◤ ❝You could never understand the sacrifices I would make for her. You can run yourself dry talking about all that you would do, but at the end of the day, I am the only one in this world who would gladly give my life if it meant she had five more minutes of hers. I suggest stepping back and reevaluating your place next to mine.❞ ―Theodore Nott ◢

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CHAPTER TWELVE: PHTHONUS

November 8, 1996

                        Andromeda was keeping a watchful gaze on her left hand as she walked through the hallway of the dungeons, barely able to see anything but their shadow as she focused on the way they trembled. It was slight, but her fingertips shook with a tenderness that she had never felt before. Ever since she used her Legilimency on Draco, the unfamiliar sensation had been there. Because of the ill reaction she had to his Occlumency, she was focusing her readings on the defensive magic rather than reparation magic for the Cabinet. It was odd, the way that her mind recoiled away from Draco's. Legilimens in the past never had such a hostile reaction, and she wanted to know why she was still feeling the effects of it two days later when it hadn't happened once that previous summer.

Theodore was beside her, quiet as they walked together from their Charms class. Draco hadn't shown up today, and she didn't miss the looks that her housemates had given her as a result of it. Everyone was on edge because of the Slytherin and Gryffindor match tomorrow, so to find out that their best Seeker wasn't showing up to his classes or breakfast the day before the game was not comforting. Mia was quiet, and she only shrugged her shoulders when Daphne asked if she knew anything. Truthfully, she didn't know much. Draco had been acting colder, uninviting since that night. A different kind of cold―a kind of cold that was defeated, not angry. The dark circles under his eyes had grown darker, and she was beginning to see that there were weights on his shoulders even more severe than killing Albus Dumbledore. He just wouldn't reveal what.

"Are you coming home for Christmas?" Theodore said softly to her left. She glanced up from her hands to look at him, his silhouette reflecting off the stone walls. "I thought your mother may want to see us. She hasn't been writing recently."

Mia's mouth dried. Truthfully, the last thing she wanted to do was go home to the manor that only carried bitter memories for her, nor did she want to see her mother as much as she loved her. Their relationship had been twisted since her father's dead; Celicia clung to her daughter with an iron grip those weeks she had stayed at the Malfoy manor, and it prevented Andromeda the means to breathe through her own pain. Only after she left did Mia feel true peace of mind, even if it was only just long enough to morph into fear. Going home, with everything that she had been through, was a horrid thought. The last time she was in that place was the day of her father's funeral.

However, one look at the hope in Theo's eyes, and her heart deflated with acceptance. She would do anything for her cousin, after all. "Of course. I was hoping to bring Atlas back with me if mother no longer needs him."

"Do you think Grandmother Eleanor will be there?"

"Oh, Merlin's beard, I bloody hope not," she cursed, scoffing as they rounded to the wall of paintings near the entrance of the Slytherin house. "If she comes, that only means we'll be hearing about the disgraces our fathers were to her daughters. Not that it matters much now, does it?"

Theo snorted, rolling his eyes. "Well, she always liked Uncle Alastiare better than my father. Not like she can speak much about either of them without Grandfather Kal silencing her for the rest of dinner."

"Wonder why?" she said sarcastically. "Uncle Eldrice was a joy."

Theodore stopped suddenly, just a few feet away from the entrance. He gave a hesitant glance at the portraits that hung along the wall, all of them asleep or muttering to one another about the traitors in their family like it was a conversation about chess. Mia halted a few seconds after, turning around in confusion. The look on Theo's face was distant from her, his eyes wandering around the hall before they finally settled on his raised palm, playing with the lines like they would have in Divination class last year.

"Is it wrong not to miss him?" he asked quietly, his words barely making it past his lips before he was wincing in regret. He looked up at her. "The others―Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle―they look every day in the paper for some word of their fathers and what may be happening to them in there...but I don't. Does that make me a horrible son, to not fear what happens to him in prison? I expected to feel something...but not this. Not indifference. Not apathy."

