Time really flew and we've already found ourselves packing to go back home. Nothing changed here, we were still mourning Cedric's death, the only thing that changed here is Draco's attitude towards me. One day he was telling me that he still hates me, next day he greeted me with a smile and nice conversation. I really don't know what's wrong with this boy, he was probably dropped on head when he was a baby, I don't have any other explanation. I looked around room to check up one more time and closed my suitcase. Daisy did the same.
'Are you ready?' she looked at me 'All packed?'
I nodded at her 'Yes, I think so. Shall we go?'
We slowly left our room and walked towards Hogsmeade station where we were greeted by our friends. We made a deal to sit with Harry, Ron and Hermione in the cabin, just like on the way here. We asked Blaise to join as well, but Draco wouldn't let this happen, hormones I swear. I was really grateful for their help and friendship this year, I couldn't express it with words.
Once everyone was onboard, the train let out a very loud whistle, the same one that scared the crap out of me on very first day. On the way back Harry told us more about first year, about professor Quirell and Fluffy (Hagrid's pet; a dog with three heads, damn Hagrid). His stories were so interesting, he was a great story teller, but I felt bad for him, facing cruel stuff like this at such young age, luckily he is very clever and brave young man. Ron told us a little bit about his rat, which actually turned out to be a man, who worships the dark lord himself, like how the hell is this possible! What else could happen to these three, always facing troubles. Time passed and we were already at King's cross station. I could see we were all a little sad, we really got used to each other so much, it's going to be weird not seeing them everyday...
'All of you, promise me now, that you will write me at least one a week...' I whined and looked at them. 'If you won't, I promise I will kick your asses next time I see you! Don't say I didn't warn you!' they laughed at me.
We agreed to stay in contact and hugged each other tightly. I saw my mom somewhere in the crowd and waved to her. I hugged them one more time and walked away. My mom opened her arms and invited me into a long hug.
'Oh honey, I've missed you so much. How are you holding up? Oh, I'm so sorry about everything you went through...' she sobbed into my shoulder.
I couldn't hold my tears and I cried with her 'I have bad and good days mom. I'm trying my best.' I explained and she nodded. We stood like this for few minutes, until she broke a hug and grabbed my arm 'Let's go home honey, you must be hungry.'
It took us 10 minutes car drive and I was already in my cozy house. I loved our house, it wasn't too big or too small, just perfect. It didn't surprise me, that father was not at home, he really didn't show much love towards me, I will never understand how is this possible. I took my stuff upstairs to my room and changed into something more comfortable. My mum called me and greeted me with a tea and pie. She sat on the couch and waited for me to join her.
'So, tell me everything about Hogwarts. And of course, tell me about that man, who changed your life.' She smiled politely and waited. And so I did, I told her about everything - about train ride, classes, the Golden trio, Daisy, Yule ball, my time with Cedric and even about Malfoy. She listened in awe when I explained my first date with Cedric and our moments over time and cried with me when I cried. It felt good to talk about it, kind of made it easier for me. Even though it was hard for me to talk about him, I wanted to keep him alive, he deserved that.
'Do you want one advice from me? Don't tell your father about Harry Potter. Don't ask me why, I can't tell you yet, I just hope you will listen to my advice.' I looked at her, I was really curious but I agreed not to tell him, he was very strict man and I didn't want to piss him off.
'And also, tomorrow we are going to our friends for breakfast, just letting you know.'
I got really tired and went upstairs to get ready for bed. I dozed off really early that day, it was indeed a very long and exhausting day. That night I dreamt about Cedric, probably because I talked a lot about him with my mother. It wasn't a good dream, it was actually memory alike – I was replying that moment when Harry returned with his body. I woke up all sweaty and I tears were streaming down my face. I got up to take another shower and changed into clean clothes, but I couldn't sleep anymore. I was wide awake and couldn't stop thinking about him and You-know-who. I knew it won't be safe anymore for us, I was worried about our future, especially Harry's – I mean You-Know-Who tried to kill him four times already. Just when I was getting sleepy again, I heard my mom from downstairs to wake up and get ready, I really didn't feel like getting up, but I really didn't want to disappoint my mother on very first day.
Since it was a warm day, I wore a short off shoulder floral dress and some comfortable sneakers, you know causal but cute. I put on a mascara and lip gloss, curled my hair quickly and walked into living room, where I saw my mom waiting for me.
'Where is dad?' I looked around.
'He's meeting us at manor, had some business with Lucious.' She explained. 'Let's go.'
