The Malfoy Diaries (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

e i g h t y - n i n e 💛

Aria wasn't expecting for Draco to be present in the doorway of the Hufflepuff common room, but that was exactly who she saw when she looked up from the book that she had been reading. She hadn't been particularly invested in the book as her mind was taken up by many other matters, but either way, those matters were all about to be addressed, it seemed.

"Hey, Aria," Draco said, with a hint of affection in his voice that Aria almost thought she had imagined and as much as Draco might have wanted to deny it, he knew that he really had missed her. "So, there were a lot of apple pies at the Great Hall and I thought I'd bring you one," he explained, as he held the pie out to her while he continued to lean in the doorway.

Aria stood up from the sofa and walked over to grab the pie from him. 

"What's this then? A peace offering?" she teased. 

Draco released a short chuckle before he replied. 

"Listen, Aria. I missed you and I wanted to know how you were doing...I was curious about something," he admitted. 

At that statement, Aria's eyebrow shot up slightly. 

"What were you curious about?" Aria asked, as she took a bite out of the pie. It was one of the most delicious things to have ever graced her taste buds, but now was not the time to get distracted by food and she knew that. 

"I wanted to know if we're okay. Listen, Aria, I shouldn't have said what I did," he said. 

Aria felt tempted to sigh, but she held it back. 

"You say that you shouldn't have, Draco, but you still did. Do you understand how your mood swings make me feel? I just...I want to be closer with you but you push me away constantly. Can you even begin to understand what that does to me?" Aria asked.

After she had said that, Draco's jaw twitched slightly and he shifted a little uncomfortably between his feet. 

"Aria..." he trailed off. 

"Look, Draco, I'm always going to be here for you but there's only so much hurt a person can take. I'm a strong person, too, but you need to understand that everyone has their limits, including me," Aria said and then took another bite out of the pie. 

Draco continued to speak while she ate. 

"I just-" Draco went to say, but he was quickly interrupted. 

Sooner than he could continue that statement, Aria swallowed down her bite and then spoke again. 

"I have to be somewhere. Ron and Harry were going to do some more Quidditch practice this afternoon and I was going to go with them," she explained, "And you know, it's not like me to be late." 

Draco gave an understanding nod at that, but he wasn't about to let Aria just walk off on her own. He still had a lot that he felt he needed to say to her. 

As upset and hurt as Aria was at everything that had passed between Draco and her, she knew that she couldn't tell him to leave. Yes, she was hurt, but she also clung to her relationship with Draco more than she wished to. She wasn't entirely sure how these feelings had come about, all she knew was that they existed and they were real and she was going to have to face up to them sooner rather than later. 

Maybe Hermione had been right, after all. 

"Why are you even coming with me, Draco? Haven't we said everything that we needed to? You apologised, so..." Aria began to say, but Draco swiftly spoke again before she could ramble away.

"Aria, you are one of the most persistent people that I have ever met. You never gave up on me. You were always there for me. I just want to extend you the same favour," Draco said. 

Aria came to a halt, then. 

"Are you sure about that? 'Cause you certainly have a funny way of showing that you care about me, Draco," she said. 

 Draco was about to respond to that, but before he could get out a single syllable, another familiar voice spoke instead. 

"Hey Aria," he said. 

Aria quickly looked ahead of her to find that her brother Ethan was stood directly in front of her, a few paces away.

"Ethan?" Aria asked with disbelief. She knew that she was going to do everything that she could to contact her brother again after the war, she just hadn't been expecting him to show up to Hogwarts unannounced. That being said, now that he was here, she knew for certain that she was really glad to see him again.  "Ethan!" she said, with a little more enthusiasm this time around, as she took a few steps forward towards him. 

"You did it, then. You finally killed Voldemort," he said. 

"Well," Aria began to say, as she tucked some stray hairs behind her ear, "I didn't exactly kill him myself but yes...he's finally gone." 

"Good riddance," Ethan said, with a kind smile upon his face. His eyes glimmered with fondness and Aria realised just how much she really had missed him. 

"I was going to send you an owl. Of course, I was...it's just difficult at the moment. A lot of owls have gone missing," Aria said, "How ridiculous is that?" she asked. 

Ethan's expression became slightly amused, as he gave a gentle shake of his head. 

"It's alright, Ari. I'm just pleased to see that you're alive and more importantly, that you're safe," he said. 

Aria felt her eyes sting with tears, then, as she realised how exceptionally grateful she was that Ethan was still alive, too. She rushed towards him into his chest and Ethan instinctively wrapped his arms around her. 

"I'm glad you're okay, too, Ethan," Aria said, as she took a small step backwards to meet her brother's gaze. "I really did miss you," she admitted. 

"Well hey, if this war has made me realise anything then it's that we need to spend more time with the people that are important to us. I'm going to be around a lot more often," Ethan said, with promise in his voice, as the warmth in his eyes grew.