Bloodlines || A Draco Malfoy Romance Fanfiction

Restless - 124

Draco

I looked at the clock sitting on my nightstand. It had just hit one in the morning. I'd had no sleep, and I wasn't expecting to get any that particular night. I didn't even bother to pull back the sheets and get under them.

My mind reeled over the most recent series of events that had happened in my life since Father's imprisonment. When I returned home from school, the dark lord approached me about the mission. I needed little persuading, as the opportunity to avenge my father and restore the Malfoy name was too attractive.

Originally, the plan was to do this without Aphry's knowledge. Lord knows I'd had enough lectures from her over the years for far more trivial things. Besides, she didn't need to be burdened with the truth, and the fewer people who knew about this task, the better.

That plan was ruined when I saw her and her father walk through the drawing room fireplace. At first, I pushed the thought aside, knowing that I would have to explain later. But then it fully crumbled once I realized that our connection was not what I thought it was, and she had forcefully been marked alongside me. She couldn't stay in a position where she was safe and not involved.

The stakes were much higher now, and so was the pressure to succeed.

So instead of sleeping, I spent the night trying to think of how exactly I was going to execute the assassination of Albus Dumbledore. And I was coming up with absolutely nothing.

I looked at the clock again. It had just passed a quarter to two. Nearly another sleepless hour with nothing to show for it. My head flung back onto my pillow in frustration.

At that time, a sound broke the silence in the room. I went still, trying to avoid any sound I might make from the rustling of the sheets under me. The sound happened again, but still, I couldn't place it.

It could have been a whistle of wind through a cracked window, but mine was closed. Father's wolfhounds had been whining incessantly in my father's absence, but they were kept in an entirely different wing at night. The owls were in the small owlery in the back, and the peacocks in the front yard couldn't possibly be heard from here.

Then another sound came. A blood-curdling scream, distinctly Aphrodite's, broke through the thick walls and hallway of the mansion.

I leapt from my bed, grabbing my wand from the nightstand. If any one of those Death Eaters who had decided to use the manor as their crashing spot so much as touched her, I wouldn't hesitate to kill them.

Bursting open my bedroom door, I crossed the hall to her door and grabbed the knob. It was locked. Without hesitation, I pointed my wand at the knob and whispered, "Alohomora!" 

Upon entering her room, I was relieved to only find her there. The moonlight from the window highlighted her curled-up silhouette, clearly asleep as whimpers left her.

I sat at the edge of the bed, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. Her nightgown was sleeveless, and her soft skin chilled to the touch. Gently but firmly shaking her, I called her name. "Aphry, wake up!"

When she woke, she bolted to a sitting position and then turned to see who had woken her. Leaning over, she placed her hands on either side of my face. "Draco! Oh, thank god, you're alive."

Pain erupted in my chest. She was already having nightmares of my death. I reached up and placed my hand over hers. "Yes, darling. I'm fine."

With a sigh of relief, she leaned into me and rested her head on my chest. I wrapped my arms around her to comfort her, wishing I could do more.

After a moment of silence, she lifted her head. "Could you stay here?"

I smirk slightly in amusement. "Little miss proper witch is willing to risk the scandal?"

She nodded shyly, "After that nightmare, I couldn't stand to be alone."

That sobered me up quickly, and I nodded solemnly. "Of course, Aphry. How about I lay on the chaise next to the window?" I knew she had just woken up and made an emotional decision. I didn't want her to regret it too terribly in the morning.

Her hands were resting on my arms, and she gripped them desperately. "No, Draco. That's too far. You don't understand, Draco. You were only an arm's length away... And then he...." Her body shook with a sob.

I shushed her, smoothing my hand down her curls. "Don't relive it. I'll be right here. Go ahead and lay down."

She listened, placing herself under the soft covers of her sheets and lifting her blanket to her neck. I settled over the covers on the other side of the bed and conceded to staring at the dual paintings that had been hanging on the same wall since I could remember. Two ballerinas stood with one frozen on her toes and the other mid-leap. They were wearing voluminous tutus in the pastel colours Aphry always loved so much.

Aphry moved, shuffling herself as close to me as she could with the covers between us. I rolled over to my side and placed my arm over her waist. She perfectly nestled in my arms.

Finally, before I even realized it, I drifted off to sleep.