Battle Scars {Draco Malfoy}

Chapter Forty Eight

The two professors looked at the boy that stared at them awkwardly, waiting to be invited in.

"It's your office.' Sirius reminded her nudging Nixie.

"Uh..yes!" Nixie said snapping out of her daze. "Come in, Mr. Malfoy.."

Draco cringed at the use of the title. "Can you just call me Draco for now? We're not in class or anything, I really don't like being called Mr. Malfoy."

"Of course, sure. Sorry it's a force of habit." Nixie told him as she welcomed Draco in. He walked in and sat in the chair that Clara had occupied before hand.

"What can we help you with? Is it about the homework?" Nixie asked.

"No, it's not. It's pertaining more to the support meetings..if that's okay."

"Oh..wow...alright, yes that's fine."

Sirius went to move and leave but Nixie grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him down to sit.

Draco watched the interaction of the two as he rubbed the palm of his hands on his pants before looking around.

"Why don't you tell us what it's about, Draco?" Sirius said finally, opening up the discussion.

"Well, this is probably going to sound really weird, but you see the summer is coming up and once I leave here, I'll be going back home for a bit and that will lead to...welll.."

"Clara meeting your parents?' Nixie finished.

Draco and Sirius both looked at the woman in surprise.

"H-how did you know?" Draco asked. 

"Lucky guess." she smiled. "So you're here trying to figure out how to approach the subject of Clara meeting your parents?"

"She already wants to meet them." Draco told her. "But...I don't want them to do anything to her. I mean, physically they wouldn't hurt her, but I can imagine them saying something. And with her scars...I don't know what to do."

"Why would you invite her to meet them in the first plac-" Sirius began until Nixie hit his arm.

"I know that everyone thinks my parents are horrible...and they might be right in some respects...they did bad things, but I think they're trying to move on with their lives, just as I am. I think it's going to be much harder for them to be accepted back into society. And I don't expect them to just drop everything they were raised to believe either. They were both raised to believe in blood purity, I don't think that's going to vanish overnight."

'It could if they tried a little harder." Sirius muttered.

Nixie cleared her throat giving Sirius a stern look before turning back to Draco, her expression softened.

"Draco, I think Clara could be a good influence on you and your family making a change to better yourselves. However, I think both of you should be prepared for the reaction happening that you both don't want. As you said, your parents were raised a certain way, and Clara wasn't raised that way, despite being a pureblood herself. It can go either way and you should be prepared for either reaction. If they are accepting to her, fine...if not, I wouldn't keep Clara there. It wouldn't fair to her and it's not fair to you listening to that."

"Then how do we go about seeing each other? I don't think her parents are going to like me very either. So we just keep meeting up at places? What did you two do after school?"

"Oh.." Sirius and Nixie blushed slightly.

"We moved in together." Sirius told him. "Right after school, I used the money my uncle left me and I bought us a flat to stay in. Things were different at that time though. By then I didn't have a relationship with my mother or the majority of my family, so it was quite easy. Nixie's family was more than accepting..except during the initial telling that we were moving in together. Mainly on her father's behalf..."

"I think what Sirius is trying to say is, things are going to be different for you, Draco. It's different circumstances for you and Clara."

Draco nodded. "I want to keep seeing her once school is over but..I'm not sure about the whole moving in thing..I mean, how long were you two together before you decided on that?"

"Roughly two years." Sirius said.

"Don't you mean, ruffly?"

"Not now, Nini." Sirius chuckled. "But good one...anyways, we were together for two but we knew each other since before we were sorted into our house."

"Oh." Draco frowned.

"But that doesn't mean you have to be together that long for it to work, Draco. It's different for everyone. I think this is something you need to talk to Clara about."

"How do you think she'll respond?" he asked with a nervous glance.

"There's really only one way to find out." Nixie smiled. 'And that's by asking her. But she's a nice girl. I don't think you have much to worry about."

"Okay..well..I guess I should go talk to her." Draco said standing up. "Um..thank you."

"Anytime, Draco."

Draco had just left the classroom when he heard his name being called. He turned around to see Sirius approaching, making him uneasy instantly.

"Yes, Professor?"

"Look Draco, between you and I...Clara and Nixie are very similar in respects that they will let people say things and let it roll off of them, like water on a duck. But you and I...we're not ducks , are we?"

"N-no?"

"Right, so if your parents are rude to Clara...you tell them off. A girl like Clara doesn't deserve that. You protect her...it'll work out in the long run. Even if you two don't end up together forever, you'll feel much better about yourself."

"Thank you. I'll do that."