You guys are amazing as usual! Here is the second chapter of the day! I apologize it's late at night, but man is this quarantine messing with my sleep schedule! Without further ado, here is your second chapter, kiddos. Enjoy :)
Draco POV
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, Aunt Bella?" I can feel anger coursing through my entire body. Seeing Briar bleeding on the floor has my body strung as tight as a bow string. I see my aunt roll her eyes.
"I'm having fun, Draco. Besides, you don't seem that surprised to see your allegedly dead girlfriend over there on the floor? Did you know she was alive?" She smirks at me and I can feel she already knows the answer.
"The real question is what she's doing on the floor bleeding," I growl. I can see my mother smirk at my protectiveness, but I can tell she's wary of what Aunt Bellatrix would do with the information of Briar still being alive.
"Like I said, nephew. I'm having…" I whip my wand out and before she can finish her sentence, she's against the wall gasping for air. I stalk towards her so I'm only a few steps away from her smirk.
"You think torturing a teenage girl is fun? Maybe I'll have some fun and show you those tricks my father showed me," I sneer lowly in her face. Her eyes widen in intrigue and my stomach turns at the thought that she's excitedabout someone torturing her. A hand on my shoulder stops me.
"Draco, I will take care of her. Briar needs you right now," my mother says softly from behind me. I stare at my aunt with hatred in my eyes and contemplate not listening to my mother. Surely torturing her with a hex for a few moments wouldn't be enough of a punishment for what she put Briar through, but…My mother squeezes my shoulder in warning and I sigh in annoyance before lowering my wand. Aunt Bella falls to the ground and cackles as she stands up in front of me.
"I knew you didn't have it in you," she taunts, but is stopped when my mother's fist hits her in the face. She's out cold. I stare at my mother in shock and pride as she glares at her sister's unconscious body before meeting my eyes.
"She always did talk too much," my mother teases to me. I chuckle before both of our heads snap to Briar when she lets out a quiet whimper of pain snapping us back to where we are and why. I rush over to her while my mother leans down in front of her sister. Crouching in front of her, I see the bleeding is slowing down, but it's very easy to see how much blood she has lost and how drained she is. After all, I'm now kneeling in her blood.
Pushing that thought out of my head, I stare at her ashen face and push back a piece of hair that has fallen in front of her forehead. Her weary eyes meet mine and I can tell she's apprehensive about where we stand since it's only been a few hours since our fight.
Our first fight, I think with a grimace.
"Hey," I whisper and see her lips turn up slightly in a small smile before falling again. She drops her head to the ground again and I see her slowly pull her hand from her stomach to examine the wound. To my relief, it's not bleeding anymore and I can see the skin starting to pull together to create a long, jagged scar with her new, pink, shiny skin. Within the next few minutes, that scar should be gone, but she'll be left with the trauma. My stomach sinks as I realize she either didn't have the energy to answer me back before, or she didn't want to. I find myself silently hoping it's the first one.
Both of our heads snap to the side when we hear the fireplace let out a whoosh,indicating someone had just used the floo system. Seeing only my mother, Briar slumps to the ground again and falls onto her bum and pulls her knees to her chest in a protective stance. Focusing on my mother for a moment, I see my aunt is gone.
"Where is she?" I snap my eyes around the room and scoot closer to Briar protectively who is staring at the floor with unseeing eyes.
"I wiped her mind and flooed her to her place. She won't remember this at all, but she'll have a bruise to remember me by," she says smirking. I let out a tiny chuckle, but the laughter dies on my lips when I see my mother look to Briar in concern. Turning my head, I see she still hasn't moved and is sitting in a pool of her own blood. The same blood that is seeping through my pajama pants. My face flushes slightly as I finally realize I'm only in those sleep pants and nothing else, but then I remember there's nothing to be embarrassed by. I think back to the night in Briar's room and feel a small smile grace my lips and, to my relief, I see Briar's lips tug up at the edges at our shared memory.
