RIDDLE ME THIS

54 - DRACO

"i love you too," i said even though she was already too far away to hear me.

even in the dim light her light brown hair shone, and her black robes flowed around her like smoke.

she was the image of loyalty, of self control.

she was the image of power and hunger for more, which she was destined to receive.

i knew if i ripped my heart out of my chest, Lola would be the one sitting on my palm.

"come on," Pans tapped my arm. "we can try and find more horcruxes."

"yeah," i dragged my eyes away from my girl. "they said there's bound to be some stuff in here."

we headed in the opposite direction to the triplets, heading to the furthest corner of the room and then working our way down the aisles in silence.

i could hear her voice clearly coming from somewhere within the mess of old junk and wished i could be with her, make sure she was safe...

but i knew she, Tom and Matteo all had each other's backs, no matter what.

as an only child, i couldn't fathom how they were so close.

how they always forgave each other when it mattered.

they really were riddles, confusing and twisted, difficult to understand and impossible to crack.

but i loved her, Matteo had become one of my closest friends, and they both loved Tom so i tolerated him too.

"hey," Pansy snapped her fingers in front of my face. "they're alright."

"i know," i blinked, snapping out of my trance.

i busied myself by searching through the piles of junk, finding a little gilded box and opening it.

"look," i showed Pansy. "a golden snitch."

"what does it say?"

i picked the snitch up and peered at the writing. "i open at the close...?"

"huh," she frowned. "wonder what it means."

"i wonder," i tucked it into my pocket as we set off again.

i followed Pans to the end of the aisle and we followed the sound of the triplet's voices, waiting just around the corner from where they stood.

a piercing scream cleaved the air around us and i tensed.

"it's not her." i muttered.

i wasn't sure if i was telling Pans or trying to convince myself, but i didn't dare look to see who it was.

Pans did though. "it's Granger. Lo's got a knife."

the corner of my lips twitched. "why am i not surprised?"

"she's doing something to Granger's arm, Matteo's holding Weasley back, and-"

Pansy jerked to the side, crashing into me as a bolt of red light hit the wall in front of us.

i caught her and managed to steady the both of us before we could crash into the pile of shit behind us and alert the others of our whereabouts.

"Tom and Potter are having a very messy duel." she rested a hand over her heart, breathing heavily.

"are you alright?" i asked.

"yeah," she breathed. "yeah, i'm fine—but i don't think Granger is."

her screams had been reduced to laboured sobs and groans, as she accepted the fact that Lola wouldn't stop whatever she was doing until she was satisfied.