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Chapter : 24 Malfoy Manor

          I found myself in a large room, dimly lit, but a huge chandelier hung overhead. After the chaos back at Hogwarts, it seemed uncomfortably quiet. A few death eaters stood around in a circle, whispering among themselves. But my attention was caught by Draco, who was on his hands and knees, his whole body shaking vigorously. A woman was kneeling beside him, she had white blonde hair like him, I assumed she must be his mother, so I did not approach them. Slowly she lifted him and led him up the stairs, probably to his room and then came back, just as Uncle Sev and the death eaters who accompanied him, appeared in the middle of the room with a loud pop. Draco's mom ran upto him and grabbed the front of his cloak.

'Severus, what happened?'

'Dumbledore..... is dead,' he told the crowd, cheers erupted from all sides. I just stood there, I had no idea what to do, and honestly, I was a little scared. But the cheers were interrupted by the blonde woman.

'Severus, who did it? Who killed him? Was it Draco, Severus?' She looked very worried.

'No, it was me', there were a few gasps here and there, but he ignored it, 'Now, you all can leave, but remember, you are to come back here tomorrow.' And with that, almost all the death eaters apparated out. 'Narcissa, I have a favour to ask of you'.

'Anything Severus, anything after what you have done for my boy'.

'This is Ava Greene', he said while he approached me, 'As I am pretty sure you know. I would apreciate it if you could let her stay here, at least until further decisions are made.'

'Of course, it will be my pleasure. Come with me dear, I will show you to your room', I looked at Uncle Sev, he gave me a nod of assurance, and I followed Narcissa Malfoy. She guided me up the stairs, along a corridor, turned a corner, with led into another corridor and opened the fourth door on the right.

'This will be your room for as long as you stay here. Your things will be brought in from your school tomorrow. I hope you'll find it comfortable.' Comfortable? The room was huge, cream and green coloured tapestry hung on the walls, there was an attached bathroom and the rugs and bed were soft.

'Oh yes, thank you so much for doing this, I really hope that I won't be much of a trouble to you'.

'Oh no dear, not at all. Its the least I can do', she said, and paused for a while, 'You know, my son always talks about you in his letters.'

'Really?' I asked confused. Malfoy wrote about me to his mother? 'Nice things, I hope', I said while forcing a little giggle.

'Yes, in fact, I feel as if he's changed because of you. He seems more at ease, that is until today happened.'

'I understand, how is he now?' She paused for another moment, her blue eyes boring into mine softly,

'His room is one door away from your's on the opposite side', she said and closed the door behind her. His room was near mine, I could go check on him. But should I? Maybe I should just leave him alone? Then the picture of him trembling came into my mind. No, I should go to him, he needed me now. He needed someone to be there for him, and I was that someone, I was so convinced of it lately.

          I slowly opened my door and stepped onto the corridor, looking around to see if anyone was watching, though I didn't know why, because technically I was given permission to see him. I approached the door Narcissa Malfoy had mentioned and listened for any sounds coming from the inside, then knocked softly. No answer. Grabbing my wits, I slowly turned the knob, and peeked inside.

          A tuft of white-blonde hair could be seen from the other side of the bed, he was sitting on the floor. I softly closed the door and walked towards where he was sitting. He didn't look up, but I could see his face was paler than usual, all the blood in his face drained.

'Draco', I said slowly, so as not to trigger him, and sat by him. My heart was beating fast, I hated to see him like this. He wasn't crying, he was just staring at the floor, a dead look in his eyes. If I hadn't noticed the up and down movement of his chest, I would have said that he was just a corpse. He tilted his head toward me when I called his name. I took his cold palms in mine, 'Draco, talk to me', I pleaded.

He broke down, his body shook like before, tears flooded down his face. I pulled him toward me, holding him tightly, his face buried in my shoulder. I couldn't help myself when I heard him cry, tears rolled down my cheeks. Hearing him cry was agony, it was as if a spear was pierced through my heart. I did not let go of him, neither did he.

'He... is... dead.... He's... gone....' he stuttered into my shoulder.

'Its done, Draco. You don't have to worry about it anymore', I said while kissing the top of his head. I had no idea what to do, this was not something where I could offer comforting words, nothing I said would make a difference, I knew that.

'Please.... don't go..... Stay... with me.... please....' I nodded my head, not knowing what to say. He needed me, and I was going to do just that.

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----------|Draco's POV|----------

          I woke up next morning wondering why the bed felt so hard, only to see that I wasn't on the bed, I was on the floor. I was lying on Ava's lap. That's when everything came back to me. Ava was here last night, she had stayed with me all night. I must have dozed off and maybe she didn't want to disturb me. I sat up and looked at her, I wondered what I had done to deserve her. I loved her, there was no question of that. I slowly carried her in my arms, taking care not to wake her up, and laid her on my bed. She stirred, but then went right back to sleep.

          She looked so beautiful, I tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her softly on her forehead. I wanted her to get some more sleep, as I probably had kept her up at night. But that plan was disrupted when a house elf just popped out of nowhere in my room.

'Madam Malfoy has asked me to wake up Master Draco. She requests to see you as soon as you are ready, sir. Shall I let her know you are coming', all of this was said in an obnoxiously loud voice. Ava sat bolt upright, apparently shocked, but I couldn't help but notice how her hair fell perfectly down her face.

'Master, sir, shall I tell her you are coming?'

'Yes, now get out!' And with a pop he was soon gone.

'What was that all about?' She asked perplexed.

'Mother sometimes sends wakeup calls for me. I'm sorry that it woke you up'.

'Well, if its a wakeup call, then it definitely works', she said while she rubbed her eyes. Then she turned to me, 'Draco, are you alright now?'

'Honestly, I've been better. But can we not talk about it.' She nodded. This was something I loved about her, she always understood, she never pressed me to talk about anything. I sat beside her on the bed. She had a confused look on her face,

'What's wrong?'

'Nothing, its just that, I don't recall sleeping on the bed.' I couldn't suppress a giggle,

'That's because you didn't. I put you there, I thought you could sleep some more, but that didn't work, did it?' She smiled that beautiful smile, and I couldn't resist myself. I leaned in and kissed her lips softly. But I was again interrupted by the same damned house elf.

'Master Draco, your mother wishes to see you and your friend in the dining hall immediately.'

'All right! All right! Tell her I'm coming!' I shouted, and with another pop, he was gone. Seriously, sometimes I wished the house elves would knock before they entered my room.

'We should get ready. Can you meet me by my room when you're ready? I don't really know my way around the house.'

'Yeah, sure.' I said and saw her leave the room. Wait, did she just say her room? Was she going to stay here? Probably, considering the fact that a big incident happened yesterday. But was she in more danger or less danger here, than at Spinner's End?

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