𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐎𝐮𝐭 {𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲}

| 𝐂𝐈𝐑𝐂𝐄 | 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯

Circe was the witch daughter of the sun god, Helios, and ocean nymph, Perse. She was known to be able to transform people into animals. In Homer's Odyssey, she lived in a palace on the isolated island of Aeaea, surrounded by docile lions and wolves.

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h a n n a h

It had started pouring by the time we settled in our tent. The rain beat down mercilessly on the canvas, but thanks to my Extension Charm and Susan's foresight to even bring a tent in the first place, I would say it was not all that bad.

The interior was huge, housing a small kitchen area, a lounging space, and three beds in three corners. Comparable, or - dare I say - much better than our quarters at the Leaky Cauldron. In fact, it was so large it felt somewhat like a proper house. I stood by the entrance, hands on my hips as I glared out at the grey slate in silence.

"Hungry?" Susan called from inside.

I turned to find her bending over Draco's unmoving body, which we had laid very carefully onto the bed. His slender frame had been deceivingly heavy, and my arms still ached from heaving him around. I now wonder why we hadn't used a Levitation charm instead. Well, at least he was cleaned up, his hair restored to its shining white-gold. I shuddered slightly at the memory of all the blood, crimson as the cherries I would pick from my parents' garden as a child.

"No," I said. "But we should eat anyway. I can whip something up."

"I'll do it. It's no bother." Susan lingered for a few more moments, and I could almost see the list of healing spells scrolling through her head. Only when she was certain she had covered every one did she finally leave to prepare dinner.

I found it strange for her to offer help. Susan detested cooking and housekeeping, and I thought of going to help her, but decided against it when I realised she was obviously looking for a distraction. It was best to leave her alone when her mind was in a state.

Instead, I rounded the other corner to where the other bed was. Lorcan crouched on the floor in front of Angel, scrubbing her blood-stained arms with a wet rag. The motions bounced his curls vigorously, and his eyes were narrowed in deep concentration.

"There are cleaning charms, you know," I said, causing the both of them to look up.

He paused briefly to swipe his brow with the back of his wrist. "Think I need a break from magic for a while," he said, and he was back at it again, furiously working to clean the horrid stains. Angel remained silent and morose as she watched her skin turn pink from all the scouring.

I took in her seated figure. Her dark chocolate waves that tumbled to her ribs, slightly matted in places where it had tangled. The large splotches of blood on her dress, long-darkened by the humid air to a rusty brown. Finally, the shape of her belly, now fully rounded with the life within.

The baby was behaving well. Not once throughout the whole ordeal had Angel been nauseous or in pain. But then again, she had never been one to vocalise her difficulties. Inconveniencing others was one of her deepest, most irrational fears.

I wanted to ask her what the hell that had been. How had she done that - set Lucius on fire without a wand? By just speaking a spell? Also, what did Lucius mean when he asked Codrus to do him proud? I had spent the past half hour pondering that to no avail.

"So, are we going to talk it?" It came out harsher than I meant it to.

The words seemed to unlock some hidden emotion in her, and stress and confusion twisted her features more. "I- I don't know what happened either... I just- I was just-" Her bottom lip trembled as her mind drew a blank.