Shoulder to Shoulder // A Draco Malfoy Short Story

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓢𝓾𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓻

After Jinx left, I moped around and dealt with the house. I didn't feel her warmth flooding the rooms anymore and it left me cold, scared. I got the house ready to be sold. Or maybe I would keep it in hopes of being able to come back and not feel the terror I feel, or felt.

I wrote to Jinx a few times, and I got a few letters back. Nothing major. Blaise and Theo came to see me, it was nice. We hung out like we used to, drinking and watching movies. Playing games that were still littered about.

I missed Jinx though, so that night I wrote her another letter, it was roughly a week into August. She replied and said she would come back to see me. I was elated.

I cleaned up the house, all by myself. Mainly because I had so much energy that I had to do something with it. I set up her room, but barely. I knew she would spend most nights with me again, I hoped she would anyway. She did go in there to write, keep her privacy.

Soon after getting the letter, she came back in mid August. We laughed and ignored her sudden leaving. We cooked, played and even danced a few times.

We were happy, basking in each others presence. She looked withered, in pain. She had soft brown bruises that faded away into her skin, but I knew they were there. I always knew and I never said anything.

One night, I woke up after falling asleep with her. She was by my window, leaning back with her hips jutted out and head between her arms. Jinx's body shook as she wept and her sobs were almost silent. 

I slowly got out of bed and ran my fingers along her arm, trying not to startle her. She whipped around and crashed into me with a hug. I didn't mind. 

I just wrapped my arms around her as we sank to the floor. I didn't let go of her until she fell asleep, and even then I only let go to put her into bed, then held her close.

That only happened once. It was the first time I saw her cry, and the last. I wish she was more open.

The next day we just got up and made breakfast, she didn't say anything and neither did I. I wondered if I should have, but I never did. We spent our day outside in the garden, she helped me with picking vegetables. I did most of the work, she sat back and wrote in her journal, an occasional sad smile sent my way.

"Jinx?"

"Yes, Draco?" She smiled at me and set her pen in between the pages in her journal.

"Thank you. For being here." 

"I'll always be here." She leaned over and kissed me gently, our first one in awhile. She removed herself and said she was going back to her room to write. I nodded and finished up in the garden.

Jinx was more reserved these days, and I wasn't sure why. Her friends sent me letters asking me to tell her to write more often. I always wrote back and said of course. I told Jinx about it many times, but she always waved me off and said I know.

Each day she grew more distant. During the day, she would lock herself away in her room, sometimes talking to herself, other times you could just hear the scribble of her pen and a tear of the paper she was writing on. I never questioned. I only tried to coax her out of her room.

I did one day, I was feeling terrible. I missed a box in my mother's old room and had to go through it. I whined pathetically at Jinx's door and she came out, at first with an attitude, but she softened and brought me into a hug.

She looked tired and thin. It was almost September now, and I hadn't seen her come out for food very often. There were piles of uneaten food on trays that I had sent to her room. I didn't say anything. Neither did she.