The Sanctuary of Yesterday

1.11 | thin ice

The next day came and went and Sage hadn't heard from neither boy. It wasn't for a lack of trying in her part, either. At first, she waited to see if either would contact her first. At breakfast, both Horned Serpents were in the edge of their seats waiting for morning mail. By the end of the meal both were disappointed. Half way through the day, Sage had given up on waiting for their "lazy arses" and went through the bond—or tried to anyway.

Just as last night, Sage was met with the brick wall. She tried to talk through the bond multiple times after that, only to continue to be thrown out. The more she did it the more her head would hurt and the snappier she got. She continued to do this until Jasmine had enough of her foolishness and sent her to bed.

She didn't sleep though. Of course not. She sat there overthinking about any and everything. It was all she could to.

Sage could only do so much to calm down and reminded herself constantly that Theodore was not harmed. He was not dead. Sage didn't feel any pain from the bond, even with the blockade up, and that was a good sign. So Theodore wasn't dead and wasn't hurt, but that didn't say anything about Draco.

The reassuring thoughts about her brother obviously didn't help that fact she was freaking out about her blonde best friend, but she forced herself to not worry until she knew what had happened—if anything at all happened.

Sometime around dinner, Sage had finally fallen asleep. She knew because Grace came in as her body was falling out of consciousness and asked if she wanted anything to eat. She thanked her but denied any food and decided to let her body fall completely.

Once again sometime later that night Sage was awoken. Hands were on her shoulders shaking her. A hand was covering her mouth as she shot her eyes open. Above her was a, very intoxicated, Draco Malfoy staring down at her. He brought his finger to his lips, the universal sign for "be quiet" and moved his hand away.

"Draco?" she whispered, blinking to focus her eyes. She rubbed her eyes and slowly sat up, looking around to make sure no one else was woken.

Her mind caught up with what was going on as panic seeped through her body. Her hand went into the motions to silently silence the rest of the room when he finally spoke.

"Don't bother. I already did it," he croaked out. She stared at him, finally taking in his appearance.

His hair was a mess, unlike his normal combed back perfection. His eyes were bloodshot and his face was slightly pink from the alcohol in his system. His button-down was rumpled and has a few fire whiskey stains on it. His usual crisp trousers had wrinkles on them and his shoes were missing. Only his socks were on his feet.

His breath reeked of alcohol, but she could still smell his cologne. Sage could faintly hear his breathing, it was ragged as if in pain.

She sighed, swung her legs over the side of her bed, and sat on the edge with her feet hanging off. With one more look at the broken and disheveled boy in front of her she stood up and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her head into his chest.

His right arm came around her waist, pulling her as close as he could get her. His face went to the crook of her neck, and he inhaled, almost as if her smell calmed him. His body slowly started shaking again and Sage realized he was crying.

Draco Malfoy was crying on her shoulder and Sage had no idea what to do.

She tightened her hold on him, her eyes tearing up at this point. She slowly walked them back towards her bed and had him sit on the end, while she stood between his knees.

"Draco," she whispered, taking his hand in her hands, "what's wrong? Please let me help. I can't stand to see you like this, it breaks my heart."

He looked down at her and twirled a piece of her hair around his finger. He seemed to be studying her. His eyes traveled her faces, hair, and, body. He looked away and at first, she thought he didn't hear her, but when she felt him tense up she knew he was just avoiding answering her. She wasn't going to push him, not while he was like this.

"Be glad you don't have a bond with me, but with Theo," he whispered back, after a few moments of silence. He truly looked exhausted, and his voice just confirmed how tired he was.

"What do you mean?"

Draco sat up and started to unbutton the sleeve of his shirt.

"Oh no, Draco," she cried, quietly, holding her hand to her mouth. Her eyes darted to his and then back to where he was unbuttoning and then back again to his eyes.

They say the eyes are the window to the soul, and Sage now knew what that meant. She didn't need to see inside his mind to see how he was feeling or what he was thinking, his eyes betrayed him.

Sage could see the guilt, the shame in them. All she could do was put a hand on his arm and squeeze to give some comfort.

He yanked up his sleeve where the red, irritated mark sat. The skin around it was bubbling and looked infected. Scabs were forming and some were even bleeding. He was rejecting the mark.

"Are you scared of me yet, Gigi? Scared of the big bad ugly Death Eater?" He snarled at her, shoving his arm into her face. She turned away and flinched, scared for a second before she realize it was Draco in front of her, not the abusive man she called father.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy," she warned, holding his gaze, "You shut up this instance."

"Why should I? Haven't you heard? Death Eaters don't care what other people think! Only their Master," he spat, not bothering to hide his disgust. His voice was mean, no downright cruel, to her and she wasn't having it.

"You can yell, you can cry, you can even bloody smash things, but you do not get to talk to me that way, Draco Malfoy. You showed up in my dorm room, not the other way around, waking me up at," she paused and looked at the clock," Twelve thirty in the bloody morning- are you fucking kidding me Draco it's five A.M. in England, nevermind twelve-thirty in the damn morning to bloody yell at me? I don't think so, Mister!"

Her tone left no room for argument.

This seemed to sober him up and remind him who he was dealing with because he closed his mouth and dropped the sneer from his face. He cleared his throat and at least dared to look ashamed.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I just- I'm sorry, Gigi-" he broke off, his voice cracking.

Sage sighed and pulled him close to her, "I know. It's okay Draco, we knew this was coming. You have a plan. You'll make it through this."

"Sage what do I do? I can't be a Death Eater," he whispered, voice cracking once again. His arms went around her waist and slowly slid down so he was laying with her on top of him.

She turned halfway and slid her hands into his messy hair. Her fingers ran through the light blonde locks and soothed his rapid breathing and oncoming panic attack.

"First, you're going to lay here while I close my curtains, and then you're going to go to sleep and sleep off this hangover. Then you're going to go back to England and find my brother and tell his sorry arse if he doesn't take down the block on our bond I'll come back to England and quite literally raise hell," she whispered, making him chuckle softly, "After that, you follow the plan. You know it, Theo knows it, I know it. Now it's time to put it into motion."

He nodded and moved to lay his head on her chest. She momentarily stopped playing with his hair and he grunted and brought her hands back. She softly smiled and continued the movements as his eyes fluttered shut.

"Thank you, for tonight, for everything. You- I- fuck i'm bad at this, you're the best thing that's truly ever happened to me, Sage Vera Nott," He whispered, looking up into her eyes.

"You never have to thank me, Draco. I love you and I'd do anything for you," she smiled at him. He laid his head back on her chest and tightened his arms around her.

It only took a few minutes of Sage playing with his hair for his breathing to start to slow. Slowly the pain and stress leaked from his face leaving and relaxed and happy looking boy.

"Good night, Gi," he muttered, snuggling further into her small body.

"Good night, Dray. Sweet dreams."

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a.n.
ahhh some draco and sage content!!
Poor baby got his mark though :(
Also more talk about this mystery plan and Theo blocking out Sage?? Rude if I do say so myself