A/N: I have lost track of how long it's been since the last update and I am so so sorry it's taken me forever to get this chapter up. I have recently been on holiday, then returned to a busy term at school, gotten a casual job and my sport has resumed. finding time to write has been difficult but I've finally finished this chapter and along with it being published I am giving all my apologies. Thanks for the ongoing support xxx
•••
"Happy Easter, Alexia!" Rufus greeted his daughter on Sunday morning of Easter break at the Malfoy Manor.
"Happy Easter, Father!" she replied with a grateful smile.
"Oh, Alexia!" Narcissa said, appearing from the dining room. "Happy Easter! Here you go." she swished her wand and conjured a beautifully wtapped easter egg.
"Narcissa, thank you. Happy Easter!" Alexia replied, taking the easter egg and giving Narcissa a small embrace.
"We've already eaten, dear, but Draco's having breakfast now if you want to join him." Narcissa told her.
"Oh, of course," said Alexia. She smiled warmly and then walked to the dining room where Draco was seated at his usual spot at the table, eating breakfast.
"Good morning!" Alexia said happily.
"Morning," Draco mumbled.
Alexia tilted her head, "What's wrong with you?"
"Had a rough night." Draco said.
"Right," said Alexia.
"Surprised you didn't hear me. I got up to get a drink and dropped a bottle of whisky." Draco said.
"So bad you resulted to drinking, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Should've joined you."
"Why?"
"I haven't had a drink in a while," Alexia said.
"Let's have one tonight then before we go back to the dumps." Draco told her.
"Sounds like a plan," Alexia replied.
After breakfast, Rufus told Alexia and the Malfoy's that he would be leaving soon. Alexia didn't want him to leave so soon, but she understood if he didn't leave, someone would be sure to see him or overhear a conversation about him and he would be bound to end up in Azkaban again. If that happened, the Dark Lord would not be happy and he probably would not assist in helping one of his most trusted Death Eaters escape once again.
Rufus too was upset. He felt terrible leaving his only daughter once more. All he seemed to ever be doing was leaving the ones he loved the most. He packed his bag of little belongings slowly, putting off the goodbyes he would soon have to say.
Once he had finished he went downstairs and said goodbye to Narcissa, Lucius and Draco.
"Take care of my girl," he said to them all, "she needs all the care she can get."
"We will, Rufus, don't you worry." Lucius said.
"Thank you," Rufus replied, "for everything."
"We'll see you very soon," Lucius assured Rufus.
"Yes, very soon you won't need to hide anymore." Narcissa added.
Rufus nodded, "Yes, and until then, you stay safe. All three of you."
"We will."
"Draco, look after her, okay?" Rufus said directly to Draco.
"Of course, Rufus. I will always." Draco replied with a curt nod.
Rufus smiled, " I should go say goodbye to Alexia." it sounded as if he was in pain. He didn't want to say goodbye to her just yet.
Lucius nodded, "She's out the front waiting for you."
"Okay." said Rufus. "Thanks again for everything."
"No worries, Rufus. We'll see you soon." Lucius said.
Rufus picked up his bag and took a deep breath, then he slowly made his way to the front door.
Out on the porch, Alexia leant against a pillar trying her hardest to keep herself together. The door opened and Rufus stepped out. Someone closed it gently behind him.
"I'm sorry I have to leave, Alexia." he said.
Alexia looked up, "It's okay, Father, I know you are and I know it's not what you want."
"I'll miss you so much," he said.
"I'll miss you too," Alexia replied.
Rufus opened his arms and pulled Alexia into a loving embrace.
Alexia had never realised how loving and caring her father was. She was brought up with her mother who didn't believe in things like love, so for some reason she assumed her father was the same. But he wasn't. And maybe she wasn't. Maybe she could love. Maybe feelings she had always just brushed off, were feelings of love. Feelings she always worried she might have for that one person in particular.
"You shouldn't think these things while I'm around, Alexia." Rufus said.
This alarmed Alexia, she completely forgot that her father was skilled in legilimency. When she wasn't careful, he could read into almost all her thoughts. "Oh Merlin!" she gasped.
