99 ways to say I love you- Draco Malfoy

No.17

Don't put yourself down like that

The tension between the couple felt to her like it had come from nowhere. You could barely even call it a tension, it was more a great big gaping distance, that seemed to her like it had no origin.

That was why her mood was so awful. Why she was sat with her head on Harry's shoulder in the Gryffindor common room, starting at the crackling fire and half asleep, having got no sleep the night prior.

Ron and Hermione were having an intense conversation that they insisted wasn't an argument over her late return after dinner due to her being with Viktor Krum.

It was a Friday night, and if it had been any other Friday she would have been gallivanting around the castle with Draco, or curled up in one of their dorms, his arms around her as he reads to her.

But it wasn't.

Professor Snape had caught them kissing on a Tuesday night and now three days later she had barely spoken two words to him, not from a lack of trying, instead from his choice to avoid her.

It was like it came from nowhere. He had sent her a grin and a wink when she entered the great hall for breakfast on the Wednesday morning, watched on as she walked to her table with Hermione, who was rambling about the latest romance novel she had read, and dropped into a seat opposite Ron.

And then nothing. He was already gone when she went to meet him to walk to potions together and so she had instead walked with Dean and Seamus. Her confusion had only doubled when she arrived to see her normal seat occupied by Blaise, who shot her a confused look as she instead sat down next to Neville. And it had been silent since.

He walked away when she approached him in the corridors. Refused to look at her no matter how close their proximity. Even went as far as to mutter an insult at Ron when he walked past, a habit she had forced him to stop.

It gave her a sickly feeling in her stomach. Almost like the one when he avoided her in first year.

"Em, how you feeling?" George questions gently, dropping down to a crouch in front of her as Fred, who wore the same look of concern at her quiet and off persona, perched on the arm rest of the sofa.

"Lonely," she mumbled out, not wanting to lie to the boys who were like brothers.

"Still no explanation?" George questions, shooting an angry looking Fred a look.

"Nope. Radio silence,"

"Want me to-"

"No Fred. I just want to talk to him," she sighs, smiling to Harry when he gives her knee a gentle squeeze, before turning back to Ron and Hermione's, admittedly funny, bickering.

"Looks like you might have your chance," Dean comments, he is sat on an arm chair, listening into the groups conversation, having been playing exploding snap with Harry.

She looks up to see him awkwardly standing in the door way, eyes scanning the room in search for her, the first year he clearly scared into letting him in walking briskly away.

His eyes land on her and their eyes meet for the first time and he feels his heart stop. Feels his whole world fall right back into place. He feels admittedly small under the collective glare from Fred, George, Harry, Dean and Ginny who had just entered from the girls dorms and was marching towards him.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" She shouts, pulling his eyes away from Emily's to be met with a fierce glare and set jaw.

"I just wanted to talk to Em," he admits, normally he would barge right past her, but he's vaguely aware that not only does he deserve this, he is in her turf and of course her protective friends will bite his head off for ruining the somber peace she had created for herself.

"And what makes you think you can do that anymore? You've ignored your girlfriend for three days and now you think you can just waltz on in here, into a place you aren't even allowed, and demand she speaks to you. That's not happening!" Ginny spits at him her words hurting slightly because he knows he deserves them.

"Look she really matters to me alright? And I fucked up and I know that. I'd like the chance to speak to her and try and work all of this out." He is all too aware that half the common room is staring at this point, and can see Fred Weasley stand up, his arms crossed and shielding her from his view. He feels very odd saying something so personal to such a crowd but if it meant getting to speak to her then he'd do it happily.

"And what have you ever done that means you deserve that chance?" Ginny demands, arms folded and a look in her eyes that almost reminds him of a mother scolding her children.

"Nothing. I don't deserve her for a second I know that," he admits

"Don't put yourself down like that," a familiar voice calls and he feels his heart skip a beat at her words.

"He's right," George protests, earning a tug of the ear from Hermione. Hermione felt an overwhelming urge to help her best friend get the rest of their friends on side for her relationship, seeing how happy Draco made her. Seeing how hard he tried to be better for her.

He watches as Emily rises from the sofa. She looks tired, like she hasn't slept, and he wonders if he's the cause of her sleepless night.

"Do you want to go talk, somewhere a little more quiet," she suggests, and he nods quickly, eager to have the chance to explain his obvious bad decision.

"Ill meet you up in my dorm," she states. He's quick to go upstairs, wanting to get away from the obvious staring.

The whole room watches as he quickly charms the stairs before heading up them quickly.

"Thank you," Emily smiles to Ginny who nods

"Don't let him walk all over you. Forgive him if it's what you want, but don't let him walk all over you," Ginny demands, pulling the girl, who was the closest thing to a sister the youngest Weasley had, into a tight hug before watching her follow the boy upstairs.

"You think they'll make up?" Harry questions their group

"I hope not. Little bitch doesn't deserve her," Fred mutters

"I think it's a little more complex than that," Hermione counters

"How so?" Ginny asks the question in everyone's head

"Well, they have all this history and it creates a tension between them. They clearly want to be together but their lives outside of school are so different, it's hard for both of them. She left the life he lives behind and that makes him feel like he doesn't have a place in the world she created, even though she would do anything to make him one. And she feels that in allowing herself to be with him she is betraying all of us and betraying the ideals of her new life, she feels guilty but she can't help that Draco is the person she wants, over anyone else," Hermione explains, being very in tune with her best friend

"Doesn't mean he deserves her," Fred grumbles, although it's clear they are all viewing the relationship a little differently than they previously had.