Hearts for the Heartless

After leaving Diagon Alley Draco decided to invite Blaise over to the Manor.

“I’m going to put this book away,” Alexandria muttered to Draco and he nodded, watching her walk off to her room; his eyes holding admiration and love in them. Blaise looked at his friend.

“She looks sick, mate,” He told Draco. Draco nodded sadly. Alexandria was paler than before, she had dark circles under her eyes from the lack of sleep. She was worrying about her father, he had only visited her once when she was unconscious. Other than that there were no words from him. She was losing sleep, he had to force her to eat sometimes.

“Her father’s missing,” Draco muttered lowly, “No one knows where he’s gone.”

Blaise nodded, “Are you two coming back to school this year..?”

Draco nodded again, “Yeah we are.”

The two boys silenced themselves when Alexandria walked into the room, Draco noted that she had changed. She was now wearing plain gray pajama bottoms and one of his old t-shirts. Her arm was free of the wrap so the dark mark along with the gashes and bruises were visible.

Draco cringed, a slight pang in his heart when he saw the cuts and bruises.

“Why’d you take the wrap off Ria?” Draco asked her as she sat beside him.

“It was bothering me, so I took the wrap off. Its not good to keep the wounds covered anyway,” Alexandria told him as she yawned and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Draco wrapped his arm around her shoulders and him and Blaise began to talk, Alexandria zoned out of their conversation. She began thinking about what Severus told her, she wouldn’t even have time for school this year. Snape was headmaster, and the Carrow twins were teaching. School would be stating in a week and a half and she was not looking forward to it. For most students it would be a safe haven, or a jail. For her it would be hell, work, and something to just slow her down.

The boys discussed school, neither of them seeming to be truly interested in going back. Alexandria would enter the conversation at random moments so the boys would know she was listening.

Eventually Alexandria began to drift to sleep and Blaise decided he should leave.

Draco lifted Alexandria in his arms and carried her to her room, setting her softly on her bed. He bend down and kissed her gently on the shoulder. He turned his back but before he could walk away he felt someone tug on the sleeve of his suit. He turned around and looked at Alexandria.

She gazed at him, her pale blue eyes staring into his gray blue ones.

“Stay,” She whispered, her voice sounding hoarse and tired. He nodded and held up his index finger to signal ‘one moment.’ He went to his room and changed into dark green pajama bottoms and an old Slytherin Quidditch shirt. He walked back into the room and noticed Alexandria staring at the ceiling. He crawled into bed next to her and she turned smiling softly at him. She scooted closer to him, clutching her hands together in front of her chest. He wrapped his arm over her waist and closed his eyes, breathing in her scent.
She leaned her head on his chest and clutched his loose shirt in her hands.

He noted she clung to him almost as if she were afraid he would slip away from her, and never come back.

Alexandria POV

I lay with Draco, his arm secured around my waist. I buried my head in his chest . I closed my eyes and quickly sleep surrounded me.

“You have failed Alexandria,” The Dark Lord voice was clear as it rang through the dark halls of Hogwarts. She didn’t know why she was there, or why the Voldemort was there either.

“My Lord,” Her voice trembled sounding as if she wanted to cry, “I did not fail. I swear to you –”

“Silence!” Voldemort hissed and I staggered back, “You have failed because your father failed! Do you know what must happen now?”

Alexandria stood up straighter, “I-I have to die?”

She didn’t mean to stutter, she wasn’t afraid. But the feeling of death being so near made her anxious.

“No,” Voldemort looked at her, his red eyes looking straight into hers.

In a blink her father appeared, dead at Voldemort’s feet. His face was pale and his extraordinary blue eyes were now so pale they were almost white. Around his neck Nagini was releasing himself.

Alexandra screamed and attempted to run forward, but her feet were stuck to the ground and she felt as if she was being held back. Arms circled themselves around her waist and she looked back to see Draco’s smiling face.
The next moment a green flash of light passed from Voldemort’s wand and and she was shoved aside, thrown onto the floor. From the floor she looked behind her, her brown hair sticking to her sweaty forehead.

Draco collapsed onto the floor and Alexandria let out a loud blood curling scream.

“No! No! Draco, not my Draco! No!”

Voldemort let out a sickening, cackling laugh.

