Die or kill...

The idea of going on a date with Malfoy turned out to be not so bad. On the contrary, my mysterious and elated mood caught the eye of all the inhabitants of the living room, and even Ron could not stay away. He pushed his little sister in the back and forced her to talk to me and find out what happened to their local geek that she was in the clouds and instead of homework she was drawing daisies in the fields. From the outside, the picture probably looked funny. They certainly didn’t expect this from Hermione Granger. — Herm, are you all right? The sent spy asked me cautiously. — And? — raising my surprised gaze, I looked at the redhead with an extremely honest gaze. “You’re just being suspicious enough, — Ginny tried to smooth over the rough edges. — We are worried about you, if you are ill or, on the contrary, trouble has happened to you, then do not be silent. Tell us and everything will be fine, we will handle everything. We’re friends, we’ll never leave you. — Don’t worry so much, everything is fine with me, — waving her away, she turned her gaze back to the sketched corner of the essay on potions. “Nothing’s good,” the girl said, “you ignore me and look at the potion essay with a sick look, and, oh my God, you’re painting it with flowers. My dear Hermione would never have allowed herself to do that! Do you understand what you’re doing? No… Really? —Ginny, you’re yelling like I can’t have my own business,” I rolled my eyes, “if it’s that interesting, I was asked out on a date on Saturday.” And, to be honest, I agreed at first, and only then I thought that it was somehow suspicious. But taking the words back is somehow ugly. Now I’m thinking about what to do with all this and how to continue living. — Oh, — she immediately changed her anger to mercy, — and who is it? Do we know him? — Of course, — I twirled my finger at my temple, — we study at a closed school, they don’t let us out of here, or do you think Krum will go to England for the weekend for such a case? Come on… and it’s clear that he’s studying with us. “And who is he?” — the girls who heard this conversation slowly pulled up to us. — You will scold for such an ill-considered choice on my part, — I looked down and scratched the table with my fingernail, — no, I can’t believe myself that I allowed this. It just doesn’t fit in my head that I could have done such a stupid thing. And here… God, I can’t imagine how to live! I feel like a complete fool. — You first tell me who he is, and then our collective female fraternity will decide whether you are a fool or not, — Lavender put her hand on my shoulder, — don’t worry, the first date is always exciting. We will help and be there for you. —Yeah, — the others nodded. “And who is he?” One of the twins looked at me defiantly. “Okay, Malfoy asked me out on a date,” I drawled softly and resignedly, “and somehow it turned out that I first said yes, and then I realized to whom and what I blurted out. He couldn’t just do that. And I can’t imagine what to do with all this now. And I don’t want to take back my words either. What if he’s serious? And then I’m like, no, stop, I think you’re a jerk, I’m not going anywhere, the girls don’t advise me. It will obviously sound strange from the outside. And then, in the common living room of the faculty, the real end of the world began. The girls probably decided that they had misheard and tried, asking each other again, to establish the truth. Frankly, it didn’t matter, but they still had no other options. Malfoy is unlikely to tell the truth that, practically by blackmail and pressure on the unfortunate psyche of the sarcastic ferret, I forced him to invite himself to a pleasure trip in order to conclude a peace agreement. If anyone could act openly, it was him. Shaking her head, she tried to push away the stupid thoughts. No… This is a mutually beneficial cooperation. I didn’t want to put my head under attack at all. Besides, I was well aware that there was, to put it mildly, not the best memory behind all this. If I had been more courageous and persistent in my previous life, not relying on my mind and books, I would have noticed long ago what contemptuous glances Ginny threw in my direction when she thought I couldn’t see. The way Ron’s lips curled when he needed to touch me or stand next to me. He hadn’t even met Brown yet, but he was already staring and drooling, and they only politely ignored me. My rapidly blushing cheeks, friendly, at such moments, the women’s team attributed to excitement and shyness. It wasn’t every day that the main nerd and ugly girl of all schools had to admit that the main handsome and enviable groom of the whole of Britain asked her out on a date, and she didn’t think twice and agreed. In their understanding, this went beyond the normal, and the only thing that saved me at that moment from the inevitable massacre of embittered vixens was the idea of a setup that I screwed in. It’s good to know the methods of psychological manipulation of public opinion. I have never regretted that I graduated from the institute in this specialty. In their right mind and sober memory, none of them could accept the fact that Malfoy had invited me for a walk. I was in no hurry to crucify and simplify the