Boy - (A 'Blaire Zabini' sequel) || Draco Malfoy

11 - A Brief, Yet Perfect, Moment

The atmosphere in the room was tense as all eyes fixed upon Draco.

I found myself edging my chair nearer to him, offering support through my closeness, desperately wanting to take his hand but the inappropriateness of it stopping me.

He threw me a grateful look as I instead pressed my leg against his, feeling him return the pressure.

"You can trust me not to betray you," Draco assured the table's occupants. "I would never do anything that would endanger Blaire or our child's life."

Our child. Hearing him say that made my heart swell with warmth. And I suddenly found myself experiencing a wave of frustration that after all these years we were sat here begging for Draco to be allowed a chance to continue visiting us.

Of course he couldn't stay permanently, he had a pregnant wife to consider.

That violent twist of my heart again when I thought of her. Astoria.

Something was deeply wrong, though. At first I thought it was simply guilt on Draco's part for having moved on whilst thinking I was dead. But even after all this time, I still knew him; and I also knew there was more to it than that.

I could see it in his eyes when he mentioned his marriage; the unhappiness was rife. And when I asked him about the cuts on his face, he grew evasive, steering the subject away as though he was somehow ashamed.

And yes, maybe I should be jumping for joy that he clearly wasn't happy with Astoria, but it just made me feel desperately sad for him that he could have been suffering so much all these years.

I'd had Jack, he gave me love and hope and happiness, and the knowledge that I might someday be reunited with the man I loved. Draco had had nothing but despair and grief, believing he'd lost me forever.

I was utterly heartbroken for him. He didn't deserve that. He deserved the world of happiness after everything he'd suffered.

"Draco tried to save us," I spoke up, hating the way everyone was regarding Draco with deep suspicion. "He went over with the intention to finish-" I paused, drawing in a deep shuddering breath as I tried to push down the pain that had suddenly engulfed me. "- to finish N-Neville's job. He knew it was the only way; but then Harry was killed before he had the chance."

Startled murmurs rippled around the room and I felt a hand slip in mine under the table. I realised with surprise that it was Draco's. He threw me a quick, comforting smile as his fingers squeezed mine.

"You know about the snake?" Kingsley asked, a look of intrigue on his face as he leant towards Draco; his low majestic voice silencing the room.

"Yes," Hermione spoke up before Draco could answer. "I can vouch for this, because I was the one who told him."

"But you've never tried to put a stop to it since?" Kingsley pressed, his bulging eyes studying Draco curiously. "Never tried to overthrow him?"

"And how exactly was I supposed to do that?" Draco spat, his fingers gripping tightly around mine. "I had lost all hope thinking that the most important person in my world was dead. I could barely get it together to get out of bed every morning, let alone go on a one man crusade against the most evil and most powerful wizard in the world!"

"You still managed to knock up another woman though." Ginny drawled from where she was sat at the end of the table with her arms crossed lazily over her chest.

Draco's cheeks instantly flushed as he hastily removed his hand from mine; turning his face away from me just as a funny strangling sound emitted from the back of his throat.