Broken: a Draco Malfoy Love Story

Chapter 23 - Begged by Blaise

A/N: I am really, really sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up!! As always, any comments are welcome - they are a great way of helping me improve my writing and they encourage me to get new chapters up quicker. The support has been amazing lately, so thank you x

•••

By Friday, most people knew that Alexia was seeing Sullivan Fawley. It became a massive topic of discussion as it appeared that the two seeing each other was 'forbidden' and that Laurel Burke would never approve of. It wouldn't be long before the gossip would spread outside the school walls and eventually into the ears of Laurel who would be enraged at her rebelling daughter.

Alexia didn't care what her mother would think. Sullivan brought her pleasure and enjoyment, that's all that mattered. Her life was being destroyed, but with Sullivan, at least she was able to relax and forget about things when she was with him. And unlike Blaise, there were absolutely no strings attached, and unlike Draco, there were no serious feelings or drama to get in the way.

Alexia spent a good two hours, late in the night with Sullivan each night, and in the morning, Daphne would force her out of bed no matter how little sleep she got. Alexia would then have to use makeup to cover the small bruises on her neck and the dark circles under her eyes which were always one of her biggest fears. And with their O.W.L. examinations nearing, there was no time to concoct a potion to treat her skin.

On Friday evening, Alexia and Draco had their usual Inquisitorial Squad duties minding the school hallways. Lately, the Inquisitorial Squad members had been receiving much trouble. Some students had hexed Pansy Parkinson causing her to sprout antlers and Cassius Warrington had been hexed causing his skin to look like it was covered in corn flakes as he tried to dock points. The Inquisitorial Squad also weren't having much luck in finding the group that were secretly meeting at night somewhere unknown in the castle whom they assumed Harry Potter led.
Draco and Alexia decided to spend their evening on duty down the hallway from the Gryffindor tower, that way if any of the members snuck out, they would be caught.
"You coming to the Quidditch match tomorrow?" Draco asked Alexia.
"I can't," she said.
"Making the most of an empty school with Fawley?" Draco asked.
Alexia scoffed, "No, I'm not actually. I have an assignment I need to do." She told him.
"I see," Draco said, "How are things going for you two anyway?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because I'm interested, and I guess someone's got to look out for you," Draco said.
"I don't need you looking out for me, Draco," Alexia told him.
"You do, Alexia. You're seeing the one guy your mother hates the most, and we have exams soon, she'd want you to be focusing on them."
"I don't care what my mother thinks or what she wants! It's like I don't even exist to her right now!" Alexia said raising her voice.
Draco sighed; it was going to be a long night.

•••

On Saturday morning, almost the entire school made their way out into the grounds to watch the Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Even if it wasn't their house, all the fifth-years were desperate to get away from studying, but unfortunately Alexia, who had spent her free time over the week with Sullivan, needed to finish a Herbology assignment which she had been given an extension for. She had used her good-girl act to get the extension from Professor Sprout, telling her it was needed because of her frequent Inquisitorial Squad duties and that she wanted to make sure she did the best she could in the assignment to help her get a good O.W.L. for Herbology instead of rushing and failing. The assignment was due Friday and Professor Sprout only gave her until Saturday evening, but it was worth it.

She sat alone at a desk in the dark, empty Common Room. At a reasonable pace, she begun writing the introduction to her assignment on medicinal magical plants and how they could heal injuries and cure illnesses. The words didn't flow as nicely onto the page as they usually did and it seemed to take longer than usual. She was tired not only from the late nights with Sullivan but also from her unsuccessful duties the night before of which they still hadn't caught Potter's group, and she had one hundred things on her mind. The one thing that kept constantly bothering her was the thought of her father. He had been out of Azkaban for a month now and he still hadn't wrote to her. She thought she meant everything to him. But perhaps she was wrong - maybe his duties as a death eater were more important. Wouldn't writing a letter to her be one of his priorities as soon as he escaped? Didn't he feel bad for not being around for most of Alexia's life? He had missed out on over 12 years of her life and she knew it was rude and selfish to think such a thing because after all, it was because of his dedication he was sent away, but she couldn't help but think about it like that. All these years, Alexia had only had the support of one parent instead of two like most people, and although it took her a long time to admit it, she always felt upset and left out when she saw people her own age happily with their mother and father on either side of them. Sometimes she even felt envious of their carefree lives and wished she could replace her complicated life with a much easier one.

