Limerence; Draco Malfoy

Chapter Fifty-Three: Safe-house

^ Some art from
brainless_a *This chapter I'm gonna be splitting into 3 parts because it getting to be over 15k words :p

0OoOo

The walk to the safehouse took us out of the main town, and up a winding, country lane. The hall wasn't visible at first -- tall hedges and iron gates kept it perfectly shielded off from any passers-by. Draco held his wand up to the gates and they automatically creaked open, revealing a seemingly infinite driveway.

The safe-house could be more suitably described as a safe-mansion. A great, big, sprawling mass of old property that was surrounded by rolling green hills, and beyond that, rocky cliff edges which looked out to the lonely sea. It was only a tiny dot in the distance from where we stood at the end of the driveway, yet it still stood out impressively amongst the wild scenery.

Me and Draco had put a small distance between us once we'd reached the country lane. Now, his hands were shoved back into his pockets as he started striding down the long stretch of gravelled driveway.

I gaped at his dark silhouette, the full moon hanging in the sky and then at the beautiful fairy-tale of a mansion looming in the distance.

And I smiled, before hurrying over to catch up to him.

I slotted my arm under his elbow, linking them without a second thought. Draco glanced down at me from the side, but I purposefully didn't look up to see his face. I could feel his judgement and scornful words readying to bite me, and so I fell into am excitable ramble.

"That's not a house, that's a palace. A literal mansion. How many bedrooms did you say it had? And when was it built? Because I always like to know the history of these places--"

I managed to fill the air with questions all the way up until we'd reached the door.

He responded curtly to each one, yet he didn't seem irritated by me enough to unlink our arms. In fact, he wrapped his free hand just above my elbow, and we didn't break apart until he pointed his wand at the main, double doors, and they'd swung open.

"I suppose I'll give you a proper tour of the place tomorrow, when it's light out," He told me as we stepped through a vast, echoey entrance hall and into a darkly lit hallway.

He held his wand out again, and with a sharply spoken incantation, the room we stood in suddenly glowed with warm light.

Brereton hall was nothing like Malfoy manor, in that here, the colour scheme was bright and cosy, rather than cold and minimalistic. The large fireplace sparked yellow flames. Beside it stood a ridiculously tall, glittering Christmas tree, adorned with hundreds of old-fashioned decorations and red lights.

For a place that didn't even belong to me, I'd never felt more at home.

The word safe-house did have some truth to it, in that sense.

"Could you err. . . wait here, just a minute?" Draco was standing by the doorway, watching me as I stood admiring the Christmas tree. "I've got to check something. The gates -- I need to make sure they're locked with magic, so that only us two can enter and leave."

I saw the way his brows had scrunched together as he told me this. The way he'd suddenly straightened his posture whilst taking a sharp glance towards the hallway. But I didn't bother to ask him if there was anything wrong. Figured it'd only earn me a scornful response.

Instead, I nodded, turning back to the fire. Too weighted down by exhaustion to question him about it.

His footsteps sounded off into the distance, leaving a peaceful quiet in their wake. My face glowed warm from the flames in the hearth, and I could finally let my shoulders slump.