Downward Spiral - Draco Malfoy

Chapter Five

Dina Murry's POV

I stared at my reflection in the vanity's mirror, my grey eyes wide with fright and my body fidgeting uncontrollably. My skin was paler than usual, completely contrasting the charcoal black colour of my long dress that I wore. I huffed anxiously as I smoothed out the creases from my dress, attempting to distract myself of what was about to happen in a few minutes. I glanced slowly at my left forearm, harshly gulping down the vomit that was rising up my throat threateningly. The soft, smooth skin was vacant of any ink, but I was not quite sure if it would remain that way by the end of the night.

My appointment with the Dark Lord was only in a few minutes, and it took every cell in me not to lash out in a state of perpetual panic and being sent off to St. Mungos in the mentally disturbed section of the hospital. My thoughts ran wild in my troubled head, developing and crafting different scenarios of how this appointment will be like – and most of these scenarios conclusions were my death.

I jumped in alarm and took several steps backwards away from my bedroom door with my hands up in the air to shield myself protectively from any harm when the door was swung open. I only relaxed slightly when I saw my mother's face appear as she stepped inside the room slowly and cautiously.

Mother swept her vision up and down my body, scanning me for approval, and I think I received it when she nodded her head shortly.

"Are you ready, my dear?" She asked hesitantly.

My eyes widened when I was smacked with the news that he was here, in the same house I was in, breathing the same air I was.

I choked on my own words as I desperately croaked, "He's here? Already?!"

Mother winced at my reaction, and I couldn't tell if she felt remorseful for me. I took one more step backwards, away from her figure.

"He's going to kill me, isn't he? Tell me, Mother, I beg of you! I must be prepared for what is to come, or else I might completely lose it –"

Mother interrupted me when she strode forwards and grasped my hands and looked me dead in the eye as she hushed me.

"He is not going to kill you, Dina Jane Murry, you hear me? He is not going to do it, but you have to give him a reason not to – and this is why I'm here." She spoke in hushed whispers and glanced at the bedroom door frightfully.

"Muffliato" She murmured as she pointed her wand at the bedroom door, concealing our voices from anyone outside the bedroom.

Mother turned back around to look at me, her eyes wide with determination, fright and anxiousness.

"Now listen to me, Dina, and I beseech you to pay attention – this will cost you your life if you don't listen to what I have to say to you." She spoke sternly as she gripped my shoulders and squeezed them, in some form of comfort, but it did not affect me at all – in fact, it only forced me to think that this might be the final conversation I'd have with my mother, ever, and as much as I hate my parents, I wasn't prepared to bid her farewell forever.

I nodded fervently and strained my ears to hear every sentence, every word, and every syllable that left her mouth.

"Do not look him in the eye unless he tells you to, speak to him with respect, and whatever he tells you to do – you do it without question or hesitance." She said quickly, and she then grabbed my hand, and with her other hand, she reached into the depths of the fabric of her robe, and she pulled out a wand – more specifically, my wand.

"Take it – you'll need it after this meeting, believe me." She whispered as she placed the wand into the palm of my hand, my fingers automatically curling around it, the familiarity of it somewhat miraculously bringing me little comfort.