sweet talk ↯ draco malfoy

NINE

NINE | lighten up

PRESSING HER ROBE onto her left hand, Rosalie gasped for air. Her hand stung as she pressed the cloth against the bloody cuts that littered the back of it.

Tonight's detention had been exactly like all the others - the words on her hand reopening, deepening with each stroke of the enchanted quill until the words no longer faded.

The pain no longer bothered Rosalie. In fact, she didn't even feel anything. By the fourth or fifth line, her left hand would go numb and the rest of the lines were a breeze.

But the aftermath of it wasn't a breeze.

The steady bleeding became annoying and difficult to hide, ruining countless of Rosalie's brand new robes. Soon, her memorable scar would be easy to read and unable to hide. But, she'd deal with that when the time came.

Rosalie dragged herself to the Slytherin common room, checking her hand every so often on the way there. By the time she mutter the password to the portrait, her hand no longer bled but it didn't cease to sting.

"Evanesco," Rosalie heard, startling her as she stepped through the hole. Her eyes land on a familiar blonde male, sitting at the table with his wand in hand and three snails sitting in front of him.

Leaning up against the wall, Rosalie watched as  Draco tried the spell again. She watched him groan then run his hands through his hair frustratedly. A chuckle left Rosalie's lips causing Draco to spin around, an insult ready on the tip of his tongue.

"Oh," he says once his eyes register the intruder as Rosalie. "It's you."

"Surprise," Rosalie mumbles, tugging her left sleeve down to cover her hand as she pushes off the wall, starting off towards the girls' dormitory.

"Wait, Rosalie!" Draco calls, halting her advance.

"Just Rose," she corrects him, dropping her bag onto one of the steps before walking over to him.

"Rose," Draco says, as if he's testing the feel of her name in his mouth. "I'm sorry."

Rosalie furrows her eyebrows, holding the back of her right hand up to Draco's forehead. "You feeling alright, Draco? You don't have a fever. Nauseous?"

Draco shakes his head, gently pushing her hand away from his face. "Is it really that hard to believe that I'm apologizing?"

"Yes," answers Rosalie without hesitation.

"I mean it though," he says, his tone serious again. "I'm sorry for the things I've said to you this year. You didn't do anything to deserve that."

Rosalie looks at Draco's face, committing the sight to memory. It wasn't rare if him to apologize so she needed to remember this moment for the rest of her life.

With a nod and a chuckle, she changes the subject. "Why aren't you getting your precious beauty sleep?"

Draco motions to the three snails on the table. "I can't seem to figure out the vanishing spell."

"That's because you're concentrating too hard," Rosalie points out, moving to stand behind Draco before placing both of her hands on his shoulders. "You need to relax if you want to get it right."

Draco's breath hitches when her hands come in contact with his body, a sound that doesn't go unnoticed by Rosalie - because the exact same thing happened to her.

"Is that it?" He gulps, looking up at her.

"That and practice, of course." She answers, patting his shoulders before taking a seat in the empty chair next to him. "Try again."