𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙧

chapter 3

talia and draco sat on the floor of the hogwarts library together, clustered with books surrounding them. talia held a book in her lap, helping draco study.

roslyn by st. vincent and bon iver was playing in the background. talia didn't knew who her father was. draco wasn't listening to a word she said, only staring at and admiring her pretty face.

until she snapped at him.

"draco! i asked you what veritaserum was. you aren't even listening. if we don't pass this exam, snape will have both of our heads."

she closed the textbook and turned to fully face him.

"sorry. i got distracted." draco shrugged. tal chuckled and smirked.

"i can tell." she said, looking over out one of the windows and see the sun was setting.

"we should start heading back, anyway. it's getting late."

"or we can stay here. there's more things to do in a library than just read." draco suggested. he took both hands and brought them up to talia's cheeks, pulling her in and kissing her. eventually, they both pulled apart for a breath.

"what? scared of getting caught?" he teased. talia shook her head, but still looked around.

"no."

draco picked up a hand and moved her hair out of her face. he kissed her neck and then whispered in her ear.

"prove it to me, then."

draco's warm embrace was suddenly disturbed as talia realized where she was. not in a warm library, but surrounded by freezing cold water in the middle of god knows where.

she picked her head up with a gasp.

"draco!" tal tried to catch her breath. ron, harry and hermione gave her a look.

"what did you say?" harry asked, also slightly out of breath.

talia looked around her, realizing where she was. her heart broke a bit as it came to her senses that her vision with draco was nothing but a daydream.

when talia didn't answer and let out a silent sob, ron looked for shore. nearby, he saw some land a few feet away.

"cmon!" he called.

quickly, everyone followed him and got to land. drenched, it was a struggle.

"he knows. you-know-who. he knows we broke into gringotts. he knows what we took and he knows we're hunting horcruxes." harry said as soon as they got out of the water.

"how is it you know?" hermione asked.

"i saw him."

"you let him in? harry, you can't do that." hermione argued.

talia was barely able to listen. her mind was too preoccupied with the blonde hair boy she missed so much. all it took was that stupid little daydream for her to realize how much she wanted to fall down on her knees and sob, beg to do anything to see him again.

but she couldn't.

"hermione. i can't always help it. maybe i can. i don't know."

"never mind. what happened?" ron asked.

"well, he's angry. and scared, too. he knows if we find and destroy all the horcruxes we'll be able to kill him. i reckon he'll stop at nothing to make sure we don't find the rest."

hermione dropped to her knees to reach into her bag and grab essence of dittany, a healing potion for everyone to rub on their hands. talia dropped to her knees as well, purely from exhaustion. she gripped onto her necklace, draco's ring, tightly.

"are you alright, tal?" ron asked, looking down at the girl. all she did was nod.

she wasn't alright. in fact, that's the last thing she was. she thought about her last conversation with draco. he told her she could protect her friends better if she escaped, and she listened. but what about him?

regret filled her.

"there's more. one of them's at hogwarts." harry rubbed the potion into his palms. at this, talia looked up.

"hogwarts? one of the horcruxes? you saw it?" she asked.

"i saw the castle and rowena ravenclaw. it must have something to do with her. we have to go there now." harry went on.

tal rose to her feet. after her vision, though she wasn't sure exactly what it was, hogwarts sounded like the exact place she wanted to be.

harry and ron began removing their wet clothes.

"we can't do that! we've got to plan. we've got to figure it out." hermione protested, coming to her feet.

"hermione, when have any of our plans actually worked? we plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose."

tal wasn't listening. she was thinking about the book on legillimency she stole from lunas father. if they went back to hogwarts, it could be a potential safe place for her to practice and get in touch with draco.

"he's right. one problem; snape's headmaster now."

at this, tal's head perked up again. everyone by now was doing their best to get out of wet clothes, though she stood still and listened.

"we can't just walk through the front door." ron went on.

"i can get us in." tal spoke up. everyone had turned to look at her, it being the first time she engaged in conversation.

"talia...are you strong enough?" hermione asked. tal nodded her head, pulled out her wand and waved it, drying everyone's clothes.

"we shouldn't risk it. we'll go to hogsmeade, to honeydukes. take the secret passage to the cellar." harry offered.

"and you don't think hogsmeade will be crawling deatheaters and dementors by now? not to mention the posters put up of you and me that they're itching to capture." tal brought up.

again, the three made eye contact at what she said, which was starting to annoy her. hermione took a step forward and grabbed tal's hand.

"we heard what you screamed back there; draco. did something happen when you saw each other? at malfoy manor?" hermione asked.

tal took a second to look at each of them, connecting the dots.

"you guys think i've changed my mind." she scoffed.

"no..." ron said.

"need i remind you how we got out of that stupid bank in the first place? if it wasn't for me getting the help of that dragon, we would've been captured. if you guys want to go to hogsmeade, fine. but i'm not risking it."

wheels turned in her head at the thought of someone recognizing them in hogsmeade. she wouldn't get to hogwarts, wouldn't get the chance to use the book, and would loose her chance at connecting to draco.

"we can't split up. that's too dangerous. if we just stay together..." harry tried.

talia cut him off by taking a step back and raising her wand over her head. she felt bad for leaving her friends. they had protected each other this far.

but now that her mind was on draco, she couldn't focus on anything else. and he would always come first.

"talia, please. don't." hermione shook her head.

"don't look for me when you get there. i come to you, okay? i'll know when you're there. be safe, and be discreet."

"we can just-" ron tried.

but tal didn't hear the rest of what he said.

she was already on her way.