Deception

New Years was a night for action.

It seemed like a silly idea to do anything on New Years. But to Amara, it was perfect. With the stroke of midnight, most of the guests began to trickle away one by one until it was finally just them.

Amara got her kiss at midnight, and she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t gotten swept up in the thrill of it. For a moment she imagined what it would be like if that had been real. If she truly cared for Draco. If she were just another girl.

Draco was the first to head off to bed. Amara followed after him, feigning exhaustion.

She sat in her bed, the lights off, and waited for what felt like hours for Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy to go to bed.

When she was certain they were asleep she slowly slipped out of bed and quietly walked towards her dresser. She pulled on her dark clothes and tucked her hair into her cap. Finally, she opened her Christmas present from Draco and slipped the gloves on.

Oh how she wished she could just turn invisible instead. It would be much easier.

She poked her head out her bedroom door and looked both ways down the corridor. Nothing moved, or creaked. All was silent.

She crept out of her room and made her way down the corridor. She took deep breaths through her nose, trying to calm her nerves. She listened closely and stopped at every noise. This made the journey down the hallway much longer than the two minutes it usually took.

She froze when she came to Lucius’s office door. She waited, and waited for any noise to come within. Her heart pounded hard against her chest.

Carefully she opened the office door, and cringed when it made a loud creak. She held her breath tightly, waiting for the sound of footsteps. But none came.

She let out the breath she was holding and pulled out her wand from her back pocket. She had an odd feeling that Mr. Malfoy wasn’t asleep yet, or else there would be charms to stop any intruders. Or perhaps, Lucius thought that nobody would dare sneak into his office and thus there was no reason to protect it.

Slowly she walked into his office, ready to be ambushed at any moment.

Her eyes traveled around the organized room and wondered where she should begin. She stepped around to face his desk and began to pull the drawers open, one by one. She grabbed anything that looked promising, and threw the unwanted papers to the side. She began to grow desperate. The search of Malfoy’s office was proving to be a failure.

She needed something or anything to incriminate Lucius.

As minutes passed she became flustered and set caution aside. She tore drawers open, threw things aside, until she spotted the box. The box that held pictures of her family.

Hesitantly she dropped down next to the box and open the lid. Carefully she looked at each photo one by one. She refused to cry, even when she found pictures of her father when he was still at Hogwarts. A smile on his face, waving at the camera with his best friend at his side. Not a worry in the world.

He seemed so happy.

There were ones of her father and mother having dinner with friends. Pictures of them hugging each other, a small kiss on the cheek or forehead. They were so in love. They were so happy. And they had that taken away from them. Torn away from their kids and one another.

Amara felt sick to her stomach. She grabbed the pictures that were of just her parents (she certainly didn’t want pictures of Lucius) and stuffed them in the waist of her pants.

Then a picture caught her eye. The one that Lucius had showed her. The one with her parents holding Mia and herself and the Malfoy’s next to them, holding a sleepy Draco.

She walked towards the desk, picture in hand. She set the old photo in the middle on the desk and stared down at it. She couldn’t understand why her father trusted this man so much. She reached across the desk for a quill and violently put an X over Lucius’s face.

Satisfied she stepped away and walked towards the doors. She stopped and turned around to face the disheveled room. It was an absolute mess.

Amara couldn’t help but smirk. She grabbed her wand and held it towards the desk. “Incendio.”

The desk burst into flames. Slowly Amara backed out of the room, still facing the burning desk. With one last look, Amara shut the door and walked away.

Ashes, ashes. They all fall down.