The shiver of protection that ran through her body made Andromeda want to murder her own uncle then. Eldrice Nott was never meant to be a father, and she had known that as well as everyone else in her family a long time ago. Mia never liked the man, even as a child she only tolerated her uncle because of her love for her aunt. He was a good husband, once, to Aunt Athella, but from the moment that Theodore was born, he blamed his wife's growing ailment on his son. He fought too heavily alongside Tom Riddle when he knew him all those years ago, and it left its mark. A mark that was much deeper and costly than her own father's. He took that out on Theodore, and that was something Mia would never find forgiveness in him for.

"He was never really your father though, was he?" she asked softly, talking a few steps so that they were near the side of the wall. Theodore's pained expression hurt her even more. "You and I have lived sixteen years without our fathers, Theo...we have lived half of that with no one but each other. Eldrice only gave you one thing, and that was his last name, and you wear it with more honor than he ever will, all right? You are not a horrible son for not feeling upset that he was tried for his crimes. He may have been one of them, but his greatest crime was always how he treated you after Aunt Athella passed. That is the one most unspeakable."

Theo nodded slowly, but the small crease in the place between his brows showed that he was in more strife over the situation than he wanted to be. The unnerving sense of this happening before struck her, except she was the one in pain over her father and he was the one comforting her. Mia took the two steps between them to pull apart his hands and wrap her arms around him. He tensed, just as she knew he would. Their family had never been one for affection, not unless it was the number of times they hugged themselves. His shoulders finally relaxed, and he was letting out a breathe of relief before pulling his cousin closer to him. The thumping of his heartbeat shattered her ear as she held him tightly, wanting to take all of his pain away.

"I miss you," he muttered into her ear.

Mia's eyes watered, and she was having to press her tongue to the top of her mouth in order to keep them away. She missed herself too, and it was becoming very clear to her just how different she had become in the last few months. There was an anger, a darkness, within her that terrified her to no end. It was the sharp inhale through her nose that alerted Theo of her reaction, and rather than pulling away, he only pressed a kiss to the side of her head. She was too busy recollecting herself, staring intently at the ground, to realize that her cousin had been rubbing absently at her left arm. Her forearm.

He cleared his throat. "We should go inside. I told Vaisey I would meet him before practice tonight so we can go over a few more tactics the Gryffindors use during matches."

"Still can't believe you are actually a Quidditch player now," Mia huffed in disbelief, breaking free of her trance to grin up at him. The tears were gone. "Grandfather will be overjoyed. What happened to the Theo that used to hide behind me to avoid attention? Look at you now, flying in front of the entire school. Daphne is probably making posters this very moment for you, you know. Lots of sparkles and charmed fireworks."

"I find that hard to―" he paused, his face paling, and turned to her with a mild panic. "You don't think she would actually..."

"If you truly believe that she wouldn't take your first Quidditch game against the Gryffindors to that extreme, you may want to reconsider how well you know the girl. I suggest mentioning a moderate amount of screaming and posters rather than her usual level of obsession before tomorrow, my dear cousin."

Theodore took her words to heart, and he was releasing her left arm in favor of heading towards the entrance. He mumbled a quick, "Asclepius," the God with a serpent staff, before the door was opening and they were walking down the small path of steps to the common room. Unsurprisingly, it was buzzing with a kind of energy that only ever came out when the match between Gryffindors came up. Third years were off charming different posters, and Mia was genuinely surprised to see that Daphne wasn't sitting along with them.

Instead, she and Tracey were sitting close to the fireplace as they mumbled to one another with homework set out in front of them. It just looked like they were copying the parchments from someone else, though. Probably took it off a Ravenclaw. A few conversations were going around, but the loudest one was a group of second years in the middle of the room. The dark head of hair was immediately recognizable as Daphne's little sister, Astoria, who was usually very kind. Mia remembered Daphne mentioning her huge infatuation with Draco. As the young girl talked, the tolerance that Mia had for her was lessening by the second.

