to Hermione talk about the shack. I liked learning about haunted things and apparently, as Hermione has said 500 times, it's the most haunted building in all of Britain. We get to the fence and stop there. Hermione starts giving more facts about the place and I stand here freezing my ass off because I'm an idiot and only decided to wear one of Harry's hoodies that he gave me. I totally didn't steal it. It was his gray hoodie that he wore sneaking around the castle, looking for Peter Pettigrew.
"Well, well, well. Look who's here. You three shopping for your new dream home? Bit grand for you, isn't it Weaslebee? Don't your family all sleep in...one room?" Malfoy's voice rang from behind us. We all turned around as soon as he said "well, well, well." I can't wait to see Hermione punch his face at the end of the year.
"Shut your mouth, Malfoy." Ron says, not very confidently. Though it sounds like he was trying.
"Ooh. Not very friendly. Boys, I think it's time we show Weaselbee how to respect his superiors." Malfoy replies with a smirk.
"I hope you're not talking about yourself." Hermione snaps as she steps in front of Ron and I. Mainly Ron.
"How dare you talk to me like that? You filthy little mudblood."
I grabbed my wand from my pocket and pointed it at Malfoy. "Don't call her a mudblood." As if on cue a snowball hits Malfoy right in the face. I back away and watch as more snowballs hit Malfoy and his goons. It was funny watching Malfoy run around scared. Soon Malfoy is on the floor getting dragged to the shrieking shack by an invisible force. Aka Harry. Harry drops Draco on the ground, then Draco scrambles to get up, then runs away like a scaredy cat with his goons following him. It was hilarious. I feel someone tug at my hair.
"Harry." Hermione and I say at the same time. Harry reveals himself, laughing.
"Blimey Harry, that wasn't funny." We all crack up laughing and head towards hogsmeade. Harry starts explaining how he got here with the Marauders map. Which I already know about. Hermione keeps telling him to give it to Mcgonagall but we all know that's not going to happen. We stopped near Honeydukes because Harry started eavesdropping on Madame Rosemerta and Cornelius Fudge, the minister of magic. I sigh as Harry puts on his invisibility cloak to go see what's going on. Me, Hermione and Ron tried to follow him but we weren't allowed into the Three Broomsticks, so we sat outside and waited.
Harry came out a few minutes later pushing through people. Me, Hermione, and Ron followed him and said our apologies to carolers who were knocked down. We followed him all the way to a rock in the middle of the forest. He was sitting crying with the invisibility cloak pulled over him. Me and Hermione walk over to him and pull the cloak off.
"Harry. What happened?" Hermione asks, concerned.
"He was their friend and he betrayed them. HE WAS THEIR FRIEND!." Harry screams out, making me slightly flinch. "I hope he finds me, cuz when he does I'm gonna kill him. When he does I'll be ready." There was a long pause of silence. I sat on the rock next to Harry and pulled him into a side hug. Hermione followed after me and did the same as I did. Harry lays his head on my shoulder and takes a deep breath.
"I just realized you are wearing my hoodie." Harry comments.
"Thanks for letting me borrow it." He let out a small laugh and perked his head up.
"Let's go back to the castle guys." We all nod our heads and stand up. I stretch out then start walking back to the castle.
Packing is boring. I don't like doing it and I never will. I'm packing last minute for Christmas break. Which the train leaves in one hour. Malfoy keeps popping into my room to let me know that. I've nearly hit him a couple of times because he was getting annoying. Parker did end up hitting him once. She's helping me pack while I help her pack because we are both leaving. She's going to her DR parents house.
Malfoy knocks on the door and tells us it's time to leave, so we grab our stuff and follow Malfoy to the train station. We walked all the way to the carriages. I gave an apple to the Thestrals while Parker and Malfoy looked at me like I was crazy. I let out a slight laugh then joined them on the carriage.
"What did you give that apple to? I could have eaten it." Malfoy says with a pout.
"Thestrals. You can only see them if you've seen death." He nods his head and looks at the thestral. To him it is empty space. To me I see a beautiful winged black horse that looks like a skeleton.
"Who have you seen?" He asks, quietly.
"My dad." He nods again.
