Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 120

***

Thinking that I had finally found Hermione, I hesitantly walked inside, the sound of weeping growing louder to my ears.

       But I came to a halt as I saw a boy in there with pale hair, sitting on the cold floor and leaning against the wall, crying with his face buried in his hands.

        "Draco?" I said breathlessly, walking toward him.

       By my voice, he suddenly jerked up to his feet and drew out his wand, pointing it at me as he panted heavily.

      "Get — out," he snarled slowly.

     But I remained where I stood, my eyes locked with his.

       I looked at him intently and realized how thinner he was than the last time I had seen him. He now had dark circles under his red and puffy eyes, his face looking more pallid than ever before.

       "Don't make me hurt you," he said again, but I only shook my head.

      "You wouldn't," I said softly, taking slow steps toward him.

       "You'll be surprised to know what I would do, Hooper," he muttered darkly as he held his wand firmly in his grasp and raised it up higher, his whole body trembling.

"Go ahead, then," I said stubbornly as I reached him, repeating his own words against him in a mere whisper, "surprise me."

I was now only a few inches away from him. We stared at each other for long seconds, neither of us moving, until Draco finally blinked a few times and lowered his wand.

"If — if you tell anyone about what you saw —"

"No," I shook my head. "I won't. Trust me."

Draco stared at me warily, as if trying to read my mind to see whether I was lying or not. But he finally looked away, walking by the sink and putting his hands on either side of it, gazing down.

I walked closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He tensed up a bit at the touch, but then his face seemed to relax a bit.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked slowly.

"I can't," he muttered weakly, shaking his head before looking away from me so I wouldn't see his new tears. "You probably think I'm pathetic."

"Crying isn't a sign of weakness," I said as I walked around to face him again, repeating Dumbledore's words. "And if anything... it just shows that you're a human with a great heart... just like the rest of us."

He looked up at that, and I suddenly could see the hurt and pain in his eyes as they were red and drowned by tears. And for a moment, I wished that I could take his pain away, knowing that of all people, he didn't deserve any of this.

With that, before I was able to stop myself, I leaped forward and brought him into a hug, feeling my heart ache.

Draco stood there for long seconds, as if not sure what he was supposed to do, or whether to push me back or not.

But then at last, he hesitantly wrapped his arms around me and hugged me back.

I felt like long minutes had passed as a deadly silence reigned the place and the only sound that could be heard was our steady breathings.

But just then, his body started shaking again and by that I knew he was crying against my shoulder.

His knees then gave in slowly as he lowered himself and I followed his lead until we were both sitting down on the cold floor.

Draco was now crying openly in my arms as if he couldn't control his emotions anymore, the sound of his weeping filling the space between us.

"He's going to kill me..." I heard him mutter to himself between sobs. "He will kill them..."

I slowly pulled away, looking at his face while he avoided my gaze, tears weakly streaming down his cheeks.

"Draco..." I whispered, "everything will be fine. One day, it will all be over."

"No," he shook his head feebly. "You don't understand... he... you have no idea what he's capable of..."

"Voldemort?" by the name, he suddenly winced, glaring at me.

"Don't — don't say that name!"

"I'm not afraid of the name, and neither should you be," I said firmly, looking into his eyes. "I know what he's capable of. I know what he's done. But there's still hope..."

He shook his head again. "It's too late... I've already —" but he stopped himself and looked sharply away.

Slowly, as my eyes were still on him, I raised my hand and gently tried to reach out for his left forearm.

Draco hissed and jerked his hand away from me, but I only looked at him calmly, whispering, "It's okay. Trust me."

He was still glaring at me, but this time when I reached out for his hand again, he didn't pull back as he kept his pale eyes on me.

I grabbed onto his arm and pulled it toward me while he watched me warily. I took a shaky breath and then slowly started to roll up his sleeve.

And then, right before my eyes, I saw the dark mark on his forearm, as terrifying as I could've pictured it.

But then I looked up at Draco who was still watching me, without changing my expression.

"See? I don't care," I said, smiling lightly. "This mark doesn't change who you are, Draco. What matters is what you truly believe in."

He kept his eyes on me, his lips slightly trembling as his teardrops fell down. "I'm so scared..." he muttered shakily, mostly talking to himself.

"It'll be okay," I said gently, putting my hand back on his shoulder before leaning forward and hugging him again. "You've got me."

       Once more, he silently and unsurely wrapped an arm around me and held me close. But this time I felt his heartbeat slow down and his breathing got steadied.

With that, I finally smiled and pulled away to get to my feet, trying to change his mood. "Come with me," I said, holding my hand out for him. "I can take you somewhere that might cheer you up."

Draco hesitated at first, but then took my hand and got up. "Where?"

I grinned. "You'll see."