Snakes In The Garden

Chapter 5

The following days, we fell into a comfortable silence. My days flowed normally, aside from a heated meeting with Harry and Sirius, which, truthfully, was hardly out of the ordinary. Draco molded himself into our routines - not appearing at first, then slowly inserting himself. He endeared himself to me immediately when he started putting on the coffee in the morning. Though my quiet early mornings were sacred to me, his  soft presence was welcome. He navigated my ritual, expert in the art of blending in.

A message arrived from Charlie, letting me know that he would be returning in a few days time - sooner than they had originally planned. He had been on a mission from the Order, helping treat and transport dragons captured from Death Eaters.
Evidently, they settled into their sanctuary rather easily, and he was on his way back home.

I paused at the thought - he was on his way back home, here, where he had been staying in between his trips abroad. Thought never formally discussed, Charlie had essentially moved in over the past 6 months, bringing more things from his bachelor pad each time he returned. Anxiety creeped up my spine, settling just above my heart briefly before I shoved it back to wherever it had made its home in my subconscious.

Blurry scenes flowed through my mind, but I couldn't bring anything into focus. All that I was left with was a sense of foreboding, and nostalgia for things that have yet come to pass. I  looked down again at the letter, now partially crushed within my hand.

I took a few deep breathes to center myself again, jumping slightly as a soft voice asked from behind me, "Are you okay?"

I quickly turned to find Draco standing at the edge of the kitchen carrying the New York Times that had just arrived, days old since we were severely limiting our outings. I didn't even notice it wasn't with the small pile of mail on the kitchen counter.

"I'm sorry, I was a million miles away, you startled me," I said, grasping my coffee mug with both hands to keep them from shaking, leaning against the counter to ground myself.

"No, you're.... I'm sorry I scared you, I didn't mean...." Draco trailed off, blushing slightly, averting his eyes to the floor, and then to the newspaper in his hand. "The new paper, I had brought it out to the porch but, um, didn't want to start without you."

I smiled - the crossword. The Muggle passtime was confounding to most non-muggleborns, though a few enjoyed helping me whenever they got a chance. Arthur found them amusing, but was truly dreadful. I had a small backlog of puzzles waiting for Remus's help, but I hadn't had to add to it since we've had a steady stream of papers that Draco helped me complete. Sometimes I would come back to a puzzle hours later to find answers written in his delicate, neat handwriting - always with a quill and ink, since his writing with muggle instruments was still a bit atrocious.

"No need to be sorry as long as you haven't gone and completed the whole thing before I got a chance," I said, pausing briefly to see if there was anything else he wanted to say, giving him an opening to open up, if he so wished. Another game we play - I could tell so much weighed on him, but didn't want to scare him off. Draco shuts down so thoroughly that I can't ever get a hint of how he's feeling. When he is relaxed, he softens ever so slightly, just enough for me to feel that he at least isn't boiling over with anger. When it was clear he wasn't going to offer up any more, I continued.

"Charlie is going to return in a few days, much sooner than we had expected. Weasley, sorry, Charlie Weasley. He's my..." I paused here, unexpectedly flustered over having to explain to Draco exactly what Charlie was to me, and, following a sudden tug of my gut, continued, "Well, I'm not sure what he is. We've been on and off for awhile, things haven't exactly been conducive to healthy, well adjusted relationships, but right now we are on, and he's been spending his off time here, much to Molly's dismay and delight somehow."

I paused to take a sip of coffee, blushing slightly at my over-sharing.

"I just wanted to give you a heads up, things will be a bit more lively. Remus and Moody may swing by for a meeting, and others may want to come over for social visits."

Draco tensed subtly, quickly masking his anxiety with his calm, aloof demeanor. I need him to teach me a few of these tricks, I thought to myself. Although remarkably improved from my teenage years thanks to Severus, I often couldn't stop my strong emotions from bubbling over the surface. I made a mental note to send Severus a note to see if he had any background on Draco's training. While it felt a little like undermining his trust to do so, I knew I wouldn't be getting any background from Draco himself anytime soon.

"I'll meet you on the porch in a few minutes," I said, setting my coffee down in search for a scrap of paper to respond to Charlie. I had given Draco the heads up - it was only fair to do the same for the man who shared my bed. Draco nodded and made his way to the porch, silent as ghost. I mulled the thought over briefly- a ghost. Draco was hardly more than a ghost sometimes, a flickering echo of what he once had been.