So long, spring break…
Draco unbound Daemon with a flick of his wand and Daemon stood up, dazed.
"All you can recall is the wake and the funeral. You did not do anything else here in the past week, nor do you find anything suspicious about my wife. Now you're going home, and you won't inquire about Angelina, or question her feasance as a Malfoy."
Draco flicked his wand again and Daemon snapped out of his daze.
"Oh, cousin, again I apologize for your loss. If only the family could have been brought together under pleasanter circumstances." Daemon hugged Draco, and then approached me, smiling. Draco watched his cousin as he kissed my hand, wishing me a good day before disapparating. Draco sighed.
"...You've wiped his memory before?" I asked. Draco rolled his eyes.
"More times than I can count."
"You should be worried about Pansy," I said, "She's probably the one who raised his suspicion in the first place."
Draco approached me, and just stood there looking down at me. I wasn't sure what to do, but then I found myself backed up again, Draco's arms gently around my middle.
"Were you just saying that because you thought I was going to kill you?" He asked, his eyes scanning my face for an answer.
"You wouldn't have, and you know it, Draco. Or I wouldn't still be standing—"
"I can't always control myself," he said darkly, "I almost..." He trailed off, fixated on my gaze.
"Did you mean it?" He asked very quietly, though no one else was around to hear aside from us. There was a difficult moment of silence. Draco's grip around my waist tightened.
"I love you, Draco," I said, truthfully. He closed his eyes as I said it, his chest dropping and his forehead resting atop my head. I thought he might cry again, but I heard him say my name quietly.
"Draco?" came Narcissa's voice, and Draco's head whipped up in the direction from which it came. She was standing in the doorway. I wondered how long she had been watching us.
"I'm sorry. I hope I'm not intruding," she began, placing her hand over her chest.
"I thought you had gone," Narcissa explained. Draco let go of me and started towards her.
"Of course not, mother. I wouldn't leave without saying goodbye...are you alright?" He asked. She embraced him for a moment.
"Why don't we have breakfast, as a family?" she asked.
"Of course, mother," Draco said, following her out of the room. I followed after Draco. We ate in silence. Narcissa looked like she hadn't slept. She smiled at me without teeth when she found that I was looking at her.
"Draco," she said in a sleepy sounding voice.
"Mother," he said.
"When does Angelina want to take her initiation?"
Draco dropped his fork and it clanged against his plate rather loudly. I paused. Draco looked at me.
"Mum…we've only just buried father. Why rush into anything?" Draco responded gently. Narcissa cleared her throat, "Well, I suppose. Where are my manners? I should have asked you directly, dear," she said, addressing me. Draco looked from me to his mother and back again.
"You're not ill again, are you? We wouldn't want you to be sick at a time like that. It would make the memory less pleasant," she said, grinning.
"I—"
"I don't think this is the time to talk about it, mum," Draco said, cutting me off. She didn't say another word, and looked out the window, staring into space a few times.
"Will you excuse us, mother?" Draco said after about ten minutes, stepping up from the table. He breezed past me, placing his hand on my shoulder. I took the cue to follow. Draco led me back to our room and closed the door, as if to make sure no one was possibly listening.
"You have to do this," he said, turning to me.
"What?" I asked. Draco sighed, pushing his hands through his hair.
"I can't keep making up excuses. You have to," he said. I shook my head. Draco grabbed my shoulders and moved me back until I was sitting on the bed. Then he knelt in front of me, his cool hands on my knees. He was looking up into my eyes.
"I can't protect you," he whispered, "You have to become a Death Eater. If you don't, you might as well be on the run, and they will find you."
"So? Stop them. Tell them I'm not interested in killing Muggles," I said, getting a bit angry. Draco closed his eyes and shook his head.
"You're as stubborn as I am, but I'm serious," he said, looking up at me again.
"I won't be able to save you if they suspect you're not on our side."
"Just tell your friends I'm on no one's side! Draco—"
"I'm not playing, Angelina," he said through gritted teeth, grabbing my face so that my lips closed. I began to cry. I felt trapped. I had just begun to see Draco's vulnerable side, and something had changed about him. His tears were no longer black. Perhaps I could have convinced him to stop what he was doing, renounce what he was.
"I'm…I know it's hard to believe, but I care what happens to you…Angelina, if you don't do this, then I'll be forced to fight against a multitude of followers—who have more power in collection than I alone possess. If it is suspected that I am not leading them toward the cause, there'll be mutiny—"
"Draco—"
"And they will kill us both, and you won't ever see anyone or anything you love again," he said sinisterly, although I knew he was just telling me the truth.
"In a way, you could be a queen. Just think of it; my queen. You'd have more power at your fingertips than you ever possessed."
"I don't want to," I sobbed. Draco's expression softened and he caressed my face.
"I know, but there's no other way," he said.
"There always is," I pleaded.
"No," he said, shaking his head.
"I can't do this. Do you have any idea what you're asking me to do?" I asked, trying to stand. Draco forced me back down and his hands were gripping my waist.
