BORN TO DIE ╱ DRACO MALFOY
꒷꒦ · ˚.‧ . written by ella . . . © -lostgardens
060 ━━━━ ❛ until next time, hogwarts ❜

Walking down the corridor with her mother was quite odd for Olivia. There was nothing for them to speak of. Well, there was a lot for them to speak of, but nothing either wanted to. Then again, did they ever want to? And it didn't help that Olivia was purposely walking in front of the woman, not wanting to be in her presence longer than she had to be. Was she sure why her mother decided to walk her back to the common room? No, she wasn't.

Olivia had refused to stay in the hospital wing after her wounds and injuries were checked, but now she was slightly regretting that decision. She had been right—she did have a few cracked ribs. She also had scratches on her face and arms. Ones from being toppled over by the Whomping Willow and ones from being thrown down the rabbit hole by Granger. Plus, she was still feeling the weakening effects of the dementor sucking at her soul.

Potter had apparently nearly been kissed by a dementor as well. Him and Sirius. She only knew that because Snape left her and Clodagh to collect themselves with Granger and Weasley and piled down to where Potter had run off, and then they all found themselves in the hospital, getting checked up by Madam Pomfrey.

When Olivia reached the blank wall in the dungeons, not loud enough for her mother to hear, she whispered, "Draught of Death." It was a silly password, but Snape had needed to come up with something new for the new year, so they were stuck with that until the end of Olivia's fourth year because their passwords changed every other year. She was glad to be rid of "Pureblood," however.

Glancing back at her mother, she saw that she was still walking towards the door, taking her time, with a slight limp but still as stern and pristine as always. Her hair was in an intricate half-up, half-down style, with the half-up part being in a bunned braid, and she wore one of her long, slim-fitting dresses.

Rolling her eyes, Olivia focused on the appearing door, turned the handle, and pushed it open without waiting on her mother. If she hurried, she would have enough time to catch the door before it disappeared again. Olivia was glad to know that the woman never hurried.

Before Olivia could even take two steps into the room, she was crushed in a hug. At first, she thought it was Lucas, so she let it continue. She winced, however, gritting her teeth as her still-cracked-but-wrapped-and-set-to-heal ribs hurt even more under the pressure. As she breathed in  through her nose, the scent that she caught was... minty and cider-sweet, like apples, with a hint of firewood and saltwater taffy, almost like vanilla and caramel mixed in? Olivia's brows furrowed.

Definitely not Lucas.

Before she could even think for a second longer, her mother clearing her throat caught her ears, almost startling her. Almost. "I thought we talked about this, Olivia Katherine," Clodagh said sternly.

Curse it! The woman had made it.

Olivia all but pushed the person off of her, her eyes falling on Draco, who was focused on the woman standing in the doorway of the common room, before snapping over to her mother.

Pansy snorted in amusement, and Olivia just knew the girl was planning on saying something that was going to get her in trouble with Clodagh. "If you're upset over a hug, then I'm sure you'll be more upset over the fact that she—"

Lucas quickly covered Pansy's mouth with his hand to stop her from speaking. She mumbled behind his palm, probably some threat, but it couldn't be clearly heard. Olivia glanced over at her best friend, who had a look on her face that made it seem like she was annoyed. Then she gave her brother a thankful look.

"Lucas?" Clodagh raised her brows questioningly, her tone matching her expression. "What was she going to say?"

"Why should I tell you?" the boy retorted.

That seemed to catch Clodagh off guard, an expression of surprise falling on her face, but she quickly covered it with a flat and stern one. "Because I'm your mother," she told him. Her voice was tight, like the thin line her lips made.

"Only by blood, not by choice."

Olivia gave her brother a slightly shocked look. Usually he didn't stand up for himself like this, especially with their mother. It was surprising, yet she felt a hint of pride in herself. Pride for her brother. She watched as Lucas held his mother's sharp gaze, removing his hand from Pansy's mouth and letting her step off to the side of him to stand closer to Blaise with her arms crossed over her chest.

