Learn to Love » Draco Malfoy x Reader

XX

The subsequent days were kind of a blur.

Well, I said "days", but the haziness I felt probably made it a week or so; I wouldn't have noticed a difference anyway.  I was stuck in some odd time continuum of emotions.  It was a mixture of heartbreak, longing, and yet... something was relieving. 

It was the fact that I didn't have to hide anything now, or feel bad about it.  As much as I felt for Cedric, it simply wasn't acceptable that I was entertaining those emotions with him for so long.  It's not that I suddenly lost all the feelings I had for him, but I couldn't bring myself to act like I wasn't almost living a double life with him.  Going to parties, off to fancy dinners, then going back home and remembering who I actually belonged to.

It was draining, to say the least.  The day after, I stayed in bed and didn't leave for anything except what was completely necessary, and on Monday Daphne practically dragged me to my classes, which I paid no attention to.  Professor McGonagall even ended up asking if I was feeling alright or needed to take a trip to Madam Pomfrey.

That didn't change the fact I was upset, and as much as I tried to hide it, my friends around me took note.  It was too difficult trying to hide any sort of heartache, or at least trying to mask it for extended periods of time.

In addition to Daphne and a few other girls I was friends with, Draco caught on.  As much as I wouldn't have wanted him to know, he picked it up during our first prefect patrol since I called things off with Cedric.  He noticed I was being unusually quiet and absentminded, and then in classes said I was acting the same.

In addition with the... unfortunate moment we shared in the common room where I cried into his shoulder, he seemed to be very in-tune with my emotions.  That, or he had just been walking on eggshells ever since that night, probably wanting to know whatever happened.  I never told him, after all. 

Regardless, Draco was among the first to know something was wrong.

To make matters more complicated, Draco had been an absolute sweetheart in the time I was grieving. It made me feel all the more guilty for having been with Cedric, but juxtaposing, I also felt more relieved that I ended it. It was strange that I could feel polar ends of the spectrum in terms of emotions, but I told myself that it would be balanced out.

Rather unexpectedly, he seemingly brought it upon himself to make me feel better.  The only downside was he badgered me multiple times asking why I wasn't well, but every time he asked I just clammed up and said it was a personal issue.  He usually stopped asking after that.

Nonetheless, he indeed did his best to try and raise my otherwise low spirits.

The morning after that prefect patrol, I was greeted with a basket outside my door with specialty breakfast foods he'd asked the house elves to prepare; it even came with an espresso made the way that I showed him at home.

He also warded off Theo and Blaise, who had continued to have quite the attitude like they did the night of the Slug Club.  Part of me wanted to walk up to them and tell them that their harassing of Cedric worked, but I was too tired or depressed most days to entertain it.  

More than once in that time period since, Draco and I had sat in the Slytherin common room together, silently reading or biding time, and he'd made sure to shoo off the boys before they could make any comments that he feared would upset me further.

He even offered to let me take the night off prefect patrols, just so I could get some more rest at night.  However, I refused him on that one, despite knowing full well that he would've found a new partner or doubled the ground covered and done it himself if I wanted him to.  I took it upon myself to finish my prefect duties; being around him made it easier.  I could tell that he was genuinely trying to make me feel better, and it certainly was working.  It was a distraction, at least.