Of Doves and Dragons

Chapter Fifty: The Doubt

A/N: Hey! So this is the only chapter that I am not happy with and is subject to change in the future, so think of this more like a bonus chapter!!

"Is the only reason your holding me tonight, cause we're scared to be lonely?"

-Martin Garrix, Dua Lipa, Scared to be Lonely

Time moved strangely after that. It was like one large sigh that kept expelling.

Ember and Draco had not spoken about the fact that they were no longer married other than to discuss it with Hermione who concurred their analysis. If a dark marriage was performed with the soul of the maker then it unravels if the maker perishes. It was another reason why dark marriages didn't last, and that no one had heard about them. Ember demanded to know the book Hermione had read to have figured out all of this and mentally added it to her to-do list.

They were also stranded. They couldn't go back to Malfoy Manor, not that they wanted to. Draco assumed that is where his parents had fled the battle to and he had no doubt that his father had put up hundreds of protective spells around the estate to slow down the marshals when they inevitably came to collect him.

Most of the students, who had been dismissed for the year, had gone home to their parents. Only a few were allowed to stay under the supervision of Professor McGonagall. Ember and Draco were one of the few.

McGonagall approached them that afternoon and asked them if they would be willing to stay behind and help repair the castle. It was a rough extension of protection and acceptance from the older woman and they both jumped at the offer.

In the midst of the celebration, the mourning, and the overall exhaustion of the forces, Draco and Ember hadn't had a chance to unwind and talk about all that had passed in the few days they had been separated, and where this strange turn of events left them.

They managed to sneak away, to the room that had once been theirs the year before, late into the evening. Once Harry had escaped back to the Gryffindor dormitories for some well-deserved sleep, the groups of witches and wizards in the Great Hall had dispersed.

They were quiet as they walked down to the dungeons with Blaise, making slight small talk until he left them be to continue onto his own bed in the Slytherin dormitories. They continued into the bedroom that they had left in a hurry so long ago, an uncomfortable silence following them.

Ember couldn't seem to look him in the eye knowing how angry he was with her. She couldn't blame him. If he had done the things she had, she would have been furious. They were supposed to be a team, and teams made decisions together; but she had willingly lowered herself back in the hole they had escaped from without any input from him, consequentially putting both their lives in danger. It made her no better than their parents, and she regretted it deeply; especially now that there was no reason for him to hear her out. He didn't owe her anything, and it wasn't like they needed to air things out, because they no longer had to live connected with one another.

But they did. They did need to air things out. The balance between them had considerably shifted at Voldemort's demise and Draco could see her pulling away from him. In her eyes, in her smile, in the way she kept herself closed off from everyone, even from him. She had played the part of celebratory witch quite well this evening, but he knew her better than that.

When the door was shut behind them, and she still couldn't look at him, he coughed awkwardly. "We need to talk."

His voice startled her, as much as his words did, and her green eyes flashed to his in a gaze that was very reminiscent of the first few days she was at the manor.