𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐋𝐄𝐅𝐓 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐒 | Draco Malfoy

ONE | in which, as they kiss, consume

"Blair, you have to eat something."

Theo has that look on his face— the one that tells her he's worried. Of course, he's worried, Blair has been looking like a walking corpse ever since she returned from 'wherever the hell' she was for two and a half weeks. Theo hasn't dared to ask anything else.

"I'm not hungry." Blair gently pushes her plate aside, wrapping her arms around her stomach.

"You'll get hungry later, though, if you don't eat now," Draco says softly, who's sitting opposite Blair. "Better to eat at least a little bit, b—" Draco stops himself before he automatically calls her baby. Not here, not with Theo so close.

Blair looks at Draco, shifting in her seat as she meets his eyes. The things she said to him..

"Please." Draco sighs. He drops whatever icy guard he holds up whenever Theo is around. She spots a flash of affection on his face, how he's saying please because he genuinely wants her to be okay, and his love gleams in his eyes for only a split second before it's gone like it wasn't even there.

Blair doesn't speak, but she picks up her fork and notices how Draco's shoulders relax, and how Theo continues eating.

"So.. how was your time at Hogwarts, Blair?" Theo asks, desperately trying to change the subject to something happier.

Again, that tug at Blair's heart as the memories come creeping back in. Yes, most of them are happy. Study sessions with Emris, long nights in bed with Draco, laughing with Atlas. But there's so much that wasn't happy, and makes her sick to her stomach now.

Reading the newspaper every morning, learning about every new homicide. Atlas getting worse and worse as he got more jealous of her and Draco. The blackmail. The fights between her and Draco. The letters from her mother.

Blair pushes those memories down, hiding one hand under the table that has begun to tremble. "Fine." That is all she answers Theo.

A brush of a hand touches her knee under the table. She winces but reaches out anyway. Like always, her rock in the ocean finds her without trouble when she needs it. Draco slowly brushes his fingers upwards until he's grabbing her trembling hand.

Breathe.

"You had fun with Emris and Atlas in your class?" Theo asks ignorantly.

Blair pulls her hand from Draco's grip at once, the food turning sour in her stomach. Poor Theo is just trying to make a conversation, how could he know that half of the things Blair loved or cared about have been stripped away from her?

She nods absently, clenching her fingers around her fork as she tries to continue eating.

"Not sure if teaching is for me," Draco joins in on the conversation, taking the attention off Blair. "There were many good things there at Hogwarts, but God, teenagers can be exhausting."

Theo chuckles lightly. "I can imagine that. Why did you even apply for the job? You were a perfectly good Healer, the best one in the country."

He did it for me, Blair answers in her head. Yes, Theo. Your best friend took a job he didn't even want so he could be close to your little sister, and take care of her in ways that would make you want to kill him if you knew.