Little Memories

Charlotte involuntarily slept through the whole night, managing to ignore the intense, throbbing pain in her ribcage and the fact that her breathing was becoming more and more labored. Thankfully, she had a dreamless, still sleep. She probably would have woken up had she tried to move and shift around. She was warm enough, but hadn’t pulled up the covers. She had neglected to take off her jacket and shoes before she had fallen asleep.

“Do you think she’ll wake anytime soon?” A deep voice murmured somewhere near Charlotte’s feet as she slowly stirred. She drew in a deep breath, her groggy mind forgetting that she had potentially broken a few ribs. Her lungs pressed against the fractured bones and she let out a small whimper of pain, her eyes opening quickly as her hands flew to her ribs. Her hand was batted away by a hand that was not hers as her eyesight slowly came into focus and she glanced to the tall figures for a moment, their identities slowly registering in her mind.

“What are you two doing here?” She asked in a strained voice as she tried to keep from moving too much.

“You said last night that you thought you had broken a few ribs. So I brought Professor Snape, like you had asked,” Draco said from the foot of her bed as he gently removed her shoes, trying to avoid eye contact with her as much as possible. He had been the cause of her broken bones, and he didn’t know what he do or say if he looked at her.

“I didn’t mean for you to come, Draco,” Charlotte said softly, completely ignoring the older man in the room. She quickly interpreted Draco’s expression of a hurt one and explained herself. “It’s not that I’m not happy you’re here, but it’s too dangerous for you to stray too far from the Manor.” Draco merely stared hard into her eyes with such an expression of self-loathing that it hurt her to look at him any longer.

“I’m sorry,” the blonde boy breathed. “I’m sorry for doing this to you. I’m sorry for going against your word so frequently.” Professor Snape cleared his throat, reminding the two teenagers that he was still present in the room. Both Charlotte and Draco’s eyes flew to the man, who glanced between the both of them.

“If you please,” he spoke in his deep, drawn out voice, “I’d like to attend to Miss. Goyle’s broken ribs immediately and be on my way.” Draco merely nodded, as if he had been scolded, and left the room without another word.

A long hour passed quietly for Draco, who sat on the couch in Charlotte’s warm living room. His thoughts remained on the looks, the pained expressions that contorted her beautiful face when he had to torture her for something she didn’t even do. Never in his worst nightmares had he ever imagined hurting Charlotte physically. He had ended up slapping her the previous school term, but never thought of turning his wand to the girl he loved. Such things were unthinkable until now.

It took an hour for Professor Snape to leave the room, followed by a very pale looking Charlotte, still dressed in the clothing she had worn the night before. She closed the door behind her and slowly brought her eyes up to Draco, her pale pink lips curling into a slight frown.

“You’ll have to stay with her for a few hours to make sure she doesn’t have any adverse reactions to the potion I gave her,” the Potions master said, glancing over at Charlotte for a moment as she leaned back against the wall. “If said adverse reactions occur, I’ve left a bezoar on her bedside table.”

“Thank you, Professor,” Charlotte said in a weak voice after the wizard had given a nod for a goodbye and started toward the door. He merely paused and gave another nod before continuing on through the door. The cottage remained quiet for sometime after they heard him apparate away, staring at anything but each other.

“How are you feeling?” Draco asked finally once he brought his eyes to Charlotte. She looked up at him and let out a little sigh.

“Weak,” she murmured truthfully, “my joints and bones hurt.” Draco hummed lowly in disapproval.

“He fixed your broken ribs though?” He asked, trying not to let his disdain for the situation and for himself come through in his tone. Charlotte bit her bottom lip and nodded slowly, not tearing her eyes from Draco’s. Exhaling slowly through her nose, she pushed away from the wall and slowly walked over to the couch, sitting down beside Draco.

“I don’t blame you,” she said, gently taking Draco’s hand in hers. He continued to stare into her eyes. “There’s no doubt he would have killed you had he not done what he asked,” she added softly as she moved closer to Draco, close enough that their legs were pressed together. Draco frowned dramatically and shook his head, looking over at the crackling fire in the fireplace. Had it been daytime, the fire would have stifled them in the house, but Charlotte had managed to sleep until the early hours of the evening.

“Maybe…if I had been a bit braver…” He let his voice slowly die off. Charlotte stared hard at Draco and slowly lifted her hand, gently turning his head to face her again.

“You listen to me,” she said in a shaky voice, yet with enough force that made Draco look at her, “I don’t ever want you to sacrifice yourself because of me.” Charlotte sighed and cleared her throat before speaking again. “I’m a lot more tough that you think. I can handle more than a normal girl my age. I don’t want you to think twice about hurting me if your life is on the line.”

“But that’s not how it’s supposed to be, Charlotte,” Draco cried, abruptly pulling away from Charlotte. The slightly hurt look on her face had him stand and quickly stalk out of the room. He stopped in front of the double doors in the kitchen, fisting his hair in his hands. Charlotte stared into the fire for a moment before standing and following in Draco’s footsteps, biting in her lips. Draco watched her reflection in the glass panes of the double door; her knit brow, her pale lips, her worried expression. He let out a heavy sigh and continued to stare at Charlotte through the glass. “Its…not that I don’t understand what you’re saying, because I do,” he began, causing Charlotte to nod a bit. “I just…I hate that I have to do these things. I have to follow orders. I have to forgo spending the rest my summer with you, just because we’re on a hunt for Potter.” He paused, since he felt his anger was getting the best of him.

The cottage remained quiet for a few moments before Charlotte slowly wrapped her arms around Draco’s torso from behind, resting her chin gently on his shoulder. She looked up at him in the reflection in the mirror and managed a small smile for him.

“Draco,” she whispered, “believe me, within a year’s time, this will all just seem like a bad dream. All we’ll have of this time will be fond memories of the good times with intermittent bad times.” Draco gave her a small, short lived smile as he looked at her in the reflection in the double doors. She leaned forward and kissed his jaw gently, breathing in the smell of men’s cologne that she knew Draco wore religiously and smiling widely. “I promise you,” she breathed in his ear, “we’ll persevere through this.”

The blonde boy smiled at her words and her warm breath tickling his ear. He turned in the girl’s arms and slowly brushed her straightened strands of hair away from her face, seeing that a bit of color had returned to it in the time they had talked. He let out a content sigh and leaned forward, pressing his lips against her brow as he wrapped his arms around her.

“We could work out a way for you to stay here until the start of school,” she whispered after a few silent moments passed. Draco pulled away slightly and looked over her face with a crooked grin.

“Really?” He asked, feeling like a child who had just been given permission to enter a candy story or getting a new toy. Charlotte nodded and smiled back up at him.

“I think you probably need to get away just as much as I do. You deserve a little bit of vacation and we could just have your mother send word should Voldemort visit the Manor,” she said softly, proud that she could make Draco smile with a few simple words. Draco merely looked over Charlotte’s face for a few moments before leaning forward and pressing his lips to hers briefly.

“I’ll be back within the hour,” he murmured against her lips, sending shivers down Charlotte’s spine. He pulled away from the girl reluctantly and nodded a bit. Charlotte glanced up to him, left in a bit of a daze from the way Draco’s lips felt against hers, and managed a small hum in response. The boy then turned and made for the door, glancing back over his shoulder to Charlotte, who was watching him with a wide smile on her lips, before leaving the small cottage and disapparating away.