I ignored the knock on the door an hour later just like I ignored it again the next morning.

I knew it was Draco. Who else would knock on the door of a prisoner?

The reason I didn't open wasn't because I didn't want to see him, per se. Neither was it because I was scared, or upset, or annoyed.

I simply didn't think it would benefit anyone if he saw me with a bloody scratch covering half my face. One that was inflicted by Voldemort, of all people.

The thing felt like it was still burning into my skin hours later, and I just hoped it wouldn't get infected. Though, taking a look at his fingernails, it wasn't far fetched.

Seeing as I couldn't even tend to it with magic; I was completely and utterly helpless when it came to the healing process. And I wondered how muggles had the patience to wait until their body healed itself. It was infuriating.

Two whole days had passed, and though the injury looked less painful now, it was still visible. And I didn't want it to be if I was to let Draco in here.

Which, on the other hand, is something I deeply wanted.

I sighed at the loud and forceful knock on the door, that was so very different from the house-elves ones. Theirs were gentle, and polite; making it easy for me to recognise when it was them bringing me my scarce meals.

Though, this time, words accompanied Draco's knock. That was a first.

"Are you mad at me?"

I huffed at the words, feeling guilt crawl up from within me.

"I'm sorry for fighting with you. I really just-" He cut himself off with a sigh, and I furrowed my brows as it grew quiet on the other side of the door.

Draco Malfoy, apologising?

"Draco," I began, guilt lacing my voice as I spoke. "I'm not mad at you, I promise."

"Well, why are we talking through a wall, then?" He wondered out loud, his voice irritated. I imagined his brows were furrowed slightly as he spoke.

My hand automatically reached for the scratch on my face, and I grimaced when a light pain shot through my body at the touch. Though, it quickly faded once I let go again.

I looked around the room, knowing I had to let him in if I didn't want my guilty conscience to eat me alive tonight.

I was already in bed, so I just decided to slip under the covers while burying the injured side of my face in the pillow.

"Come in, then, I'm sure you still have your wand to open the door," I gave in, and as soon as the words left my mouth, I heard the door unlock and open before closing again.

The boy was stood next to the bed before I could even process it, giving me a strange look once he faced me.

"Can't even go two days without me anymore, can you?" I teased in an attempt to distract him from my weird position. It seemed to work, for now at least, as he huffed in annoyance and rolled his eyes.

"Merlin, I forgot how insufferable you are," He joked, shaking his head as he sat down on the bed next to me, his gaze focused on the window.

"Clearly not that insufferable if you've come here and apologised. Never thought I'd see the day you'd willingly do that. Especially for something you didn't even need to." A small laugh accompanied my words, and I watched him turn towards me with an amused expression on his face, eyebrows raised.

"I just forgot how much I actually hate you," He laughed. "You know what they say; absence makes the heart grow fonder, or something like that."

I huffed in amusement at his words, this time it was me who rolled her eyes.

"Sure," I mumbled with a smile on my face, watching him turn towards the window again.

A comfortable silence accompanied his presence for a while.

It was one of my favourite things about Draco. The fact we didn't need to talk when we spent time together. The way it didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable, and how not a single conversation felt forced with him.

It's always been like this. Even back in the days we both couldn't stand each other.

His attention shifted back onto me soon after; even though I had my eyes closed, I could tell he was looking at me when he broke the silence.

"Why are you laying down so weirdly?" He asked, curiosity in his voice and one of his brows quirked when I opened my eyes to look at him.

"Weirdly?" I huffed humorously. "I'm just laying down. Nothing weird about it."

He sighed, shaking his head as he looked down on me.

"Jeez, is it really that hard for you to lie? Your whole body language is practically screaming 'I am lying'," He laughed, though his demeanour quickly changed to a serious one after. "What is it?"

He was watching me carefully, eyes going up and down my body once in hopes it would give him a clue.

"Nothing, really. Don't worry about it, please?" I requested, a pleading look on my face, though, of course, he wasn't going to give in on that. He was way too stubborn and curious for that to be the case.

Instead of listening to me, his hand reached out for my chin, cupping it gently, but not turning it like I imagined he would. I held our eye contact, noticing how his eyes filled with curiosity and compassion alike, though, soon after a mischievous smirk formed on his lips.

"What is it? You don't trust me?" He mocked, referring to what I said to him during our argument that day in his dorm; making me feel even more guilty.

I groaned in defeat, sitting up straight and therefore revealing what my right cheek looked like. The humorous expression on his face faded as soon as he saw it; his brows furrowing in worry as his lips slightly parted.

"What the fuck?" He simply exclaimed, moving closer to me and examining the way my face looked further. "Are you okay? What the fuck happened?"

"I'm fine, don't worry. It's been like two days n-"

He interrupted me quickly at the new piece of information. "Two days? And it still looks like this?" He muttered, though his voice became louder towards the end of his sentence.

"It's not my fault I couldn't heal it right away; your aunt took my wand," I huffed, annoyed by the fact. Before I even finished my sentence, his own wand was in his hand, and he carefully held it onto the rather deep scratch.

He muttered a spell I didn't actually know, the way it felt making me flinch at first. Heat seemingly pumping from his wand into my split skin, and, hopefully, fixing it.

"Would you hold still?" Draco muttered, biting his lip as he concentrated on that part of my face, gradually healing it.

I grumbled a few incoherent curse words under my breath whenever the heat became close to unbearable, though, like he requested, held still until he removed the tip of his wand from my cheek.

My hand immediately went to cup my face, feeling around for any leftover of the scratch, though, I didn't find any. And while relief spread across my face, it seemed quite the opposite was happening in Draco's head.

"Who did that to you?" He asked sternly, his lips a straight line as he got up to walk over to the window. His hands were propping him up on the window sill, supporting his weight while he looked out into the garden, back facing me.

A singular, humourless laugh escaped my lips, "The dark lord," I mocked, trying my best not to seriously think about what happened that day.

It was the only way I wouldn't go completely crazy thinking about his words; the way he threatened me still making me shudder whenever I did think of it.

Draco immediately turned back around at my words, taken aback by them and visibly gulping. His brows were still furrowed, though, this time in anger rather than worry.

"What?" He spat. I didn't take his attitude personally; I knew it was just directed towards me because I was the only one here.

He groaned lowly after, growing more irritated by the second. "I told them they should leave you the fuck alone-" He grumbled angrily, cutting himself off with another dark sigh.

I smiled slightly at his words. Words I surely wasn't supposed to hear.

"Don't take it personally," I huffed. "I'm pretty sure Voldemort doesn't really listen to anyone. Not even Draco Malfoy."

He shook his head at my words, his lip twitching into what could've been a smile before it was wiped off his face completely again. Seconds later, he was sitting on my bedside again, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Did anything else happen? Are you okay? I mean- mentally? Did he threaten you?" The silence following his words was an answer in itself, and he exhaled forcefully as he deciphered it.

"It's fine, really. I don't even-"

"-Nothing is going to happen to you, yeah?" He said sternly, his thumb rubbing circles on my cheek in a motion so relaxing, I was ready to close my eyes and fall asleep right then and there.

Though, instead, we held steady eye contact; I couldn't possibly tear my gaze away from his. It was too easy to get lost in the light grey of his eyes.

"I won't let anything happen. I promised your brother, and I'll promise you. You have my word."

What he didn't know was that I wasn't so much concerned for my wellbeing, but rather his own.

A/N: Isn't he just the sweetest lol

Action in the next chapter. I'm genuinely in love with it and can't wait to see what you guys will think!! It's got it all: bad bitch Y/n. Narcissa. Draco. Fighting. IM SO EXCITED

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of 2021. :)