"Apparently it was a Slytherin student! Said they were going to go after all the Gryffindor players to make sure that Slytherin won this year. That is why Snape has been questioning a few people about it―he thinks that they may know something! They walked right in and got the necklace from Knockturn Alley! I would have gone after Potter or the Weasley girl, but..."

"Stop spreading rumors about your housemates, Astoria, especially false ones."

Eyes turned to look over at Andromeda, who had spoken and drawn attention to herself as a result of it. Theodore sighed from beside her, moving away a little bit as Mia looked with boredom at Astoria Greengrass. She wanted to end any and all topic of the Hogsmeade situation with Bell, mainly because if it disappeared then no suspicion would ever be pointed towards Draco. She protected him far too much for her own good.

The younger girl bristled, glaring over at Mia. "You'd know about rumors, wouldn't you, Andromeda? Enough of them have gone around about your father...tell me, was he really cheating on your mother with Bellatrix Lestrange? Is she your mother? The resemblance is uncanny."

"Tori," Daphne hissed, glaring at her younger sister from across the room.

Mia only looked at the little wench with disinterest. "That would be something, wouldn't it? It would explain my crippling insanity, of course...the urge to curse others who wrong me...." Mia's threat was not lost, and even Astoria had the good sense to shut up.

"Mia," Theodore warned, although his voice did not carry to others like Daphne's had.

Andromeda ignored her cousin just like she ignored the sneer that Astoria sent her way. Everyone else returned back to their usual activities, bored now that the argument had ceased before it even began. Before she could move herself, Theodore was going in the direction of Daphne and Tracey to make sure that his not-so-girlfriend girlfriend would not be causing him any embarrassment tomorrow. She gave a parting glance to him before she was going in the direction of her dormitories, wanting to sleep for a little while before she had to get up later on for Astronomy and work with the Cabinet.

She got only to the small corridor when footsteps were heard behind her. A frown cut on her lips before she knew it, and Mia was turning around to see who was following her. The frown disappeared when she realized who it was, and instead turned to confusion when she noticed the unusual look of irritation that was on Andrew Vaisey's face.

Instinctively, she was talking before him. "What happened?"

"Malfoy is bailing on the game tomorrow," he snarled, glaring feverishly at anything he could find before they finally rested on her. The heat of the stare lessened immediately. "Says he's sick and won't be able to make practice tonight or play tomorrow―not that I should be surprised. He hasn't been playing right all season, but he's the best Seeker we've got and now I have less than twenty four hours to find a replacement. Urquhart cares as much about it as he does his grade in Muggle Studies."

"Wait." Mia held a hand up, her brows furrowing in confusion. She didn't understand. "He's sick? When did you talk to him?"

A look flashed across Vaisey's face, taken back for a second that that was the question she was asking out of everything he had just mentioned. He frowned. "Back in his dorm. He's been locked up in there all day―Zabini and I have been talking with him for the last hour...well, arguing. He isn't talking to anyone much. That's why I'm here. He says he will only speak to you."

"Me? Why me?"

"'Suppose he wants you to nurse him back to health," Vaisey said sarcastically. An involuntary grimace followed no later. "That was wrong of me. I'm sorry. I just...this may be the first time we have a chance to win against the Gryffindors in a while―with Bell gone and Theodore playing now, I thought that we may finally win before I leave this place. Now, I have this feeling that it will all be for nothing. I'm stressed, that's all, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

The horrible, terrible, twisting feeling in Mia's heart was back as she heard him apologize for a small side comment that was, by far, the most innocent of things she had heard said about her in a long time. Her cousin and Draco had said far worse before, not to mention those who despised her. She smiled, and the promise she made with Theodore in the back of her mind, she reached to grab a hold of Andrew's hand to tug him closer to her. He glanced up in shock, his gaze flickering from their hands to her eyes with confusion. He hadn't expected her to ever be the first to make any contact between them. She stepped a bit closer and grinned.

