𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 | Draco Malfoy

TWENTY-TWO | now that I know that you love me

Their day starts with a lot of silence coming from Blair. She's unsure if she should ignore her anger and grief, or to talk to him about it.

Blair forces herself to talk to Draco during breakfast, keeping it small and simple. Though her mind will not let her forget about last night, it also won't let her forget about everything that's wrong about this whole situation. She feels guilty.

Even as Blair opens the presents Draco got her, she makes herself laugh and smile, secretly adoring the gifts, but scolding herself for being so forgiving.

He got her several sets of jewelry, new clothes, books and one of his old Quidditch jumpers with his name. She really does love the presents, but feels like she's betraying so many people by doing so. The Shadow has been terrorizing people for months now, and here she is, loving him.

Blair goes back into the bedroom after showering by herself, finding Draco seated behind his desk, appearing to be grading some papers.

She walks up to him, frowning as she looks at the papers. "Are we going back to Hogwarts after Christmas break?" She asks softly, hopefully. It will probably create even a bigger mess to go back, but some small part of her thinks it could help.

"No, darling. You know we can't," Draco sighs. "I'm just not leaving my students without a grade they worked hard for. I'll send these to Hogwarts once I'm done with them."

Blair walks around his chair, sitting down on Draco's lap with her legs facing left. Draco grins at the gesture, wrapping an arm around her waist and pressing a kiss to her neck.

She rests her cheek on his shoulder, her eyes falling on his Death Mark. She caught a glimpse of it last night and tried to think nothing of it, but now that she's seeing it so clearly it's impossible to not be disturbed by it. Why did it change? And how?

"Your tattoo.." Blair whispers, keeping herself from touching it. This isn't the right time to trigger his anger or his lust.

"Finally figured it out, hm?" Draco says, scribbling red crosses on to the paper he's grading. "Got it after my first kill and it's been changing ever since I brought you here. I don't know why."

Blair shivers at the idea that it's connected to all of this in some eerie way, so she shifts her gaze to the paper, and spots Atlas's name written at the top. "Be nice. Don't punish him if he did a good job." She says softly, taking her head off his shoulder.

"Well, he did a terrible job." Draco says, cross after cross being written down.

When Draco finally takes her test off the pile, Blair narrows her eyes. She studied hard for this test, but it doesn't matter much now anyway, since she won't even get to complete Hogwarts.

"Draco, what if I do want to go back to Hogwarts? You know I want to be a Healer, I can't do that without graduating school." She says carefully, adjusting her skirt.

"And you will become a Healer one day, I promise you that. But it's not possible now, baby."

"But why?" She continues. "I won't tell anyone about you, you know I won't. And you can come back with me, nothing has to change.."

"Blair," Draco says sternly, taking her chin into his hand. "I said no."

She lowers her gaze with disappointment. The answer was expected, but it was worth a try.

Draco softens at the sight of her sadness, leaning in and pressing a little kiss to her mouth. "I'm sorry, my love. I wish I could make you happy by allowing you to go, but it's just not convenient now."