CURSED [D.M]

-(84) false hope

DRACO cannot breathe. He cannot move and he cannot think. All he can do is just stare at the girl before him who claims to be his sister. The commotion had woken up the rest of them and they all gather together behind him, everyone frozen like a movie frame, not knowing what to do or what to say.

Xena. His sister, Xena. The one who died right at birth is standing before him, flesh and bones.

"Careful", her voice fills the air with trepidation. "You stare a little longer and your eyeballs will fall right onto the floor."

"You-", Draco tries to find his voice but his vocal cords seem to have been crushed inside his throat.

"You are supposed to be dead", Zilliah speaks his thoughts for him, her voice firm despite the terror in her eyes.

"Oh, yes. Absolutely." A laugh- a maniacal one that clearly goes to show that they have a complete psychotic situation at hand.

"But then how-"

"I was born without magic", she cuts in on Zilliah, edging closer and rounding about the fire, her steps slow and calculated. "They waited for six years and kept me confined to the manor supposing I was a late bloomer. But when they saw it was futile, they abandoned me. Here."

A million questions race through Draco's head but the one he asks, he deems the most important. "Six years?", his voice is barely above a whisper, the shock refusing to subside within him. If she was there for six years, he surely would've seen her, right?

She meets his eyes, sending icy daggers piercing into his skin. "Do you not remember me, brother?"

Draco doesn't know how to respond to that. What he remembers is how his mother came back from the hospital after labor, saying she had lost the child. So when the girl before him says that she is that very child, is she telling the truth? Or is she trying to deceive everyone? Maybe if his parents were honorable people he would've firmly believed the latter. But they aren't. Lies and trickeries are the very foundation of the Malfoy family.

"Oh, you really don't fucking remember me", she draws to a conclusion from the entirely puzzled look on his features.

Before he can even process what's happening, Pansy is sending a curse flying straight at her. But she deflects it, drawing a scepter from her back. The curse ricochets off the floor and vanishes into the dark.

"Pity", she pouts, hitting the foot of the rod on the ground three times. Above the golden rod, is an enameled collar at the intersection that holds a heart-shaped structure within which a ruby cut to the shape is enclosed.

Zilliah steps forward, her head tilted in question. "How do you have my mothe-", she cuts herself short, shaking her head as if she is trying to get her thoughts straight. "How do you have Queen Zara's scepter?"

Without giving an answer, the girl who claims to be Xena, taps it on the floor one more time, causing all of them except Draco to fall to the floor, unable to get up. Panic settles in his chest despite him willing his mind to power through it. He drops to his knees and tries to lift Zilliah but it's like her body is glued to the floor.

"Enough questions", Xena seethes, a malicious look on her face. "It's time for some fun."

•

When Draco opens his eyes, he is on his knees, his hands bound by chains to two camphor trees on either of his sides. The first thing he notices is how the air is much lighter and cleaner, and the trees are green and healthy. He then looks up straight and sees that sun is beginning to ascend into the sky. He also finds a clear water stream flowing down the adjoining mountain. There are flowers and bushes and trees everywhere. It's like he is in a parallel dimension.