To my surprise we used a new way to travel: apparition. My mother explained that you have to think of a place you want to go and that's it. I must say, I felt nauseous a little bit after this, but my mom told me it's normal to feel that way. We stopped at the gate and waited to be let in. The manor was huge, I just couldn't believe my eyes. We rang the bell and a lady greeted us with a warm smile. She hugged my mom and introduced herself to me.
'Oh and you must be Evelyn! Hello darling, my name is Narcissa. I'm so happy to finally meet you, you look absolutely gorgeous! My son told me a little bit about you!' she hugged me. What do you mean her son?
We walked inside and while they chatted, I looked around – the first thing you saw was a huge staircase, on the right was a big room, which I assumed was used for larger events - everything was so beautiful, black and white colors prevailed which made it look so elegant.
'You know what darling, we still have some business to do, you should just go and find my son. Upstairs and right.' Narcissa smiled at me as they walked away.
Oh well if I have to, it's not like I have a choice. I walked upstairs and knocked on the first door on the right. No one answered, so I tried one more time. No luck again – I opened the door to check for him, just in case he didn't hear me. I walked into a big cozy room, the king sized bed was in the middle of the room, on the left was a walk-in closet where I could see lots of black suits, on the right I assumed was a bathroom and once again black and white colors everywhere. Completely the opposite of our house. I saw a large closet full of books and I walked over there to look at them, a few of them were about quidditch, some were about spells, monsters, everything you thought about, it was there. I heard a noise behind me and turned around. There he was, the one and only Draco Malfoy wearing only a towel around his waist. I immediately looked away from him and blushed. Well he looked very handsome, but I would never admit this to anyone.
'You? How?' I gasped. He looked surprised as well. 'How the hell do you live there?'
'Well good morning to you as well Clarke. What are you doing in my room?' He asked and walked into closet.
'Well, I knocked twice but you didn't answer...' but before I could finish, he interrupted me. 'And you decided just to walk in? Well, you need to learn about manners.' Did he really just?
'For your information your mother sent me here. It's not like I knew it was YOUR room for fuck's sake.' Jesus help me with him really. I've been here for 3 minutes and I'm pissed off already.
He returned from his closet wearing black suit. It really looked good on him, black was definitely his color.
'Clarke, I'm loving your outfit, but you on the other hand look really shitty today, did you even sleep?' he looked at me and checked me out.
'Oh wow, thank you for your compliment. You really know how to talk to a girl, don't you Malfoy.' He rolled his eyes at me and looked for explanation. 'No, I had a nightmare and couldn't sleep. I probably slept for like only 2 hours...' I said and at the same moment I yawned.
He nodded at me and thought for a minute. 'If you want to talk about it you can. I mean since we're not at Hogwarts anymore and Daisy is not here...' he stopped for a second. 'Also, if you're too tired, you can take a nap on my bed, our parents won't finish for another hour or two, I'm pretty sure of that.'
I was surprised with him, he was really nice. I sat on his bed and hesitated first, but in the end I told him about my dreams. I cried a little bit, but I stopped myself, because I didn't want to him to see me in that state, he may be nice at the moment, but he could change in a second. I thought he would laugh at me or make some sarcastic comments, but he was really understanding.
'I hope you don't mind, but I would really like to sleep for 30 minutes, I can barley look.' He nodded at me and prepared his bed for me. It was so comfortable I fell asleep in a minute. Draco stayed in the room whole time, he was doing searching for a book to read and sang a along. And I swear he has amazing voice.
After a while Draco decided to wake me up. 'What?' I mumbled with closed eyes.
'Get up, mother called us, it's breakfast time.' He whispered at me. 'But I don't want to. Let me sleep.'
He took covers off and tried to pick me up. 'Okay, I'm up! You're cruel Malfoy!' I hissed at him and heard him laugh.
'Also, you have amazing voice. I didn't know you could sing Malfoy.' I looked at him and saw him blush. Well, that's new, he actually has some feelings.
'Get your ass up and let's go before my mom kills me, you slept for 1 hour and half.' I quickly replied by 'And we of course don't want that to happen. And thank you for letting me...' He glared at me at pushed me jokingly.
We walked downstairs without saying a word and I followed him into the dining room where we were greeted by our parents. Their dining table was huge, it could probably fit around fifty people, even more!
My father gave me a hand to shake and I politely accepted it. A tall man, with long blonde hair walked over me with death stare 'And you are Evelyn I assume. My name is Lucius Malfoy.' Well I could say that there were some similarities between him and Draco: blonde hair, bright eyes, both wore black suit, but Draco's face was way more warmed and kinder,
He was also completely the opposite from Narcissa – she was warm, kind, happy, meanwhile he was very serious and cold.
