Monsters

twenty five

"Maya... are you up?" Malfoy asks as he knocks on my door the next morning. I don't know when I fell asleep but my make up is all over my face.

"I'm up. Just give me a second to get dressed." I call out and wipe the make up off and get into my school uniform making sure to hide my arm under my robe.

It still burns.

I open the door and was met with Malfoy and his worried look. I smile up at his face reminding myself to act as if nothings wrong.

"Good morning." I say as I smile at him.

"Are you okay? You really worried me last night."

"I'm okay." I say but I guess it wasn't enough to convince him. I pause and look down at my feet. "I don't want to talk about it..."

"Okay." He says as he reaches out to me and I flinch.

"Are you scared of me?"

"No." I shake my head. "No, I'm not scared of you." I reach over and wrap my arms around him. He wraps his arms around me and lays his head in my neck.

"Can we go to breakfast now? I'm hungry." I ask and he nods.

"Everyone else left already." He says as he leans down and connects our lips. I kiss him back and instantly feel a whole lot safe for the first time since last night. He pulls away and the two of us walk to the great hall together, for the first time alone. We're getting some weird looks but neither of us seem to care. I'm grateful that he's acting as if he doesn't care that people are looking at us, even if he does, because it would be awkward if he's pushing me away.

When we walk in the great hall, I see Harry roll his eyes and Ron whisper something to Hermione. I roll my eyes and Malfoy nudges me. Im guessing he's saw that too. I look over to the Slytherin table and see Blaise, Theo and Pansy. I roll my eyes again when I notice Pansy again. Theo turns around and sees us, sending us a secretive smile as we continue walking towards them.

"They walk to breakfast together now?" Pansy asks Blaise, sounding very annoyed and.. mad?Blaise shrugs his shoulders in response. I sit down beside Theo as Malfoy makes his way to the other side of the table to sit across from me, beside Blaise. The guys were all talking about some drama that's going on with the Ravenclaws and joking around about random things. I wasn't in the mood to care about Ravenclaw drama and I didn't feel like joking around. I know Malfoy is keeping an eye on me to make sure I'm okay but I didn't expect Theo to pull me into a hug.

"Are you okay?" He asks me as he wraps his arms around me and pulls me to his chest.

"Yeah I'm okay. Just tired." I explain.

"Did you not get enough sleep last night?" He asks.

"No. Nightmares." I say. He squeezes me tighter and whispers "I'm sorry." In my ear. I nod and allow him to hug me because I felt safe at that moment.

"What the fuck is going on?" Pansy asks and Theo flips the middle finger up at her and keeps holding me in his arms. I buried my face in his chest so they can't see my face.

After we finish eating, the five of us get up and start heading to class. Malfoy pulls me aside as the group walks. I give him a smile and a confused look as to why he stopped me.

"Do you want to go to the room of requirements tonight and talk?" He asks.

"I don't want to talk but I do want to hangout there tonight. Can I just sit there while you work on the cabinet?"

"Yeah whatever you want." He says and we continue walking.

-

Classes were boring and long, and hard for me to focus. The tattoo on my arm was burning the whole day and I was trying to act as if I wasn't in pain the whole time. Malfoy barely left my side the entire day and we got some confused looks, some angry looks and some eye rolls but he didn't let it bother him. He just seemed genuinely concerned for me.

Hermione looks at me and I can see her turn and whisper to Ron and Harry. I could just hear what she says, she's not very good at whispering.

"Harry, your sister seems off today? Is she okay?"

"I don't know." Harry says, not even looking at me.

"Harry! She's your sister! You should go make sure she's okay."

"I warned her not to get involved with Malfoy and she did so it's not my fault." Harry says and Ron nods his head in agreement. Malfoy is sitting beside me and can also hear everything they're saying. I hear him slightly move in his seat a few times and I felt him move his leg closer to mine under the table to show that he's here and can hear what they're saying. I turn over to him and smile at him. He's being so protective even though he doesn't know what's going on. He's really making sure I know he's there for me.

One more class and I can have a break and hide away in the room of requirements. I don't have to pretend nothing is wrong with Malfoy but I don't want to tell him. I just want to say I'm tired and need a break from the world. I just want to be alone with him, and I want him to hold me. That's it.