'Tell Me Pretty Lies,' by moongirlel

Chapter 28: Paralysed

[Apocalypse - Cigarettes After Sex]

༺ 𓆙 ༻
3rd Year
Wed. 13th October 1993 - 9:18pm...

It felt like I was being suffocated.

Strangled, would be the better word for it.

I couldn't breathe. My heart lashing, pumping my blood throughout my whole body like I was running a marathon.

Paralysing fear anchored my body down against the mattress. The storm filling my mind, my thoughts - And I felt myself drowning in that stupid frog pond at the age of nearly thirteen, again.

"Love?"

I cough, gasping quietly as he shook my body: Shaking me awake gently. Opening my eyes, I'm met with Draco's face, riddled with concern.

"Jane, are you alright?" He brushed a strand of my hair back, his thumb caressing my bottom lip.

I nod, and swallow hard. I sit up, reaching out for the silk sheets. My knuckles practically screaming from the hold I had on the material.

I was underneath them, and so was he. Although, I didn't recall falling asleep in his bed. Or, how I ended up wearing one of his night sweaters and boxers.

He sat up with me, continuing to whisper into my ear. "Jane, you're scaring me - You looked like you were being possessed or something."

"I..." My words caught in my throat, my heart still hammering against my ribcage. "I had a nightmare. I have them... sometimes."

"Oh."

"Yes... oh." I snort, trying to shake it off by taking a deep breath. "I'm okay... I am okay."

Luckily, Draco was the type of person not to push you for an answer. In this moment, I'm thankful he is one of those people.

He laced his fingers between mine and the sheets, prying my hands from them.

I reach for my neck, to find it bare. I pat around my collar bone, and he hums calmly.

"It's in with my rings. I took it off incase you were to accidentally choke yourself," He explained.

Taking another deep breath, I finally face him fully, twisting my body.

He leaned on his hand, tilting his head slightly.

"How long did I fall asleep for?"

"Ages. I could of been practicing those loud spells for Charms class, and you wouldn't of batted an eye." He smirked.

I scoff, shoving him lightly in the chest.

He flopped backwards, dramatically whining. His hand cradled his side, "Such cruelty I have to endure."

"Aw," I teased, crawling over him to sit on his lap. "I thought you said you weren't a cry-baby last year?"

"I'm not." His face distorts in defence.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, and... there's no need to be so dramatic."

"I'm not-" He sighed, accepting defeat by clamping his mouth shut in a straight line.

"Mhm? What were you going to say? Go on, I'm listening." I giggle.

Rolling his eyes, he shifts himself comfortably underneath me. His hands rubbed up and down my side, occasionally slipping under the top it seems he's allowed me to borrow.

I wipe my eye with the back of my hand, pulling back the curtain to peer out of it at the clock.

Theodore and Blaise were both in the room, sitting on top of Blaise's bed. They were too absorbed in their own conversation about Luna and Blaise's 'friendship' to notice me.

Either that, or they didn't want to converse with me as they already knew why I was in their dormitory at night time.

I closed the curtain, and Draco's hands travel a little further up, to my chest. I smile down at him.

"You know, you're really difficult to work with while you're asleep," He pulled me down to his chest.

"Why's that?"

"Every time I tried to move your limbs, you moved them back. Then your body reacted to the warm cloth like it was a disease or something." He clicked his tongue, "Not to mention your snoring afterwards whenever I finally got you settled into a pair of my sleepwear."

"I do not snore!"

"You do!" Theodore called from past the curtain.

"I don't!" I argued back.

"We heard it from down the hall!" Blaise adds.

I shake my head, snuggling up into Draco's shoulder. "Idiot, I do not snore." I snarl into his ear, and I earn a chuckle from him.

"Oh yeah?" He said, resting one of his hands underneath his head. "Hm, sure you don't, Darling."

"Did you change the sheets?"

"What? Of course I changed the sheets, and with great difficulty." Draco huffed, tangling his fingers in my hair. "I was hardly going to allow us to get to sleep without feeling clean."

"Good."

༺ 𓆙 ༻

Theodore and Blaise's voices became more hushed the later it got, and eventually they weren't heard at all.

I struggled to fall back to sleep.

"Draco?"

"Hm?"

"I think I should go back to my own dormitory now, no one's awake." I whisper.

From the darkness, I could just about make out his blonde hair, and his slight frown. He groaned, and rolled us over, trapping me in his embrace.

"That's exactly the reason why you shouldn't leave, plus it's past curfew."

I stroke his hair, feeling his breath hit my neck rhythmically as he fell asleep again. "Alright, I'll stay."

Whenever it came to him, I didn't need much convincing.

༺ 𓆙 ༻