IN NOX, SUM VERITAS━━DRACO MALFOY

seventeen. metanoia

━━━━  · 。ﾟ☆ .☽ .* ☆ﾟ. ━━━━

(n.) the journey of changing one's
mind, heart, self, or way of life

WHY HIM? THE UNIVERSE HAD THE DAUNTING NERVE TO ASK. And Draco didn't have the slightest clue. However, if he had to answer, he would probably tell the universe that it was because this was the closest he had ever come to falling in love.

He had realized it after their date—he still had a hard time believing it. Date. It was such a weird-sounding word whenever it rolled off his tongue, even weeks after. It had been a few days since school had been back in session as January made its way in and all of the students had come back from their holiday when Draco noticed that he felt. . .different. It was a decent kind of different. A good different. He didn't feel as weighed down as he had been before and it felt nice for once. Strange, almost as though he were wearing a second skin, but nice. Sleep had been coming easier by the day and he could actually keep himself awake during Potions. He was happy.

Draco wouldn't go as far to say that it was the happiest he's been in his life (although it was cutting kind of close), but it has been the most consistent. He knew it had a lot to do with his time being spent hidden away in the library as it had become almost routinely at this point, save for the days he and Louis left for themselves so they didn't wind up getting sick of seeing each other. Although Draco didn't think he'd ever get sick of seeing him.

Louis found himself once again in his usual seat at the Ravenclaw table in the Great Dining Hall, chatting away with Luna who was recounting her holiday to him, tales of helping her father with The Quibbler once more and avoiding Nargles for a good three days as they had begun to swarm her house for some apparent reason.

"What about you, Louis?" Luna decided to flip the tables on him, "How did you manage being by yourself?"

"I think I managed quite all right," answered Louis, "I wasn't by myself, though. Not entirely, I think."

Luna raised her eyebrows at that, starry eyes widening as she patiently waited for Louis to continue. And he did. "I, uh, I hung out with someone and we kept each other company for the time being while everyone else was gone doing gods know what."

"What was he like?"

"He was. . .sweet, not that I was expecting anything else. It was different. He got tired and slept a lot, which was fine, I get it, but—how'd you know it was a he?" asked Louis, finally catching on to what Luna had asked him.

Luna only beamed knowingly before nicking something off of Louis's plate and returning to her attention to her breakfast. Louis let out something that resembled a huh in bemusement and let his gaze wander over to the Slytherin table that sat a little way away, his sight almost immediately falling upon a certain boy's seat. Draco was lost in thought once again, stuck in that maze of a labyrinth of his somewhere, however, he didn't look like he was death personified, as he had once been. The sunkenness that surrounded his eyes didn't look quite as dark, having lightened a bit as a sign that nights have been kinder to him and he was getting better amounts of sleep. He also held his head in a way that showed that he wasn't on the verge of falling asleep. Louis found it nice to see.