Clodagh scoffed in disbelief, catching Olivia's attention. The woman's eyes fell onto her daughter's, giving her a pointed, narrowing gaze. "I shall be going now," she said, curling her lip as her hands stayed clasped in front of her, resting on the lower part of her stomach. The long and wide sleeves of her burgundy dress practically hide her hands. And with that, she turned around and exited the room, letting the door close behind her harshly and leaving the group to stare at where she stood.

"Your mother is..." Blaise began, his voice falling short when he couldn't find the right word to describe the woman.

"Yeah," Olivia sighed. "The wondrous Clodagh O'Shea."

No one ever described her as such.

"She's kind of fit," Theodore added, clearly not thinking of his words.

Olivia and Lucas looked over at him with disgusted looks as everyone rolled their eyes and sighed. Theodore slowly found the girl's gaze, giving her a raised-brow questioning look as he bit at the skin on his lip. "What?"

"You think my mother is 'fit'?" asked Olivia, her lip curling like she smelled something rancid as she looked him up and down. "That's disgusting."

Theodore opened his mouth to answer, but his words failed him, and he closed it back. "I mean..." he muttered, offering a sheepish grin. Olivia rolled her eyes, walking over to the couches as everyone followed her steps. Theodore was right on her trail. "Well, she has to be if she has you as her daughter."

Olivia stopped in her tracks, almost causing the boy to run into her back. Then she slowly turned around to face him, her eyes narrowing. "You think I am fit?" she inquired, enunciating every word as if she were taking offense to the statement. Her arms crossed over her chest, and she shifted all her weight to one foot, slightly popping out her right hip.

Theodore stammered for a moment, and Olivia could see, out of the corner of her eye, Pansy, Blaise, and Lucas stifling laughs while Draco just glared at the boy. "In a 'I'm going to kill you' way," he finally answered, giving her another sheepish smile with a matching chuckle.

Olivia seemed to think about his answer for a moment, her face giving away nothing she was thinking as she just stared at Theodore. She could feel Draco's gaze on her, but she continued to ignore it, not in the mood to think about how she let him hug her and hadn't completely minded it, even after realizing that it hadn't been Lucas. Then a small half-smirk cracked at her lips, and she turned back around with a hum, sitting on the couch.

She heard the sigh of relief Theodore let out as everyone else took their seats. Pansy sat to the left of Olivia, while Lucas sat to the right. Blaise and Draco sat on the couch across from the girl, and Theodore threw himself down on one of the side chairs.

Her brother conjured some tea, filling her cup and handing it to her. She was quiet as she took a few sips, and so was everyone else as they watched her curiously. She didn't blame them. She was cut in many places, sure enough, looked paler than usual, and she was dirty. What was she supposed to say? She couldn't possibly tell them that she had encountered escapee and murderer Sirius Black, who, as it turned out, wasn't actually a murderer. But instead, Weasley's pet rat was the real murderer, and he wasn't actually a rat but rather a man. And she definitely couldn't tell them about how Lupin was a werewolf, which anyone with a brain could figure out if they wanted due to his boggart. She wished she would've figured it out sooner.

She decided to go with a simple answer. "I almost died for the fourth time tonight," she admitted, causing them all to give her wide-eyed looks. She, however, was staring at the floor, her cup still resting in her hands, giving her warmth. Then she laughed. It was a breath and light sound, almost disbelieving as her thoughts swarmed her mind.

"What happened?" Pansy softly asked.

Olivia slowly looked up, trying to think of something to say. But before she could open her mouth to say anything, the door of the common room swung open. It was past curfew, so there shouldn't have been any students entering this late unless it was the prefects. And it wasn't. The group's eyes snapped to the doorway, only to see Dumbledore and Snape standing as tall as statues, their eyes trained on Olivia.

"Miss Mallard, come with us," Dumbledore said in his aging voice.

