Choose Me Instead II Draco Malfoy x Reader

Hypocrisy

A/N: Hi, loves! Just letting you know that exams are coming up for me so I'll be posting much slower. There are around 4-5 chapters left in this story. Thank you so much for reading! <3

***

Draco looked at you and for a moment, time stood still.

You hadn't moved – still in his bed, covers pulled up under your chin. But now a shadow darkened your eyes. It was worry – or maybe suspicion, as if you already knew something that he wasn't aware of. Yet. Your gaze switched between himself and Theo. Draco was too focused on you to realize that his friend had the same exact look on his face.

Oh, how beautiful you were, Draco thought, how utterly gorgeous. You belonged right there, he realized. Wrapped in his dark green covers, waiting for him to come back to bed and stay there, hidden away from the rest of the world.

"Draco," your voice snapped him back into reality. "You should go. Greet your mother."

His mother. He swallowed at the thought of the woman who currently sat in the common room, engaging in conversation with Astoria. Probably plotting something. He didn't want to go down there. Didn't want to see her face, kiss her cheek, ask her what she was doing here. To which she would reply something innocent and charming and both of them would know that it was a lie.

He already sensed why she was here. The school year came to an end and his time was running out. His mother had tolerated the relationship with you for way too long without voicing her concerns or disapproval. He knew that would change today.

"She's right. You should go." Theodore cleared his throat before adding: "I'll get her out of here."

Draco nodded slowly, his gaze still on you.

"Draco?", you asked, trying to pull him out of your trance.

It worked. He snapped his head to Theo. "Not through the common room. She's not supposed to meet Y/N like this."

"Obviously," his friend replied.

Draco turned and walked over to you. Reaching the bed, he leaned down and kissed you. One sweet, short kiss, barely touching your lips. Upon separating, he placed his hand on your chin. He was only inches away from your face.

Forgotten was the awkward scene that took place just minutes earlier. Looking into your eyes, he realized that he didn't care if you never returned his feelings. He didn't care if those three words never left your lips. For just being given the chance to love you was the greatest privilege of all. It was all he ever needed.

"I can't fix you," you had said to him, months ago in the small bathroom. It was true, you couldn't fix him. No one could. But you saved him nonetheless. In thousands little ways. Every time you smiled at him, laughed about his jokes, reached for his hand or pulled him into a hug. Every time you whispered his name, peppered his skin with kisses and stroked over the Dark Mark on his arm. Every little time, you saved a small part of him. Made him remember who he was. Who he could be.

"I'll see you later," you whispered and pressed another kiss to his lips. "It'll be alright." He heard the uncertainty in your tone.

"I know," Draco replied. "I know it will be."

Before he left the room, Draco turned around. He didn't know it yet but the image of you, in his dorm, in his bed, would haunt him in the months to come.

***

Theodore hurried you out. After you had dressed yourself quickly, he took you by your hand and guided you out. He took another way than you were used to. A hidden door at the back of another dorm that gave you the chance to avoid the common room.