The World and Her Stars: One Shots

Taking The Pain

(Post-war;Rose and Draco are in bed one night, and Rose's mind begins to wonder when she remembers something she's always wanted to ask Draco about)

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ROSE POV

I curled up against Draco as he settled with his arms around me. He turned out the lights with a flutter of his fingers, and exhaled his heavy breath that held the stress of his day. 

"I missed you today." I murmured, nestling my head against his chest. 

"I missed you too." he replied, kissing the top of my head, "How was Leo today? He didn't walk yet, did he? I swear, if I missed it--" 

"He didn't," I pat his chest with my hand, "I tried...but it appears he is quite keen on crawling. He even got little carpet burns on his knees. I felt terrible about it."

"Perhaps we should get him knee pads." Draco chuckled, stroking his fingers lightly through my hair. 

I thought for a second about a solution to the "boo-boo" problem that I was met with today, and how to help Leo learn to walk without him crawling away at lightening speeds every time I mentioned the word, resulting in his poor little carpet burns. 

"Wait a minute," I lifted my head up to look at him, "What's that spell you used to use? The cooling spell. On my mark." 

He made a look like he was thinking for a second before the memory returned to him. 

"Oh, that..." he took a long inhale, "I'll help him tomorrow. Little bugger, if he would just start walking--" Draco shook his head with a tired laugh. 

"No, but what was the spell?" I asked, sitting up more and pushing a few loose strands of hair behind my ear, "I've always wondered, but never remembered to ask until now. It might make Leo's crawling to walking progression run a bit smoother." 

It was hesitancy that I saw spread throughout Draco's features. Like the answer to my question was on the tip of his tongue, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to share. 

It was just a cooling spell, for Merlin's sake. What was there to be hesitant about? What was he not telling me? 

"You're going to think I'm insane--" he shoot his head with a nervous smile, scrubbing his hand down his face. 

"I came to that conclusion a very long time ago, love." I pat his bare chest a few times with my hand, "But, do go on." 

He frowned for a split second before the hesitation returned. He was very well aware of the fact that now that he had shown said emotion, that I would not be letting this go until he explained. He had a love hate relationship with my persistence. 

"Okay, well..." he started, pushing himself to sit up more, leaning back against the headboard, "I started suspecting that your mark was...rejcting--like mine--when we were summoned the night that...Charles was...you know--" he danced around the topic, and I nodded, remembering the night vividly, no matter how hard I tried not to. "It was only for a split second, but I could have sworn I saw scratch marks, and that your skin was red around the ink, like mine. But, I couldn't just straight up ask to see your mark or make the assumption without more solid proof."