"Severus told me you'd come by," Madame Pomfrey said calmly, leading me into the infirmary, Draco in the only bed occupied. "He was about to get right back up and look for you as soon as he was in bed." She explained his unconscious state, seeing as he was very much conscious when he left the bathroom. "So, I've given him some sleeping draught. Shouldn't last longer than a few more minutes. Go on, dear. Sit." She hushed, pointing towards the chair next to his bed.

I sighed, a grateful nod all I could spare as I sat down on it. She understood and hurried back out of the room and into her office without another word.

He almost looked normal again. The only distressing thing about him the dark bloodstains on his white Shirt.

My eyes diverted off of him, instead roaming the empty room while I hung after my thoughts.

Thoughts leading me to think about what could've happened if Snape hadn't walked into the bathroom. If he hadn't known the counter curse to whatever Harry cursed Draco with in the first place.

Imagining it was enough to make me shudder, my body trembling slightly.

And even though Snape was ultimately the reason why Draco had been trying his best to ignore and avoid me, he was also the only reason he was still alive. And the only reason why I was able to sit next to him right now.

I caught myself wondering whether he had the mark, too. Whether Dumbledore knew; whether the Order did.

A loud groan snapped me out of my thoughts, my head turning towards Draco. He looked exhausted, his eyes barely open as he stretched once, not having noticed me yet.

Once he did, his eyes snapped open fully, locked with mine as he sat up straight in the bed, his back leaning against the rest.

"Y/n?" His brows furrowed, and he squinted his eyes shut for a moment, adjusting his vision that I'd bet was still a little blurry.

"Draco," I huffed, head tilted slightly.

"You're here." He sounded confused, the tone in his voice matching his facial expression perfectly.

"Clearly," I nodded, raising my arm in front of me and eyeing up my own body to demonstrate I was, with a small smile on my lips.

"Why?"

I furrowed my brows at his inquiry, wondering why the question was even necessary in the first place. The reason I was here was obvious. To me, at least.

Was he so used to nobody caring about his well being, at all?

"You almost died, Draco." My voice was soft, laced with confusion and, most importantly, guilt, knowing it was my own brother's fault.

"Maybe I had it coming," He scoffed, trying to sound amused, though the words came out entirely too serious for that.

My eyes inevitably snapped to his left forearm, lingering there for no longer than a mere second. But he noticed, anyway, sighing loudly.

"How are you feeling?" I asked quickly. It was a stupid question, but the only one I could come up with quick enough to avoid a conversation about the mark.

All this time; all I wanted was to know what was going on with him. And now that I did, I'd do anything to forget- have him just be the irritatingly handsome asshole again. The one that wasn't a death eater.

I avoided his gaze, knowing his eyes were piercing into the side of my head, hoping I'd turn to face him. I couldn't get myself to. I'd crumble under his gaze the second we made eye contact.

He laughed dryly at my attempt. "We don't have to retort to small-talk to avoid the actual conversation." He cleared his throat once. "I know this-" I felt him lift his arm just the tiniest bit, the movement making me turn towards him. Though, his attention was entirely on his arm. "Is kind of a dealbreaker." A singularly humourless laugh accompanied his words, his eyes snapping back up to me to find me looking right at him.

There was a long, deafening silence between us. Neither of us saying a word, our chests rising and falling at the same time, at the same pace.

"Did you mean what you said in there?" I burst out, not being able to stand the silence and the intense eye contact that was getting us nowhere.

He swallowed thickly in return, finally diverting his eyes to look at nothing in particular to his left. "I mean, when you said you lov-"

"I know what you mean," He snapped harshly. "I don't need your pity, Y/n. I don't need you to feel bad for me, to feel like you have to be here just because of three stupid words I shouldn't have even said in the first place."

"You're a real jerk sometimes; you know that?" I huffed angrily, frustration and anger building up in the pit of my stomach as I spoke.

"Yeah, well-" He interrupted himself, his head snapping back in my direction, eyes on me just for a second before they flickered to his arm. "It's probably why I have this," He continued. "And why I don't have any friends, why people deliberately choose to stay away from me. The reason why you-" His voice cracked towards the end of his sentence, interrupting his rambling before a loud groan escaped his lips.

"It's stupid what you said then, is it?" I asked, biting the inside of my cheek to keep myself occupied, and, therefore, calmer as I referred to his previous statement.

"I'm not even sure I know what love is. And you're asking me whether I'm in love with you?"

"Well, you said it for a reason, didn't you?" The tears accumulating in my eyes out of sheer frustration were stinging, begging me to let go of them for a second time today.

He squeezed his eyes shut forcefully, his hand running through his hair, breath shallow. "I don't even know if I'm capable of love- if I deserve it!"

He took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself down with his eyes still closed.

"I know I am," I mumbled. "And I know you deserve mine, well, if you want it." The words accompanied by a single tear rolling down my cheek.

His brows furrowed before his eyes opened, one at a time and slower than I expected them to. I didn't see in them what I was hoping for. No relief, no little smirk forming in the corner of his mouth.

He looked at me blankly, instead, taken aback and not quite sure what to say.

"You-?" He began, though he wasn't even sure how to ask.

"Yeah." I huffed shakily, a dry laugh escaping my mouth in hopes it would help cover my embarrassment.

He gulped, eyes on his forearm once again, lingering there for a moment before looking back at me.

"Why?" He asked, his lips twitching into a small smile that was wiped away again right after. A gesture that displayed so much; Confusion, shock, and the relief I was hoping to see in the first place.

