He sat in his armchair, by the fire in the Manor drawing room. The whole place was barely recognisable and despite that having being his intention, in that moment he wished his home felt familiar.
He picked up the glass as the amber liquid burnt his throat, it had been days since he'd seen her, he dreaded to think how large she would have grown in that time. He couldn't remember the exact moment he'd completely lost control of this situation.
He'd set out with a firm plan in mind, he knew what he'd wanted to achieve and how he was going to get it but this was not what he'd had in mind. He wasn't angry at her, for wanting the truth, he glowered at the fire as he thought it over, why did he feel like this?
Like the very core of him was slowly rotting, how could he allow himself to enjoy a life that could come crashing down around him at any given moment? How could he love something that wasn't truly his and never had been?
The moment she found out she would leave, his reputation would be ruined, everything he worked for would be gone and worst of all he would lose his children. There was never supposed to be children in the mix and it left him feeling something he had never felt before. He valued their lives and their feelings above his own, he had a family that he could lose at any moment. Had he not flown from the room the moment he realised she had given him truth potion…had she only asked a different question…it would have all been over in the blink of an eye, the very thought made him shudder.
He had backed himself into a corner, he had created weakness in himself and allowed his entire path to change. He would not loose everything for her, or for them. He would not allow himself to be sucked in by guilt or remorse for his actions and he certainly would not spend time around her until he had gathered himself enough to be able to conduct himself with candour once again. He knew he didn't have long, he would have to go back soon but he felt himself returning, his old self, the boy who picked up the pieces of a crumbling empire.
The boy who'd led his friends toward a future that none of them expected to have. He couldn't allow himself to continue like this with her. He was placing his entire future in the hands of a woman who would disappear or turn on him the moment the truth was revealed. He had never expected this to be a long term plan. If he were entirely honest he'd reasoned this ending in either her imprisonment in the dungeons or her mysterious disappearance, if she ever found out.
The thought of either of those scenarios now made him sick, there was absolutely no way in which this could end well.
Abandoning his glass and picking up the bottle he heard a crash in the hallway. He swayed slightly as he stood, almost losing his balance. He held out his wand, although he knew only a select number of people were able to enter the manor freely with the ward he had up to protect himself. As he edged toward the door he heard muffled laughter, flinging it open his face morphed into a regular Malfoy smirk…."What the bloody hell are you doing here?" he saw Theodore stood in the hallway, a half drunk bottle of champagne in one hand. A young blonde girl lay bleeding on the floor as a hapless Theo looked between her and Draco "Draco, old boy, shit I forgot about the wards, although I doubt she'd have made it anyway…don't try apparating a muggle" he glanced down at the writhing body on floor "Sorry about the mess."
"What do you want?" Draco's eyes narrowed as Theo brushed past him into the drawing room.
"I'm offended" he laughed sitting on the sofa heavily "I send you owls every other weekend but you never come out, are you too good for us now Draco, now you're the Golden boy". He smirked as he watched Draco's eyes turn black.
"I know where I come from Theo, I'll never forget." He glared seething down at him. Theo leapt to his feet "Prove it, come out with me, be the Draco Malfoy I miss." He ran through the corridor and back into the hall throwing his hands into the air, "This whole place used to be full of…" his hands dropped as disgust spread across his face, clearly taking in the new décor…"Is that patchwork?" he snorted as Draco snapped, throwing the bottle in his hand to the floor with a crash his black eyes settle on Theo with a smirk "…Muggle London?"
Theo nodded with a grin, "Muggle London! There is no finer night out" they were gone before the writhing body finally stilled on the floor of the great hall.