Rufus chuckled, "I won't tell anyone."
"How embarrassing!"
"It's okay, Alexia. And I know you don't think it, but it's okay to have those kind of feelings." Rufus assured her, but he knew she was too embarrassed to speak about it with him, so he changed topics quickly. "I better get going soon, I need to make my way up north of the country. I haven't been that way yet."
Alexia nodded, "Oh yeah, of course."
"I'll see you very soon, Al."
"Stay safe," Alexia said.
"You too. Keep up the good work at school and good luck in your exams."
"Thank you, Father."
"And Alexia, if you can, could you write to your mother? She's worried she's upset you." Rufus asked.
Alexia nodded, "Yeah, of course. I haven't been the nicest to her lately I suppose."
"Thank you."
Rufus scanned the front garden and then rested his eyes on Alexia, "Take care, Alexia."
"You too, Father," replied Alexia, "I'll see you at the end of the term?"
"Yes, I'll see you then," Rufus said. "Goodbye now."
The two hugged for one last time. Rufus placed a small kiss on Alexia's forehead. Then, with his bag in his hand, he began walking; off the porch, down the driveway and out the beautiful double gates. He turned and looked at the manor and his daughter for what would be the last time for a good couple of weeks. After several slow moments, he turned on the spot and disapperated. just like that, he was gone.
•••
After a quiet day and evening at the Malfoy Manor, Draco found himself in the formal living room which had an old yet glamorous bar in the far corner, pouring himself a drink. Not long after he had arrived, Alexia joined him.
She emerged from the dark hallway with only the light from her wand illuminating her fine feautures. She had thrown a khaki coat over her revealing, silk nightdress, and her hair was down; tousled waves sat lazily on each shoulder.
"What?" She asked.
Draco quickly looked away; embarrassed he had been caught staring. "Oh- nothing. Here." He slid a drink along the bar top.
She stopped it swiftly with her dainty hands, "Thanks."
Draco raised his glass, "Here's to making it this far," he toasted.
Alexia smirked and raised her glass, "Here, here!" she said. she lightly tapped her glass against his before touching her red lips to the glass and taking a sip.
"What do you think is happening out there?" Draco said, looking towards the window.
"What do you mean?" Alexia asked.
"Well, with the Dark Lord and your father... even mine."
Alexia shook her head, "I honestly don't know anymore."
"Father seems stressed. He hides it when we're around but I saw him with Mother today and he looked worried." Draco told Alexia.
"What do you think's going on?"
"I'm not certain. I don't have much of an idea to be completely honest. It could be anything."
Alexia nodded and took another sip of her drink.
It was quiet for a little while as the two were consumed by thoughts.
"Are you ever worried?" Alexia asked eventually.
"About what?" Draco asked.
"That something could happen and you could lose your family?"
Draco opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again before any words could get out.
Alexia shook her head, "What am I saying? You would never admit you're even the tiniest bit worried."
Draco found this slightly amusing and couldn't help but let a small smirk make its way to his face.
Alexia, too, couldn't help but smile, "Only thing you worry about anyway is making sure people fear you."
"That, Alexia, sounds more like you!" Draco replied.
Alexia tilted her head, "Mm, it does," she said rather happily. "And that reminds me, tomorrow my return has to be better than ever. I have to make sure I'm still feared, people always seem to slacken off after Easter."
Draco nodded in overly-exaggerated interest.
"Will you stop?!" Alexia exclaimed, nudging him in the shoulder.
"Only if you stop hurting me," Draco stated, pretending to wince and acting as if her push had hurt.
"But you're hurting me, Draco!" Alexia said.
"How?" he asked.
"You make my mind go crazy and after a while, it gives me a headache." she plainly stated.
"What do you mean?"
Alexia cleared her throat, "Draco, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have feelings for you."
"Oh," Draco said.
Alexia's heart sunk. She had finally admitted her true feelings for Draco and that was the only reaction he could give her. It didn't seem very positive at all.
"Well," he started, "I would be lying too if I said I didn't have feelings for you, Al."
