The Slytherin Princess | Draco Malfoy x Reader

Chapter 40: Not a Runaway

You and Draco return to your house after retrieving the elder wand.

~~~

Draco kept looking down at you, his sleepiness wearing off with every passing second. "I'd gotten worried you'd left without me," he admitted, sitting down next to you. "Are you going to tell me why you're holding the Elder Wand or are you going to just sit there and stay mute?" he asked plainly, his voice holding a bit of annoyance in it.

"Draco," you finally breathed, holding out the wand. "I realized why it didn't come to me when I summoned it by calling it Dumbledore's wand." Draco looked at you, confusion clear in his features.
"Because it's really the Elder Wand," he replied. "I thought we'd figured that out."

"No," you pleaded then, not even wanting to look at the wand resting in your open palms any longer. "Don't you remember the actual story? The eldest brother in the story demanded a wand more powerful than any other, and once he received it and crossed the bridge, he went and killed another wizard he'd had a fight with beforehand. Then he went and spent the night in the inn, and Death transformed himself into a wizard so he could kill the brother, and then once the brother was dead, the allegiance of the wand transferred to the wizard who had killed him."

Draco stared just a moment more, before the lightbulb went off behind his eyes. "And you killed Dumbledore," he breathed, beginning to wring his hands together as you nodded grimly.

"The wand did belong to Dumbledore, until I killed him," you said, your voice barely above a whisper. "Even if I didn't kill him with the intention of taking ownership of his wand, I'm now technically the rightful owner of it."

"But surely if you give it to Voldemort, it will realize you're giving it up, won't it?" Draco asked, and you shrugged. "I don't know."

Draco's eyes widened. "If it doesn't work—" his voice cut off, his breath catching.

You nodded again, not wanting to force Draco to finish the sentence. "He'll have to kill me."

~~~

The two of you had walked in silence for the better part of four hours, but Draco also had refused to let go of your hand. You knew you were nearing the end of the path, things were beginning to look familiar. You didn't know where Draco was going to Apparate the two of you, and you weren't sure if you wanted to help him deliver the wand to Voldemort or not.

But you knew you had to, since you were the rightful owner of it at that moment. You couldn't very well give it up without being present to give it up.

Draco paused as you reached the spot you finally realized was the end of your walking. He looked back down at you, his eyes searching every inch of your skin, like he was worried he'd never see you again.

"I'm not taking you back to the Manor today," he said then, the first words he'd spoken in hours. You felt relief at the statement, but not a lot. "Won't Voldemort know we're delaying on purpose?" you asked, and Draco shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted, "but we need rest. And—" he cut himself off again, setting his mouth in a hard line that you had come to realize meant he wouldn't finish his sentence.

But you knew what the unspoken words meant. He was terrified that Voldemort was going to kill you in order to take the wand from you.

So instead of arguing, you nodded simply. "Let's go back to my house then," you said gently. "My parents will be mad that we just disappeared, but if we just tell them you had a family emergency of some sort, they'll get over it."

Draco nodded, remaining silent still. He slid an arm around you, holding you tightly to himself, and drew out his wand. He never said a word, but you had shut your eyes already—and the familiar squeezing feeling came and went more quickly than it normally did.