We Belong Together || Draco Malfoy X Reader

97| The Singing Bird

Draco POV

My encounter with Y/N wasn't so bad after all. I wasn't talking about the wardrobe one, I met her again on my way to fix the cabinet. She was hanging out with that mudblood Granger when we passed by each other in the corridor, I assumed she was going to the library like usual.

I didn't know what they were talking about but she was laughing, my darling Y/N was laughing merrily. The laughter I was longing to hear in days was finally happening today. I thought she was going to look away from me when our eyes met but she didn't. She kept the laugh, glancing at me a few times and continued the walk with Granger. I made sure to memorise it in my mind because I didn't know when I could hear it again.

We were barely interacting but my heart fluttered, feeling relieved that she was still willing to show me her happy laugh even though I was no longer the one to make her feel that way.

I wandered to the room of requirement in a good mood. Crabbe and Goyle weren't with me today, that made me have to do a double work: making sure no one followed me and fix the cabinet alone. However, I didn't feel like complaining like I always did whenever things didn't go the way I wanted. It was all thanks to Y/N, she brightened up my day indirectly.

Now came the complicated part of this task. I had to test whether the cabinet was working or not. The apple test I did days ago worked pretty well and now, it was time to test this stinky old cabinet with a living subject.

Birds' chirps got louder as I got closer to the iron cage. There were 2 birds in the cage: a black one and a white one. I took the white one out. With its feathers as white as the snow, I could imagine how Y/N's face would turn peach as her cheek rose up from the huge smile she had and her eyes would be glittering with sparks, amused by the little living thing. And I found myself already smiling like an idiot – always happened when I thought of her.

I pet the bird slowly, stroking its feathers as if I was caressing Y/N's silky hair. With a heavy heart, I opened the cabinet and put the singing bird in. The bird's chimes were still audible until I closed the cabinet's door, holding so much hope for it to work just fine.

I waited for a minute before opening the door again.

It had gone.

I had succeeded in transferring it to Borgin and Burkes.

To be honest, I didn't know whether to feel happy or sad about this. Knowing that accomplishing this mission would get my Y/N and parents safe burst a sense of easement through my nerves, but that also meant I would risk others' lives here at Hogwarts. Still, I knew the consequence If I failed this, death awaited my family including her and that was something I was trying to obviate.

I would do anything to make her safe. Everyone else could die but not her, not my Y/N. This might make me sound like I wasn't grateful for anyone else in my life including my parents, but Y/N was everything that mattered to me now. She was my top priority and my parents would only come second. If completing this task really meant I could have a normal life with her afterwards, a simple one where people wouldn't bother us, then that would be my choice.

I closed the cabinet once more and swung it open a few seconds later. This was time to determine whether I had succeeded or not.

The white bird lay there; dead.

Should I laugh at this?

I just killed a bird; a real living thing. Worries and doubts streamed within my veins all over again. I was so close to getting this bloody tatty cabinet fixed. Where did the fault lay?

I sniffled lowly as a realisation jabbed my mind. I would have to rack my brain for another plan to fix this thing and if that worked, I would become the bad guy everyone always thought I was. I didn't know to which reason my tears went for. My goal was to have my girl stayed alive by my side but at the same time, I didn't have the heart to put people's lives in danger. Y/N would hate that and she would eventually hate me too for doing that.