The sunlight danced across the black walls, vainly attempting to bring any type of life back to the manor. The night before had been so intensely draining that even long after I had been awake my body refused to move. My limbs were perfectly deadweight, the bed was soft and breezy.
He was a Death Eater and so was his entire family. Were the Fawley's also Death Eaters? The Parkinson's? The Greengrass's? I had willingly participated in a ball to celebrate the rising up of the dark lord with dozens of Death Eaters leering behind metal and smoke masks. The recognition that I was deplorable at best for not standing up against any of it just because I was frightened made me dread getting up even more. I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror. My parents were surely going to disown me after that if they already hadn't.
Draco's breath on my cheeks forced my eyes wide open and I had to blink at least 10 times to clear the fog from my puffy eyes. My face was buried deep into his grey sweater. Of course I hadn't stayed on my own side. My arm was up under his shirt, tugging at his bare rib cage, my nose in his neck. I panicked internally with the dawning realization and stayed perfectly still, trying to gauge his level of awareness. Perhaps I could remove my leg from around him and somehow slip my hand away before he noticed the affectionate cuddling.
One minute I'm about to sucker punch him and the next I'm snaking my hands up under his clothing, that's not confusing at all. I was livid with myself for not having gone and slept on the floor or the large desk chair.
His mouth was turned against my forehead like he was kissing me, the warm air from his nose blowing into my hairline. Not great. The sheer percentage of skin contact that needed to be separated conspicuously was far from promising.
I began with my hand, unclenching the tight grasp around his ribs. I moved to slide down his navel towards the bottom of his sweater. My fingers traced slowly on his smooth skin as I held my breath.
"As tantalizing as that is," he suddenly whispered, "it's kind of hard to get in the mood when we were just fighting hours ago." He leaned his head back to make eyebrows down at me and I ripped my hand out of his shirt feeling my face glow red hot.
"In your dreams," was all I could squeak out.
"How did you know? Was I talking in my sleep." He laughed dryly, looking tired but amused, "I'm not the one with my hands up someone else's clothing."
I scowled at him. He snorted, "Or with my dress pulled up." I followed his blue eyes down to where my leg was wrapped over his body, the extremely short nightgown had risen up to my waist showing off my athletic thighs, and probably my undergarments as well.
"Oh mon dieu!" I sat bolt right up, dying of embarrassment. I tugged at the dress until it was more acceptably doing it's job of covering my skin.
"It was a nice view, not that I'm complaining," he drawled, rubbing his face awake, "If you want hate sex you don't have to act so sheepish about it."
I stood, pulling at the night dress more, "If I wanted 'ate sex, I would go find an actual man. Maybe Potter could 'elp me out dere." I had gone too far, and we'd only just woken up. His eyes widened with an insidious glare that could melt glass.
He was off the bed in seconds gripping my shoulders so tight I thought my collarbone would snap, "You will never show that kind of disloyalty, especially not to stoop so low as with the likes of Potter!" I thought for sure he would slap me, "If you do, my father won't waste a second decapitating you for your disgrace, if he's lucky enough to beat me to it," He was so furious I instantly regretted the comment.
"Okay, okay, I was but joking," I lied, looking into his distressed expression, willing the straps of my nightgown to stop slipping down in his grasp, "I won' do dat. Wit' anyone." I gave him a reassuring nod.
His concerned eyes were searching mine back and forth, "You will promise me. There can be no one else."
"Ugh, I promise," I said begrudgingly. A knot in my stomach began to bloom as I realized he expected me to be celibate to him for the rest of my life. If I didn't get out of the marriage bond, then Draco Malfoy would be the last partner I ever had. The sudden loss of opportunity occurred to me as a tragedy.
He slowly dropped his hands with unmasked relief. I studied him trying not to grin at the obvious jealousy flowing out of him. "Go get ready with my mother. You know where her room is. We'll go back to school now," he said more softly.
Back in the carriage we hardly spoke for several hours. The only break in the silence was Draco using his cane to push my feet off of the chair when I hadn't removed my boots.
As we approached the final stretch of our journey I realized there was one topic I had not covered. Draco was once again slumped against the window but this time he looked tense, glued to the glass watching the movement of the landscape. Unlike when Hilda and I were in the car with him he was wide awake, stealing glances rarely in my direction as though to verify that I wasn't doing anything inappropriate.
I straightened the black dress Narcissa had put me in to travel which resembled more of a funeral gown than anything, and coughed to signal that I wanted to talk, "Draco, what 'appened to de Fawley's?"
Without moving his head his icy blue eyes drifted towards me, "Gone. Early. Only certain guests were asked to stay." He held my gaze with a blank expression.
I shrugged, getting right to the point, "Does Hilda know about... you?"
He hesitantly lifted his cheek off of the window and leaned forward to look me in the face with a serious expression, "No, she doesn't. It would be incredibly unwise of you to divulge any information you acquired on Friday." That was a relief, knowing that Hilda had not been compromised.
I nodded, taking in the small details of the cabin as though they were very interesting. I was isolated with the Death Eater secret. If I told anyone I wondered how quickly would the Death Eaters ensure that person was dead, I was dead, or worse, my unsuspecting family?
"Madeleine, you have to compose yourself," he shot me a weary look. "Be smart. The people who were there last night...they're unforgiving." His gaze drifted away to the side, but his face was somewhat flushed.
"You don' trust me," I finally spoke the words that were lingering in the air.
I watched as he adjusted his ring and his bright piercing eyes quickly met my gaze, "No, not yet." His expression was austere.
The interaction sent me reeling. I hadn't thought of myself as untrustworthy up until that point. He didn't trust me, and I certainly didn't trust him. Maybe he was referring to my drunken irresponsibility, or my hot temper, probably the all around recklessness.