"Wow. You guys are talking civilly. That's a first." Parker comments. I laugh and slightly hit her arm. The carriage starts moving and surprisingly me, Draco, and Parker start talking about random things. I've noticed that Draco thinks scoffing is a good way to answer things. It's quite annoying to be honest. We stop at the train station and get off the carriage. We walk on to the train with our luggage and find a compartment. Draco sits next to the window on one side and I sit next to the window on the other with Parker sitting next to me. We sat in silence the whole ride, which was kind of awkward.
After about an hour, the train stopped and we all got off the train. I gave Parker a big hug and then walk off with Draco.
"My mom should be here."
"Ok." I am really nervous. I'm not sure why but I am. I follow Draco to the end of the platform where we find Narcissa waiting for us. Narcissa greets Draco with a big hug then turns to me.
"You must be Felicity. I've heard a lot about you. I'm Narcissa." Narcissa says.
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy." I reply, sweetly. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Malfoy roll his eyes.
"Call me Narcissa."
I nod my head. "Ok. Thank you, Narcissa. And thank you for inviting me to your home for break. There is one concern though."
"Your blood status I assume?" She questions.
"Yes."
"Don't worry about it when it comes to me. I still believe that purebloods are higher than half bloods of course but I try to not be violent. Lucius on the other hand." She cuts herself off. I nod my head in understanding. She extends her arm to me and Draco. Draco takes her arm and I take it hesitantly. All of a sudden I feel like I'm getting sucked into myself. I suddenly appear right in front of Malfoy Manor. An elf comes and greets us, then takes me and Draco's bags.
"Draco, show Felicity where her room is, then bring her to the living room. We have some things to discuss with you two." He nods his head then grabs my hand, leading me into the Manor. I flinch when I feel his hand slip into mine but I stay silent not wanting to talk or say something wrong. He stops at a room and opens the door. The room reminded me of Draco's dorm except without all the posters. The bedsheets were green. Everywhere was basically green.
"This is your room. Mines right next to yours on the left side."
I nod my head. "Ok."
"Let's go." I nod my head and close the door to my room and follow Draco to the living room. It took a while to get there but along the way Draco would show me rooms that would be interesting to look at. Finally, we got to the living room, where my DR mother, Narcissa, and Lucius were. My DR mother basically looked like an older version of me. She was quite pretty but had a mean and intimidating demeanor on her face.
"Come. Sit." Narcissa instructs us to do it. Draco and I sit on a couch across from our parents.
"We have something we would like to discuss with both of you." My mother piped in.
"To keep both of our bloodlines in power we are arranging a marriage between you two." Narcissa continues.
"When you are both 18 you shall be married." My mother finishes off the statement with a broad smile. It feels like Narcissa and my mother had rehearsed this.
"Mom. You can't make us do that." I argue.
"It's going to happen whether you like it or not." My mother replies with the fakest smile I have ever seen.
"What about their bloodline? I know they won't want a halfblood ruining it."
"She has a point, Mandy." Lucius says quietly.
"How about we talk this over once more? For the time being you two will be getting married unless we decide otherwise." Narcissa suggests. Draco and I nod our heads. Lucius excuses us and we both get up and leave. My mom stops me just as I walk out the door.
"Draco, go on to your room. I need to have a chat with Felicity." He nods and walks away. Once he leaves my mother turns to me.
"You are going to marry him despite your blood status. We need to stay in power. Especially if the dark lord comes back."
"Do you really think we will stay in power if he comes back? No. We will not. Nobody will be in power except for him. And that's if he beats Harry Potter." She rears back like she was going to hit me but stops herself.
"You are not allowed to eat for a while. Only go when you are personally asked. You're getting too fat." I nodded and walked away, trying to hold back tears. I can't cry. Crying shows weakness. Weakness shows vulnerability. If you are vulnerable you get taken advantage of.
I find Draco waiting for me in the next room. He doesn't say anything, he just starts walking when I catch up to him. I keep my head down. I don't want him to see tears in my eyes.
"Is there anywhere you want to go?" He asks.
"Just my room." He nods his head and continues walking.
