Traitor: A Draco Malfoy Story

thirty-one

I shifted uncomfortably in place as he blocked my exit. "I don't suppose you'll let me pass?"

"Not for a million galleons," he grinned devilishly. To my surprise, he came towards me and put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me to him, the faint smell of his cologne meeting my nose with a delicate touch, not overwhelming. The gesture could have easily been written off as casual flirtation, but I knew better than that. This was a disguised capture. He wasn't going to let me out of his sight, hell, away from his side until I told him everything about the DA.

"You know," he drawled in my ear, his breath tickling my skin as he walked me from the classroom and down the hall. I felt the tip of his wand digging into my ribs. "Professor Umbridge told us all that she got the idea for the Inquisitorial Squad after putting too much pressure on her favorite student. What a shame you had to go and break her trust by joining the very thing she was fighting to prevent."

"What was supposed to do, Malfoy?" I rolled my eyes. "I was years behind you guys in spells practice, and it was a great opportunity to be exposed to more magic."

He stopped walking for a second and scrunched up his nose in somewhat of an impressed look. I could tell he thought that it had been a great idea, but he would never give me the satisfaction of verbalizing it. The most he did was remove his wand from my side, but he didn't let go of me.

"So you aren't with Dumbledore's cause, then?" Malfoy asked.

"I don't belong to any cause, thank you," I said disgustedly. "Yes, I like some of the people I've met—" I left out how much I did end up liking the Order. "—but that doesn't mean that I'm fighting alongside them. Dumbledore hasn't gained my trust. In fact, he's broken it. He may have been kicked out of Hogwarts by the Ministry, but snapping in and out of the castle just to pester me and to tell me more about how he's ruined my life is getting to be a bit more than irritating."

"How do you feel about the Dark Lord, then?" We were walking slower now, our pace matched, and we looked like we really were out for a stroll, not in a moving interrogation.

I looked up at him. "I don't know much about Voldemort, but if he really is coming after me the way that everyone thinks he will, then he's not much better than Dumbledore. And as far as I know, Dumbledore doesn't have horror stories about what he's done to people floating around all the time. So I think he might still be the worse of the two evils."

The corner of Malfoy's mouth twitched as he nodded. "Fair point. But you shouldn't use the Dark Lord's name. It carries a lot of weight."

He'd walked us out of the castle and down by the lake. It was a chilly January day, the snow on the ground crunching under our feet as we etched our footprints in it. He gently slid his arm off my shoulders, allowing his hand to drift down my arm and meet my own, his fingers catching on mine and intertwining. He pulled me over to a large tree right by the lake bank. I settled myself at the base of the tree while he remained standing, still lazily grasping my hand as he stared out at the partially frozen water. I patted the space next to me. "Sit."

"On the ground?" he asked, incredulous.

"No, on this four-poster bed. Yes, the ground, you dumbass."

He only rolled his eyes. "If my arse freezes, it's your fault. Got that?" I laughed and nudged him with my shoulder.

We sat in silence for a while, the breeze gently biting our noses before he spoke.

"This is truly my favorite place in the whole castle grounds. Besides the Astronomy Tower."

I glanced at him. He was right. His face was peaceful, his body the most at ease I'd ever seen it, arms wrapped around his knees as he stared over the water and into the mountains.