Salazar's Angel

XXV

Dahlia, laying clad in only lingerie and spread eagle on top of Draco's bed, could not think of a worse time to have a run in with Lucius Malfoy. Draco, standing up next to the bed and working at removing his sweatpants, was thinking precisely the exact same thing. However, when the door to Draco's room swung open with a bang, that was who was standing in the door frame.

They both gasped at the same time, Draco and Dahlia. Then, as he was yanking his pants back up, Draco flicked his wand and charmed his covers so that they swallowed Dahlia up and left nothing but her head exposed.

"Father." Draco acknowledged, running a hand through his hair and taking a deep breath.

"Draco. You are needed downstairs. Immediately." With that, Lucius turned and strolled away, leaving the door open.

Draco turns on his heel and stares at Dahlia, who for her part stares back. 

She props herself up as best as she can amongst the tangle of covers. "I'm not really sure what to say here, honestly."

He gives her a curt nod, an unreadable expression slipping over his eyes. Then, with a flick of his wand, he conjures himself back into his suit and strolls out of the room. 

Dahlia flops back down flat and flings an arm over her eyes. "What am I doing?" She whispers to herself, under her breath.

This was not at all her plan for how to have as normal as possible of a year at this school. She had practically just climbed a literal Death Eater like a tree, and was now lying here mostly naked in his bed after his father, yet another Death Eater, walked in on them. What is this, honestly? Dahlia knows she is crossing two of her three very separate lives, and it cannot end well. 

Stifling her inner mental breakdown, Dahlia extricates herself from Draco's bed and walks back over to his book shelves. It is going to do her no good at all to lay in bed and stew over things that she cannot change at this moment, and the likelihood of her falling asleep alone in this house is slim to none. She pulls a non-muggle book off the shelf and then retreats to the bed, crawling back under the covers in case of any other unwanted visitors. 

After a few pages in, she realizes that she has chosen what appears to be a wizarding world version of a story akin to Pride and Prejudice. She is quickly engrossed, turning page after page after page...

Dahlia does not remember falling asleep, but she must have because when she is startled awake by a loud banging sound there is light slipping in between the curtains on the window.

She props herself up, the covers falling down to her waist and surveys the room. Draco is standing at the dresser, still in his suit from the night before. The banging must have come from him slamming one of the drawers. 

Dahlia meets his eyes in the mirror in front of him, and he tears them upwards from where they originally focused.

"Get up, you need to go back to school." He drops his gaze back to the top of the dresser. The dark bags underneath his eyes indicate that he probably just now got back to the room.

Wow, that was cold. "What's wrong?" Dahlia asks, throwing the covers off of her body and hopping out of bed. She is still clad in only her bra and underwear from the night before as she comes to stand next to him at the dresser, looking into the mirror.

"Just put on some bloody clothes," Draco growls through his clenched teeth, his hands gripping the edge of the dresser as he turns his head to the side away from her.

Dahlia can't help but scoff. "Yeah, let me just pull those out of my suitcase...oh wait." She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms across her stomach, feeling significantly more exposed than she felt last night.

She sees Draco's hand move as he pulls his wand from his pocket and flicks it in her general direction. She looks down at the gray long sleeve tee and black skirt now covering her body, in addition to her knee high heeled boots that he claims to hate.

"Thank you," Dahlia forces out, using a hand to fluff her hair into a semi-presentable state.

"Oh good, make that monstrosity even bigger," He mutters under his breath, watching her in the mirror.

Dahlia inhales deeply through her nose, then turns to face him. "Look at me."

He turns to face her as well, though his eyes focused on something over her right shoulder. He looks exhausted, more so than one lost night of sleep ought to cause.

"I don't know what the hell went on after you left last night, but I do in fact know that it was not my fault. So stop taking it out on me, or you are going to have a much bigger problem. Got it?" Dahlia asks.

Draco almost snorted, though it looked as if it would require to much effort for him to fully complete the task. "That's rich. Really. Bye Dahlia."

With that, he flicked his wand again and Dahlia felt the familiar pull of being apparated. Next thing she knew she was facing a line of three very confused faces back in her dormitory at Hogwarts.