"Hufflepuff heart," she said, quiet and teasing. She squeezed his hand and glanced at the doorway back to the common room. "I can try and convince him get out of bed and play, but he's stubborn, and I don't think that my opinion matters much to him when it comes to things like this...but I can try. I know what this means to you."

Andrew nodded, and paused for a second to look deeply into her eyes with interest. He reached his hand up, a gentle fingertip falling underneath her eyes as his frown returned back to him. "You look more ill than he does, Mia. When was the last time you slept?"

"Ah, just what every girl loves to hear. I'm all right. I promise. Your concern is flattering, though."

"I do live to flatter you. Although I would appreciate it if you gave me less reason to be concerned for your wellbeing," he said, pointedly as he gently rubbed the dark circles. "Get some sleep tonight, will you? Don't want my number one fan to miss the big game tomorrow. I fully intend to impress you with my skill and brawn."

Mia laughed, pushing at his chest gently and breaking the distance between them. "Get off it, Andrew. I need to go nurse your favorite Seeker back to health, and you need to go practice with my cousin to make sure he doesn't get a concussion from a bludger tomorrow. I'd be a pity to hate you for letting him get hurt."

"A pity, indeed...I'll meet with you before the game? I can find a bit of time for a good luck kiss."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes as she turned on her heel to go around him. "Maybe with a slug, Vaisey."

He grinned, and that was the last thing she saw of him before she was walking through the common room to get to the boy's dormitory. She was glad to see that Vaisey's bad mood had been slightly fixed, and the giddiness in her stomach at being part of the reason why did not go away either. No one looked at her as she glided easily through the crowd, having come to make herself invisible quite easily with all the late night sneaking she did. The familiar path to the sixth-year dormitory was a quick one, just as much muscle memory to her as her own was from all the visits she used to make to Theodore when they were younger.

She didn't bother knocking. Crabbe and Goyle were scarfing down chocolate frogs in the common room, Theodore was down there as well, and she could hear the sound of Zabini's shouts through the door. As the door swung open, Blaise's eyes shot over and he let out a loud sound of relief before throwing his hands up at the covered blankets in front of him. "There, Malfoy! You wanted Andromeda here, now get up and get ready for practice before we have to resort to Harper as your replacement!"

"Blaise," she called, nodding her head to the door with a small frown. "Can I talk to him for a moment?"

Blaise gave a final glower in Draco's invisible direction before nodding, going to leave and giving her a parting look in acknowledgement. Mia waited until the door clinked before she raised her wand, quickly putting the Imperturbable Charm on the room before she pocketed it again and walked over to the bedside. Without care, she yanked the heap of covers from the boy's head and her face fell at what she saw. Vaisey had been wrong in saying that Draco looked better than she did, because although she had not looked in a mirror for a while, the illness that reflected in her counterpart was extreme. The giddiness from before died quickly.

Draco looked up at her blearily, his hair a mess and clothes worn in. "Have you looked at it?"

"Looked at what?" she asked, confused. "Draco, what is going on? You look―"

"No better than you, I assume," he finished, then his eyes went toward her covered arm. She glanced down as well, her forehead creasing as she realized what he was insinuating. Pulling up the arm of her cloak, she quickly rolled up the sleeve of her school shirt and her face fell in horror. "Mine looks a bit worse...he must have found out about what happened to Bell. He's sending a warning. Does yours hurt?"

The Mark on her arm was already dark, but the veins around it were a dull shade of deep blue and purple that made her entire arm look bruised. Mia noticed that it went all the way down to her left hand, the same one that had been trembling recently. She hadn't even felt the pain in her arm, just assumed that it was a result of Legilimency. Now that she saw it, it started to make sense. Dropping her arm, she turned quickly to grab a hold of his to see the difference between them. Draco watched, his eyes worn and tired as she yanked up his long sleeve to reveal his own Mark. He winced when her fingertips gently grazed it, a hiss coming from his lips as he tried not to jerk away.

