BORN TO DIE    ╱    DRACO MALFOY
꒷꒦ · ˚.‧ . written by ella . . . © -lostgardens
008 ━━━━━━━ ❛ troll on the loose ❜

It was Halloween night. The Great Hall was filled with laughing and chatting students, as always. The ceiling was lined with Jack-O-Lanterns instead of its usual candles. And it had been a few more days since the boys' pranks finally ended, with much thanks to be given to Olivia, Daphne, and Pansy.

Olivia was settling in well at Hogwarts. And, with a bit of convincing from Lucas, she had decided that it would've been best if she finally listened to Snape and her mother, and she had been trying to control her anger, which seemed to be directly connected to her magic.

And she knew that she couldn't spend all of her time away from her group—she still didn't feel right calling them friends—while hiding herself in the astronomy tower during dinner, so there she sat in the Great Hall at the Slytherin table.

"Theodore, you are eating like a slob," Olivia said, disgust covering her face.

"I'm sorry," Theodore muttered, not an ounce of sorrow in his voice. His mouth was full of food, showcasing his lack of care for her words.

"Please stop," she continued, losing her appetite as the boy continued to shove food in his mouth like a hungry bear.

He went to reply, his mouth still full of food, but the Great Hall doors burst open, and everyone's attention was caught on the professor who was running in.

"Troll!" Professor Quirrell yelled as the doors slammed shut behind him.

He looked out of breath, as if he'd been running for a while.

Olivia's brows furrowed at him, wondering what he was rambling about. She had always had a feeling something was off with that man. It was something she couldn't place but most certainly felt.

"In the dungeon!" he continued yelling. "T-Troll in the dungeon!" He ran down the center of the Great Hall, between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.

Upon hearing his words, Olivia scanned the Great Hall, not frantically, but to see how others were reacting. This will be interesting, she thought. Her eyes went all around the room, then finally landed on the professors' table. She saw Dumbledore rise from his seat, and she watched him closely with curiosity.

"I thought you'd ought to know," Quirrell added, just before passing out. Olivia shot him a glance, but he was out of her sight, seeing as though he lied, passed out, on the ground.

The Great Hall was as silent as a mouse; you could hear a pin drop. That is, until it wasn't.

Screams were heard from all around the room, including her group, mostly from Malfoy. His face shone with utter terror, and Olivia had to do everything in her power to keep from laughing at the sight. The rest looked frightened as well, but not nearly as much as the blonde boy.

Students shot up from their seats and began to run. Though, and it seemed as if they didn't even know where they were going. Olivia just sat there at the table, slowly eating her food and watching the chaos unfold.

Malfoy stood up, his eyes searching her blank expression, but she ignored it. "Olivia, what are you doing?" he panickedly asked. "Get up!"

"I'm okay," she replied, looking around the room.

"Silence!" Dumbledore's voice boomed through the Great Hall, causing everyone to stop in their tracks and look at him. "Everyone will, please, not panic," he stated. "Now, prefects will lead their houses back to the dormitories." He turned to the professors next to him and said, "Teachers will follow me to the dungeons."

"Does he not realize the dungeons are where our dormitories are?" Olivia nonchalantly whispered to Pansy, who looked at her in panic. Noticing the look on the girl's face, Olivia sighed. "Oh, don't worry; I'm sure the large troll won't harm us. Well, not too badly, at least." She sent the short-haired girl a small smile, which was not reassuring one bit, nor were her words.

≀⋆⁺₊⋆ ꗃ 𖦹⨳✺

As they came to a stop in front of the blank wall, one of the Slytherin prefects whispered the password, revealing the door. They all hastily entered the common room and quickly shut the door behind them.

"Alright, off to bed, the lot of you," the male prefect said, gesturing towards the staircases.

Olivia really needed to learn his name—it would come in rather handy seeing as he was one of the prefects.

The students didn't waste any time listening to him; they all quickly made it to the stairs, boys to the right and girls to the left, of course. Pansy and Daphne dragged Olivia towards the stairs, despite her saying she was fine staying in the common room, and then they quickly made their way to their room.

Once they were in their room, Pansy hastily shut the door, locking it behind them as if that was going to keep a troll out. "Well, that was insane," she said, letting out a long breath of air. "I mean, a troll in the dungeons—how does that even happen?" she asked as her roommates stared at her.

"I don't know, Pans," Daphne replied, shrugging off her robe and throwing it on her bed. Her voice was slightly shaky, and Olivia noted that.

Olivia didn't respond; she just slung her bag on her bed and made her way over to her dresser. She pulled out a pair of silk-made black pajamas, then walked to the bathroom, where she changed into them. Then she brushed her teeth and hair.

And once she was back in the room, Pansy and Daphne sat on their beds, both of them holding a pair of pajamas in their own hands. The two girls took turns using the bathroom to get ready for bed. When they were finished, they snuggled into their beds, Olivia clutching Mr. Snake, while Pansy and Daphne began talking about boys.

