Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Draco Malfoy x OC
Prompt: "I hate that you've made me feel this way. That you've made me so helpless and reliant."
Warnings: angst
Word count: 784
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ZOLA WEATHERFORD was a pureblood Slytherin witch in her final year at Hogwarts. Although she had the image of a proud Slytherin student, she was far from it. She wasn't a hostile person like most of her housemates. Instead, she embodied the qualities of all four houses. She had the intelligence of a Ravenclaw, the kindness of a Hufflepuff, the courage of a Gryffindor. But the reason she was placed in Slytherin was that she was determined, cunning and ambitious - three core qualities of the green-coloured house.

Although she had fraternized with the enemy on multiple occasions, she always found her way back to him.

It wasn't that she wanted to be with him. In fact, she rather hated the platinum blonde boy, but his smile and arrogant charm always seemed to make her heart race at a sickening rate.

But she couldn't help it. Draco Malfoy had won her heart, and she had his in turn.

As time went on, the two Slytherin students grew closer and closer. To the point where Draco wanted the dark-haired girl to meet his parents. So she did, wanting to make him happy.

Yet the visit to the Malfoy mansion was less than pleasant for Zola. Lucius Malfoy had practically dragged the young girl into his cult - as Zola thought. The Death Eaters. It was something that Zola never wanted to join Voldemort's army, and she made Draco aware of this.

It was something that they could share. However, Draco had little to no choice in the matter. He was forced into becoming a Death Eater, and unfortunately, Zola was in the same boat as him. They were scared, but Zola couldn't help but blame the pale boy.

"I can't believe you," Zola had seethed once they were in his room at the mansion, away from the adults who remained in the lounge.

"What?" Draco asked, sitting down on the edge of his large bed. His large blue eyes looked up the enraged girl pacing before him.

"'What?'" She repeated in disbelief. "Really, Draco? Merlin, I bet you knew that they would do this to me," Zola disgustingly gestured to the brand new dark mark tattoo on his inner forearm, her face contorted with terror as she looked down to the black ink. "Didn't you?" She weakly asked out, tears brimming her eyes as she looked down at the scared boy. "Draco, please."

Draco remained quiet but instead lowered his head to watch his fidgeting hands in his lap.

"Draco. Tell me if you knew what they were going to do," Zola ordered, her voice cracking slightly, not wanting to believe her doubts. The blonde boy let out a quiet sob but that didn't stop Zola's persistence. "Draco, tell me!"

"Yes!" Draco finally let out. His voice was loud but weak. "Yes. I knew. I'm sorry, Zo," Draco cried, his chest rising and falling at a quick rate, trying to control his breathing.

Zola sobbed. "I hate this."

"What?" Draco asked, confused.

"This!" She gestured between herself and the boy in front of her. "I hate what you're doing to me! I hate that you've made me feel this way. That you've made me so helpless and reliant. I don't want to feel that if something goes wrong that I should run back to you all the time. I hate that I love you so much that seeing you cry like this makes me want to forget everything and make you feel better. I hate that I love you."

Draco said nothing but stare at Zola with tearful eyes. "You hate me?"

Zola sighed, sitting beside him. "I didn't say that. What I meant was that our relationship has a lot of highs and lows. I just wish somethings were simpler for us. That we didn't have to please your parents or our snobby housemates. I wish that it was just you and me and we didn't care about what other people thought. You matter to me, Draco. Only you. Not your parents, not You-Know-Who, not your housemates. Just you," she whispered at the end, her hand finding his between them.

Draco cracked a smile, his nose crinkling as he sniffed. "You matter to me too. I'm sorry. I'll make this right. For you, Zo."

Zola smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder with a sad smile as she looked down her inked arm. "I know you will, daring. Guess I'll just have to ditch the short sleeve shirts for a while though until it scars."

THE END