Long Live the Mafia Prince - A Drarry Fanfiction

Part 026

Familiar, yet different.

Familiar sheets, familiar headache, and familiar air.

Different silence, different mess, and different warmth.

Blinking at the sight before me, I sit up on Draco's bed. It's hard to say what caught my eyes first, it all came crashing at me at once. The silence without Draco's violin was a scene stealer, while it was difficult to focus on much else than the piles upon piles of books thrown off its shelves onto the floor. The ripped and ragged curtains didn't do a good job in hiding the cracked window, the knife which seemed to have cut it still on the window cill. Draco's normally neat desk wasn't doing to well, either, covered in parchment and spilled ink. The weapons which were once on the walls now on the floor, the cabinets flung open, the sheets that lay over me stained in what I want to believe is wine...

As if a tornado swept by, the room was a disaster, to say the least. What happened here? Did Draco do this? Where is he, anyway?

Something shuffles next to me. I flinch away, startled. I blink again at perhaps the most odd sight in the whole place. It's Draco, on the other side of the bed, asleep.

Without thinking, I jump out of the sheets. At my sudden movement, Draco shuffles again. I find myself backed against the wall, watching Draco breath, his chest puffing softly in and out. I feel as though I can't move, like I'm not allowed to. I feel like an intruder.

Uncomfortable, I stand a few more seconds. What do I do now?

The reasonable choice would be to take this as a chance to carry out my part of the mission. After all, the target is literally asleep, probably thinking that I am also knocked out next to him. All I need to do is pull out my temporary wand that the Ministry gave me in place of my real wand for safety reasons and send the signal. It's a one, two, simple process.

But I don't want to do that. No, I do want to, but I...

I want answers. I think, though I'm not sure what my own thoughts even are at this point, I want answers, and I want to hear them here, in this room, now, before Draco and I become a criminal and an auror. Besides, for whatever reason he might have had, Draco never did things to me unannounced without warning, and it feels somehow wrong to not return it.

So, I wait.

Or maybe not.

The moment I start to tip-toe my way around the mess on the floor, as if he had heard me slightly brush against a book of his, Draco slowly wakes. I pause in place as we meet eyes.

"You're quite loud." Draco says, his voice dry.

"Oh- I'm- Sorry?" I say, "Why is...?".

Draco rolls his eyes, sinking back into his bed. "Why am I sleeping? Why did I make such a mess? Why am I not ready to kill off your Ministry? Which one are you trying to ask?".

I blink as Draco closes eyes, going back to his interrupted nap. "Can I ask all of the above?".

With a sigh, Draco sits up again. "It's really up to you. You're the one who decides when our meeting ends, right?".

I nod slowly. "I expected you would know that we were coming for you, but I also expected the Ministry would be obliterated the moment we stepped into your area.".

Draco chuckles. "You expect anyone who stepped into my area to be obliterated. I think I've already demonstrated that you're always wrong about that.".

"Is there a reason?" I say, "Your father would have-".

"Exactly." Draco says, slipping out of his sheets.

I watch as he skips over the random array of things on the ground, over to his desk. As if not noticing the condition of his surroundings, he flops onto his chair. It's then that I notice the lazily wrapped piece of fabric on Draco's hand. "Did that happen while you did this to the place?".

He glances at his own wound. "I assume so. Don't quite recall, to be honest.".

I glance at the stain on the bed. "Is that your blood?".

Frowning at the reddish-brown spots on his pure white sheets, it seems he wasn't aware of it until now. "Don't quite recall.".

"You were that into destroying your room that you don't remember how you cut yourself this badly?" I say, "Why did you even do this?".

Draco shrugs. "I felt it was my last chance to. I'm not coming back here again, might as well try something new.".

I think. "What do you mean by that?".

"Do you destroy your room on a regular basis?" Draco says.

"No, what do you mean you're not coming back?".

He laughs. "What kind of question is that? Are you implying I have a chance of not getting the Dementor's Kiss?".

Forgetting about avoiding the things on the floor, I step closer. "Are you implying you're going to get arrested? You're not going to- to fight?".

Draco laughs again. "Of course I'm not. Dad would've, since you keep mentioning him, but of course I wouldn't. If I was, I wouldn't be wasting my time talking to you.".

My head feels blank. Words ring in my ears, but not a single thing processes. This isn't right. Or, it is, but it's not... "Why?".

Draco blinks. "Why?".

"Why are you doing this? Why are you giving all this up? You've just got your hands on the power, why are you throwing it away? Why did you kill your father, then? Shouldn't taking his place be a part of your revenge? Is that why you've done this to me? To make the Ministry come for you because you want the Mafia, your glory to be gone? Then couldn't you have just turned yourself in? Is there a reason you needed to hurt someone like this? Why did that someone- why did it have to be... me? I don't...".

Draco blinks again.

I didn't realize I was getting heated, emotional. "This is not fair. Why do you get everything you want, and I have to be used? I don't understand, at least make me understand, Draco.".

Seeming almost taken aback, Draco sits, just staring at me. Maybe he's confused that I'm confused, maybe he didn't mean for me to feel the way I do, or maybe he just thinks my presence is disgusting. Truely, what he thinks doesn't matter to me, it never should've mattered. All I want now is answers.

Through silence, Draco gets up from his desk, finally speaking. "'Do you think I'm somehow different, or do I just look really fucking stupid to you' was the question, I think.".

My nails dig into my palm as he approaches me, stepping all over the pages of his books. I clench my jaw, Draco standing inches away.

"At first, I didn't know what to say. In fact, I've never felt so much like I didn't know myself." Draco says, his breath on my neck, "But I can say now, Harry, I think you're different.".

I glare into his eyes. "How?".

A faint smile appears on Draco's lips. "You care about me.".