BORN TO DIE ╱ DRACO MALFOY
꒷꒦ · ˚.‧ . written by ella . . . © -lostgardens
028 ━━━━━━━━ ❛ more quidditch ❜

Standing in the Qudditch Pitch's stands and watching the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams battle it out on brooms was not how Olivia wanted to spend her day, but there she stood alongside her brother and their friends. Pansy was to her left, with Daphne next to her; Lucas was to her right, with Blaise and Theodore next to him. Crabbe and Goyle stood behind them, looking as if they knew not what to do, seeing as Malfoy was in their air, playing the game.

The boys rambled on as Olivia drowned them out. She was glad that Lucas had been settling in nicely and that he was getting along with the boys well. She knew he would. What she didn't know was that he would be just as talkative about Quidditch (and other random matters) as Theodore and Blaise were.

She knew Lucas and the boys loved quidditch, but Merlin, how much could one talk about the matter before getting tired of it? It was an every-day occurrence at that point, and every day Olivia aged a little more. If she had to hear the words bludger, quaffle, snitch, broom, points, or jersey one more time, she'd be sending hexes people's ways.

Her eyes focused on the match, however. She disliked the sport with everything in her, but she couldn't help but watch, finding enjoyment in the aggressiveness and downright violence. Those bits were fun, to say the least. She'd never admit that, but it was the truth.

"You seem rather interested right now," Pansy teased, nudging Olivia's side with her own to catch her attention. Olivia hummed but didn't turn to face her, keeping her eyes trained on the players, which made Pansy playfully roll her eyes and follow her line of sight. "It doesn't have anything to do with a particular new blonde player on the Slytherin team, I hope," she joked, laughing when Olivia gave her a horrified look.

"No," Olivia replied—a little too quickly for her liking, but she didn't let that show. Her eyes flickered over to the blonde girl, who was staring at her with curious eyes, then back to Pansy.

Pansy held up her hands defensively, stifling a smirk. "Alright, alright. No need to jump down my throat." She laughed again.

Yeah, really funny.

Olivia focused back on the game as the girl beside her tried to contain her quiet laughter, and it was just in time to see Flint throw the quaffle through the ring, giving Slytherin another round of ten points. The Slytherins cheered loudly, and Olivia even found herself slowly clapping, proud of her...house. Yes—proud of her house.

"Another goal for Slytherin!" the announcer, Lee Jordan, called out. "They lead Gryffindor ninety to thirty!"

Olivia watched as three Slytherin players—Flint, Malfoy, and Pucey—threw their fists up as they cheered. Then they flew forward, joining the rest of the Slytherins in an arrowed shape, like birds flying south for the winter, and flew past a few members of the opposing team.

She continued to watch closely, not aware that she had leaned forward a bit to get a better look, staring right at the blonde seeker hovering on his broom next to Potter. He was no doubt taunting the boy, and Olivia rolled her eyes. Typical Malfoy. He was never going to change.

Then suddenly, a bludger came flying right at Potter's head. He ducked, the ball missing him by a mere inch. Olivia knew the point of the thing was to chase after the players, no matter what team they were on, but still, she winced when it came back and broke Wood's broom, going right for Potter's head once more.

Potter quickly flew, trying to dodge the bloody thing, and Olivia followed him. Instead of looking for the snitch, he was being pursued by a bludger in this game. How odd. A weird feeling tingled in Olivia's gut as she tracked the boy all across the pitch as he nearly dodged the thing repeatedly.

And before she could even blink—or Theodore could ask, "What the bloody hell is going on with that bludger?" like he had been planning to—Potter came flying towards the watching Slytherins, earning loud screams as the students moved so they wouldn't get hit.

Olivia felt a rush of air on her face as Potter flew past her and up towards the sky. And once he was far gone, she let out a breath, her eyes slightly wide. That had been the second time she'd almost been taken out by someone flying (Longbottom had the title of first). And it ought to be the last.

At least she hoped it'd be the last.

Potter raced around the pitch, still being pursued by the bludger. He zoomed past the Slytherin visitor section, and the bludger followed, taking the less-adequate route and plowing right into the Slytherin-designed cover that was over the wood frame. It continued along it's destructive path, breaking through the rest of them—Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gyffindor.

The bludger hung on Potter's trail, and Malfoy flew to watch in entertainment. Olivia's brows creased. Surely he didn't have anything to do with this. She cleared the thoughts from her mind as fast as they came, and she focused back on Potter.

He ran up the side of one of the visitor stands, allowing the bludger to break through the bottom of it, and then he flew back over to where Malfoy was. Olivia followed, seeing the buzzing snitch fly next to the pale-blonde hair of her housemate. Potter seemed to notice it too, but before he could do anything, his bothersome had returned behind him, and so he dove.

The bludger almost hit Malfoy. Almost. And Olivia winced as he bent down and out of it's way. And as Malfoy was distracted, Potter took this as an opportunity to capture the snitch. He flew towards the golden annoyance, and Malfoy followed, knocking the glasses-wearing boy on the shoulder as he came up beside him.

Malfoy got the lead to the snitch and dove down to follow it as Potter did the same, both boys escaping Olivia's line of sight. But soon enough, her attention was caught on the pitch again. Malfoy came flying out from where he and Potter had flown off to. His broom toppled to the ground, copying him.

