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Falling into Destiny	By : Demonic_Host Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 11026 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with the Harry Potter franchise, nor do I make any money from this piece of work.

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Falling into Destiny
Chapter Thirty-Five

You beamed up at the older woman even as you tried to catch your breath. Ms. Zabini had come into the cleared out dining room to see that the current lesson had ended. Which of course resulted in her complimenting you as she’d caught the tail end of your dancing lesson. Your instructor seemed to have been having a hard time focusing which was why you seemed better than you were. You dabbed off your excess sweat with a soft towel while drinking from a goblet of water. Almost as soon as your dancing master had come up beside you for a drink of his own, Ms. Zabini led you out of the room. You looked back at your dance instructor by habit as your current guardian gave you no reason for the redirect. When you saw the older wizards (compared to you) you realized why they’d been distracted and why you were led out of the room. They tented their business robes.

“Is that my fault?” You asked your host in a whisper voice.

“Yes and no. They’re reacting to you but it’s not your fault; fault implies that you did something wrong. You didn’t.”

Even with her assurances you still frowned. Everything about you, all your extra abilities, seemed geared towards removing people’s choice. You could cast magic both nonverbally and without a wand which basically made it almost impossible for someone to choose the right counter in time. You could sort through people’s emotion laden thoughts and memories without their permission. You could take their energy without their permission. And apparently you could make guy’s bodies change without their permission.

“From the looks of things, you’re going to be an expert dancer in no time.”

You tried to summon a smile as you responded. “I don’t need to be an expert. I just want to be good enough at dancing to enjoy it next time.”

Even though you and Ms. Zabini were still walking together, the conversation wasn’t likely to last very long. You were headed for a shower after all. As close as you and she were, you weren’t that sort of close.

“Next time?”

“I went to a wedding when I was eleven,” you said as you stopped trying to force yourself to smile upon reaching the landing where your bedroom was located. “I didn’t know how to dance then and that made me...nervous. I want to know for next time and be good at it.”

As your back was towards the older woman you never noticed the smile on her face. You started to open your door so you could get to your bathroom only to be haulted by a sound from the witch behind you.

“I almost forgot. This came for you.”

When you turned around, Ms. Zabini handed you a small package. With a quiet ‘Thank you’, you accepted it before moving into your room. While you were curious about what had been delivered, you also didn’t want to be sweaty any more. So you sat the small wrapped box down on your bed before heading into the shower.

Something inside of you tightened up your spine with a dull ache. You frowned at the feeling while waiting for the water to warm up. The hot water of the shower helped to ease up the ache by the time you were done. In its place was a sense of foreboding that you couldn’t quite place.

To distract yourself after you got redressed in a simple T length dress, you started opening the small package that Ms. Zabini had handed you. Inside was a familiar figuring and a crystalline apple container full of silvery powder. You turned it about before you opened it up. From the smell, texture, and green magical aura infused in it you knew that it was floo powder. Which was an odd thing to send in such a beautiful container considering that it was only two sickles a scoop. There was really only a handful sent at best, nowhere near the worth of the container.

You fingered the figurine’s plumage before remembering exactly why it looked familiar. The small, white peacock was part of a set that you’d given Draco a long time ago. Once you realized that you tried to find the spot that would activate the message; it had been a long time since you had bought it so you couldn’t actually remember where. Turned out that rubbing it’s head activated the message.

“Come home Dori.”

Draco's voice came out of the peacock almost like a quiet plea for help. Even though he hadn’t said ‘please’, you could hear it in his voice. Guilt ate up your insides as the tail feathers of the albino peacock relaxed back down, an indication the message had been played apparently. You had resolved that staying away from Draco was the best way to protect him from your nature. Just like your auntie had tried to do years ago. And yet such a simple message pulled on your heartstrings. If the message’s tone was anything to go by then he wasn’t angry at you for what had happened at Hogwarts before the break. Which made wanting to stay away more difficult.

Using the enchanted figurine, you sent back a small message so that he knew that you weren’t ignoring him. The little peacock could only pass along 10 second messages at a time so you had to choose and time your words carefully.

“Auntie was right Draco. It’s better for you if I stay away.”

The peacock’s tail rose as you spoke. When it was at full mass you knew that the message was sent through the magical lines that be. The matching figurine would have the plumage bloom to alert the eleven year old that he had a reply.

You sat the enchanted message player on your desk so that you could finish getting ready for the day. Of course you took your time as there really wasn’t a rush on getting ready. By the time you had decided on something to wear and a place to wear it to, your hair had almost dried. You gently rubbed the wide velvet belt that accentuated the dip of your natural waist - something you’d begin to develop recently. Even as you stroked the fabric and contemplated listening to Draco’s returned message, your stomach twinged again in the most unpleasant of ways. Blaise calling out for you just outside the door distracted you long enough to forget about the irritating sensation. You turned your attention to the younger wizard when you opened the door.

