CURSED [D.M]

-(45) he's going to get killed

ZILLIAH likes this- being back here. On this rooftop. It reminds her of that night of the ball. The night Draco didn't hide behind his facade for the first time. The night she knew, with absolute certainty, that she was his and that she always will be, even though she wouldn't have accepted it back then. The moon, the stars and the cold wind keep her company as she stares out into the dead of the night, her mind on the one and only person in this world that can reach her despite anything and everything.

She remembers it- locking her eyes with his and instantly feeling like she could somehow control all the power suffocating her. It's as if his mere gaze was an oxygen mask to her, maintaining the life in her.

She has never, not once, been able to keep control of her power. But with him there-

Gods, she wishes she could explain how she could control it with him there.

She has never known love. Not like she knows it with him. It's an all-consuming force washing over her every time she looks into his silver orbs. It's the fire that ignites deep within her even with the slightest trace of his touch. It's the comfort that flows through her when she breathes in his peppermint scent.

From where she sits perched on a chair close to the railing, she turns her head and looks in the direction of the clearing in the forest she had discovered the last time she was here. It's not visible from where she is seated right now but she knows it's there- the stars an excellent spectacle of the night. The memories flood through her and she presses her knees further into her chest, dwelling in them, missing him more than she could ever possibly ache for the pain she is in.

She remembers him running to her, his blond locks swiftly swaying with each step. She remembers how she had tried not to stare at him- at his eyes illuminated perfectly by the moonlight. She remembers how she failed too. Damned might she be if she hadn't enjoyed his beauty.

"Love makes you weak."

He had said.

"The concept itself is just too.. naive. How fools in love risk everything for the other. Like they simply cannot exist if not together. It's too vulnerable. Love makes you weak."

She remembers his words perfectly.

"I love her, mother."

She had heard that too.

Even through all the pain pounding in her ears. Even though she could not bring herself to open her eyes or move an inch, she had heard Draco saying that to Narcissa.

"I love her with my whole being. And you can say it's dumb. You can say it's foolish and reckless of me. But I can't help it. I can't help loving her."

She had felt his breath, his touch, his kiss. She had it all imprinted in her head, in her heart, in her soul.

He's everything she needs and more.

Her whole body, worn and torn, aches for him- for what he must be going through right now, at her father's hands. She hates that Draco had cast a boundary charm around the manor. She had tried to sneak out the instant she had woke up and found Narcissa elsewhere. But of course, it proved to be futile. Since she didn't know how to break it, she had tried to absorb the magic but it just burned through her. The barrier remained intact.

He was one great wizard for his age.

She wonders if the barrier extends towards the clearing in the forest. It is still practically the premises of the manor so there's a chance that the area is still accessible to her.

She doesn't want to wonder anymore. She jumps over the railing and climbs down the ladder, making her way over there. And she now knows it is accessible 'cause she's running through the forest, the way there clearly mapped in her mind. It's only as she is under that theatrical view that she stops, and then she stares at it in just as much awe as she had stared at it with the last time she had been there.

She loves the night sky. She loves the moon and the stars and the dark. She loves the cold wind caressing her face. She loves Draco.

She wants him to come back. She wants to yell at him for locking her up in his room at Hogwarts. She wants to yell at him for locking her up at his house and putting a barrier around it. She wants to kiss him. She wants to hold him. She wants to ease his pain. She wants him to be safe. She wants him to be relieved of all the pain he is forced to endure at such an early age.

"I brought you some tea."

A gush of darkness as she lays on the ground watching the stars.

"I didn't ask for any."

Narcissa settles down beside her, crossing her legs with much difficulty because of the much tight nightgown she is wearing. It makes Zilliah think if she even owns a pair of sweatpants. Don't rich ladies sleep in anything but nightgowns?

"Do you own sweats?". she asks, refusing to meet her gaze. She can feel it all over her though, assessing her, mining her.

Narcissa settles the tray containing two cups of tea onto the ground and chuckles lowly. "I don't think they would fit you."

Zilliah instantly shakes her head. She looks down her body, clothed in Draco's shirt and shorts. She is more than comfortable in them than she is in her own clothes. "I didn't ask you because I wanted them."

"Then why else did you?"

"I just want to know. That's all."

Narcissa heaves a quick sigh before taking a teacup in her hand and sipping from it. "No."

She knew it.

"Can I ask you something?", Narcissa asks in return.

"Why?"

"Because I just want to know too. That's all."

It's only fair enough so Zilliah nods and closes her eyes as a cold breeze gushes past, enveloping them in the freshness of it. But there it is, the darkness again.

"Why Draco? Why my son?"

Little does Narcissa know she has been searching for an answer to that too since the moment she met him.

"He's going to get killed because of you."

"If anyone wants to kill him", Zilliah starts, opening her eyes and rising up, taking the other teacup in her hands, "they'll have to kill me first." She takes a sip of the tea, revelling in the taste of it as much as she revels in the darkness of it. She enjoys it so much so that she finishes it in a matter of minutes.

"You think it's so hard to kill you?", Narcissa's tone is mocking as she breaks the silence. She chuckles before continuing,"There's a really powerful dark sleeping pill mixed in that tea you just drank. One of the Malfoy family's hereditary dark objects."

"Mhm?", Zilliah merely mumbles, placing the teacup back down onto the tray and leaning down on her elbows before tossing her head up at the sky, basking in the moonlight with a small smile spreading on her face.

"I'm not letting anything happen to my family because of you. The Dark Lord will have you tonight and that will be the end of it."

"Yeah, sure", she can't help the laughter that escapes her as she opens her eyes and looks at Narcissa dead in the eye. "But you're forgetting that I'm the most powerful dark object to ever exist."

The smug grin on Narcissa's face disappears.

"And that I am an Auclair princess. Yielding magical abilities far beyond your knowledge or comprehension."

She could almost laugh madly at the hysterical look on Narcissa's face right now. As if she is actually afraid of the girl before her. She should've been, if she was anyone else. But Zilliah isn't going to harm Narcissa. Not when she is the one who gave birth to the man she loves.

"Goodnight, Mrs. Malfoy."