His looked much worse. The veins that were dull for her were a dark, poisoned shade of black up and down either way of his Mark. It stopped right before his wrist, no doubt to make sure that its effect was still invisible to the wandering eye. Even the skull looked more sinister, the veins trailing into its mouth and intertwining with the serpent. Mia swallowed hard, the shaking of her hands returning as she carefully dropped his arm and let him cover the Mark again. Nausea swept her like a gust of wind.

"I didn't think he could do that," she said quietly. Her mind unraveling as she turned to sit down next to him in his bed. Draco shifted into a better sitting position up against his headboard. "I didn't think...if I had known he could poison us like that―"

"You would have what?" he asked, tiredly. He gave her a defeated look. "I don't think it can do anything more than make us feel ill...but I wouldn't put it past him. He isn't summoning us, just letting us know he still has control. If I attract any more unwanted attention before our mission is finished, I suspect the warning will become someone else's illness instead of our own."

The faces of Theodore, her mother, and Narcissa flashed through her mind. "Then we won't attract any. We'll be more careful."

"Kind of difficult when your boyfriend is screaming at me to go play a stupid game of Quidditch like we still have some sense of youth left," Draco sneered, rolling his eyes.

"He isn't my boyfriend," she started with scowl his way, "and you can't be upset with your teammates for wanting you to go out and play your spot on the team you've had for five years. They have no idea what has happened, Draco. You can't simply expect them to understand something that we barely accept ourselves. To them...this war is not yet a reality. They are living around it, not in it."

Draco laughed bitterly. "Yes, and we are barely surviving directly in the middle of it. Tell your friend, then, that I won't be playing tomorrow. Even if I found some care for it, I can barely get out of bed with my arm like this. I'd only injury myself. A trip to the infirmary probably isn't in our best interest right now. I can already see Pomfrey's horror at my arm―what do you think she'd scream at first, the decaying veins or the Dark Mark?"

"This isn't a joke, Draco. Everyone is starting to notice how bad we look. There's only so much grief we can blame it on before people start asking different questions...we both need sleep. We need to take a break tonight. Skip Astronomy and rest. Try and get rid of whatever he did to us."

He glanced over at her still-exposed arm for a second before nodding. "Fine. We can start again during the game tomorrow. Everyone will be distracted."

"I'm going to the game."

"What?" his head shot up, and his grey eyes turned to steel. "Are you serious right now? What, you want to get rest to go watch Vaisey play but not to work on the very thing that is going to keep us alive?"

Mia stood up from the bed, glowering at him. "Has that poison seeped into your thick skull? What is it with you and Vaisey? It will look more suspicious if both of us are absent―we just talked about not attracting attention―and my cousin is playing out there for the first time, Malfoy. I know you like him as much as you apparently like Vaisey, but he is still my family. My priority to watch over, even if it is just a school-kid Quidditch game. You forget that way too often."

Draco was silenced, his lips pursing as he kept himself from saying anything that he would regret later on. He did not make eye contact with her though, and instead kept a cold gaze on the green curtains that were in front of him. Mia wanted to let out a shrill scream in frustration, but she kept to herself as she openly continued to glare at the blonde boy. She hated when he acted like this. It only reminded her of how different Draco and Vaisey truly were, and she gave a final scowl his way just to get her point across before starting to move to the door.

"Goodnight, Romy."

A surrendering sigh escaped her lips. He knew just as well as she did that she forgave him instantly for everything every single time he used that nickname with her. Perhaps it was because it was the one piece of their childhood that they could keep close. Maybe it was Draco's way of knowing that he would always have a piece of Andromeda that he didn't have to share. Either way, she let the tension fall from her shoulders before she touched the door knob. Knowing that their bickering was behind them, she didn't bother turning around to make sure.

"Goodnight, Draco."

