arranged / dm

013

January 5th

Amara and Draco had only slept for a few hours before being back on their feet. The sun had slowly begun to set now and the radio they had bought spoke no sign of a search in their names. The two had barely spoken, their minds focused on other things as they travelled under the trees.

"We should stop." Draco said. "Nightfall brings threats. We'll camp here and be on the move soon." He dropped his bag to the ground and pulled out the mound of tent that he carried, enchanting it to stand.

"You sleep. I'll watch." Amara spoke to him, setting the radio down onto the ground.

"No. I don't need to." Draco shook his head. The thought of sleeping made him nauseous; anyone could find them while sleeping. In his mind, he'd be able to fight off the threat and move Amara with ease.

"Yes you do, Draco." She mumbled, going inside the now standing tent.

Tonight, Amara had everything but sleep on her mind. She felt that if she thought about it, terror would strike and both of them would be taken back and monitored for the rest of their lives. She knew they were far from the Manor and anyone inside, but the fear still stood and she found herself refusing sleep.

Draco sat on one of the mattresses, his arms on his knees. Amara took the liberty of sitting next to him, folding her hands together.

"Do you think they'll find us?" She muttered, her eyes fixed on the opening a few feet away.

"No, I don't. We are safe."

You are safe is what he wanted to say to her. But he knew he couldn't fall. Not now. The plan was to split once they were far enough and live separate, happy, lives.

Amara nodded. Her eyes trailed over to his face, studying his features in the brief moonlight that was shining in.

"Draco, you can sleep." She whispered to him before standing up and leaving to sit outside and watch. Her mind still raced as she thought of all possible outcomes of this plan and how badly it could go. Nothing he could say or do would calm her restless mind. 
  
She watched the trees rustle in the wind and listened to the soft sounds of animals walking in the forest around her. Her eyes were fixated on the nature she had only seen from a distance through her window in the Manor.

Time seemed to slip from her, leaving her in a motionless abyss of sights and sounds. She lost focus almost entirely. Her mind drew a blank and her eyes glassed over as she let her mind wander the various paths of the forest she sat in.

Draco couldn't sleep. He stared at the tent ceiling above his head and tried not to think, though he kept going back to the Malfoy Manor and how angry his father must be. Fear had taken over his senses. Fear of being caught.

Fear of getting in a shitload of trouble and punishments. Fear of leading Amara into a dangerous life in which she couldn't be free anymore.

All of these ideals stamped into his brain crumbled and his facade he had built up tumbled to the ground. Third year him would be pissed at the way he disobeyed his father, his role model, and ran away with the girl he sought to hate.

Draco groaned to himself and sat upright, slamming his hands on the soft mattress below him. Images of his father sending henchmen to find him and Amara painted his brain so clearly that every small noise he heard made him flinch.

You've turned into a coward.

His own mind taunted him with evil disapproval angry remarks that could have only come from Lucius himself. He caught sight of Amara through the flap on the front of the tent and his shoulders relaxed. His mind seemed to ease at the mere sight of the girl.

He put up his wall; wore his mask that she had hoped he had lost a month ago and made his way to sit next to her. He scowled at the tree line, his shoulder lightly brushing against Amara's. She glanced over her shoulder at him as the moonlight illuminated his face. His cold demeanor held strong in the silence, his fists clenched tightly.

Amara stared in hesitation, wanting to speak but fearful he was angry. Her head spun as she scanned his face. She tried to read his mind and conjure up a thing, a single phrase, to say that would ease him up a bit. Nothing came to mind.

Amara stared into the abyss of Draco's mind, leaving her with unrealistic ideas and thoughts he may be having.

Draco slowly turned his head toward her, the intense feeling of being watched burning hot on his skin. Amara snapped her head in the opposite direction almost as soon as his eyes met her own. The soft breeze tickled Amara's face, her hair moving gently on her shoulders. The air was cold. A light snow had previously covered the hard forest floor—the white shining like diamonds in the moonlight.
  
The two remained silent, neither of them needing to say a word. The thought of having to speak about the stunt they had pulled made Amara shiver in fear. Draco studied the girl beside him, the one he had once hated. Her cheeks were rosy from the cold, the pink making her seem angelic, almost. Her hair was tucked behind her ear on one side which gave him the perfect view of her starlit face.
  
Her knees were pulled towards her chest, her arms resting lazily around them as she gazed upward. The reflection of the stars in her eyes gave her a look no one could replicate, no one could look as perfect as she did now. Her breathing was steady, her shoulders rising and falling with every warm breath she took, her pink lips parted slightly.

She seemed to be lost in her own world where nothing horrible happened; the phantom of a smile tugging on her lips. Draco found himself getting lost, mesmerized, in her utter beauty. Something he had never noticed before.
  
Amara cleared her throat, snapping Draco back to his senses.

"I think I'm going to go in." She said quietly, pushing herself up off the ground. "Good night." And with that, she disappeared into the tent, leaving Draco alone to think about her in the cold of the winter night.

✩☾✩

The walking continued. No sign of a search beginning on the radio, either. Not even the smallest mention of the two missing teens. Draco and Amara had agreed to put the heavy radio into the enchanted bag Amara carried to make traveling easier on them.
  
And so they walked, one behind the other, in the same direction they had been going for three days. No signs of villages or towns nearby and the thought of Apparating made Amara sick. The frosted ground crunched beneath their feet as they walked along, the noises echoing in the trees around them.
  
The two looked different from when they had originally left. Amara's hair had been pulled up into a tight ponytail and she wore a different pair of black pants under the thick coat Draco had provided. Draco wore a thinner, dark grey coat now. His hands shoved into the pockets of his black pants.

Amara, being the sensible girl she is, sported dark green boots to keep her feet warm—Draco had poked fun at her for bringing them at first, but now he regretted it—while Draco continued on in the black shoes he had found in a Muggle shop.
  
"You could walk faster, you know!" He called out over his shoulder, a scowl on his face.

"I'm walking as fast as I can, dipshit." Amara retaliated. Her pace remained the same as Draco make longer strides a ways ahead of her.

He huffed and stopped abruptly, waiting for her to catch up.

"At least try to keep up." He groaned as she came closer.

"I am, Draco. It's not my fault you're walking at an annoyingly fast rate."
  
As the words left her mouth, a twig snapped in the distance. Then another. And another. Sounds of leaves crunching and twigs snapping surrounded them now.

Amara moved background, closer to Draco, their arms now touching completely. Her breathing was jagged as her eyes scanned the trees.

"Don't move." Draco whispered into her ear from behind, gripping her left arm tightly.
  
A low voice, Draco assumed belonging to a man, spoke in hushed tones a ways away from the pair. His grip on Amara got even tighter and he attempted to pull her behind him without making a sound.

"They have to be here." The man whispered. "We heard his voice!"
  
Shadows began to show on the ground as the men emerged, wands held tightly in their hands. Amara's breathing stopped and Draco's attempt to hide her behind him ceased suddenly.

"We need to go." He mumbled, turning to make a run for it. His hand slipped down into Amara's, their fingers intertwining together, as he began to run.