𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐬; 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 𝟑

I Smell Your Fear

AnnaLeigh Malfoy

"What I'm earth are you on about, mum" I scoffed and walked past her, back around the desk to my paper draw so I could distract myself while she spoke.

"He's not a stranger" she repeated the sentence since agin in hopes that I'd have the slightest clue of what she was talking about.

"Saying it again isn't gonna help me understand what you mean" I rolled my eyes and started to go through the draw, picking out meaningless pieces of paper and sorting them into piles.

It was clear that she had no intent of letting me leave anytime soon so I might as well use this time to do something I had been putting off for so long.

"Mikeal John... the man who-who did all that..." she hesitated for a moment.

"The man who sexual assaulted me not once but twice? Yes, I'm familiar with him and I wouldn't call us anymore then strangers" I said.

"He's not a stranger to me or you, Anna" my
Mother sighed "He's—his dad was a good friend of your fathers. He and your father spent time together in our 4th year while the Triwizard tournament went on. After your dad died, I confined in him for comfort and he was a good person. We-we were close, i mean, you and Mikeal used to have baths together as babies"

I stopped rummaging through the draw. The room went silent, the only sound was the gentle wind through the open window behind me.

"I know how this sounds—"

"Are you telling me the person who attacked me was my childhood fucking friend?! Where the bloody hell was this information when it happened the first time!?" I was beyond confused. I didn't know how to act or feel. Should I be angry that I really did know who it was all along and that my mother held this information from me or should I be sad that someone I almost grew up with sexual assaulted me? I didn't know and that's what made this all worse.

"I didn't know, AnnaLeigh" She said "I found out only a couple of days ago. His father contacted me a day or two after I got remarried and was frantic. He said Mikeal has been MIA for almost a month and with everything else that the ministry had found—I just put two and two together"

"If he really was the one who... nearly threw me off the astronomy tower, then he's dead" I said and spun back around to the papers "But that still gives the question of why he was even after me in the fucking first place"

"That I don't know" My mother sighed heavily "He was such a sweet kid. He was always sweet to you and I just don't know what went wrong"

"Yeah I really don't care" I mumbled before pushing the draw closed and leaning over to pick my bag back up "I'm going home because it's been a long day and Draco is probably wondering where I am"

"Please be safe, baby" she smiled "I know that I'm not really there for you sometimes but I'm still your mother and will always love you very much"

"I love you too, mum" I smiled before finally walking past her and out of my office. I stopped nowhere else and made my way straight to the chimney.

It felt like the blink of an eye and suddenly I was standing in my own living room again. The house was quiet, just like it always was and Draco was no where to be seen.

My best guess was that he was in his study or the shower.

Either one I could work with.

I couldn't help but think back to what my mum said. There was no reason in the world she would make that up and I could never say that she would, which only meant that it was real and the thought made me skin crawl.