Undeniable Desire (Draco Malfoy)

16. The Whomping Willow

Chapter Sixteen

The person held on to me tightly and I screamed trying to escape. The room suddenly lit up as flames erupted from the lanterns on the walls. I stopped struggling and looked over my shoulder to see Fred holding me. The redhead began to laugh and I pulled away from him angrily.

"That was not funny Fred!" I yelled at him.

He shook his head with an amused smile and someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind me. I gasped and quickly turned around to see another red-headed boy standing behind me.

I turned back to the one who had scared me, "George?" I asked and he nodded and started laughing again.

Fred began to laugh with him, and I turned and marched out of the back door. "Jerks" I growled at them before I left.

"Lexi, wait" I heard one of them yell. I did not stop walking, I ignored the hurried footsteps from the twins behind me.

One of them grabbed my arm, stopping me.

"It was just a"

"Joke" his twin finished

I turned to face the twins, I was angry at them for leading me out here just to scare me. "Is this your way of getting back at me for Seamus?" I yelled at them.

"Of course not"

"We were just having a laugh, you looked like you needed one"

One of them hugged me, I guessed it was Fred. "This is how we show all our friends we care" Fred smiled down at me "It was just a bit of fun"

I believed that they were truly only joking around with me, even though I did not find it very funny.

"I believe you," I said and hugged Fred back.

"How did you get here anyway?" I asked George.

"There is a passageway from Hogwarts to the shrieking shack," he told me.

"How the hell do you know about all these passageways?" I asked, amused.

"That's for us to know"

"And you, to never know" They laughed and I pouted crossing my arms.

"I would tell you to just ask Harry, he owns it now, but I guess he wouldn't be talking to you either"

"I guess so," I said looking down awkwardly at my feet.

"Come on" Fred grabbed my arm and pulled me back towards the shrieking shack.

"I don't want to go back there," I said, trying to pull away.

"Don't worry Lexi. We will protect you" George smiled reassuringly at me. I frowned at him.

"Sure you will" I mumbled sarcastically, and followed them back in the house.

The house was lit up and seemed less scary now that I was with Fred and George. Looking around I could see lots of very old looking junk lying around. I walked over to a box that was sitting next to the ancient-looking fireplace. The box was very dusty, I opened it up and coughed as dust entered my lungs.

"You alright?" George asked me, patting my back as he crouched down beside me.

"Yeah, fine" I coughed again. I looked in the boxed and gasped jumping back, as a large black spider about the size of my hand came scattering out towards me.

George laughed at me "not scared of a little spider are you?" He teased, and I rolled my eyes at him, crouching back down once the spider was gone.

"No not scared of a little spider" I laughed " Not that I would call that spider 'little' It just startled me"

Inside the box, there was a pile of photo frames covered in dust. I picked one up and wiped the dust off it. It was a photo of a family. The clothes they were wearing looked like it was at least 100 years ago, or more. The photo was not moving, I was not sure if it was a Muggle family or a wizard family. Whoever they were I did not like the look on the face of the little girl. Her eyes stared wideout from the photo with a tiny smirk on her lips.

I shuttered and put the photo back. "Do you know whatever happened here?" I asked George.

"There are many stories, but people from the town use to say they hear howling noises from here"

"Where's Fred?" I stood up looking around the room. I could not see him anywhere.

"Up here Lexi" I heard his voice coming from up the stairs.

"I started climbing the stairs slowly. Every step creaked loudly. I was surprised I haven't heard Fred go up there. Once I reached the top I entered the first room of the hall. It looked like an old bedroom, and the bed was all smashed up. I looked at it and frowned.

"This is where Harry blasted Snape," Fred laughed, looking at the bed.

"Why did he do that?" I asked, surprised.

"Long story"

"Should we go now?" Fred asked, holding out his hand to me.

"Sure" I grabbed his hand and he led me back down the stairs where George was waiting for us.

George led the way, but we did not leave the house. Instead, we went down another flight of stairs.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Back to Hogwarts" Fred replied "We are taking the passageway that George took.

We entered what seemed to be an underground tunnel, like the one Fred and I had entered in. It took not quite as long to get back as it did to get here. Fred and George stopped just near the opening.

"Now this is the tricky bit," George said "It nearly got me on the way in"

"What are you talking about?"

"We got to make a run for it," Fred told me.

"Why?" I asked nervously.

"Best you do not know just yet," George told me and we lined up.

"Now run as fast as you can on the count of three.

"One"

"Two"

"Three, Go!"

I started running with the boys as fast as I could thinking they were probably just trying to scare me again. But I screamed as I huge tree branch came crashing down right next to me, missing me by an inch.

I picked up my pace but stumbled as I tripped over a rock. Oh no, I'm done for now.

I felt one of the boys sweep me up into their arms from behind just as another branch came crashing down in the spot I was only seconds ago.

I held onto him tightly and finally, he stopped running.

"We are in the clear"

I looked up and saw it was Fred who had picked me up. "You are a little bit clumsy," Fred laughed at me, putting me down.

"Thanks for saving me" I mumbled embarrassed.

I turned around to see the Whomping Willow tree shaking its branches angrily at us.

"I will never do that again" I declared as we headed back to the castle.

"You had fun, admit it" Fred grinned down at me.

I laughed "Maybe" I was glad that they took my mind off of Draco for a while at least.