✓ WE NEVER SLEEP, draco malfoy

T H I R T Y - F O U R

"We make each other alive. Does it matter if it hurts?"

— Ingmar Bergman, from A letter to Liv Ullmann

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Dinner was pleasant, as all Christmas dinner's should be. Florence was kind and laughed when Theo would make some inappropriate remark and even Narcissa cracked a smile, to Bellatrix's glum chagrin. It seemed that the other witch wished she had decided to shack up elsewhere for the holiday season.

But the pleasantries were far from over. At least, not for Rowan. 

Once dinner was over and they'd all had a moment to breathe from stuffing their faces, Draco had taken her hand and whispered about giving her a proper tour. She hadn't been here for so long, it did feel like everything was new until it came rushing from her preconsciousness. She remember playing in these halls as children, so young they had been full of giggles and things so foreign to themselves now.

Before they were sorted. Before schooling started. Before they learned proper magic. 

"I think there's only one place I truly want to see," she whispered into his ear as they walked down a long darkened hall. The portraits moved and grinned and Rowan ignored how some of them spoke, a few giving her long, dirty looks. 

"And where might that be?" Draco said, his voice deep and heavy with what she knew was filling hers.

She pretended to think for a moment, pondering over the possibilities before murmuring, "Your bedroom."

He took his time with her, guiding her down the corridor and towards a closed door. He watched her expression as she entered and found himself completely enamored for her. She gazed around his room with a childlike curiosity but he couldn't help but detect the tones of wariness as she glanced at his bare dresser and the lack of decorations.

This room was only for sleeping. Just like how the rest of the manor was just for living. 

She walked over to his bed, running her fingers over his comforter as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. He didn't have much in here to begin with besides a nice chair by the window where he would sometimes feel the urge to read by but he usually took that need to the library. 

"Your mother doesn't like me much," murmured Rowan and his ears picked up the slight disappointment in her statement.

"She's just wary."

"She gave me the stink eye when I asked for her to pass me the gravy," said Rowan to which Draco chuckled.

"We usually just use magic for all that."

She huffed, puffing out her cheeks as she sat down on his bed. "I guess I'm just a little too used to how we do things at Hogwarts." She sighed again, playing with the end of her skirt as he approached her.

He pushed her legs apart, moving to stand between them. "Mother will like you, just wait. By the end of all this, she'll see you as her personal savior."

"Because I'll be saving her precious little Draco, hmm?" she cooed, looking up at him with her big brown eyes and he chuckled. 

He moved his arm up, running his fingers up and into her hair until he gathered it into his fist. She gasped when he tugged. A smirk forming across his lips as he drew his thumb along her bottom lip, wetting it. 

"Her precious Draco?" he asked, winding his fist in her hair once more and tugging it hard, hearing her gasp.

"Mine," she breathed. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were dark and he knew where this was all going to go. "You're mine."