Once I get to my room, I close my door and lay on the bed. I close my eyes and take deep breaths. The bed sheets smell like really expensive fabric softener. It smells good. I hear the door open but I don't bother to look up.
"Dinner starts at 6 by the way." Draco says.
"Thanks."
"You are going to join us, correct?"
"Don't push it, Malfoy. I know you heard what my mom said." I hear him close the door. He walks over and sits beside me.
"I did and what are you gonna do?" He asks. Is this his way of being kind? If so, why is he being kind?
"She's right. I shouldn't be eating." I hear him sigh.
"You are going to let her win?"
"I'm not going to let her win. But she is right."
"Felicity. You look like a twig and you are so skinny people think you look sick. Not to mention the loss of blood doesn't help." He picks up my wrist and rolls my sleeves down. He inspects my arm while I open my eyes and just lay there numb and watching. He slides his finger down my arm. I wince a little but it doesn't hurt as much anymore than it would two months ago.
"You can leave now, you know."
He nods his head. "Right." He gets up and leaves the room. He sounded sad which kind of confused me. I close my eyes and try to fall asleep but I can't. I take out my wand and start drawing shapes with light. I drew random things and got sleepy. I put my wand on the desk and fell asleep.
I wake up and it's dark. I look up and see that I'm covered by the blankets and there's a plate of fruit on the desk. I sit up and grab the plate of fruit. I get an orange and take a bite of it. I put the peeling on the plate then set the plate back on the table. I hear a slight knock on the door, so I get up and answer the door. I open the door to find Draco.
"Yes? Malfoy?"
"I was wondering if I could come and talk to you. I can't sleep and there is no one else to talk to." Malfoy asks quietly.
"I....sure I guess." I walk away from the door and sit on my bed. Draco follows after me and sits in front of me.
"So? What do you want to talk about?"
"If it's ok. I would like to talk about what happened a couple weeks ago." He asks, not sounding sure of himself.
"Everyone knows what happened." I comment.
"Well I want to know the truth. Not the rumors."
"Well. I know you won't care about this part, but I had told Fred that I wish I never met him. Then I got that damn howler. Then that note you gave me set me off to try and kill myself."
"I-I don't know what to say to that. I-I'm sorry I guess. I'm not used to apologizing so yeah." I laugh a little and shake my head.
"There are a lot of things you need to apologize for."
"Yeah. But then again why would I say sorry to a halfblood." He smirks.
"You can't repeat what you said at the beginning of the year." I grab my pillow and slightly hit him with it. He takes one from behind me and hits me with it. We start laughing but I try to keep quiet.
"Aren't your parents gonna hear?" I don't want his parents to hear us. Mainly because Lucius would get us both into trouble.
"Their room is on the other side of the manor." I nodded and laid down.
"If we weren't in an arranged marriage, who would you want to marry?"
"I haven't given that much thought but Fred I guess." I shrug.
"Do you think you could ever learn to love me?" His voice is so quiet I could barely hear the question. He asked if I could learn to love him. Why should I after all of the things he's done to me this year.
"I don't do love. Love gets you hurt. I barely even love myself."
"Oh. So I guess it's the same for Fred?"
"Yeah." He sighs then says, "Goodnight, Wilhite."
"Goodnight, Malfoy." He gets up and walks out the door, closing it behind him. I take a deep breath then fall asleep.
"You're not worth it."
"You're not worthy of love."
"Fred would never love the Slytherin slut." All those words resonated through the black room. Beating down into my head. It was the same voice just in different parts of the room. It sounded like my voice. The voices grew louder. Suddenly, Fred came into view and started saying all the things that were being said. Then he said, "I wish I never met you." I fell to my knees and started crying. His eyes had no sympathy, no emotion.
"I didn't mean to say that. Please don't leave me alone." My voice was hoarse.
"You are just the slytherin slut." I screamed no and collapsed the rest of the way to the ground. I laid there crying not wanting to move.
I woke up crying. It is morning and probably already breakfast time. I get up and go to the overly large bathroom. Seriously, this bathroom is the size of my dorm. I start the shower and get undressed as it gets hot. I shower quickly, then get dressed and head down stairs to the dining area. I walk in and see Narcissa and Draco eating.