She crawled over to Draco’s body, her hands shaking as she reached out and touched his perfect face. He felt cold, like all the heat from his body had instantly left him when he died.

Anger suddenly rose in her and she stood up quickly pointing her wand at Voldemort.

Her hand shook in front of her and Voldemort looked highly amused.

“Foolish girl,” He told her, “Not even Harry Potter could kill me.”

In another blink Harry Potter lay dead by Voldemort’s feet, his face full of bruises and cuts.

She choked on a sob and she began to slowly lower her wand.

“Kill me. Please just kill me,” She begged. Voldemort shook his head.

“That would be pleasing you my dear,” He told you, “With all your anger boiled up, you will be one of my best Death Eaters.”

“W-what makes you think I’ll still be loyal to you?” She questioned.

“Well who else is there to be loyal to? Potter is dead,” Voldemort stated, “Now dispose of the bodies.”

“No,” She said, her voice strong.

“Why do you care so much about them?” Voldemort hissed at me.

“Your own father never acted as if he cared for you, Harry Potter never loved you, not even as a friend,” Voldemort hissed venomously and I cringed, my heart giving a tight painful squeeze.

“And Draco Malfoy,” Voldemort hissed, “He never loved you. Only the power he knew you had. Your pureblood and your parents got along. Remember that fight you had? He said you didn’t care about your own dead mother?”

I recoiled, “You’re a liar!”
“Ask him yourself,” Voldemort lifted his long thin finger and pointed behind Alexandria where Draco, her father, and Harry Potter stood. They all had the same features as though they were dead, yet they stood in front of her.

“No,” I shook my head, “No! Stop this!”

I shook my head frantically, screaming. My heart hurt.

“Alexandria! Alexandria! Ria!”

I stopped screaming and broke out into sobs, burying my face in my hands and curling into a ball on the bed.

“Alexandria,” Draco’s worried voice called, “Alexandria, what’s the matter. You’re scaring me.”

I looked up to see Draco, his face pale and the sudden flashback of the dream scanned through my mind and I instinctively jumped backwards.

Hurt flashed itself over Draco’s face and he reached over to grab my wrist and softly pulled me over to him. I didn’t struggle this time, when his warm skin touched mine. The dream was still drilled into my mind and I threw my arms around his torso hugging him close. I closed my eyes tightly, not being able to cry anymore.

Draco wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and stroked my hair soothingly, murmuring ‘it was just a dream over and over again to me.

After I controlled my breathing, and my eyes no longer burned from tears I pulled away from Draco and looked at him.

He looked at me, curious and worried.

He whipped the dry tears from my cheeks with his thumbs and I closed my eyes, soaking in the feeling of his touch.

I opened my eyes after a moment and Draco was about to open his mouth to ask me something but I interrupted him.

“Do you love me?” I asked him, my voice small.

Draco’s mouth dropped open, “Why would you even ask me that? You… you mean so much to me you don’t even understand. I would die for you if it came down to it. I don’t feel like I deserve someone as great as you, as beautiful as you. You’re like my own angel, you saved me…”

I looked at Draco again, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. My heart swelling with affection.

I reached up and grabbed Draco’s neck pulling his lips down on mine. I put every single ounce of emotion into the kiss and he seemed to return it with the same ferocity. I leaned back on the bed, Draco hovering over me. He gripped my waist tightly with one hand while supporting his weight with the other. His tongue traced my bottom lip and I gladly parted my lips.

After another moment, we pulled away needed to breath. He rested his forehead on mine, panting slightly.

“I love you,” He breathed, “So much it hurts.”

“I love the way it hurts,” I muttered back to him, and he dropped on the bed beside me.

He looked at me and smiled lightly, reaching over and pulling my closed to him by my waist. He kissed my forehead, leaving his there for a moment like he always did.

“I love you,” He muttered to me, “I won’t ever let anything happen to you.”

“But there’s our only problem Draco,” I murmured to him, “Because I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Draco chuckled lightly and pushed some of my hair behind my ear.

“There’s no problem, this just means we’ll be together for a long time since neither of us will allow anything to happen to each other,” He said, smiling.

I grinned, “I love Draco Malfoy.”

He chuckled again, “And I love you Alexandria Nethers.”