The Daughter of He

Chapter 20

Josslyn's POV

It's been weeks since I had spoken to Draco, and even longer since we had shared pained glances in the halls. I had to reroute my path throughout the corridors and drop a few classes because I had quickly learned that I was too weak to even be near him. I began eating in my room and avoiding all the possible places we could be forced to have an interaction. The library? HogsMeade? The Great Hall? Diagon Alley? Quidditch Games? I made sure to stay away from all of them, in fear I'd see Draco and break.

Even still, it took all my strength not too find him during the day every time a small inconvenience happened or I got a tiny bit of good news. Every single second I wanted to be with him and it was so, so difficult not to run towards him full speed. But I would never admit that to myself-or to anyone. As far as I was concerned, during the day, he was as good as dead. During the day, as far as I was concerned, my heart was a ghost town.

And after awhile the pain weakened enough for me to ignore it.

And so I would ignore it. I would shut it out. I would lock down my heart like an impenetrable fortress that not even Draco would be able to wriggle his way into.

But that didn't work during the nights.

My night terrors came back. I hadn't even realized they had disappeared until I spent my first night without Draco. As it turned out, a warm body next to me be had tamed by nightmares. I guessed it was because when I was in Draco's arm I felt safe. I felt less alone. I felt at home and like nothing could ever be wrong in the world.

But, not only were the dark nights harder because of the terrors, but I would be up for hours just tossing and turning as thoughts of him plagued my mind.

He was a disease and I had caught a case.

And I was afraid there would be no cure.

I shifted on my bed. For the past week I've been rotting beneath my covers, unable to bring myself to get ready for the day. I was sure I was failing almost all of my classes, not that I cared.

I picked at my fingernails-or at least what was left of them. Throughout the weeks of complete isolation I had forced myself through, I had chewed them down to bits. I even stopped talking to Mati.

Or maybe it had been Mati that had stopped talking to me. I couldn't remember. Either way, that had hurt me to.

There were so many times I found myself wanting to cry. So many times where my chest had twisted and my throat had closed and I wished that the tears would just fall. But they never did. I would just sit there and slowly burn from the inside out. I was far beyond tears, that even the idea of them didn't feel right to me anymore.

Sometimes I would just sit and laugh at how badly I fucked everything up for myself. Other times I would punch a whole in the wall and then have to repair it with a spell. Sometimes I would just sit and stare and let my body go numb and my mind become blank. But I would never cry.

I was falling apart.

A hallow knock sounded from the other side of the wooden door. My head shot up and my hand closed tightly around my wand.

"Who is it?" I asked slowly, but my voice was still firm and my words were ice cold.

After a few moment of silence, I stood up. My ankles cracked as I put pressure on them for the first time in what felt like forever. I took a cautious step towards the door.

A voice cackled hysterically from the other side. A voice I would recognize anywhere. I dropped my wand to my side, my eyes widening.

Finally, I thought, not able to contain the smile that spread across my lips.

*************

"Where are we going?" I demanded, following Bellatrix through a number of different rooms and halls. She was persistent on destroying everything she could on her way to wherever we were heading. Novah trotted next to me, his tail wagging as he stared up at me. I don't think his big brown eyes have left mine since the moment we had been reunited.

"Don't be impatient, dear. Everything is in place. We'll be there soon! Soon! Soon! Soon!" She chanted, skipping farther down the hall.

She laughed, grabbing my hand and dragging me along with her.

I groaned, "We would probably be there by now if you wouldn't keep getting distracted."

She ticking, shaking a slender finger at me with a demented grin plastered on her face.

Why was I not surprised.

***********

After at least an hour of running around  and breaking things aimlessly throughout the school, Bellatrix finally lead me up the the stairs to the astronomy tower.

I followed her, my wand clutched in my hand and Novah pattering lightly behind me.

"I found her!" Bellatrix sang joyously, circling Lucius excitedly. "She was just sitting all alone! Just sitting!" She cackled, tapping Lucius on the nose with the tip of her wand.

Lucius didn't look amused.

My eyes landed on Draco, standing with his wand pointed at Dumbledore. I felt my heart break as I looked into his fearful eyes. This was the most scared I think I have ever seen him.

I couldn't help but feel like it was all my fault.

"Kill him, Draco!" Bellatrix sang, waltzing up behind her nephew, "Kill him!"

Draco trembled, and I could see him fighting the tears in his eyes. Sweat rolled down the side of his temple.

I took a step toward him, but someone grabbed my arm, "Do not take this from him." He growled in my ear.

I turned, my eyes landing on the beady eyes and crooked nose of Severus Snape. His black, greasy hair seemed longer and his face seemed more wrinkled with either stress or age. I couldn't decide which.

Snape took a step forward and put a hand on Draco's shoulder, "Stand down, Draco. Lower your wand."

Draco heaved, "No, he'll kill me. I can kill him, I can do it, I can do it." But he let his arm relax a little and his wand droop, his own body betraying him.

"That's right, Draco. Just relax." Snape smiled, and I glanced over at Lucius. He was fuming.

"Serverus!" Lucius barked, "We had orders directly from the Dark Lorde that Draco was-"

Snape whirled toward Lucius, his black cloak billowing behind him, "Do not argue with me, Lucius. The Dark Lord himself had brought to my intention Draco would never be capable of killing Dumbledore, and, as he isn't dead yet, it seems he was correct."

Lucius clenched his jaw, and it looked like he wanted to say more, but resisted.

I watched Snape begin to raise his arm and his finger twitch around his wand. I bit my lip, my heart pounding in my chest.

Snape would never let Dumbledore die, much less kill the old wizard himself. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. Snape was never loyal to my father, I knew this already, which was why it was so odd for him to have the desire to kill Albus himself.

Unless.

The elder wand.

"Avada Kadavra!" I hissed.

I watched the green light shoot from the tip of my wand and strike Dumbledore's chest.

And then he was gone.