THE FURIES ▸ Draco Malfoy

Chapter Six: MOIRAI

◤ ❝There is something peculiar about her. She's different in a way that makes you want to find out everything there is to know about her. Kind of like a spell. You learn, and you make mistakes, and you do everything possible to master it. I have a feeling no one has ever mastered the art of figuring out just who Andromeda Erebus is, though...makes you quite eager to try though, yeah?❞ ― Andrew Vaisey◢

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CHAPTER SIX: MOIRAI

September 16, 1996

         The insomnia set in by the third day back at Hogwarts. After her short meeting with Slughorn, Mia's focus centered on two things. Neither was school. First, the leather book that was her living nightmare because she still hadn't had a chance to look at it since that night. Secondly, the cabinet. The stupid, miserably broken cabinet that she was ready to obliterate herself was hitting the last bit of nerve that she had, and it was only the third week of school. With the tasks the Dark Lord assigned her, as well as the homework that her teachers were giving her every day, she wasn't quite sure the last time she slept. Her nights all blurred together between doing her Potions homework on the old, dusty couch in the Room of Requirements to spouting useless spells and curse words at the cabinet.

Tracey was the first to notice that Mia wasn't in her bed when she was supposed to be, which ended up with an elaborate lie that she was sneaking into the library at nights to study for Astronomy and Charms. Not her best, but it was better than anything else she could have come up with. Theo was next, and naturally, convincing her cousin of something was like telling a rock to speak. He picked up on her drowsiness and overall unpleasantness when she snipped at him in Defense for letting his quill's ink spill onto her parchment by accident. With a raised eyebrow, he said they would talk about it later. Her excuse was that she was on her menstrual cycle. That was always an easy one to use.

As far as how her relationship with Draco was progressing—well, they hadn't killed one another yet. There were a few close calls. Mia noticed that he was dragging his heels just as much as she was nowadays. She'd resorted to making a potion that would allow them to stay up longer; that way, they could try more of the spells that she'd found from the library. So far, none have worked. The cabinet remained broken, even when they both used their magic to aid in the strength of the spell. Draco had to drag Mia away from the thing once or twice so she didn't put it in splinters. She had watched a couple of books fly over her head and slide down the side of the cabinet. Overall, the first week had been miserable. As expected.

"There better be something in that about how to fix this. Otherwise, I'm going to throw it into the fireplace and laugh while it burns," Draco called out behind his back.

He was sitting in front of the cabinet, a book in his lap with the spells that they highlighted for the night to use. It was his turn to try and fix it. Mia had been at it all last night, and that resulted in her sleeping through Transfiguration the following morning. She was positive that McGonagall only let her slide because she saw the dark circles surfacing on Mia's pale skin. Instead, she was sitting in the dusty chair behind him, reading the book that Vaisey gave her. She was halfway through it, and she could tell by how quickly she turned each page that she was getting attached to the mythology.

She scoffed, but didn't lift her head from the book. "As if you'd ever get close enough to try."

"Why exactly are you so interested in it?" he asked, turning to face her so that his voice was no longer muffled. "Didn't you say your mother picked it up in a muggle bookstore? I can't imagine there being anything worth reading inside of that thing. Much less, Celicia actually wanting it."