Always. (A Draco Malfoy Story)

The Infirmary.

The infirmary was quiet when I arrived. Draco was the only student in here.

I pulled an empty chair closer to his bed, so that I could sit beside him. He's sleeping, which is I guess a side effect from whatever potion Madame Pomfrey gave him. It's fine though, I'll wait for him to wake up.

-

Within the next few hours, I started to doze off myself. I could feel my head drop lower and lower as it always falls off of my hand, that's supposed to hold me up.

I almost fall into slumber before I hear Draco's voice.

"...Joy?" He's still kind of groggy.
I sit up and lean over to him, "Hi."
He rubs his eyes to wake him up even more, "What are you doing here?"
"I came to make sure you were ok."
"Oh." He pulls himself up to sit on the bed.

"How are you feeling?"
He chuckles, "Like I fell off of my broom." I smile, "To be honest, you did kinda deserve it."
He turns to me, "I almost died, Joy!"

I turned quiet. He could've died and it was partially my fault.

I look down at my hands, as they rested on my legs. I softly say, "You need to stop flirting with me." I could feel him smile. "Don't you like it, love?"
I look up at him, "I'm with Adrian."

"So?"

I scoff, "So? You can't keep flirting with me!" He leans closer to me, "Then why do you smile every time I do?" I lean away from him, "No, I don't!" He laughs, "You can't hide it from me, love."
"Just quit flirting with me."

It got weirdly quiet between us. I stayed seated in my chair, looking over at the table next to him, wondering what kind of potion Madame Pomfrey used.

Draco speaks up, but in a hushed voice, "Break up with Adrian."
I turn my head to him, "...What?"
He looks me in the eyes, "Break up with him. Be with me." He reaches out for my hand.

"Draco—"

He smirks, "So I'm back to Draco, now? Making progress." I instantly pulled my hand away before he could grab it.
I roll my eyes and stood up from the chair, "I only came here to make sure you didn't die. So since you're clearly well, I'll be going now." I push the chair further behind me and took a step toward the door.

"Wait—"

Draco grabbed my hand. "Stay, please?"

His silver eyes looked desperate. I deeply sighed before taking a seat again.
He keeps a quiet tone, "Why are you with him? Honestly."
I take a second to think about it, "Because I like him. He's sweet and kind, even for a Slytherin." Draco rolls his eyes, "He kicked me off my broom."
"You deserved it!"

He goes on, "...So you're with him because he's the exact opposite of you." I'm offended. "Excuse you, I can be sweet and kind!"
He chuckles, "Yeah, right. Says the girl that attacked Pansy and Lawrence and left them both traumatized since."
I flipped the hair off of my shoulder, "You say that like it's a bad thing."
Draco smiles, but it quickly dropped from his face.
"You need someone on your level, Joy. Pucey's only bringing you down."

I take a deep breathe in and out.
"I'm happy with Adrian."
He nods, "Keep telling yourself that. Maybe you'll start to believe it."

I stand up, "I'll talk to Madame Pomfrey about changing your bandage."

-

It took me a while to find Madame Pomfrey, so I decided to get Draco a strawberry tart from the kitchen to cheer him up.
I almost walked back into the infirmary, tart in hand, when I saw someone with Draco by his bed.

It was Pansy.

My stomach started to turn into knots as I saw them together. I think Pansy said something funny, which caused Draco to laugh.

I smiled at his smile, I missed his smile.

I looked down at the dessert in my hand, and decided I should actually go back to the dungeons. I turn around but bump into Madame Pomfrey instead.

"Oh! Miss Deveroux, I am so sorry about that!"
"Oh no, it was my fault, Madame Pomfrey." I looked back at Draco and Pansy who were still laughing about something. "Uhm... I think Draco needs his bandages changed." She smiles, "I'll get right on it, dearie."

"Can you give this to him as well?" I show her the strawberry tart. She nods and takes the dessert from me.

I watched her walk into the infirmary and hand the pastry to Draco before I vanished into the shadows of the corridor.