Rivals | D.M

57. The White Shirt

Draco's POV

The room of requirement was dreary, just looking at the distressed cabinet made me tired.

"Stay with me tonight?" I ask quietly.

"What do you mean?" Her voice was calm, casual.

"Come back with me to my room"

"Are you propositioning me Malfoy?" She picks her head up from my shoulder and turns her head, a proud smirk displayed on her face.

"I mean to just sleep" I grumble back, frowning slightly.

She tilts her head at me in question, her brown waves falling off her shoulder in a tumble.

"I like sleeping next to you and I haven't sleep well in a while" I admit grumpily.

She frowns mockingly, her nose crumpling up.

"I know of a way to help you sleep" she says, her tone low and slightly seductive. Or maybe that's just the way I perceived her voice? It made me wonder if everyone saw her the way I did.

The last few days trying to avoid her was torture. But it gave me a chance to watch her. She seemed a little off, or maybe it was just weird her not being joined at the hip with Bainbridge.

"Let's go, I'm too tired to try more spells tonight" i said gesturing to the cabinet.  

—

I made her go before me, I didn't want anyone catching us out past curfew together. The rumour mill would go crazy and I couldn't risk my father finding out who I spent my time with.

The common room was empty, it was nearly 10:30pm on a school night. Everyone should be tucked up in their little single beds in their shared dorm rooms.

Another plus with having my own room, no one noticed my comings and going's.

I opened the room to find Aster strumming my guitar, sitting on the edge of my bed. Her long hair was obstructing my view of her face.

"You finally returned my guitar?" I teased, strolling towards my chest of drawers while pulling my cuff links off my school shirt and ripping my tie off my neck.

"Will you play something for me?" Her voice is gentle but unsure.

I look around and find her peering up at me, her fingers mindlessly strumming, odd out of tune notes drifting around the room.

"It's late" I answer shortly.

Her eyes instantly drop from mine and I feel a tinge or regret. I hadn't played in a long time, I used to play every night when I was younger. But over the last year, just the thought of my fingers touching the cold cords made me nauseous.

I felt guilty feeling so light in times so dark.

It just didn't sit right in my stomach.

The only lightness I felt lately had been with Aster, but even then I felt heavy after she left me. It was why I had been reluctant to label us. If I was being really honest with myself, I was desperate to claim her, to let everyone know she was mine. If we were normal teenagers, I would have constantly kissed her in the crowded hallways, I would take her on actual dates, I would introduce her to my mum. But we weren't normal teenagers, we were a wizard and a witch stuck in the middle of a war. A war that I was very much apart of, and she wasn't.