Chapter 12
I woke up not remembering the previous night. Looking up, I expected to see him sitting at the deck, scratching away with a ballpoint. But when I saw that the room was empty, the desk chair neatly slid into its hole, last night came flooding back. The tears pressed against my eyelids and came spilling out again. I rolled over and smushed my face into my pillow, pulling the covers over her head. I was still wearing my clothes from last night. Hadn’t I fallen asleep in the living room? What time was it? Poking my eyes out from under the blanket I could see that it was dark outside the windows. The lights were on in our bedrooms and a clock that Draco had moved to the desk blinked 11:37 pm. I had slept all day. Pulling out from under the blankets, I slowly lowered my shoeless feet to the floor. Exploring the house noiselessly by wand-light I found he wasn’t there. Then an idea popped into my head.
He was sitting at the edge of the dock, brushing the surface of the ice again. He looked peaceful, his hair falling into his eyes. I was witnessing the Draco Malfoy with his guard down. I couldn’t bring myself to step out of the trees, I felt mesmerized. I couldn’t stop watching.
“Nox,” I whispered, and the clearing was lit by only moonlight. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I had goose bumps. He stood up. I watched in awe as he stripped down to his blue boxers and dove into the water, breaking the ice as he hit it. Gasping, I wondered what the hell he was thinking. He reminded me of Krum, diving into the school lake at school years ago. Draco stayed at the bottom for a while before emerging in the middle, looking frightfully pale. It shook me to see him like that, translucent and ghostly. It seemed as though the month we had spent together was just a specter now. I knew I should do something, reveal myself, join him, or apologize. I just couldn’t. I… I… felt lost for once.
Draco pulled himself onto the dock, shivering slightly. He didn’t put his clothes back on, just sat there in his underwear. Suddenly, he turned around and looked directly at me. A shiver went up my spine and I felt myself step backward in surprise.
“I love you, you know,” he said, his voice calm and level. I didn’t know what to say. I just stood there in shock. He loved me, he loved me! No guy had ever told me that before, other than my father, but that was different. “I got an interesting letter from golden boy.” When I didn’t respond or walk forward he looked back out over the water and continued. “He said he witnessed it and that you weren’t lying.”
“How did he-“ I began to say, but he cut me off.
“He was watching Weasel through secrecy cams at work to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid.” I tried to swallow, but my throat was too dry. Slowly I crunched through the snow, shivering through my thin robes. I slowly lowered myself onto the dock next to him. Though he had more reason to be cold than I did, he picked up his deserted robe from behind us and slid it over my shoulders. Then he wrapped his arm around my back and whispered, “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you,” into my ear in that husky voice of his. Draco led a trail of kisses up my neck. His lips met mine and I though I would explode out of anticipation. Anticipation of what I didn’t know.
“I love you too,” I breathed into his ear, my voice hardly a gasp out of the thrill. He gently pushed me so that I was lying on my back on the dock. I got déga-vu (A/N: sp?) and was reminded of the first time we went to the pond together, when he fell on top of me. The thought didn’t stay in my mind for long as he slid his hand farther down my back. I knew that after tonight, things would never be the same.
0o0o0o0o0o0
No comments:
Post a Comment