Battle Scars {Draco Malfoy}

Chapter Fifty Four

To keep Clara from giving him a direct no, Draco continued to kiss her anytime she went to speak, hoping to just avoid the rest of the conversation altogether. At first, she was accepting to every kiss, but eventually he felt her hand press against his chest pushing him away.

"Sorry," she breathed as her eyes met his. "You're a great kisser, Draco, but I think we need to finish talking."

"Do we really?" he asked.

She nodded her head.

"Alright, can you just tell me no then...so I can start thinking of how I'm going to handle it."

"Are you going to hate me if I say no?" Clara questioned him.

"No," he answered quickly. "I couldn't. It would hurt of course, but I would never hate for something like that. I don't think I could ever hate you. Not after how much you've helped over the course of the year, Clara."

She smiled, yet Draco didn't notice as he focused on his shoes. It was hard to believe that the young man standing before her, terrified of rejection had been the same boy years earlier who wouldn't hesitate to reject someone from being his friend all on the basis of blood purity. The man who couldn't even bring himself to say something insulting had emerged from a boy who had said some of the nastiest things when he was a child.

It made her incredibly happy to see that Draco had changed so much, however, she didn't like what it had taken for him to do so. Knowing how much pain he had been put through due to the mistakes of his parents, and the mistakes made by their parents. Forcing such harsh beliefs on children for generations to believe such vile things of another human life.

He had gone from calling people mudbloods to caring for a young girl that happened to be a muggle-born.

They had certainly been through a lot their last year at Hogwarts as they attempted to recover from the scars that had been left from the war, both physically and mentally. While they had come a long way from the beginning, there was still a lot more healing that was needed for both of them. But Clara still wanted for her and Draco to heal.

Together.

Draco felt her hand touch beneath his chin and guide him to look up. Her expression was calm and there was a smile on her face and while she looked beautiful in that moment, Draco knew what was coming.

"I still say that it's a bit sudden for us to be moving in together and I know everyone is going to say that we're taking things too fast..." Clara began. "But.."

Draco's eyes widened with hope that he still had some form of a chance.

"But I think you and I can make it work. And if it doesn't, at least we can say that we tried, right?" She said tucking a strand of his hair back.

"You're...you're saying yes?" Draco was in total shock by her response.

"Well yeah." Clara chuckled at his face. "I thought that part was kinda obvious when I said that I think you and I can make it work."

In an instant, Clara was able to witness one of the biggest smiles that had ever graced Draco's face as he looked at her, obviously pleased by her answer.

"I promise you won't regret it," he told her quickly. "I'll support you in anyway that I can. No matter what you want to do, career wise, or if you want to live somewhere else..I don't care."

"Draco," she said with a small laugh. "Relax, I said yes, you don't have to go above and beyond right now, it's-"

"What if I want to?" Draco said.

"Trust me, you do it enough." 

She was wrapped in a tight hug unable to wrap her own arms around him as he held onto her.

"So we're really doing this? We're going to move in together?"

"Yes," Clara answered. "I mean that's if we have a place to move into and we still have to tell our parents Draco. Mind you my parents haven't even met you, they're not going to be thrilled over the idea of us moving in together."

"Well neither are mine, so maybe they could bond over being mad at us."

"I actually like the sound of that idea!"