Wonders of Ohio (draco x reader)

Part 8 - Forget about it

Y/N froze as she heard someone clear their throat behind her.

In any other situation, she would have fibbed, the lies rolling off her tongue and falling into a neat pile.

But this wasn't just any situation.

"Drac–uh, Draco," she began, rather lamely. She wondered if he could see what she had been doing and then immediately stopped that train of thought–of course he could, she was sitting there crouched with his letters all over the floor next to her.

Y/N had never seen him look so terrible–his eyes were saucers and his fists were clenching and unclenching at his sides.

"What's up?" she asked. Maybe I got really lucky and he hasn't noticed yet.

His mouth opened and closed a few times as he seemed to agonize over what to say.

"Give me those letters back," he finally said. "And come into my room. We need to talk."

She scrambled to get everything back into the satchel–honestly, how had all those fit into such a tiny bag?–and tossed it into his hand. He refused to make eye contact and instead yanked her into his room, shutting the door before closing the blinds.

"Uh...what's going o–"

"Don't play dumb," he snapped. "You know what you read."

She withered under his gaze, all of a sudden trained on her with a heat that could melt through iron.

"Here's how this is going to go," he said tying up the satchel and tossing it into a drawer. "You're going to sit right there and tell me everything that you know. And no lying. I can always tell."

Something about the weight of his words told her that the last part wasn't hyperbole. "O–okay. Um, I know that you're kind of strange, and I know that your family definitely isn't into politics because unless you've changed your name I haven't been able to find shit on your family...I know that you're here for some kind of punishment, or at least that's what the letter said, and that wherever you're from believes in, uh, magic, or something..."

Y/N had never been so scared of Draco as she was right then. He stood looming over her, his eyes calculating and cold. "You're telling the truth."

"Uh–how did you–"

"Is there anything else you want to know? Ask now or forever hold your peace. I promise I'll take care of this."

Y/N blinked. "What? What do you mean take care..."

"Don't...just don't ask that right now." Draco's demeanor made a switch from intimidating to exhausted. His previous towering presence looked more mournful than anything.

"Ok," said Y/N, willing to take something else over nothing. "So...why are you here? Where are you actually from? What happened to your dad?"

Draco drew in a few slow breaths. "My family's name is Malfoy. I never lied to you about that. We're from England, like you think. But we're not really from the same world as you."

He looked at her, gauging her reaction. When nothing came, he continued. "I'm...magic, as you would probably say. Like, wizards and witches and shit. Like the stuff all of you here celebrate for Halloween. Just more real."

"You're off your rocker is what you are," said Y/N. "Magic isn't real."

"You're right, it isn't," Draco replied, his tone wearing down. "Not to you. It's very real to me."

"Were you in a cult or something because that's absolute batshit cra–"

"Oh my fucking God can you just listen," he said in one long-winded breath. "Thank you. Not that it matters that much if you actually believe me and I'm not allowed to show you any magic–they almost sent me back home for spelling my hair neat that one time in the car with you–but you should believe. Did you really think you were just sick after Homecoming? Like, did you think that was the common cold or something?"