When Aven Selwyn is tasked to work with Draco Malfoy in repairing the vanishing cabinet by the hand of Lord Voldemort, the last thing she expected was for Draco's best friend to become involved. Caring for someone isn't something on Aven's agenda, b...
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(ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ғɪᴠᴇ: ᴀɴᴛɪᴅᴏᴛᴇ)
"Okay, here is the Dreamless Sleep," Draco said, pushing over the small vile. The two of them were in the common room, sitting across from each other on the velvet sofas separated by a small coffee table. "The dose is large enough to knock you out until this time tomorrow."
"You're sure you measured it correctly? It's not like I'll fall asleep and never wake up, right?"
Draco raised his brow in speculation. "What, do you actually want to live now?"
Aven's eyes dropped to the floor. Quietly, she said,"I never didn't want to."
"Really?" He drawled. "Could've fooled me. You look like you're standing on deaths doorstep, either way. You really ought to sleep and eat more."
"I try," Aven protested weakly. "I'm just . . . I'm trying to save both of us, okay? I'm trying the best I can, and it's all I can focus on. Not sleeping, not eating, but surviving."
What he doesn't know is that fighting to survive has left has made Aven want to stop fighting in general. She was tired, and she knew she wasn't tired for a good nights sleep. She was tired of trying and fighting. She was tired, and she wanted it to all be over. Not her life, per say, but the surviving. She wasn't living. She was moving and working mechanically, a host inside someone else's body.
"Stop acting like you're alone in all this. I'm here, and I'm trying to. Stop making me feel like shit."
"I wasn't intending to. I know you're here, but I still feel alone. I just can't help or change that."
"Yeah," Draco whispered, looking at the table. "Trust me, I understand."
Aven racked her brain for something, anything she could say to comfort him. But she knew there wasn't anything she could say to make him feel better, because no one could say anything to make her feel better.
Draco stood silently. "Just draw your curtains and take this once in bed. I'll keep Pansy off your back about skipping lessons. I'll check on you tomorrow morning before I go to the room and work on the cabinet. The potion should be done by the time you wake up."
"Okay," she nodded. "Thank you, Draco, really."
Draco looked faintly surprised, then his face faded back into expressionless almost immediately. Aven had called him by his first name but one time, and it had gone unnoticed then due to the situation they were experiencing. Now, however, it just slipped out. Judging by the look on his face, she wished she'd never said it at all.
"Just don't get yourself into a position like this again, it's a waste of time having to take care of you. You're a big girl, act like it."
Aven couldn't help the pang of hurt that registered. It finally felt like the two of them were making it somewhere; not quite friends, but acquaintances. But, Aven guessed, she'd always just be his partner. She suddenly felt like a resentful child for going to him for help, but she knew she'd die if she hadn't.
