It started as a joke DracoxReader

Returning

The train ride to Hogwarts took you into the night, it was dinner time before you walked beside Filch who had met you at the gates to the grand hall. The hall had, in the last two weeks become a gentle starlit sky with its normal soft candles, but instead of a simple moonlit night it was feathered with gentle blue and green lights. An aurora borealis kissed the room.

No one seemed to notice you as you settled into the room, the humming chatter of conversation drowning out the noises your shoes made on the stone flooring.

Draco luckily had his back turned to you, leaning on his hand as he nodded to something Goyle was saying. You rose your finger to your lips, shushing them so you could walk up behind Draco and surprise him.

You wager they weren't expecting you back until Monday, had it not been for Snape saying you'd need a weekend to catch up on work that would have been true. The looks on their faces were all shocked, almost like they never expected you to come back. Odd considering Narcissa had written to Draco.

You tapped his shoulder softly as the conversation died at the table, the room silent as they watched you.

"Mind if I sit here?" you asked, making Draco turn to you.

"Y/N?" He asked, his face was just as shocked as everyone else, like he had seen a ghost. No not a ghost, the dead.

You sat beside him eating as he was silent, his hand continuously touching your skin. Your hand, your knee, your shoulders. No one asked you any questions, but they watched you as you chattered senselessly with other Slytherin girls.

"Y/n" Crabbe said finally, you turned to him and smiled.

"Yes Vincent?"

"You alright?" he asked as he usually did, but this time was different, more concern sat in his voice.

"Im alright" you nodded to him, handing him the last pumpkin pastry in front of you.

"Your mother was supposed to write you" you whispered to Draco as people started to leave their tables, wandering halls and going back to their common rooms.

"I never got a letter" he shook his head. His eyes gave away just how little he had slept the last two weeks, his eyes were dark and sunken. Like he had been battling with himself day in and out.

"I am here" you assured him as you brought your hand to his face, he sighed and leaned into your touch.

"I thought.." he spoke, where had Narcissa's letter gone? Had he spent the last two weeks really thinking you were dead? No wonder he looked so ill.

"Lets go" you pulled him behind you, leaving the hall behind you.

"You really didn't get a letter from your mother?" you asked as you closed his door tight behind you, waving your wand to cast a silencing charm.

"Nothing. I haven't gotten a letter from home since the one I showed you in the library" he shook his head. You knew for a fact his mother had written to him every other week since he started at Hogwarts. Where had the letters gone?

"Oh Draco" you finally pulled him to you. Tucking his head to your shoulder, his breathing was wavering as he wrapped his arms around you. You held him for only a moment when he pressed his lips to your neck.

"You're okay" he seemed to confirm it to himself, having to say it outloud to really feel it. He kissed you more, his lips grazing your neck, your shoulder, your jawbone. His hands slid under your sweater, his cold fingers brushing on your skin making you shiver a little under his touch.

"Draco" you tried to speak, his lips meeting yours to stop you.

"I thought he had killed you, I had nearly..." he shook his head. "Snape said you were okay, but I didn't believe him"

"I am okay. See" you rested your hands on his cheeks, making him look at you. "Darling I am here. But I have to tell you something"

"Can it not wait?" he begged, kissing your neck again and again. You pulled away from him, sighing as you pulled at the buttons of your sweater. He smiled as he watched you, obviously expecting something very different.

"Sit" you gestured for the bed. He moved quickly, sitting on the edge of the bed pulling at his robes. "Wait" you stopped him, setting your hand on his busy working fingers. "Soon" you kissed him softly. "But first" you pulled off your sweater, leaving you in with your back to him.

"Did he hurt you?" he asked as you lingered away from him, wearing only a thin undershirt and your skirt.

"I want you to just remember, we knew this day would come eventually" you weren't sure why you were so nervous. You had talked about this a million times, what would happen when it was your turn to wear the mark along with him. Though you were reminded how he said once that he'd rather be dead than wearing it.

"No" he spoke, like something had finally clicked in his brain.

You turned to him, you couldn't postpone it any longer. You simply couldn't. You rolled away your sleeve, finally exposing your mark to the aching feeling of the night.

"No" he spoke, quick to his feet, grabbing your arm in his hands. "They promised me" he was seething instantly. He ran his thumb over the mark, maybe to see if it was real or maybe an illusion.

"Wait" you thought for a second on what he said "Who promised you what?"

"Our fathers. They promised you would never.." you pulled your arm away from him then, backing away. "They promised you would never wear this"

"Did you know?" you watched him as his hands fell to his sides "Did you know what my father had planned?" you felt sickness in this, everyone else in your life had betrayed you. You couldn't manage if he had too.

"Planned?" he asked, a mocking bird to your voice.

"The plan to try and trick me to running." you gripped the mark with your hand. "The plan to test me?"

"Test you?" he shook his head, trying to process what you were saying.

"Yes." you had to force yourself to take a deep breath "He grabbed me before my meeting. Tried to tell me he could hide me." you backed yourself to a wall. "It was all a lie, to see if I would run"

"But why would your father ever do that to you?" he asked, soothing the edges of your broken heart with his comment. Of course he didn't know, of course he didn't.

"To prove I wasn't as weak as my mother" you felt your body shaking now, you hadn't let yourself even think of what they had said. Thinking about it only made this all sting far worse.

"But your mother died in an accident. I don't..." he caught your eyes, finally realizing the same thing you had been pushing back into your head for weeks. "What happened?"

"I wish I knew" you had nearly brought yourself several times to ask Narcissa on the nights you sat alone with her at the dinner table. Willing yourself to break the silence that sat between you, but you could never do it. You let yourself continue to believe she had no idea about any of this, let yourself have someone other than Draco.

You understood after spending this time with her the love he had for his mother, you had felt it once too for you father. Now that love looked for somewhere new to live, would you allow yourself to give it to her instead?

"My sweet" he walked to you, cradling your head in his palms. "I swear to you I didn't know"

"I know" you closed your eyes "I know I am sorry"

"It's just you and I, remember?"

"I had no reason to doubt you"

"No" you felt relief in his small laugh "You didn't"

"Forgive me?"

"I wager I could" he smiled, "if you asked me nicely"