“What did you plan for the day?”

You tilted your head as you looked down at him. “What makes you think I have something planned?”

“Because you hate being bored and you’ve dressed up.”

He was right on both counts. You smiled at him and stretched your arms by leaning out of the door with most of your weight on your toes.

“Since it’s cold outside, I wanted to go somewhere warmer,” you told him honestly. “Do you want to come with me?”

“I can’t. Malfoy is scheduled to come over today.”

You looked at him with surprise. You could see the gears ticking in Blaise’s head over random Quidditch drills. Apparently the two boys had bonded over Quidditch more than you thought. Draco coming over the day that he sent you the inanimate messenger bird seemed too planned. Had he sent the message because he was coming over or was he coming over because he sent the message?

“Where were you planning to go?” Blaise asked.

“Australia,” you answered him easily. “It’s the start of their summer there.”

A fact that you had deduced during an astronomy class in your first year. The teacher had been surprised by the fact that you had speculated about that on your own and came to the right conclusion. Ever since then it had made your checklist of places you wanted to visit during a Winter break. Not to mention the aboriginals’ magic seemed to be depicted as similar to that of what was traditionally practiced in Africa. The coincidence was something that intrigued you while the idea of warm weather was a siren’s song.

“Australia?” Blaise asked as he raised a dark eyebrow, seeking confirmation. “Did you clear the trip with Mother?”

You gently pushed yourself backwards in the doorway to take the minor stretching strain off of your arms. Blaise’s question went unanswered for a moment as you gauged how best to handle the situation. As of that moment you hadn’t asked Ms. Zabini for permission to travel. It wasn’t like you needed funds - you had access to your mother’s family vault after all. Honestly you hadn’t wanted to make it a grand trip as going to Australia had been a more spur of the moment idea. That contrasted the planned trip to Egypt which had also been your idea. You didn’t want to make it seem like you were trying to control where the Zabini spent their holidays. Though since you were still a minor perhaps you should have taken into consideration that the world still expected you to get permission.

“No, I hadn’t asked yet,” you finally settled on saying. “I just planned for it to be a day trip so I hadn’t thought to.”

“It would be better to talk with mother first,” Blaise advised wisely.

You really didn’t like the idea of having to ask for permission in this context. Especially not when it highlighted the moral qualms you had been having over Draco. Everything you wanted to do seemed to need permission; even when it didn’t affect anyone but you. That was annoying. You understood and rightfully felt guilty over forgetting to ask Draco’s permission when it involved him but asking permission to go somewhere felt wrong.

Still...Ms. Zabini had taken you in when your aunt wanted to put you out of the house…

With a self-frustrated sound you accepted the role of being a responsible thirteen year old. Which meant asking for permission first.

“Is she in the parlor?” You asked in a slightly begrudging tone.

“I think so,” Blaise answered you.

________________________________________

Getting permission to take the day to go to Australia had been easy. In fact, Ms. Zabini had even given you permission to stay overnight. You didn’t know much about the wizarding community on that continent so you had no idea what hotel you would stay at. You figured it would be easy to find a place once you stepped out into the magical metropolis connected to the floo network. That would be easy. Getting out of the house before Draco was due to arrive had been less so.

You’d just gotten to the parlor where the main fireplace was with a day bag in hand when the fire lit up a brilliant green. The first person to step through wasn’t Draco as you expected but your aunt Narcissa. As she looked at you with a composed expression on her face and a wall behind her eyes, Ms. Zabini came in with Blaise. He had a little padding on and broom in hand, no doubt ready to do all those drills that had been running through his head.

“Good to see you Narcissa,” Ms. Zabini spoke out in a pleasant enough tone. “Would you care for anything to drink while the boys play?”

“Unfortunately there’s been a change of plans,” your aunt spoke as she slowly pulled her eyes off of you. “Draco isn’t coming today.”

You could feel the disappointment radiating from Blaise at that statement. He let out a deep breath but otherwise kept his composure in front of the adults. You knew better though. You could practically taste his sadness as it sapped the warmth from the air around you.

“I see.”

Well you didn’t. What was wrong with him? Normally he jumped at any chance to show off his flying skills. The fact that he had disappointed Blaise, someone he might have claimed was a friend, was also alarming. What reason was he using to justify that? What was so important that it was keeping him at his home?

“Why?” You challenged. “Why isn’t he coming?”

“Draco is in no mood for polite company,” Narcissa spoke out as she looked at you once more.

“He made a commitment to visit, mood or no,” you pointed out on Blaise’s behalf.

