Darkness Within||Draco Malfoy Fanfiction

Chapter 37

Chapter 37: Nightmare in hell

Back at school, Roxy and Draco no longer had to hide the truth from their best friends, who helped cover for them when they went to work on the cabinet. Now they spent nights discussing matters that had no place in a school in hushed tones. Matters regarding Roxy's father. And although nobody else in the school knew, everyone now did know that Draco and Roxy were back together. When she passed by the Golden Trio, none of them met her eye. Ron's face contorted into a nasty look, Hermione struggled to betray no emotion, and Harry looked pained, but all three looked anywhere but at her.

To say she didn't feel a shred of sadness was a lie, but that tiny sliver Roxy quickly pushed down. She was not sorry she had chosen Draco, but she was sorry that the Golden Trio, who had been there for her when she was a part of them, now viewed her as almost the enemy. 

If only you knew, she thought, glancing over at them in class, If only you knew the truth, you'd hate me even more.

But it wasn't as if she had a choice. None of them had, but in different ways.

Days blurred into months, and as the end of the year approached, so came the inevitable fate of Dumbledore. Only there was one more horror before that.

"Draco! Oh my -Draco!" Roxy burst into the hospital wing, sinking down beside Draco's bed, tears blurring her eyes. He was even more deathly pale than his usual skin tone, his eyes half closed. He slowly blinked them open upon seeing her, and immediately some light glimmered in his grey eyes, like the first sliver of blue sky after a storm. 

"Who did this to you?" she whispered, her fingers entwining with his, his hand limp in her grasp. She leaned forward to brush away his hair from his eyes with her other hand.

"The Chosen One," he answered wryly. Her fingers froze, as did her eyes.

"Harry. Potter." Immediately, all remorse she had felt for him dissolved. "Isn't he meant to protect people? He cast that awful curse?! I thought all he was good for was Expelliarmus!"

"That's what I thought too," Draco said grimly. 

"Wait until he sees the kind of curses I have," she hissed.

"Wait." His thumb caressed her hand. "Don't, Rox. Don't. I'm alright, really. We have to stay reserved for two more days. Then we'll both leave this place, and it'll be the end of Hogwarts as we know it forever." There was sadness in his tone. She leaned her forehead against his.

"Alright. Two days for you to get better. Don't waste your energy, okay?"

He kissed her on the lips gently in response, the two of them relishing in their final peaceful moments together before everything went to hell, taking them with it.

***

Two days later

Roxy lay in bed, her eyes fixed on the clock as the hands ticked away the last minutes. Part of her was torn between wanting time to stop altogether so it would never have to happen, and another wanted it to hurry up so it was over. All of her was dreading the aftermath. Then the clock ticked the hour, and she willed herself to numb her heart as she slipped silently out of bed. Her friends, all lying awake, also slipped out and they shared a last hug of friendship.

"No matter what happens, we'll always be here for you," they whispered to her, and Roxy blinked away her tears, smiling at them. Who knew what would have happened when they next met.

She pulled the hood of her robe over her head and, gripping her wand, silently slipped out of the girls' dormitory. Draco was waiting for her in the Slytherin common room and they both took a last look round the room as they knew it, remembering all the moments here, and their fellow Slytherins sleeping, most of them blissfully unaware of the nightmare that would unfold. Their hands found each others', and that was all the strength they needed.