NUMB WITHOUT YOU | Draco Malfoy

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Draco held my hand tightly our entire walk up to the manor. I had chosen to apparate nearby and walk the rest of the way to his childhood home, simply to give Draco some time to calm his nerves. He knew as well as I did that this wasn't a social call, and we definitely weren't there to see his Mum.

Lucius Malfoy, the reigning patriarch of the Malfoy family, stayed in his own wing of the estate. He mostly kept to himself these days. Though Narcissa and Lucius would never get divorced, their relationship had been strained from the war. Those of us who were perceptive enough knew their relationship had been strained long before that. They kept up appearances to the outside world that they were still happily married, but it was a very thin veneer with lots of cracks chipping away.

The gates swung open automatically as soon as we walked up. We stayed in silence both consumed by our own thoughts. I wondered what Draco could be thinking. He seemed more tense than I had ever seen him, and he was almost always tense. The only sound was the crunching of gravel beneath our feet and the occasional squawk from one of the infamous albino peacocks that roamed the property.

The front door to the estate creaked open, just as the gates had when we arrived in front of them. Instead of turning left when we entered the house, Draco led us to the right. My breath hitched and suddenly I felt very nervous. I knew Draco could feel my heartbeat increase rapidly because he squeezed my hand tightly before finally letting go.

"I know." Draco muttered quietly as we weaved down corridors.

"It's just... I haven't been on this side of the manor since..."

"I know." Draco repeated a little more sharply than before. He was wringing his hands together nervously and his knuckles had turned white. We reached a door at the end of the hall and Draco reached forward and knocked timidly.

The door swung open and inside Lucius was reading a copy of The Daily Prophet at his desk. "I knew this day was coming, Draco." He said cooly. His eyes were still glued to the paper. "Miss Parkinson has been eyeing your mother's engagement ring for years. Still, to seek my approval for your foreseeable nuptials is admirable."

The back of Draco's neck turned bright red. He stared at the ground. I rolled my eyes and stepped forward. Someone had to be assertive here and Malfoy was proving to be a waste of space. "That's not what this is about."

Lucius finally looked up from his paper. His face was full of genuine surprise to see me standing there. Once he had taken me in completely, he frowned and looked back down at his paper. "Draco, you already know I don't approve of Miss Dolohov. She is not Malfoy material."

Those words didn't sting like they used to.

"Once again, you've come to the wrong conclusion, Lucius." I drawled. I stepped forward once again, encroaching further on his personal space. Draco remained frozen in the doorway. Useless.

"That is Mr Malfoy to you, Aurora." He spoke to me like I was the help. He had always considered me beneath him. His utter contempt for my father did not stop with him.

I ignored him and reached into my coat pocket, slamming the trinket box onto his desk. "This is why we are here."

"The bin is over there." Lucius said in the same bored tone his son had perfected. He had learned it from him, "Do not put trash on my desk."

I opened the box and let him see Bellatrix's necklace glimmering inside. He stared at it in shock. His eyes, usually cold and calm, were racing as he tried to figure out how it came to be in my possession. He finally looked me in my eyes and hissed angrily, "Where did you get this?"

"I think the more important question is how did it get into my trinket box, Lucius." I leaned forward on his desk, challenging him.

"Aurora, that's enough." Draco whispered quietly. My head snapped to look at him and my hair flew around angrily. He looked like he was pleading with me with his eyes. He didn't want things to escalate, but he wasn't prepared to put a real stop to them himself. Useless and cowardly.