“I agree,” your aunt returned before turning her gaze towards Blaise and his mother. “He’s being a petulant child right now. That’s why I came in person to apologize. Short of cursing him, he’s still refusing to come out of his room.”

Your eyes narrowed. You weren’t angry with your aunt of course. It was more that you were glaring at an area by her that represented Draco at the moment.

“We’ll see about that. I’ll go drag him out.”

Everyone looked at you in varying degrees of surprise. You ignored them as you gripped your day bag’s handle tightly in one hand. With the other you took a small handful of floo powder from the ornate box nearby.

Once you’d safely gotten to the Malfoy manor, you hurried up to Draco’s room. You knew the way by heart even though you hadn’t lived there in years. When you got to his door, however, you paused your warpath. Draco’s door was closed.

You knocked. When you weren’t answered you knocked again. Through the thick walls you weren’t really able to hear anything. So you knocked, more like pounded, on his door for a final time. The only reason you stopped was because of the fact that Draco finally opened the door.

He was already half way through a sneer of a sentence by the time you saw him. “I told you I don’t—-...Dorian?”

He was genuinely surprised to see you. When you realized how easily you had waded through his emotions without his permission, you broke eye contact. That didn’t stop you from feeling his eyes on you. Draco physically moved back but left his door open so that you could come in. It was better than awkwardly standing in the hallway. After moving into his room you chose to look over his shoulder in order to avoid sifting through his thoughts without his permission.

“Finally come to your senses and come home?” Draco asked as he gestured to the day bag in your hands.

For a second you couldn’t help but stare at the bag yourself. To be honest you had kind of forgotten about it in the slurry of emotions leading to that moment.

“No,” you said slowly. “I was going to take a day trip to Australia —“

“Australia? Why?” He derailed your train of thought.

“I was going to brush up on the history and diversity of magic of the aboriginal witches and wizards. Plus it’s warm there.”

Draco scuffed. “It gets warm in here too.”

That you couldn’t really contest. You knew that in the right circumstances that Draco’s room could stay pleasantly warm even in the dead of winter. At least certain areas did.

“It’s not right now.”

“Yeah well I didn’t know you were coming now did I?” He challenged you.

“Aren’t you the one that keeps asking me to come back? Shouldn’t that mean you should be prepared if I said yes?” You challenged him right back.

The sound Draco made let you know that you had a point he couldn’t really refute. It also let you know that the wind hadn’t been taken out of his argumentative sails yet. Which was something you could have seen in his eyes if you’d been looking at them.

“So what’s so important that you’d cancel your plans with Blaise without notice?” You demanded before he sidetracked you further.

“You’re here because of Zabini?” The eleven year old asked in angry disbelief.

“I’m here to see what’s so important that you’d throw a tantrum and refuse to leave your room over.”

“I didn’t feel like it anymore.”

“That’s not a good enough reason,” you chided him as you crossed your arms; something that used to be a whole lot easier than it was now.

“Why not?” Draco asked hotly. “You do it all the time.”

“Me?! Excuse me—-what?!”

“You left when you didn’t feel like living here anymore.”

“I did not!” You defended yourself in a hiss.

“You could have tried proving to my mother that you wouldn’t hurt me. But because you didn’t feel like it, you left me.”

It felt like he’d punched you in the gut even though you hadn’t moved. What could you really say to that? He was partially right — you could have tried to prove to you aunt that you weren’t bad, that you wouldn’t hurt Draco or the family’s reputation. If you tried to show her that while still living at the manor, though, that meant you wouldn’t have had anyone to help you with your energy levels for two years until you figured it out. You would have been living under a roof with someone who distrusted you and another you couldn’t even touch. Which, again, would have meant you wouldn’t have been okay.

“Auntie hates me, hates what I am. And she’s got a good reason! All I do around you is take your energy without you wanting me to. So it was the kindest thing my father could have done for me back then. At least Blaise and Ms. Zabini wanted to help me!”

“They’re not helping you, they stole you!” He snapped back. “And you just let them. You didn’t even try to stay! You can’t even look me in the eye because you know I’m right.”

You clenched your teeth at that self righteous tone. “You said that you don’t want me to go through your thoughts. So I can’t look you in the eye. And you know what? If I had tried to stay...auntie would have hated me anyways. If I stayed here but stayed away from you to prove that I wouldn’t hurt you, I’d have been weak. I’d have failed my classes at Hogwarts.”

“You would have been fine.”

“Really? You think so?” You asked, briefly looking at his face before looking away.

“Yes.”

“Fine. Let’s try this your way,” you told him with a tightness in your jaw that brought about a marked level of bitterness. “I’ll come back if Auntie and Uncle will let me. But you get to ask them, not me. And I’ll keep my distance so she doesn’t hate me. Just remember...when I pass out, and I hate passing out...it will be all your fault.”
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Falling into Destiny