Sly

𓆙𝑠𝑖𝑥𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑤𝑜𓆙

   I stare around the walls that are decorated with the moving paintings as Draco and I walk up the grand stairs. Our hands are intertwined, my shimmering diamond ring on my ring finger rubbing against his silver ones as our hands slightly move against each other.

After finding me, Draco took me back to my grandmother's house, the Saloux Cheateu. My grandmother survived the war after all, thank Merlin for that. She had cut all ties with my grandfather and any kind of dark lord follower. She now lives happily in my childhood home with only light in her heart, like always.

Draco proposed to me right after he brought me back home to my grandmother. Saying how he couldn't wait, even though he tried his hardest. Of course I accepted his proposal, he's the love of my life. It shocked me the second he promised me his life to me on that express journey from my grandmother's house to Hogwarts. We aren't going to get married now of course, but definitely going to the second after finishing off the remaining months in Hogwarts.

Headmaster Mcgonagal welcomed me back with open arms after coming back here at Hogwarts. It feels weird to see the other faces that I grew familiar with. They are my old peers yet they feel new in a way. It's a weird feeling that I can't put into words unless if you have gone through the process of having your memories wiped out clean, to only be restored back. Draco and I both decided to finish up the last remaining months at Hogwarts, so we're staying here like we had done before the jumbled mess of the war.

Within the first hour that I came back to Hogwarts, Hermione greeted me with a smile, even though Draco was next to me. She rarely approached me when Draco is near. As much as I hate to admit it, Draco can be a bickering jerk towards the people he doesn't like. Hermione didn't say a word to Draco after she welcomed me back, but she did nod at him before walking away with approval and respect. Draco nodded at her too, which told me that he must have done something that caused a major shift of a relationship with a person like Hermione.

"Does this feel familiar, Celeste?"

He asks as he guides me into his room with his hand on my back, snapping me from my thoughts.

I nod with a small smile as the tip of my fingers graze over the wood of the bed. Our hands unlace from each other as I make my way to his desk that has his pictures. Draco lingers after me as I stare at the memorial pictures. My fingers bounce from edge to edge of family photos as I stare at all of them, letting the sense of nostalgia wash over me. My eyes fixate on a moving picture of us as toddlers together. Draco and I are holding hands, reminding me how we were this way with each other from the start.

"When did you put this picture of us here?"

I ask as I direct my attention to a picture that is next to our childhood one.

Draco and I are in our fancy outfits from the Christmas ball. We are dancing gracefully in the moving motion of the paper, my gown sweeping over the floor of the Malfoy manor ballroom. I didn't even know that this picture of us existed, that someone took the time to preserve the Christmas ballroom scene of us.

"I placed it while you were gone."

He says as he places his hands on the curve of my waist and his chin on my shoulder.

Draco and I admire the picture for a moment as the picture of us dancing repeats on a loop.

"You don't even understand how much I missed you."

He says as he wraps his arms around my waist.

"Every night I was worried sick; I felt like I was going to puke."

He adds as he nuzzles his face in the crook of my neck.

"I missed you too, even though I did not fully know you at that time."