Chapter 31
"No, no, no." I pace around my room, my hands in my hair, while Draco sits on my bed watching me. "She's going to get hurt." They can't let her do this. They can't let her do this.
"Oh but they can. And they will." A snakey voice fills my head, making me freeze in my tracks and grow wide eyed. How? Voldemort's face pops up in my head. He has a wicked smile, grinning at me like a maniac. In my mind I force him out. Taking everything Snape has taught me and applying it to now.
"Felicity?" Draco walks up to me, concern written across his features as he grabs my arms. "What's wrong? Are you ok?"
"This can't be possible." I mumble. "I have to be imagining things." I rest my head on Draco's chest, before falling to my knees, suddenly feeling numb and tired. Draco follows me down, holding me in his arms.
"What is wrong?"
"Voldemort." I whisper. "He just talked to me. He's gonna hurt her. I can't let that happen."
"Ms. Wilhite." Snape's voice calls from the door. I turn to him, seeing that he's giving Draco a disapproving look. "You need to come with me. Dumbledore requests your presence." I nod my head and stand up, leaving Draco on the floor.
I follow Snape silently, knowing he won't talk anyway. He's not one to make casual small talk with students and I just don't want to talk to him.
George Weasley stands by the griffon statue, most likely waiting for Parker to come out. Snape says the password and waits for me to walk up the steps. I could've taken George with me but with Snape there and our promise to Dumbledore last year, I doubt that would be a good idea.
When I walk in, the room is quiet. It's an uneasy silence that tells me that something is wrong. Parker and Ethan have that look on their face, like they know that we are in more danger now. Dumbledore awaits behind his desk, with a small smile on his face, which makes my stomach drop in anger. He most likely knew this would happen.
"You have to pull her out of this tournament." I yell, making all the attention go to me.
"The Goblet has a binding spell. She has to compete." Dumbledore says, calmly.
"I don't give a damn about the cup or the spell. Parker didn't even put her fucking name in the cup. It was only supposed to be Harry who got called." My teeth grind against each other. "Neither of them should be allowed to compete. They are underage and you know this competition can lead to death."
"Rules are rules, Ms. Wilhite." Dumbledore says in a calm tone, making me even more irritated.
"Since when do you give a fuck about the rules? Every year you literally give extra points to Gryffindor so Harry can win the house cup. Don't fucking tell me rules are rules."
"Felicity..." Ethan stands up to try and grab my arm but I brush him away. He pleads with me not to continue with those blue eyes of his but I ignore it.
"I'm sorry Ms. Wilhite but we have to follow it this time. Now I brought you in here to see if you know anything about this situation."
I scoff. "I do. But rules are rules. You made us promise not to say anything." I turn around and walk out of the office. No one stops me. Good. If someone tries I will snap at them.
"So?" George asks as I walk past him, falling into step with my hurried ones.
"Well I'm storming out of there so how do you think it went?" I snap, before pausing and taking a breath. "He's not pulling her out of the tournament. His exact words were "Rules are rules." Which is complete bullshit."
"It is but we can't do anything about it. You knew it was coming, Felicity." Parker calls from behind us. I turn around to face her, my heart in the pit of my stomach.
"There has to be a way." George mumbles. Tears prick at the back of his eyes but he acts like they aren't there. I look between them, noticing their silent conversation.
"I'm going to leave you two to talk." I mumble before turning around and walking off, leaving them to talk. I wanted to be alone anyway, but that wish was short lived. Draco met with me quickly, barely giving me time to myself. I lay my head on his shoulder and hesitantly grab his hand. His hand tightens around mine, surprising me. I didn't think he'd actually let me do this for some reason.
"Are you gonna tell anyone?"
I shake my head. "No." I don't have to ask what he is talking about. His expression of concern says it all. "What am I supposed to say? That I heard You-know-who's voice in my head. People are going to think I am insane. Besides, I don't care about that right now. I'm more concerned for Parker's safety. I just wonder why he is targeting me, when it comes to the mind attacks."
"I think it's because you know more about the future than Ethan and Parker do."
"But they know what's gonna happen, just like I do." I reply, confused.
"To an extent. Parker and Ethan know what's going to happen but you know more of the specifics, if that makes sense." Draco explains.
"Ok, but how does he know? As far as I know he has only targeted me." Draco's eyes grow sad as he looks over my face. He shakes his head and squeezes my hand tighter.
"I don't know, but I'll do whatever I can to keep you safe."
I shake my head. "Right now, it's Parker that needs to be kept safe. Not me." I start to walk again but Draco grabs my wrist and pulls me towards him. His mouth covers mine unexpectedly. I stood there shocked for a quick second, before settling into the kiss. He cups my cheek and tilts my face the way he wants me. The air between us is basically non-existent. His tongue slides across my lower lip, making me jump back, and away from him, in surprise.