Her friends looked at her with confusion as she continued to stare at the headmaster. She just offered him a small nod, leaning forward to set her cup on the table. Her eyes found Draco's for a flicker of a moment before she quickly looked away, feeling her face heat.

"And the rest of you," Snape added, his monotone voice and narrowed eyes trained on the others, "off to bed. Now."

They seemed hesitant as Olivia stood, watching her closely. She began making her way past Lucas's legs when she stumbled a bit, catching herself with her hand on the arm of the couch. She quickly stood up straight, not showing her weakness because of the dementor. Her friends followed her until they split off, with Pansy going to the left staircase and the boys going to the right one.

She took one last glance over her shoulder before Dumbledore and Snape led her out through the door, and her eyes caught onto Draco's. He was giving her a look she couldn't quite place, or she didn't want to place it.

≀⋆⁺₊⋆ ꗃ 𖦹⨳✺

Sitting in Dumbledore's office, she was in a chair on the front side of his desk, while he sat in his own chair, behind the desk. Snape wasn't in the room with them; Dumbledore had dismissed him, wanting to speak to Olivia alone. Though they weren't actually doing any speaking, the room was completely and unsettlingly silent, aside from the noise of Fawkes, the headmaster's phoenix, rustling about on his perch.

After a long moment of continued quietness, Olivia couldn't take it anymore. "I'm sorry, Professor, why exactly am I here? I would much rather be in bed, resting." She knew that if she were in bed, she would be everything but resting due to her nightmare. But anything would beat this: sitting in a not-so-comfortable chair in the headmaster's office, not speaking.

"I would like to hear your version of events from tonight," he replied.

She wanted to roll her eyes, wondering why he didn't just say that in the first place, but she held back. She took a deep breath, contemplating whether or not she wanted to explain what had happened. She was positive that he had probably heard the trio's story, and so there wasn't any issue with her telling him everything like there was with her friends. So after a moment of just staring at the man and going over everything in her mind, she began explaining that night.

And once she was done, Dumbledore offered her some chocolate to regain strength and lemon drops, which he made a point to let her know were his favorites, and she took them without any argument, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. She left the office, trailed down to the spiral staircase, and went down it before heading back towards the common room.

When she entered through the door, after whispering the password, her eyes fell on the empty room. Empty all except the particular blonde boy who sat on the couch, seeming as if he were going over something in his mind. His eyes found hers, however, when she closed the door and caught his attention. He quickly stood, and she looked away and began walking towards the left staircase.

She didn't want to speak to him. She was tired and did not have the time for whatever he had to say. Clambering up the stairs, she ignored how he called her name and followed her. If she could just make it to her room, she wouldn't have to deal with him. Going past each door, she was getting closer and closer to her own room.

She was so close.

But his hand reached out and captured her wrist, causing her to stop in her tracks. He rounded her, coming to stand in front of her as he kept his hold on her wrist. She didn't look at him, ignoring the heat of his gaze and the brush of his touch, focusing on the wall to her left. He just stared at her, trying to catch her eye.

"Olivia," he sighed, almost sounding desperate for her to talk to him.

She still didn't look at him, keeping her attention on the wall. She didn't make any effort to move past him, though, a small little peg of interest as to what he was going to say now that he had stopped her.

He inhaled deeply, bringing the hand that wasn't holding her wrist up to her cheek. He pushed a piece of her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear, then brushed her fingers over a small cut on the apple of her cheek.

And, despite better judgment, Olivia leaned into his touch, much to his surprise. Her eyes fell closed as he just studied her face. She seemed to relax, her muscles growing slightly less tense, and her breathing was calm.

"I'm sorry," he began, his voice quiet as her eyes flickered open. His hand fell to his side, and she stood up straight. His touch still lingered on her wrist, however. "I'm sorry about the hippogriff. I was just upset because you had been attacked," he admitted, releasing a heavy breath.

She just stared at him, her expression blank. She didn't want to forgive him, but she was so tired, and she knew that if she didn't in this moment, then she would eventually. If they stopped talking for a few weeks, she would grow to... miss his presence and voice. It was the same cycle of her growing mad at something he did, not speaking to him for a time, and then eventually accepting his apology. And she didn't want to repeat that cycle.

