Starlight

Starlight

Chapter Two

By SharpTongue31

I wasn't sure exactly why he felt the need to bring me down to the dungeons when I was already magically Silenced, but I guess that's Slytherin logic for you. Go figure. Anyway, I couldn't escape his grip. Now I really couldn't figure out why he had Crabbe and Goyle follow him around all the time. Call me crazy, but I'm sure that he could fight the entire Gryffindor House without breaking a sweat.

"Granger," he snapped when we seemed to be almost there. "If you don't remove your hand, I will snap it in half." Looking down and spotting just where my hand was positioned, I blushed furiously and pulled it away. "That's better," he sighed. "I only let girls do that after we've kissed and gotten drunk together a few times, you know." I scowled. He had to make such a big deal about everything.

"Parselmouth," Malfoy muttered to the entryway to the Slytherin Common Room. Ordinarily I would've done anything to get that password, but now I couldn't care less. Oh, damn - Ron had the Gryffindor password, and I couldn't remember it. Whatever. I had to focus on other things (ew, no, not THAT) right now.

"Finite Incantatum," he groaned. Clearly he had wanted me to suffer from the Silencing charm for longer, but part of Slytherins' sick humor is that they always want their captives (if they're lucky enough to get any, that is) to suffer as much as possible. And they (the captors, I mean) want to hear them suffer, see them suffer, and all-in-all know that they're suffering.

Not very nice.

"Ew, Granger, that scowl really doesn't look good on you." He smirked, leaning back in an armchair while I stood in front of him. I wanted to be ready in case he tried anything like he did before.

"Why are you keeping me here, Malfoy? I know you won't let me escape." He raised an eyebrow, and it made me want to slap him. I almost laughed, picturing myself slapping him back in third year. Well, he had insulted Hagrid, what would you have done?

"What makes you think that, Granger?" he asked calmly. "Maybe I will let you escape."

"Oh, shut up," I ordered. "We all know what side you fought on, Malfoy. Everyone knows. Don't try to hide it. It's too bad that one has to be eightteen or so in order to go to Azkaban, or I'd love seeing you there." He reached out a perfectly manicured hand and dug his nails into my face. I shrieked as he dragged his hand down my face, scratching it in a way that couldn't be completely removed by magic. At least, not that I knew of. I would have to get one of Ginny's jars of Healing cream.

No. I wouldn't think of Ginny. And I wouldn't think of Harry. I was past him, it was so long ago. Harry and Ginny were happy together, and Harry didn't need me anymore. Yeah, right. He needed me. He needed me soooo badly, he just didn't realize it.

"You are not to speak of that again, do you hear me?" Malfoy ordered quietly. Oh, great. He had me pinned against the wall again, his strong hands (that made most girls go 'oooh' - that is, before they had to see just how much Dark Magic those hands could do when fighting against him in that Final Battle) digging into my shoulders. "Not to Dumbledore, and not to anyone. Got that? I nodded meekly, afraid to do anything else.

"Correct." He released me, but I was still without personal space. He was too close to me, and I knew that he had more than just Dark Magic that he could hurt me with.

"Let me go... please, let me go," I begged. It shattered my pride, but it was the only way I could escape. "Please, Malfoy?"

"First of all, call me Draco."

Draco? Forget it. No way was I going to call him that. But still, if it was the only way... "Please, Draco?" I spat.

"Wipe that up," he ordered, gesturing to the splattered saliva that had landed on his shoes. I scowled.

"No flipping way, Malfoy."

He pushed me closer against the wall, and hissed, "Wanna bet?" To tell you the truth, no, I didn't. So I said so, and he shoved me onto the ground. Sulkily I brushed the spit off of his shoes. "Get up," he ordered me. Okay, so I didn't want to obey him, but quite honestly, I wanted to get up. So I did.

"Granger," he snapped. "Do stop quivering. I'm not going to kill you."

"You... c-c-cant," I muttered. "There are wards... for Dark Magic."

"Oh?" he asked, directing his wand [A/N: the other wand] at a scuttling spider. "Crucio!"

You can imagine what happened to the poor spider.

It only made me more afraid of him. I was pushed up against the wall, nothing short of terrified. I knew that I was trembling worse than ever. "Oh, stop," he snapped, very annoyed. "Or I'll give you something to really be afraid of."

I shivered. He was quite capable.

"Stand up straight," he ordered. I obeyed. "Now you are going to tell me everything."

Everything? What did he mean by everything? About what? "Everything..." I prompted him.

"Tell me what happened between you and Potter." He spat the last word as if it were a venomous snake. No, wait. Malfoy probably liked venemous snakes. I opened my mouth to deny that anything had ever happened, but he stopped me. "Don't think I don't know," he hissed. "Don't think I had to watch you and him snogging in the hallways, whispering to each other and never, never letting go of each other's arms. Don't think I don't see the wistful looks in your eyes whenever you are around him. And don't think that I can't tell that above all, if you can't be with him, you at least want his friendship. The way it was. So tell me, Granger, tell me why you aren't together anymore."

I shook my head. He could torture me to death and I still wouldn't tell him that. I couldn't even admit it to myself, why should I waste my breath on him?

But he was in control of the situation. "Tell me," he snarled, "or I will make you wish that you had told me while you had the chance."

"Please," I begged, "don't make me tell you." A wide, sickening grin formed on his face as though the idea of making me beg him for something was completely satisfying. Probably what he had been wishing for all those years of hating us - a chance to overpower one of us, to be in complete control of a fight for once.

"Do it," he whispered, his dragon heartstring wand pushed hard against my throat.

"He doesn't want me," I whispered. Malfoy laughed softly.

"Of course he does," Malfoy said before he could stop himself. "He wants you as much as you want him. Don't you see it in his eyes?"

"No," I whispered. "No, no, NO! He doesn't want me. He wants Ginny. He told me so."

"Did he, though?" Malfoy asked crytically. He released his wand's tight grip on my throat and I was petrified, wondering what he might do.

But all he said was, "Get out." He stepped aside for me to walk by and I did, still thinking about the strange - and terrifying - situation that had just occurred.

"Wait," he called back to me. I urged myself not to turn back, to keep walking, running even, but something in his voice convinced me to turn around.

"Yes?" I asked coldly.

His silver-gray eyes met my dark brown ones and held for a second. I wanted to repeat the question, but I didn't seem to be able to speak. Then he just muttered, "Nothing."

"No," I said, returning to where he stood and placing my arms on his shoulders. Now I was in charge of the situation. "What were you going to say?"

He refrained from squirming in my grip, which was quite weak, and instead shrugged his shoulders backwards, releasing my grip on him. He forced me against the wall and let me slide down to the ground with a look of dispassion on his face. "Don't you EVER confront me again," he snarled, and literally kicked me away from him, halfway across the room. Then I heard he mutter the familiar Locking Spell. It would allow the door to be barred as if with a padlock. It could not be broken unless by the wand that had originally cast the spell.

"Understand?" he whispered. I don't know why I did it, but rather than defying him, which I wanted to do with all my soul, I replied in the affirmative.

"Good," he growled. "Now don't disturb me. Chainus." Long, snakelike cords bound me to the wall and I could not escape.

As he walked out, I couldn't help wondering something. Did Harry care where I was? I knew we weren't friends anymore. He hated me with a passion now, or at least ignored me. He didn't speak to me, ever. Only Ron, and Ginny of course.

Ginny.

She was the last person I thought of before I felt something very large and heavy hit me hard on the head. The scene blacked out before I could realize what had happened.