Chasing Shadows || Draco Malfoy x OC

Year 5- Ch. 132

A few days passed and whispers had been going around the castle about the ten prisoners that escaped Azkaban. Not only within the students, but the teachers would be found in huddles of twos and threes mumbling to themselves out in the hallways or in front of their classrooms about their concerns.

Céline noticed that Draco had been a bit more tense in the last few days too. She could imagine the reasoning behind it was that one of the prisoners, the witch, was his aunt. He never told her that, but she remembers the family tree at 12 Grimmauld Place, that showed Bellatrix Lestrange, next to Draco's mother, Narcissa Malfoy, her sister.

It was an evening after dinner, they had decided to go study in the library together. They had gone to a more secluded part of the  library on the second floor. Céline was on the floor leaning against the wall with a couple of a few textbooks next to her, while Draco decided he wanted to lay his head on her lap and rest his eyes.

She was absentmindedly playing with his hair as she read her Potions textbook. When she looked down to him, she saw his eyebrows were creased and there was a small frown on his lips. His body was tense and his arms were resting over his stomach, playing with the ring she had given him the year prior.

Céline had noticed that he would fiddle with the rings on his fingers when he was fretting over something. She moved her hand from his hair to the side of his face, over his temple, and gently messaged the center of his eyebrows down with her thumb until they relaxed. She set her text book down.

"Are you alright, Draco?" She asked him softly. "You've seemed tense these last couple of days."

His body stiffened a little more and he opened his eyes. He saw the look of concern all over her face, swirling around in her emerald eyes. Draco contemplated for a moment and sighed. He went to sit up but the hand that was on the side of his face, gently pushed him back down onto her lap.

"No, just keep lying down, you seemed more relaxed that way." She said. Draco rested his head back onto her lap, closing his eyes again, and finally spoke.

"You've read the papers... about the Azkaban breakout?" He asked, his voice thick with tension. The hand that had moved back to his hair, stilled. He opened his eyes again and looked at her and met her eyes. She was looking at him a bit anxiously.

"Yes..." she said quietly.

"Right... well.." He paused, hesitating, "The one witch that escaped... is my aunt." He watched her intently, waiting for her to react. Her eyes widened slightly, and her eyebrows furrowed a bit. "She is my mother's sister."

"I... don't understand." She said looking at him worriedly and confused. "How could that be? They have different last names.." of course she knew all of this, but she also knew she couldn't tell him that she did.

"Well, my mother took my father's name when they married, Malfoy, and my aunt took her husband's name when they married, Lestrange. But originally their last name was Black." Draco said, closing his eyes again.

Céline placed her other hand on his chest, to which he grabbed and held in his.

"So.." Céline continued, carefully choosing her words, "you're worried that your aunt will come looking for your mother now that she's escaped? Couldn't she report her to the ministry if she shows up to your home?"

Draco sighed again, "It's much more complicated than that... but" he opened his eyes again and tucked her hair behind her ear with his free hand, then rested his hand on her cheek. "I won't bother you with all my family affairs."

She didn't want to push him, but she wanted to clarify to him. She moved her head slightly to the side so that her lips pressed onto the palm of his hand. Draco's eyes widened slightly at the sudden gesture. She then looked back at him, her eyes heavy with unspoken words.