✓ | RECKLESS AND BRAVE | Draco Malfoy

29 | CHRYSALISM

CHRYSALISM
(n.) the amniotic tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm, listening to waves of rain pattering against the roof like an argument upstairs, whose muffled words are unintelligible but whose crackling release of built-up tension you understand perfectly

TESSA COULDN'T SLEEP THAT NIGHT. Against her better judgment, she swapped her fluffy penguin top for a T-shirt and opened the door to their closet. She smiled mildly at the boy sitting there in the darkness. "Hey — busy thinking?"

     Malfoy grinned back, cocking his head to the side as he patted the empty space next to him. "Yeah — couldn't sleep?"

     "Yeah," she said, going over to sit next to him as she stretched her legs in front of her. "Ron and Hermione got in a fight again. I don't think they'll be making up any time soon."

     Malfoy snorted and rolled his eyes, but he asked anyways, "What happened to the lovebirds?"

     "I think Hermione's ugly cat killed Ron's rat."

     "That sounds," Malfoy paused to find a suitable word, his lips twitching, "tragic."

     Tessa couldn't help but to laugh at that, shaking her head to herself as she turned quiet again. She was letting her thoughts run as she stared at the door, not realizing that Malfoy was watching her until he spoke up.

     "I'm thinking," he started, "that I want to visit France one day, or maybe Spain or Italy or Greece — I don't know exactly. But I do want to try all those Muggle tourist things they do."

     Tessa glanced up at him in mild amusement and he flushed under her stare. "Really, now?"

     "I'd want to take lots of pictures and go sight-seeing. Taste their food and whatnot." His eyes shifted to her as he casually leaned over to smirk at her. "Get drunk as hell."

     Tessa snorted and rolled her eyes. "You're thirteen, Draco, what do you know about getting drunk?"

     A genuine laugh escaped him as he turned to fully face her. "Say that again," he said softly, a light grin still on his face.

     "Say what?"

     "My name — say it again."

     Tessa smirked and winked at him. "You wish, Malfoy. But anyways, go on with what you were saying."

     He chuckled deeply, shaking his head to himself but went on, "I'm thinking that I want to see the stars in all those places. Just lie down and watch the sky in a quiet place. With no one to tell me what to do, no one watching my every move — it would be such a blissful moment."

     Tessa smiled wistfully at that. "I think that sounds incredible, honestly. An escape from this world — imagine how peaceful that actually sounds. I'd love for that to happen."

     Malfoy turned to look at her. "I'm thinking that you wouldn't be such bad company."

     Tessa shifted her head to look right back at him. "I might be boring — I'll bring a book with me during the train rides around those places."

     He raised a challenging eyebrow right back at her. "And who says that I wouldn't as well?"

     Tessa laughed, focusing back on the door in front of her. "Professor Lupin used to be best friends with my mum. She was also friends with Harry's dad and Sirius Black, apparently Sirius was in love with her or something. I don't understand anything — the more secrets that have been spilled, the more tangled up the story gets. Everything is so confusing that I just — I don't — "