Muddy Green Waters || Draco Malfoy

30 - In a Nott

Rosie

I now spent most nights in the Room of Requirement, keeping Draco company whilst he worked on the Cabinet. He refused to let me help him, insisting that me just being there was enough for him.

Sometimes, I brought my school books, studying and writing essays whilst Draco, shirt sleeves rolled up, muttered incantations at the Cabinet next to me.

Sometimes, I just wondered around the huge room to see what it had to offer - there were alleyways and roads bordered by teetering piles of broken and damaged furniture, there were thousands and thousands books, bottles of congealed potions, hats, jewels, and cloaks. I even came across several rusting swords and a heavy, bloodstained axe at one point.

And, sometimes, Draco and I would lie amongst the cushions where we would talk, wrapped in each other's arms. We would often hungrily explore one another's bodies, fusing together in a state of ecstasy, until we were both exhausted and spent.

I was so happy. But despite that, I always carried this sick, heavy feeling deep inside of me - the knowledge that something bad was going to happen, so bad that it would rip our lives apart.

And it was going to happen soon.

"Please, lets go to Dumbledore, Draco. He could help us." I implored Draco one night after yet another bird had failed to survive the journey in the Vanishing Cabinet.

"No." He said firmly, slamming the cabinet door a little harder than was needed.

"He'll protect you. I know he will." Tears started pricking at my eyes because I already knew my attempts were futile.

Draco rubbed his forehead, with a frustrated expression upon his tired face.

"Rosie, don't. I can't go to Dumbledore, I just can't. If I do, then the Dark Lord will certainly kill my parents." He looked at me, fearful and haunted. "And I won't do that to my mother."

My heart wrenched as I watched Draco choke back a sob and I threw my arms around him, burying my face in to his chest.

"I'm just so scared." I murmured into his crumpled shirt.

He pulled his arms up around my back and clutched me hard.

"I know, Rosie." He whispered. "Me too."

***

They tried to be very careful outside of the Room of Requirement - making sure to act as if their mutual dislike for one another remained.

Draco found this more difficult than he had anticipated and would often catch himself start to smile at her whenever she walked into the common room in the mornings, or go to join her at the Slytherin table at meal times, and once he even went to lean in for a kiss in Potions lesson when they had found themselves both gathering ingredients from the supply cupboard at the same time.

Yes - he found it hard to act like he didn't care about her. Because he did. Very much.

And then came the Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson when Draco nearly blew their cover completely.

He was sat two desks behind Rosie. Snape was talking in detail about non-verbal spells and Draco's mind began to wander. He was thinking about the previous night in the Room of Requirement when he and Rosie had made mad, passionate love against one of the bookshelves.