The Malfoy's Secret [Draco Malfoy fanfic]

Chapter 7

I don't own any of the characters apart from Melanie Malfoy. All of the characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

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"What's that on your left arm?" Cho asked me.

I looked down, fear coursing through me. I heard a scared noise somewhere near my right shoulder; I guessed it came from Draco. My eyes swept the length of my arm, along with everyone else's crowded round us, and saw huge burns running the length of my forearm, covered in blood.

"It's fine, just a few burns from that last hex Vasey cast," I said, trying to sound light hearted, when in reality, I was probably close to having a heart attack. I heard Draco let out a sigh of relief from beside me and turned to look back at Cho, who was still looking at my arm strangely.

"I thought I saw a tattoo there," she explained, trying to see beneath the blood still coming out of the burns. My heart rate sped up again, as I thought about how to cover this one over.

"You were probably just seeing things Chang. You know, the speed at which everything happened, it'll have just been the burns or her robes that you'll have seen," Draco stated smoothly. Cho opened her mouth, ready to shout an angry retort back at him when I cut across her.

"Drake, can you take me to the hospital wing please. Cho, I need to tell you something after I've been, okay?"

"No, you're not going anywhere with him! Let me take you," she said, walking forward and taking my other arm. The two of them were having a tug of war fight between them, using me as the rope, and I was feeling dizzier by the second.

"Cho, please trust me on this, I'll come to you straight after I come out of the hospital wing." She looked sceptical, but I gave her a look saying I wasn't going to argue and she let go of my arm. I smiled and turned towards the castle, and started the long walk up to the Room of Requirement.

"What're you gonna tell her?" Draco asked as we reached the Room of Requirement. I walked in front of the door three times thinking of what I wanted the room to be and then stepped back waiting for the door to appear.

"I'm not completely sure yet," I told him honestly, "I'm not gonna tell her anything about the Dark Lord, but I think I owe her the truth about why we're so close, otherwise she'll never let me come near you."

I sat on the armchair and held my arm out for Draco to have a look at. He nodded in reply to my earlier answer.

"What're you gonna do if she tells someone? Or she reacts badly to it?"

"Well, I trust her enough to know she won't tell anyone, don't give me that look!" I said, when he gave me the look that said 'you've only known her a week, how do you know that?' "But, I suppose if she reacts too badly...memory charm?"

He chuckled at the last bit, waving his wand over the blackened burns decorating my arm. The blood was now cleared up, the burns were stinging slightly, but were disappearing and now all that was left on my arm was the Dark Mark. I shivered when I looked at it and turned my head away.

"Hey, it's not that bad," Draco said comfortingly, pulling me into a hug. We sat like that for a few moments before I pulled away. He smiled at me, and brought his wand down to fix the huge rip that was in my sleeve.

"Thank you," I pulled him in for another short hug. "I'm gonna go and talk to Cho now, I guess I do have a bit of explaining to do."

"No problem Mel," he said, pushing me slightly towards the door. "If you get any pain in your arm, come straight to see me, okay?" he asked, sounding very concerned and searching my eyes for his answer. I nodded, sending him a small smile and exiting the Room of Requirement.