*This is one of my favorite chapters so far. I think it sums up a lot of things about Draco and Katerina's relationship… Sorry, spoilers, but you're reading it in like a few seconds anyway so what are you complaining about :3*

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Draco and I had snuck out of the dungeon. It was very late into the night which he wasn't too happy about. It took a little convincing but I managed to get him out of the common room to come with me. I dragged him along the dark castle, heading for the Astronomy tower. It was the tallest of all the towers in the Hogwarts castle and it had the best view at night. I needed that view right now, I needed a distraction

"Why are we here?" Draco whispered in a hushed but aggressive manner

"I wanted some fresh air" I told him as we stepped onto the tallest floor of the tower

"With Black on the loose? Are you mad?!"

"Maybe" I said but it didn't make him smile. I sighed. "If he wanted to kill us he could, he already got into the castle twice"

"And you're just making it all the more easy" he insisted, looking around frantically for any sign of him. Normally I would've been just as frightened as he was but at the moment Black wasn't high on my list of priorities

"I don't see why he'd even be after either of us…" I mumbled. That didn't calm him down

"Alright, forget about Black. What if we get caught?" I sighed again looking behind him as I walked to one of the large open windows

"We won't"

"Your father won't be happy" he pushed, following me to where I was

"I'll manage" I answered calmly although he was getting on my nerves. I sat on the window ledge and pretended to not notice Draco's worried expression as I did. My feet dangled off the edge and I vaguely wondered how long it would take my shoe to hit the ground if it accidentally slipped off

"I already have detention!"

"And whose fault was that?" I snapped, giving him a look. I still hadn't forgotten that

"And –"

"If you're going to keep complaining then leave, I'm staying" I warned and turned back to look outside. Right now I didn't care about Black. I didn't care about getting in trouble. I just needed some air and some company. If Draco couldn't give me his company then I'd manage without it

"Stubborn brat" I heard him grumble before sitting next to me on the window ledge

"Thank you" I said and hugged him. He relaxed under my touch and we talked for a while. I was thankful that he hadn't left. I would have managed without him but given the choice I wanted him by my side. As annoying as he was he always made me feel better; part of the reason why I liked having him around

"So why did you want fresh air?" he finally asked making me sigh

"Hermione… told me Buckbeak's trial is Friday…"

"Oh" was all he said

"Yeah" was all I said. For a few minutes we kept quiet but finally he spoke again

"Listen Kitty…" he began but was having trouble finding the right words. I was still hugging him so I moved a little closer and rested my head on his shoulder

"You don't have to say anything"

"I swear I spoke to my father!" he yelled suddenly. He stopped when he realized the volume his voice had been at and listened. Once he was sure no one had heard he started a little more quietly. "I talked to him, I did but –"

"I know, Papa told me" I informed him. My father had sent me a letter saying he had spoken to Mr. Malfoy. Much to his amusement Mr. Malfoy had been conversing with my father when he asked how he dealt with me always talking back to him, because apparently that's what Draco had done. He had asked his father to at least not kill Buckbeak. But Mr. Malfoy had refused

"Oh. So you're not mad?" he asked hopeful

"Oh I am but I know you tried." Normally that wouldn't count for much but I had never even heard of Draco speaking up to his father. My own father had been so surprised that he thought it was worth writing to me about, something he hardly ever did. I was still not happy but I understood that he tried

"It almost killed me, it deserves to die." I took my head off his shoulder and frowned

"Don't do that."

"Do what?" he asked honestly confused

"Pretend like you don't have a heart. Don't do that" I repeated

"What are you talking about?" Draco muttered turning to look away at the sky above, not wanting to see the distance between us and the ground

"You always do this" I said in a tone that made him look at me. "You make some snide comment and pretend like nothing is bothering you. Even if it's not I know you're not heartless enough to care this little about death."

"What makes you think I'm not?" he mumbled with a sad smile on his face.

"Because you're not like this, not with me…" He didn't say anything. Instead he looked away from me and back up to the sky. I continued to stare at his face. "You can be whoever you want with others. You can do or say whatever you feel like with them. But when you're with me please be yourself."