"It's all right," she breathed, her shoulder sinking.

"Yeah?"

She simply nodded.

They just stared at each other after that, neither knowing anything else to say. Then his hand dropped her wrist, and she glanced down, looking at the loss of contact. She inhaled deeply, turning her head back up and seeing him look up as well to meet her gaze once more. She just studied him. He looked a little shocked, his lips slightly parted, and his eyes were just a bit wider than usual.

Olivia took a step forward, and he took a breath. Then she wrapped her arms around his middle, hugging him like he had her earlier. She inhaled his scent once more—mint, cider-sweet, firewood, and the vanilla and caramel of saltwater taffy. It was so specific, but it felt so right. It felt like him. Her hands brushed along his back before she pulled them to his stomach and dragged them up. Her arms then wrapped around his neck, bringing him into an even tighter hug.

She wondered if he could feel her heart beating rapidly. She didn't know why she was hugging him, but it felt correct. Little did she know, he was feeling the same way, with his arms wrapped around her and his hands on her back. Her scent overtook his senses—rosemary and ginger—as he leaned his head into the crook of her neck. Despite all she had been through that night, that still overpowered everything.

They stayed like that for a while. That was until Olivia pulled back, not meeting his eye.

"Goodnight, Draco," she said quietly, then turned to her door.

She entered her room, leaving him there in the corridor with nothing but his thoughts.

She left herself with nothing but her thoughts as well. Pansy and Daphne, unfortunately, slept soundly in their beds as she closed the door and leaned against it. Only one thought was on her mind—a thought that she despised.

Was she fond of Draco?

That had been a few weeks prior to their last day at Hogwarts. For their third year, anyway. And that question still had no answer. She didn't know what to think. She certainly knew that hers and Draco's relationship (for lack of a better term) had changed since she kissed him. But they had agreed to be just friends.

And that was what they were. Just friends.

Right?

She sighed as she piled the last of her books into her trunk, not looking forward to returning to Mallard Manor. But she was all the more glad to be away from the boy who was confusing her mind, even if it was only for a few months.

Only Pansy stood beside her since Daphne had rushed to pack her things and get out of the room, no longer wanting to be near either girl. Olivia wouldn't be surprised if she changed dorms next year, if she were able. Frankly, Olivia would be glad if the girl did that. It would give her one less thing to have on her mind.

She hadn't been avoiding Draco since their little interaction in the corridor that night, but she definitely had been pulling away from him, hoping that would help decipher whatever she was feeling. It hadn't helped, though, and she cursed herself for that.

Currently, Pansy was going on and on about what she was planning to do over the summer like she did every year, and Olivia just stood and listened, not having many plans to speak of herself. Her summers were always quite tame compared to Pansy's. She didn't go on fancy trips to different parts of Europe or on thrilling adventures. She just sat in her family's manor, either reading, spending time with Lucas, or studying as she prepared for the following school year.

And usually, she would think to maybe have a trip of her own or go along with Pansy since she was invited. But that year had been so full of chaos and confusing thoughts that she was looking forward to her tame and boring-to-others three months away from Hogwarts.

Once the girls were done packing their trunks (with Olivia intentionally leaving the things underneath the floorboard in their place since she'd be returning to the same dorm next year and every year after that), they bid farewell to their room for the time being and closed the door. Then they headed down to the common room to meet the boys, who were all standing at the back of the couch.

"Took you long enough," Theodore huffed.

Pansy rolled her eyes, moving towards Blaise, while Olivia went to Lucas. "You say that every year, dimwit."

"Ouch, Pans." Theodore slapped a hand over his heart, teasing the girl with a smirk.