life of a circle of charmers. Maybe this way my rating will grow a little, and the Weasley family will stop pushing and playing so hard. The fifth year was the most relaxed, except for the final encore with the destruction of the ministry building. I didn’t want to repeat it… probably, descendants would have remembered it to the gray roots of the hair on my ass, if at the age of forty I hadn’t died in the status of a childless and destitute woman, unable even to iron her husband’s shirt. Chuckling to myself, I tried to minimize the risks, but while they were busy discussing pressing problems and solving the main issue of the day, I slowly sank into a doze. I arranged all this on purpose. Ignored the Weasleys, waited for the evening. The war with those who were used to playing hard and dirty could only be waged on their territory. I also learned this lesson perfectly well and now I would certainly take advantage of any opportunity that came up. What the hell is not joking, maybe it really wasn’t so easy for me to be given a second chance and with my memories of unexpected events I will be able to influence the course of history. But the girlish fingers that clung to me with a death grip did not allow me to fully digest the full extent of the responsibility that fell on me. I looked closely at Ginny, who was boiling with anger and jealousy, and just shrugged my shoulders. Putting on a confused expression, I smiled stupidly and tried with all my appearance to prove to these arrogant girls that nothing terrible had happened and, in fact, I was here a victim of the cruel and narcissistic tyranny of Malfoy. “You have to be extremely careful with him,” Ginny instructed me, her eyes glittering fiercely, “he’s not the kind of person you can communicate with so easily and simply. The most vile, sneaky and arrogant asshole of all possible. “Honey, I actually think this is just another stupid joke of his,” I replied quietly, “so don’t worry. I’m just going to play along with him and laugh at how he’s going to try to trick me. Malfoy and normal don’t mix in my head. — If you hadn’t screwed her up, — pushing my friend away, the senior shook my palm, — Malfoy wouldn’t have asked me out for a joke. They’re strict about it. Maybe it’s like in a fairy tale: a handsome prince fell in love with a beggar? — Well, thanks for the kind word, — I muttered, listening to the women’s conversations. — No, I really think so, — she shook her head, — besides, my mother said that Lady Malfoy has been worried about her son’s behavior lately. Maybe it has to do with you and falling in love with someone he’s not supposed to fall in love with. It’s so romantic. And now he’s plucked up the courage and made you an offer to walk together and shock the audience. Don’t listen to that redhead. He wouldn’t expose himself like that for a joke. An aristocrat to the core — he will die with all the luxury and wealth. From her words, images of the future, which for me was the past, instantly popped up in front of my eyes. A dirty gray basement, a temporary detention cell. Gray eyes blazing with righteous anger, looking only at me. The eternal long white ponytail of hair, now scattered in sloppy curls over the shoulders of its owner and fell to the dirty floor. Scarlet bruises on his muscular torso, arms and legs. In his underpants, sitting in front of a crowd of onlookers, Malfoy seemed like an unapproachable block, an arrogant and self-confident rock, which is not afraid of ridiculous threats. And the next moment… His piercing eyes were glazed and frozen. He slowly toppled over on his side and a waterfall of snow-white hair spread out in a crooked puddle on the gray floor. His pale skin was a bright spot in contrast to this spit-stained place. Malfoy himself seemed out of place in this setting. I turned around furiously to yell at the one who had released the curse without my orders. But I found that I was the only one clutching a wand and looking at the corpse, which a moment ago wanted to burst into an angry tirade. I couldn’t kill… I would remember… But the magic was not wrong, and the punishment nevertheless followed. Pressing my hand to my stomach, I remembered the pain I had to live with. How I almost turned inside out until the doctors found a miscarriage and cancerous growths on the ovaries. Then I thought it was someone’s curse, someone got to me: after all, I am a prominent political figure. Now, sitting surrounded by girls, I clearly realized that behind it was the revenge of magic itself, which repaid the murderer of its child. All that remained was to find out what was so special about Malfoy. But before rushing into the embrasures and tearing off my nails, climbing through the intricacies of history and my memory, I had to deal with the problems of this year. Namely, Ginny’s desire to get Harry for herself. It was in their fifth year that they would meet for the first time after the Christmas ball. But I couldn’t let that happen. Just don’t lose a friend again, watching his own wife deftly slit his throat like a real maniac. And this with icy indifference and even a kind of pessimistic smile. The emerald eyes widened only for a moment. The flames of the Christmas candles reflected in the gold frame of the