I pawed at my throat for a while, adjusting the tight collar of the Malfoy dress wrapped around my body, "Well, I don' trust you." I said it like a child who felt the need to shift blame.
"I wouldn't expect you to," he said nonchalantly as he leaned back into the window.
When the pretentious carriage arrived at the drop off point Draco excused himself from walking me up the forested lane, saying simply that he needed space and not to try anything in his absence. I had agreed rather fervently, also starving for alone time.
Snow had piled high on the forest floor, sparkling elegantly in the bright sun. The air was sharp and cold, the smell of snow and pine needles ripe. Tall tree trunks stretched perilously high above my head, distributing creaking groans in the otherwise silent landscape. I could see my breath as I shifted forward through the thick snow in the ridiculous Victorian gown that was gently dragging, relieved to be free of Draco's presence. I watched as two birds landed together on the same branch making tiny chirping noises.
Images from the night before swam caustically in my mind. Draco's tears falling into my lap and the fear he had shown on his features before the ball. The terrible signature mask he'd worn, allowing me to pluck him out a crowd of veiled figures. He had confessed his feelings for me through body language alone, and I knew that the hurtful things he'd said to me in his bedroom hours later were mere defense mechanisms. Still, the fact that he would rather cause me that much misery was deftly concerning.
Now that I was certain he had feelings for me it was time to decide whether or not to use them against him. Or...could I try to win him over completely and we would escape together? It seemed that he was unified with his parents. Would he even want to escape? He had claimed that we were both trapped in the Malfoy family dynamic, but his actions stated he was still highly cooperative with their plans.
I stopped dead in my tracks when I was struck by an unbelievable sense of dread. For whatever reason I felt a sharp urgency to turn around, like something was watching me.
I slowly spun. There, stood not fifteen meters from me was a dark, unfamiliar figure. A woman with long wild ringlets of obsidian hair, unkempt. She had a wand in her blackened fingers pointed out at the ground menacingly. Her attire resembled something a medieval warlord would wear - black leather belts strapped around her torso against an odd corset. She was licking her tarry teeth with an absolutely threatening look on her face and her eyes appeared manic as she stared predatorially at me.
Neither of us moved. I personally was frozen from shock and fear. The woman did not give off the vibrations of a friendly or harmless creature. She, for all anyone knew, had just stumbled upon her dinner in the woods. She slowly twisted the wand around then brought it up to her lips to mimic a ssssshh gesture.
I swallowed as I tried to calculate the woman's agenda. I debated yelling anyways, as I had only walked about five minutes from Draco. Would he even bother coming if he thought I was in distress?
She suddenly laughed a high-pitched, maniacal blurt, followed by devious sounding giggles. The outburst caused me to trip backwards several paces as she crept towards me. My heart was pounding violently when she had reached about a three foot distance. My brain urged me to run but I couldn't move. I was petrified and not able to comprehend anything.
She looked me over with dark wandering eyes, and I noted that she smelled awful and her face was sunken and bruised looking.
"Oooh isn't she a looker," She finally spoke in a gnarly voice, "Bet you're a real treat in the sheets huh?" I puzzled at the odd introductory comments.
"What? Don't recognize your new auntie!" He eyes were wide with threat, words each coming out at entirely different volumes. She swung her black crooked wand around like a weapon.
I know I must have looked shocked because she laughed mockingly again. Aunt? As in another Malfoy? She didn't look anything like Draco besides her pale skin. The vicious demeanor did fit the bill, although she somehow took it to a whole other level. I sensed she was positively lethal compared to Lucius which was a fairly incredible feat.
"Well now that introductions have been made, let me get a look at you." In one swift movement she was before me, pulling a wall of my blonde waves away from my face with her wand as if to inspect it. My nose burned from the stench of her essence, "Tell me dearest, does it hurt when Draco bends you over? I heard on good authority that he can't keep his greasy fingers off of you." She stuck out her tongue and I fought not to vomit. She was dragging her wand down the side of my face over my temple and down my chin when a voice interrupted her.
"Bella. What a nice surprise," I heard Draco say in a calm, sarcastic tone. She whipped around to face him standing there in his dress coat and suit, looking statuesque. He had the cane in one hand and the other in his pocket. There in the wintry scene he could've passed for an expensive cologne ambassador.
Unfortunately her wand had scraped my face in the hasty movement leaving a painful blistering feeling. I cupped my cheek against the offence and finally found the energy to move my feet. I crept backwards slowly as Draco distracted her.
"Not trying to scare away my fiancée already, are you?" He asked blankly.
Bella laughed again, as though just having witnessed something hilarious, "Draco we mustn't refrain from sharing our toys. She's so innocent! Let's have some fun with her, see if she's really Malfoy material." The slight whine in her voice reminded me of a snarling dog being held back from it's meal barely by the leash.
I had made it now about ten meters back, enough to start running. I plucked up Narcissa's dress in my hands as my steps backwards became more haphazard and rapid.
"She's my property, Bella. I have no interest in damaged goods. This isn't up for debate." He bent his head with a stiff look around her to see how far I'd made it.
The morbid woman dropped her hands against her sides dramatically, "Well! Aren't you lucky that mark is still on her pretty, little, neck. Can't leave it on there forever, can we?" She trilled in her polarized tone, "How's the wedding planning coming? Pick flowers yet?"
I decided I had made it far enough back to run so I did just that, pushing my feet to move forward harder and faster with every stride. I was held back by having to hold the dress up on either side and it didn't help that the fabric was weighty and thick, now wet at the bottom from the snow. When I couldn't hear their voices anymore I finally slowed down, choking on the frigid air and staring up at the safety of the castle.