The Mark of a Death Eater : Sequel

Chapter Five

The first day, The Dark Lord didn't arrive.
The second day was the same.
That meant that the meeting would take place on the third day.

This gave us no hint as to whether we would be privately called in to face our sentences or not.

In any case, that night was a stressful one.

I turned in to bed early, and found I couldn't sleep. My pacing around the room alerted the portrait of the pretty girl, Valerian, on my wall.
"Didn't I tell you the last time that pacing causes panic?" she asked.
"Thanks for the reminder," I said drily, and took a seat on the edge of the bed. But Valerian's advice reminded me of the first time I saw The Dark Lord, and the night before the dreaded meeting. Then, much like tonight, I hadn't been able sleep.

The little watch that Narcissa gave me showed that it was only around quarter to ten. The house was dead silent, though, and it seemed like it was much later.

The cold brushed my bare legs. I got into this he covers and did my best to fall asleep.

My thoughts drifted to the poem I'd been reading. 
'If the nights darkness doesn't swallow you whole, you wake in the morn covered in gold.'

I got up, and made my way to Draco's room.
My bare feet made no sound on the wooden floors.

"Can't sleep?" Draco called out from his room. I couldn't see him in the dark, but I nodded in the direction of his voice. "Come on," he said.

He was sitting on his bed, hunched over, in a white vest and a pajama pants.
He sat up and leaned against the ornate headboard, and gestured for me to sit beside him. I curled up to his side, and he wrapped his arms around my shoulders while I stretched mine around his waist. We sat like that for a while, not talking. I could feel every muscle under his shirt.

After a while, he let go of me, and pulled open his sheets.
"Do you want to sleep here tonight?" he asked. I hesitated for second, then climbed in after him.
"Thank you," I whispered softly.

Draco turned over to his side and I faced my back to him, hoping I'd be able to sleep.
I gasped in shock when I felt his hand sliding around my waist, gently turning me around. His face was just inches away from mine, his hand still tight on my waist. His light eyes searched my face for a second, then his hand relaxed. "It's reassuring, seeing your face," he explained to me. His voice, in whispers, sent a shiver down me...

A noise made me open my eyes. I sat up against my headboard, reaching over for the little watch by my side. It read over half an hour past midnight. I hadn't been asleep for longer than two and a half hours. I'd been dreaming. I sighed and lay back down on the pillow. After a while, I heard the noise again.

I padded across the hallway and towards the sound. It brought me to Draco's room.
A lamp gave off a little light. Enough to illuminate him going through a stack of books beside his bed. He opened each book, took a glance through it's pages, or at the back of it, and then shut it. Each book he rejected he tossed onto another pile. There were a few books there already, and each time he threw one it made a thumping sound: the source of the noise.

My body cast a shadow across the floor, and he started suddenly. "Emma," he breathed in relief when he saw me. His gaze fell against my bare legs and I suddenly felt self-conscious about the nightshirt from Narcissa.
"Can't sleep?" I asked, leaning against the doorframe.
"I'm trying to find something to read," he explained. He sighed and tossed the book in his hand against the other pile.

"Come on." He motioned with his hand for me to come inside.
I stepped over the books and joined him on his bed.
A book on the reject pile caught my eye. "You don't like this one?" I asked, getting up to pick it up.
Draco ran a hand though his hair, squinting at the book in my hands.
"I've read it too many times," he said.
I took the book and sat on the side of the bed that I'd slept on the last time. I stretched my legs out and opened the worn cover.

"I didn't think your father would let you keep this book," I said, flipping through The Fountain of Fair Fortune.
"Why not?" Draco propped himself up against his arm to see what I was talking about.
I pointed to a line in The Fountain of Fair Fortune and read out loud. "Now Sir Luckless, as the knight was known in the land outside the walls, observed that these were witches, and, having no magic, nor any great skill at jousting or dueling with swords, nor anything that distinguished the non-magical man, was sure that he had no hope of beating the three women to the fountain."
Draco looked puzzled. "Yes. And?"
"Well he was a muggle. And he marries a witch at the end of the story. I'd have thought your father wouldn't approve."
"Oh." Draco laughed with little humor. "Yes, he did ban the book from the house. I kept a copy of it."
"Why?" I asked, making myself comfortable on the bed.
Draco smiled a little. "I was just a child. I didn't agree with some of the stories, with all the muggle interaction, but I liked one of them a lot, and that was enough for me to keep it."

"Which story?" I asked.
Draco lay next to me and stretched. "The Tale of Three Brothers," he answered with a yawn.
"That was my favourite too." I flipped to the famous story.

Draco put his head against my arm, and I began reading out loud.
"There were once three brothers, who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at midnight." My mother always read it as midnight.
My voice created images that spiraled in my imagination, making me remember better times, and the heat of Draco's cheek against my arm reminded me that I wasn't completely alone.

"And then he greeted death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life."
I put he book down I checked to see if Draco was still awake.
He was. His blue-grey eyes took on the orange light of the lamp and reflected it. His pale hair looked darker in the fire light.

I reached out my hand and brushed his hair off of his forehead. He caught my hand and held it.

"Which one do you think you'd ask for? If you were one of the brothers in the story?" he asked.
I thought for a while.
"I'd like to say that I'd take the cloak, but I know deep down that's not true." I let out a breath of air.
"You're supposed to say the cloak though," I said. "That's the right answer. But I know I'd take the wand," I said honestly.
"Who wouldn't want unlimited power?" Draco asked rhetorically.

I shifted and lay down on the bed next to him, facing him.
"Which one would you choose?" I asked.
"The cloak," Draco answered after a moment of hesitation.

I was taken aback. "You wouldn't take the wand?"
He lowered his eyes and was silent for a moment before speaking.
"The wand would be a good choice as well, but no. I wouldn't."
"Why not?" I asked, puzzled.
He gave a wan smile. "There are people I'd like to hide from."

Of course.

I let out a breath and closed my eyes. I wasn't surprised that I found it difficult to open again. I hadn't been sleeping much lately.

"Going to sleep?" Draco asked.
"I'm going to try," I mumbled.
"Want me to sing to you?" he asked.
I chuckled. "Can you sing?"
"Not at all. That was an empty offer."
I laughed a little and pulled the sheets close around me. Draco's arms were warmer than they had right to be, and I felt safer than I had right to feel.

"Goodnight Draco."
"Night Emma."