✔️OBSIDIAN HEART (Draco Malfoy) BOOK 1 |WATTYS 2021 SHORTLIST

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Authors Note. Some serious steam here, everybody. Giving this story a reason for being rated Mature. Draco is just such a passionate person and so is Lavinia when she's with him. I've marked the point with an [****] as always, though it is quite easy to spot. Please skip to the following page divider if this will make you uncomfortable. I hope you all enjoy the part. :) --Sy, xx

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•The Ghost Tower, Hogwarts•

The Daughter of Hogwarts sighed as she entered the Ghost Tower, it had been an impossibly long time and she couldn't help but find it strangely impossible to consider that so much had happened in one day. Draco made little noise as he patrolled the room, shrugging out of his coat. Lavinia knew she had to confront him, at least speak to him about what had happened but how could she? What could she possibly say to him now? More than that, she was terrified of what his answers would be to the questions she had to ask. More than anything, she wished to be an ordinary schoolgirl who could be with him in the way he wanted but it seemed that every turn, she just proved to be wrong for him.

Opening the doors to the balcony and stepped out, casting her gaze to the thunder-filled sky, allowing the rain to hammer down and wash over her. It fueled her, its power feeling as though it coursed right the way through her. Lavinia, as unlike a child as she had always been, had always been obsessed with storms, the lightning that reminded her so much of magic, the thunder that rumbled with power. It felt powerful, a simple thing that made the rest of the world seem so small. At times when her power felt like a burden, Lavinia looked to the skies to remind herself that it was, instead, a gift.

When he approached, as always, he was like a beacon, her light prince who shone through the darkness and she so selfishly wanted to cling to him-- the one thing that made her stronger than anything else. Draco just leant into the wooden beam of the door and she could feel his stare on her as she turned her face to the sky, her eyes wide to allow all the water in, to let it drench her.

"Why are you doing this?" when he finally spoke, it was scarcely louder than the rain itself but even now, after the strong angry set of his jaw and the way he'd ripped his hand from hers-- his voice was gentle. There had been a time when Draco had promised, in the hot springs, that he would always be gentle with her. It seemed that he kept that promise even in anger. It meant the most to her, that he would bother to be gentle with her. Some people realised her strength, the power she had and decided that softness was not required-- her parents included. He was different for that and so many other things.

Lavinia knew that he was not referring to standing in the rain and so, for a moment, she thought deeply about her answer.

"When I was ten years old, I made a Blood Oath that I would protect Hogwarts with every ounce of my being. I did that because, when I was eight, I went to my first battle. Everywhere I looked, spells were flying and faces were of anger... people were dying. I knew the prophecy even then, that a war would come to this school and I couldn't accept it, accept seeing that played out in a place of beauty, this is my home. People come here to feel safe, and it becomes the home of every student to enter its walls. I cannot allow them to suffer that pain. Voldemort's army has giants. I have been in a war of giants, if we have any chance of defeating them, we need more fighters. We need the 1000 white warriors to win this war," she was trying to explain it to him.

Draco had never been in a war and as much as she knew he eventually would be, she couldn't help but hope he never would. It was an experience unlike any other, it was an experience that could live on in your head, years after it ended, whether you won or lost. But the difference with Voldemort was that if you lost, you would die. She was doing this for him, as much as for anyone else-- she already knew that she wouldn't be able to fight this war if something happened to him, that she wouldn't be able to fight any war.