"Nice of you to join us this morning." Narcissa says, barely looking at me.
"I'm sorry I didn't join you for dinner. I ended up falling asleep." I give a half excuse because I couldn't care less if I joined them for dinner or not. I know they don't want me here, so the more I avoid them, the better it is for both of us.
"It's quite alright. Would you come join us?" Narcissa says sweetly.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Malfoy but I have some studying to catch up on."
"Actually, I believe I have something to inform my mother about that concerns you." Draco pipes in.
"What is Draco?"
"Draco please don't." I beg.
"Someone has to know."
"Fine." I say bitterly.
"Her mother doesn't want her to eat. And Felicity thinks it's a bright idea to listen to her."
"If she wants to listen to her mother then let her." Narcissa says with a shrug, making the smug look on Draco's face turn into a frown.
"I'm just going to go, I'm sorry." I turn around and walk out and head straight to the library. Once I get there, I grab a random book and start reading. The book was really boring and to be fair I had no clue what this is about.
"I had a feeling you would come in here. " Draco said as he sat down in front of me. I ignored him and kept reading.
"You're ignoring me."
"Yep. By the way, you shouldn't have done that." I replied.
"Oh yeah. And why's that?"
"Because your mom doesn't care about what happens to me. Also with the way you were acting it would look like you actually care for a halfblood."
"What if I did?"
"Doubt it."
The next week is very boring. I basically stayed in my room the whole week. Only coming out to eat when Draco forced me out. The only times when Draco didn't talk to me or act nice to me in general was when his father was around. His father hates me. Anyway, I hear screaming coming from outside my door. I walk up to the door and listen closely.
"I will not allow my son to actually have feelings for a half-blood." Lucius' voice came from behind the door.
"Who said I care for her?" Draco yelled back.
"It's obvious that you do. Not by your words but by your actions. Don't think I don't know what you've done for her."
"So what if I do? You can't change how I feel." I hear Lucius smack Draco as hard as he could, probably on the face. I wince as I hear Draco whimper. This is why I don't want to be near Draco.
"I better not hear that you have feelings for filth like her ever again." I hear a door slam and footsteps walking away from my room. I walk over to my bed and hear crying from the room next to me. I walk to the door that connects our rooms, then open the door slightly and transform into a wolf. I push the door the rest of the way open and walk over to Draco, who was sitting on the floor with his knees to his chest, crying. I lay my head on his knee and he looks up at me. I see a red handprint on his face. He starts petting my head and taking deep breaths.
"You know I think I like you like this." I give a whimpering sound and move towards him a little. He hugs me and starts crying into my fur. He starts whispering things that a normal person wouldn't be able to hear but I could very clearly. He lets go of me and stands up.
"Can you transform back?" I nod my head and transform back into a person. Once I transform back he pulls me into a hug.
"I'm sorry he did that to you." I whisper. He pulls away and looks at me.
He shrugs. "I'm used to it to be honest. Still hurts though." He sits down on his bed and motions for me to sit next to him. I sat next to him hesitantly.
"Draco, I should probably leave. I don't want him to hurt you." He grabs my hand and looks at me with puppy dog eyes.
"Please don't. Look I know I haven't been the best person in the past and I'm sorry. I know that won't make it up but still."
I nod my head hesitantly. "Ok."
"Do you do cuddling?"
"Obviously. But not right now. First for that red mark." I slide my finger across his cheek and imagine it healing. On my cheek I feel a slight sting from the mark. It doesn't hurt too bad but it still hurts.
"You ok?"
"Yeah. Just sympathy pain I guess." I shrug.
"You did it when you were healing my arm too." He eyes me with suspicion in his eyes.
"It's part of my powers. When I heal people or take away people's pain I receive it. I don't know how far it goes when it comes to it but it happens." He nods and puts his hand to my face. I inch away from him before he could.
"I better get going." I stand up and walk to the door and walk into my room without another thought. I close the door then walk to my bed and lay down. Oh, did I mention today is Christmas. Love this holiday. (Hint the sarcasm). Christmas wasn't always a shitbag holiday to me. I always said I hated it but I secretly enjoyed having Christmas. It wasn't until my dad died in my real life that I actually started hating it. I didn't want to be around anyone after my dad died. Which is kind of why I was so interested in shifting in the first place. I needed a reality escape for a while.
