Chosen || Draco Malfoy

10 - Dark Stormy Skies

The run up to the third task was intense.

Chen had me training at all hours, determined to help me learn and perfect every jinx and hex he could find out from the library's vast collection of spell books.

His personal trainer gig even extended to forcing me up at the crack of dawn every single fucking morning to make me jog around the perimeter of the maze.

"What's the point of this?" I gasped, collapsing against the prickly hedged wall in a sweaty heap. "Surely I should be using this time to practice something useful like nonverbal magic?"

"Are you kidding me, Diggory?" Chen spluttered as he turned around and effortlessly jogged on the spot, waiting for me to get back up to my feet. "And I thought you were smart?! Physical fitness is just as important in a tournament like this, especially when your main aim is to run to the trophy first."

And when he started closely monitoring my diet, I had seriously begun to go off him.

Chen's training schedule on top of schoolwork kept me so occupied that it was starting to put an alarming dent in my social life.

Susan and Hannah constantly complained that I never hung out with them anymore, even when I reminded them the school was relying on me for my complete awesomeness.

"It'll be over soon." I placated them during breakfast the Saturday before the third task, after I had turned down yet another girly shopping trip to Hogsmeade. "And get this, if I win the trophy, Dad promised he'll remortgage the house so that he can buy me an outdoor swimming pool! Summer is going to be insane!"

"Well, that's one hole you can be sure won't be getting filled this summer."

Susan and Hannah simultaneously choked on their sausages as I whirled angrily round to see Draco Malfoy smirking gleefully over me.

"What the fuck do you want, ferret?" I snapped; my tether already extremely frayed from exhaustion.

Anger flashed in his eyes.

"There's no need to be so rude," he sneered, "I only stopped by to wish you luck for next week."

"I don't need it, thanks," I retorted, coolly flipping my hair back over my shoulder, "I've got this all by myself."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," he snarled, his voice dangerously low. "Something tells me you're going to need all the luck you can get."

"What do you mean?" Susan asked, looking fretful as she lowered her glass of pumpkin juice from her lips.

"Oh, don't indulge him," I scoffed, furiously buttering a piece of toast as I threw a guilty glance up at the Ravenclaw table to make sure Chen was not witnessing me abusing my body with saturated fat. "And you've changed your tune, havent you? It wasn't that long ago when you were getting everyone to pin my face to their chests!"

"Yeah, well that was before I found out what a nasty little bitch you really are," Draco snarled, pushing his face down so close to mine, I could smell the peppermint on his breath. "I'd sooner see that four eyed scarhead win than you."

"Okay, well you've wished me luck, now scurry along, would you?" I said dismissively, taking a huge bite out of my toast in his face to show him this conversation was over.

Prick.

******

Draco stormed down the steps to the dungeons, angrily loosening his tie.

That bitch, that fucking bitch.

And to think he had been considering helping her.

Well, maybe not help, exactly, but he had been battling with knowing what he knew for some time, wondering if he should say something.

But he had not actually worked out what he was going to say and when she called him a ferret, he had seen nothing but red and it had just reminded him how much he hated her and wanted to see her humiliated.

But there was humiliation and then there was...

Draco shuddered; he did not know exactly what was going to happen.

But he knew enough.

******

When the morning of the third task arrived, I was woken up by my besties ripping open my bed hangings and showering me with good luck gifts.

"Oh, babes, you shouldnt have!" I gushed as I ripped open a parcel from Susan containing a diamanté tiara.

A silence fell.

"What?" I asked, my smile faltering as I glanced between my two best friends who were exchanging a look.

"Uh- I thought we weren't using that word anymore?" Susan said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh," I answered hastily, feeling rather thrown. "Well... you know how it is, the third task... all this training Chen has got me doing..."

I trailed off, not used to my friends acting as though they disapproved of me.

And not only that, but I was also feeling extremely rattled from another bad dream. It was not even much, just a dark stormy sky and an ear-piercing scream. I was not even sure where the scream had been coming from, but it filled me with a cold terror just recalling it.

I tried to shrug it off, smiling graciously at the gift Hannah then handed to me, but not even a pink fluffy pen could ease the bubble of dread that had settled in the pit of my stomach.

The Hufflepuffs treated me like a queen, all of them racing to serve me at breakfast and falling over themselves to tell me I was fabulous.

I mean, duh.

But the feeling of unease never went away, only grew and weighted me down as the day wore on.

Chen spent the entire day throwing 'surprise' quick fire questions at me. I wished he would just shut up; it was not helping.

When I finally snapped at him to fuck off, hurt flashed across his face and he immediately gathered me in his arms, kissing the top of my head.

"I just want you to win this, baby," he murmured gently in my ear. "I've told all the boys that we're having a pool party at yours this summer."

I angrily shrugged him off and smacked his chest.

"I'm kidding! I'm just kidding!" He chuckled, holding up his arms in defence. "Baby, I just want you to do well for you."

I cheered up a bit when Mum and Dad showed up though, hugging them both tight, never being more pleased to see them.

"What's happened to my little confident cherry pie?"Dad chortled as he patted me on the back after I refused to let him go.

"I just love you so much," Dad, I said, pressing my lips hard against his cheek. "I love you both."

"And we love you too, pet," Mum smiled cheerily, her round face beaming brightly. "You've always made us proud, our beautiful, clever Cece."

I did not see it, but from across the Great Hall, silver grey eyes observed our heartfelt family scene, the owner battling with a conscience he had not even known he had.

******