Always. (A Draco Malfoy Story)

Headaches.

Harry received my letter the next day and read every word.

He's reread it multiple times, and was trying to remember why is seems like he's talked to Rosie about this before... some sense of deja vu.

He neatly packs the letter back into the envelope as Ron and Hermione greeted him good morning.

"Has she written back?" Hermione asks as she takes a seat on the bed next to him.
Harry nods.

Ron chimes in, "What did she say?"

"She said that Joy seems harmless, and that she seems like she doesn't even want to be Voldemort's heir," Harry explains.

Hermione looks to him intrigued, "And what about the next horcrux?"

"She said she might know where it might be, but it'll take her a while."

"But...it's already almost April!" Ron exclaims, "School will be ending soon! How much time does she need? I'm damn near ready for this to be done with!"

Harry shrugs his shoulders, "She said to trust her."

Ron scoffs, "How many more people are we supposed to trust at this point?"

-

I woke up to a pounding headache as if I woke up with a hangover.

Last nights dinner tired me the fuck out, but I got too many hours of sleep that it's given me a headache.

I forced myself out of bed and washed up for lessons for the day.

Classes went on fine, and my headache actually went away within a few hours.

It wasn't until I was walking along the courtyard when I started to feel my headache again, but it was much more intense than before.

I started to see visions.

A thundering sky.

The ground covered in rubble and broken concrete. My sight was blurred but I was stumbling across what looks to be a sad version of the courtyard.

Someone was holding me back, but I couldn't see their face.

I see Voldemort... in the distance. Talking to someone.

I squeezed my eyes shut and I began to have a difficult time breathing.

The last thing I remembered was collapsing on the floor. The dark grey sky, being the last thing I see.

-

Snape went back to researching about the horcruxes after the fight we just had.

He knows that my magic is only getting stronger, which means he's still running out of time.

He opens a hidden drawer in his desk, and pulls out multiple pieces of parchment that were dribbled with Dumbledore's handwriting.

Similar to what Snape's already aware of, the parchments contain information about the horcruxes that Dumbledore has discovered on his own.

Snape needs to find a safe way to destroy the horcruxes. Harry has been carelessly destroying them as they've gotten the chance to, but he knows that Harry hasn't the slightest clue that he himself is a horcrux as well.

He begins to fiddle with the lily pin that I've given him for Christmas, and he sighs.

He's trying his best, but he's unsure if he will succeed.

Madame Pomfrey rushes into his office, catching Snape off guard. He quickly stuffs the parchment back into his drawer as Madame Pomfrey walks up to his desk.

"Miss Snape has fainted in the courtyard." She informs him.

Snape immediately stands up and follows Madame Pomfrey to the infirmary.

-

I woke up feeling groggy, and familiarizing the scent of gauzes and medical tape that's normally found in the infirmary.

I hold myself up, leaving back on my elbows and take a look around.
'Oh, I am in the infirmary.'

I begin to rub the back of my head and sit up straight, and see that I'm tucked underneath the covers of the bed.

I look down the room and see Madame Pomfrey speaking to Uncle Snape.
They immediately notice that I've woken up and hurry over to me.

"Miss Snape, you must rest. You took a hard fall earlier." Madame Pomfrey helps for me to lay back down.

"How long was I out for?" I ask her,

"All day. You will stay here overnight, just in case." She fluffs my pillow and makes me lie back down.

I look out the window and saw that it was already dark out, must be dinner time even.

I look over to Snape who was already glaring down at me, "You will stay here as instructed."

I roll my eyes at him, but quickly regret doing so as it only intensified my headache even more.

"Enough with the eye rolls, Rosie." Snape scolds me, before looking to Madame Pomfrey and motioning for her to leave us, which she does so gladly.

Snape pulls an empty chair and places it beside the bed, and takes a seat, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I snap at him, still pissed that he's opened my letters without my consent.

Snape could sense that I was still mad at him and sighs, "I only care for your safety. If that means that I must question who you are in contact with, so be it."

I look to him and see that he's actually being sincere. I sigh, "Then I guess I'm sorry for the attitude."

Snape nods as he forgives me and raps on my leg, "You should rest. I'll have someone check in on you in the middle of the night."

"You mean Madame Pomfrey?" I chuckle.

He stands up and fixes his robe, "I'm sure Madame Pomfrey has other things to attend to. I shall send someone else."

I nod and drift back off to sleep, as I watched Snape walk out of the infirmary, but not before seeing him turn back to look at me one more time before turning the corner.

-

I woke up within a few more hours, assuming it's sometime in the early hours of the morning.

I turn over in bed and see someone sitting in the empty chair.

Draco.

My eyes shot open and I immediately sat up in bed, "Draco, what are you doing here?!"

He motions for me to settle down, "Snape owled me, said that you fainted and needed some company. He's letting me stay here with you for the night."

He grabs my hand and locks my fingers with his when I say, "What about Madame Pomfrey?"

He shrugs, "He said he made sure that she won't come back for a few hours. I just need to make sure I'm gone by then."

I smile and scoot over in the bed as he climbs in next to me, wrapping his arm around me, allowing me to rest on his chest.

"You need to be careful, love. I can't be here to protect you. You scared me." He warns me.

I smile, "But you're here now. No one will hurt me with you here."

I snuggled into his arms and he rested his head on mine. He gently kissed the top of my head, "I'll always be here."