Bloodlines || A Draco Malfoy Romance Fanfiction

Lessons - 137

Aphry

I left the breakfast table more furious than when woke up. First, Draco Malfoy has the nerve to be angry at me for working with his mother to try to help him, then he decides to tease me by flustering me horribly as he helped me with my seat.

It's not my fault that his mother expected him to be a gentleman. And I can't help that I found it amusing that he had to be nice to me despite his anger toward me, knowing he wanted to do anything but.

Before our usual morning meeting with Bellatrix, I tucked into the library to grab some books. I usually watched anxiously as Draco and his aunt worked together, but my nerves were shot, and I needed a distraction. 

Draco and Bellatrix were already there when I entered the drawing room with books in hand. "Ah! Finally decided to join us, dear?" Bellatrix said mockingly as Draco and I stared at each other with mirrored glares. I didn't respond to her. Instead, I lifted my chin and, with confident strides, made my way to a cosy chair with a large back, and placed my books on the table beside it.

I opened a book, but my attention was immediately pulled away by Bellatrix's batty cackle. My brow quirked, and Draco and I both stared at her as she tilted back with uncontrollable laughter, wondering what in the blazes was so funny. "Oh dear me," she said once she'd finally gained control of her laughter. She pouted mockingly, looking between the two of us. "Honeymoon phase over so soon?" She took a few steps over to Draco, placing a hand reassuringly on his shoulder. "Don't worry, dear. I'm sure you can do better."

Draco's jaw set, and his hands clenched into fists. I was sure that it was the angriest that he'd been over the previous twenty-four hours. As much as I wished he'd defended me against his aunt, it was wise he didn't. While I had proven quite adept at occlumency, I was not a legilimens. And Bellatrix was the only one I knew that he was accepting help from. As much as I hated to admit it, we needed her.

Things settled down, and they began their lesson. I was trying to keep my focus on my book, but I couldn't help but listen to Draco's practice.

He was doing remarkably well. Loads better than he'd ever done.

I stared at the page in my book without reading the words, instead pondering what caused this exponential progress, and how we could make sure that it stuck.

We were currently in the midst of an argument, and that was at the forefront of my mind. Had he mastered occlumency in his anger? I'd read strong emotions were counterintuitive to occlumency, though.

But there was an emotion, and a strong one at that, that had been present in the past weeks that was quite dismissed at the moment... His affection for me. The thought twisted like a storm brewing in my stomach. Was our relationship the reason that he couldn't master this skill that was vital to his success?

My anger at Draco withered away, replaced with a melancholy that made my chest heavy. We had only been together a few weeks, and it felt like the only thing going right at the moment. Would we have to put our relationship on hold until Draco's task was through to ensure success?

I immediately started to prepare myself for the possibility, bracing for it. I imagined Draco pulling me to the side after this session, telling me that we weren't going to work for the time being.

And I, knowing the stakes, would let him go without a fight. Because it was my duty to him as his defensor. Because it would be the best decision to keep him on task and keep us all alive.

I was drawn from my thoughts as the pendant around my neck got icier than it usually was. A fraction of a second later, Draco was lifted in the air, a surprised ahhh leaving him as he became airborne. He was higher than I was tall.

Bellatrix had a mischievous grin as she watched him. I channelled my own occlumency, as I did anytime I looked into her eyes and leapt from my chair to approach her. "What are you doing, Bellatrix?" I asked with a level tone, keeping my emotions at bay.

"It's time for your lesson," she said with a melodic voice. She lifted her wand, lifting Draco higher. He was at least a dozen feet off the ground now, and I could see the panic in his eyes. Sparks flew out of her wand, hitting Draco and causing him to yelp in pain. A mild headache started, but I fought past it.

I turned back to her. "What lesson?" I asked tersely. "What does hurting him have to do with a lesson?"

Her look of disgust clearly showed that she thought I was completely daft. She looked back to Draco, and I followed her gaze. Slowly, Draco came closer to the ground.

Until he was several feet above the ground, where she completely released the spell. Draco fell hard, landing on his side. My headache worsened, though I continued to try to ignore it. "Oh, my god. Draco!" I said as I rushed to his side. I knelt next to him as he groaned in pain. He reached for my hand, and I gripped his in both of mine.

I heard the clunk of Bellatrix's boots come closer. She stopped behind me, casting a dark shadow over us. Draco looked at her, but I chose to ignore her and focus on him. She didn't take kindly to that, however, as she gripped my chin and forced me to turn my face to her. Her ebony-varnished nails dug into the skin along my jaw.

Her face was inches from mine, so close that a wild curl of hers touched my cheek. Her eyes were wild with anger as she looked at me. "You were born to serve and protect Draco, young lady. Not to read your silly little stories like a schoolgirl. Be. On. Guard."

With that she let me go with a shove, and I immediately felt soreness where she had her grip on me. I stared into the empty fireplace a few feet behind Draco, listening to the sound of her shoes fade away. The drawing room squeaked open, then slam shut like a thunderclap to my ears.

I dropped my mental shields and slumped over as my emotions rushed back to me. It was hardly midmorning and I was already exhausted. I reached up and clutched my now throbbing forehead, putting pressure on my temples.

"How's your headache?" Draco asked me, a bit weak sounding. I looked up to see he had a worried look on his face.

A chuckle of disbelief escaped my lips. "I should be more concerned about you. You fell so quickly I didn't even see how you landed... You didn't break something, did you?"

"No," he said, as he used his other hand to lift himself into a sitting position, groaning as he did so. "I landed on my hip. Might be sore for a while, but I'll be alright." His lip quirked up in a smirk. "I've almost got the occlumency down, though."

The comment reminded me of what I was thinking about before Bellatrix decided to practice her levitation charms. I looked down at our intertwined hands, trying to conceal my disappointment. "Yes, you do," I said softly.

"Well, that's not the reaction I expected of you," he said. He lift his hand and tucked his crooked finger under my chin, gently guiding my face up to look at him. His brow furrowed. "What's wrong?"

"We fight and then suddenly you can master occlumency?" I said in nearly a whisper. I decided I was ready to get the inevitable over with. "It's clear that I'm a distraction to you. We're distracting each other. We shouldn't--"

"Don't you dare, Aphrodite," he said sternly, brow furrowed harsher than before as his silvery eyes searched mine. "Don't you say what I think you're going to say."

In my mind, he was in denial, but I knew what sacrifice we needed to make. "Draco, we can't let these feelings get in the way of our goal." 

"I will have these feelings whether we are in a relationship or not," he said. He had a point. "I need to learn how to manage them, and I think I figured it out." After a moment of quiet, he said, "I'm not going to give you up easily."

I took a deep breath in, then out. "We can't base this off just one day off you being able to properly achieve occlumency..."

He huffed, his frustration ebbing off of him. "Give me until the end of the summer. I don't even think I'll need that long. But if I haven't completely, consistently mastered it, we'll..." He couldn't even get the words out, and his hand gripped on mind gently.

I squeezed his hand back, giving him a gentle smile. "You have a deal, Draco."

With that, he nodded, a small smirk showing he was relieved. He gave me a gentle kiss. "Now, let's go see if we can get something for these injuries."