Optionless with Draco Malfoy

23. Truth Be Told

Juliette

Draco and I were meeting in the Room of Requirement tonight, to do our first trial with the Vanishing Cabinet. We put it off for a week because of his stupid act with Harry.

On top of that, Malfoy has been acting even more strange than usual. He moved seats in Charms class. I noticed because he used to sit beside me. For some reason, I felt like he was avoiding me and I wasn't sure why.

I quickly finished my food at dinner so that I could go to the Room of Requirement. "Slow down Juliette! You're eating like you've never eaten before. You pig," said Pansy.

I shrugged and continued eating. After, I got up and created an excuse to tell Pansy and Millicent so that they wouldn't become suspicious of what I was up to.

"I have to go talk to Slughorn about a potions assignment. I'll catch up with you guys later," both of them nodded their heads in response, which meant that they bought the lie.

I rushed out of the Great Hall and went to the Room of Requirement.

I peered around the room, for the Vanishing Cabinet which was still covered. Draco was pacing around with a green apple.

"Malfoy," I said while clearing my voice.

"Trails," he glanced up at me and I walked closer to the cabinet.

"Stop pacing around for a moment, would you?" He stopped and began throwing the apple from hand to hand.

We both knew exactly what we had to do. This was going to be the first time that we were testing the Vanishing Cabinet. Hopefully, the apple would come back through the cabinet in its full form. If it didn't, then that meant that we were unsuccessful and we'd have to continue to try to mend the cabinet.

I could only imagine how furious the Dark Lord would be if he found out that the Death Eaters passing through the Vanishing Cabinet didn't make it through-because of Draco and I.

I pushed away the thought and took the apple from Draco. Carefully, I placed it into the cabinet.

"I can do the spell-if you want," I said.

"No, I'll do it," he replied sternly. I closed the cabinet and took a step back. He almost refused to even look at me.

Something was definitely off. Draco Malfoy may not like me very much, but he never avoided my eyes this much. It was strange how he randomly avoided me too. One could almost call us friends a few weeks ago. Now, it's like he only interacts with me when we have to.

He pulled out his wand. He was shaking so much that I could watch his hand vibrate.

As calm and reassuring as I could, I said his name softly.

"Draco-" I was going to say something more, maybe some snarky retort, but I stopped myself. Draco Malfoy was actually nervous. Draco Malfoy has feelings? A part of me felt soft because I knew that I was the only one that was even close to understanding how he felt. 

I wrapped my hand around his fist. The shaking stopped. "You can do this," I said confidently. 

Draco

"Draco," she stood so close to me that I could smell her scent; lavender and grass. "You can do this," she said, taking my hand which stopped the uncontrollable shaking. All of my doubts that I could not do this, began to evaporate.

Something about this feeling made me feel reassured and calmed. For a few moments, I let this feeling take over my entire body. It was like I felt warm inside.