Hiraeth // draco malfoy

SIXTEEN

explanations and interrogations

All five eyes in the living room diverted to the three muggles in the doorway, who stood in fear, confusion, and not exactly comprehending what they just walked in on. Goyle's scream quickly faded as his head hung before him. Draco and the others, were at a loss for words. What do they do now? How can they be so stupid to not lock the goddamn door? "Ophelia?" Goyle's voice asked, and they all looked to him, who was staring directly at Dru.

"I'll handle this." Draco whispered to his friends, ignoring Goyles wrong name for the woman he was currently seeing. Calista, Dru and Ziggy, drunkenly and collectively stumbled backwards, attempting to escape. But Draco was faster. "Obliviate!" He shouted at Ziggy, who stopped in his tracks and went into a daze.

"What the f-," Calista began, but Draco gave her the same fate, before directing his wand at Dru. This was it. He wasn't sure if he should erase her mind of just the events from just now, or of him entirely. Obviously she'd no longer be safe considering Rodolphus is actively conspiring against him, but also, he can't keep lying to her.

"Wait!" She demanded. "Draco, wait, please. I don't know what's happening, but please don't hurt me."

"Hurt—hurt you? I would never hurt you, Dru." He promised her, and for some odd reason, she actually wanted to believe him. She looked to her friends, who stood there clueless and mindlessly. They weren't hurt. They were fine besides the fact that they sort of were behaving as zombies would. But they were also completely hammered.

"I don't know what's going on, but," she stopped for a moment, as tears filled in her eyes, "explain it to me." Her hand was raised in a halt. She was scared, but she wanted answers. And she wouldn't let this go. Draco knew that Pansy was probably finishing Goyle off inside right this moment, and he didn't want her to see that. So he came up with a simple solution.

"Okay. I will explain everything to you. Let's just take Ziggy and Calista to his apartment. They're fine, I assure you. But we need to get them to bed. When they wake up, they wont remember a thing from tonight, okay?" He calmly told her, showing her his wand and slipping it into his pocket. Dru hesitantly nodded, as she and Draco now guided her friends down to Ziggy's place. After getting them settled and helping them fall asleep, Draco stared at Dru. Who was now looking terrified of him. Her arms were hugging herself as he stepped closer, but she stepped back. She was scared of him, and he was devastated.

"Look, I need you to explain what's going on, Draco." She shook her head, still trying to process everything. He knew by now, the mess in his flat would be gone, and he figured if his friends were there with Dru, it'd be easier to explain it all. They were better with words than he was.

"Okay. I will. Let's just go back to my place and we all can tell you everything." But she was still hesitant. His voice was so assuring and so calming, but she knew the devil could come across as sweet as candy. I mean, the devil was once an angel. And she was reluctant. "I promise you, Dru, I wont let anything happen to you." He pleaded. Please come upstairs, he thought to himself.

"That thing," she began, eyeing his pocket, "that thing you were holding. Give it to me."

"What?" He took a step back, confused.

"I can only trust you, if you give it to me." She demanded. She had put two and two together. He stopped for a moment. She had no idea what it was, so she had no idea how she'd be able to even use it. And the girl was a muggle. The wand was as useless as a stick in her hands. So that was reassuring. For her to trust him, he had to trust her. Slipping his hand into his pocket, he pulled the wand out and with a huge leap of faith, handed it over to her. She looked at it briefly, before gripping it against herself, so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"Okay? You feel safe now?" He asked, genuinely concerned for her and hoping she did. She nodded, trembling. "I promise, nothing will happen to you. Let's go upstairs and we can tell you everything." She nodded again, following him to his apartment. She was terrified of what she'd be walking into. But she had something powerful in her hands and she knew that was her safety net.

They entered through the front door, and Draco's friends were waiting impatiently in nearly the same spots they had been in before. Pansy's eyes widened when she saw Dru follow behind him, holding Draco's wand. "What's uh, what's this?" She asked Draco.

"I promised her an explanation. And we need to give it to her." Draco said, immediately going to the liquor cabinet and pouring himself a tall drink in which he gulped down in just a mere few seconds. Pansy tried to approach Dru, but Dru backed away from her.

"I trusted you." She snapped at Pansy. "I told you something that nobody knew, that I couldn't even admit to myself, and you lied to me!" Dru was now angry. She felt betrayed, and they all knew it was warranted. Muggles could never fully comprehend something so complex as magic living amongst them.

"Come on, Draco," Blaise began, "don't you think it'd just be easier if we obliviate her—,"

"No." Draco sneered at him. "I gave her my word, and I will not break that." He shook his head, heading over to the living room. Dru shakily followed him. Keeping her distance from them all. She noticed the pack of cigarettes placed on the coffee table, and grabbed one, lighting it with the matches from her pocket.

"Alright, explain then." She tried to act tough, but truthfully, she was still scared. And they knew it. If this had been anyone else, they'd probably be laughing and just wipe their memories. But, this was Dru. Someone they had all grown close with in the span of a short amount of time. So they had respect for her, and truthfully, they wanted to keep her around. Even if they didn't admit that out loud.

"This is going to go over well." Theo scoffed, knowing how absurd this all was going to sound by the time they've finished. But, they had to give it a shot. Worse case scenario is she reacts horribly and they then move to plan B.