Draco Malfoy had fallen apart and embarrassed himself in front of the innocent, pure brunette and the flashbacks of it occurring popped up in his head every second of the day.
It was driving him insane.
Why did he have an episode over some half-blood he was supposed to help torture, not grow feelings for?
The answer was simple, but he couldn't find it in himself to admit it. Not to himself, much less to anyone else.
"Are you really going to the woods to meet with Boswell's father this late?" Pansy asked in a whisper once Blaise stepped inside the bathroom, her worried eyes firmly glued on Draco. The blonde blinked and snapped out of his thoughts, placing his attention on the anxious looking girl sitting across the room from him.
"I'll be fine, Parkinson. It'll only be a few minutes," he assured her and she sucked in a sharp breath as she nodded her head. "Tell Blaise I went to a girl's dorm or some other good excuse you can come up with fast."
And with that, Draco stepped out of the dorm and closed the door behind him, a loud sigh escaping his lips as he continued walking — the pace of his steps moderate.
He was tired of following the man's orders but the only thing that kept him going was the idea of being with his mother. His strong, beautiful mother, who had managed to escape the monster of her husband.
And the monster of her son.
He knew that his mother would be extremely disappointed with what he was doing to be by her side and it made his stomach churn. That overwhelming feeling of guilt and remorse would never fully leave his body in any occasion and it was eating him alive.
Images of the long haired brunette laying on the ground with no heartbeat and large puddles of blood surrounding her limp body would always creep their way inside his head the second he closed his eyes to get ready for bed.
Sleep only meant one thing was bound to happen. Nightmares — so he always kept himself awake and the dark circles under his eyes proved it.
The platinum haired boy lifted his eyes from the ground only to find himself already in the dark forrest that his lit up wand helped him perceive. At the sound of footsteps behind him, Draco calmly turned around and his blue hues met with the familiar dark brown hues that belonged to the offspring of the cloaked man standing before him.
Cora and her father's eyes were almost identical, but the only difference between them was that hers held a glint of light meanwhile his were only dark. Too dark to see any good or bad through them.
"You're a minute late," Sam said as he brought down his cloak and took a step forward, towering over the blonde. "I despise when people are late."
Draco snorted, "It's a good thing I'm not here to please you then, I'm simply here to get what my father and you promised me."
"And you'll get what you want if you obey my orders, Draco."
Sam placed his hand on Draco's shoulder, slowly yet threateningly patting against it.
"But you're falling for her."
At the sudden statement, Draco took a step back and wiped Sam's hand off his shoulder violently, taken aback.
"I am not falling for your daughter." He affirmed, partly assuring the man standing in front of him and himself.
Mostly himself.
"Don't try fooling me," Sam cautioned before shoving him back, Draco's hand instantly turning into a fist as he took another step back. "Admit it. Admit that you're falling for her."
"I will not admit to such ridiculous accusation." Draco hissed and as soon as his eyes caught Sam's hand stretch in his direction, the blonde wrapped his hand around his wrist before the cold skinned man could touch him.
"What is it with you and your need to hurt people less than half your age?" Draco quickly pointed out with a question and furiously twisted his wrist, earning a pained grunt from the man.
The sound of his pain made him smile.
Before he knew it, Sam's free fist collided against Draco's jaw and the platinum haired boy took a few more steps back before his back came in contact with the tree behind him.
The taste of blood spread all over his tongue the second he ran it along the inside flesh of his bottom lip.
Draco looked at Sam through his lashes as his head leaned down, dark red blood dripping from his mouth.
"You should clean yourself up." The man advised, too serene for Draco's liking, before handing him a white, cotton handkerchief.
Hesitantly, Draco reached for the handkerchief and held onto it before pulling it from his grip.
Once the handkerchief was inches away from his mouth, Draco felt Sam's strong punch once again and a buzz filled his ears the second his head banged against the tree.
Draco quickly recollected himself and ignored the constant buzzing in his ears as he took a step forward, placing the palm of his hands against Sam's chest before using all his force to push him back.
Sam took a few steps back and the heel of his foot landed on an asymmetric rock, instantly unbalancing his leg which made all his weight fall back until he was on the ground.
If the blonde weren't so heated in that moment, he'd probably laugh until his ribs began to feel sore.
Draco kneeled down and situated his knees on both sides of the man's wide body before lifting one of his arms and mercilessly hitting the man across his face — pain shooting through his wrist.
He found pleasure in his pain.
The impact of Draco's fist with Sam's cheek made the older man spit out dark red blood as he coughed, out of breath.
"You deserve this and much more." The platinum haired boy chided through gritted teeth and the man smiled mockingly, a brief laugh leaving his mouth.
Draco felt every organ inside him ravage at the plain sound of it.
"I know I do," Sam clutched his hands on Draco's robe and pushed him to the floor, his large body towering over Draco's smaller one. "But what do you deserve?"
Silence filled the forest at his question. The only thing Draco was sure of was the he deserved the worst.
The absolute worst.
"You're torturing her the same way I am and have already done."
Draco let out a humorless laugh, "Don't compare your merciless acts with what I'm doing to her."
"But you're doing the same things I've done, Draco," he claimed. "You've gained her trust. Made her feel special. Made her feel worthy. Probably even loved," Sam snorted and Draco looked away, guilty. "Only for her to find out it was all an act to get what you really want."
Not a word left Draco's mouth. The devastating guilt he felt inside made it impossible for him to get a word out.
At the sound of twigs suddenly snapping, both Draco and Sam turn their head away from each other and glue their eyes onto where the sound came from, revealing a dark shadowed, robed girl running away from them, the wind tossing her hair.
In a matter of seconds, Draco felt everything around him and inside of him come to an abrupt stop.
His breathing stopped.
