My Father's Only Rule {DRACO MALFOY X SNAPE'S DAUGHTER}

Chapter Nineteen: Sinking Love

December 1997 - London

 The Baldwins were surprised to see me at their doorstep with their daughter. But they were happy to have me for Christmas, nonetheless. Jane was great about getting my mind off of things. And now that we weren't at Hogwarts, we were safe to talk about other things.

"You know," she said as we unpacked. "Now that we're past it, I've been thinking back on you and Harry. And it makes absolutely no sense."

"You're so right," I laughed.

"No, really," she said. She stopped packing, and sat on her bed, devoting her full attention to this conversation. So I did the same. "What were you thinking?"

"Well," I said. "We just trauma bonded."

"Trauma bonded?" she asked.

"Yeah. We came together over Cedric's death. And not to mention we had Umbridge's detention together. Sometimes you have an experience so bad that you can't imagine anybody understands what you're going through. But when you find someone who went through all that with you...You have something that nobody else has. I needed somebody who understood. And he did. Obviously, I love him as a friend. But I had just broken up with Draco. There was so much unresolved trauma with him. I needed a break. And Harry and I, there was a spark, but we both pushed it to be something it wasn't."

"But you dated for a while," she said.

"I won't lie," I said. "The months leading up to us dating were way more exciting than when we were actually dating. I can't explain it. The flirting was exciting. But being together put this sense of responsibility on me. I felt like he had lured me in with the taste of a relationship that would never happen."

"When did you realize it needed to end?"

"Well," I said. "Around Christmas time of fifth year, I realized how bitchy I had been to Draco. And how good he had been to me. And then after Sirius died, Harry only got worse. You remember how he barely wrote to me last summer. And then at the start of last year, it was so obvious that Harry had fallen for Ginny. And I could tell that Draco wasn't the same."

"Wait," she said. "So were you in love with Draco?"

"I thought I was," I said. "But really, I think I just felt guilty. Especially after seeing how upset Draco was. I really just wanted to help him. And I just did it the only way I knew how."

"Oh," Jane said.

"Girls!" Mrs. Baldwin hollered from downstairs. "The film starts in thirty minutes! If you don't leave now, you won't make it!"

"film?" I asked.

"Ok, we'll leave!" Jane shouted back. "Have you heard of Titanic?"

"The ship?" I asked.

"They made a film about it," Jane said. "It looks amazing. Leonardo DiCaprio is in it."

"Oh, he's so fine," I said.

"I know, right? Wanna come?"

"Hell, yeah," I said. "I need some Leo DiCaprio right now."

"You really do," Jane said. "Come on." And so we raced off to the cinema to watch Titanic.

I was never the same after watching that film.

I went to the cinema for some light-hearted fun with my best friend after a hard day. But that? Wow. Jane and I came home and greeted Mrs. Baldwin in tears. Dinner was...an event.