Lazuli - Harry Potter Fan Fiction (Draco Malfoy)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

"Today, we are gathered to remember one of our one, Miss Millicent Bulstrode, who so cruelly taken from us in a freak accident last night."

I numbly twist my thumbs, staring into nothing. All of this, it's scarily familiar to the end of last year, and the remembrance assembly for Cedric. In both times, I'd been directly associated with the passed. Maybe being friends with me isn't a good idea.

After Millicent died, whoever the impostor threw a darkness bomb and managed to escape. All of the females and most of the males in the room were distraught, screaming with disbelief and horror at Millicent's lifeless body lying next to me. Draco scooped me up in his arms and carried me away from her. I moaned weepily, completely dazed. Had that really just happened?

The teachers descended within a few moments, taking us aside and asking the students who were composed enough to actually talk what had happened. They covered Millicent's body and transported it somewhere else in the castle, before sending out a team of teachers to track down the imposter, who must still be somewhere in the castle. They found Pansy too - tied up in one of the cells in the deepest corner of the dungeons. The Ministry scanned her wand and found out that it genuinely wasn't Pansy who'd murdered Millicent, which was a relief in a strange way.

But that left the looming question that was on my mind every minute since the dreadful attack.

Someone wanted me dead, but who?

Would Lucius Malfoy seriously go so far? I hadn't done anything else to provoke him - I'd been incredibly careful about it. So who was it?

That night, I spent the majority in Dumbledore's office, being interrogated by Dumbledore and Auror's from the Ministry of Magic. Any implication that I or Dumbledore made towards Death Eaters behind the attack was crushed immediately by the Auror's or Umbridge, who was also present. "Oh my dear, you've seen a terrible act tonight" Umbridge would patronisingly say, "you can't think straight. Why would a death eater want you dead?"

I wanted to talk to Dumbledore privately, to ask his advice on the matter, but Umbridge wouldn't allow it. "I can't see any reason why you can't say something to Professor Dumbledore that you can't tell the rest of us!" She trilled.

I could hardly tell her that I believed Lucius Malfoy to be behind the attack.

Dumbledore sent for Ginny to be brought to me, and he was surprised when I asked for Hermione too. I don't know why I wanted her here, perhaps it was how matter-of-factly she always was. I knew she wouldn't lie to me, as it seemed everyone else was. When they arrived, the three of us sat in silence until I finally forced myself to tell them what had happened, at which point Ginny hugged me mutely. No words, just a comforting hug from my sister.

I spent the rest of the night in the hospital wing, where Madam Pompfrey could keep an eye on me. Several other Slytherin students were admitted too, mostly for shock, a few of them having fainted. Pansy too was admitted, having suffered multiple cuts and bruises at the hands of the attacker who apparently knocked her out and chained her up. In the morning, we were roused early and ordered to dress in our school uniform, then make our way towards the Great Hall. An emergency assembly had been called.

As I stood with the rest of my house, I quickly learnt that they hadn't caught the murderer. Somehow, he or she must have escaped. It was disgusting, to know that Millicent, who had laid down her life for me, would go unavenged, with no knowledge of who it was that had committed the crime.

The students from the other houses seemed to have a brief idea of what was going on, Ginny and Hermione having gone back and told the rest of Gryffindor what they knew. But it was only Slytherin who knew the full story, had seen the terrible event unfold, and were united in grief.