a christmas break | draco malfoy - 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃

56

"God, can you slow down!?"

"No one asked you to follow me!" she whipped around, staring at Blaise who put his palm against a wall and steadied himself to catch a breath.

Raising his finger to her, he said, "Hey, don't you argue with me."

She sighed, "Whatever," and turned around, continuing to run like a headless fly, her body feeling like it was on fire yet she was freezing and cold. Blaise rolled his eyes, asking himself how he managed to get into this situation. Running after her, Astera didn't notice Blaise stop for a moment and defend her from spells that slipped out of the Death Eater's wands.

Astera abruptly stopped, feeling Blaise slightly run into her and hit himself on her back. She barely flinched as Blaise backed up, looking at the back of her head and then right where her eyes were. And there he was, standing over a second year she recognized in an instant, fear spilling out of the kid's eyes.

She pushed her wand against Blaise's chest, "Hold my wand. I'll be quick."

"What, I- Astera, no, no," he stuttered as he barely comprehended what she had said, much less what she was about to do.

The man raised his wand, moving his lips as he was ready to word out his spell and kill.

"Crucio."

Blaise cursed under his breath as the man before him and her fell to his knees, dropping his wand and letting out a yell. Blaise managed to suck it up and run towards the Gryffindor boy, grabbing his elbow and shoving him out of the way.

"Go, get out of here."

The boy ran off, stumbling almost as Blaise was too afraid to even go near her. He watched how she stood over the man, her arm suddenly raising as it pulled the man in the air, watching his fingers clutch around his own throat as he gagged and waved his legs in the air. Astera had a look in her eye that was scarier than Draco, scarier than Snape's even and that was a lot to say. She felt a tear roll down her cheek, slowly as she watched the man before her struggle, just seconds before his death.

But, she couldn't do it. She wasn't a killer, a murderer. It wasn't in her blood to stoop on his level. She rather had him suffer his entire life than die and never feel the consequences of his actions.

And so Blaise flinched when the man's body fell to the ground with a loud thud. He reached for Astera's wrist, pulling her away from him as she stumbled back.

"Alright, can we go now?" he asked, holding her shoulders but she didn't hold eye contact. She only stared at the Death Eater struggle to catch his breath, coughing. Blaise's words only seemed like whispers, inaudible voices she couldn't make out with her ears, "Come on, let's get out of here."

"He killed her," she whispered, wiping her cheek and looking at Blaise for a moment before staring at the ground, "He killed her and I just need to move on, right?"

"You have to. You can't stay in the past, Astera. You know that."

As she locked eyes with Blaise, she was shocked to see a microscopic smile on his face. His palm tapped her shoulder once, in a respectful and understanding manner. He spoke gently as he told her it wasn't about her dying, it was about what she did and what she left behind. It was weird to see this side of him as she only knew the arrogant, sassy, dominant and rude side of him.

Though as she stared at the boy's brown eyes, a gust of wind was enough to catch her attention. Her eyes moved from his, widening as a yell came out of the man's mouth. He had regained himself, pointing his wand towards Blaise and her and yelling multiple spells their way.