a christmas break | draco malfoy - 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃

34

It felt like time had stopped. Like all the wrong in the world had been erased and all the pain was gone. The air wasn't so suffocating like dark smoke, the ground didn't feel like thin ice, instead it was steady and able to hold them both. The sky wasn't covered with a thick mist of air or a lifeless blue, but with stars shining like diamonds.

Astera turned around, her lips parted and opened slightly, as if she almost were to say something but stopped. Her eyes danced between his, looking in disbelief and shock. His own eyes were waiting for something, anything to tell him she was here and not just a fragment of being. He needed to know she was here and to stay, or else his mind might just give up and break. His heart might beat its last beat and forget how to continue without her.

"I'm sorry, Astera," he whispered, a feeling of shatter in his chest like he had just been slowly stabbed, "I'm sorry I put you in the middle to choose."

She only gulped, swallowing a hard lump as if it was a boulder in her chest. She looked away, her nose flaring as she tried to breathe, feeling panicked. What were she to do? How would she go on?

Her name sounded like smooth skin against silk, or like honey dripping in hot tea. Like a hand against sand or how his hand felt against her cheek. It sounded like a poem, or a story that she was told as a child. It sounded like a bird during the morning, like the sun dipping itself behind the lake and bathing there carelessly.

It sounded so... Pulchritodinous.

"Please, tell me something..." he pleaded, as if praying to a God for mercy, "Anything."

She had dipped her head low, looking at their shoes and shadows being casted behind him. Her eyes had glossed over with tears resembling fear, horror and dismay. Those lips Draco loved to kiss were cold and shivering, trying to keep herself together.

He heard a sniff and watched her hand brush her nose slightly. When she looked back up, she shook her head and pushed her hair aside, letting out a blow of air.

"Um..." her voice was trembling with sadness, laced with hopelessness and poignancy, "You already know who's side I'll take, Draco. But, just because I'm with them and not you, doesn't mean I won't fight off anyone who tries to harm you. And you better not get in my way."

His sad eyes felt as if they were lit up by the lights the christmas trees were laced with, "I won't get in your way if you don't get in mine."

☆☆☆☆☆☆

It was close; the end of break. The snow had began to slowly but surely melt. The flowers were ready to bloom and the Whomping Willow kept shaking the snow off itself. The lake was no longer frozen and the halls of Hogwarts weren't as cold as they used to be. The sun was more frequent nowadays compared to all those grey and gloomy days.

"You were close, just keep going at it," Astera said, her hands crossed over her chest. Draco stood before her, an annoyed look on his face as his grip around his wand tightened. They couldn't bear the darkness that the Room of Requirement equipped them with so they took a risk and went to the forest, but not too deep in.

"If I keep going at it any longer, I might as well set myself on fire," he angrily said, dropping his hand by his side.

Astera walked towards him. After that night at the tower, there was a small yet very frequent feeling of something unusual hanging above their heads. As if something unsaid by both of them. It was dreadful.

"Want me to help?" she asked, standing in front of him. Draco quietly replied and nodded. He watched her step closer, turning her head as her lips made contact with his, noticing how soft they were. She slowly pulled away, a sly smile on her face, "Try again."