Chapter 10

The next morning by the time I woke up, it was already ten and as Dippy informed me Malfoy had already left. After the breakfast I stood at the window of the living room. I had never peered through it before. Now standing there I realized that the Manor was not very close. I felt trapped. I knew I could go back to school. But without Ginny, it would seem lonelier and here I would dare not step outside. The memories were still fresh. I returned to the kitchen. Sitting down on one of the chairs I asked Dippy, "Doesn't anyone come here from the Manor?" In all this time, I hadn't seen or heard about Malfoy's mother. As a matter of fact, the trail was the last time that I remember seeing her.

"No. Mistress would never step a foot here. Master Draco doesn't wish it either." Well that was interesting. Narcissa Malfoy had lied to Voldemort just for her son. Now things seemed to be pretty strained. I filed that bit of news to think about later, concentrating on what was currently on the forefront of my mind.

"Tell me about your Master Draco, Dippy. What is he like?" I asked.

"Master Draco is a very nice man, Mistress. He often gives Dippy free time. He even treats Dippy better than Master did." Immediately she squeaked, her eyes turning large.

"You are not allowed to hurt yourself Dippy." Merlin, even such a small sentence like that could make them feel they deserved punishment.

After making sure that she was not going to bang her head, or iron or burn her hands, I turned my attention to what I had just learnt. Malfoy was treating elves better, at least better than his father. He was thinking about people, if I consider what I had heard last night and actually talking sense. This was definitely not the Draco Malfoy who went around bullying people at school. Maybe the war had actually changed him. But so much? It was a question that was really difficult to answer. Can a person change so much in such a short span of time. I knew that we all had changed but Malfoy's was more like a transformation. The way he was behaving, the things that he was saying and doing, all these were very different from what I realize he grew up with. Again I wasn't there last year. I don't know the things he witnessed when Voldemort was here. And it wasn't just Him, but Bellatrix as well. That maniac was capable of a whole lot of things. So maybe the change wasn't in just a few months, maybe he had a year to change. That would make sense.

I sat back, satisfied. That was one thing that I had managed to sort out and reach a logical conclusion.

The rest of the day passed on the same. I tried studying but my mind was already full of other things. My mood didn't lift either. On the contrary, by the time I went to bed that night, it was only worse. I couldn't help the tears again. The entire day I could hold them back. But alone at night when I came to bed, the loneliness broke me down. I cried myself to sleep for the second consecutive day.

Bellatrix was standing in front of me, wand in hand. Before I could realize, the pain had shot through me. It was unbearable. "Tell me where you found that sword." A pain shot through me again. I had fallen down, my face pressed to the ground. "Tell me." Bellatrix barked above me. I could hear Ron screaming. They had taken him and Harry away. I felt another shot of pain. My limbs were slowly starting to become numb. Somewhere below me Ron was screaming even harder. We would die, Harry would die and with him the only chance of defeating Voldemort. I would never see my parents again. Never.

Ron was screaming louder. Were they doing something to him? No! Leave him. I wanted to tell them to not hurt him. No, No!

"NO!" I woke up with a start. I was drenched from sweating.

"Dippy!" I heard Malfoy call for the house elf. I snapped my eyes open. He was standing beside the bed, leaning; his hands on my shoulders as if to try wake me up. As soon as he saw me awake, he stood up straighter. From the corner of my eye, I could see my wand sticking out from below my pillow. The dream had left me anxious and twitchy. Dippy came running into the room and handed a small vial to Malfoy. He took it and extended it to me.

"Drink it." He either said that softly or I was having trouble in hearing.

"What's it?" I croaked.

"It's just a mild sleeping draught. It will help you sleep better."

I shook my head. Nightmare or not I wasn't going to take any kind of sleeping potions. "I just want some water."

Dippy immediately brought me a goblet. I drank and handed the goblet back. I saw Malfoy still looking at me. After a few seconds he sighed and said, "Okay, but I'm keeping the vial here," he said keeping it on the bedside table, "if you can't sleep, please take it. It will help you. Also, Dippy will be here throughout the night. So if you need anything, you can tell her."

"Dippy can go to sleep." I was not going to let the house elf suffer for my problems.

"Then take the draught at least." Malfoy replied exasperated.

I looked up to find him looking really concerned and wondered if he really was concerned about me or the fact that if something happened to me, then he probably would end up in Azkaban, if he survived Ron and Harry that is and probably Ginny too.

I shook my head again. He sighed again and left the room. After he left I asked Dippy to go back to sleep too. She went away reluctantly, shutting the door behind her.

I walked to the bathroom and splashed my face with water, then returned to the room. It was then that I noticed the condition of the bed. From its present condition I realized I must have been thrashing in my sleep. I straightened them up as much as possible and got under the covers. I had dreamt about Ron today. It was surprising because I always dreamt about being tortured myself. I had never seen Ron before. Even the last time I had had the dream…. When was the last time I had the dream? I vaguely remembered something about last week but couldn't be sure. I usually remembered when I had these dreams but last week's was really hazy.

