Keeping me Sane {Draco Malfoy}

9: Welcome to The Family

"What are you talking about?" I gasp, pushing myself back from Draco. "I-I didn't break any vows." I stutter, his eyes widen full of disbelief. I rack my mind trying to think of any instance I might have, and how he would know. Harry and I listening to Draco and Snape was risky, but nothing came of it.

"Don't lie to me." His demanding tone startles me, snapping me out of my thoughts and causing me to take another step away from him. His once concerned expression turns to a glare. "You just told me the truth, don't lie now."

"I don't know what you're talking about, and I wouldn't be standing in front of you if I did break a vow." I cross my arms, raising a challenging eyebrow. "Whatever vow that may be." I mumble, drawing my eyes towards the stone floor. We both know the fate of whoever breaks a vow, I don't know why he truly believes I have.

"You really don't know." His face drops as he realizes my confused reaction is genuine. "Why did you- bloody hell that wasn't you." He presses his palm to his forehead, the colour draining from his face almost instantly.

"We need to go speak to Snape." I wrap my hand around his wrist, attempting to tug him towards the door. He's reluctant to budge, causing me to stumble back a few steps. "Draco. If you're saying someone used a Polyjuice Potion pretending to be me, and you talked about the vow, then we need to leave." I plead, clasping his hand within both of mine. His eyes are emotionless, trained on our connected hands.

"I thought it was you." His eyebrows thread together, his disappointment towards himself is evident. "Cassidy, I talked about the vow. We talked about it a lot, are you sure you don't remember." He desperately begs for an answer he knows I don't have. My mouth drops open to reply but nothing comes out. The crackle of the fire fills the momentary silence.

"If we don't go to Snape tonight, we have to go tomorrow morning before I leave." I shakily nod, biting my bottom lip to somewhat distract myself from the sense of an unwelcome future.

Draco nods, pulling me into a tight, needed embrace. His heavy breaths soften as he gets a secure hold on me, his quickened heartbeat slows. He comfortingly runs his fingers through my hair, more for his serenity than mine.

•••

Suitcases flood the Slytherin common room as the chatter within is louder than usual. I sit on the steps with Syria and Rachel as they go over their holiday plans. I however have remained silent, the only thing on my mind being Draco who still hasn't left his dorm. I glance towards Blaise, briefly watching him converse with Pansy.

"Syria." I mutter, breaking my silence. She raises her eyes to me and nods, motioning for me to continue. "Would you be mad if I asked Blaise about Draco? He still hasn't left his room, and I need to see him before I leave." I explain, hoping no one asks why as I'm not in the mindset to come up with an excuse.

She smiles, although it isn't genuine. Her eyes show a sense of hurt at my question, causing me to immediately regret it. "Yeah, go for it. I understand." She presses her mouth into a tight lipped smile.

"You and Draco, you guys seem-" Rachel pauses, searching for the right word. "-different. Are you official yet?" Rachel's eyes light up, her attention solely focused on me for an answer.

"No, no, if we were you would be the first to know." I nod, followed by a cheeky grin. I glance towards Syria, noticing that she's begun fiddling with a stray thread from her sweater.

"Good." Rachel says with a somewhat forced smile. I raise an eyebrow at her friendly facade, confused by the passiveness. "Oh, Cassidy take your gift." Rachel picks up a small neatly wrapped gift box from beside her, it's as if she just snapped out of a daze within seconds. "I'm leaving soon, but open it on Christmas and send me an owl." She stands from her place, heading towards her suitcase with a friendly wave goodbye.