"Sweetheart, we should get her upstairs and cleaned up. She can stay in your room tonight and then we'll come up with a plan later on. I'll take care of filling Severus in," my mother says while staring at Briar. My heart clenches as I realize the small smile had already fallen from her lips and now she was staring at nothing. Her eyes were wide and empty.
"Briar?" She doesn't even flinch at my voice or move. I turn my eyes to my mother in concern.
"Maybe try the connection?" She suggests. I nod my head and focus on Briar again and try to reach into her mind. What scares me is it's so easy to slip into her mind. She doesn't have any protective walls up which shows how drained she is. She's completely vulnerable.
My doe, come with me and we can get you cleaned up, okay? Staring at her empty eyes, I feel myself slip further into her brain and see why she's unresponsive. I watch the flashes of images and find myself retreating from her mind in horror with a gasp.
"Draco?" My mother takes a step forward when I sit straight up with my back straight as a rod. I shake my head and she stops moving. My eyes flash to her and she widens her eyes in shock.
"She helped kill them," I growl out. My mother looks at me in confusion. "Your sister helped father kill Briar's parents and she showed Briar the memory. It's playing on replay in her mind right now," I sneer in disgust. My mother moves her shocked eyes to Briar and I see her eyes soften in sadness.
"Oh, the poor dear," she whispers. I close my eyes in anger and roll my shoulders back to stop my body from shuddering in anger.
"I'll kill her," I breathe out. I snap my eyes open and stare at my mother in hatred. Hatred for my aunt hurting Briar. Hatred for my aunt being a happy participant in Briar's parents' murder. Hatred for fighting with Briar over something I knew in my subconscious that she would be upset about. Hatred at myself for not being able to protect her. This is all my fault.
Just as I'm about to fall deep into my mind with self-hatred, I can hear her softly in my mind. Her voice is weak and when I turn my eyes to look at her, she hasn't moved. She's like a statue.
Dray.
Hearing her broken voice whimper my name into my mind snaps me out of my anger. With new resolve, I lean forward and scoop her into my arms bridal style and start to stand. I can feel her blood smear all over my bare chest as her body huddles to mine. The second I touch her, I can feel the tremors running through her body and see the first tear run down her pale face as she stares into space. I look to my mother in panic when I realize how cold she is. My mother nods her head at me. With the wave of her wand, she cleans the blood off of the floor and my feet before she shoos me to take Briar to my room, both of our bodies still slick in her blood.
"Go clean up and get some rest. The warm water in the shower should help her shock. We will work this out later. We're going to be okay, Draco," my mother whispers urgently to me as her remorseful eyes refuse to leave Briar's trembling form. Turning, I briskly walk towards my room and trudge up the same stairs I ran down not that long ago to get to Briar.
Walking into the bathroom attached to my bedroom, I sit her on the bench in the corner of the shower before I start to take off her stretch pants. Peeling them from her legs, I focus in on my ruined button down shirt that is drenched in her blood and has a huge slash where my aunt sliced her stomach. Unbuttoning all of the buttons, I slide my button down off of her shoulders and am relieved to see her start to move as I summon a house elf. The house elf behind me takes her clothes and my pajama bottoms leaving both of us sans clothing. With a snap of the elves' fingers, the blood on the floor from the clothes are gone as well as the soiled garments themselves.
Turning to face Briar again, I see the reason she moved. She has drawn her legs up into her chest slightly and has covered her breasts with her folded arms. She's hiding. Forcing myself to not focus on that, I can feel her blood drying on my chest so I turn my attention to turning on the shower. Once I make sure the water is warm enough, I quickly go about rinsing her blood from my body. Finishing my own cleaning, I turn to Briar and see her still curled up on the bench. I kneel down in front of her and feel the spray of the shower water hitting my back lightly. I gently pry her arms away from her chest and grasp her hands in both of mine before focusing my gaze on our clasped hands to give me strength.
"Bry, I know we have a lot to talk about, but I'm really worried about you. I need you to let me in, love. Don't shut me out," I whisper as my voice quivers slightly in unease. "Please, my doe?" I glance up and see her eyes are staring straight at me and tears are streaming down her face.
