to love someone else (draco malfoy x oc)

.6

Aster came to, the loud shouting around her having stirred her awake. She was confused at first, wondering why she wasn't in her dormitory, but as her eyes caught sight of Cedric's scarf, it all came crashing back to her. The carved out hole in her chest came back with a vengeance, the flames searing her soul.

"Look, I saw Voldemort come back!" Harry shouted. Aster looked as he tried to get out of bed again, but Mrs. Weasley forced him back. "I saw the Death Eaters! I can give you their names! Lucius Malfoy —"

It was then that Aster saw her father-Severus- she corrected, was standing nearby. He made a sudden movement, but as Harry looked at him, Snape's eyes flew back to Fudge.

"Malfoy was cleared!" said Fudge, visibly affronted. "A very old family — donations to excellent causes —"

"Macnair!" Harry continued.

"Also cleared! Now working for the Ministry!"

"Avery — Nott — Crabbe — Goyle —"

"You are merely repeating the names of those who were acquitted of being Death Eaters thirteen years ago!" said Fudge angrily. "You could have found those names in old reports of the trials! For heaven's sake, Dumbledore — the boy was full of some crackpot story at the end of last year too — his tales are getting taller, and you're still swallowing them — the boy can talk to snakes, Dumbledore, and you still think he's trustworthy?"

"You fool!" Professor McGonagall cried. "Cedric Diggory! Mr. Crouch! These deaths were not the work of some random lunatic!"

"I see no evidence to the contrary!" shouted Fudge, now matching her anger, his face purpling. "It seems to me that you are all determined to start a panic that will destabilize everything we have worked for these last thirteen years!"

"Voldemort has returned," Dumbledore repeated. "If you accept that fact straightaway, Fudge, and take the necessary measures, we may still be able to save the situation. The first and most essential step is to remove Azkaban from the control of the dementors —"

"Preposterous!" shouted Fudge again. "Remove the dementors? I'd be kicked out of office for suggesting it! Half of us only feel safe in our beds at night because we know the dementors are standing guard at Azkaban!"

Aster shoved her head into the mattress, placing the pillow roughly over her ears. She didn't want to hear any more of whatever Fudge was saying, the way he so carelessly dismissed Cedric's death. She wished she were still sleeping, she wished she hadn't woken up.

After a few moments, the shouting quieted. Aster took her head out from underneath the pillow, displeased to see Fudge was still there. So was Severus, who looked conflicted for a moment before he strode forward, past Dumbledore, pulling up the left sleeve of his robes as he went. He stuck out his forearm and showed it to Fudge, who recoiled.

"There," said Snape harshly. "There. The Dark Mark. It is not as clear as it was an hour or so ago, when it burned black, but you can still see it. Every Death Eater had the sign burned into him by the Dark Lord. It was a means of distinguishing one another, and his means of summoning us to him. When he touched the Mark of any Death Eater, we were to Disapparate, and Apparate, instantly, at his side. This Mark has been growing clearer all year. Karkaroff's too. Why do you think Karkaroff fled tonight? We both felt the Mark burn. We both knew he had returned. Karkaroff fears the Dark Lord's vengeance. He betrayed too many of his fellow Death Eaters to be sure of a welcome back into the fold."

Aster thought for sure new tears would come to her eyes, when she saw the man who she thought was her father with the ugly mark on his arm. He was once in league with the man who had killed her love, and that revelation caused the flames to lick hungrily at her chest.