Kiara Cartier (Fred Weasley Love Series)

Ch. 29: Unlikely Friendships

"Kiara Cartier."

Chapter 29: Unlikely Friendships

The morning after he spoke with his sister, Draco paced up and down in his bedroom for over an hour. He went back and forth so many times that he had lost count. He was considering and contemplating different options for him to leave Malfoy Manor to speak with Fred Weasley, of all the people in the world. The request, albeit simple, was not an easy one for him to pull off.

He faced a very large challenge in agreeing to do this task for his sister. He was not able to come and go from the Manor as he pleased. There would be questions and he could not tell anyone the truth. It was increasingly more difficult for him to lie, even though he had practiced and perfected Occlumency with his Aunt Bellatrix last year so that Dumbledore and Snape couldn't read his mind. If and when Draco lied, it increased his anxiety and nervousness tenfold that someone would discover his secrets. And if they did, he was not sure how harshly he would be punished, but he knew it would be severe. He had seen the punishment that some of the Death Eaters had faced when they failed the Dark Lord. And this wasn't even failure to follow orders. It was betrayal. Draco knew how high the stakes were by doing this for Kiara.

If Draco was to pull this off, he had to do so without anyone noticing. He had to leave Malfoy Manor and return without arousing any suspicion. There couldn't be the slightest doubt of his whereabouts. That seemed almost impossible. He was constantly watched and bothered by people in his own home daily. Each thought that he came up with was more unlikely with a worse off result than the last, forcing Draco to kick the wooden chair by his desk and fall backwards on his bed with an exasperated sigh.

He lazily rested his arm across his forehead, closing his eyes for a moment. The old Draco would never have gotten himself into this position in the first place. He would have refused the request from his sister outright without a second thought. But he had changed as a person. There was a time where he wouldn't have even spoken with his sister either without distaste and dislike but now, he was risking his life to speak with her and help her.

His feelings towards the Weasel remained unchanged, even though he was dating his sister. He had not forgotten the countless pranks that Fred and George had pulled on him for five years, including vanishing his shirt and pants in the middle of dinner in the Great Hall or sending a group of ferrets into his dormitory. He couldn't work out why his sister loved the bloke as much as she did. When they had broken up, he thought that she finally saw some proper sense. Even Cameron Harrison wasn't that bad of a decision in his eyes. At least he was a Slytherin. But, she did truly love Fred Weasley and it was incredibly important to her that he gave her this ring so he knew that she was alive and well.

Draco couldn't ignore his feelings of guilt as well. He knew somewhat the Dark Lord was planning to do with his sister. He had overheard the hushed and broken whispers of his father and Bellatrix when they captured her. While it was not the full story, he knew that they were going to force Kiara to change sides to help them win this war – whether she wanted to or not. He knew they would stop at nothing to make Kiara join the Death Eaters.

There was a soft knock on his door. Draco sat up abruptly, staring at the closed door with a hard look. His home was never the same these days, crawling with Death Eaters and Snatchers at every corner. It was never the house warmly type, the one with family pictures and inspiring quotes on the walls and furniture, but it was the only home that he had ever known. It infuriated him knowing that it was no longer the same, and being used as a headquarters for Voldemort and his army.

"Who is it?" Draco asked coldly. He didn't know who to expect, even though the knock was softer than he was used too. It was more often than he liked that it was his Aunt Bellatrix or his father who banged erratically on his door, questioning him about whether anyone had mentioned Potter's name at Hogwarts or if he had any clue as to his whereabouts. If they weren't asking about Harry Potter, then they were asking about Kiara. His answer was always the same: no, in an emotionless tone. He didn't want either of him to be found, despite his dislike for Potter. He knew that if Harry was found, then he would be killed and the war would be over. It might sound good to some but to Draco, he wasn't quite sure anymore whether he wanted Voldemort to win though.