BORN TO DIE    ╱    DRACO MALFOY
꒷꒦ · ˚.‧ . written by ella . . . © -lostgardens
023 ━━━ ❛ mandrakes, pixies, and stars ❜

"Morning, everyone," Professor Sprout greeted as she walked into the greenhouse. The chatter of the students covered up her words, so she tapped on the side of a plant pot to catch their attention. "Good morning, everyone," she repeated a little louder.

Everyone quickly turned to her, replying, "Good morning, Professor Sprout."

"Welcome to Greenhouse Three, second years," she beamed, her voice filled with amusement as she looked at each student. She waved her hands, gesturing for them to move closer. "Now, gather around, everyone," she instructed. They all listened and stepped forward. "Today, we're going to re-pot Mandrakes," the professor explained, turning to grab a plant from behind her. "Who here can tell me the properties of the Mandrake root?" She faced them again, placing the plant down in front of her.

Olivia's hand shot up... but so did Granger's. In fact, they were the only ones with their hands raised.

Olivia rolled her eyes as the professor called on the bushy-haired girl just a few students down from her. "Yes, Miss Granger?" Sprout asked, pointing at the girl.

Granger let out a breath, happy to be picked. "Mandrake, or Mandragora, is used to return those who have been petrified to their original state," she answered matter-of-factly. Professor Sprout nodded, waiting for the girl to continue. "It's also quite dangerous. The Mandrake's cry is fatal to anyone who hears it."

"Excellent!" the pointy-hat-wearing professor praised. "Ten points to Gryffindor." She shot a glance over to Potter and Weasley.

Some blimey idiot, who Olivia believed was named Finnigan, muttered, "We all know who's not going to be happy about that one," to Longbottom, who stood next to him. Both boys chuckled under their breath as Olivia shot them a look from across the table. They quickly went quiet as the professor continued.

"Now, as our Mandrakes are still only seedlings," Sprout continued as Olivia refocused on her, "their cries won't kill you yet, but they could knock you out for several hours, which is why I've given each of you a pair of earmuffs for auditory protection." She paused, looking around at each student. "So could you please put them on right away? Quickly."

Everyone grabbed their earmuffs, placing them on their heads. Olivia looked over at her friends and Malfoy, who stood beside her, and stifled a laugh as they all looked displeased—Malfoy especially.

"Flaps tight down, and watch me closely," Sprout instructed, patting her ears. She picked up the plant in front of her by it's leaves' steams. "You grasp your Mandrake firmly," she explained. "You pull it sharply out of the pot." Her voice was overshadowed when she pulled the plant out, and a loud squeal ran through the room, slightly muffled by the earmuffs. Slightly.

Everyone gasped and covered their ears, trying to drown out the ear-bleeding noise. Sprout looked at the Mandrake with wide eyes, surprised by its loudness. "Got it? And... now you dunk it down into the other pot," she demonstrated, sticking the squealing thing in a bigger pot, "and pour a little sprinkling of soil to keep him warm." She did as she explained.

Olivia watched closely, trying not to flinch or curse the plant due to the loudness. But the sound of someone hitting the floor caught her attention. She glanced across the table, only to see Longbottom was no longer in the place he had once been. Scratch that—he was now lying on the ground, passed out from the squealing.

Sprout sighed as Olivia held back a chuckle. "Longbottom's been neglecting his earmuffs."

Olivia could hear Malfoy and the others chuckle from beside her, which made her not feel totally heartless. Finnigan looked up at the professor, saying, "No, ma'am, he's just fainted."

"Yes, well, just leave him there," Sprout said, waving a dismissive hand. "Right, on we go," she said, moving on from the Longbottom situation. "Plenty of pots to go around," she told them as Olivia grabbed a pot off the table. She grabbed the plant by its steams, just as was demonstrated. "Grasp your Mandrake... pull it up!" Sprout reminded. And everyone did just that.

Squeals were heard all around the room as over twenty Mandrakes were removed from the pots. Olivia examined her plant closely, looking at it's crying, plant-like, almost chubby baby-like face. She looked at it with fascination, not even paying attention to the horrified looks of everyone around her and Pansy muttering 'ew' repeatedly under breath as they looked at their own Mandrakes.