By the time Alexia had finished her assignment, she heard voices starting the fill the dungeons; the Quidditch match must have finished. From what Alexia could hear, Slytherin had won. The voices, cheers and clapping became louder, and Alexia only just made it to her dormitory to put her homework away before the crowd came pouring into the Common Room chanting "Malfoy! Malfoy! Malfoy!" as loud as they could.
Alexia put her books down then headed back out into the sea of silver and green in the Common Room. She spotted Daphne and weaved trough the crowd towards her.
"Hey Daph, we won I take?" she asked.
"Yeah! You missed out on a great game! Draco played great!" Daphne exclaimed.
Alexia nodded and looked over at Draco who was accepting a Butterbeer from an extremely desperate-looking girl. He flashed his famous grin as she twirled her hair and giggled at whatever he was saying.
"You okay?" Daphne asked.
"Huh? Oh- yeah I'm fine." Alexia said.
"Did you finish your assignment?"
"Yeah, I did. Hey, I might go get something to drink, want anything?"
"I'm okay, but I can get it for you Al!" Daphne insisted, surprised as usually Alexia would demand Daphne to go get her a drink.
"No, it's fine," she said, then hurried off over in the direction of the drinks.

She had almost reached them when someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned and was surprised to see Blaise Zabini.
"Hi Alexia," he said.
"What do you want?" Alexia snapped.
"Can- can we talk?" he asked her.
"Not really," Alexia said.
"Please, it's important!"
Alexia sighed, "It better be good," she said, then followed Blaise out of the Slytherin Dungeons and into the Main Dungeons.

Once they were away from the noise, Alexia felt slightly better. However, standing with Blaise Zabini seemed to make it just as bad. "Make it quick, Zabini!" she said, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Alright, look, I just want to talk about us..." he said, "Things ended pretty badly-"
"Blaise, things ended terribly!" Alexia exclaimed, interrupting.
"I know, I know, they did, and I don't expect you to forgive me ever for what I did."
"Good, because I'm not going to," Alexia interrupted yet once again.
Blaise slowly nodded then continued; "What I did was completely disgraceful and stupid. I haven't just lost you but I've lost Pansy, Daphne, all of you, even Nott. I regret what I did and I know Pansy does too, but what I really want to ask is... now that it's been some time since everything happened, could we at least be friends?" Blaise asked with deep consideration and concern.
Alexia gaped at him, "Do you think time has healed the pain you caused me for what you did?" she said, "Blaise, almost every day I think about what you told me that very last night we spent at the Astronomy Tower, it haunts me! Every day I think how foolish I was to trust you. You made me change who I was, you made me become someone I wasn't, and I still wonder to this day why I let you trample all over me!"
"Please Alexia, I can't stand this anymore! You used to tell me how you felt fulfilled when you were around me, don't you at least feel like we should be friends?" Blaise pleaded.
"I was immature and naive when I told you that!" Alexia told him. "I thought having a boyfriend completed my so-called perfect life but I know now that I was completely wrong! I don't need a boyfriend to feel fulfilled, and as for being friends with you, I don't think I can do that just now or at all Blaise, sorry. I want to be a powerful woman, but when you are around I feel like a weak, little girl." Alexia didn't really know where all the words she said had come from but it felt good to get them off her chest and to show Blaise she wasn't as easy as he thought.
Blaise was wordless; he didn't know what to say back to her.
"I'm going to go..." Alexia finally said, then she turned and headed back to the Common Room.

She had forgotten that their was a victory party going on in the Common Room, so the loud noise gave Alexia a small fright as she entered the room.
She briefly scanned the room; a few of the Quidditch players were standing over one side of the room dramatically reenacting part of the match to a group of impressed second-years who were laughing and cheering, and Draco was where Alexia had last spotted him however this time he wasn't just talking to the desperate-looking girl, but he was happily snogging her. Alexia rolled her eyes and began making her way through the crowd again.
She hadn't gotten far when suddenly Daphne appeared at her side.
"What were you doing with Blaise?" Daphne asked suspiciously.
Alexia frowned, "He just wanted to ask if we could be friends again," she said with annoyance.
Daphne raised her eyebrows, "Oh, really? Well, I guess that's good. It will be good for you two to move on and get on with your life."
"Get on with my life?" Alexia repeated, "Don't you think that's what I'm trying to do? And why does everyone think I've forgiven Blaise just because its been some time since what he did? I haven't and I won't for a very long time!" Alexia exclaimed.
Daphne's mouth fell open, "Al, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"
"Daphne, just be quiet before you say anything else you'll regret. I'm going to go give my assignment to Professor Sprout and find Sullivan. At least he makes me happy." Alexia huffed and stormed off. She just wanted the day to end.