"She looks beautiful. I think she'd like it."
"Yeah. She does."
"I just can't believe the luck of being set to die on your birthday. She was still a kid. It's just fucked up."
"Blaise. Language."
"Sorry."
"So, is it all arranged? Y'know... the uh, the funerals and stuff."
"Yes. I'm just going to do them together. Makes it easier to just rip off the bandaid off of not only one child, but both."
"Narcissa, we're really sorry for what happened. If you need anyone or anything, ever, we're here for you. You've raised us like your own since we met Draco, all three of us. You aren't alone."
"Thank you."
"Um, when do they think that-"
I sat up quickly with a gasp and patted my hands all over the top of the bed to gain my sense in surroundings.
"WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT THE FUCK!" Gregory screamed loudly as he ran away from my bed. Narcissa let out a throat wrenching scream, and Vincent and Blaise yelled just as loudly.
"Where's Draco?!" I shouted, my heart beating out of my chest rapidly. My heart. Beating. Living. "I gotta find Draco, where is he?!" I panicked, jumping down from the bed and stopping when something had clattered against the wood floor.
My vision look down around my feet and found the possession that Harry had just sent me away with. I snatched it up and noticed the white dress I had been placed in to.
"This is pretty, did you pick it out?" I looked up at Narcissa who looked horrified.
"YOU WERE DEAD! YOU ARE DEAD!" Blaise screamed, all of them joining together in the farthest corner. "Oh my god, you're sick. You're haunting us with your sick and twisted little evil brain." He narrowed his eyes and shot daggers towards me.
"I didn't die! I'm alive!" I shouted at him, waving my hands around so they could all see my dramatic behavior. "Where is Draco?!" I asked again.
"How is that possible?" Narcissa asked me softly, slowly taking a few steps to get closer to me.
"I'm alive. I promise." I closed off the distance and wrapped my arms around her neck. She let out a soft cry before her hand held the back of my head and she hugged me.
"How did you get that?" Vincent asked lowly as he stared at the possession I had in my hand. I disconnected from Narcissa quickly and held the wand against my chest.
"It's mine and it's a long story." I said flatly. "Where is Drake?" I asked for the hundredth time.
"In his bed." Blaise muttered, kicking his foot against a rug I had in my room.
"Stay here. I want to go see him." I told each of them. Their faces faltered as they debated if it was the right idea or not. "No, it's okay. I'm not sad, and it's not like it's going to be too hard for me to look at him. He's going to be okay." I smiled at them, and they looked at me like I had three heads.
"I need to sit down." Gregory huffed.
"I'm going to Draco's room. Just give me a few minutes alone with him." I ran from the room as the words left my mouth, and prayed that the boy laying in the room next door was okay, like me.
The door pushed open carefully with a creak and I slowly padded towards the bed. I laid the elder wand down on the small bedside table before I inched my way closer to where his body laid.
Just like sleeping.
Maybe he is sleeping.
Maybe it didn't work.
"Draco?" My voice came out much softer than I was expecting it to.
He didn't budge as I tried to speak to him, and all of the horrible thoughts started to rush through my brain. Harry said it would work. It was supposed to work if I came back. Draco should be awake, too.
Why hasn't it worked?
"Draco, please wake up." My crying was strangled. This was the worst pain. Nothing else has ever felt as horrid and awful as this. "I love you. I came back for you, and you were supposed to come back for me." I sobbed.
I studied the way his pale face looked, but it didn't look any different than usual. He never had much color in his cheeks to lose, I suppose. His white dress shirt looked soft, and thin. I could see all of the designs he wore across his skin underneath and it made me shiver as it resembled the awful night I had just lived through.
How long was I gone? Was I too late? Harry said it would get worse the longer I stayed in limbo. What if I wasn't quick enough to make a decision?
I trailed my fingers down the buttons as my tears started to drip off of my chin and absorb into the fabric on his chest. I pulled back a few of the buttons towards the top and let out a harsh sob when I saw the deep purple scars that ran over his right ribs. They were so thin they resembled veins, but I had seen them too often. I had touched something identical on someone I once knew.
Cracks of lightning. Touched by a curse.
"You'll be okay," I smiled weakly. "I came back, so you'll come back, too. You're okay." I sighed with relief when I thought of how Harry had survived the curse before.
I climbed into his bed next to him and laid against his side, pulling the blanket from his body and putting myself under it, too.
"Come on, love." I whispered, placing a kiss against the exposed skin of his chest. "Wake up. For me." I begged. The door creaked once more as Blaise peaked inside.
His face dropped when saw how I had embraced Draco's still body.
"Emmy," he started to try and get me to be reasonable, but I was quick to cut him off.
"He's okay. He'll wake up soon. Just like I did." I promised him. "You'll see."
•
My eyes were heavy and barely open while I still rested against Draco's chest and watched the sun set out the window. No one else believed me that he was going to come back, too, but I could feel it. They also never thought that I would come back either, so they learned to just wait it out and shut their mouths.
