Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 44: that was not a normal sound

Lorelei Jones | 5th Year

When Lorelei Jones was small, she loved her "camping trips" with her dad, where she and her dad would curl up in a tent outside and tell one another the most magical stories they could imagine. They would tell each other stories of mermaids and fairies and knights with magical powers, and Lorelei wished upon every shooting star that she could be magical too. She had no idea at the time that she was a witch and had her own magic swirling inside of her at her birth.

On difficult nights, Lorelei liked to stare up at the stars and whisper to her dad. She told him about all of the magic she was performing, about magical soulmates, and about all of her classes at Hogwarts. While staring at the stars and the satellites, Lorelei could let herself believe he was laying beside her again. She could imagine she was with him in the tent or laying on the balcony.

After the way Draco hurt her, Lorelei had a lot of these nights.

One evening, she slipped out of her dorm and escaped to the grasses away from the school. She lowered herself onto the ground and leaned back on her elbows, checking to see if it was too damp before she finally laid on her back. She stared up at the skies and breathed out, her breath coming out foggy and visible before her. She tried to wrap her jumpers even tighter around herself to shield against the cold, but nothing would ruin her time spent talking to the skies.

"Hi, dad. I hope you're listening tonight," she whispered, and she swore the light of the stars seemed to flutter with her words. She smiled and believed that was her sign that her dad was there, watching over her and caring for her, even if she couldn't see him anymore.

Lorelei swiped at a couple stray tears and breathed, "It's been hard, dad. I'm making new friends and all — Theo, the boy I told you about, and a slightly intimidating girl named Pansy. I still talk to Luna. We went and fed the thestrals with Hagrid yesterday. She's very busy though — she's got lots of friends now."

I paused and twisted my hands before laying them flat on my stomach again.

"I just hate that I lost Draco, dad. I hate that he hurt me. I just don't want to be hurt anymore... I hope that Theo and Pansy don't get tired of me like everyone else has," Lorelei choked out as more unwelcome tears clogged up her throat and clouded her vision.

A sudden rustling sound from nearby made Lorelei sit straight up and quickly scan the area. She didn't see anyone, but her heart continued to race. She'd have to continue this conversation later.

She lifted her eyes to the heavens once more and mouthed, "Love you." She slunk back into the castle and felt relieved that she didn't see anyone. She didn't want to explain her shivering or her red-rimmed eyes.

She didn't want to explain her conversation with the skies.

—

Lorelei kept thinking about all of the crimes Draco had committed in the time she'd known him, but the most painful were their kiss and what he did to Neville Longbottom.

So, Lorelei was now nervously walking up to the Gryffindor dorms with hopes of finding Neville to talk about what happened. She thought that maybe it would help her move on completely if she heard about the atrocious things he had done to someone else.

"What are you doing here, Lorelei?" Ron sighed when he spotted her coming up the moving staircases towards him. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, but there was something tense about his stance still.

"I wanted to see Neville if he's around," Lorelei said. She chewed on the inside of her lip while waiting for a response.

Ron shifted his weight from one foot to the other and slowly questioned, "What for? You know he's Briar's boy, and she won't take kindly to him being hurt by Draco again."