Dark Marks; Draco Malfoy (18+)

n i n e

Violet's perspective

I felt like flying into the constellations. My heart was soaring above us into the stars. I knew I loved Draco but I had been too scared to tell him. I wanted to live in this moment forever and revel in the feeling of knowing the person who I felt so deeply for felt the same about me. This was the last of his walls that I had managed to break down and I felt honoured to be the person he was able to be vulnerable with. Despite how much his mother and his friends loved him, I knew that he was never fully himself around any of them. The Draco that I knew was so much softer around the edges than he led people to believe.

We stayed in the Astronomy Tower for hours, talking about everything and nothing at the same time. I began to imagine a life with him, without the Dark Lord and without prejudice. I looked at the stars and thought about constellations we could name our children after. I imagined a beautiful Manor that we could live in together in peace, far away from the impending violence we faced today.

Before I knew it, the bottle of firewhiskey was empty and the sun began to creep over the horizon. I didn't know where the time had gone, but we must have sat talking for at least five hours. I laid my head against his shoulder as we watched the sunrise over Hogwarts. I yawned against him and he put his arm around me.

"We should probably go to bed, love," He whispered in my ear.

I groaned, not wanting the moment we were having to end. This was probably the most important moment we had shared together this far. Unfortunately, I as exhaustion began to settle in, I let him pull me up and lead me back to the Slytherin dorms.

He walked me to the girl's dormitory and stopped to face me. He gently cupped my cheeks in both his hands and leaned down to kiss me on the forehead.

"Thank you," I murmured.

Draco pulled his lips away from my face, "For what?"

"Everything. You." I looked into his beautiful silver eyes.

"No, Vi, thank you." He gave me the sincerest of smiles.

"Sleep tight, boyfriend." I tested out our new label, I liked it.

His smile deepened. A rare genuine smile from Draco Malfoy. "You too, girlfriend." He kissed me again before turning towards his own dorm.

I sighed contentedly before silently opening the door to my room. Pansy, Daphne and Millicent slept quietly in their beds. I crept as quietly as I could to my own bed and got underneath the covers, not bothering to change into pyjamas as the exhaustion took over my body.

**

"Wake up, Vi!" I felt someone shaking my shoulder.

Groggy, I rubbed my eyes before peeling them open. The dorm was lit in its usual green hue. It was hard to tell what time of day it was without a clock since the dorm windows looked into the lake. Since the room was a lighter shade of green, I had to guess it was the afternoon.

I saw Pansy sitting on my bed, "What time is it?" I asked in a groggy voice.

"It's almost noon," Pansy pointed to the clock, "I didn't want you to miss lunch. You're quite grumpy when you miss too many meals."

I chuckled a little, "How are you doing? You know... after last night."

She sighed and slumped into the bed next to me. I wiggled over to make room for her. She crawled under my covers with me and laid on her side facing me.

"I don't really know," she said, sounding defeated, "He's pretty angry with me and I'm pretty angry with him."

"I understand why you're angry," I tucked her hair behind her ear, "I know I would be pissed with Draco if he was acting the way Blaise was."