Malfoy beside her began messing with his Mandake by putting his finger in it's wide-open, crying mouth. She rolled her eyes at his antics, knowing that he'd soon regret it. And he did... The Mandrake bit tightly on his finger, causing him to try and pull it out. Olivia chuckled, looking at him with amusement as he struggled to pull his finger out of the plant's mouth.

He sent her an annoyed look due to her laughing, then he sent an I-am-going-to-hex-you look to the plant he held. Playfully rolling her eyes, Olivia looked back at her own plant, then dunk it down into the pot, wasting no time to cover it with soil to 'keep it warm'.

≀⋆⁺₊⋆ ꗃ 𖦹⨳✺

"Bloody beat a beast; I'm starving," Theodore groaned, sitting down at the Slytherin table with his friends.

"What does that even mean?" Lucas asked the boy, who sat diagonal to him, furrowed his brows with a slight amusement in his tone, beginning to fill his plate.

"None of us know. You'll have to get used to Theodore's random sayings," Pansy explained, leaning forward a bit, her eyes trained on the Mallard boy who sat across from her. Lucas chuckled, shaking his head.

"Yeah, he never makes any sense," Olivia added, looking up from her book.

"Hey!" Theodore said offendedly as he placed a hand over his heart. "I make all the world's sense. It's not my fault; you just don't understand," he defended.

"My apologies," Olivia replied, nothing but sarcasm lacing her tone. She leaned forward, slightly narrowing her eyes at the boy. He did the same, but before their little staring contest could go on for too long, the snap and flash of a camera caught their attention.

Olivia glanced around, only to see a short blonde boy—the one from the sorting ceremony, Colin Creevey, whom she believed his name to be—standing in front of Potter. He held a camera, and though she could only see the back of his head, she knew he must be excited about something.

"I'm Colin Creevey! I'm in Gryffindor too!" the boy gleamed as he lowered his camera.

"Hi, Colin. Nice to meet you," Potter muttered in response as Olivia turned away, not caring about the conversation.

She could hear the boy rambling on still, but she didn't listen to what he was actually rambling about. She focused on her book, not paying attention as Malfoy muttered something about Potter getting more and more undeserved attention. Lucas seemed to join in on the conversation, but before he could retort something to Malfoy, the sound of an owl screeching caught their attention.

Olivia looked up from her book, watching as the owl flew down toward the Gryffindor table. She turned around just in time to see the owl crashing into a bowl of crisps. Students around them, including Olivia's friends and Malfoy, laughed lightly, amused by Weasley's not-so-cordinated owl.

"Bloody bird's a menace," the redheaded boy muttered, grabbing whatever the bird had been carrying. The owl flopped up, knocking some crisps off the table, turned around to face Granger, then flew away as if it hadn't just crashed. "Oh no," Weasley said, looking at the red envelope he held.

"Look, everyone," Finnigan began, catching Olivia's attention. Her gaze flicked away from Weasley and onto his Gryffindor counterpart. "Weasley's got himself a Howler," he informed, looking around, causing some students to laugh.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle laughed along with Flint and Pucey, who were sitting near the group, as they focused on Weasley and his what-is-going-on expression.

"Go on, Ron," Longbottom began. "I ignored one from my gran once," he explained, looking mortified. "It was horrible."

That seemed to make Weasley even more nervous, and Olivia fought a laugh at his wide-eyed expression. He looked back at the red envelope, probably preparing himself for what was to come. He flipped it over and peeled it open, letting out a booming noise.

"Ronald Weasley!" the letter shouted, presumably in the boy's mother's voice, as he threw it down. It went quiet for a moment, then got up from the table, forming itself into the shape of a mouth. "How dare you steal that car! I am absolutely disgusted!" it continued. "Your father's now facing an inquiry at work, and it is entirely your fault!" It jumped towards the boy, getting rather close to his face. Olivia couldn't help but laugh a little. "If you put another toe out of line, we'll bring you straight home!"