The palpitation of his heart stopped.
The pain spreading throughout his body stopped.
Everything stopped.
He didn't want to accept the fact that Cora had seen and heard everything.
With Draco's blue hues still glued onto the dark shadow of the girl, Draco's hand tightly clutched onto the suit inside the robe the man was wearing and the blonde looked at Sam for a split second.
"Let go of me," Draco tried pushing the man above him away from him but failed at doing so. "Let go of me!" He shouted, exasperated.
"Let go of my suit." Sam insisted and at the act of Draco not doing as he said, the older man lifted the boy's upper body and violently forced it down.
The platinum haired boy silently whimpered at the impact his head made with the solid ground, instantly feeling light-headed and slowly letting go of his grip on Sam's suit.
Sam tore his eyes from the pale, bloody looking boy below him and looked up, his eyes and ears searching for any sudden movement.
"Expect an owl from me sometime this week, Draco. I have something planned for Cora and genuinely can't wait to see her reaction to it."
The blonde could see his smile through his cloudy vision and he looked away, planting his eyes in the direction the brunette had run off onto.
"Don't you dare ruin my plans, you foolish boy," Sam looked back down at Draco and lifted his knees from the ground before wiping off the dirt off the rich fabric of his pants. "If you do, I won't hesitate in ruining your plans with your mother."
And with that, Sam took a few steps back from the limp body laying down on the ground and within seconds apparated, silence finally filled the air.
Grunting, Draco slowly lifted his head from the ground and placed his knees on the ground before lifting them from the ground, having difficulty in doing so.
A firm hand held onto Draco's arm and the blonde felt his arm get thrown over someone's shoulder, his head snapping towards the person.
It was a boy, but he couldn't quite put a face on the person. Draco internally swore at himself at not being able to identify the boy.
"You're bleeding out," Finn said, vaguely, and Draco's body instantly tensed the same way a child's body would when getting caught stealing candy from the kitchen late at night. Red-handed.
Finn, the boy who's completely and utterly in love with the girl he was betraying had heard everything. It was only a matter of time until he chattered about everything he knew to Cora and she distanced herself from him. He didn't want that. He still wanted time with her.
"I would let you bleed out and die all alone, but Cora would hate my guts if she knew I allowed you to die that way. I, unlike you, care about her feelings." He spit out.
"I care about her, Warden. More than I'd like to."
Finn clenched his jaw and tightened his grip on Draco before pushing him against a tree, a slight groan escaping Draco's mouth.
"If you cared about her, even the fucking minimum, you would've never betrayed her this way!" He yelled at him, each word louder than the one before. As if yelling would make the blonde understand any better than he already did.
"I messed up, alright? But I do. I fucking care about her, Finn. I swear I do and I plan on making things right with her. The last thing I want is for her to end up badly injured, or worse, —"
"—Dead. She'll end up dead and all because of you." Finn declared, his voice an octave lower.
Draco shook his head, "I won't let it happen. I won't allow for her to die."
Finn harshly let go of the boy and took a step back, "How do I know you're saying the truth and not manipulating me like you do to everyone you speak to?"
"I'll swear it," Draco swallowed. "I'll make an unbreakable vow — but I need your help as well."
Finn sighed heavily, "I don't plan on joining you on your little adventure of bringing Cora to her father so that he can torture her."
Draco's brows slightly furrowed and eyes narrowed, taking a step forward, "How do you know so much about what I've been doing with her father?"
"I've been following you for weeks," Finn admitted and Draco scoffed, furious. "I saw when you had your panic attack."
The platinum haired boy looked away, too embarrassed to look at him in the eye. And suddenly a flashback of his open drawer with Sam's owls to him scattered all over his desk came to his mind. All this time he thought it was Pansy, but it wasn't.
"You went through my things as well, didn't you?" Draco returned his attention to the boy and observed as Finn nodded his head, not ashamed at all.
"And I'm glad I did." He briefly stated and the blonde sighed, taking a step forward.
"Pansy will be the one to hold the wand for the unbreakable vow." Draco continued walking and Finn rolled his eyes at the mention of Pansy before moving his legs, walking behind the blonde.
"It wasn't Cora," Finn suddenly blurted out and Draco snapped his head in his direction, slowly faltering in his steps. "Cora wasn't the one who heard you talking with her father, it was Pansy. I followed her here without her knowing."
The words that fell out of the boy's mouth made Draco's anguish ease, his body being the first thing to loosen up.
If his head weren't pounding so loud, Draco would probably start an argument regarding Finn following both Pansy and him without them knowing.
"A little help would be nice." Draco suggested, not enough stamina inside of him to keep going. He was tired and couldn't wait until he could finally lay on his bed.
A smirk crossed Finn's face at Draco's suggestion and he fastened his pace, walking past the platinum haired boy.
"I've helped you enough today, Malfoy. Good luck getting to the hospital wing." Finn beamed, looking at Draco over his shoulder before averting his attention back to front and jogging up the tall hills to get to the school.
The blonde boy tucked in his lips, slightly irritated, before pressing the palm of his hand against each tree along his path up the hill to avoid falling.
If that was what being old and infirm felt like, he was sure he didn't want to grow old.
If it weren't for his urgent need to see Cora those past few minutes, Draco wouldn't have hesitated in sitting on the ground and resting his back against the uncomfortable tree.
But he wanted to see those soft brown eyes of hers.
He wanted to see her long, brunette hair just so that he could twirl his fingers around her hair and smell her chamomile scented hair.
His skin ached for her touch.
His lips craved her plump ones.
His ears searched for her endearing voice.
And his heart pounded harder and harder each step he took closer to her dorm.
He could no longer deny it.
He fell for her. Excruciatingly hard.
*internally screaming*