friends with benefits - draco malfoy

chapter twenty

i headed up the stand towards the seat ron and hermione had saved for me. it was the gryffindor vs slytherin quidditch match today and harry was playing. draco was also playing for the other team, but i'd not spoke to him since he'd announced how much he'd been chatting to fleur. i was surprised she wasn't sat somewhere else in the stands, waving a draco flag herself. i grinned as i sat next to hermione, ron offering me a bag of jelly snakes from the other side of her. i accepted one and bit it's head off immediately, looking out over the pitch waiting eagerly for harry to come out. 'hey!' ron protested 'you can't just eat it's head off and then take ages to eat it's body! it'll be in pain'. i grinned at him, chewing with exaggerated slowness to wind him up.

'when you two are quite finished' hermione said crossly 'you might have noticed harry is out'. i looked back at the pitch, surprised to see all of the gryffindor and slytherin team doing laps around. i caught a flash of bleach blonde fly past, choosing to ignore it. harry looped back across the pitch, grinning at us before zooming towards the goal.
10 points to gryffindor. 'he's doing well isn't he!' exclaimed ron 'i mean, the game just started and he's already scored'.
'yeah' i replied 'he's doing really good'. i narrowed my eyes, trying to focus on what was happening on the pitch. harry seemed to be frantically dodging something. 'what's happening' i asked hermione, turning to see that she'd gone as white as a sheet. 'mione?'.
'it's a bludger' she replied 'someones used magic on it so it would keep going until it hits someone'.
'no' gasped ron 'who would do that?' i gripped hermione's hand, hardly daring to watch. if harry got knocked off now at this height there would be no way he'd come out unharmed. he dodged to the right again as the bludger looped back around towards him, desperately trying to avoid being hit. i watched, scarcely breathing as the bludger suddenly stopped and a body plummeted to the ground. hermione gasped, digging her nails in to my palm and jumping up. 'it's hit him' i whispered, willing my brain to work. it suddenly snapped into action and i stood up, sprinting down the stairs. 'harry!' i screamed, sprinting across the pitch and pushing people out of the way to get to the body lying on the pitch. i gasped, covering my mouth with my hand when i reached the body. it was draco, unconscious on the ground.

'he dove in front of me, saved me from being hit' harry said quietly from next to me. i sniffed, 'why is everyone just standing around' i demanded, 'get him to madame pomfrey'. crabbe grabbed his arm and shook it half heartedly 'what are you doing?' i shouted 'get him to the infirmary!'.
it was blaise who snapped into action, hoisting draco over his shoulder and starting towards the castle. i ran after him, tears streaming down my face. i knew it would look weird to everyone else, and suspicious to umbridge, but i couldn't help it.

—

draco's pov
i opened my eyes, immediately shutting them again when i realised how bright the hospital was. 'draco?' a voice whispered next to me, grabbing my hand. i snapped open my eyes to see y/n sitting on the plastic chair next to me. i wanted so badly to wrap my arms around her neck like a baby, or scoot across the hospital bed to make room for her, but i couldn't. i had to keep her safe. i snatched my hand out of hers, glaring at her. 'what are you doing here?' i hissed at her, sitting up in the bed. i watched her eyes well up with tears and immediately wished i could take the words back. 'i was just worried about you' she sighed, pulling her knees up to her chin on the chair. 'well don't be' i replied, trying to stop the emotion seeping in to my voice 'i can worry about myself, i don't need you'. i turned away from her, not being able to look at her hurt expression for any longer. i heard her chair scrape back, and her feet hit the floor as she stood up. she paused, clearly waiting to see if i'd say anything. i didn't.

i turned back around, watching her sadly as she walked away back down the hospital ward. madame pomfrey smiled at her from the end bed, and i panicked momentarily incase she asked why y/n had came here to see me, but she was too busy with another patient to bother much with her. i hated being horrible to y/n, she was the one person in the world that actually acted like she gave a shit about me. i shivered, feeling the cold draught brush through the hospital ward. i tried to remind myself that this was for her own good, that it would keep umbridge off our back and keep my father happy. i had the mark now, i couldn't take these risks anymore. it was bad enough that i'd been kicked off the prefects, my only job that i'd been given until i was officially instated, if he knew why i'd been kicked off that would be a full different story. i had to think of my family too.

they'd asked me when i'd gone home, that was the first thing they'd said when i walked through the door. 'draco, you have to know before you go in there. anyone you care about, he will use that against you'.
i'd shrugged and tried to play it off, 'you know me, i don't care about anyone at that stupid school' i'd grinned, but i must have seemed off because my mother had put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. 'if you're seeing anyone' she whispered 'he'll find out, you have to be careful'. i'd said no, obviously, when i was in the room with the dark lord, he'd asked me the exact same questions. i'd denied, keeping my mind as far away from y/n as possible so there was absolutely no way he could trace it. he'd smiled at me, 'i believe you draco, you're a smart boy' he'd said, but i could hear in his voice that he doubted me. he could be following me anywhere, and i was more than certain snape was reporting back to him too. i couldn't risk it.

hi so i have like the whole book planned out now, it's gonna be around 65 chapters and every chapter is around 1000 words. pls pls pls if ur reading this, vote on every chapter. it actually helps so much more than you realise. i aim to post two chapters a day, and i'm being pretty consistent so far. i have a lot of chapters prewritten too to make sure i don't fall behind! thank you sm for reading x