He could feel the snarl on his face as he stared at her down cast eyes, she would not blink away from the offensive mark on his arm.
It was a stare down, the blood was rushing through his veins, pumping quickly as his heart beat erratically in his chest and his mind threatened to snap at any second.
She would not back down.
He stared at her, daring her to run away screaming. To run like he knew she would, like he wished he could. She couldn't look away from him. Away from it and he was…thankful… of all emotions he could feel right at this moment that was not the one he was expecting. Almost as if he was grateful that someone knew. Someone other than his Slytherin circle, who only assumed it had happened but were not brave enough to ever look upon it with their own eyes. See the proof.
"Speak Granger." He spat venomously at her. He was not in control of himself and he knew it. Could feel it. The muscles in his body were flexing and releasing as he stood bearing all to her. His enemy. Right on the verge of breaking down and running away.
"SPEAK" He screamed at her feeling the sweat pooling down the back of his tucked in shirt. She jumped. Flinched at the loud crack in the air that was his voice. She finally blinked, composing herself. She whispered something that he could not hear. "Louder".
"He was right" She said tearing her eyes away from the hideous mark on him arm.
"What" his brows furrowed together.
"Harry had guessed that you had joined his ranks… on the train… that you were a part of them now. I've been telling him he was wrong almost every day since, trying to come up with anything other than this." She held his gaze, the confusion he had at her statement was reflected in her eyes. She had defended him? He could practically see it there, in her eyes, the denial at her own words. "Even now, after Katie… I came before Harry could jump to conclusions."
"Why" He said finally dropping his sleeve back down and buttoning it at the wrist. Hiding the offensive mark. "I was practically bred for this, every day since the day I got my letter, not that there was any doubt I would" He sneered. "I have been prepared for the day that I would join the Dark Lord and help him reign hell on all Mudbloods and Muggles. Why Granger would you think any different, in what world would things ever be any different" he needed her away from him. There was something there he couldn't explain. Something in her eyes that was driving him mad. He needed to get away from him.
"I don't know." She replied still looking at him. It was then that he saw it, not pity but something else.
"I have made you and everyone else's life a living hell in my quest to get to where I am. Why would you disagree with the one thing that made sense?" he was starting to feel the anger return to him, the same anger that he had felt in the library.
"I don't know." She said a small spark was starting to ignite in her eyes. He could see her anger there as well burning behind the confusion. Good.
"That won't work." He said squaring up.
"I thought, maybe you would be different, you could be different. Not everything is so bloody set in stone."
"I am, I always will be. I can't go back" He said coming towards her quickly, clenching his teeth together as the words passed through his lips harshly, when she lifted her wand and jammed it into the bottom of his jaw, all he could do was laugh at her instant response. She had no problem keeping her wand down when he was just the attempted murderer of Katie Bell but a Death Eater drew the line and she couldn't hide it.
"People can cha…" she said lowering it slightly
"I won't change Granger." He cut her off forcefully walking away from her "Get that thought out of your head. There is nothing that will change" he spat sitting on the desk behind him.
"We changed." She said gesturing to the classroom around them. "This whole situation is absolutely bonkers, I should be marching to the Headmasters' office with you cursed behind me but instead I'm standing here arguing with you about this. You can't deny that something is different this year. It's in the air, it's in the students, even the professors everything about this year has changed, so why can't you?" she stared at him willing him to argue with her, he wanted to argue with her, but he was so bloody tired of it all.
Their dynamic had changed the moment he thanked her in the library. Continued to change the day he backed her into a corner and he knew it, they all knew it. Blaise had tried to tell him, the one thing he didn't want to hear. He was not getting rid of her anytime soon, not until she got herself killed. "You stopped me from being Katie. Malfoy, you can't deny that. Something made you stop me. So, you need to tell me what I am risking my life for." She whispered to him.
God, he needed some air. Needed to get away from her. He was pacing again, he had become used to pacing. Pushing past her he went and sat on one of the tables and all he could do was put his head in his hands.
"Why. If you only knew how fucked all of this was you wouldn't agree to any of it. I won't let you help me" he rested his head on his hands as she came and sat next to him on the table.
"You won't have to worry about me helping you. There is no way I am helping you in whatever it is you have gotten yourself into. There were handprints on your neck the other day. I'm not naïve. Whatever it is Mal… Draco. You are wasting away before everyone, even your friends have said something about it. The only help you'll get from me is survival. I won't sit and watch anyone kill themselves." He could only laugh under his breath.
"What are you doing Granger," He said quietly. Looking at her "That was your friend out there," that was almost you out there. "Why are you doing this?"
"I don't have the answers that either of us want." She shrugged he saw her eye him, she looked up at him before she made a slow move to rest her head sideways on his shoulder, as if they were old friends discussing something as simple as a bad day at school and he was hit with an overwhelming smell of strawberries in her hair.
"I have to kill someone." He forced it out, his voice cracked at the word and he put his head back in his hands. If she heard him she didn't flinch, and he sat counting the beats of his heart waiting until the moment she would move or scream or curse him. It never came.
A.N. Hello all! Please Review! Converse! I like talking and reviews make me happy :)
Thank you all for reading so far!
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