𝐚 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 {a Draco Malfoy story}

chapter thirty-nine

Draco

     Normally, when you wake up in the morning, you're well rested and energized for the day ahead of you.

     I was not.

     I couldn't sleep. How could I, after everything that happened last week?

     Rose hadn't slept either, but she was trying to hide the fact that her voice was croaky and her eyes were swollen. I figured it was a reasonable enough time to let her know that I was, too, awake. Placing my lips on her neck, I mumbled against her skin.

     "I know you're awake, baby."

     She shifted in the bed, pulling the sheets above her chest and facing me. Her eyes were wide open and glassed over. "Still sure you want to see me like this?"

     "I wouldn't care if you had the world's ugliest scar running down the side of your face; you'd still be beautiful to me."

     And I meant it. I truly meant every word of it. I noticed a cut of her forehead that I hadn't before and rubbed my thumb beneath it. "Let, me get you a heated, wet towel. You have some cuts."

     She waited on the mattress as I ran a washcloth under hot water, then squeezing the water out so that it wasn't leaking. I sat back down beside her and rubbed the towel against her head.

     I grabbed a bandage from my drawer, and peeked back at Rose's expression from the corner of my eye. She wasn't smiling and her eyes were closed, but not because she was asleep. I knew she was probably thinking about what had happened in the castle.

     "What's bothering you, my love?"

     I turned back around and peeled the bandage. She opened her eyes and stared at me. "Luna, Ginny, Neville, Ron, and Hermione were there," she said toneless.

     I didn't look directly at her, but instead at her forehead as I remembered seeing Luna Lovegood's body temporarily paralyzed as we ran through the castle. "I'm sure they're okay."

     "I know they are. That's not what's stressing me."

     I ran a hand through my hair as I finally looked her in the eye, not breaking contact. "Rose," I said strongly. "You did what was necessary. Look at us, Rose, we're okay -"

     "I'm not okay!"

     This was the first time she had ever said something like that. I knew she was right, that none of us were really okay. I brushed her hair with my fingers and sighed, kissing her cheek. "I know."

     For a couple seconds, neither of us spoke.

     "We could go to visit them, if you'd like. Would you?" I asked her. I didn't know how we were going to do it, but if that's what she needed, then we would do it.

     Her eyes almost instantly brightened, the sun highlighting the golden specks in her green eyes. "You would do that for me?"

     "I'd do anything for you."

     She smiled at me and got up, not bothering to change out of my sweatshirt and shorts. I smiled back and hugged her. "Not that I give a fuck what Weasel thinks, but he'll never know what we've been through. He's been through a lot, yes, but he doesn't understand what we've had to do."

     "I think Ron's going to be the hardest to get to forgive me."

     "In the end, it doesn't matter what he thinks. You're not a terrible person. You're loved, you just had to do what you were told."