"Sorry." I mumble.
"It's ok. If I made you uncomfortable..."
"No." I cut him off. "You didn't. I was just surprised." A blush of embarrassment creeps up my cheeks. He nods his head but still looks unsure. I take his hand in mine and pull him towards me, giving him a quick kiss. "Let's head to the common room."
"You little tease." He mutters as he watches me walk away from him. A smirk makes its way to my face along with butterflies in my stomach. I don't need to look behind me to know that he is following behind me. I can almost feel his breath on my neck and I can hear his footsteps close behind me. He's like a personal guard. Or he's acting like one anyway.
The common room seemed too far to get to, but we made it. Somehow. By the time we get to Draco's dorm, I feel exhausted beyond belief and collapse on Draco's bed. His silk sheets envelope me. They're soft against my skin. I almost fell asleep immediately.
"You know there is a thing called sleep. You should try it sometime." Draco laughs.
"Shut up." I mumble into his pillow that smells like his cologne. He runs his finger down my spine, up and down. It brings shivers throughout my body but for some reason it's comforting. "Can you do that on my skin?" I ask. The words replay through my mind and I realize how weird that sounds, so I try to fix it but Draco interrupts me before I get to.
"I know what you meant." I feel him lift up my shirt just the slightest bit. I shiver but not from the cold. The intimacy from this feels like going out in the spring time air after being inside of a cold house all day. Butterflies flutter in my stomach. It's so simple, what he's doing, but it feels like a lot and I don't know why. I've always wanted something like this in my real life. I had something close but it was with the wrong person. Now that I have it, even if it is in a fictional world, it feels like I don't deserve it.
"Do you know how we met?" Draco asks quietly.
"I do. We met on the train, last year." I reply, not knowing where he is going with this. I have memories of the life I had here before I shifted here. I know how Draco and I met, though I didn't script for that to happen. I know small things about my life, like I had a hippogriff as a child but one day it took off and I never saw it again.
"I remember thinking you were pretty." He whispers. "But I thought you looked too skinny to be healthy. Sometimes I'm reminded of why I thought that."
"Like right now?" I already know the answer to that. He wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't right now.
"Like right now." He repeats. I know he can see my spine. It's not as apparent as it was last year, but it still shows. I can see it almost every time I get dressed.
"I'm fine." I say as I turn over to face him.
"You're looking better. That's what I mean. I know I've never really talked to you about it." I place my hand on his knee.
"It's fine. I know what you meant." My heart feels like it might burst out of my chest. I shouldn't be the one anyone is worried about right now. Parker should be. "I don't want to talk about this right now. Right now Parker is the one we have to be worried about. That tournament is going to kill someone and with her in the tournament now, I don't know how much is going to stay the same."
Draco gave me a sad look before shaking his head and giving into the subject change. "What are you able to tell me without changing much?"
"In my reality, one of the contestants dies and The Dark Lord comes back. With Parker being in the tournament, there are too many people. I-" I want to tell him about the dream, where Parker died in the tournament. He can see that I want to say something. The only thing is that I don't know if the dream was just Voldemort fucking with my head or if it was his plan. My head feels like it's spinning from all the stuff that has just happened in the last twenty-four hours.
"You can tell me." Draco whispers.
"I had a dream where one of The Dark Lord's followers killed her during the tournament. It was in a bit of the tournament where I won't be able to intervene." I didn't even think of that until now. If anything happens I can intervene on the first two easily, but the third. She will be entirely on her own.
The next couple of days move by quickly. I forced myself to start studying with Hermione again to get my mind off of the tournament. I think Hermione is doing the same. She's been drilling the lessons into my head more than she was last year. It's giving me a slight headache but I'm thankful for the distraction.
Parker joined Hermione and I today, which was nice but none of us got much done. We were all joking around and Parker started talking about one of the pranks, her, Fred, and George did. The prank earned her a detention tonight, which I'm not surprised. Filch's almost non-existent hair is still green even though it's been two days. Filch can't figure out how to get rid of it. It's hilarious but I keep getting dirty looks from him every time he walks past me for laughing.
I don't know why, but class feels too long, and the time between classes feels too short, lately. I wish I could slow down time, just long enough to take a breather. Maybe I could clear my thoughts and get rid of that awful feeling in my stomach. School hasn't been making anything easier. I think last year I said that I didn't know why people didn't like homework, when we were in a literal wizarding school, where there is magic everywhere. Now I understand that no matter what kind of homework it is, it's going to suck. I think it's because of deadlines.
"You know, I feel bad for the first years this year." Parker says suddenly.
"Oh? Why?"
"They don't get to experience the funs of a normal year, until next year. Since we don't really have quidditch this year, nor house cup." That was not what I was expecting her to say, so my gloomy-ass decided to say it instead.