"I think Adrian Pucey is kind of cute," Pansy admitted.

This caught Olivia's attention. Her face twisted in disgust at the girl's words. She quickly sat up and glared at her through the green darkness of their room. Adrian Pucey, really? "He's ghastly, to put it mildly; not cute," she replied.

Pansy rolled her eyes, which Olivia couldn't see.

"Alright then, Olivia, since you have such good taste, let's hear who you have a crush on," Pansy sassed, sitting up in her bed as well.

The sound of Daphne sitting up in her bed also sounded, and Olivia glanced at both of them. "I don't have a crush on anyone, nor do I think anyone's cute," she retorted quickly, almost too quickly for her liking.

Pansy raised her brows. "Really?" she asked, not believing the girl. "No one?"

Olivia shook her head, and Pansy sighed.

"Well, there's someone who certainly fancies you," Daphne teased, though Olivia could hear a hint of hurt in her tone.

"Oh, right, yes, Draco," Pansy laughed. "He seemed so worried about you when Quirrell came into the Great Hall, screaming about the troll," she teased, wiggling her brows. "Olivia, hurry up—Olivia, come on," she mocked Malfoy's voice.

"Stop it." Olivia sighed. "He does not fancy me, and you're mad if you think otherwise," she added, but it sounded almost as if she were trying to convince them and herself, which Pansy and Daphne did not miss.

He couldn't possibly fancy her—it was barbaric. All she had ever been to him was cruel. What's to like?

"Oh, right," Pansy teased, practically being able to hear the smirk in her tone.

"What about you, Daphne?" Olivia retorted, cutting Pansy off and causing the blonde to quickly turn her head towards the girl. "Is there anyone you fancy?" she continued, already knowing the answer.

"No," Daphne replied.

"Really?" Olivia raised her brows at the girl.

"No, I don't fancy anyone," Daphne repeated, lying back down. "It's late; we should go to sleep," she muttered, rolling over on her side and facing away from the two girls.

Pansy looked between both girls, confusion taking over her expression. "Am I missing something here?" she asked, looking at Olivia. "I feel out of the loop."

"No, Pansy, you're not missing anything," Olivia told her, still staring at Daphne, though all she could see now was the back of the girl's blonde head.

After that, Olivia laid down, turning to face away from the girls. She closed her eyes, but she didn't plan on going to sleep until she cleared her mind of him. She sighed. Her mind wouldn't clear, and before she could force it to, she fell asleep. She fell asleep thinking about Malfoy and his more-than-possible crush on her.

≀⋆⁺₊⋆ ꗃ 𖦹⨳✺

When she awoke, Olivia looked around the room with her half-open eyes and saw that Pansy and Daphne weren't in their beds. She quickly sat up, now fully awake, and glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. It was eight o'clock in the morning.

Olivia furrowed her brows. Someone must've been playing a joke on her; she hadn't slept past four o'clock in... She couldn't even remember how long.

She got up, sat Mr. Snake in his rightful place on her bed, and went to the bathroom. It was empty, but some of Daphne and Pansy's things were sitting on the counter, leading to the conclusion that they had gotten up and gotten ready.

It was the weekend, so they didn't have any classes, which made Olivia curious as to why they were up so early. Usually both girls liked to catch up on their beauty sleep, or whatever they called it.

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she walked over to the shower and turned on the water.

After she was ready for the day, she went downstairs to the common room. And there was her group on the couches. They all looked to be having a deep discussion about something, but she couldn't hear what they were saying, as though they were whispering.

And when she walked over to them and they noticed her, they all quickly stopped talking. They looked guilty of something, like a kid who had been caught casting a spell outside of school. Her brows furrowed in curiosity as she stared at each one of them. "Hello," she muttered.

"Hi," Pansy replied, sending her an awkward smile.

"What are you talking about?" Olivia asked, looking between each one of them once more and seeing them all grow incredibly awkward.

"Nothing. Just something Theodore and Blaise were rambling on about," Pansy told her.

"Which is it—nothing or something Theo and Blaise were rambling on about?" Olivia questioned her, growing suspicious. What were they hiding from her? She had never liked it when people hid things from her. And she wasn't starting now.

"Both," the Parkinson girl answered.

Olivia hummed in response with a small nod and then sat down next to the short-haired girl.

Suspicious.

≀⋆⁺₊⋆ ꗃ 𖦹⨳✺

━━━━ ella's speaking !
double update!! this is a short chapter but it's okay

this is basically a filler chapter so that i can add in the troll scene, and plus there's so other things that will lead up to something bigger 🤭

i hope you enjoyed !!

kisses.

━━━━━━━━━━ born to die,
© -LOSTGARDENS,      august 2023

word count: 1870. written: 8.25.23. published: 8.25.23.