five hours with draco malfoy; pt.2

Part seven

"I never stopped doing it."  She replied softly, quietly and with sadness in her voice "But I know that it's too late now."

"Yes." He replied with difficulty. Draco partly thought the same, although another small part of him —which he was trying to ignore— could not help but think of her that way, imagining her by his side again.

"I don't want to be in bad terms with you."  Annelisse explained, exhaling "I know you have no reason to forgive me and honestly, I don't expect you to, but I don't want us to be like that, angry or upset after everything we've been through."

Draco sighed heavily, partly in agreement.  He could not deny the fact that he wanted her to stay in his life, that he did not want her to disappear again "I don't know how to do it, Annelisse."

"You don't have to if you don't want to. I—" she sighed "I know you now have a life, a girlfriend that you love and I understand that I can't pretend to return to your life as if nothing happened. It's just that— I'm staying here,  in London. I've already taken the job. "

"The job?"  he asked her, confused.

"I have requested the transfer in the American Ministry to here."

"Oh, so you've been in New York all this time? Awesome."  He said incredulously, annoyed "Did your family know?"  He added.  Annelisse did not respond, lowering her head.  Without words, she had just admitted that they did, to which Draco gave a nervous laugh.

"Draco, please..."

Draco quickly got up from his seat "Do what you want, Annelisse, just like last time."  He spoke as he headed for the door and opened it "It doesn't matter anymore, you can't break something that's already broken."  His own words hurt him.

Annelisse felt that lump in her throat, pressing down on her.  She watched as Draco looked at her by the door, clearly signaling her to leave the house.  She pressed her lips together, fighting the urge to speak, to tell him once and for all why she did what she did. Annelisse got up and, with her head slightly lowered, headed to the door.

Before leaving she raised the head, looking once more at Draco "Sorry. I never meant to break your heart and believe me when I tell you mine broke too." Said with difficulty.  Draco avoided looking directly into her eyes and felt hurt by those words from her, trying to contain the urge to cry at the moment.

Finally and with frustration, Annelisse left the house without looking back, sad, without knowing that Draco was watching her walk away with the same sadness on his face, seeing once again that girl who he loved so much to get away once more, feeling his heart breaking again.

What none of them realized —but Draco would do moments later—, was that Daphne had just passed Annelisse down that same street as she was on her way to Draco's house.

After closing the door, minutes later, it rang again, which surprised him.  He returned to the door quickly and when he opened it, he could see Daphne, something serious and with a clear confusion on her face.

"Am I crazy or did I just see Annelisse Haunt a street down?"  She said as walked in, frowning and pointing to the street.

"Daphne—" he sighed "—there's something I have to tell you."  Draco said seriously.  She was still confused, not understanding what was happening.  He took her by the hand and led her to the sofa, where they both sat.  He watched Daphne, unsure and nervous.  He did not know how to begin to tell her what happened, anyone who heard it would think that it is something crazy—and well, it was.

"What's wrong, Draco? You're scaring me."

"You see—" he took a deep breath "At the funeral, when I disappeared and hid in one of the rooms, there was a girl."

Daphne was looking even more confused at Draco, not understanding what she meant at all.  She remained silent, letting him explain.

"It was her." He exhaled "I don't know how, I don't know when or why, but she showed up. It was Annelisse."

"She—is she alive?"  Daphne asked, almost voicelessly after several seconds, trying to process those words.

"Yes."  He took Daphne's hands in his "Listen, I know what you're going to think and no. I made her come because as you'll understand, I needed an explanation, I needed to know why she—" He sighed, unable to finish speaking.

Daphne nodded. "It's okay Draco. I—" she sighed too "I think I'm trying to process all of this and it's very complicated."  She widened her eyes at her words, hallucinating even about  what Draco had just told her.  It was a lot to take on at the time.

"I know and understand it. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I wasn't prepared, I wasn't sure. I haven't seen her since the funeral, when I kicked her out of the Manor."  He explained.

Daphne let go of one of Draco's hands and lifted it to her face, caressing him with a slight smile on her face. "It's okay. I get it, I guess anyone would go crazy with something like that."  She twisted her lips, feeling a certain insecurity and sadness invade her mind.

"I'm sorry Daphne, I'm really sorry. I really wanted to tell you earlier."  He repeated.

Daphne watched him with some anguish.  She saw a confused, messy Draco and she could not help but feel a little scared and insecure.  She knew perfectly well that the fact that Annelisse had reappeared, it stirred everything up "Don't be sorry, Draco. It's not your fault."

"Why did she leave?"  She asked when she saw that his gaze was lost in thought.

"She didn't want to tell me." He replied reluctantly, without looking at her.

"Is she going to stay?"  She asked fearfully.

"It looks like." he sighed. Looking up at her and seeing that her face was somewhat sad, he caressed it with one of his hands "I adore you, Daphne, you know that, right?"  He said.

She could not help but feel some relief, which caused a small smile on her face "Draco..." she started to say "I need to say something, to say it even if in the future I may regret it."

"What?"

She took a deep breath before speaking "If you decide to keep her in your life... I wouldn't be upset."  took a breath "I know perfectly well that she always was and will be important to you, I can't fight it, but I only ask one thing..." she swallowed "Don't break my heart."

"No, no."  He brought his hands to Daphne's face, cradling her "Don't say that. I'm with you, okay? This doesn't change anything."  He answered seriously. 

Deep down, he knew that Daphne was right, that the fact really changed everything, but he did not want to admit it, he did not want to admit in any way that —deep in his heart—, he still loved Annelisse.  He wanted to fight for his new life and besides, he was angry and disgusted with Annelisse.

Daphne only nodded with some relief at those words although the fear did not disappear from her mind. She knew that if she had not died after all, it would only be a matter of time before the feelings would bloom again, before the river would sound again.