Cessation ⌁ Draco Malfoy [3/4] ✔

13

Pansy was more irritable, if possible. Nothing but scathing, snide remarks left the girls mouth and all she did was laugh it off. It seemed she did that on purpose as to retain and obtain her so called friends. She had acquired half a dozen other friends over the next month and they were like walking desolation. They liked Hogwarts even better and could often be heard making derogatory comments about their late Headmaster, which left students in a dispirited mood as Dumbledore was loved by many of them.

It didn't mean anything, though. The students had eventually gotten used to the awful remarks - the Carrows would often express their perspectives. They clearly thought they were looking over a sea of nameless faces that would soon have a magically induced brand on their inner left forearms.

And as the month drifted by in its usual slow pace, Emma was beginning to let her guard down. Nothing too big had happened to her, not like she thought it would. The Carrows said nothing. Any Death Eaters used for security or that guarded the corridors at night said nothing. Everything was silent to the girl until a certain Weasley had burst into the library one evening. 

A panic-stricken Ginny threw her bag down onto the table Emma was sitting at before impolitely drawing out a chair to sit in. 

"Well..." Emma said, on the verge of smirking, moving her textbooks away from the redhead before she could accidentally destroy them, "hello to you, too. To what do I owe the pleasure of your undeniably wanted company?" 

"It's Snape," Ginny hissed quietly. Emma looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was nearby; there was no doubt Ginny could hear the thumping over her heart. "He's pretending he doesn't know who you are."

"What do you mean? What happened? Ginny - your neck!" Emma gasped, wide eyes set on a bruise in the shape of a thumb. 

Ginny brushed it off by pulling her robes over the mark. "It's nothing. The gits just grabbed me a bit rough."

"Who grabbed you? You should probably see Madame Pomfrey, it looks painful."

"Never mind," Ginny said impatiently, clearly unaffected by the fact that a large, purple, painful looking bruise had formed on the side of her neck. "I know it looks like everything is settled down and that nothing could go wrong with...who you are and everything, but that's what they want you to think. They are looking, Emma."

Emma's heart started beating a little too fast. 

"They never learnt who I was, those Death Eaters, and it's definitely a shocker based on all the trouble I've caused," continued Ginny, glancing around to see if anyone was lurking around. "They thought I was his sister."

"I'm guessing you tried reasoning with them the Ginny way," Emma cut in. "You know your mouth is just going to get you into trouble if you keep going on the way that you do."

 "After dinner I left for Gryffindor but two of them cornered me," Ginny went on, eyes narrowed. "Said I could be the one, finally. I told them I had no idea what they were talking about and that I'd head on to Gryffindor but they grabbed me, as you noticed. They started going on about how I was a speculation to what Voldemort -"

"Stop," Emma whispered. "Stop. I think I'm going to be sick."

Ginny retreated slightly, moving her bag along with her. 

"And..." Ginny said, unsure if she should still go on, "and so they brought me to Snape, but I was dismissed immediately. Emma, they aren't going to catch you. Not unless you continue to blend in, make it look like your guard is down and that you have nothing to worry about." Ginny lifted Emma's chin and looked into the eyes that were a different shade than what she had preferred to look into. "There's nothing about you that is similar to Harry anymore."