"This is also the beginning of the worst years of their life." That earns me an elbow to the side.
"Stop being so gloomy please." I mock a hurt expression, with a hand over my chest. But slowly, a smile creeps up my face. I missed things like this. Us having random conversations just about anything and everything but nothing at all, at the same time. We used to do this a lot before my dad passed away and before we started high school. When my dad passed away, I pulled away from everyone, including her. I still talked to her but it wasn't like we used to. Even now, I feel like I made our relationship strained because I couldn't stand feeling happy. I didn't think I deserved it. It's still taking a lot to force myself to be happy and the feeling of knowing Voldemort coming at the end of the year isn't helping it at all, here.
I don't have any evil wizards trying to kill Parker and I in our real world, but I still feel like shit over there too. I bury all my emotions over there, which I know isn't healthy. For me it makes me feel safe in a weird way. I don't know how to describe it. I guess the quote, "I find comfort in darkness," is the best way to say it.
"Me?" I point to myself, acting like I haven't done anything, "I don't know what you are talking about." She cracks up laughing. A small part of me is so thankful for this normalcy, even though I have been a bit closed off and gloomy.
"Parker!" Then that normalcy is broken. Harry walks up to us with a grim expression on his face. I know what he's fixing to say. Either he's already gone to see Hagrid or he's going to meet him tonight and he's making Parker come too.
"What's up, Potter?" She asks.
"Hagrid wants to see us tonight." He says, out of breath.
"No." I say quickly. "I can just tell her what Hagrid needs to show her."
"How?" He looks at me confused. I mentally smack myself for my stupidity. I need to cover this up somehow, so he doesn't guess what I actually am.
"I overheard one of the teachers saying what the first task was." I lie quickly, but it's easy to see that he doesn't believe me.
"Still. Your information might not be correct."
"It'll be fine, Felicity. I promise." Parker places her hand on my shoulder and gives me a reassuring smile but it doesn't help. Part of me doesn't want her to go, because then it makes it real to me that she's actually in the tournament and not just in my imagination. I've been trying to deny it but not even occlumency can help me to stop worrying at this point. I've tried. Several times. I wish there was a way to make me forget all that I know about the Harry Potter movies. Maybe then I wouldn't worry this much. Ignorance is bliss, as most people say.
I nod my head, unsure. I don't want to speak right now, because I know I'm just going to keep protesting. I hate the thought of Parker getting hurt.
"Come on. Let's get to transfiguration before Mcgonagall has our heads served on a silver platter." A small, unsure smile, forms on my face. It doesn't last long. The worry of the tournament starts eating away at my stomach again. The first task is going to be soon then, if Harry is already going to go see the dragons.
"I don't want you to go tonight." I blurt out as we start walking to class.
"Why?"
"What's the point of going if you already know?" I argue.
"Because I want to see them before I have to fight one of them." She argues back. I know I'm not going to win, so I shut up and keep walking. "I'll be careful. I promise."
"Ok. Just please find me when you come back."
"I will. I'm guessing you will be with Malfoy tonight?" A bright blush creeps up my cheeks. That gives Parker enough confirmation to know, so she playfully elbows me in the side. I yelp in slight pain, before laughing.
"How many times have you slept in George's room?" I tease in return. Her face immediately turns scarlet red and she has to force herself to suppress a smirk.
"I'm not answering that." We both break out in fits of laughter. We continue walking on to class. A comfortable silence forms around us.
"Besides it gets me out of detention." Parker says after a while. I nod my head but don't respond. I was hoping that would stop her but I should've known it wouldn't. Parker likes the adventure, plus detention is boring. If she can get out of it she will.
"Do you know what the first task is going to be?" I ask as a thought pops into my brain. How much of the tournament does she know about?
"Something to do with dragons. I remember that. It might have been a while since I've seen the movies but I still remember the details, Felicity."
"I know. I was just wondering how much you remember." I reply with mock defensiveness.
"I'll be alright, Felicity." I trust her. But I don't trust this new plot. I don't trust the new possibilities. I no longer see this story from an outside perspective. Now that I see it from the inside, I don't know what is going to happen. Parker and I weren't supposed to be involved with the story as much as we are now. A big question is, what changed? Why are we now in the middle of the plot, instead of outside it? Could it have something to do with Ethan? Parker and I sent each other our scripts before we tried to shift. I don't know what he wrote for his script. Maybe it has something to do with his.
The transfiguration classroom is quiet when we walk in and take our seats. Mcgonagall is sorting things on her desk. Her dark hair is in slight disarray but she looks calm and not worried about anything. The students talk among themselves. Everything seems weirdly peaceful. It's weird in a way.
