Altered for the Altar

This doesn’t feel like a date. I don’t know how dates are supposed to feel, but I know that I should probably be more nervous. However, my mind isn’t rushing around in all directions. I’m focused on the humorous story Draco is telling me from his spot on the blanket and the blonde haired man himself.

Maybe it’s the way his eyes are glittering or the way that pretty smile hasn’t ever been so big... Whatever is the reason for Draco to be so happy right now, I decide that it’s something I wish he experienced more. The young man sitting close to me right now is not the one I’d first met weeks ago. This person was completely different from that darker one, drastically so, and I almost want to go in search for a camera because this is something I know could be gone in seconds.

“Alright, so maybe my story was that interesting, but you can’t deny that it was funny!” he exclaims, laughing as he reaches for a triangle sandwich.

“No, it was! I just… I’ve never seen you so happy before. It’s nice,” I say.

With his eyebrows raised, he sends me a bashful grin and swallows the bite he’d taken. For a few seconds he doesn’t look at me, instead choosing to regard his half-eaten sandwich with his gaze. His fingers fiddle with the crust and he continues to wear a rather embarrassed smile that makes one of my own push onto my lips.

When he does looks up, he fixes me with a stare that makes the familiar sensation of fire start to bubble in the pit of my stomach. I clasp my hands together in my lap and try not let my smile widen too much at the pretty man now watching me with a fond expression on his handsome face.

“You really do pay attention, don’t you?”

I nod. “I told you I do.”

Draco reaches over and tucks a few strands of my short hair behind my ear before letting his fingertips trail over the left side of my face. I lean into his palm, almost shutting my eyes because the sensation of his skin against mine is relaxing.

“This is different,” he murmurs. When I furrow my eyebrows and pull away, he smiles just a bit. He withdraws his hand, throws the rest of his sandwich out into the rain, and then shifts so he can sit closer to me. “I never expected to like you so much.”

I frown. “Well, what a pleasant thing to say.”

He chuckles and clutches my hand, tilting his head to the side. His eyes shift down to where his thumb is running over my knuckles.

“These types of stories are never told with a happy ending, Elizabeth. Don’t you know that? The bridegroom is usually a pompous arsehole and the bride is almost-always an airhead in it for the money,” he explains.

“That’s not the way I’ve heard them told,” I say. Draco prompts me to go on with a playful grin. “The groom is always a gentleman and falls in love with his bride almost immediately. But the bride, she’s a little bit nasty, but only at first. Once the groom explains that he’d prefer to her to just be happy, then she starts to fall for him as well.” When I finish, Draco’s smile is expanding and his eyes are sparkling with mischief. “I think they’re lovely stories!”

Draco laughs loudly at this and gives my hand a squeeze as he moves himself even closer. I can clearly make out the specks of dark green that have been hidden around his pupils.

He uses his free hand to scale up to my cheek as he continues to grin rather widely.

“It sounds pleasant,” he murmurs.

I roll my eyes and pull away from him, feeling as my cheeks heat up.

“You think it’s foolish,” I remark.

“No!” he laughs. “No! Honestly, Elizabeth, it sounds like a fantastic story. I like stories where people fall in love. They’re much better than all this darkness we live in now.”

I let him pull me into his chest, where I settle with my back against him, my hands beginning to toy with his right one as he seems rather content with just watching me.

For some time, nothing is said. The rain outside the cave we’ve huddled in is calming and effectively making me drowsy while the warmth emitting from Draco’s lean body is enfolding me like a cozy blanket. The kisses he plants into my hair every so often aid in making a lazy smile appear on my lips.

The whole day is perfect and I wish we could stay like this, without interruption by the bad things I know are lurking closer and closer the longer Draco and I hide away in the cabin.

“Why do you cry in your sleep?” The question makes me upturn my head to glance at Draco, my brows furrowing as I try to figure out what he means. “At night,” he starts again. “You cry. It’s really quiet, but you’ve been doing it for as long as we’ve been here. Are you scared?”

I try to think of the dream I had last night, but can’t remember anything prominent. I don’t remember having a bad dream (or anything that I dreamt last night), but clearly am able picture the horrible episode I had the night before. I shudder a little bit at the images that quickly flash through; Draco gently rubs his hand up my arm.

“Yes, I am afraid,” I admit quietly.

“I don’t want you to be,” he lowly whispers. “I wish I could promise that nothing will happen again, but you’d know that was a lie. So all I’m going to say is that I’m going to do everything I can to keep you safe, alright? I promise.”

Again, the thought to be taught how to use a wand pushes through to the front of my brain. I remember the way he’d smoothly diverted around the topic when I’d first asked him and wonder if he’d do it now should I bring it up once more.

I’m hell-bent on learning how to use one of those instruments, whether I have to learn by myself or recruit another person to teach me.

“I could keep you safe too,” I whisper. When I look up, Draco is smiling at me warmly, but I can tell he has misread my reply. I right myself in a sitting position and lean forward, the palms of my hands pressing into the blanket we were resting on. “If you taught me how to use a wand, then I could keep help you.”

“Elizabeth, I—“

“Draco, you have trust me. I… I don’t want to feel so helpless anymore. I want to be able to keep you safe too, but I can’t do much if I’m not on the same playing field as everyone else in this world.”

My cheeks have begun to burn red and I feel the blush eating its way down my neck, but I don’t care. Keeping Draco safe and unharmed was something that had lit a stubborn drive through me, and I was determined to do whatever it took to ensure I was successful.

I’m not sure if I love him yet, but I knew, without a doubt, that this boy had me wrapped around his finger; I’d do absolutely anything for him.

“I do trust you, love,” he murmurs. “If you want me to teach you, then of course I will. As soon as we get back to the manor, I’ll arrange for you to get a wand.”

Immediately after his comply to my wishes, I lean in and press a heated kiss to his lips, gripping the sides of his face gently. When I pull away, I grin widely and pepper more on his mouth. He chuckles as his big hands come to rest on my hips.

“Thank you,” I whisper afterwards, my forehead resting against his and my eyes closed.

Draco just grins wider before pressing me to his chest once more and capturing my lips with his, the slow way he moves them drawing a low whine I can’t consciously stop. But as I feel my cheeks heat up at the sound, it seems to have the opposite effect on Draco. He lets out a growl before clutching me even closer and allowing his tongue to skim across my bottom lip. When I allow him in, he works so skillfully that it makes me lightheaded.

Oxygen, though, is a need and it seems to have dwindled quickly after things heated up. Draco pulls back slowly and releases my bottom lip from his with such an ease that I nearly let out another whimper. He seems content with giving me what I want, but as I feel his soft lips skim over my again, a loud clap of thunder jolts me away from him with a squeak.

Draco draws me back into his chest by wrapping his arms around my waist for the countless time this afternoon and glances up to the sky with me. Its dark, the traces of lightening the only source of light in the otherwise black sky. I shiver a little while Draco hugs me even closer.

“Come on,” he murmurs down to me. When I look at him, he’s watching me with darkened eyes. “We should get back before it gets too bad.”

I nod and licks my lips, and this seems to have been somewhat problematic for Draco because he growls once more before quickly and heatedly catching my lips.

I chuckle as he pulls back with a wide grin and then begins to search for the picnic basket.