―――――――――――――

It felt like she was being shaken awake only a few minutes after her head finally hit her pillow. Andromeda shot up in an instant when hands were laid on her arm, her hand reaching up and her mind already racing with a spell to send the person back. A shout of alarm was heard, and she was looking up with hazy eyes to see that she had accidentally used Flipendo to send Tracey back into Daphne's storage chest at the foot of her bed. The curly-haired girl let out a grumble of protests before picking herself up off the ground, sending a glare at Mia as she returned back to the side of her bed.

Mia glanced around the room in confusion to see that only Bulstrode was there, fast asleep and snoring. Parkinson was nowhere to be seen (probably trying to see Draco), and neither was Daphne. She frowned, glancing up at her friend in confusion. "What's going on? What time is it?"

"Just before dinner," Tracey explained, then frowned as she glanced down at her hands. "Mia..."

The hesitation on her face made Mia shoot up from her bed instantly, reaching for the first pair of clothing that she could find. "What happened? Is it Theo?"

"No, no. Theodore is fine. Him and Daphne went to dinner already with Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle...he wanted to wait for you, but he figured you'd rather be with Vaisey."

"Vaisey?" she asked in confusion, stopping with one shoe on to look at Tracey. "Why would I want to be with Vaisey?"

"He got hurt, Mia," Tracey said, then hesitated for a second. "It's bad. Daphne and I went with them to practice, and Crabbe and Goyle were arguing because Malfoy wasn't there to shut them up...a bludger hit him in the head. Pretty badly. Theodore was the first to get to him, and he tried to use some healing charms but―"

The panic that had disappeared when she found out that Theo was all right had returned like a lightning strike as Tracey spoke. She was sure that whatever color used to be on her face was gone, fear sweeping through her body as she listened. All she could think about was Andrew, though, and every single sensation of horror took over as her heart leapt in her chest.

"Tracey," she said, her voice wavering. "Is he okay? Where is he?"

"Hospital wing. He had to be levitated there...there was a lot of blood...I think Pomfrey said he had a cracked skull. It's worse off than most. She was scrambling around like a mad woman when she saw him."

Andromeda didn't listen to anything more than she had to say, nodding in silent thanks for waking her up before she was quickly making her way out of the Slytherin house and up to the hospital wing. The pounding that she could hear in her ears silenced most of her thoughts, but it couldn't get rid of the overwhelming worry that was surging through her with vicious force. The rushed footsteps up the stairs were barely registered in her mind. Perhaps the most terrifying part of all was her reaction to finding out that Andrew was hurt in the first place―if she avoided all rational thought for someone she just began caring intimately for, what would that mean when she found out more people she knew would be hurt?

She tried not to think too much on it, ignoring the horrible feeling of a different terror that rose in her chest. The hospital wing was just around the corner, and Mia wasted no time grabbing hold of the door to get inside. To her surprise, it was considerably empty. Finding Vaisey hadn't been difficult, seeing as Madam Pomfrey was still scrambling around him in the same manner that Tracey spoke of previously. It was only when she heard the sound of new footsteps that she looked up, eyes scanning the entirety of Mia's body with a frown before sighing. Apparently, her inspection hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped.

"Miss Erebus, you look dreadful," she said.

Mia only gave her a half-hearted smirk in response, shrugging. "Not here for me. How is he?"

"He is fine," a new voice spoke, and she took another few steps to see that Andrew was propped up in the bed, a bandage wrapped tightly around his dark hair as he frowned. He looked horribly pale and dried blood was still staining his clothes, but he was respondent. "Fine enough to go back to his dorm and get rest before tomorrow's game."

Madam Pomfrey only rolled her eyes at him, turning to Mia. "Maybe you can convince him he has sustained a serious head injury and will not be anywhere near a Quidditch pitch tomorrow while I go find you something to help with those dark circles under your eyes."

Andromeda waited until Pompfrey left before she moved over to the chair that was next to Vaisey's bed. When she had finally gotten situated, she looked up to see that Andrew's eyes were already on her. The sliver of panic returned, and she could not stop her lips from pulling down as she looked over his face in concern. He was weaker than usual, his gaze on her faint as he tried to keep his eyelids from shutting from the amount of pain that was throbbing in his skull. Even then, she stopped her once-over when she realized that he was still frowning. This time, at her.