The Howler paused for a moment as Weasley frighteningly nodded, then it turned to the right. Olivia followed where the letter was facing and caught sight of the youngest Weasley. "Oh, and Ginny, dear, congratulations on making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud." The letter went quiet for another moment, taking one last glance at the redhead boy before blowing a raspberry right in his face. Then it tore itself up.

The Great Hall stayed silent besides the whispers here and there, and Olivia turned to Lucas, who sat beside her. "That's worse than anything our mother has done," she whispered to him. He chuckled, nodding in agreement. She let out a breath and turned back to her book, picking up where she left off.

≀⋆⁺₊⋆ ꗃ 𖦹⨳✺

Sitting in yet another class was such a bore. Olivia was ready for the day to be over. Was her first day like this? She honestly couldn't remember for the life of her. The chattering around the classroom sent an empounding headache through her stretched-thin-by-the-day brain as she rubbed her temples with her elbows digging into the tabletop.

The office door at the top of the staircase opened, causing Olivia to look up. She sighed, and the man who walked out made her headache grow more so.

"Let me introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Lockhart said, smugness lingering on his features. "Me." He threw his head back slightly with pride. "Gilderoy Lockhart," he introduced himself, just in case anyone didn't know who he was as he descended the stairs. "Order of Merlin, Third Class. Honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League," he continued, stopping at a painting of himself painting well... himself.

That's rather odd, Olivia thought, her face twisting in disgust.

"And five-time winner... of Witch Weekly's 'Most Charming Smile' Award," he bragged, stepping up to the desk with a bright smile on his face as he placed his hand on his hip. He was dressed in an almost-golden suit, his hair was neatly combed back, and he seemed just as he always did—flawless, or, in Olivia's opinion, boring. "But I don't talk about that," he added, leaning against the desk. "I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her," he joked, chuckling at his own 'humor'.

Olivia's disgust heightened when she glanced over at Pansy, who sat beside her, and saw an enchanted look on the girl's face. She looked as if she were swooning over the man. Olivia and she really needed to talk about her taste in boys, because first, Pucey, and now, Lockhart? It was bloody demented.

No one else laughed gratefully, so Lockhart quickly changed the subject. "I see you've all brought a complete set of my books. Well done." He straightened his spine.

Clearly, he didn't notice Olivia's clear desk because there was no way in the world she'd ever bring or purchase his books anywhere. It would never bloody happen.

"Now, I thought we'd start today with a little quiz." Lockhart walked behind his desk, picking up a stack of papers with a bright, trying-to-charm smile on his face.

Olivia glanced back at Malfoy, who sat behind her with Crabbe, and gave him a what-the-bloody-hell look, to which he replied with a matching one. She turned to face forward once more, her face still twisted in disgust as she looked at the professor.

"Nothing to worry about," he assured, walking away from the desk. "Just to check how well you've read them," he handed Granger two quizzes. "How much you've, uh, taken in," he added, handing another two to Weasley. He continued around the room until he finally got to Olivia.

Olivia narrowed her eyes at him, feeling Pansy clutch onto her arm in excitement. He looked down at Olivia's desk, seeing none of his books in sight besides the ones that sat in front of Pansy.

"Ah, I see you don't have any of my books," he said, his voice tight, with a clearly fake-for-the-audience smile holding his lips.

"Yes, well, you see, I prefer to read about events that actually happened and not some made-up fairytales," Olivia retorted, gesturing to his books, her eyes never leaving his. That wasn't true—she loved fairytales with all of her cold heart, but just not his fairytales.

He seemed to revel in the fact that she didn't believe his stories and leaned a bit closer, that stupid smile on his face. "I can assure you, my stories are quite real, little girl," he replied, causing her to glare at him even harder due to the nickname. He straightened his spine, a chill running down it at her cold gaze, and asked, "What's your name?"

"Olivia Mallard," she answered, a snarky smile coating her face as his dropped. She loved when she had that effect on people. Just the sound of her name or the realization of who she was, and they were ready to run for the hills. It never got old.

