Bloodlines || A Draco Malfoy Romance Fanfiction

After the Turning Point - 86

Draco

The party did not stop once the Ball was slated to end.

Even before midnight, the Slytherins headed to our own private after-party in the common room. Some of the seventh years were crafty enough to sneak in butterbeer, wine, firewhiskey, and snacks.

Once Pansy, Daphne, Theo, and the rest of our group entered the common room together, I shrugged off the stuffy jacket of my dress robes, slung it along the back of one of the couches, and grabbed a butterbeer.

We were all in good spirits as we talked about the events of the night. The Slytherin gossip flowed as others discussed who had attended with whom, who had left with someone else, and who Professor Snape had caught snogging in the rose bushes.

I kept my eye on the entrance every time I heard the groan of stone against stone, waiting for Aphry to join our festivities.

The common room grew packed, and my second butterbeer had grown lukewarm when I final spied the goddess in green velvet wearing my mother's tiara.

Jumping from my seat, I started sauntering over to the foot of the steps, "Ah, there's our Persephone! Come back down to your subjects in the Underworld, have you?"

When we met at the bottom, she barrelled into me, nearly knocking me over. That was when my world shattered.

In my arms, she began sobbing. Her body quaked uncontrollably. "Aphry...?" My heart started to thunder in my chest as I wondered who had elicited such a strong response from her.

Despite my desire to keep her close, I placed my hands on her arms and gently pulled her away from my chest. When she looked at me, my chest constricted and my lungs closed up. Her brown doe-like eyes were wider than usual, flooded with tears that overflowed and streamed down her face. Faint remnants of her makeup remained. On her cheeks, streaks of grey were all that remained of her mascara, and previously muted freckles now revealed themselves.

I quickly moved her toward the couch, ordering everyone to move. The couch cleared of people, and I sat her down between Daphne and me. The intense urge to figure out what happened churned my stomach, as Aphrodite Cytheria was not often prone to fits of weeping. "Aphry, darling, what's wrong?"

Speaking through her laboured breaths, she said, "D-Dimitri..."

That bastard. "What did he do?" I said, my voice dangerously low.

"W-we were f-fighting," she said between frantic sobs. "H-he accused me of ch-cheating. I-I asked him what I c-could d-do to prove I w-wasn't." Her sobs worsened, preventing her from continuing.

I tempered my feeling of urgency, not wanting to push her. Instead, I rubbed her back. Looking at Daphne, I saw tears brim her eyes, helplessly watching her best friend in distress.

Aphrodite continued when she'd settled a bit. "He... He asked me to spend the night on his ship. When I said no, he..." She hesitated.

"He what," I said solemnly.

Her voice was so quiet, that I could barely hear it. "He used the imperious curse on me." Daphne let out a tear-throttled gasp. Aphrodite sniffed. "If Snape hadn't stopped him..."

She didn't need to say anymore. A venomous scowl had been etching itself across my face. "I'm gonna kill him!" I shouted as I stood, with every intention of going to that boat and teaching him a lesson.

I was stopped by her fist desperately clinging to my cuff. "No!" She shouted. I looked down at her, seeing red. Fury lit up my entire body.

Her doe-eyes anquishedly looked up into mine. "Draco, please! I need you!"

My ire was doused, but glowing embers remained. I sat down again, slowly, and placed a hand on her back as she continued crying.

The common room sat in solemn silence. It was then I noticed that everyone present in the common room had heard what happened.

I processed and reprocessed what she had told me, and was on the fourth or fifth mental playback of the event when I saw her splay out the fingers on her right hand. She had just become conscious that she was still wearing the ring he gave her.

Aphry pulled the ring off her finger. She reeled her left arm back behind her head and with a grunted,  pained yell, she arched her arm and threw it across the room. The sound of metal against stone fills the room as the ring hit a step. It bounced down a couple more until I lost sight of it. Her sobs ramped back up. She folded herself into me, and I held her close.

We sat for nearly a half hour while I ran my hand up and down her back and I planned my revenge on Dimitri. When her sobbing slowed, I realized she was on the verge of sleep. I knew she was going to have a fitful sleep already, and her tiara and gown were not going to help.

I shook her lightly. "Aphry, go on to bed, darling," I said. I didn't want to leave her side, but I wasn't going to dare bring her into the boys' dorms, and I couldn't go into the girls'. I looked at Daphne. "Is there any way you can help her to bed?"

Daphne sniffled once more and nodded, "Of course," she said lightly. We roused Aphry enough to get her walking, and I watched as they disappeared into the girls' dorms. Fresh fear rose in me letting her out of my sight so soon.

"You're not going to let that Durmstrang prat get away with this are you?" Blaise Zabini said sharply after I stared at the dorm entrance for moments longer than needed.

Turning around, I saw the entire common room looking at me. Several girls' eyes brimmed with tears, and several clung close to their trusted boyfriends. Many of the men held solemn expressions, and the most gallant held expressions that I could only describe as murderous. I looked at Blaise, "Of course, I'm not." I said with a sneer.

"Do you need our help?" Graham Montague stepped forward, one of the gallant ones. "I'm sure that we can sneak into the quidditch supplies for some bludger bats and..."

I held up a hand to stop him. "As much as I'd love to beat him senseless, I'm afraid the pain and bruises are only temporary. What I plan is more permanent. I will need help in the morning. If she decides to leave this common room, I don't want him so much as looking at her."

Montague nodded, then announced to the common room, "Anyone in this common room that does not help out tomorrow morning will not be making the quidditch team next year." His word held weight. If it weren't for the tournament, Montague would have been captain this year. He was guaranteed the spot next year.

I nodded my thanks to him, then I address my housemates. "If possible, write to your parents early tomorrow morning, and tell them what you witnessed." I needed every witch discussing this over their tea tomorrow, and every wizard worried about his daughter.

I then headed up to my dorm to get busy. I had my own letter to write, and I was sending it tonight, curfew be damned.