"I'm sorry about your shirt," she sobs softly as her body starts shaking harder.
"Hey, no, come here," I whisper as I quickly slide her off of the white, marble bench. I turn so she's sitting between my knees as I lean my back against the bench. Her sobs wrack through her body as my arms rubs up and down her arms soothingly as I shush her. My mind barely registers that our naked bodies are pressed together because all I can focus on is how cold she still is.
"You don't have anything to apologize for, baby girl. I have dozens just like it," I urge her quietly. The water sprays down on her and I can see the swirls of red vanish into the drain. Her entire body is shaking violently as she cries and her body comes out of her shock. All I can do is hold her and quietly speak to her as she apologies profusely and the warm water slowly calms her shaking.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I…" I shush her and cradle her head to my chest. Her body is almost completely clean now that the water was spraying on her stomach. All that was left was her hands. I gently take her hands in mine and she turns her head to look into my eyes. I smile gently at her red rimmed eyes and press a kiss to her forehead.
"You're alright. Breathe, okay? Let's clean your hands and then we can go to bed. Is that okay?" She weakly nods her head as tears continue to slide down her face. She won't look away from my face which causes me to smile again. I'm just glad she has returned to me mentally.
I lean her hands into the stream and I'm lost in the sight of her blood running through my fingers. I lightly scrub her hands with my fingers to get in the corners of her fingernails and soon, there is no trace of blood on her body. With her hands clasping in mine still, I turn to see she's still staring at my face, but thankfully, her tears have stopped.
"Thank you," she whimpers softly. I give her a quick smile and bring her hands up to my lips to place a kiss on her knuckles. I shake my head and press yet another kiss to her forehead before pulling back to look into her emerald green eyes. My heart clenches at how sad her eyes look.
"Can you stand up? I just have to turn off the water and then we can go to bed. You look like you need some sleep." She nods her head, but I release one of her hands and wrap my arm protectively around her waist as I start to stand. She follows my lead and I'm grateful for my arm around her waist as her wobbly legs cause her to lean heavily on me. I release her hand for a moment and successfully turn off the shower before returning my hand to hers. Slowly, I make our way to in front of the mirror where the towels are stowed away in the cabinet. Placing her hands on the counter, I tell her to hold on tight so I can get the towels and she nods at me. Her eyes never leave my face still.
Grabbing a towel, I wrap it around my waist and secure it before bringing Briar a towel. Wrapping it around her body and under her armpits, I secure it over her chest before wrapping my arm around her hip again. She leans heavily into me again and I start to worry that walking with hurt her energy levels more. Leaning down, I scoop her into my arms bridal style again and her arms quickly fold around my neck to hold her to me. Nuzzling her nose into my neck, she finally focuses on something other than my face.
Crossing the threshold, I place her gently on the bed and lean down to give her a kiss on the cheek before going to my closet that holds my night clothes. Dropping my towel, I quickly done the first pajama pants I find which happen to be a light green pair. Something catches my eye and I release a small smile before grabbing it. Holding it up in triumph, I hold it up to Briar and smile.
"See? Dozens like it," I say reassuringly. In my hand, I have a black button down shirt much like the one my aunt ruined. I see the beginnings of a genuine smile on Briar's face and it makes me grin. Walking towards her, I place the button down on the bed and quickly slide a pair of boxer briefs over her legs and up her hips that I grabbed from my closet. Once they're secure around her hips, I drape the shirt over her shoulders and button all of the buttons except for the top two so it's not constricting around her neck.
Before long, I've tucked her under the covers and my body sinks into the mattress next to her in comfort. The second I get settled, she quickly scoots to my side and her face hides in my neck as she breathes my scent in. My arms wrap around her affectionately and I place a kiss on the crown of her head. I keep my eyes wide open and wake until I hear her breathing even out before I close my eyes and succumb to sleep.
A/N Oooohhh we saw angry AND protective Draco! Lemme go get a fan! Lol I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did ;)