Just Ellie ⌁ Draco Malfoy (ON HOLD)

33

"Yeah, you need it," said an arrogant, annoyed voice from the entrance. Ellie turned quickly to see Nikolai coming in with Crabbe and Goyle. He stormed over to her and snatched away her plate of food. "What's this?"

"Didn't mummy teach you which is which-?"

Nikolai grabbed Ellie by the throat and pulled her close to his face. Ellie tried to gasp in shock but it sounded more like a strange yelp, even more so as she felt his fingers dig harder into her skin. "Did I ask for your lip, Elyssa? It'll be more than just stupid House points I dock if--"

"Mr Orlov, what do you think you're doing?" Madame Pomfrey said sternly. 

Nikolai let Ellie go immediately and fixed his posture with a smile. "Madame Pomfrey! Looking delightful as usual."

"Why have you taken that food off Miss Greer?" Madame Pomfrey continued, looking rather suspicious. 

This could have been both a good and a bad thing. Good because someone older could possibly see what was happening, bad because Nikolai would take this out on Ellie. 

"Oh, she was eating it rather quickly and I didn't want her to choke. Starving -- poor thing. That or she's got quite the appetite, wouldn't you agree, Madame Pomfrey?" Nikolai said sweetly with a smile. 

"Starving yes, now clear out, the lot of you. Greer isn't going anywhere until she finishes what she's got here."

Nikolai gave Ellie a disgusted look when Madame Pomfrey walked away, and the redhead, with tears stinging her eyes, automatically looked to Draco, whose expression she could not read. 

Ellie was still hungry when she finished eating and was on her way to find Lavender and Parvarti. She expected Nikolai to be waiting in the nearest corridor, and she braced herself for his wrath. He, of course, had to have his group there with him, as though he didn't humiliate her in front of them enough. 

"You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" Nikolai sneered at her, beginning to approach her. 

"Madame Pomfrey insisted," Ellie said to him, slowly backing away. "She said my body would be too weak to function if I didn't eat anything soon."

"And I expect she knows about us then," Nikolai growled at her. Crabbe and Goyle looked smug behind Nikolai. Draco just looked uncomfortable. "About how I--"

"No, I lied to her. I said I was too busy stressing about--"

"Good," Nikolai praised her, stopping in his tracks with a smile. Ellie stopped too, releasing a long breath. He looked over her shoulder. "Ah, professor! How are you this afternoon?"

Professor McGonagall had a rather stern look on her face, and she looked directly at Nikolai as though the others weren't there. There was a certain look in her eye, like she was both furious and felt stupid. Like she was slapped in the face. 

"Mr Orlov, Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office. Alone. If you'll follow me," Professor McGonagall said, walking around Crabbe and Goyle with Nikolai on her heels. He looked over at his friends, confused. 

Ellie walked up to Draco. "What do you suppose that's about?"

He leaned close to her face, sneered, and said, "How should I know?" before he walked off with Crabbe and Goyle. 

It wasn't too much later during the day that Ellie's question would be answered. She had refused to see Dumbledore in his office after she was summoned, she didn't even know the exact reason why she refused. She didn't even care how many detentions she'd receive after continuously refusing to see him. Something in her gut told her not to go...like Nikolai would make her life even more of a living hell if she did. Because deep down she knew that the teachers knew exactly what had happened in the hospital wing. 

Ellie knew it might help that they knew.  But she still had that fear flowing through her veins like poison. All this fear and doubt made her think back to what Daphne Greengrass had once said to her about her being sorted into Gryffindor. Maybe Ellie was supposed to be sorted into Slytherin, Slytherin was mixed in her veins along with that fear like poison, because she was certainly too wimpy and scared to be considered a true Gryffindor. 

"Miss Greer, I won't ask you again," said Professor McGonagall who had insisted that Ellie follow her into her classroom if she wasn't going to see Dumbledore. Ellie's blue eyes slowly flicked up to meet the older womans. "The marks around your neck. How did you come to--"

"I don't know, Professor," Ellie lied quickly. Stop lying, something in her mind hissed at her. But she couldn't help it. She was just too paranoid. What if Nikolai was somehow listening in on their conversation? What if he was right by the door? "I...sleepwalk sometimes. Only in the dorm though."

It was useless. McGonagall could see right through her lies, and she sighed with what sounded like disappointment and understanding. 

"I'm well aware of the future you have with Mr Orlov," she started, crossing her arms in front of her. "And I'm well aware of certain rumours that have come to spread about him and his...past. It is not my intention to speak ill of one of my students. He can charm his way through these halls no doubt, but, there was once another boy just like him."

Ellie looked away before looking back up at her teacher. She forced a smile. "I'm sorry, Professor. I have no idea what you're talking about."

Idiot, idiot, idiot, she was thinking to herself as she walked out of that classroom to find that the hall was empty and the floor had been hers that whole time. She could easily turn around and walk back inside...tell her professor the whole truth. But what could McGonagall do? How could she help?

 For all Ellie knew, her teachers and her headmaster would probably make things a hell of a lot worse for her, even if they meant well.