Then they left, following their schoolmates towards the train. It wasn't that long of a walk; it never was, but Olivia stayed silent the entire way. Blaise, Theodore, and Pansy talked among themselves, with Lucas hopping into their conversation occasionally if one of them asked him for his opinion on something. Crabbe and Goyle, who seemed to never be around anymore unless Draco wanted to cause trouble and needed protection, followed closely behind, not speaking either. And Draco only watched Olivia as she pulled her trunk along with her, his gaze burning into her cheek.

She slowly looked over at him, their eyes meeting. He sent her a small smile, and her breath caught as she quickly turned away. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the smile fall off of his face, and his expression turned disappointed as he dropped his gaze from her. Her heart pegged, and she felt... She didn't know how she felt.

They eventually made it to the train, left their trunks with the elves, and boarded, making their way to their compartment. After sitting down in their seats, with Pansy, Olivia, and Lucas on one side of the compartment and Theodore, Blaise, and Draco on the other, while Crabbe and Goyle piled off to the one across the aisle from them, they stayed quiet for a long moment, getting comfortable.

And then Theodore chuckled, causing everyone to look at him. "Can you believe that, at just the beginning of the school year, Olivia almost died right in this very compartment, and we decided to return to it without a thought about it?"

Olivia playfully rolled her eyes, breathing out in amusement.

"I wonder if that Olivia thought she'd snog Draco this year," Pansy added, smirking at the girl when she gave her a bored look.

"How many times are you going to bring that up?" asked Olivia with a sigh.

Pansy's smirk just grew even larger, and Olivia caught Draco's eye. He was staring at her curiously, and she only stared back for a moment before focusing on the window.

It was approaching midday, so the sun was quite bright in the sky, shining into the compartment and right into Olivia's pale green, making them look even more ethereal. Draco just continued to stare at her, the noise of the others chatting fading out into the background for both him and Olivia. Her focus was solely on the sky and the clouds, and what she knew was to take it over as the day went on. She was waiting for the stars, the bright moon, and the coolness of the night.

He just watched her—studied her closely, with his breath taken away. She was beautiful. To him. She was beautiful to him, and if anyone thought otherwise, then they were wrong. How could one be so beautiful? Her button nose, her soft-colored, usually narrowed eyes, her plump lips that always seemed to have a smirk to them, her porcelain skin that was dotted with small freckles on the bridge of her nose and the apples of her cheeks, and her dark hair that made her look all the more angelic. But she wasn't an angel; he knew that. At least, not traditional. She didn't have white wings or a bright, glowing halo around the crown of her head. But she was an angel in her own right.

And she was smart. Brilliant, even! She was at the top of their class, always getting the best marks in their lessons. She was clever, always figuring things out before anyone else, for the most part. She knew how to do things and not be caught; she knew how to plan and execute; and she knew how to stand up for herself and what she believed, even if that meant going against people such as her mother, Dumbledore, or Snape. Or even him.

She was truly amazing, and Draco wondered how some people didn't see that.

His gaze was on her until the sun had set, the stars were out, the sky was clear, and the moon took over for the sun, letting it travel to the other side of the world. And not once did she look his way. Their friends hadn't seemed to bother either of them, trying to drag them into the conversation since they could see with their own eyes that Draco's mind was preoccupied and Olivia wasn't in the mood. He was glad for it.

Eventually, she had fallen asleep, looking peaceful and relaxed as her chest rose and fell with each breath she took. But she didn't get to sleep for more than an hour or so because the train came to a stop and they had arrived at the platform. They now had to go home and be apart for a few months.

Draco was dreading it.

Pansy woke Olivia, and then the group exited the train. Before they could even think to retrieve their trunks, they were met with the gazes of their families. Olivia and Lucas's mother and father stood in front of the door they had gotten off of, a dozen feet away from the train. Draco's parents were to their right, standing as far away from the Mallards as they could but still close enough to be able to see Draco, almost like they'd give them a disease. Pansy, Theodore, and Blaise's parents—the latter's mother with his newest stepfather, number six—all talked with one another away from both couples.