thin glasses. The blade of a knife flashed… And the next moment Harry was wheezing, clutching at his throat, but there was nothing he could do. I flew up on a chair and was stopped by a heavy fist in the stomach. Ron held me by the neck and once again put his head on the festive table. And then there was darkness and pain… which ended in a bright flash of white light and a new life in the ritual hall. — Why is he so fixated on this? — an unexpected question pulled me out of the memories of the past. — Well, anyway, he needs to continue the family, — the one from senior years scratched the tip of her nose, — it seems, if you believe the rumors, then a curse is imposed on them and in one generation they can have only one child and nothing else. Magic burns all the others out of the light, burning out their blood and leaving only ashes behind. — But if he has a son, will he cease to be the last in the family? I raised an eyebrow in surprise. “And everyone treats him like a golden egg.” — For this, magic must recognize the child as the rightful heir, — the girl chuckled, — that’s what it means to be ignorant of the affairs of the ancients. And magic is very scrupulous in such matters. If she doesn’t like something, she can refuse. There have been cases when they tried to replace the heirs. But the ancestors were not idiots and knew perfectly well how to expose deception. Therefore, there was always the option that the family would not recognize the heir and then they would have to think something and guess what to do next and what to do with all this. The only option here is when a man himself offers you to bear an heir, but there are so many problems, so many problems, and you also need to get a ritual phrase from him. Often the game is not worth the candle. For this reason, everyone is worried that he suddenly switched to you. What if you foolishly, without knowing the laws of magic, do something and somehow influence Malfoy’s decision. The people will not survive this. — I’m a fool, — biting my lip, I almost howled, — I didn’t really know them and didn’t think… Heck! People stared at me in surprise, but I just waved them away. Only now, at this very moment, another simple truth dawned on me: Malfoy was not the last of the twenty-eight. I didn’t kill the child of magic… I was carrying the last heir of twenty-eight under my heart, so that the demons would fuck them all in hell. That’s why I was given a second chance. Because I killed the father of my unborn son. With her own hand… she crossed everything out and put an end to history. That’s exactly what the Weasleys thought. They didn’t know that I slept with Draco.… After all, a month has passed between the death of the last Malfoy and my illness. Magic doesn’t take that long, it immediately gives out interest on all debts. And in that situation, she might have thought that by my father’s death I was protecting a new life. But then, what happened to me? Was it really cursed? Then we need to figure out everything that is happening and clarify with Malfoy himself whether such an option could have happened that his first son was not the heir, and one drunken sex on the table in the office of the Minister of Magic led to my child being the next Malfoy, for whose life magic forgave me and gave me a second chance. Okay, we need to breathe somehow, these events will happen only in twenty years. When I realize on my own birthday that every dog ignores me and communicates only with Ron and Ginny. That even Harry, somehow lost and doomed, was hanging around in his dress uniform and couldn’t find a place to hide. And only Malfoy, with his snow-white tail up to his ass, stands out as a bright spot in the sea of indifferent faces. His alcohol-doped eyes looked only at me. They dug into me so hard that it seemed like I was going to start smoking. How we ended up together on the ministerial balcony, I did not remember even six months after those events, even standing in the cell, I did not know how I felt about him, even dying, I clutched at the last grains of common sense. But at that moment, I was happily throwing my head back and hanging over the railing. Realizing that only his strong hands and the magic that was spreading around me in a mad whirlwind were holding me on the thin marble edge. Such warm, such affectionate strength of Malfoy held me back and forced me to give myself up to passion. And then, without thinking about the consequences, I clung to his hair with my fingers and pressed myself harder, begged him not to stop, and in the end, as if losing my mind, demanded to take me right here on the unlocked balcony, where anyone could enter at any moment. Somehow, tremulously, harshly and passionately. I forgot about everything… that the Minister of Magic… About being married… That he has a wife and a child… I spat and succumbed to the charm of a blond asshole, whose tongue was freely wielding between my legs and lifting me up to the stars. — Girls, I felt sick, — turning white from my own memories, I staggered to my feet, — I’m going to lie down. — Yeah, don’t overexert yourself, — Ginny grabbed my arm, — and don’t think about that arrogant ass: he’s not your match. — Yeah,” I realized with a shake of my head that I was feeling sick.