Any movement, Drake. I'll take anything.
"Ow." I sat up straight and stared down at him with wide eyes, hoping he'd repeat himself. Maybe I'm imagining this.
"Drake, are you up?! Did you speak?! Say something." I demanded.
"Quit yelling." He barely mumbled. "You were warm, lay back down." He whined. A smile crossed my lips and I pecked his cheeks numerous times before I slapped his shoulder lightly and furrowed my brows at him.
"Oh my god. I cannot believe you killed us, you fucking sicko." I scolded in a teasing manner as I laid back down on his chest.
"At least it worked." He coughed, lazily wrapping his arms around me and hugging me back while I squeezed him a little too tight. "Potter and that old bastard kept promising it would work, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was skeptical." He sighed and kept his eyes closed.
"Can you look at me?" I whispered, tipping his chin down with my fingers and staring at his face. His eyes opened slowly and remained half closed. A comfortable silence surrounded us and I scooted closer and cuddled into him further.
"My beautiful girl." He cracked a half smile and let his eyes fall shut again. One of his hands found my face and he rubbed his thumb against my cheekbone.
"I can't believe you did... so much for me. And I had no idea." I whispered, letting my eyes fall shut, too. "How did you ever get away with all of it?" I tried pressing him with more questions.
"As much as I love your always insightful questions," he told me in an annoyed manner as he slipped his clothes off under the blanket so he was left in his boxers. "Can you maybe be nosey tomorrow night? When all of this is actually over and I have slept properly." He told me.
"That's all you've done already!" I laughed at him, and a sly smile pulled on his tired lips.
"When you take the killing curse like a champ, you tell me how your chest feels after." He laughed weakly at me. "I'll tell you more in the morning, baby. I'm beat." He mumbled and turned towards me. His breathing slowed and his lips parted slightly as he drifted off into a deep sleep quickly.
•
"So, it's only been 2 days, and you're sure they all still think I'm dead?" I asked the group that sat around the kitchen table and ate their breakfast.
"He sort of had a party to celebrate right after. It was brutal for us to attend, to say the least." Gregory scooped another serving of eggs on to his plate. "But you can't blame him. I mean, it was real. You were dead. Both of you were dead." He stared at me like I was still insane.
"I'm going there. Tonight. I'm going to my manor, and I don't want any of you to come with me while I try to kill him." I blurted out and stared at my plate. "The prophecy didn't mention any of you. Just me. I have to do it alone, it's the only way." I finally met all of their tired eyes.
"I guess we can't argue." Blaise sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"Just, I have one favor to ask, and I'm not sure any of you will really like it..." I continued, and Blaise let out a laugh.
"You act like the last year hasn't been full of ridiculous requests and favors. What's one more for the list?" He teased. I bit the inside of my cheek and peaked at him once more.
"I need you to kill the snake for me. Well, Draco. I need Draco to kill the snake. I don't care how, but I know he knows what he's doing. You just have to keep him from trying to go with me, and someone has to kill the bloody snake." I begged them.
"Is he still sleeping?" Narcissa asked quickly to get out of the conversation. "I think I'll just go-"
"No, he's not still sleeping." Draco's hoarse voice mocked her behind me from the doorway. I turned to look at him, shirtless and in a pair of pajama pants, hair sticking up at all angles, rubbing his eyes with his fists.
"Mate, you could've at least put a shirt on." Vincent pretended to cover his eyes and look away.
"You're in my house!" He argued back.
"Wicked scar." Gregory breathed as he did the exact opposite and stared at Draco's chest.
"Piss off," Draco scoffed. "Take a picture and it'll last longer." He muttered.
"Well, aren't you just so chipper today." Narcissa chuckled as she stood and met him by the door. "I'm so glad you came back." She whimpered while her arms wrapped around him.
"Mother," he groaned from her affections.
"Godric, I don't think I can handle any more scars across this chest." She said as she looked at him. "Then you'll continue to cover yourself in these silly tattoos," she started to scold him.
"They aren't silly, they're cool." He defended. "Emmy got one, too! Didn't you, Emmy?" He tried pointing the blame on me with a smirk.
"Emelia?!" She gasped. "See what your influence has been doing-"
"Promise me." I whispered to Blaise who turned his eyes to mine while everyone else was distracted. "Blaise, I love you. Promise me you'll have him do this for me." I begged quietly.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Draco chuckled, lifting me from my seat from behind and sliding himself under me. His arms wrapped around my waist and he tucked his face into the side of my neck. "I missed you this morning, sweet girl." He whispered against my skin while I still stared at Blaise.
Blaise looked back and forth between the two of us before he nodded his head once in agreement.
"What are you thinking about?" Draco brushed my hair to the side and I realized I had been staring at the tablecloth in front of us for a number of minutes.
"You." I lied with a smile.
"Ohhh. Bit of a charmer this morning, aren't we?" He teased me and pulled my back further into his chest. "How'd I get so lucky with you?" He whispered into my ear, but I had zoned out again as I thought about the night that lied ahead.