Ineffable. [D. Malfoy]

thirty-six.

After a couple moments, he slips in back on his ring finger. Draco stares at her, and she can already distinguish the healthy glow lurking and spreading through his irises. There's colour, so many colours in a single shade of grey, and it's beautiful. He extends her hand towards her, "Come to bed now. It's cold without you."

She laughs. A real heartful laugh and his eyes light up from the sound. His lips twitch, fighting to smile. She wraps her hand in his, pulling him out of the lab and down the hallway towards his bedroom.

As they lay in bed, his arm wrapped possessively around her waist and her head on his chest. She examines their interlocked fingers along with the rings. Her head tilts up, staring into the depths of his grave gaze.

I'm in love with you.

He presses a soft kiss to her forehead, and she snuggles closer into his warmth.

I have been for a while. I've been blinded for too long.

In the middle of the night, Esme jerks up from her slumber, panting heavily as the sight of Scorpius obliviating her and Mara's hateful gaze stain her mind. Draco wakes up seconds later, rubbing her back in circles as he pulls her closer to his chest.

"Scorpius obliviated me. Mara betrayed me. He was imperiosed Draco. Everything he did was against his will. Oh my god. And it was Dolohov in the cell. All my broken memories of things I can't remember, it was him in the cell," She gasps for air, and he continues rubbing soft circles- murmuring words against her head until she can breathe again.

"Don't panic. I'm here. Breathe Esme. Breathe for me."

Draco's jaw clenches as she finds clarity, and he abruptly pulls away. Her eyes narrow in confusion as he steps out of bed, transferring a black cloak around his shirt, and second later, tightening his boots. "Where are you going? What are you doing?"

His grip on his wand tightens in his left hand, "I had to make sure it was Dolohov. I couldn't kill him without the right amount of evidence. I had to be sure. And now Mara. I'll deal with Scorpius."

"Draco. You can't just kill them," she gasps as his eyes darken.

"I've killed people before," he states. Her eyes widen, but it was no surprise. With the aftermath of the war, she knew no one came out untainted. His entire being was painted with the renaissance of his past. Scars and horrors are written tainting his body both visibly and emotionally. Who he had become was a mirror of his endurance during the war. The darkness swept its way inside him, moulding a form of liquefying essence.

 It was never going to leave. He was stained. But so was she.

"Will it be quick?"

He smirks evilly, and she has to blink because she can't recognize the expression ridden over his features. There is no softness. The only that remains is in the corner of his eyes. Instead, he's been switched with an icy persona, a glazed hardening of a crystal core. His colours are black and white, and she so desperately wants to find the grey. She wonders if this is who he truly is When he's not hiding.

Draco scoffs, "I'll make no promises."

And he apparates away, leaving her stunned in the remains of black dust.

----

She's in the lab again when Draco returns the next day. Esme's anxiety has pushed its way forward, past the barricades she's set for herself as she lays her eyes on him. To her relief, he's come back in perfect shape, with no signs of injuries on him. Although his eyes are tired. There's nothing except a cold lifeless look in the silver. Almost as if he was dead. She's seen the same look before, and it's breaking something inside her. It's tearing a piece of her heart, the part that belongs to him.