Bloodlines || A Draco Malfoy Romance Fanfiction

Maddening - 148

Warning: Suggestive themes. 😏

Draco

I really thought that Borgin was exaggerating how difficult it was going to be to fix this cabinet. That he thought, as others have before, that I would quit after a single failed attempt, and I couldn't manage anything successfully without using the Malfoy money as a crutch. 

While I did learn from my father that money was a resource, and offering to line the right person's pocket with a few extra galleons could yield favorable results, some things could not be bought. A spell couldn't be bribed to perform properly. You can't drop a galleon into a cauldron to fix an improperly brewed potion. And yes, a loophole would be to pay others to do those things. But a wizard without any competencies in wizardry wouldn't be much better than a muggle, would they?

That's why for a Malfoy, it was the combination of a large vault at Gringotts and strong magical abilities that set you apart from the rest.

Besides, I had more perseverance than most thought. And more motivation than anyone realized.

I arrogantly assumed that I would maybe spend a late evening or two working on the cabinet to fix it. But that evening turned into a week, that week turned into two, then a month, and now I was facing the middle of October with not a bit of significant progress made.  I managed to get away every break and evening I possibly could to try and coax the damned thing into some state of repair. I'd uttered Harmonia Nectere Passus so often that I had begun dreaming about it, waking shortly after I'd realized it was repaired.

Aphry would often accompany me while I made my repair efforts, but not always. Sometimes she would have class while I had a break. And she sometimes spent time with Daphne, studying for Ancient Runes or the like. Honestly, it was good that I had some time to work on the cabinet by myself. Because when she did join me, I couldn't help but catch her in an embrace as soon as we'd entered the security of the Room of Requirement, kissing her passionately and snogging her for a good while.

It was an unfortunate side effect of the countless hours I spent shielding my mind, keeping it occluded nearly anytime I wasn't sleeping or within the safety of the room. Once the shields had loosened from their cages within my mind, my emotions--namely my affection for her--would rush over me almost uncontrollably.

At some point, one or both of us would come to our senses. My focus would return to the black cabinet looming over us ominously while Aphry took residence on the cream antique chaise lounge that showed up after our first time visiting the room. It matched some of the furniture in the Slytherin common room but had clearly been subject to an unfortunate potions accident, as a bright fuchsia stain blotched the end of it. There she would complete her assignments or read one of her novels. Most often she pored over the Potions textbook that hurt her pride so incredibly on the first day, using other texts to study the ingredients and cross-check the recipes.

Currently, however, she was doing none of those things. The chaise sat vacant while she stood in front of a full-length mirror just inside my periphery. I watched as she stood, looking at herself with a small frown on the lips I had just recently swollen with my kisses, and her hands settled on her hips. What felt like an eternity passed as she looked straight on, then twisted to view one side before doing the same to view the other side before repeating the process. Her pleated plaid school skirt flowed slightly with every pass. It was not only distracting, but it was also maddening.

I'd finally had enough when she turned her back to the mirror, and looked over her shoulder, no doubt about to repeat the same ritual from the other side. "What in the blazes are you doing?" I asked, turning to her. I managed to mask my frustration behind a facade of amusement.