♔
"What do you want?" I asked, and he shrugged.
"I saw you come into the Great Hall. I was sitting with Crabbe and Goyle when you got into that little spat with Zabini," He said.
"So you followed me?"
"Yeah, I guess I did."
I took another bite out of my apple before turning around and throwing the core into the lake.
"Are you okay, Maggie?" He asked, but I didn't feel like responding.
"I'm fine, why do you ask?"
"You just seem... different," He admitted. I turned around and walked back up the grass a little bit, find a comfortable spot under a large tree to sit. He followed me over there but didn't sit.
"I am different, I guess," I said, and he nodded.
"What happened... with your house, I mean," He asked, and I tensed up at the subject. "It burned down," I stated.
Obviously, it had burned down, and he knew I wasn't telling him everything, but what was I going to do? What should I have said?
"Maggie..." He started, knowing I was full of shit.
"I burned it down, alright? It was an accident," I said.
"So it's true," He said, and I furrowed my brow, looking at him questioningly.
"I didn't believe it at first, it just sounded so far-fetched," Draco scoffed.
"What?"
"You are part Veela, aren't you? I knew you were half and half, but I wasn't sure what the other half was."
I stood up suddenly, bewildered. My eyes were wild, not knowing where to look. How did he know? Who told him? Did his father find out? Was I in danger?
"Maggie! Maggie, calm down, please. Come here, relax," He pleaded.
"Blaise told me..." He said, almost sounding ashamed.
"Blaise?" I asked, feeling a little betrayed. How could he tell Draco something like this? Something that put my life in so much danger?
"I wouldn't tell a soul," He said softly.
I looked at him, finding it exhausting to be stubborn anymore. We were in the same boat, only my boat was in rough waters. Maybe his was too, though.
"You promise?" I asked, quite childishly sticking out my pinky towards him.
He looked down at my outstretched hand and smiled lightly, bending down and linking our pinkies together. "I promise," He said.
He then sat down, being very careful not to mess up his robes. "You're not eating lately," He said, more as a statement than asking. "I eat," I said unconvincingly.
"It's been a week since we've been back and all I've seen you eat are apples," He said knowingly.
"I like apples," I said.
He then scoffed, shifting slightly and reaching into the inner pockets of his robes. Pulling out a perfect green apple, my eyes widened. "No. No force-feeding, I'm not in the mood," I joked.
"If you love apples so much, eat this one," He said with a simple shrug.
"I just had one. Besides, I don't like green apples," I said, crossing my arms.
"What's wrong with my green apples?" Draco asked, scoffing and faking offense.
"Nothing, nothing at all. I've just always preferred red ones."
Draco smiled again, the corners of his mouth crinkling ever so slightly as he looked away from me and out at the Black lake. It was a sight to see. His smile was something rare, but I liked looking at it.
His smile eventually faltered, his natural resting face rejoining him.
"I'm sorry about what I said... at the Zabini's ball. I- I didn't mean it," He said.
I perked up at this, not sure what he was insinuating. I wasn't going to get my hopes up, but his rather cruel outburst did seem a little bit out of nowhere.
I wasn't ready to forgive him yet, though. What he said hurt. It hurt a lot.
I thought we were coming to an understanding with each other after our late nights in the common room. When he kissed me, I had to admit that I liked it.
Then at the Zabini's, he threw me for a loop so severe, I felt as if I got whiplash.
"You don't have to say anything," He said as if perfectly understanding the reason for my silence.
"Draco..." I started, but he shook his head. "I just wanted to say I treated you terribly. I know that much is clear, but I hate how I acted. To be completely honest, you're the only person I can act like myself around, and I ruined that," He said.
"What do you mean?"
"I- I tend to put up a front with the other Slytherins, if you couldn't tell. I wouldn't be caught dead reading Pride and Prejudice around them, for example," He said with a light laugh.
"Why did you start reading that?" I asked out of sheer curiosity, and he shrugged. "You recommended it," He admitted.
My heart swelled at those words.
"I'm glad you can act like yourself around me, Draco. That's all I would ever want," I said.
"Going back to what I said before, though, I really didn't mean anything I said."
"Then why did you say it?" I asked, believing I deserved to know.
"It's not that simple," He said, looking away from me swiftly.
"Draco, if you can rip my heart out and throw it on the ground in front of me, I think I deserve to know why," I said, growing agitated by his aloofness.
He said nothing for a few minutes until he finally connected our eyes again. "I wanted you to hate me. I wanted you to stay far away from me, okay?" He offered, but this only confused me more.
"Why?"
"Because if you get close to me, my father will want to know why. He'll want to look into you- into your family life. He'll find out you're-"
"A half-breed," I said, understanding now.
"Right. Your father came to Blaise in confidence because he knew that you two were friends. I overheard them talking and- Well, you couldn't become a Death Eater. I wouldn't let it happen, so I-"
"You offered in my place?" I asked, the blood drained from my face as these tragic words tumbled from my mouth.
"It's better me than you, and besides, Voldemort only wants one from our generation. If he found out what you were, he'd have killed you," He said.
My breathing picked up slightly as his words hit me fully.
"No, no, absolutely not. You are not doing this for me," I said.
"It's not just for you. I mean, mostly, yes I would like to protect you. However, my father has been insisting I do this for as long as I can remember. It would save face for the Malfoy family, especially because my father never had the guts to carry out Voldemort's bidding," He said, looking down at his fingers, twiddling them back and forth.
"And you don't want that, do you?" I asked, knowing the answer.
"No. I don't."
♔
no he doesn't! let me fucking cry in peace. i am so emo over this. uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. anyway, ~character development~.