Draco's Wife

The Matter of Sleep

Help would come late that night so, I spent the rest of that day preparing what I was going to say to him once he was finally listening. There was so much to ask, but so little I felt comfortable asking. I wondered if he would rather me take a casual approach or a serious one. I was never a serious person, but if he needed me to be then I would oblige.

The night fell, and my nerves rose. Lights out was at 10pm... 2 hours left...

I could do this.

He was late, and of course, I was early. By the time the clock struck 12:01 am I felt like I had been there for hours. Every minute after midnight I would change what I wanted to say to him. I couldn't decide whether to ridicule him for being late, ask him how his day was, complement him on some feature, or thank him for taking time out of his sleeping schedule to be with me. I didn't know what approach to take; it was not a very formal setting, but since it was a Malfoy, I felt like it seemed very formal. I stared at the boys' dormitory entrance; practically begging him to appear, but the time told me otherwise.

10 minutes after the scheduled hour Draco was still absent. Like a little panicked girl, I started to become worried he would never come. Or, a Prefect would come in his place and get me in trouble for being out of bed that late.

I realized staring at him as he came in would creep him out, so I turned my face towards the fire. I began to wonder what would happen if we were caught. I couldn't believe we had never been caught by them in the past.

Maybe they were heavy sleepers. I decided as I started to drift towards my own slumber. I was no morning bird by any means, but I wasn't a night owl either. I did however understand why we had to meet at such a weird time. I was thankful he didn't set the time to be 2 in the morning; if he had I probably wouldn't have remembered anything by the time I had to wake up that same morning.

I was so deep into my sleepy thoughts that I didn't hear the very important footsteps, of a very important person, coming down a long hallway. He didn't clue that he had arrived, but I could feel a presence in the room. I slowly turned around and there he was. Weirdly, he was still dressed in his robes, wide awake. He was looking at me as if he wanted me to start the conversation.

"Do you ever sleep?" I started. Definitely not how I planned to start our conversation. He didn't show much expression after I had asked my question.

"I tend to get what's needed," he stated as he walked around the couch towards the front of the sofa I was sitting on, "judging by the fact that you are here, you understood what I told you earlier today," he continued.

"And judging by the fact that you asked me here, I'm guessing you received my depressing call of help earlier this week," I replied. He raised his eyebrows and considered the conversation Monday night.

"Yes, that was an interesting way to ask me for help," he countered sitting down on a chair across from me.

"Well, you told me not to talk to you in front of your friends so, I improvised," I said relaxing.

"Ha! Like that was improvisation... Try doing it with spells," he said as his knee started to bounce.

"Yeah about that..." I trailed. Was he anxious?

"Yeah, I know you're awful. You've told me," he snapped quickly. I considered being offended by the statement, but honestly, he wasn't wrong, "Now do you have anything specific to.... Ask for help in, or...?"

"I've actually got a list," I said bluntly and took out my list of things to ask him. I had written it down in case I forgot.

"Oh, okay then," he said backing off.