Bloodlines || A Draco Malfoy Romance Fanfiction

Making Up - 116

Aphry

As soon as I got to my dormitory, I wrote to Hermione through the journal. I was vague but said I was nearly found out, and I had to leave the inquisitorial squad. She responded the next day, confirming she got my message. Shortly after the magical properties of the journal were reversed. I don't blame her. Continuing to use the journal when we didn't need to only increased the chance of compromising the group.

Although that wasn't relevant for long since Marietta Edgecombe ousted them less than a week later. Draco made sure to tell the entire Slytherin common room about the face full of painful-looking boils she experienced as a result of her telling Umbridge about Dumbledore's Army... no doubt a passive way of telling me how lucky I'd gotten being able to resist the effects of the veritaserum.

Dumbledore left Hogwarts, taking responsibility for the creation of the group, and Umbridge became headmistress.

Draco stayed firm with his need for space. He didn't completely cut me off... It was impossible to do discreetly with how our friend group was made up. However some, mainly Daphne, noticed the change in demeanour. I only told her that he was upset I left the squad.

Once the Easter holiday passed, the focus primarily turned to O.W.L. studies. And as the weather turned warmer, so did Draco's behaviour toward me. He was still keeping his space, but he was a bit more friendly, with the occasional friendly smirk across the dining table and chuckle at a joke. "I told you Draco could never be mad at you for long," Daphne told me cheekily one day.

And as the saying goes, 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder.' The estrangement from Draco had me always wondering in my mind what he was doing. And if I knew what he was doing, I wondered what he was thinking instead. Especially on occasions when our eyes met across bustling classrooms or crowded dinner tables. 

With our schedules filled with studies for the O.W.L.s, and no major antics from him nor me that ended in a yelling match between the both of us, things settled all too nicely, and I was soon on my way to having the biggest crush on Draco Malfoy. But I didn't tell a soul. Not even Daphne.

As I sat before the first of the O.W.L. exams, a charmed paper bird flew over my shoulder, landing on the desk before me. When I opened it, I noticed a simple 'Good Luck' in Draco's scrawled handwriting. I turned behind me, in the direction the bird came from, and several rows back I saw Draco's white-blonde hair. His eyes connected with mine, and a small smirk fell on his lips.

The messages followed before every written exam, show up in various ways to wish luck and encouragement. And they did nothing to alleviate my newly blossoming infatuation.

As soon as our final exam was complete, several of us decided to head outside, ready to soak in the early summer sun free of the burden of the intense exams. 

"It's such a relief that it's finally over," Daphne said, sitting on the blanket that we had brought to spread out.

Theo scoffed, "That's an understatement, Daph."

We spent a few moments collectively talking about the exams. The difficulty, how each of us answered more complex questions, and especially the anxiety that we felt over the practical exam for Defense Against the Dark Arts. We were most definitely not prepared for them.

After a while, I settled down with a book, quickly escaping into the story. I vaguely heard Daphne tell Theo she wanted to show him something. Then Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle at some point wandered off. After a certain moment, I realized it was just Draco and I sitting on the large blanket.

"Where did everyone go?" I asked, looking around.

He shrugged. "From the look on Daphne's face, I think she was trying to get us alone." He chuckled. "They all think it's awkward. Us not talking to each other." 

That was an understatement. It was the first time he'd spoken to me at length in nearly two months. Daphne mentioned multiple times how the energy changed. She claimed there was a tight tension, always just a breath away from snapping. But she could be dramatic sometimes.

Draco continued speaking, "So, uh, your debutante ball is a little more than two weeks away. I assume preparations are going well."

I nodded, closing the book with my finger marking the page I was on. "Yes, swimmingly." Except there was one part that had become fairly uncertain. I took a deep breath, holding it. "Are you, uh, still going to be my escort?" I had no clue what I would do on such short notice if he wasn't. All the other boys going had escorts, most of them girls that I would not want to start a conflict with at an event like this. But I couldn't host the ball without one.

A chuckle came from deep in his chest. "Of course not, mother would kill me if I even tried backing out. Hell, she nearly did when we got off the train separately and were clearly not talking to each other." He looked at me with a guilty expression. "She forced me to give her some explanation of what was going on."

I knew as much. Narcissa, who came to make more preparations for the ball, rushed into Cytheria Estate the next day, grabbed my still-healing hand, and demanded to know what my father was doing about it. My father, always crafty with his words, didn't necessarily lie, but still ensured her that it had been handled.

I slowly released the breath was hold to not draw Draco's attention to it.

He leaned over to me with a playful smirk, and his blonde hair fell over his left eye. My breath caught again. "Besides, you couldn't find a Waltz partner as good as me."

That made me smile, and I chuckled a bit myself. "Don't flatter yourself."

"It's not flattery, it's fact." He said confidently. "And you know, it dear Aphry." It was the first time he'd said my name in weeks, and I worked hard to conceal how affected I was. Thankfully, Daphne and the other boys came back at that time, reminding us that the boys had to get an early dinner before continuing their Inquisitorial Squad duties.