Professor Malfoy

52 | mates

Chapter 52
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He found me crying in the bathtub. Without any words, he put the food away and walked behind me to sit on an empty wooden chair. I didn't see him, but I felt it when his hands gently grabbed my hair.

And he began talking.

I didn't dare to say a word.

Snape has some muggle illness. He doesn't know where he got it or if it just happened but him and Draco read that it could happen to some wizards, only very unlikely. One in a million chance.

Cancer. Lung cancer.

He asked Draco to go look for a cure, and for the cure he needed some root extract. The root only exists in Greece, so he went there to get it. It was dangerous, hidden in an unreachable and dangerous cave. He fought through the obstacles, he did everything to help Snape. He's like a second father to him. The better father, he said.

He managed to get it.

And then came the problems. Someone saw him with the root as he was leaving the cave. The person alerted Romanians and Bulgarians and suddenly everyone was after him. He spent days hiding in deep forests, hungry and cold. And scared, but he didn't admit that.

They found him, eventually, and he nearly died in a fight. He couldn't talk to me - they could track him down and kill him on the spot. I have goosebumps all over as he's telling me this part.

He slowly got to deal with them and told them the place of the root, the exact way he got three, the spells he had to use. Nobody knew if it can grow back. It's a very rare plant. Nonetheless they let him go, saying that if it wouldn't be there, he's dead already.

He was given shelter in Slovakia, France and then got back to England. Got back to me.

I'm speeches by the time he's finished. The water in the tub has gone cold.

"You almost died?" I ask, my voice shivering.

"Multiple times,"

"You should've told me!"

Frustration goes through me like a wave, my hand bangs against the water surface. Draco has moved from the chair to kneel next to me on the floor. He tries the water temperature and immediately uses some sort of spell to heat it up.

"And you'd do what? Try to find me?"

"Yes!"

I would. I'd do anything for him.

"But that would be impossible, Lou. Look, I'm here now, okay?"

He is, but under what cost? So that he can be hunted again? They obviously didn't get to the root, that's why they're bothering him.

"But you're not safe yet, are you?" I ask slowly.

He exhales deeply. Then shakes his head. "No...but Snape is working on it,"

"And is Snape-"

"He has the cure. We just have to hope it'll work,"

"Is there another way?"

"Some muggle treatment, chemo...I forgot the name. Chemicals, you know,"

Of course, chemicals. When stupid muggles can't use their brain to realize the power of Mother Nature and her gifts, they turn to labs and doctors and chemicals. How depressing. How disappointing. They truly know nothing, don't they?

"Alright, alright..." I breathe out and hug my knees again.

We remain silent for some time, just enjoying each other's presence. I look at Draco and take my hand to stroke his cheek. It's rough and wounded, damaged. Just like both of us.