The Healer- A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction

Chapter 27: Malfoy Manor Part VI

I wanted to bring up my father, to tell Draco all about him and how wonderful he was- but we were out in the open air, and it was likely that our voices carried. There was no knowing who was listening. So I kept it to myself.

"Do you reckon your mother gets lonely when you're at school?" I asked Draco. His expression darkened.

"Yes," he stated. "Even with her sister here and a house full of Death Eaters, I can tell my father's left a gap." His troubled expression grew. "I try to visit when I can." He was silent after that.

It seemed Draco and I had another thing in common. The guilt of not being there for our families.

"I know what that's like," I said to him as we tread along the gravel path. "When I was a first year, I cried the entire train ride. I couldn't stop thinking about my mum all alone. When I told her I wanted to come home, she scolded me and told me that all she wanted was for me to become a well-learned witch so that she could finally have someone smart to converse with." I scoffed a little, remembering the exact letter she sent me in response to my desperate plea for her to put me on the train back home. "Apparently, when I was eleven, I was too dumb to understand her theory on physiological alchemic properties. She was always happiest when she knew I was doing my best at my schoolwork."

I glanced at Draco. His gaze was lowered to the gravel crunching beneath his feet, but it appeared he was still listening. "My point is," I continued, "I focused so much on feeling guilty and worrying about her that I didn't even consider that she was more than willing to handle solitude if it meant I got the life she thought I deserved. I'm sure your mother feels the same way."

Draco and I rounded a corner that led us directly to the maze's core. At the center was a circular pond with a spout for a fountain in the middle- but no water was running. There weren't even any birds.

"Your mother sounds kind," Draco murmured, looking at his reflection in the opaque water. "And a little intense."

I smiled at his remark. "She was a Ravenclaw."

Draco made a sound that sounded like a slight gag of disgust. I laughed at that, remembering his immediate distaste for anyone who was not a Slytherin. We lingered around the pond for a while longer, sitting upon a stone bench.

"Seems like a waste of a day," Draco muttered glumly beside me. I was taken aback.

"What do you mean by that?" I griped. Draco retracted his statement instantly, realizing my misinterpretation.

"Not that being with you is a waste," he said sternly, "Because it isn't. But it's rare when we get time alone. And we're spending it here, in my ugly courtyard."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, please. I wished I had a yard that looked like this, even if it is the middle of winter."

Draco clasped and unclasped his hands. "I know, but... it's not really romantic, is it?"

I considered his words. It was quite obvious that Draco was used to glamor, expensive dinners, and high class society. He wasn't accustomed to seeing the hidden beauty of things.

"It's plenty romantic for me," I replied, shifting closer to his warmth. "Being alone with you is enough."

Draco turned his head towards me. He lifted a gloved hand to my face, and with more gentleness than I thought possible for him, ran his thumb across my cheek. That same hand went around to the back of my head, leaning me in to meet him for a kiss. Our faces and lips were cold, but his breath warmed me.

He pulled back suddenly. "Close your eyes for a moment," he commanded, rising from the bench.

I was confused by this out-of-the-blue order, but shut my eyes. I heard the sound of him shifting around on the gravel and wondered what it was he was doing that he didn't want me to see. My natural skepticism told me to keep one eye open, but I kept them closed until Draco returned to the bench.