THE SECRETS OF THE MANOR (Draco Malfoy x OC) *COMPLETE*

This is me trying.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"This is me trying."

*SMUT WARNING*

A loud crack came from outside. Aurora looked through the window in the front door and saw two hooded figures. One woman. One man. The woman hugged the man tightly and then with the quick sound a crack, she was gone.

The man in the hood came to the door. Rain pouring down on him until he opened the door. Aurora backed away to not be in his way. She knew by the body that it was Draco Malfoy. When he got into the front entrance, he took off the hood and hung it up.

Aurora stood in the doorway and looked at him. He gave her a smirk but it looked as though it pained him to look at her.

There was silence between them as they both examined the other that stood before them. It had been weeks, close to 3 months since they'd seen each other. Really seen each other.

The last time they stood in this very spot, Aurora forced him away. Pushed him out of her life because she thought it would be better for him, to not see her broken. To not have to deal with her as she tried to find herself. As she drank herself away.

Draco looked frail and sickly. His skin nearly transparent with how pale he had become and his eyes surrounded by dark circles and under them they carried bags. His body was much thinner and as was his face. Smiling nearly looked painful to him with how much weight he had lost and how damaged he looked within.

Had he looked like this the last time she had seen him? She couldn't be bothered to have even known. She didn't look at him long enough before to even remember what he had been wearing that last time she'd been with him.

"Aurora," He finally spoke. A smile curling onto his lips.

The lips that Aurora so badly wanted to plant hers onto, but they still were standing in front of the portrait of Sirius' mother.

Without words, Aurora took Draco by the hand and brought him up the stairs.

"Oh, what would Kreacher's master say if he saw Miss Aurora bringing a boy up to her room..." Kreacher muttered from the bottom of the stairs.

"Your Master left me in charge of this house while he's away, so think of me as your Mistress until he returns... Meaning, you won't tell Sirius that Draco is here, or that he was ever here when Sirius was away. Got it?" Aurora sneered at Kreacher.

Kreacher nodded. "Yes, my Mistress. But-"

"No but's, you'll do as I tell you until Sirius returns. But he is to never know that Draco came by!" Aurora continued up the stairs, went into the her room with Draco, and slammed and locked the door behind them.

Once again she stared at him, she sat on her bed and Draco stood with his back to the wall for a few moments until something atop Aurora's dresser caught his attention. He walked a few steps toward it and sighed, and picked up the object.

A stone with a tiny foot print and a tiny hand print. Draco took his index finger and placed it against the small palm of the hand. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, holding his finger there for a moment and then placed it back on the dresser.

Severus had given Aurora a keepsake of her daughter's hand and foot, to always keep a piece of her with her. Although Aurora avoided looking at it longer than a few moments, it brought her far too much pain.

"I still remember touching her hand for the first time..." Draco muttered and then sat beside Aurora, taking her hand into his. Gripping it tightly, then kissing it. He continued. "It hadn't hit me that she was dead, I just remember she was wrapped in that blanket and I picked her hand out from it and it was so... so small, and I- I placed my finger there and my finger was too big for her to have even wrapped her hand around. I didn't think a hand could be that small..."