Cold (Hermoine X Draco)

Chapter Four

"Draco!" She calls softly in delight. "I was hoping you'd come back!"

Malfoy shifts uncomfortably. "Yeah, about that... I'm, uh, still trying to get rid of Pansy."

I remain in the doorway. Get rid of Pansy? What are you up to, Draco Malfoy?

"I could pop out and scare her a bit." Bellatrix offers.

"No!" Malfoy shouts. "I just want to dump her, not give her a heart attack!"

So even Malfoy can't stand her, so it seems. This is news.

"Well, I still think it would be lovely to just give her a little push off the Astronomy Tower." Bellatrix shrugged. "But if you're so opposed, just tell her the truth, Draco. You're brave enough for this; you have the mark on your arm to prove it."

Malfoy pulls up his shirt sleeve and looks down at the black snake and skull. "That's not bravery, Aunt Bella. That's just sick."

Bellatrix frowns. "No, love, not brave, like... Never mind. You had to be brave to serve him, that's all I was saying."

"Serving him was being cowardly."

Bellatrix glides forward and hovers a hand over his shoulder. "But you did things. Terrible things, yes. They were acts that required you to be strong, sweetie. He didn't pick cowards, that's for sure. And you're no exception."

Malfoy shoves his shirt down over the mark in anger. "Whatever."

Bellatrix puts her hand through his chin. If she had had substance, she would have been lifting it to look him in the eye. "Draco. Don't be ashamed of the mark you bear. It means you were strong enough to serve Voldemort and strong enough to live with yourself. It means you are alive and free from him. Okay?"

He doesn't look at her. "I'll talk to Pansy, okay?" Then, he swiftly exits with such a speed that I barely have time to press myself into the wall and out of his sight.

When Malfoy leaves, Bellatrix calls out. "I know you're there."

Stifling a gasp of shock, I step out, shaking slightly.

"Couldn't stay away?"

I don't know what to say. All I can think is her torture. The look on her face says she knows it too.

Her immaterial hand falls like icy water onto my scarred arm.

I don't move. I couldn't if I wanted to. Fear has me frozen.

"I am sorry, Miss Granger. Don't be afraid."

I draw my arm away. "So you had a spontaneous change of heart?"

Bellatrix sighs. "I was hanging around as an invisible ghost when Harry killed Voldemort. At first I was so angry about my own death, and plotting to haunt Molly Weasley in revenge, and then I saw Voldemort die and it just hit me... That he deserved to die. And so did I. And now I was a ghost and I had this chance to be Bella again. Bella Black. Just Cissy's sister and not Voldemort's right hand murderer."

"Bella Black?"

"Black was my maiden name, and it was Voldemort who insisted on Bellatrix. Usually I only got that when my mother was scolding me. But he said he would call me Bellatrix. It means warlike. And that is what he wanted. And I was stupid enough to let him." She spat bitterly, arms crossed tightly across her chest

I don't know what to think. She seems sincere. But she's also had time to rehearse. What should I do, what should I say? My mind draws a blank.

"I may or may not come back." Is the lame response I finally offer, before once again fleeing the terrifying presence of the witch. Swiftly but quietly, I rush back into the Gryffindor tower. I fling myself into the dark staircase and crash onto my bed the second I come into contact with the soft sheets. I hear a few murmurs of my roommates, but don't think nothing of it.