Journey: Harry Potter

54.

When Lea walked out of the room she felt like a different person. As if Voldemort had cut away a piece of her own soul with that nasty mark that now sat on her left forearm.  

Draco was waiting for her when she got out of the room. He didn't say anything, just wrapped an arm around her shoulder while Lea was too distracted examining the mark. It was so bizarre to her how it moved just a little bit and yet she could feel it under the surface. 

Once again, Draco didn't say anything to her while she was processing all of this. Instead, he led her up the stairs, down the long hallway, and to his bedroom. It wasn't until they entered into his room that Lea broke out of her trance. 

The basics of his bedroom were decorated the same as the one she had been staying in. Expect this room was bigger and had a better view of the grounds with its window seat. And on the walls of this room were many different posters hung around it. Slytherin ones, of course. But there were also posters for Puddlemere United, the international quidditch team Draco had been supporting. 

But a small smile came on Lea's face when she spotted a poster for the Weird Sisters on one of the walls, almost tucked away. "You like the Weird Sisters? How come I never knew that?"

"They have good music," Draco shrugged. He disappeared for a second into the bathroom connected with the room before returning with a damp rag. He gently guided Lea over to the bed, having her sit down on it before picking up her arm and turning it around so he could see the now matching mark they shared. "Why did you do this, Lea?"

"I did it for you," Lea said in a low voice.

"Don't..." Draco pinched his eyes shut. "Don't do something because of me that could get you killed."

"I know what the risks are," Lea told him.

"You don't," Draco opened his eyes back up, looking down at her forearm that was now tainted. He adjusted the washcloth in his hands before lightly pressing it on Lea's skin. She hissed in pain when it made contact with her arm pulled back instinctively. "Yeah, that's going to be the general level of pain when anything touches this for the next couple of weeks. Why did you kill him?"

Lea had been thinking a lot about what she was going to tell him. The truth was far out of the equation on what she could say. But not a half truth. "I knew if I did it they couldn't separate us."

"Maybe that would have been better," Draco mumbled pulling the washcloth off her arm.

"How can you say that?" Lea felt hurt by this.

"You're going against your very nature to be here, Lea," Draco placed the cloth down on the nightstand.  "And don't lie to me, you hate it here, I know you. You hate everything he stands for and you'd much rather be on the other side of this."

Lea couldn't tell him that he was wrong, because he wasn't. This was never how she would have pictured herself in this battle. 

"I love you," She said instead. "And I don't want to be away from you. You just have to trust me when I say I know what I'm doing."