"What?" Alexia automatically said, without realising she had until after saying it.
"We both have feelings for each other," Draco said.
Alexia repeated the words over in her head until they had completely registered. We both have feelings for each other. We both have feelings for each other. We both have feelings for each other.
"Alexia, I don't even remember what it was like before I started getting these strange feelings for you. I was always so immature, just wanting to sleep with you for the sake of it and not it meaning a thing, but when I finally did, I couldn't just carry on with things like I usually would. No, something was different; I saw you differently. But-" Draco paused.
"But I completely ignored you. I acted like it meant nothing to me at all." Alexia said, helping him out with the right words.
Draco nodded, "Yeah."
"I can tell you here and now, it meant everything. It was my first time and although I acted as if it wasn't, it was with someone special." Alexia told Draco.
Draco smiled.
"I don't even know how we got here Draco, but maybe it's exactly what we needed; someone who could make us forget the ways we were brought up, someone who could make us love without knowing we could or without knowing how to fall." Alexia said.
Draco nodded, "Yeah, maybe it is what we needed," he said.
Alexia took a deep breath, "What does this mean for us now?"
Draco looked straight into her eyes, "I don't know."
"I mean, as much as I want to be with you and act upon these feelings, it's risky," Alexia said, "Not just around our parents but at school too. We both have a lot of power and if people see we have a weakness when it comes to each other, I'm worried something could happen."
"I agree," Draco said, "so what do we do? Do we secretly see each other or do we wait?"
"I hate having to say this but I think it's best to wait. Privacy is scarce at Hogwarts, I think we'd get caught easily." Alexia stated.
"Yeah, you're right. It will be hard but we're used to things like this." Draco agreed.
Alexia nodded slowly, "We'll get through it. We just have to ignore these feelings, it's not as if we haven't done that already. There's only a few more weeks, then we're free."
"Yeah, exactly. I guess it will stop us being distracted from exam study if we wait too." said Draco.
"Oh, that's true. Speaking of exam study, I haven't done any today, so I need to do twice as much tomorrow once we get to Hogwarts," Alexia informed Draco.
"Alexia you're allowed to have a break at some stage," Draco said.
"Yeah I know, I just want to make sure I do the best I can because if I don't do well, there goes my future!" She replied.
"You'll always have a future, Al. We're from wealthy families who can easily make a living from being nothing but a socialite." Draco said.
Alexia raised her head slightly higher, "Draco, I want to be remembered as a powerful witch who made the wizarding world a beautiful place. I don't want to be the witch constantly being criticised for what she's wearing or what she's doing wrong. I want to do something more with my life! The wealthy lifestyle is an added bonus and the socialite position is something I'm stuck with and don't really want to embolden."
Draco knew what she meant; he too wanted to do something with his life other than have a social reputation. However, he believed that exams would be easy to con his way through. And as for his future, he would probably end up with a powerful role at the Ministry and if he didn't do as well as he desired in his final years at Hogwarts, he could easily obtain this still with manipulation and blackmail skills up his sleeve.
"Yeah," Draco said, "You're right. I understand."
"Anyway," said Alexia looking down at her empty glass, "we have to be ready early tomorrow morning so I might head to bed soon."
Draco nodded.
"You coming?" Alexia asked.
"I might just finish this off but you go ahead," he replied, taking his glass that still held a small mouthful of liquor.
"Alright," Alexia said, "I'll see you in the morning then Draco."
"Al, before you go-" Draco quickly called putting his glass back down.
"Yeah?" Alexia replied but she hardly had time to react before Draco had swiftly taken hold of her and pressed his lips on hers.
She locked her hands around his neck and at her grant of access, Draco's tongue entered Alexia's mouth. A scent of alcohol lingered in both Draco and Alexia's breath as they endured one last kiss together for what could be weeks.
When they finally broke apart, Alexia rested her forehead against Draco's. "I'm going to miss that," she said quietly.
"So am I," Draco replied.
Alexia planted a soft kiss on his lips one last time, "Goodnight, Draco."
"Goodnight, Alexia."