"Now I know why you hate it," he said, his words quiet as he continued to watch her.

She raised her brows in question. "Hate what?"

"The look, the one you've been giving me since you arrived. Concern," he started, "it makes you feel small. I know why you hate it now―why you don't like when I ask if you are all right."

"And are you?"

"Am I all right?" Andrew repeated, then snorted as he closed his eyes. "Of course not. I want to smother Crabbe and Goyle in their sleep with each other's hands, but I know that still won't help me feel any better...just a few hours ago, I was talking about how important this game means to me. Now, I won't even be playing in it. If there is a world where I should be all right about this, I certain do not live in it right now."

His frustrations made his voice raise, and she flinched. Not because of the volume of his tone or because he scared her, but because she could hear the pain that came in waves through his words. Mia did know how important the game tomorrow was to him. Yes, there would be other games, but not another game against Gryffindor. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw matches were never the same. She understood his anger, but what she hated even more was that there was absolutely nothing she could do to help him. Helpless was becoming too common a feeling for her.

"Andrew, I―"

"It's okay," he interrupted, turning her again. A weak smile replaced his sorrow.

Mia shook her head. "No, it isn't."

"I know, but that is what you always tell me when you want to ease the worry. I thought I should do the same...I will be all right. The injury isn't as bad as Pomfrey thought it was earlier. I'm healing perfectly fine, just not fast enough to be in the crossfire again tomorrow. No need to worry as much as you are, although it is nice to see you coming to nurse me back to health now."

Vaisey's cheekiness had returned, even with a head injury, and she wanted to scoff but all she could to was smile at him. Just like she had before, Mia was reaching absently for his hand. She tried to forget about how the tremors in her left hand ceased the second that she touched him, wondering if a certain degree of light was able to cancel out all of the darkness within her. Maybe Vaisey was the antidote to the poison. Vaisey hummed at the contact, unable to move his head enough to glance down at their hands but still managing to grab hold of her own and intertwine them.

"You know," he began, and the slurring of his voice showed he would be crashing soon. "Part of me wondered what you would do if I ever got injured...I've seen the way you run to Malfoy when he's hurt. Even earlier...I didn't know if you would act the same if something happened to me."

Something struck her heart just then, but she ignored it and squeezed his hand. "Of course I would...I can't tell you right now what it is that I feel for you, or that I feel the exact same way as you do for me, but I care about you, Andrew. More than I probably should. I wonder if you are just as much a danger to me as I am to you."

"Why is that?" he asked, his eyelids heavy as he looked at her.

She smiled gently. "Because I am completely terrified of the way I feel when I'm around you."

The older boy didn't bother to say anything more, his green eyes inspecting her for a few moments before they finally gave up their fight and closed. Andromeda watched as he fell asleep, his hold on her hand slowly loosening until it was barely gripping her fingertips. She wanted to rip her hand out of his, and she just as much wanted to stay there forever. It was that feeling there that terrified her. She promised herself at the beginning of this that she would have no involvement with anyone, and there was a reason for that.

Andromeda was a danger to anyone who loved her. Vaisey, by caring about her the way that he did, put himself in more harms way that he could ever know as he held her hand. Because it was a hand of death, and those hands were never meant to love anyone. She never meant to let another person in; never intended to let that fear become so extreme that it rested in the same place of her heart as it did with the others. He found a way, though. Andrew Vaisey, whether she wanted it or not, held a section of her heart that retained happiness, compassion, and innocence. He held the part of her that she would need to see one day after all of this was over. He held the part of her that she knew the world would come to destroy.

He held the part of her that she was beginning to see she may have destroy herself.

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PHTHONUS: PERSONIFICATION OF JEALOUSY AND ENVY, IN MATTERS OF LOVE