Cursed | Draco Malfoy, 18+

T w e n t y - t h r e e

Her eyes shut, eyelashes battled the salty liquid she felt urging in the corner of her eyes.

'' I know.'' Amelie whispered again, her arms still crossed over her chest, '' I just needed some air first.''

He held her as close as he possibly could, and he couldn't help but feel an amount of shame to shred within.

Theo knew what Draco wanted, why he tried to make her trust him. Why he always was there in every moment, she might have needed him, all because he needed an entry to her mind, to find out about the secret she had been holding for most of her life.

Draco knew her mother was alive, but so did Theodore, and the guilt he felt for keeping such a secret from his best friend killed him. It was torture, if not more than it.

Theodore's thoughts interrupted by the huff fleeing her lips. Her body lightly shook at the cold breeze around them.

His head tilted, his hands scored large on her small face as he held it up, allowing her eyes to match his.

'' I want you to know something,'' Theodore mumbled, staring intensely at her. A slight nod made a strand of hair fall off her shoulder as he gently tucked it back behind her ear.

'' I'm sorry, Amelie.'' He held and his jaws clenched together as a look of guilt rose upon him, '' I know, even though you'll probably never show it — I hurt you.''

He sighed, '' You haven't spoken to me in days, and I don't want you to be upset with me. I need you to understand why I did this. Why I never said anything.''

Her eyes grew wide in suspense, reserved to what he was about to inflict on her.

Amelie gazed up at him as the soil beneath her shoes sunk. Theodore sucked in a harsh breath before looking out over the forest, seizing more than calmly below the cliff they were standing on.

'' I promised Draco, never to say anything about this to anyone. He convinced me that this was for your own good, that you would be in danger if I told you about this.'' Theodore's eyes flickered, his lower lip quivered.

'' And I know it was the wrong thing to do. I understand that now, but there and then, with Adrian being gone, with Malfoy trying to earn your trust because of it — it felt like you had enough to worry about and I just couldn't.'' Tears pooled as he tensed the grip around her chin, his thumbs swiped over the skin of her cheeks.

'' I couldn't bear to tell you. I didn't want to be the one to break you.''

Amelie swallowed in the hold he had of her, looking up at her best friend as he stood tall in front of her. The curls on his head were messy. His eyes exhausted as the dimples usually showing in his cheeks looked faded.

'' So you let him do it?'' She asked him, her head dipping to his chest as she let her forehead rest against it, '' You allowed him to break me?''

Theodore shook. He knew that it wasn't easy for her to speak against him. But ever since she left with Draco that evening and the two weeks they spent apart, something was different with her.

Amelie had grown. She was still fragile, worn to the deepest of depths, yet not. Draco had given her hope. That even after years and years of misery — she could still find happiness.

Real happiness.

'' I'm not mad at you. I just don't understand why you would do that,'' Her neck arched to peer up at him, '' We tell each other everything, Teddy, no matter what. It has always been like that. I don't understand why you chose to lie about this?''

He let out a huff as he pulled her closer. His chin rested on her head as he looked out over the world in front of him.

'' I don't know, Amelie.'' He hushed down, swallowing as her scent filled his every sense, '' I just do foolish things sometimes.''

'' That's not fair.'' She shot back, still in his hold, '' You had months to tell me about this, Theodore, and yet you blame it on—''

Amelie's veins ached as her mind circled the boy she was more than desperate to forget about. The boy who told her to leave, and the boy who, without cause, abandoned her when she needed him the most.

If she could go back, just a few months ago in time.

She would.

To where Draco never gave her much affection. To where she still remembered her mother to be dead. To where she knew how to handle Adrian. To where she and Teddy still had to sneak around.

But also, she knew that it was impossible, inevitable, to avoid the things that had passed her,

She missed the feeling of the known. She missed the sense of familiarity as she buried her nose into the chest she always sought comfort in.

'' And yet you blame it on Malfoy,'' Her words left in stutters, and even if he didn't want to admit it. He reacted to the way she spoke his name.

She always said Draco, but not now,

Now the name dropped coldly off her tongue as if she needed to distance herself from him, as if she wanted to deny everything that had happened between them.

'' But I wouldn't have it any other way.'' Amelie finished, holding her best friend close,

The sun tickled his nose as he breathed her in, '' I am sorry, love. I am so sorry for this. I really wanted to—''

'' It's alright, Teddy.'' She hewed him off, feeling his head heavy on hers. '' I know why you did what you did, and I'm sorry you got dragged into this. I'm sorry that he used you too.''

Theodore bent back, his hands on her shoulders as he held her steady, looking at her as a confused look arose him.

'' He didn't... I mean, why would you say that?'' Theodore shrugged.

Her head tilted, '' Everyone uses everyone, it's just how it is, isn't it? That we take what we want from someone and then leave them just a little more broken than when we found them?''

A gasp fell his lips as his brows furrowed, '' Why would you say that?''

'' Because it's true, Teddy. Adrian wanted me for my bloodline. My father only wished to hurt me. My mother is clearly alive and left me with the responsibility of finding her when she needed me too, and Malfoy—''

She said Malfoy again.

'' He... He took what he needed, twice.''

She exhaled, deeply, almost as if she let all of that anger and sorrow she held for him — out.

Her eyes flickered over his shoulder, and even if the words spoken hurt her, she felt a flame of peace burning within because in all of this — all of this hurt the people around her had put her through, she was still good.

She never gave in or gave up.

She never let the haunted mind of hers take over.

She was still here.

She stood, on a cliff, with the possibilities of ending it all, and she didn't.

All the hurt, all the pain, all the torture — it wasn't a loss.

It was a win.

She made it.

And even if she doubted herself to a point where she almost allowed the darkness to seize her,

She was still here.

Her mother lying to her. Her father leaving her when he knew what would come if he did. Draco using her for her memories. Adrian abusing her for as long as she could remember.

It hurt. It really did.

She felt a shy smile arch in the corner of her mouth as her arms slipped around Theodore's neck, placing her chin on his shoulder.

But it wasn't the end.

'' I love you, you know?'' Amelie whispered through the gust, '' In that, real fairytale way.''

Theodore held her back, just as tight, looking out over the treetops, '' I know. I love you even more.''

This was only the beginning.

This was her beginning.

_____