just for you (years 3-5)

chapter 66

"it's a lovely dress, y/n. you're bound to be the center of attention" daphne smirks, sitting on my bed behind me in the mirror

"yeah, well that's the last thing i want" i smooth down the dress, trying to make it slightly longer.

"don't worry-"

"i haven't seen anyone in months daphne, not since...." i trail off, thinking back to the end of last school year, "i just don't want any questions"

"there won't be any" she tilts her head, "it's a party, y/n. no one's going to interrogate you about voldemort, or your father" she smiles slightly, "and besides, cedric and i will be with you all night. there's nothing to stress about"

i smile back, nodding my head and taking a deep breath, looking back at my reflection. it is a nice dress. short, tight, black, simple.

"what do you think he'll say?" i say nervously, twisting my ring around my finger and looking back at daphne

"cedric?" she smirks, "well he's going to love-"

"no" i shake my head, "draco. he doesn't know-"

"you still never wrote back?" she interrupts. i shake my head again, moving across the room towards my desk. my eyes catch the small jewelry box in the corner, where i know the saturn necklace resides. i clear my throat, pulling open my bottom drawer and pointing into it. it's filled almost to the top with stacks of letters addressed to me, all from the same person.

"jesus. he's really serious about winning you over"

"yeah well, after last year..." i sigh, "i just didn't know what to say to him, you know? i couldn't bear to ask if he knew about voldemort coming back... and then it had been so long, and cedric and i... well, you know" i laugh a little, sitting back on my desk, "i had finally gotten over him. i wasn't worried about who i was seeing and who i was talking to for once and it felt.. nice" i shrug a little, "i get that he had never really had a relationship of any sort with anyone before... and it doesn't help that he never learned how to express emotion because his father's shit but- at some point i just couldn't sacrifice my happiness anymore while he figured it out"

daphne nods. the first week of summer had been the worst. i was getting letters from draco at least twice a day. i don't think i ever opened a single one. i was mad. mad about so many things. at first, i told myself i would open them later... but then, i suddenly stopped feeling the need to.

i had other things, more important things than boy drama going on at home. i told my mum what crouch said almost immediately after we got home. i can still hear the screaming that came from downstairs that night. when i woke up the next morning, my father was gone and my suspicions were confirmed.

my mum had never known, he had managed to keep it hidden from her all these years. it wasn't that difficult of course, with the ministry on his side. since he was an employee, they kept his trial out of the public eye, not wanting to admit how vulnerable they had been to infiltration. he claimed he had been under the imperius curse, gave them a couple names, and got off scot-free. he was the one who turned in crouch, and trying to kill me in the tournament was his form of revenge. mum blames herself for not recognizing it sooner, but she guesses she always knew on some level... just didn't want to believe it was true.

but i guess that's what happens when you love someone. you ignore all of the signs saying you should run.

i don't know where he is. i don't want to know. i assume he's hiding out with some other death eaters, i presume he's not with my grandparents... since they haven't kicked mum and i out of the family manor yet. but it's only a matter of time before they find out, i suppose. mum anxiously awaits their letter every day.