"To be honest," I began, finally feeling the unpleasant tension between us crumble as the both of us relaxed. "Still trying to figure that one out. You're insufferable most of the time," I shrugged playfully, watching him roll his eyes in the same manner.

"Funny," He huffed. "That's just what I was going to say about you."

He leaned forward, grabbing my arm to pull me towards him. I stumbled out of the chair, rather clumsily falling on top of him; earning me a painful hiss coming from him.

"What did you expect to happen, Draco?" I wondered out loud, a grin on my face, though my cheeks were tinted a slight pink. "You okay?" I propped myself up, finding a position that was more comfortable and less compromising for both of us.

The smirk on his face told me he was doing just fine, with my legs on either side of him, sitting on his lap while my arms were locked behind his neck. He sat up a little straighter, his hands going to cup my ass, but instead pulling my wand out from beneath my waistband.

I wanted to protest, though quickly let it be when he simply jinxed the curtain between us and the entrance shut. He let my wand carelessly fall to the ground after, the sound of it hitting the floor, earning him a scowl.

But the way his lips felt on mine just moments later made me completely forget about that. They were soft; gently, lovingly, moving against my own.

My eyes fluttered shut, my heartbeat picking up while the knot in my stomach tightened with every second passing, and I smiled into the kiss just moments before he did, too.

"I do love you," He whispered against my lips, disconnecting them just for a moment to look at me, his forehead resting against mine.

And just as the words left his mouth, I kissed him again. A bright smile on my face as I deepened the kiss, wishing we could just stay like this forever.

✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:*✧

For obvious reason, Draco was more exhausted by the fight than he first lead on. He fell asleep no more than twenty minutes later, a faint smile on his lips.

I made myself as comfortable as I could on the chair next to his bed again, watching his chest rise and fall evenly, while the sight of his smile brought one to my lips every time.

If only things were as easy as they seemed to be right at this moment.

I dreaded thinking about how things would go from here, how I'm supposed to bear the thought of him doing all this, so Voldemort doesn't kill me.

I didn't want Draco to go through all of this because I might die if he doesn't. I just didn't know what I could do to get that through to him.

The sound of the heavy wood door opening snapped me out of my thoughts, and I immediately grabbed my wand and opened the curtain with it to see who it was.

My rather tense facial features fell, relaxing as soon as I saw Wren.

My best friend and I locked eyes immediately, and she stormed the remaining distance over to me to throw her arms around me with a heavy sigh of relief.

"Everyone's talking about what happened! Are you-" She began, her voice panicked and loud, making me interrupt her, my finger on my mouth as I shushed her.

Her eyes followed my gaze towards Draco, who, to my relief, was still sleeping soundly after rolling over to the other side of the bed.

She nodded knowingly and then asked in a loud whisper once more. "Are you alright?" Her eyes scanned me, lingering on the dried blood on my clothes that wasn't actually mine.

"Yeah," I breathed out. "I'm just fine. It's not me Harry tried to kill," I continued in hopes it would lighten the situation. Though, all it resulted in was Wren giving me an apologetic smile.

Her eyes flickered through the empty room, landing on a chair in the corner of it that she summoned lazily. The chair levitated over to us, touching ground just a few inches from my own before the girl sat on it.

"What actually happened? Moaning Myrtle wasn't very descriptive when she passed along the message," Wren explained, her hand gently rubbing first my shoulder and then my back.

"Harry went absolutely mad," I huffed, feeling my anger towards him come back up to the surface now that I was reminded of it. "He almost killed him, Wren. You should've seen what Draco looked like after that spell hit him. I've never seen anything like it."

Her brows furrowed, eyes flickering over to Draco.

"But he's alright now?" She asked, a hint of concern in her voice that made me smile just slightly. Her eyes lingered on the sleeping boy for a while longer before snapping back to mine.

"He's alright, yeah."

She huffed in relief. "Well, didn't think he'd let Harry Potter, of all people, kill him," She said with a hint of amusement in her voice. "He'd come back as a ghost, and we wouldn't hear the end of it."

The thought made a giggle escape my lips before she continued.

"Not such a saint now, your Potter, is he?" She mimicked Draco's voice, a stifled laugh coming from her lips right after.

"That was an awful impression," I laughed lowly, shaking my head at her attempt. "Thank you for being here."

Her laughter that had filled the room quickly faded, her eyes meeting mine before she sighed loudly.

"I'll always be there, Y/n. You're my best friend," She said honestly. And something in her voice made me feel like at the end of the day; everything would end up being alright.

One day everything would be.

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. The comforting smell of vanilla lingering in her hair making me relax. "But you don't have to stay all night just for me," I mumbled into her shoulder, slowly letting go of her with a smile.

"I'm staying for him," She said casually, her head turning to look at Draco.

A big grin spread across my face, and a humoured expression accompanied it as I waited for her to look back at me. She raised an eyebrow once she did.

"What?!" She asked, rolling her eyes. "He might be a pain in the ass, that doesn't mean I wouldn't miss him if he was, you know-"

"Yeah," I breathed out, my head tilting with a smile on my lips before diverting my attention off of her and onto Draco. "It's okay, Wren. I won't tell anyone you've grown attached to him," I giggled, my eyes still on him.

"You better not," She mumbled in amusement before a comfortable silence came over us.

A/N: I LOVE THE SILVER TRIO PLS KJHGFHJ

special 5000+ Chapter for Christmas coming tomorrow!! Get ready for smut halfway through jbhvgf hehe

(If you're uncomfortable with smut, don't worry I'll put a warning before it starts and then you can skip that part)

Anyway, Merry Christmas eve!!