Innocent | d. malfoy

- sixty -

"At least tell me where we're going to end up—"

"Nope... it's a surprise," Dylan turned around to look at me as she dragged me across the grounds of Hogwarts. The sun had set almost an hour ago, leaving the sky a gloomy yet beautiful shade of grey, with stars that slowly appeared the longer you looked at it.

"We are almost there," Indy laughed as she walked beside us.

When they said 'going out' I'd figured that they meant Hogsmeade or someplace like that, not to roam the school grounds— but I wasn't disappointed.

"Wait— wait— wait—" Jenna waved her arms as she jumped in front of us. "Close your eyes."

I sent her a questioning look as she nodded again. It was as if she wouldn't let me go any further before doing as she asked, so I obeyed by allowing my eyes to flutter closed.

They led me on for a bit longer before I felt the ground shift beneath me. We were now walking on sand. We must've been on the shores of the Black Lake since no other areas of Hogwarts had a landscape such as this.

"Guys— how much further— I don't think—"

"We're here, but don't open your eyes, alright?"

I gave a soft sigh. The anticipation was killing me and I wasn't too far from disobeying them and opening my eyes without waiting for their instruction to do so. I heard Indy laugh, followed by Jenna and Dylan whispering, but it sounded further away than their voices had previously been.

"Open your eyes, love."

I would've recognized that voice anywhere, which was why I didn't waste another second before my eyes shot open.

Draco stood before me, a small smile on his lips as he looked at me. "Surprised?"

"I—Yes—" I gave a soft laugh as I reached forward and hugged him. Draco hadn't even been gone for too long yet I felt sick and exhausted from being away from him. "I—I missed you..."

"Well you shouldn't have missed me that much... I've only been gone for a week," Draco planted a kiss on the top of my head as I remained in his arms. The familiar feeling was comforting, making me never want to leave.

I looked up at him, taking advantage of the opportunity by letting his lips kiss my own several times.

"Did you think that I would actually miss your birthday just because you told me to? Hell no. I made sure that I could be here. I'm surprised that your friends even let me have you to myself for the night— I thought that they hated me."

I playfully rolled my eyes and stepped back. "Well thank you for coming..."

All he did was give a small hint of a smile before taking my hand into his own. "Take a walk with me?"

I nodded and allowed him to direct me away. The silence was comforting as Draco led me around the lake, walking along a path that encircled the castle grounds.

"How do you think you did on your exams?" He held my hand, tracing small circles against my palm with his thumb. Draco would never let his friends see him act soft in public, but I knew that if it was just the two of us then I could change all of that in an instant.

"I think I did fine... they weren't too hard," I softly kicked at a rock, causing it to topple over the edge of the bank and land in the lake with a small plop.

"Hm... so where to once you're done here?"

Fuck. How was I supposed to tell Draco— someone who was always prepared for the future and had every second of his day organized and planned out, that I didn't even know where I was going to live? I had three days to figure this shit out...