Percy Jackson and the Triwizard Tournament [Book 4]

112) How Am I Supposed to Come Up With a Fun Title for this Chapter

The spell revealed them just in time for me to get perfect view of Draco getting smacked in the face. Somewhere in the back of my head I was thankful all I could see were colors, and not the expression on his face, but the rest of me was focused on the way he took it. It was a rough slap. I would've fallen flat on my ass. All Draco did was stumble, straighten, and nod his head in a movement that screamed yes, sir.

As the spell started wearing off, I could see Malfoy's hand curl into a fist as he punched Draco in the face, knocking him to the ground. The sight was bad enough, but accompanied with the thud and the abrupt yell from Malfoy, I was already on the verge of tears.

"Do you know what people would say if word had gotten out?" Malfoy roared, and the colors faded so that I couldn't see anything. "Do you know what they'd say if they knew I had a fruit for a son? What they'd say if they knew you were dating that Mudblood Nancy?"

I got pulled back under the cloak by Ron.

"Huh," I said, almost dazed. "It's been a while since I've been called a Nancy."

"Maybe you should go and wait at the end of the corridor," Ron said, raising his voice a bit in an attempt to cover the sounds from above.

"You guys don't know how to cast the spell, and if things do get bad enough for interference, you won't be able to handle Malfoy," I said, narrowing my eyes at Ron.

"It's just, the stuff he's saying, Percy, it isn't just about Mal — Draco. It's about you, too," Ron said worriedly.

I sighed, "Nothing I haven't heard before. Nothing I won't hear again. It just... I'm worried about how Draco's gonna take it, that's all. He... he seems to care about Malfoy, even after all of this, and I know it's gonna eat him up inside."

A particularly loud thud and some mostly incoherent yelling shocked us all into silence.

"How bad is it? What's he been doing to him?" Pansy asked weakly, the strong voice she'd been putting on having shattered.

"He knocked him to the ground before the spell wore off," I said lowly. "If I had to guess what's happening now, he's probably kicking him."

Pansy shivered all over, letting out a few panicky breaths. She nodded her head, and said, "Mr. Malfoy usually wears leather shoes. Is that gonna hurt?"

"As long as they're not steel-capped it'll be fine," I whispered, trying to hide a grimace. I knew from experience that getting kicked with a leather shoe hurt worse than just about any other material.

The five minutes passed, and I checked again. I wasn't surprised to find that Malfoy was indeed kicking Draco. What surprised me most was the lack of yelling. Malfoy had traded out the yells of disgust for more normal talking. He'd look down at Draco after each kick, and I'd hear him talking, but wouldn't be able to make out a thing he was saying. Draco would prop himself up on unsteady arms, say something quietly, then would get kicked again.

That went on for about a half hour. We didn't talk. We tried to ignore the sounds. It was difficult, but at some point, I stopped flinching at the sound of each hit. I'd grown used to it.

So when a new and startling sound echoed down the corridor, none of us were prepared for it. It was loud and sounded like a whip cracking. I flinched in surprise, and barely caught the sound that was hidden under the cracking.

Other than quiet talking, it was the first sound I'd heard from Draco that night. A muffled cry, as if he'd tried to hide the pain behind his hand.

I slipped out from under the cloak and quickly cast the spell. At first, I didn't understand what was happening. Malfoy was pacing circles around Draco, who was curled up on the ground, shaking slightly. Malfoy stopped in his tracks, raised his arms, the brought them down quickly. The cracking sound filled the air again, and this time Draco failed to muffle his pain entirely, jolting in pain as he seemingly attempted to roll away.

Slowly, I realized that he was hitting Draco with something, and I couldn't see it because the spell was only tracking heat. I slipped back under the cloak.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the sound interrupted me. I let out a breath, and said, "H-he's, um, he's hitting him with a — with something. It, it sounds kinda like a, like a uh, a belt, but I don't —"

"It's his cane."

"Huh?" I looked up at Pansy in surprise.

"Mr. Malfoy always has his cane with him," Pansy said darkly. "It's got his wand in it. That's what it sounded like when he hit his little house-elf."

"That's a cane?" Ron hissed out, looking horrified. "He's getting hit with a cane?!"

I broke.

I moved to slip out from under the cloak, but Ron grabbed me, "Percy, Percy, wait a second, okay?"

"We've waited to many seconds, we never should have let this happen, we shoulda told somebody. Damnit, Ron, let me go!"

"Percy," Ron turned me around to face him. "If you go up there right now, you go to Azkaban."

I swallowed thickly, "What?"

"Azkaban, Percy," Ron said shakily. "All right? Malfoy's got connections, doesn't he? He'll get you sent to Azkaban, for sure. In fact, he's probably already plotting your downfall. Don't let him get you, okay? Draco's strong, he'll be fine. He's gonna be okay."

As if on queue, Draco's voice started repeating, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Over and over again.

I'd been distracted, but as Ron had spoke to me, more and more cracks from the cane had been sounding down the hallway.

"Ron, I'm not gonna be okay," I whispered. "He's been though enough so let me go!"

"You are gonna be okay, and you're gonna stay here, because Draco would kill me if I let you go up there," Ron let out a heavy breath. "Imagine if he went through all of this, only to not have you by his side at the end of it. I know what you mean to him, dude. I see the way he looks at you. If you're gone, so is he. He wouldn't be able to live with you at Azkaban."

I froze. Ron was implying something I didn't think I could handle. Even as I'm writing this, I'm terrified.

Again, I was amazed by how much Ron understood.

If I had gone after Malfoy that night, if I had moved to defend Draco, I would have surely been sent to the magical Hell that was Azkaban. If I had been sent there, to wallow in my sorrow and despair until I went insane and starved myself, Draco would've been gone too. He would have killed himself.

I stiffened. It took me a few moments to realize it, but tears had started dripping down my face. I couldn't make myself move to wipe them away.

I only looked up when, after a particularly loud crack, Malfoy cried out, "Crucio!"

Hahah suffering. Imagine trauma. Couldn't be me. Could be Draco. Actually writing some of the stuff for these things has killed me. I feel very terrible for what I've done to Draco. He is baby. Baby. Today I grabbed some stuff from the basement because I got a new shelf. When I was digging through my box I saw a spider run across one of my books and exploded. While I was dying and trying to become alive again, I saw another spider on a nearby box. That was not helping, and later, that spider disappeared. So I spent a while examining everything I took out of the box to make sure it didn't have a spider on it. I pulled out a book, and there it was. The spider. But it turns out the spider wasn't a spider and was actually a cricket. Curse my bad vision. All bugs look the same to me. Except for long traumatizing ones. Tomorrow is my mom's bday, and the next day is my niece's bday. We celebrated my niece's bday today. There was cake and balloons and some of my siblings came by. Actually, the only person who didn't come was Sam, because she had work. It was pretty fun. Rn me and Kadee are playing some scary game on Roblox. It's been surprisingly fun.

Anyway, I hope you guys have had a wacktastical Wednesday, and I'll see you on Friday CT. Love ya!