He looked different.
Not in any clearly obvious physical way. But there was a wildness in his eyes, and a deathly pallor to his skin. He looked like someone who had had a number of terrible nightmares in quick succession and who still was not sure he had entirely woken up.
'That creature brought you your drinks,' she said in a small voice, gesturing with her chin towards the low table by the fire on which sat, rather incredibly, a row of tall glasses filled with alcohol and topped with little green umbrellas. The glasses had clearly been charmed so the ice cubes would stay fresh.
'Well, I?ll be damned,' said Draco, staring. Then he laughed.
'Literally, too,' he added, strode over to the fire, seized a glass, tossed the umbrella aside, and drained it.
Fleur sat up, staring at him. 'Draco, what are you doing?'
'Getting drunk,' he said, and slammed the glass back down on the table. 'What does it look like?'
'Is that a good idea?'
'Is zat a good idea??' he echoed, narrowing his eyes at her. 'What, you don?t think I deserve a couple moments of fun? It would so nicely break up the moments of death and mayhem.'
'He showed you the Mirror, didn?t he?' asked Fleur, looking at him hard.
Draco laughed. It had a brittle, explosive sound. 'What Mirror? I don?t know what you?re talking about. He burned a hole in my arm, then he dragged me off to show me the army I?ll be commanding. Dementors, werewolves, vampires, icky things with horns sticking out of their ears… Its like a dating club for archfiends. 'Where the lonely and the slimy connect.?'
'Draco…are you feeling all right?'
'Like I was hit by lightning after the Hogwarts Express ran me over.
But let me drink a few more of these, and I?ll be feeling great.'
He downed another Mai Tai.
Fleur bit her lip, and held out her hand. 'Please…come sit down.'
'Next to you?' Draco sudden threw the now-empty glass at the fireplace. It shattered, and the fire hissed as the dregs of alcohol splashed the burning logs. 'I don?t think so. I?d rather kiss a dementor. And the way things are going, it looks like I might have to, 'cos thats who I?ll be hanging around with for the next millenium.'
'Millenium?'
'Yeah. I?m going to live forever. Didn?t you hear? I get to live forever with Slytherin. Which I guess he thinks some kind of big prize, but since I?ve only known him a week and already I can?t stand him, I?m less than excited. I don?t exactly want eternity with the guy. But hey, at least my new uniform isn?t gray. You like it?'
He threw his arms wide. Fleur, who hadn?t even noticed he was wearing anything different, looked at him listlessly. 'It is black.
Everything you wear is black. You look the same.'
'Well, aren?t you determined to be difficult.' He dropped his arms and walked over to her. She could see herself reflected in the dilated pupils of his eyes. He lifted his hand and put his fingers under her chin, urging her head up. He smelled of alcohol and anger, and his hands were shaking so violently that after a moment, he let her go.
'If you were wondering if you get to live forever,' he said with quiet malevolence, 'you don?t.'
She felt tears sting the back of her eyes. 'I know that.'
'Good. I?d hate for you to get a nasty surprise.'
She closed her eyes and felt two tears scald their way down her cheeks. Normally she would have been ashamed to cry in front of someone else, but she was too tired to care.
He dropped his hand from her chin. 'Cheer up,' he said, in a tone that made her think of an iron fist wrapped in a silk glove.
'Mariposus,' he whispered under his breath, and she glanced up, her eyes widening, to see a stream of multicolored light burst from his fingers. The light resolved itself into a hundred brilliant butterflies, fluttering and dipping, and she craned her head back to see them, remembering how Draco had come into her room at school and the butterflies she had conjured had landed on his shoulders and hands.
She looked at him hard, trying to gauge if he remembered, too, but his eyes were black and unreadable. 'Incindio,' he whispered. Fleur stiffened in horror as the dozens of colorful butterflies burst into tiny flames, like miniscule, burning stars. Draco looked down at her, the reflected sparks swarming in his eyes.
'That was horrible,' she said shortly, as the last flames died.
'Look whos talking.' His cloak had become unfastened. He stepped back and reclosed the clasp, which was bronze, and worked into the shape of two serpents with linked tails. He gave her a cold smile.
'And with that pleasant memory to warm you up, I?ll be leaving you.'
'Leave? Where are you going?' She was astonished at the desperation in her own voice. Malevolent as Draco was currently being, she did not want to be alone.
'Paying a little visit to Harry. Collecting some blood. Your Master needs it for a spell. Some people collect coins, he collects blood samples from helpless prisoners.' Finished with his cloak, he dropped his hands. ' Now theres a guy who really knows how to make his own fun.'
'Don?t go,' she whispered, without really knowing what she was saying. Exhaustion made it difficult to focus her eyes properly.
'Stay? With you? How sweet.' Crossing to the door, he paused beside her, leaned forward, and swept her hair away from her ear, brushing her cheek gently with the icy tips of his fingers. She felt his breath against her neck as he bent to her ear and whispered, 'The blood I?m about to collect…its on your hands, too.'
She shuddered without speaking as he took his hand away, turned, and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
