The Fractured Flame | Draco Malfoy Love Story

Chapter Twenty Eight: The Truth About Blaise

The feeling was warm and overwhelming.

It terrified her more than the Dark Lord or losing her friends ever did. Hermione swallowed hard, feeling the tears prick in the corner of her eyes.

She loved him.

Already, she loved him.

Maybe, a part of her had always known she cared about Draco. When she found herself smiling at his snarky, yet witty remarks. When she worried about him even though he was cruel to her. When she was scared of losing him to a Dark Arts Academy even though he wasn't hers to begin with. When she was afraid of losing him to Azkaban when he wasn't hers... She just wasn't ready at the time to acknowledge the feelings she'd pushed down. Was that why Ron could never... He could never invoked such feelings inside her? Because she was already in love with someone else?

Hermione pushed the feeling down again. She could acknowledge it for now, but she wasn't ready to accept it. Not until she was undeniably sure that he felt the same and this feeling wasn't attributed to the mind blowing orgasm he'd given her.

"Your turn, Malfoy." Hermione said with finality, looking down at him. "Tell me what happened with Zabini and why he wants to throw the Wizarding World into chaos again."

The Truth About Blaise

They had shifted, now laying side by side. Crookshanks had been fast asleep after his luxurious meal, but now curled up behind Hermione's legs when they got into bed together. Draco pulled her close, his arm propped up to hold his head as he gazed down at her. With his other hand, he was playing with one of her curls that framed her face.

"Well?" She prompted, looking up at him expectantly.

Draco's lips twitched, likely amused at her impatience. "To start, Blaise has never had much ambition. The Zabini's are loaded and he didn't really care about blood status. But during the war, the Dark Lord was keen about maintaining bloody purity. In fact, he wanted me to be wed to Astoria Greengrass, but I had no interest."

"You didn't?"

He shook his head, "She's nice when she's not pissed at you." He found this funny which made Hermione think that the Greengrass witch was currently upset with him. "We had absolutely nothing in common. She cares a lot about societal affairs, I'd rather spend my days reading in the Malfoy library." Seeing the look on her face, he smiled. "I'll show you the room tomorrow."

"I'll hold you to that." Hermione murmured, but nodded for him to continue.

Draco persisted, "Blaise fell in love with Astoria. I like to think that's partially my fault because I made him polyjuice as myself to go on dates with her. It's a long story." He reflected with a bemused glance, "When I realized that Astoria was falling in love with 'me', I ended things. I didn't want to take any sort of 'next step' and I was more focused on carrying out tasks for the Dark Lord than if I looked better in blue or black suits."

"Blue." Hermione answered unintentionally.

He smiled at that, but continued explaining his story, "The thing is... Astoria has a blood malediction. A serious one that her ancestor was cursed with and well... you know how these things appear throughout generations."

His smile faltered, seeming to be bothered about it. Did he care about her? How much? Feeling ridiculous for the jealousy festering inside her, Hermione nodded.