After the Second Wizarding War, Eighth Year student and budding journalist Gabriella Ainsley is promised her dream job at The Daily Prophet if she successfully completes an assignment - interview and get the scoop on the Malfoy Family.
Who was Narc...
A/N: Hey guys! I know the story has been plodding on really slowly, but it will start to pick up from this chapter, I promise! It's a little long but it's an important turning point in the story, where everything begins to unravel. Thank you for sticking with it this far!! I promise it's building up to something bigger. 🥰🌹
P.S. I've also made a playlist for The Malfoy Project here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6sMyAggSVgx5BgCbUb2N6g?si=8658ef89867d4db5
You can also follow me on IG @bouncygnocchi for more updates if you'd like!!
Now, let's begin.
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The sky yawns above us, showing off its perfect tongues of fluffy white clouds. We amble along in the shade of the orange trees in silence: Draco strides with his hands shoved deep into his pockets, always one pace ahead of me. I toddle behind, recorder in tow.
"You have the most beautiful gardens," I breathe in admiration. "They're not mine," he replies curtly. Feeling rather silly, I pick up my pace and try to fall in step with him.
We finally come to the end of the path, at which it split two ways; to the left or right. Draco chooses the left, and I follow meekly.
The dirt path begins to narrow and grows more and more unkempt the further we walk. Trees give way to hedges, the towering walls of leaves funnelling us to some unknown fate, like sheep to the slaughterhouse.
I'm about to ask where we're going when the leaves on the left wall rustle and part to reveal a little arched opening, beyond which lies a tunnel of darkness. Draco promptly disappears into it.
I hesitate outside. "Where are we going?" I call into the abyss, and the echoes boomerang back his muffled voice: "Are you coming or not?"
The closed tunnel makes it impossible to see very far in, and my feet tingle as a deep, inherent sense of fear washes over me. Then I remember why I'm here. Summoning all my courage, I plunge into the opening.
I move slowly and carefully, placing one foot in front of the other as if I'm walking not on grass, but along the edge of a cliff. The darkness stretches indefinitely. I can hear the blood drumming in my ears. A memory claws its way to the forefront of my consciousness: Trapped in the classroom, crouching under the desks in pitch blackness, cold stone beneath my knees and in my chest, the sounds of war thundering like a distant storm. Ains, we have to move. Hannah, it's too dark, I can't see anything! We have to move now or they'll find us.
Something touches my elbow, and I let rip an inhuman shriek, fumbling to catch the recorder before it falls.
"Do you ever shut up?" Draco's warm touch sears my arm as he tugs me forward and I stumble blindly after him.
