Draco Malfoy, Broken

Chapter 65 - Truth, Part 2

Chapter 65 – Truth, Part 2

Published: 12/30/19

Draco nearly jumped out of skin as he leapt to his feet, but froze as the youngest son of the Weasley family stood up straight and set his sights on him. Holy Salazar... why didn't we ever consider locking the window? Draco thought, but that question faded as Weasley strode over to him, his large boots thumping loudly on the thin carpet over stone. Draco's eyes briefly darted to the door, but his uninvited guest noticed and deliberately stepped toward it. Fuck... this was going to be bad, Draco thought direly.

Ron's bright blue eyes were staring at him. Draco backed into the corner, but there was nowhere to go. He was trapped. His heart finally restarted and went into overdrive. Fuck... he even put more locks on the door. Even if Blaise or Harry came back, it'd take a long time to work through. Weasley could do anything he wanted. Draco lowered his head. It didn't even occur to him to fight back, even if he was allowed to. Ron was Harry's best mate and had fought Death Eaters all last year. He knew how to duel.

Ron stopped at the end of the bed, only a few paces away, and started, "Malfoy...."

Draco's breath caught and when Ron took a step forward, he sunk down the wall to the floor, curling up. His arms went tight to his chest, which was wracked with pain. His legs pulled in, to a near fetal position as he tried to press himself into the wall. Tears came out... he couldn't really stop them anymore. He considered begging, but his jaw wasn't working. He was nearly hyperventilating. The pain never stops, he thought

"Malfoy... calm down. I'm not going to hurt you," Weasley said, but Draco couldn't trust him. He just broke into his room.

He retreated inward and tried to not look at him. The irrational part of his mind thought he would disappear if he didn't acknowledge that he was there.

"Malfoy, I swear I just want to talk," he said, lowering the volume of his voice, but Draco knew that it did not always mean it was safer.

Unfortunately, Ron took another few steps forward and Draco's mental fence shook. He could smell the musky, stale air of the werewolf's hideout. He was back there. He nearly started to seize, when he the loud Gryffindor's voice.

"Malfoy! I'm stepping back, okay? Malfoy? D-Draco?" Weasley said, and then he dropped down to his knees.

Draco wouldn't make eye contact with him. It was the first time he'd ever heard Weasley say his name, but that didn't mean much. Voldemort loved saying it, too. He stayed on the edge in his mind, between reality and memory. Any small shove and he'd lose the hold he had on the present.

"Draco?" Ron tried, but he would not answer. He was completely at his mercy. His visitor sighed. "Look... Draco. I'm not going to hurt ya. I just wanted to talk. I'm sorry I scared you, but you're not easy to talk to... alone."

Alone... he was completely alone. No one would think to come up until dinner. More tears came out.

"Hey... come on, Draco. I promise I won't hurt you. Here," Ron said and pulled out his wand. Draco tightened as he saw it out of the corner of his eye, but he couldn't panic much about it, as Ron rolled it across the floor right in front of him.

"There... I don't have a wand. I'm not going to hurt you," he repeated. "Will you talk to me?"

Draco stared at the wand and Weasley waited for him to calm down, surprisingly patient. Almost ten minutes passed by before his heart finally slowed down, the episode passing. He could breathe normally and he even flicked a few glances over at Ron.

"W-W-W..." he started and then took a deep breath to steady his nerves. "Wha'da'ya want?"

Ron let out a sigh of relief. "First, I'm really sorry for scaring you, barging in like this... but I'm even sorrier for everything else. Laughing at you, letting people hurt you, putting you down. I was wrong, really wrong. I just blamed you for everything. So... I'm sorry."