"Oh, well, here you are," he muttered, handing her two quizzes. Then he continued on his way.

Olivia handed a quiz to Pansy, then looked over her own. All of the questions were about him. Blimey, how self-centered could one be? What was his favorite color? How the bloody hell should she know? She barely knew her own (most would assume it was black, but black is a shade; therefore, it was not her favorite color).

Once the man was done passing out the quizzes and Olivia was outright annoyed and her headache was as strong as ever, Lockhart made his way to the front of the class. He placed his hands on his hips and said, "You have thirty minutes. Start! Now!"

Olivia picked up her quill, and for the first time in her life, she guessed and answered the questions. Guessed! Her? Guessing? It was preposterous! But once she was done, she set her quill aside and let out a breath. Most of the students around her were still finishing up, so she leaned back in her seat, not wanting to be the first to hand in her quiz. She did not want it to seem like she knew anything about that wretched man. She knew nothing!

After the time was up, students started to make their way to the front, and Olivia stayed as far in the back as she could. Once she reached the desk, she handed Lockhart her quiz with a fake smile, which he returned, and walked back over to her desk.

Once he had received all of the quizzes, Lockhart began looking through them. "Tut, tut," he echoed. "Hardly any of you remember that my favorite color is lilac." He seemed almost offended by the realization. "But Miss Hermione Granger," he began, sitting up in his seat as Olivia threw a curious look at the back of the Gryffindor's head, "knew that my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair care potions." Olivia rolled her eyes at this. "Good girl." He smiled, shooting a wink in Granger's direction.

Abruptly, the man stood up, holding his wand, knocking Granger out of whatever love-swoon trance she was in. "Now, be warned," he said. "It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizard kind." He moved around the desk, drawing his voice out in a suspenseful tone.

Suddenly, with a flick of his wand, the cage with a burgundy cloth draped over it began to rattle next to him. Olivia narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here." He raised his hand to the cage, preparing to remove the cloth, as Olivia rolled her eyes at his dramatics. "I must ask you not to scream. It might provoke them!" He quickly removed the cloth from over the cage to reveal squealing blue creatures Olivia recognized as pixies.

The Mallard girl sat up in her seat, leaning closer to get a better look at them. The cage moved as the pixies tried to get out, still squealing, and Olivia sighed. He was more of an idiot than she thought. Cornish pixies, really?

"Cornish pixies?" Finnigan asked with amusement in his voice.

Exactly, Olivia thought, sending a glance over at the boy. Perhaps he wasn't so bad.

"Freshly caught Cornish pixies," Lockhart corrected, causing Finnigan to laugh as everyone else smiled in amusement. Olivia just looked at the man boredly. "Laugh if you will, Mr. Finnigan," he added, "but pixies can be devilish, tricky little blighters." He paused, a smile on his face, as he reached for the latch of the cage. "Let's see what you make of them." He pulled open the cage door, making Olivia's eyes go wide. "Hyah! Go!" he shouted at the pixies.

The blue creatures flew out at the students, causing some to scream as Olivia dove under her table, pulling Pansy down with her. "Round them up! Come on! They're only pixies!" she heard Lockhart instruct as Pansy clutched onto her robes.

She heard the squealing of pixies and the footfall of running students trying to get away from said pixies, but one thing in particular caught her ears. She glanced out from under the table, only to see Longbottom being dragged by two pixies, who were holding his ears. The boy muttered, "Ah! Ah!" repeatedly. A flash of a memory from their first year when he was overrun by a broom came to mind.

Shaking her head, Olivia dove back under the table, looking at Pansy, whose eyes were as wide as saucers. She was on the brink of a panic attack. "It'll be okay, Pans," Olivia reassured. "They're just pixies." She tried to muster a comforting smile as Pansy nodded rapidly, trying to calm herself, but she wasn't sure if it was working—the nodding or the smile.

The chaos outside of the table was loud, and Olivia knew that wasn't helping with Pansy's nerves, so she began racking her mind for some spell that could help. She hoped that Lockhart could come up with something, since he was the professor after all, and it was his brillant idea to let pixies loose in the classroom with no warning. But when she heard him shout, "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!" she knew the little faith she had was ill-placed.

