Murder to Malfoy - D.MALFOY

[EPILOGUE]

"I feel like everyone's staring at me," Ivy whispered to Draco as they walked through platform 9 ¾ hand in hand. In any other circumstance, that statement would have sounders stuck up or too 'main character wise' but in this situation, it was perfectly plausible. Everyone was staring at her. Every single head, whether they were young or old on the wizarding platform turned in her direction as he walked past. It seemed being the richest Wizarding family in the country with such a scandal to its name did not do well for the number of stares she received.

"They are," he whispered back, half staring down a particular person who had decided to stare a little too hard.

Her shoulders sank down, gaze directed straight to the floor to avoid the stares as much as possible. Suddenly she just wanted to be rid of all the people. She wanted to be in the safety of her own house or her own room or his room or Fin's house or anywhere else really. "I... You're supposed to tell me 'no they're not! You're just imagining it!"

He rose a brow, quickly trying to decipher her tone. He detected some level of humour, sarcasm almost, but mostly nerves and discomfort. He squeezed her hand a little tighter then."Not everyone is staring at you," he replied softly, not quite knowing what he could say to better this situation in any way.

"You could at least try and sound sincere," she replied jokingly, feeling more comfortable as there were fewer people around and staring at her. Yet annoyance at herself for feeling such a way pulled at her brow.

"Love, people are going to stare at you. You just went through one of the worst things imaginable, people are going to look at you with pitied eyes and wonder how we are so close despite all that happened. But you just have to ignore them, eventually it will all stop and you can return to your sarcastic, hating everyone self."

"Okay first off, that was philosophical," she laughed softly and he knew that some level of comfort had been established."Second of all, who said I ever stopped being my sarcastic, hating everyone self?"

Draco simply just laughed, attempting to keep his voice somewhat low in order to avoid more stares than they were already receiving. With his laughter, Ivy smiled but that smile soon turned to something else entirely when he draped an arm over her shoulder and used it to pull her closer for a quick kiss that would answer any one of the general public's questions about their relationship status. Ivy didn't particularly favour pda when it included her, yet he did not know that. She supposed it was better to get the record straight now than to have hundreds of people staring at them in school as rumours floated around like the ghosts in Hogwarts.

"Doing that doesn't fix anything," she whispered as they continued their walk down to the very back of the train, where the compartment where Ivy, Blaise and Fin usually sat. Her face showed all signs of fake agitation though he could see that she was still uncomfortable via the glossed over look in her eyes and the way her footsteps had gotten slightly quicker.

"Oh yeah? How come every single time your cheeks go slightly pink at the top?" he smirked, watching as the pink returned to her cheeks once again.

"Non mi piaci," Ivy muttered under her breath, distinctly choosing to use the Italian since she knew that it had the most effect on him. Then, while he was distracted, she ducked underneath his arm and ran toward Blaise - who she had spotted in the crowd of people only moments ago.

"That's mature!" he yelled after her, laughing as she weaved in through all of the people.

"Trouble in paradise gorgeous?" Blaise laughed as she appeared at his side, immediately wrapping an arm around her waist.

"He's being annoying," she laughed softly then frowned upon the realisation of a lacking person by his side. "Wheres Lu?"

"She's saying goodbye to her Dad I think," he replied quickly, so quick that Ivy grew somewhat suspicious. "Ready for the final year of torture?"

She sighed deeply, half wondering whether the subject change was to cover up something else, "Let's just hope some people have finally matured mentally."

He nodded in agreement, expressing a laugh that rid all of her concern instantly. "Odds on me getting a good year of sleep for once?"

"Uh... one."

"Out of?"

"I don't know, the biggest number you can think of?"

"Ah, so we're extremely hopeful."

"Oh of course," Ivy laughed sarcastically, smiling at Luna as she waved to catch her attention. "Luna's calling you over."

Ivy fell into her own little world seconds before she reached the door to the train, she was far too busy watching the heartfelt conversation between Blaise and Luna's father to notice her surroundings nor care that people were still continuing to stare at her as if she was made from the finest china that could break at any given moment. She hated it, so chose to ignore it entirely.

"Pay attention or you'll trip again," a voice that sent shivers down her spine, snapped her out of her daydream, as she realised that she was stepping onto the train in just a few steps. He had whispered over her shoulder, voice-directed into her ear that even now it ceased to exist still made her stomach squirm.

Ivy jokingly rolled her eyes as she continued to walk forward, keeping her gaze fixed on the ground beneath her feet so she did not trip. Then, as she was just about to step through the door onto the train. Malfoy took her by the waist and lifted her onto the platform with such s smirk on his face that she felt the intense urge to wipe it straight off. "Oh you're so funny," she marvelled, voice laced with such sarcasm that it made the two of them laugh.

"Just making sure you don't fall again."

"Knight in shining armour saviour complex acting up again?"

"Got to keep the addiction fed else it'll get out of control," he shrugged, moving his hand to the small of her back as they walked down the hurried corridor. He continued in a whisper, again pointed at her ear so she could hear it clearly, "The polish might go off if I don't use it enough."

She snorted a laugh as the door to their usual compartment opened up, there stood Finley beaming with a secret that they had had to keep for far too long. "Get your asses in here I have gossip!"

"Nice to see you too Fin," Ivy laughed before she found herself being pulled by the sleeve of her jumper into the compartment, Draco following with soft laughter behind her.

During that journey to Hogwarts for their final year of education, a year that goes far too quickly and is full of such daunting activities it made the average student want to crawl into a hole and die, Ivy noticed something. She noticed the dynamic between her friends, the way that Draco was included in such a dynamic as if he had simply always been there. He wasn't taken out of the conversation or ever ignored, instead they all listened and replied with such enthusiasm that an outsider would assume nothing full of such anger and murderous thoughts had ever occurred within the group.

Then, as she watched the rolling of the hills while Draco slept on her shoulder, she realised that she hadn't thought once of Antony. On a day that last year, bought back so many memories that she simply could not handle her own existence, she had felt nothing. She had not once thought she had seen him in a crowd, not once noticed a slight image of him in the corner of her eye or even reminisced about something he could have missed. She was no longer weighed down by the guilt, no longer forced to poison herself for such things as conscious thoughts.

She had gotten her revenge. She had gotten happiness. She had gotten all that the Ivy who could not remove herself from her bed for weeks had wanted. She smiled to herself then and came to a rather daunting and awfully frighting retaliation. She, in the whirlwind that was the two months of summer, had reached the spark for love toward Draco and with every passing day that spark only grew and blossomed.

Now I won't say that they lived happily ever after, since that is a statement that is so untrue in the world that it has become the work of fairytale worlds where nothing can go wrong. But they lived in their own version of happiness from that day on, never shouting in an argument or reaching the point where they could not stand to be in the same room as each other. Draco Malfoy learned from her what a proper, loving and abusive free relationship was and they simply could not have been any happier. 

And neither plotted to murder anyone ever again.