Princess Midnight and the Son of the Moon (Draco Malfoy fanfic){Completed}

Chapter 12

Draco's POV

I put the last bit of salad in my mouth before we were released from dinner. Many students liked to stay behind and finish their studying in the Great Hall, but I always had my homework done before the meal began.

My hand traced the wood carvings in the wall of the corridor, until I heard footsteps behind me.

"Draco," a voice said. It was Anastasia.

"Yes?"

"It's been a week since our last study session. Have I just been missing your notes or have you not been writing them?" She looked at me questioningly, but she already knew the answer.

"I'm not going to be your tutor anymore."

"You should probably tell someone if you're just not gonna study with them. I feel stood up."

I grumbled and kept walking, but she followed me. "I don't need to tell lesser people what I do."

"No, right. I totally get that. Me, on the other hand, you should tell," she teased.

"Look, you need to learn your place here, alright? I'm a pureblood. You're a muggle-born. You're below me and that won't ever change because filth courses through your veins and-"

"Is it raining?" Her face lit up with a soft smile as she saw droplets chasing each other down the window.

"Anastasia, I don't kn- who cares? Did you even hear me?"

She slipped her fingers in my hand and began leading me out the door. I yanked it from her and she just grabbed it again, not removing her gaze from her desired path.

Once we were outside, she ran out into the grassy field, dragging me behind her. She stretched her arms out on either side of her and tilted her face towards the sky, closing her eyes and letting raindrops soak her skin. Her skin. It was smooth and, just under her eyes, her cheeks were spotted with freckles. As she leaned back, her dark hair swayed with the breeze. The wind didn't seem like an adversary, pushing against her or tearing her down. It almost seemed as if she herself was the wind.

She moved her head back down and the purest look of contentment covered her face. She looked at me with so much joy that my expression softened on impulse. I was trying so hard to be angry and I had no idea until now that I didn't really feel it.

"Isn't beautiful, Draco?"

"Rain? Rain is usually depressing and annoying," and that was the truth. Jogging inside at the first sprinkles of bad weather-"bad" weather- was an instinct. However, being pulled straight into the storm by a girl that seemed to belong there gave even pure darkness a different meaning.

She must have sensed that it didn't feel anywhere near depressing or annoying to me now, because she didn't try to change my mind. "I'm never allowed to stand in the rain when I'm at home," her face became sad for a moment and then brightened again. "Will you stay here with me for a while?"

Thoughts swirled through my mind. Reasons. Objections. But I could barely hear them. "Yeah," I nodded. "Yeah, I'll stay with you."

A tug on her shirt tore her from me and I noticed Harry Potter and his two followers had just come outside.

I could only make out some words in their whispers: "Why are you...bad news...bully...careful."

I stomped to where they were, pushing the princess out of the way just as she said, "he's not that ba-"

"You're just so obsessed with me that you have to follow us out into the rain?"

Hermione stepped towards me and crossed her arms. "We're trying to keep her safe."

"From what exactly?"

"From you, ferret."

"Now you better watch your tongue, you disgusting mudblood," I stepped forward, but a hand grabbed my arm. I flipped around to see Anastasia looking up at me with disappointment.

Harry hugged Hermione while Weasley stepped forward, swinging to punch me in the face. "You take that back, Malfoy! Take it back!"

I shoved him onto the ground and jogged after Anastasia who had already been walking away.

"I-I'm not-" I grabbed her shoulder to force her to turn around. "I'm not evil. I'm really not." I had just told her the opposite of everything I'd been trying to since the day I met her.

"I know... Of course you aren't evil. It's not black and white, hero or villain. We all have some good and bad in us. Even Harry has darkness in him," she shrugged towards the trio behind me.

I scoffed. "Potter. He's not so perfect."

"But," she started, "some have more evil in their heart than others. And you have to understand the path you're going down before it takes over." Her fingers gently brushed over my chest and tears filled my eyes as she walked back into Hogwarts.

I could hear Ron's footsteps close behind me, but I rushed inside before I had to deal with the three of them again.

A tear fell onto my cheek. Usually I would have cursed her for making me feel. I couldn't explain to myself why I followed her, why I cared so much that she believed in me. I hated coming to terms with my own emotion, but the way that she made me feel all of it was intoxicating. I had never felt more at home than when I was standing there just now. And those three had to ruin it, just like they've ruined everything since the first day at Hogwarts.

My father had wanted me to be friends with Potter from the beginning and when I failed, I never heard the end of it. He truly did run my thoughts. When your father obsesses over another boy your whole life, it's hard to think of that boy as any more than your worst enemy.

I didn't want my own home anymore. It was lonely. I wanted to find a home in someone else. And seeing the freckled face smiling in the rain gave me hope of finding that. It was terrifying. And I couldn't stay away.