Before I was fully asleep Draco knocked on my door and I told him to come in. He entered quietly and sat on my bed. I sit up, while watching his movements.
"I wanted to give you something." He takes a box out of his pocket and hands it to me. Inside is a snake ring with emerald eyes.
"Thank you."
"I have a matching one. If that's ok."
"It's ok."
A week later and it's time to go home. Thank god. I didn't like having to deal with Lucius' glares when I joined them for dinner. Narcissa didn't say much to me and Draco was distant but not as distant as he was.
Draco and I boarded the train together and found Parker's compartment easily. She was sitting reading a book with her hair in her face.
"How was break?" I said as I sat down. She looked up at me and smiled, completely ignoring Draco.
"It was good. How was yours?" Parker replied.
"It was interesting."
"Interesting how?" She questions.
"Well guess who I have to marry when I'm older." I look over at Draco and see him smirking.
"Him? Eww." I crack up laughing and I can see Draco chuckle a little bit. The train jolts forward and I nearly fall on to the other seat. The train lurches again then starts moving.
About an hour later, I'm back in my room laying on my bed, waiting for Pansy to come in and yell at me. She had to stay at Hogwarts and wasn't able to spend time with her Drakey-poo. God that name is annoying. Suddenly, my door slams open.
"FELICITY!" Pansy yelled.
"Yes, Pugface?" I say with a smirk.
"HOW DARE YOU GO TO DRACO'S HOUSE." I roll my eyes and pick up a book and start reading.
"Wasn't my choice."
"Hey Pansy, get out before I beat your ass." Parker says from behind Pansy. Pansy storms out angrily while Parker walks nonchalantly to her bed.
"So when are you going to tell Fred?" Oh right. I have to tell Fred. I completely forgot about the fact that he likes me. Or at least that he said he did. Maybe he won't care.
"I don't want to tell him."
"You know keeping it to yourself is only going to hurt you both in the long run."
"Why are you always right?" I complain.
"I'm really not."
"Yes you are." I put the book on the night stand and sigh.
"I'm going for a walk, see you later."
"Bye." Parker says as I get up and walk out the door to who knows where. I'm just going to walk until I get tired. Or even longer than that. As I was walking, I felt someone slip their hand into mine, so I look up and see Draco standing next to me.
"What are you doing?" I ask. Meaning to actually say, why is he holding my hand.
"Well I need to let Weaselbee know your mine don't I." He replies confidently.
"If I'm going to ever like you in the slightest, you are going to have to be nicer."
"Like that's ever gonna happen, princess." I grumble something incoherent under my breath. We walk all the way to the black lake and sit down by a tree. All of a sudden, Fred walks up, with me trying to find a believable way to tell him about me and Draco.
"There you are, Feliz. I've been looking for you everywhere. I need to talk to you." His eyes drop down to Draco and I's hands, which are still intertwined.
"I've actually been meaning to talk to you as well." I get up and walk with Fred, leaving Malfoy by the tree.
"You first." I stop where I am and so does he.
"Well me and Malfoy were kind of forced into dating. He and I are supposed to get married when we are 18." His smile leaves his face quicker than I could say quidditch.
"That doesn't mean you can't date other people right?" He questions. I can hear the hopefulness in his voice but all I can do is destroy it.
"I can't Fred. I'm sorry. Even if I could, I wouldn't want to do it because I wouldn't want to dump them just because I know I have to marry someone else."
"There has to be a way for you to get out of it. Did you even try to get out of it?"
"There's no getting out of it unless the parents say otherwise."
"Meaning you didn't try." He turns around and storms off before I could get in another word. I ran off the other way and stopped at the tree where Draco was. He was still there, just staring off into space. I sit next to him and lay my head on his shoulder.
"He didn't take it well, did he?" Draco asks as I sit down.
"No, he didn't. It was bad." He puts his arm around my shoulder.
"It's weird for you to be this friendly." He gives a short laugh then looks at me.
"You're right it's surprising me too." I laugh a little then we both turn our head towards the lake, enjoying the sunset.