Damage - Draco Malfoy Fanfic

T H I R T Y-E I G H T

She rolled her eyes from where she sat in front of Mila on her bed, fidgeting with the ring on her finger while her friend continued the braid. They were both previously studying for an upcoming charms exam and for fifteen minutes Mila had continued to exaggerate multiple sighs to capture Athea's attention. It was her twenty-seventh sigh when Athea finally gave her an irritated look and asked her what was wrong.

This soon led to Mila chasing Athea around their room until she agreed to let Mila braid her hair.

"My mother taught me how to do this. Kind of wish I had an older sister to teach me though, but I'm glad I'm an only child - love getting spoilt." Mila finished one braid and started working on the other. "If I had a sister, I think I would end up killing her, I'm terrible at sharing..." Mila carried on as Athea's brain began to think about her choice of words.

It had been 2 years since the death of her sister. And although it seemed like Athea didn't think about her a lot, she really did. She missed her so much. Even if they weren't blood related anymore, Robin was still her true sibling. And she would give anything to have her back.

Mila noticed how her friend was silent for many moments and quickly caught on. "Shit, shit, shit, shit. Athea, I'm sorry, I should have thought about what I'm saying-"

"No, it's okay." Athea smiled softly at her friend. "It's okay. I'm a lot better with controlling my emotions compared to last year."

Mila smiled back, reaching the end of the braid. "I know you probably already know this, but you are doing really great Athea. I don't say it enough but I'm really proud of you, we all are. You have been through so much and look at you now! You're amazing!"

Athea met her friends' eyes in the mirror. "You're just as amazing, Mila."

"Oh, shush you'll make me blush!" They both laughed and Mila finished the braid, clapping her hands together in excitement. "Okay, its done!"

Athea stood and walked closer to the mirror before turning around to get a view of the back, which as Mila said, was perfect. "Wow! I'm pleasantly surprised."

The door suddenly opened.

"What are you doing? Nothing? Great." Draco entered their room with sweats and a black shirt on and looked towards Athea, noticing her different hairstyle. He wasn't completely fond of it, he preferred it down when it was wild and wavy. "Clancey got her hands on you?" he assumed and smirked when she nodded.

"It looks great, doesn't it?" Athea grinned, turning around to see the back in the mirror again. 

"If you like it, then yeah, it does."

Both the girls rolled their eyes at the same time. "I can braid yours too if you want, Malfoy?" Mila teased.

Draco looked at the redhead lazily. "Oh yes, getting my hair braided has been a guilty pleasure of mine for a while now." He turned back to Athea. "Me, Zabini and Nott are all in Nott's dorm if you two want to join. We are having lots of fun and decided to be kind and invite you both."

Athea smiled at his teasing. Since their meaningful moment in the room of requirement two days ago, Draco had started acting more like his old self again. He was more playful, calm, romantic and maybe not a great addition, arrogant. But she missed this arrogance. He had also brought a little bit of focus away from the cabinet, saying that they were overworking, and this could be a reason it wasn't getting fixed. They still worked on it a lot but spent more time with their friends and forgot about their task in those moments.

The three Slytherins made their way towards Theo's dorm, Mila for the whole walk burst into a story about why she despised cats.

"...and then they go and bite you for no reason! I swear they are this worlds version of the devil-" She paused as she stepped into the dorm. "Oh." She blinked. "You brought us to play pool."