CURSED: FROM THE BEGINNING [D.M]

-(20) the beauty that she saw in him

DRACO feels her before he sees her. He feels her hand lost in his hair and her breath on his face- her lips upon his forehead. He breathes her in- her jasmine hair oil and her fading lilac scented perfume. He breathes it all in, soaking in it completely. And this might just be how he wants to wake up for the rest of his life.

"Goodmorning darling", he rasps out, opening his eyes while lifting his hand up from where it lay on her shoulder to caress her cheeks.

"Oh well, hello there. Goodmorning", she mumbles through the kiss, her breath warm and soothing against his skin, her fingers in his strands ceasing to move. "Happy Birthday Draco."

Time had passed by rather quickly- seconds melting into hours and hours into days. Soon it was June and his seventeeth birthday was finally here- not that he cared much about it actually. He had learnt to pretend it wasn't a special occasion after what happened back at his house all those years ago. After what Lucius did. After how he-

No, not now. He is not going to let that memory destroy the peace he has now with Zilliah. Her grey sweatshirt's fabric was comfortingly soft against his skin- her heartbeat an ever lovely melody.

"How did you know?", he instead asks her for he is certain he had never spoken of his birth date to her.

"Pansy.."

"Of course." He wouldn't have thought it was anyone else.

"But she only told me about it yesterday. I never got the chance to get you a proper gift. I'm sorry", she draws back and gazes into his eyes apologetically.

He chuckles, taking in the glowing hazel of her eyes that were almost gold like right now with the sun's rays scrambling in through the windows. "Do you honestly think I care about gifts? I have you in my arms, Zilliah."

A small smile tugs at the corner of her lips and she wrinkles her nose a little, a faint pink arising in her coffee cheeks. "However-", she starts, her eyes suddenly filled with apprehension and hope "-I do have one thing."

"Zilliah, you don't have to-"

She interrupts him, pressing their lips together. "I want to..", she says. And in one swift motion, she gets out of bed and reaches for her bag, pulling out a parchment of paper and holding it close to her chest so that he can't see the content of it. Then she scoots back over to him as he sits up straight.

"What is it?", he asks with a small smile he couldn't help, gazing deep down into her eyes, unconsciously examining every last emotion visible in them. She had begun to let him see through the masks more or maybe it's just that he had learnt to dive in and read through it better. But whatever it was, she didn't feel cold or shut off to him anymore, despite having endless secrets. And that's all that mattered to him now, really.

"Now, I know this isn't anything at all.. like, I didn't have time and I- well.. I just thought.. I thought I'd give you this- I'm really sorry I got you nothing better-", she fumbles around, uneasy and fidgety.

"Zilliah-", he cuts her off with a small laugh before reaching for her knee and placing a hand on top "-it's only me."

She heaves a partly relieved sigh. "Okay.. okay, fine. Close your eyes."

He does as she asks. A moment passes in silence.

"Nowwww..... Okay! You can look."

He opens them and his line of vision once again aligns up with Zilliah, holding the parchment by her chest, but now so that he could see the sketch on it. And with complete awe igniting every fibre of him does he take in the drawing- more precisely, him as a drawing while he is by the side of the bed, reading a book.