~6~
"You never really told me what you're going to do after graduation," Hermione said and she saw Draco stiffen. She might've missed the tension that seemed to lock him in place if she weren't paying attention but, as it was, she'd been doing a lot of thinking and she came to the realization that she didn't even know basic information about someone she considered her friend. "I don't think you've even mentioned what colleges you've applied to last fall."
"I haven't," he stated cooly, sipping his coffee.
She waited.
He let her.
"So?"
"So what?"
"You look like a Princeton fellow."
Draco made a face. "Why Princeton?"
She shrugged. "Seems as good a place as any. And you've also eliminated Princeton for me." At his continued silence, she clicked her tongue in disappointment. "Are you really not going to tell me?"
"I'm not."
"You're not going to tell me?" she frowned in disbelief.
Draco furrowed his brows. Then, "I'm not going to college."
To Hermione Granger, he couldn't have said anything worse.
"Are you kidding me?" she blurted in surprise. "Since when?"
He ran a hand through his hair and she couldn't help but take a moment to admire the way it caught the morning light. "It's not my decision."
"Of course it's your decision. Whose else would it be?" She hoped he took that as the rhetorical question it was meant to be but, of course, he didn't.
"My father's in a political shit-storm right now with-"
"Are you fucking kidding me, Malfoy? I thought you wanted to be an officer?"
Draco stood abruptly and threw his hands in the air. "Oh c'mon Granger, I told you that once months ago. It was a joke. Can you seriously imagine me, being on the force with my dad the way he is-"
"Oh screw your dad-"
"-with my background as it is-"
"-you are allowed to make-"
"-no one would take me seriously-"
"-your own decisions-"
"-and whoever heard of a Malfoy being such a dutiful, upstanding patriot?"
"-for your own life because it is your own life."
"It's not my life!" he shouted and she flinched. "When has it ever been my life? Tell me, because there has never been a single moment where I felt like anything more than a pawn. A pawn maneuvered by-" At this, he clenched his fist so tightly that his hand turned white. He swiped at the table in frustration and his coffee cup shattered against the wall. He turned his back to her as he focused on his breathing. "You don't understand," he muttered, almost to himself. "You don't understand," he repeated, closing his eyes.
There was a moment of silence. Then, he felt arms encircle his waist. He felt her press a soft kiss against his back, in the dip between his two shoulderblades. He felt her rest her forehead against that very same spot and he recognized her unspoken apology. He slowly relaxed his fist and rested it atop one of her hands. He hoped she recognized his apology as well.
She did.