Olivia looked out from under the table when she heard the crashing of the dinosaur skeleton. Her eyes fell on Lockhart running up the stairs to his office like someone had lit his arse on fire. She rolled her eyes, still racking her knowledge, as he fought some pixies for a portrait of himself.

He looked down at Potter, Granger, and Weasley and said, "I'll ask you three to just nip the rest of them back into their cage." He smiled, then ran into his office.

Sighing, Olivia dove under the table again, looking into Pansy's pleading eyes. She was searching through her brain as fast as she could, thinking back to all of the spells she had practiced and all of the books she had read. What could she use?

And then it hit her...

and apparently it was at the same time as Granger.

Olivia got out from under the table once more, lifted her wand in the air, and shouted, "Immobulus!" The pixies and all of their chaos froze in the air, still floating around, but very slowly. Olivia let out a breath, standing up straight as she let her arm drop and dusted off her robes. Her gaze fell onto Granger, who gave her an annoyed look, which she happily returned.

"Why is it always me?" Longbottom asked, hanging from the chandelier.

Pansy climbed out from under the table, staring at Olivia and the scene with wide eyes. Her gaze fixed on the Gryffindors, and she narrowed her eyes. "If anyone asks, I'm telling them that Olivia saved me," she informed. "I'll never give the likes of you three the glory." And with that, she straightened her robes, fixed her hair, and walked out of the classroom like nothing happened.

Olivia chuckled, shaking her head at her best friend's dramatics. She looked up at Longbottom after a moment, lifted her wand, and from the fear in his eyes, she could tell that he thought that she was going to curse him. She had thought about it, but she decided to just bring him back down to the ground.

Once his feet touched the floor, he let out a breath. "Uh, thanks," he muttered, not daring to meet Olivia's eyes.

She hummed in response, then followed Pansy's trail and left the classroom.

≀⋆⁺₊⋆ ꗃ 𖦹⨳✺

"Come on, Luke. After the day I've had, I need to stare at the stars for a little while." Olivia rushed her brother as they climbed up the stairs of the astronomy tower.

"So you really had to re-pot Mandrakes and fight off some pixes?" he asked with amusement in his tone, ignoring her rushing.

They reached the top of the stairs before she answered, "Yeah, just an average day at Hogwarts," she joked, shrugging her shoulders. She turned to face the tower, gesturing her hands out to everything—from the astronomy telescope to the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy to the astronomy class status board all the way to the view.

Lucas gasped, looking around at everything, and Olivia watched him with happiness. He was finally seeing all of the wonders she had raved about in her letters. She couldn't be more glad. Taking his wrist, she led him over to her favorite spot, and they sat down.

"So, this is it," she said, looking out at the stars, which shined bright next to the Waxing Crescent hanging in the sky. "Isn't it wonderful?" she sighed, feeling at peace.

"Yes, it is," he replied, looking out at the stars.

They grew quiet after that, sitting in peace, admiring the stars, just as they always did back at the manor. Olivia was so glad that he was finally there at Hogwarts. She finally felt whole again, though the impending pressure of looking out for him, making sure he fit the family name, and being his parents fell on her shoulders. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling, and it wasn't necessarily a bad one either, but one she hadn't really felt since she first came to Hogwarts a year prior.

She had finally felt free, and now that freedom was hers to share with her brother.

She loved and hated it at the same time. And she entirely hated herself for that ambivalence.

So, she didn't mutter a word; she just looked at the stars. Looking at the stars would make her feel better; she would feel at peace. It would be okay. She'd be okay. Lucas would be okay. That year would be okay.

It would.

And if it didn't, she'd have a few choice words.

≀⋆⁺₊⋆ ꗃ 𖦹⨳✺

━━━━ ella's speaking !
i love this chapter—that's all i have to say

i hope you enjoyed! comment and vote 🫶🏻

kisses.

━━━━━━━━━━ born to die,
© -LOSTGARDENS, sep 2023

word count: 4103.   written: 9.25.23.   published: 9.29.23.