'Yes, that's me. Nice to meet you sir.' I shaked his hand as well and we sat down. Narcissa told me to sit next to Draco and I obeyed.
We talked about school, about me being sorted into Slytherin and stuff like that. They also talked about Harry but I decided to ignore all their harsh comments, because my mother gave me a warning look and I really didn't want to cause a drama here. It still bothered me and hurt me to hear someone talk like this about my friend.
'Well Draco, did you manage to hurt that pathetic Potter or you're really incapable of doing anything I ask?' Lucious said and stared at Malfoy. I was really shocked at this statement and so was Narcissa. I saw she wanted to say something, but didn't – it looked like she was actually afraid of Lucious, well so was I. I looked at Draco and he looked hurt, I felt bad for him.
'I tried my best father, but he is never alone.' Draco muttered back.
'Unbelievable. You're such a disgrace, you're no son of mine!' he hissed back at him. I stood up and grabbed Draco's hand 'I have to go to the bathroom, will you show me the way Draco? I could really get lost here.' I tried my best to escape this situation.
Now my father looked at me 'Evelyn, you're being very rude!'
'Oh it's okay James, I'm done talking to him. You may leave the table.' Said Lucious with a smile.
I still didn't let go of Draco's hand as we walked toward his room. He stayed quiet for the whole time, but I knew he was hurt by his father, it was really hard to listen and watch. Once we got inside of his room and went straight to the bathroom. I waited for him and decided to clean his bed since I was the one sleeping before. He returned and I saw his eyes were red and without thinking I hugged him. It caught him by surprise and he hesitated for a second but he returned the hug. Right now I could understand his attitude at Hogwarts – all fights and bully just to make his father proud, it really hurt me.
'I'm so sorry Draco. You don't deserve this.' I said and broke our hug to look him in the eye. He avoided it and sat on his chair while I sat on his bed.
'Well, it's very complicated. My relationship with my father is very complicated. He is very strict with me and if I disobey him I get punished, easy as that. I was told how to talk to Harry and everything else was a history. I can't even explain it.' He started explaining to me.
'I understand you Draco, I really do. I have very complicated relationship with my father as well, luckily is not that bad as yours. We just don't communicate at all.' I sighed and continued 'Well it doesn't have to be like this. I hope you know that Harry is actually a very good and nice person. And no, don't give me that look, you don't even know him...' I stared at him very seriously.
'You will never understand that, you just can't. Let's talk about something else. How are you holding up?'
'Sometimes I'm okay, sometimes I'm not – which is pretty normal... I don't know, it's hard and I'm still not used to this...' I started tearing up, but I stopped myself.
'You don't have to stop yourself from crying. It's okay.' He put his hand on mine. My heart started to bet faster but I didn't know why, it didn't make any sense.
'Who are you and what did you do to Draco Malfoy?' I laughed and he joined me. 'We were really rude to each other at Hogwarts, what changed?'
'I don't know, I guess I realized what a dick I was and I apologize for my behavior. I guess I wanted to change our relationship, since we see each other everyday at Hogwarts. If that is fine by you?' he gave me a questionable look.
'Of course it is Draco. I would love that. But it will take some time to forget what you said to me, you said some really harsh stuff to me, I'll hardly forget this. I said some ugly stuff as well, sorry about that' I smiled at him as he gasped. 'What's wrong?'
'Well this is the first time you called me Draco! And yes, I know, we should take our time.' he laughed and I realized he was right.
For the rest of day we talked and hung out without fighting, which was actually really nice. Once I got to know him more, I saw he is a very interesting guy. He showed me his house, which was really huge, I could get lost there in a second. I learned some things about him and he did as well about me – we found out that we are not very different after all, shocking I know.
I heard my mom call me to get ready to leave. We stood up and before we exited his room, Draco walked in front of me and looked at me. 'I had fun today Evelyn. I hope I'll see you soon.' And hugged me.
What the fuck... I took me by surprise but I kind of liked it. 'I had fun too Malfoy, I'm pretty sure we well see each other soon because of our parents.' We said goodbyes and I walked home very happy that day.
'Hey dad, you said you had business to do back at Malfoy's manor. What business exactly?' I was really curious.
'You'll find soon, but till then don't ask me again, okay?' my father hissed at me. We didn't say another word and once I got home, I walked upstairs and took a long shower. I changed myself into a pyjama and wrote letters to all my friends, to check up on them and I told Daisy about my day at Malfoy's, I can already see her shocked face.
For whole evening I read a book and looked at pictures from Hogwarts. I just hoped that everything will be okay in the future.
Author note:
Hello darlings, how are you today? Another longer chapter, I hope you like it. Vote and leave comments if you want to. Stay safe xoxo