Chapter 35 (Ava)

The sight of Katie Bell standing perfectly healthy in the corridor chatting to her friends made me stop in my tracks.

She had just left the Gryffindor common room and was laughing at something someone had just told her.

“Katie!” I called out and ran up to her, my heart pounding.

She saw me and smiled,

“Ava!”

I bit my lip,

“Are you alright?”

She nodded,

“I’m great thanks. Leanne told me that you were there when it happened. I just want to say thank you for trying to help me out. I wasn’t myself at the time, but I assume that you guessed as much.”

I sighed with relief,

“It’s alright, honestly. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I’m so glad that you’re well again!”

She cocked her head to one side and looked at me,

“You know, I think you’re the first person to not ask me who gave me the necklace.”

I gulped. That’s because I know, I thought. I cleared my throat,

“No point asking if you don’t know, right?”

“Exactly.” Katie looked distant for a moment, as if she were trying to recall some distant memory, but after a moment she shook her head, “I guess I’ll see you around then?”

I grinned,

“Of course! Hope you’re alright returning to your lessons.”

I turned around and walked away down the corridor, thoughts circling around my head. It was only when I bumped into someone that I looked up. Draco was standing in front of me, but he was staring at Katie, a terrified expression on his face. As I bent down to pick up my books, I studied Draco’s face. He looked pale- paler than usual. He had dark circles under his eyes and his usually neatly combed hair was looking a bit haywire. He hadn’t even noticed that I’d walked into him as his attention was still on Katie.

I stepped away from him, but his hand shot out and caught onto my wrist. He stared at Katie for a second more before turning to me,

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you, Potter.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, but he ignored the look I was giving him,

“I need to talk to you-”

I exploded,

“Whatever about? You’ve been ignoring me for the past week, so obviously you don’t want to talk to me.”

“Lower your voice. It’s about the… mission.”

I had been ready to continue shouting at him, but I froze. Slowly, I brought my eyes up to his and whispered,

“No. Don’t tell me you’re ready. Don’t tell me that you’re going to try again. I thought you’d finally dropped it, and now you’re all ready to complete it? Thanks for telling me.”

“No- Ava,” the expression on Draco’s face was pure terror, “I need to tell you that I can’t-”

I yanked my wrist out of his grip and shook my head,

“You know what? Talk to somebody else about it. Just not me.”

With that, I stormed down the corridor, my face burning with anger.

*                    *                    *

I sighed and pushed myself away from the wall I had been leaning against. I had been waiting for Harry, Ron and Hermione to walk into the Great Hall to sit with them for dinner but none of them had turned up. I couldn’t bear to sit at the Slytherin table, and Draco seemed to be missing as well.

I shrugged and started to walk down the corridor to see if I could spot a Gryffindor I was friends with that I could sit with.

After five minutes, I couldn’t see anyone, and just as I considered going back to the Great Hall alone, I heard a scream from the girls’ bathroom.

“MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!”

I threw the door to the girls’ bathroom open and sprinted in, my heart pounding. When I saw what was happening, all of the blood drained from my face.

Draco was lying in a pool of his own blood, shaking uncontrollably, a horrified Harry kneeling beside him.

I ran over and bent down beside Draco, biting back the urge to scream.

“Draco.” I whimpered.

Harry saw me and gasped,

“Ava- Ava, it was an accident-”

I stared at Harry, my eyes widening- the idea of him attacking Draco like this was so alien to me. The best I could do was nod before I looked back at Draco and burst into fits of sobs. I grabbed his hand and whispered,

“Draco, please- be okay. Draco-”

There were deep wounds running through his chest, and blood was pouring from them. I tried to put my hands over them to stop the bleed, but it wouldn’t stop. It wouldn’t stop.

I doubled over and threw up on the floor beside Draco’s head as Professor Snape burst in. He shoved Harry aside and began to run his wand over the wounds on Draco’s chest, muttering a spell as he did so.

The wounds began to knit together and I pulled my shaking, bloody hands away from his chest.

I couldn’t feel the water and blood seeping into my clothes as I cried and whispered Draco’s name. I wanted to reach out and wipe the blood away from his face, but I was frozen in position, a violent shiver working its way down my spine.

Snape stood up, pulling Draco up with him,

“You need the hospital wing. There may be a certain amount of scarring, but if you take dittany immediately we might avoid even that… come…”

He supported Draco as he walked towards the exit of the bathroom. A sob racked through my body and I reached out for him. His eyes had rolled into the back of his head and he was breathing heavily.

Snape turned to both Harry and I,

“And you, Potters… you wait here for me.”

Slowly, Harry stood up, his whole body shaking. I tried to stand up as well, but my legs wouldn’t support it. My body crumpled onto the floor, into Draco’s blood, and I stayed silent, my eyes staring at the red floor.

“Ava…” Harry’s voice sounded thick with tears. I gulped and waited for him to carry on talking.

“I didn’t mean to do it… I walked into the bathroom and Malfoy… he was crying. The moment he saw me he pulled his wand out. And we started to fire jinxes at eachother. It was only when… when he started to say ‘Crucio’ that I shouted out the spell. I… I didn’t know what it did.”

I stayed silent for a moment, and then I whispered so softly, Harry had to step towards me to hear,

“It wasn’t your fault, Harry. It was an accident.”

“I’m so sorry, Ava.”

I found the strength to push myself up off of the floor and I turned to look at Harry. I could tell from the tone of his voice, from the expression on his face that he knew that Draco was something to me, and he truly was sorry.

Slowly, I stepped towards Harry and collapsed into him, wrapping my arms around him and holding him tightly.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

I finally pulled away just as Snape walked in, closing the door behind him.

He turned to Moaning Myrtle,

“Go.”

She flew back to her toilet, and the bathroom was silent.

“Miss. Potter,” Professor Snape’s voice was colder than it had ever been, “I am making the assumption that you had nothing to do with the matter?”

I didn’t know what to say, but Harry spoke first,

“She walked in after it happened. It had nothing to do with her, I promise.”

Snape seemed to believe him immediately,

“Go, Miss. Potter.”

I looked at my brother for a moment but he was staring at the floor, looking as if he were trying to hold back tears.

My legs felt heavy as I walked out of the bathroom, still shivering.

My hands were caked in blood- his blood. My robes were soaking wet with cold water and more blood.

I dragged my feet across the floor, not knowing where I was going. I just needed to get away.

“Miss. Potter? Are you-? Whatever is-? Why are you covered in blood?”

I looked up at Professor McGonagall and murmured one sentence before I fell to the floor, my eyes sliding shut.

“He needs saving.”