SALEM ᵈ ᵐᵃˡᶠᵒʸ

xiv. Sweet Night

"THAT'S Scorpius right there, and. . .where is it—there!" Draco pointed. "That's Cygnus." 

"The Northern Cross, right?" I asked, raising a brow at him.

"So you do listen in Astronomy," he replied with a teasing smirk.

Rolling my eyes, I said, "Shut up. I have my moments. Plus, I read a whole book about constellations."

"Oh, really? Then which one's that?" Draco pointed at a familiar set of constellations on the far left. I squinted my eyes, drawing imaginary lines to connect the stars together and almost scoffed out loud once I recognized it.

"Draco, the dragon." I didn't even need to look at him to know how big his smirk grew.

"Flattering that you remember me so well, Lovett," he teased.

"Only because you keep boasting about it in Astronomy!"

"Yet, you remembered it."

I stared at him indignantly, feeling my face grow hot with embarrassment. Draco raised his eyebrows as he waited for my reply.

"Oh, fine," I said. "I guess. . .it's a pretty constellation."

"Only pretty?" he asked innocently.

"Don't push it, Draco," I laughed. "Come on, tell me more."

"Okay, uh. . .over there — you see it?" He began to trace the constellation out, connecting the stars to form a vague shape.

"Yeah," I said. "It kind of looks like you drew a stick-man without a head."

Draco let out a small laugh. "Sure, Lovett, but that's no man — that's Canis Major. And you see that star? That's—"

"Sirius," I murmured, my heart jolting upon seeing his finger stop at a familiar-looking star. "The brightest star in the night sky."

Draco lowered his arm slowly. From my peripheral vision, I saw the smile slowly slip off his face only to be replaced with a frown as he watched carefully.

"Did you know him?" he asked quietly. I sensed no malice or spite in his tone, only pure curiosity.

"Yeah," I said, smiling softly despite the somber silence that moved between him and I. "Only for a short amount of time, which sucks. It's not fair how people didn't get to see the good side of him — the only side of him. He never got to clear his name before he died, did you know? He was innocent. . .after all this time."

"I'm sorry, Badger," Draco said after a few seconds of pure silence. He sounded serious and sincere, though my mouth quirked up at the nickname he used.

"You have nothing to apologize for. It's not your fault."

He was still frowning when I looked at him.

"Hey," I said lightly. "Its's okay, Draco."

When I didn't get the reaction I was looking for, I huffed playfully, took his hand off the railing and held it in my own. He stiffened as soon as we made contact and stared down at our entwined hands as if he had never seen them before.

"Okay?" I asked him.

He squeezed my hand gently. "Yeah."

A toothy smile grew on my face. "Good. Now, I want to know who's been teaching you all these constellations. I didn't even know you knew so much."

Draco rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. A bashful smile graced his lips, making him look more endearing and less tired than when I first saw him earlier.