Traitor: A Draco Malfoy Story

seventeen

I walked back to the Slytherin common room, so lost in my thoughts that I took a wrong turn and ended up at the bottom of a stairwell I didn't recognize. I found myself in a large stone room with a vaulted ceiling, the only sound being the drips of unseen water on the stone and my heavy breaths of anxiety and weariness.

I opened the roster that Umbridge had given me and scanned the names. Might as well take advantage of the quiet while I had it. The names were divided by house in alphabetical order. A handful stuck out to me, but for the most part, I couldn't even process what I was looking at.

Euan Abercrombie - Half-Blood.

Rose Zeller - Pure-Blood.

Zara Cauldwell - Muggle-Born.

James Riversong - Pure-Blood.

Melody Geller - Muggle-Born.

Geller? Ashton must have a sister.

I heard deep laughter, belonging to what I could only assume was a group of boys, which already triggered my fight-or-flight response. It was something that had been ingrained in me living in New York. Malfoy, and two other boys I hadn't met before but knew to be Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini ran around the corner, pushing and shoving each other. They stopped abruptly when they saw me, and the laughter fell from Zabini and Nott's lips. Malfoy's smile stayed.

"Well if it isn't the little Squib," Malfoy sneered. "Down here, all alone."

"I got lost." I snapped the roster shut and crossed my arms over it.

"That seems to happen to you quite often, doesn't it? Maybe you need a guide." He looked down at the book in my arms. "What have you got there?"

"None of your fucking business."

"I'll meet you in the common room," Malfoy told Nott and Zabini. When they didn't move, he rounded on them and hissed, "I said, I'll meet you in the common room." They shared a look but took the hint that Malfoy wanted to be alone with me. Please don't leave, I begged silently. They didn't stay.

He sauntered towards me after they had hurried from the room, his hand in his pocket and a cocky smirk on his face, tilting his head to the side. "I believe I asked you what that was, Beckett."

"And I believe I told you--"

He ripped it from my hands. "I heard you. I don't care. I'm a prefect, remember? If I find you suspicious, I have the authority to search you." He held the roster above my head so I couldn't reach it though I clawed at his arms. "It's the first-year roster," he said thoughtfully. "What are you doing with the first-year roster?" He continued to hold the book higher. "Merlin's beard, Beckett, confessing your love to me in the Astronomy Tower wasn't enough? You can't keep your hands off me now. I must have quite the effect on you."

My arms snapped to my sides immediately. He did affect me and I didn't like it. It hadn't gone unnoticed how his hair was falling into his gray eyes so perfectly, or how we were so close I could kiss him. I cursed the thoughts that betrayed me. "I did not confess my love for you. I hate you."

He just chuckled and repeated himself. "What are you doing with the first-year roster?"

"If you must know," I seethed. "Umbridge tasked me with finding out which first-year Dumbledore allegedly brought into Hogwarts so we can protect the International Statute of Secrecy."

"Why does she think it's a first-year? They aren't the only ones who showed up out of the blue." He raised an eyebrow, obviously hinting at my own surprise visit.