Olivia let out a deep breath and cast her eyes over all of them as Lucas walked away to go get his and her trunks. Her mother's eyes narrowed at her; she could clearly see that despite the distance between them. Lucius was giving her the same stare, while Narcissa stood next to him, looking sheepish, her eyes glancing over in the direction of her old classmates for a moment before finding the ground. Then Olivia's eyes found someone else staring at her.

Daphne.

The blonde girl stood alongside Astoria and their parents, her head turned over her shoulder so that she could look at her old friends, her eyes mainly trained on Olivia. Perhaps it was the fact that she didn't like the girl that made her stare at her with hatred.

Or perhaps it was the fact that Olivia stood next to Draco, their shoulders brushing.

Maybe that was why all of them were glaring at her.

Olivia, being the logical person she was, made the most logical decision as Lucas walked back over to the group. She turned to Draco, giving him a small smile before she wrapped her arms around his neck like she had done that night a few weeks prior, pulling him into a tight hug. He immediately hugged her back, his arms closing around her back.

They stayed like that for a moment, and Olivia could practically feel the anger coming from her mother, Lucius, and Daphne. She didn't know why her mother would be mad. She had said that Olivia could be friends with Draco if she really wanted, and friends hugged, didn't they? Lucius just hated the fact that Draco returned the gesture since it was him showing emotions in a sense. Daphne had no reason to be mad either. She had told Olivia to "go after Draco if she wanted," not that she was in this moment or any following.

Pulling back, Olivia lingered close to Draco, sending him another soft and small grin. She saw his eyes glance at her lips and fought back the rapid pace of her heartbeat. She leaned up again and placed a small kiss on his cheek, then moved towards his ear and whispered, "You can call me Liv if you still want to."

She didn't know where that thought had come from. No one called her Liv, despite it being the most obvious nickname for her name. Lucas was the only one who ever called her Livvy, and it would stay that way. Pansy called her 'mon petit diable' every once in a while. Theodore and Blaise just called her Olivia like most everyone else—that, or Mallard. Her mother only referred to her as Olivia Katherine, which wasn't much of a nickname. And Draco had called her Liv that one time, and she was quick to shut it down.

But now... She didn't know. Something felt right about it.

She took a step back from him, offering another soft curl of her lips as she dropped her hands to her sides. He was staring at her with that familiar, mouth-gaped, and wide-eyed expression that she found quite amusing. Then she grabbed the handle of her trunk, while everyone else stared at her with confusion, not having seen her hug Draco before. He had hugged her once in front of them, but she had never hugged him. At least, not when they were around.

"Goodbye, everyone. I may or may not see you in September; it all depends on whether my mother decides to curse me or not," Olivia joked, still smiling, but now it was less soft and more casual. She hugged them all after that, and Lucas followed, only hugging Pansy and offering the boys a small wave, and then they two began to make their way to their parents as the others did the same with their own.

Olivia could feel Draco's eyes on her as she stopped in front of her mother. Her gaze found him, but she didn't get to take him in once more before her bicep was harshly grabbed and she was pulled closer to the woman, who was gritting through her teeth. "What was that, Olivia Katherine?" she asked sharply.

"We're friends, mother," Olivia retorted with snark in her tone. She ignored the woman's fingers digging into her skin through her clothes and kept her eyes trained on the icy blue ones glaring down at her. "You did say that was all right, right?" Her tone turned clueless, as if she were a child who had just gotten in trouble for eating sweets before dinner and was trying to get out of it.

Her mother just narrowed her eyes.

Olivia smirked when the lights around them flickered a few times.

"Careful, mother. You're showing weakness."

≀⋆⁺₊⋆ ꗃ 𖦹⨳✺

━━━━ ella's speaking !
teehee draco and olivia's relationship is developing 🥳

act three is complete!! i've already started writing for act four (as of right now, i have four chapters written), so i'm hoping that updates will be more frequent!

kisses.

━━━━━━━━━━ born to die,
© -LOSTGARDENS,          feb 2024

word count: 5051.   written: 2.17.24.   published: 2.29.24.