IMPERIO // Draco Malfoy X Reader

Chapter 27: Slytherin Common Room

Draco stayed in the hospital wing for three more days. He had lost a lot of blood, and there would be scars - some of the cuts Potter's spell had caused had been deep - but with careful attention and a little bit of magic, he was back to normal by Wednesday night.

Well, relatively normal.

As you walked him back to the common room, he was quiet. He looked only at the floor, watching his steps.

You felt like you should say something.

You didn't have anything to say.

He didn't even look at you when you helped him into the common room.

What would you even say to him at this point?

Your friends were gathered in the common room when you and Draco arrived. It was almost exactly the same setting as the night of the fight.

Draco didn't look at anyone as he sat down.

You took your place on the couch next to him, glancing at each of your friends faces. There were a mixture of emotions present - relief that Draco was back, resentment from what had happened before, and uncertainty.

Where did you go from here?

It was a while before anyone spoke, the crackle of the fire really the only sound in the room. Pansy was the one who broke the silence.

"I know we shouldn't expect and apology from you or anything." She said softly. "But I was really worried about you and I'm glad you're back."

Draco's eyes flicked up to Pansy for a second before focusing back on the fire. When he did speak, his voice was rough from disuse. "Where's Theo?"

"He won't even be in the same room as me." Leo said. His eyes were cold as he looked at Draco.

Draco didn't meet his gaze.

Another few minutes of silence passed, and you just watched the fire and your friends. You didn't know how to feel. You were relieved that Draco was alright and back in the dorms. You didn't want to be angry with him anymore, but you knew you should. There had been no apology or atonement for what he had done.

"You can be mad." Draco said. "Yell at me, or something. I don't care."

He was still looking at the fire, not making eye contact with anyone else in the room. He looked... scared. Confused. Like he expected to get berated as soon as he had walked in the room.

"We're not going to yell at you." Blaise said.

"You should." Draco said.

"We should." Blaise agreed. "But we won't. Because as much as I wanted to hit you, you're still our friend."

Draco shook his head. "You should have been glad when I was in the hospital wing."

Lyre sighed. "Just stop alright? We're not going to scream at you or anything. We were worried about you."

"Why?" Draco's voice cracked. "I was horrid to you."

"You're an ass." Leo said. "And I kind of never want to look at you again. But this whole mess started because we were trying to help you, so you better tell us what's going on with you now."

Draco finally looked up from where he'd been staring at the fire. His eyes were swimming with unshed tears. "I can't."

"Draco-" Lyre started.

"I really can't." Draco said. "I want to, but I can't."

You could sense the unspoken dissatisfaction from around the circle. Leo shot a look to Lyre. Your friends were fed up with this.

You sighed. "Okay."

Blaise looked at you, confused. "Okay?"

"Okay." You repeated. "We'll just have to be here when he can tell us."

Draco looked at you, a wealth of emotions swimming in his eyes. Confusion. Relief. Appreciation. A deep deep gratitude.

"Yeah." Lyre said reluctantly, folding her hands in her lap. "If he cant tell us now I guess we'll just have to wait."

You glanced around to the rest of your friends. It seemed that for now, they were satisfied.

Draco leaned back in his seat, finally relaxing somewhat. He still looked mildly uncomfortable though, like he had something he needed to say, but he didn't know how to say it.

Leo stood up from his seat. "I'm going up to bed." He said.

Blaise halfway rose out of his seat as well. "Do you want me to-?"

"No, that's alright." Leo said. "I just need to think, I guess." He tucked a loose curl away, and then slid his hands into his pockets.

"Alright." Lyre said, watching her brother carefully. "Night Leo."

Leo nodded to her and then disappeared up the stairs to the boys dorms.

"I think I'm going up as well." Pansy said, rising out of her seat and smoothing out her robes. She headed up to the girls side, waving over her shoulder.

Blaise looked at Lyre, and then at the space between you and Draco. Lyre looked back at him.

"I'm hungry." She said, getting up. Blaise rose as well, and then they were off, through the common room door and out into the corridor, leaving you and Draco alone on the sofa.

The fire crackled in the grate, casting moving shadows over the walls.

"Thank you."

Draco said it so softly that you almost missed it. You looked over at him. He was looking into the fire again. You scanned over his face. Even after three nights in the hospital wing he still looked tired.

"You're welcome, I suppose." You said. Before you could stop yourself, the rest of the sentence skipped out as well. "I think I know what it is you can't talk about."

Draco's eyes darted over to you. "You do?"

"I think." You said. "I don't know where you've been disappearing to, or why you keep doing it... but you're trying to kill Potter, aren't you?"

Draco said nothing.

"The necklace... the poison." You said. "You've been acting weird since the Gryffindor girl accidentally touched the necklace. That was you, right?"

"Do you think the others..?" Draco's question hung in the air for a moment. 

You shook your head. "No, I don't think so."