Imperio ⇢ D.M

Chapter Twenty One

Howlers and News Articles

~Narrator~

It took only a few concoctions and spell to get Harry Potter back into shape with plenty of time to prepare for the second task. The second task would be held tomorrow, and already people were placing their bets to the Weasley twins.

Everyone had heard about the fight between Draco and Harry. Harry did the best he could to try and brush off the event, but Draco never hesitated to brag about how he had beaten Harry Potter in a fist fight despite the detentions he received and points revoked from Slytherin.

The afternoon Harry was sent to the hospital, Arden, Hermione and Ron visited him. It had only been a few hours and he was perfectly fine, only one noticeable bruise on his lower right cheek. Arden found herself being back on good terms with Harry, letting him know that her feelings belonged to Draco, and that Harry is her best friend. 

Of course, Harry was not happy with what he had heard. He yelled, whined, even tried to convince Arden to break up with him, but he couldn't change her mind. In the end, Harry gave up. He knew he couldn't change her feelings and he accepted it he accepted it, although he'd rather have feelings for anyone but Draco if those feelings weren't for him.

Ron on the other hand respected her feelings. It took him a few attempts to convince Arden she was insane, but they reached a compromise. As long as Ron could beat up Draco if he did anything wrong and make fun of him, Ron was fine.

Hermione was the only one excited. Her excitement levelled down however after the fight, making her more cautious and suspicious of Draco. Hermione was happy for Arden nonetheless, and thought it was absolutely adorable that the two were together.

Arden was sitting at the Slytherin table. Few students were there, since it was quite early in the morning. Draco was right next to her, writing notes for a  Potions essay that the two were working on together. Out of nowhere, 3 owls flew above them. One was for the daily prophet, and the others were for letters. 3 letters dropped in front of them, two of which were for Draco and one was for Arden. 

Both of Draco's letters were in red envelopes, meaning they were both Howlers. Arden picked up her letter, it was in a normal envelope, but the handwriting was scribbled and messy. She recognised instantly that it was her father's writing, since his writing turns like this when he is frustrated and/or writing very quickly. 

Draco held up one of his Howlers and opened it carefully. The Howler quickly opened itself, then floated in front of him. Draco braced himself for the loud shouts of his father, but instead was confronted with a cold and stern tone from his mother.

"Draco Malfoy... what are we going to do with you? Your father and I are very disappointed. This isn't the kind of activity we'd expect you to take part in during school, we never thought you'd fall for a blood traitor. 

A blood traitor is not worth fighting for. I expect you and that girl to part ways, it would relieve the stress on our family. You know we can't accept this, it would be a disgrace to our family, you know what happens to disgraces."

The floating letter ripped to shreds in front of Draco. Draco had a blank expression, he knew his mother would never punish him the way that her family does with disgraces, but he wasn't so sure about his father. However he didn't want to leave Arden, it hadn't been a day and already everyone knew about them thanks to Rita Skeeter. He didn't care if Arden was a blood traitor, half-blood, muggle-born or whatever, he just cared about her. Draco had never felt this way about anyone before, and he was determined to keep her no matter what.