Hateful Love

Chapter Forty-Six

NOTE: I do not own any of the ideas or characters expressed in this story (except Cassie Jackson). All of these belong to J.K. Rowling.

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Draco P.O.V.

          “Sit.”

          The five of us automatically do as Amycus says, only because he looks like he’s about to use the Killing Curse at any moment. My broken ribs shift painfully inside me as I cautiously take a seat next to Blaise on the end; I don’t trust myself to get any closer to Flint, Crabbe, or Goyle.

          Amycus looks positively livid as he glares down at us, his knuckles turned white from gripping his yew wand so tightly. A part of me wonders why Amycus is so angry over this, but I don’t get to think about it much more as he spits furiously, “I walk in to find five Slytherins fighting. Someone had better start talking.”

          Flint barely gives Amycus a chance to finish speaking before he says quickly, “We weren’t doing anything, professor, he just attacked us.”

          “Who.” It isn’t a question—it’s clear Amycus already knows the answer.

         Flint turns and jabs a slightly bloody finger at me, replying in a voice filled with loathing, “Him.”

          Amycus steps towards me menacingly, his arms crossed and face hard set with anger. “Explain yourself. Now.”

          “They provoked me, professor,” I snap angrily, hating the fact that I have to speak directly with Amycus after what happened with Cassie. I knew this would happen, I knew it, and I attacked them anyway. Now I have to keep Flint from telling Amycus the real reason I fought with them, because if he finds out it was over Cassie, all she and I have done to keep us a secret will be over. Amycus glares at me pointedly, so I bite out the first thing I can think of, “They insulted my family. That’s why I did it.”

          “He’s lying,” Flint interrupts me immediately. There’s a small smirk on his face, and the anger flares up hot again as I realize he’s about to tell Amycus what really happened. “We didn’t ‘insult his family’, he just got pissed when we asked about his—“

          “Flint, shut your goddamn mouth—“

          “Enough!” Amycus spits and looks between the two of us, his face red with rage. “I don’t want to hear it. All five of you work for the Dark Lord, you should not be fighting each other.”

          I blink, completely unprepared for Amycus to bring You-Know-Who into this. We all know how each of us is connected to him, but no one’s ever actually brought it up outside of the meetings. My stomach sinks as I realize how much the wizarding world has changed if Amycus is speaking freely about being a Death Eater.

          “You three,” Amycus continues, pointing to Flint, Crabbe, and Goyle. He’s taken a deep breath, and his face is starting to lose most of the angry red. “Since you didn’t start the fight, you have no punishment. But if this happens again, don’t think you’ll get off so easily. Now get out of my sight.”

          Crabbe is the first one out the door, followed quickly by Goyle. Flint throws a smirk over his shoulder at me from behind Amycus, causing my blood to boil as he ducks out of the room.

          Amycus turns to Blaise and I with a cold expression, which scares me more than when he was angry. “Zabini, were you with him when this happened?”