Chapter Eleven
A/N: Thank you to sammiSTRICK and AndyMalfoy for reviewing the last chapter.
Merida froze in shock for a moment, as her mind still attempted to take in the fact that she had finally been found out, that the secret she had been holding to her chest for all of this time had at last been discovered, by Draco Malfoy, no less. He may be her friend, but he was still a Malfoy, quite notably the most prejudiced Pureblood family in the country, bar perhaps the Blacks, his mother's side. Either way, he was one of them.
Once she had the ability to move returned to her, one hand raised to her mouth, as if she could stop the secret from having escaped if she blocked the place where it had come from. But of course, it did not work, as nothing could change what she had done, as she had already given it away and could not draw the words back from the air. It was too late.
"How did you know?" she questioned, her voice tentative and unsure as she did so. After all, everything that she and her mother had worked for, everything that they had tried to hide to give her a normal life at the school had now been thrown out of the window and smashed on the tiles of the courtyard. There was nothing to lose, and so she had asked the boy who had discovered her secret.
"The Urquhart family only had one son that lived to marrying age, and that was Elphinstone. The others were killed by…" The boy seemed to pause for a moment, as if uncomfortable with what he was about to say. "By the Death Eaters, when they were at Hogwarts age. Elphinstone married Minerva McGonagall, and so I kind of figured it out from there."
"Well, then you know why this has to stay a secret." she blurted out, immediately wishing that she had not done so. She was trying to be subtle, to act as if he had merely discovered her dress size or the nickname she had had as a baby, and had gone about being so by practically begging him to keep the secret for her. It was ridiculous, but she could think of no other road to walk down, and so she had sacrificed her pride for the security of knowing her secret would remain just that.
"Of course I do, Meri, and I'm not going to tell anyone." he promised, with a slight smile that made her begin to blush under his gaze. It was not a cold smile at all, rather one of the warmest she had ever seen, and from that moment, the girl knew that he was telling the truth to her, as she could not imagine that beautiful smile being one that would hide the motive of a liar. Well, perhaps she could imagine it being so, as he still remained a Slytherin, after all, but she would not allow herself to consider that option, as it would ruin the moment of connection that had appeared between them, and that was something that Merida would not wish to do, even if it had lasted forever.
"You know, I never thought that I would be able to trust a Slytherin." the young woman confessed in a tiny voice, a slight smirk on her face at the truth she spoke, which was increased as the blonde mirrored it. "But I trust you more than almost anyone else in the world, even more than some of my own family. It's crazy, because I can't understand why."
"Yeah, it is quite strange." he added, just as softly as the redhead had done. "I feel exactly the same about being friendly with a Gryffindor girl, as I was taught not to be, particularly with one who was not a Pureblood. That's frowned upon by most families as well, especially by mine."
"Then why are you friends with me?" Merida asked, feeling the need to do so. After all, in the time before they had become companions of each other, all that she recalled the boy talking about was his father, and all the achievements that the man had made for the Malfoy name. In the breaks being talking about Lucius, which were few and far between when he spoke to the Weasleys, her friends, he frequently spoke of his mother, Narcissa, although with the traditional occupation of a Pureblood woman, a housewife and mother, there was not a great deal to talk about, something that he had admitted himself. It was for this reason that the young McGonagall could not see why he would do something against their approval.
"Believe it or not, Meri, I don't always do things to please my parents." he explained, and she had to admit that she was surprised by this fact. It was not the kind of response that she would have ever expected to hear from him, especially before she had known him so well. "My parents married each other to continue the Pureblood lineage, but that was their parents' choice to make. I know that my parents, my mother at least, want me to be happily married, like they were. I think they may even allow me to choose my wife. And I want you to know, Meri, in case it doesn't work out like that… I would choose you every time."
At the completion of the heartfelt speech, the young woman found that she could not speak, being far too shocked to do so. Of course, she had thought a great deal about the kiss that she had shared with Draco in the hallway, but she had put it down to a moment of madness, and so it had been almost disregarded in that respect. However, looking deep into the eyes of the blonde, she saw that he had meant the kiss as truly as he had meant the words he had spoken. Upon realising this, she moved forward, captured her head between his hands.
This time, it was Merida who kissed Draco.
A/N: Please review!