Parker and I take our seats, in the back of the classroom. This feels too much like the calm before the storm. Tonight, Parker and Harry will go see the now five dragons. Tomorrow, Harry will tell Cedric what they are competing against and Draco, he'll be turned into a ferret. Which I know is going to make him go complain to me about it. Hopefully I don't have to see that tomorrow because if I do, I know he will get mad because I had laughed at him. Which I most likely will. I have always found that scene funny. At least after tomorrow I can start calling Draco "ferret boy." I've seen that nickname every where when referring to him, and I may have been wanting to use it on him. I don't care how mad he will be.
"Tomorrow Draco gets turned into a ferret." I whisper to Parker. She snorts a laugh that she quickly smothers. Mcgonagall gives us a glare in return.
"I hope I get to see that." More students enter the classroom as the final bell rings throughout the school. Mcgonagall stands up, starting her lesson on transforming a rock into a small animal. Surprisingly, it's not very difficult. Just a swish and flick of my wand and the rock was turned into a rat.
"We're going to have to figure out how you're going to get past that dragon." I mutter as I remember that Cedric turned a stone into a dog to get past his dragon. I transform the rat back into a rock and try again to make sure I got the spell right. Instead of a rat, though, I turn it into a small bird.
"Hermione can help us with that tomorrow."
"Yeah." I continue practicing the spell, transforming the rock into various types of little animals, before turning them all back into a rock.
Once class is almost at its end, Mcgonagall comes around and asks each of us to turn it into a specific small animal, and hands out house points to those who do a good job. Parker and I pass that small test easily.
"Good job Ms. Sallow and Ms. Wilhite. Ms. Wilhite will you see me after class." I nod my head, confused by what I need to stay for.
Once the bell rings, everyone packs up their things and leaves, leaving me alone with Professor Mcgonagall. Parker promises to wait for me outside before she goes.
"Ms. Wilhite, I heard of your encounter with Dumbledore the other night." Mcgonagall says as I walk up to her desk. I sigh. I should have known what this would be about. I at least thought Snape was going to be the one to give me this lecture. I'm glad it's not Snape though, because usually Mcgonagall is very understanding and patient with me.
"I'm not going to apologize, if that's what you are wanting me to do. Neither Harry, nor Parker should be in this tournament. We both know that." I say, staking my argument before I get told off.
"I'm not expecting you to. What you did, in my eyes, was admirable and shows that you could've been in Gryffindor. But as he is a teacher, you are not allowed to do that." She gives me a small, confusing, smirk.
"I can't tell if I'm in trouble or not." I laugh nervously.
"You are, just not by me. Dumbledore took points from your house for you arguing back. I am here to ask you what you can tell me." I sigh. I know I can trust Mcgonagall but I don't want to give out information. They can't change anything anyway or else the story is going to go in the wrong direction.
"Someone is going to die in one of the tasks. I can't say which or who. Even if I did no one can change it. Or else what happens might not go in the right direction."
"Thank you, Ms. Wilhite." She waves me off with a nod of her head. With a sigh I grab my school stuff and walk out the door. Parker is waiting for me, so we can walk to the next class together.
"What did she need?"
"She asked what I could tell her about the tournament." I reply.
"And what did you tell her?"
I shrug. "Just that someone was going to die in one of the tasks."
"It won't be me."
"I know." I hope that's true.
Later that night, I lay on Draco's bed, while he is doing homework beside me. My cat, Shadow, sits on my lap, purring while I stroke her fur. I watch Draco write down his notes. Watching his hand flex as he concentrates on a certain question. I need something to focus on, so I can stop worrying about Parker and this is it.
I almost want to laugh at Draco right now. Not in a mean way but in an appreciative way. He is so cute. His blonde hair drapes over his face, free from the gel that he usually uses to keep his hair in place. It looks so soft.
I have to mess with his hair a little. I take a strand of his soft hair and twirl it between my fingers. Shadow takes that as a sign of disrespect towards her so she tries to bat my hand away from his hair.
"Are you jealous?" I ask Shadow with a laugh. She meows before curling up closer to my stomach.
"I thought you said she liked me." Draco said as he laid his back against the headboard.
I shrug. "Cats are weird." Draco smiles down at Shadow, who of which is ignoring the world at the moment. I wish I could be like her but I know it's not possible for me to ignore everything. Even occlumency can't change that about me.
"She's alright, darling." Draco whispers as he snakes his arms around my waist and pulls me on top of him.
"I know. I just hate waiting. I'm not very patient." He laughs into my hair before kissing the top of my head.
"The dragons are so cool." Parker yells as she storms into the room, as if right on cue. "They added an extra one, that I think you'd like."
"Oh?" I say, but bile runs up my throat. Whatever dragon they added would be hers.
"It's a Norwegian Ridgeback." Draco and I turn to eachother with a look of almost horror on our faces. Norwegian Ridgebacks are one of the most dangerous dragons, second to the Hungarian Horntail,the most dangerous dragons there is.