Mine

[40]

It was late by the time I had the common room to myself. Students had been slow to trickle out and into their own dorms tonight, probably because it was a Friday night and there were no classes the next day. I sighed, curling my legs beneath my body. I was seated in the armchair closest to the fireplace, my head tilted towards it so that I could still see the flames dancing before my closed eyelids.

I sighed to myself as I heard footsteps approaching the common room, them stopping short soon after. I slowly opened my eyes and turned to find Draco standing at the bottom of the stairs leading down from the boys' dormitories. He eyed me cautiously.

I turned my head back to the fireplace, the footsteps continuing once again until I heard the shifting of cushions as he dropped onto the couch across from me.

"Gemma," Draco began slowly, "you have to try to under–"

"I'm not mad at you, Draco." I said softly, finally bringing my eyes to him. I could see him let out a breath in relief, though he looked quite awful. He was exhausted, and it was evident from the state of his face. "Why didn't you tell them?"

"What?" Draco asked, his eyes flicking up to my face.

"Why didn't you tell them that it was him, that it was Harry?" I asked, my eyes carefully observing his face.

Draco sighed, dropping his head into his hands. His fingers raked through his hair, scratching at his scalp, before he lifted his head once again. "I want the same outcome that you do, Gem." He murmured. "I know that I could have brought my family redemption, but I don't want Voldemort to kill him when he's the only hope." He said the last four words bitterly, but we both knew he was right. Harry Potter was our only hope of Voldemort's downfall.

I rose from my seat and closed the small distance between us, sitting down on Draco's lap. He looked up at me with a look of shock, his arms remaining at his sides against the couch. "I'm sorry for rushing out earlier. I've just been so worried about how they're doing. This is the longest I've gone without hearing from Hermione and it scares me not knowing how she is. And for her to be physically branded as a mudblood...I worry about her every day." I whispered.

A small frown tugged at Draco's lips as his arms came around my waist in a tight embrace. He rested his chin on my shoulder, looking up at me with soft eyes. "You've never told me that. You don't bring her up much." He said softly.

"It's hard for me to talk about." I whispered shakily, my throat feeling hoarse as tears burned the backs of my eyes. "You don't like them and –"

Draco shook his head vigorously, his eyebrows pulling together as his eyes hardened slightly. "It doesn't matter if they're not my friends. I am here for you. You don't have to hide your emotions from me because you think I won't care. I care about you, and that means I care about your fears."

I gave Draco a weak smile as a tear fell down my cheek. "She was my first friend at Hogwarts. Did you know that?"

Draco shook his head, raising a hand to gently wipe my tear away with his thumb. "Yeah," I choked out a laugh. "People in the other houses don't like to associate with Slytherins, obviously. But even as first years, people have preconceived notions about us. I didn't make friends with the other Slytherin girls in our year because Pansy was always running her mouth in our dorm, making herself out as the superior cousin. Literally her words our second night. And then Hermione and I were seated beside each other in Transfigurations, and she was nice to me and we just, we just clicked. We've been through so much together. So many things that I'd even forgotten about until recently. Being friends with her isolated me even more from our house, but I never cared."