"Whatever" he mumbled still not looking at me. I sighed and put my head back on his shoulder. My eyes closed as a light wind blew towards us. It wasn't enough to move us but helped against the warm summer night

"Thanks for at least talking to your father" I said after a note of silence.

"I could care less about the pest. I still think it deserves to die but..." He wouldn't say it but he was doing it for me.

"I know" I told him and hugged him tighter. I was sad for Buckbeak and he had been trying to make me feel better. I loved him for that

"There's something else" he stated, not even bothering to ask if he was right. He knew me as well as I knew him I suppose. But he was right and that was the other reason why I had dragged him outside much against his will. I needed to talk this through

"It's Nikolai…" I whispered so quietly I doubted he would have heard me if my mouth hadn't been inches away from his ear

"What about him?" he asked in a careful tone. He had been cautious to say anything about my brother since I slapped him last year. So far that made two times that Draco had called him a blood-traitor... He knew that the third could most likely be the last

"He's… getting married…" I answered more quietly than I had said his name. I felt his body go a little tense under me but chose to ignore it

"To the Muggle?" Draco asked trying to keep the revulsion out of voice. I nodded.

"He sent me a letter and the wedding invitation a little before the last Quidditch match... It's set for August…"

"Are you going?" his tone was even, hiding whatever he was really feeling. I knew I could guess what that was if I looked at his face but I doubted I wanted to know

"I don't know" I answered taking a deep breath

"I thought you liked her"

"I do… Well, I don't not like her anyway. But…" I stopped when I felt my throat start to get tight and swallowed hard

"What?" Draco said softly. That's when I started to cry, unable to hold back my tears any longer. I wrapped my arms tighter around his waist and he pulled me back, off the window. He probably thought that if I was unstable enough to cry in front of him, something I had only done a handful of times in all the years I'd known him, then I wasn't stable enough to be sitting on an open window on the tallest point in Hogwarts.

"He's leaving me!" I cried into his chest once he got us to our feet. He let me hug him at what I knew was an uncomfortable amount of force. My hands balled into fists on the back of his robes. All the while he didn't complain

"He left a long time ago" he whispered not knowing what to say. He wasn't used to being the comforting one in our relationship

"I know but… some part of me always thought that he'd come back! That even if he cared about her that he'd try to stay with us, with his family. But he's not! If he marries her then our father would never forgive him, they already never mention him. And if he married her I might never see him again!"

"Come here" he cooed and pressed my cheek to his shoulder. Draco started petting my hair, running his fingers through it like I did with him when he was upset. I could feel he was uncomfortable but I was more worried about me at the moment and didn't pull away. "He won't leave you."

"You said it yourself, he already has" my voice cracked a little making him hold me tighter

"He left your parents but not you. If he had he wouldn't have invited you. He still loves you"

"But –"

"Shut up. Stop being stupid." His voice was soft and actually worked at comforting me. I noticed I had stopped crying but I didn't dare leave his embrace from fear that I might start again without his arms around me

"Do you think I should go?" I asked after a few breaths

"You really shouldn't be asking me…" Draco had made his feelings clear about Nikolai's and the Muggle girl's relationship. He thought it was repulsive. If it were his brother he would've probably burned the invitation. But he didn't have a brother; he didn't know how I felt

"You're the only one I have." I had friends but none as close as him. He sighed and pulled me out of the hug. But instead of letting me go completely he put his hands on my shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes

"Go to the bloody wedding." His face looked so soft I almost smiled

"Really?" I asked in a whisper

"Knowing you, you'll never forget it if you don't." I nodded, he was right.

"Thank you" I said and let out a small smile. He pulled me back into his arms for one last hug

"Can we go back to the dungeon now?" Draco looked around cautiously, still expecting Sirius Black to jump out of nowhere and stab him. I laughed a little then nodded into his chest. He sighed into my hair, "It'll be okay"

"I know" I said pulling away to kiss him on the cheek. If he was willing to tell me this then it had to be true. We never lied to each other; at most we hid the truth. But he said it would be okay and I believed him. He was literally the most insufferable person I had ever met but he was my support and without him I would be broken.3