𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 '𝟗𝟔 ; 𝐝. 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 ✓

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐧

12:03 am
June 23, 1996

That night eventually went down as one of the most important nights of my life. The night I finally confessed my love. As I walked home, I stayed in silence. My heart ached, but it wasn't a bad pain. My heart ached for Draco. I knew I had loved him all this time, but I pushed those feelings away since I thought he was such a prick all those years. The remorse I felt for ignoring him because of his reputation practically killed me. He had always been absolutely perfect to me, but my gut had told me that he was bad news. Thank god I let him in.

Those small midnight meetups began to be a typical routine for the two of us. Each night it was pretend to be tired, distract the parents, and sneak out to see my love. We possessed a new memory every single night as we both ran through those woods freely. I felt alive for the first time in what had felt like eternity.

Just like normal, the clock struck midnight and I rushed out to the thick woods, meeting Draco in our typical spot with a soft kiss.

"I love seeing you in the moonlight. Your eyes sparkle like crazy." He whispered with a precious smile across his face.

A faint blush swarmed my cheeks, creeping from on to another. He pinched them like an old woman and bellowed out his adorable laugh.

I grasped his hand like usual and we were headed off into the dark woods for the night. At this point, we had created a trail. One branching from my entrance to the woods, another branching from his. These were there since we met up here so much.

As we ran through the woods, I spotted a ginormous tree, bigger than we both had ever seen.

"Let's climb it." Draco gushed ruthlessly, immediately hoisting his long leg onto the first branch.

I tilted my head back slowly and stared up at the endless tree, stumbling backwards slowly. It looked as if it branched into the sky since it was so tall. "Draco, no. It's way too tall."

"You gotta face your fears at some point." He sighed, pulling himself onto another branch. "Tell me Estelle, do you really want to die with fears?"

My breath hitched as he said this. I knew he was right, and I had never seen this side of him. I've seen dick Draco, freaky Draco, sweet Draco, but this was ruthless Draco. He was trying to get me to face my fears, and this made me realize that the boy I used to think was an absolute asshole brought out the best in me.

"What are you waiting for? It's not everyday you'll get to see the night sky above swarmed with stars."

With a smile, I rushed right up to the tree and clutched Draco's hand while he lifted me to the first branch. We then began to climb the tree. He let me climb above him, just in case anything happened to me. Draco was right, it wasn't everyday that you got to be up here. Especially not with him. I really had to start living like he did, and how I never knew he lived like.

Eventually, we started to reach the top parts of the tree. I looked behind me to make sure Draco was still doing okay, and the view from the top of the tree almost made me sick.

"It's okay, darling." He called up to me, motioning his head towards the top of the tree. "You're almost there! If you stop here, you'll never get to say you climbed a 100 ft tree."

I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed through the rest of the climb. Oh boy, was it worth it. As the other tree's leaves slowly became more scarce, I knew we were about to see a sight that would stick with me forever. I passed the tall canopy of leaves from the other trees and the night sky became visible. Stars speckled the beautiful sky and the moon was bigger and brighter than I had ever seen it. The glowing lights of the city of London lay low in the distance, beyond all of the trees. I perched myself up on a branch and slowly took a seat, still feeling exhilarated from the view in front of my eyes. The blond sat next to me and smirked, knowing it was all worth it to me.

"Amazing, huh." He sighed, gazing out at the view as well. "Like I said, not everyday you get an adrenaline rush quite like that."

"Thank you, Draco." I blurted, abruptly turning my head to stare into his eyes, struck by the moonlight.

His brows furrowed into a confused expression. "For what?"

"Thank you for getting me out of my comfort zone. I would've never done this if it weren't for you."

He looked back into the view and smiled warmly. "My grandmother always told me to live while you still have it in you. You never know when the last time you'll be able to say the word 'tomorrow' is. I've lived by that every day that's gone by ever since."

I released my tight grip onto the branch, and transferred it to Draco's arm. He held me tightly, giving me that sense of security since he knew that I had just overcome my biggest fear. Both of us sat there for at least three hours, gazing out into the dark woods below and the city in the distance. We talked about everything that could've been spoken of.

Looking back down to the ground below, I asked him. "Hey Draco, how do you plan on getting down?"

He smirked. "Ready to go, love?" And as I nodded, he whipped out his broom. "Up!" He shouted, crawling onto it and patting the stick that remained behind him. I crawled on after him and wrapped my arms around him, and we zoomed into the moonlight.

This was about the only feeling that felt more free than running through the woods with him. The wind blew in my face as we flew recklessly around the area. "Hello London!" I shouted, laughing, as he flew us above the city. Gazing down at the bright lights, I realized that I would've never experienced feeling this type of freedom if I had let Ron keep walking all over me. My adrenaline was at an all time high. I screamed in joy as we soared through the sky. I let go of my grip on Draco and put my hands up and yelled "Woo-hoo!"

"Get your damn hands back here!" He shouted against the wind, but I heard him laughing after. I grabbed around his waist again, resting my head on his back.

"I love you so much, Estelle." He said much quieter, as the wind calmed down as we began to reach my house.

"And I love you, Draco." I replied, half asleep.

We landed on the roof that my window was right next to. He pulled me off of his back and carried me bridal style back through the window and into my room. I could barely keep my eyes open. Draco pulled back my blankets and placed me safely in my bed. He pushed my hair back, making room for his lips to be pressed against my forehead.

"Goodnight." He whispered, hoisting himself out of my window and flying back off into the dark.

Goodnight Draco.