I suddenly realized why. It was last Sunday. I was almost late for my classes on Monday. And now that I thought about it, I thought I had seen Malfoy while leaving for school. But I couldn't be sure. It was just at the last second. But it made sense. I had slept well that night after the dream, so maybe he had given me the draught. But how did he come to the room? I had asked Dippy to not let anybody in. But then as I thought about the day I realized I had not said any such thing that particular day. My instruction to not let anybody in was specifically for a night and after that I was so accustomed with not having Malfoy in the cottage that I had stopped giving that instruction.

So that meant Malfoy had seen this before. No wonder he was thinking that I shouldn't be here. But that was surprising still. After trying to calm myself for a long time, I again fell asleep.

Next morning when I got up, it was only seven. But by the next half an hour in which I brushed, bathed and changed, Malfoy was already gone.

I sat down for the breakfast.

"How is Mistress now?" Dippy asked putting a plate of French toast in front of me.

"I'm fine dippy." I started eating although my mind was not particularly in it. "Dippy tell me something. Did Master Draco give me the draught last Sunday?"

The look on her face was evidence enough that she knew something but was prohibited from speaking about it, and that was confirmation in itself. "That's all right. You don't have to answer that if you can't". There was no use in punishing her for something for which she wasn't even responsible.

So it was true. Malfoy had actually given me the draught. I really didn't know what to make out of it. On one side he seemed concerned for me, on the other hand the way he avoided me and the cold manner in which he usually spoke made me feel like an unwanted visitor. I finished my breakfast and sat down with my books. I had not been able to study anything the previous day.

I sat there first doing my Ancient Runes essay, and then studying the chapter that we were going to do this week. The only time I got up was during lunch and dinner. After dinner, I changed and again sat down in front of the fire to complete the chapter that I had started. I didn't actually realize when exactly had I fallen asleep.

I woke up to the sound of the floo and immediately sat up straighter, realizing that I had fallen asleep on the armchair. I grabbed my wand that was lying on the carpet near my feet. As I was picking it up I saw Malfoy stepping down from the fire.

I suddenly stood up and the book on my lap fell on the floor with a muffled thud. Malfoy looked down at the book once and then at my face. We were probably standing only two feet apart. He was looking at me like he had seen me for the first time. He was looking into my eyes like searching for something. It was a strange feeling. The fire was casting a glow on one side of his face accentuating his nose and his jaws. I couldn't help but stare back. If I put aside all the differences of all these years, I had to admit that he was good looking. He didn't have his traditional smirk plastered on his face. He looked better sans that. His eyes, I noticed, were different. I couldn't exactly put a finger on the emotion present in it. I didn't exactly get time to because in the fraction of second that I realized that he was moving towards me, he had already attached his lips to mine.

I gasped. His lips were soft, a complete contrast to his kiss which was hard and rough. It was demanding and he tasted like alchohol. While his left hand entangled in my hair, his right hand was moving over my back. Though my mind was screaming to push him away, my body refused to do its bidding rather responding to his touches. The wand slipped out of my grasp and my hands slowly dragged itself up his chest over his shirt. Malfoy took a sharp breath and pulled me flush towards him, deepening the kiss. I can't deny that it felt good.

After a few minutes, he hitched me, making me entwine my legs around his waist. He broke the kiss, looking at me. All of a sudden he started walking towards the bedroom. He put me down on the edge of the bed. He quickly stepped out of his trousers, throwing his shirt at a random direction, never taking his eyes off me. As for me my mind was moving in a slow motion. I wasn't prepared for this and my brain was not cooperating with me. By the time it had registered anything, a boxer clad Draco Malfoy had already pushed me on the bed. Where ever his skin touched mine, it felt like I was burning. I mentally cursed the hormones for making me feel and react like that. I should have at least some amount of self control specially when my dear husband, at present, had none.

His lips found the pulse on my neck and he began to suck on it. I grasped the sheets. Damn! It felt good. He moved down towards my collar bone pushing the straps of the top off my shoulders. He kept kissing and sucking for some time. Suddenly he came up, looked into my eyes for a few second and then leaned in and kissed me again. It was rough but not demanding anymore. After kissing me like that for a few minutes, he shifted over me. Lying next to me he pulled me closer. With one of his arms over my waist, his face buried in the crook of my neck he fell asleep within the next minute.

I lay there, under his arm, panting and staring at the ceiling, my mind reeling with a thousand things. Malfoy was drunk, of that I was sure. He must have acted under the influence of alcohol because only day before yesterday he had told Zabini that he was trying to find a way out of the marriage and today he was kissing me like it was so usual for us to do that. But then again, if he had done this because he was drunk, then his reaction in the morning was not going to be worth looking forward.

I could feel his steady breathing on my neck and thought that had it been someone else, under different circumstances, I would have been over the moon. What scared me was the fact that something had clicked in the last few minutes. I had liked a little the way Malfoy had touched and kissed me. More over I was starting to grow apprehensive of his reaction the next morning. I was realizing that it would hurt if he sneered and walked off and that was definitely not good news. I was not only letting myself be prone to his snide remarks but I, in the remotest part of my mind, was hoping that he would not walk away. But I wasn't sure what to do if he stuck back to discuss it either. My eyelids were starting to feel heavy. Slowly I drifted off to sleep in the warm embrace of Draco Malfoy.