Olivia gasped despite her best efforts. She paid no attention to Potter, who had just had his hand broken by the bludger as he tumbled to the ground. She quickly pushed past her friends and the other Slytherins in her way, rushing towards the stairs.

She knew Malfoy's father was at the game—the boy had been nonstop talking about it for days, making Olivia's ears bleed—and she knew that Lucius Malfoy was one for image. So, his son falling off his broom and letting Slytherin lose—to Gryiffndor nonetheless? That was a conversation she would not want to be part of for the sake of her sanity.

"Harry Potter has caught the snitch!" She heard Jordan's muffled voice call as she stomped down the stairs. "Gryffindor wins!"

She didn't care that Slytherin had lost; that wasn't the thing on her mind. The only thing on her mind was the blonde boy she swore she didn't care about. He was clouding all of her thoughts, and she didn't even have room to think about why he was on her mind or how much the fact disgusted her.

She let out a breath that she'd been holding as she reached the bottom of the stairs. But before she could think too much about it, someone bumped right into her. She didn't catch the person's face as she muttered, "Sorry," and continued on her way over to Malfoy.

Falling to her knees as she came up beside the blonde boy, she looked over him, seeing no obvious signs of injury. "Are you okay?" she asked, looking extremely worried. Malfoy didn't miss this, of course.

He nodded, looking up at Olivia.

She relaxed for a second but tensed up when she heard, "Finite Incantato!" And as she looked over, she saw Granger, who stood beside Weasley and in front of Hagrid, with her wand pointed at the bludger that had been chasing Potter. She watched a pink light hit the stupid thing, causing it to explode.

Focusing back on Malfoy, who was trying to sit up, Olivia looked over him once more. Somewhat determining that he wasn't too badly hurt (that fall she knew had to hurt a bit), she helped him up.

"Thank you," he said, giving her a thin-lipped smile.

And that was when she snapped out of her worry. "Yeah," she replied, taking a step back from him and dropping her arms from his shoulders. She quickly looked away from him, somewhat feeling embarrassed (which was confusing to her; she never got embarrassed), and took a step back.

After another moment of silence and her not meeting his eye even though he was burning a hole in her cheek, she moved away from him. She suddenly felt hot, like her skin was fixing to melt off of her bones. But she cracked it up to just being adrenaline.

She made her way over to Potter and the others. When she reached them, her focus trained in on Potter's jello-like arm and his shock and disgusted expression. Lockhart was kneeling beside him, and Olivia sighed, knowing that Potter's messed-up arm was due to the professor's handiwork.

"That's disgusting," she muttered, causing the Golden Trio and Lockhart to look up at her. She ignored their looks and brushed her robes back so that she could rest her hands on her hips.

Potter's eyes widened as he looked towards her side. "Olivia," he mumbled.

She looked down at him and saw his wide-eyed expression, then over to Granger and Weasley, who swallowed lumps in their throats as they looked where their friend was. "What?" she clipped, furrowing her brows.

"You're—you're bleeding," Potter informed her as he lifted his perfectly fine hand, pointing at her side.

Olivia looked down, confused by what he meant. And then she saw it, and her eyes widened. She was, in fact, bleeding. The white of her shirt was being completely replaced by a deep red. Blood was pouring from a deep gash in her side. And that was when her body felt like it was on fire and her heart raced. Snape quickly came up beside her, assessing her as she placed her hand firmly on her side.

Where did he come from?

She felt sweaty and panicked, like she was dying. Merlin's grave—she was dying! Wasn't she? Her mind raced, panicked from the blood, and clouded by, well, the blood. And she could've sworn the dark-haired professor said her name, but it was muffled. She met his eye anyway, looking at him with wide, dilated eyes.

"Olivia," Snape repeated.

His voice was foggy in her ears, and she felt heavy, like someone had tied weights to her ankles and threw her into the Black Lake. She couldn't breathe, or maybe she could? She didn't know, too rattled by it all. It was all happening so fast. So much was going on at once that she couldn't understand it. When had she been stabbed? Why had she been stabbed?

Then she fell to the ground, pale and sweaty from blood loss. How disgusting. Malfoy rushed to her side, still wincing and groaning in pain from his fall. If Olivia wasn't barely conscious, she would've scowled at him for that.

"I know what can help!" A foggy voice rang in her ears as her heavy eyes fell shut. It was an annoying voice, one that she didn't have to be in the right state of mind or even awake to recognize or loathe. Lockhart.

If he puts his bloody, unskilled hands on me, I swear to Merlin, I'll-

"No. You will not touch her," Snape instructed in a voice that was barely there in Olivia's ears, breaking through her thoughts. Olivia felt a weight on her side, like someone was putting pressure on her wound—probably the professor she trusted. His hands were cold as ice, and she fought a wince when he pressed into her side harder, trying to contain the bleeding.

And then she was out.

≀⋆⁺₊⋆ ꗃ 𖦹⨳✺

━━━━ ella's speaking !
lmao anyways...

make sure to comment & vote !!

kisses.

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

word count: 2105. written: 10.8.23. published: 10.12.23.