"Listen to me," he said with some frustration, "You have to do this. There's no other way. Have you heard anything I just told you?"
"I don't want to kill. I don't want to be evil. I don't want anything to do with dark magic!"
Draco sighed.
"You won't ever have to lay a finger on anyone—that's what subordinates are for. You command them. There will be no blood on your hands."
"You're right, there won't be, because I'm not going to do it! You said I had to be willing, remember?"
"…Don't make me do something I'd regret," Draco said, standing up and towering over me.
"Was that supposed to be a threat? You couldn't force me to do anything if you wanted to. You can't even use magic on me," I said.
"Your parents…they visit your grave quite frequently. It's upsetting to see them there, still believing that lie. Even the Weasley—"
"Don't you dare use people to threaten me," I said, standing up and pushing Draco back slightly.
"To think that I thought I was falling in love with you."
Draco backhanded me hard enough that I fell back against the bed.
"I don't want anything to happen to you!" he screamed. I didn't even turn to look at him, but I knew from his voice that he was starting to cry.
"I was hoping you could save me. You've already made me more human, like I used to be…but it no longer matters. There's more against us than we could ever attempt to battle. This isn't about hurting people anymore, Angelina. It's about staying alive. Don't you get that?" He asked me, and I was met with his watery eyes. His hands were tightly gripping my wrists as he forced me to look at him. I tried to look away, but the tears falling out of Draco's eyes were clear, they were true.
"I love you," he said, "And I'll do whatever it takes to keep you."
I was no longer sure what else to say. Draco let me go and walked out of the room. I wept there for a bit. I heard a familiar snap sound and looked up slowly from the bed. I saw a house elf holding a cat and sat up.
"I thought I heard Mrs. crying, and thought to bring her kitty she told me to take care of," said Lilac. I gasped slightly. Grayson hopped out of her arms and jumped over on the bed to greet me. He looked as healthy as ever. I was pleasantly surprised. The house elf handed me some tissues. I patted the spot on the bed and she hesitated, then sat up there beside me, twiddling her thumbs unsurely. I hugged her. She was still a moment, and then returned my embrace. It was odd, hugging a house elf. It was something I'd never done before. Grayson mewed at me for attention. I noted his collar, and an idea popped into my head. A very extreme idea, one that I knew had to be carried out as quickly as possible. I pulled out my wand and fashioned a piece of parchment and a quill. I wrote a note rather quickly and messily to explain all that had happened in the past few months, and that I wasn't really dead. It took me almost ten minutes to do all of this, Lilac watching me curiously, petting Grayson who kept getting in my lap. I pointed my wand at the note and caused it to shrink. I then tucked it gingerly under Grayson's collar. I told Lilac to take him to a friend's, giving the address I knew to be Fred and George's flat above their shop. I told her to make sure that George received Grayson and the note, and without question, she picked him up and disapparated, and just in time, as Draco returned with a glass of something. He looked over at me and I watched him make his way to the dresser where he sat the glass and looked out the window, thinking. I knew he was drinking. I just sat there and watched him for a while.
"I shouldn't have gotten so angry," he finally said lowly. "I'm sorry to have lost my patience." He hadn't turned around. I went into the bathroom and closed the door, shedding my clothes and stepping into the shower. I was cold, and it was nice for the hot water to touch my skin. I wasn't in the shower for more than ten minutes before I felt an unpleasantly cold sensation. I turned the water up further, but then felt Draco's presence behind me. I didn't turn around or open my eyes to acknowledge that he was there. I felt something touch my shoulder, and then my left hip. Draco's lips and hands were touching me.
"I'm sorry," he said into my ear where I'd knelt my head to the side. I felt his chest at my back and fought the urge to lean into it, despite how cool it was. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and was cool in comparison to the water. I smelled wine on his breath as he kissed my shoulder again, waiting for me to pay him notice. I turned around and Draco immediately pressed his lips to mine, swallowing my breath and forcing my mouth open. It was a good kiss and sent shivers through my body. Draco pressed me against the wall. The taste in his mouth was sweet and intoxicating, but I wasn't going to forgive him that easily. I pressed against his abdomen to make him move back and he winced audibly, as though I'd hurt him. I looked at his chest, where the scratches I'd seen before were still present. I placed my hands there, moving my fingers gently over what looked like bruises, as if someone had been beating his chest.
"What is this? …who did this to you?" I asked. Draco pressed me back against the wall and my hands slipped down his abdomen, where there were more scratches, fitting the way my hands fell so perfectly that I knew I was in the position from which he must have gotten them.
"Who did this?" I asked again.
"It's−it's fine," Draco said, trying to brush it off. I shook my head, putting the pieces of the puzzle together. I wiped my eyes so I could see, and make sure I wasn't just imagining things. I looked up at Draco. He leant in to kiss me again.
"No, I'm done," I said, moving abruptly and causing him to let go of me. He stayed facing the wall as I pulled the curtain back, stepped out, and pulled it closed once more. There was no doubt in my mind then that those little wounds were self defense markings, made by someone that Draco had attacked. There was no other explanation.