Limerence; Draco Malfoy

Chapter Sixty-Five: Enigma

Violet

It's one of my nightmares again.

A vivid re-enactment of the parlour room incident at Malfoy Manor. It's the same horrors each time; the same faces. The same, painful inflictions --

The same blond boy standing in the corner wearing a thin smirk. I wonder why he doesn't help me when I call out for him from the sea of Death Eaters. Having him watch and sneer burns more than the poker they press into my skin.

I wake up screaming hysterically every time without fail, with tears streaming down my face.

On this occasion however, my choked sobs were conveniently muffled thanks to the pillow. I sat up in the emerald king-sized bed in Draco's bedroom back at Hogwarts, and tried to cry quietly.

The clock on the mantlepiece read one AM. Draco was still fast asleep and undisturbed beside me. Although frightened, I refused to wake him; he looked so peaceful, which was rare for him these days.

I wasn't the only one prone to nightmares.

He'd get them almost as regularly as me; and considering I'd only been back at Hogwarts for exactly three days, it goes to show how many nightmares we each could get in a single night. My head had not touched the pillow of my old dormitory bed since returning to school, and due to this, Draco and I now had quite the routine of waking each other in the early hours.

Last night, I'd awoken to my shoulder being shaken. Grumbling in my sleep, I rubbed my eyes to find him practically laying on top of me, his head resting on my chest.

"Violet?" He'd hissed, glancing up to give my face a light tap with his long cold fingers.

I finally stared at him through the darkness, still grumbling. The green hue from the lake made his skin glow, giving way to the troubled shine to his eyes.

"What?"

He'd stared at me with creased brows for a contemplative moment, "Nothing. I just needed to - check."

I arched a brow. "Check?"

"I had a dream that you were gone-okay, don't look at me like that. Now you're making me feel stupid."

"But. . . you still don't need to check on me every five minutes, you know that." There was a ripple of amusement on my face. Draco's jaw set, his eyes flashing. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

He scoffed, "Yes, I know that Violet; there's no need to be so bloody patronising about it."

He caught onto the amused smile I'd been trying to hide and mistook it for mockery; his expression suddenly twisted further into a sneer.

"You know what, forget it. I don't know why I woke you; I just want some bloody covers." He snarled.

With a rough yank all the covers were ripped away from me and Draco had rolled over on his side to face the wall.

I complained bitterly, drawing my knees up to my chest, shivering, "Don't be a bitch, it's cold! And I was sleeping!"

"Sleep on the floor."

I rolled my eyes. "What's wrong with you? Is it because I laughed? I'm sorry, it's just you get so worried about me and it's a little bit funny--"

"It's not funny," Draco mumbled darkly. "And how is it fair that you always come to me when I'm in the middle of writing important essays and sit on my lap, yet when I want to wake you up in the middle of the night to cuddle it's all 'Draco, oh my god, you're so annoying, go back to sleep'? No offence Violet, but you're my girlfriend and that technically gives me the right to wake you up whenever the hell I want so we can cuddle. I honestly don't know why it's such an issue, you're acting as though I'm being clingy or something and I can assure you that's simply not the case. Maybe I was just cold? But since you're making a fool out of me now, you can enjoy being cold. I don't care."