Love's Decisions

*three days later*

“Your Easter holidays are almost over sweetheart. Have you got anything you need for school?” Narcissa asked. I bit my lip as I thought of all of the equipment I had.
“I need a few bits and pieces” I replied, picking at my toast. I hadn’t really had much of an appetite lately. I was honestly afraid to live in this house with a maniac like Draco living inside it. I hadn’t told anyone what happened. For one – they wouldn’t believe me. And even if they did, I was sure they’d take their darling Draco’s side.
“Well Draco is going to get his things tomorrow. Why not go with him?” she asked, unaware of what had gone down last time I went shopping with Draco and his friends. I smiled
“Actually I’ll be a little busy tomorrow. I think I’ll just go today” I responded, throwing away my unfinished breakfast.
“Ok dear. Take some floo powder from the pot and make sure to be back in a few hours” Narcissa responded, before attending to her own work. I nodded and escaped into the living room quickly. I threw a handful of floo powder into the fireplace, yelled Diagon Alley, and stepped into the warm flames.

I headed towards Gringotts first to get some money out, and then decided I would go to Madame Milchins to get a new set of robes.

*30 minutes later*
I breathed fresh air and was glad to finally be out of the twisting and turning tunnels of Gringotts. I felt like a kid in a candy shop as I felt my bag filled with coins, ready for me to spend.
I was about to walk towards the robe shop when I saw someone familiar out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look at him and our eyes connected, before we both ran towards each other. I had a grin on my face as Blaise pulled me into a hug
“Where have you been?” he asked breathlessly. I was about to tell him that Draco hadn’t exactly approved of our get together, but decided that Blaise would probably start up an argument, Draco would find out that I’d met up with Blaise again, and most likely curse me. Instead, I offered Blaise a fake smile
“Sorry, things have been hectic at the manor” I replied, as Blaise and I started walking towards the shops. Blaise smiled, foolishly believing my lies
“It’s ok. I got something for you” he replied, before handing me a small pouch. I pulled the draw strings apart to open the pouch, and shook the contents into my palm. A small silver necklace tumbled out into my hand, with a blue oval sapphire surrounded by small white crystals. There was an encryption that read in the back “it’s better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved before”. I smiled as I looked up at Blaise
“It’s beautiful” I responded, hugging him. Blaise grinned and hugged me back, before helping me put on the necklace. I put my hand in his, and we continued to do our shopping.

***

I knew something was wrong the instant my feet touched Malfoy Manor. My initial happiness of having spent the day with Blaise slowly ebbed away as I heard commotion. There was shouting and screaming coming from the library. I quickened my pace as I headed towards that area, before crouching down near the library door, which was slightly ajar. From the small portion of the room that was visible, I could see Draco backing up against the wall, before another hex was fired at him. I wasn’t sure whether I heard right, or whether I didn’t want to believe what I heard, because I had interpreted the word “crucio” coming from a familiar voice as the hex was fired. I leaned in further to see that it was in fact Lucius, who held his wand high. He shot another spell at Draco, again shouting crucio to worsen the pain. Draco groaned and fell to his knees, his palms resting on the floor as he shivered.
“You’re weak” Lucius hissed. “You think you can follow after the Dark Lord? You’re not Slytherin material. You just act like you can rule the world” Lucius spat disgustedly “When really, you can’t even kill someone” he mimicked in a baby-ish tone. Draco groaned as Lucius shot another spell at him, causing Draco to fall onto his side.

I covered my mouth with my hand, tears stinging at my eyes. I wanted to go and help him, but I was sure that if I did, I would end up next to Draco on the floor.
“I’ll tell you one thing Draco. If you don’t take after the Dark Lord, there’s no place in this house for you. You’re pathetic” Lucius hissed, before walking out of another door and slamming it behind him.

I entered the room quickly and knelt beside Draco, my hands hovering frantically above him, not knowing what to do. He groaned, cuts and bruises covering his pale face. I let the tears fall as I sat on the floor and raised my knees, before putting Draco’s head on my lap and stroking his face lightly. I didn’t know how to make it better. I called a house elf, who appeared beside me. She seemed shocked as she saw Draco.
“Could you…” I started, my voice sounding thick due to the lump in my throat. I couldn’t say anything else, and motioned towards Draco, who was slowly fading into unconsciousness on my lap. The house elf gave me a watery eyed glance
“Master Lucius says that we are never to help Master Draco whenever Master Lucius does this to Master Draco” the elf replied, her voice breaking. I felt my heart beating slower as I took in her sentence
“This… has happened before?” I asked, feeling my head spin “This… happens regularly?” I whispered, feeling more tears fall. The house elf nodded her head, before disappearing and reappearing with a medicine box.
“Here, mistress. You must do it. I am not allowed” the elf replied, before disappearing again.
I opened the medicine box slowly, still in shock, before taking out some antiseptic and a cotton pad. I drowned the pad in antiseptic lotion, before placing it over Draco’s cuts and wiping them gently. Draco groaned from the stinging pain that the antiseptic brought.
“Ssh, it’ll be over soon” I whispered, gently rocking his fragile head as I continued to wipe his cuts. Draco’s head lolled to the side as he passed out from the pain, and I continued to cry as I wiped the cuts. I was scared to open his shirt and uncover more cuts, but knew that I had to clean them. I took a deep breath and unbuttoned his shirt with shaky hands, before seeing big blue and purple bruises. What if there was internal bleeding? What would I do then? I knew that if I took Draco to the hospital, Lucius would kill both of us anyway. I had to take care of him at home. I wiped all of the cuts, pulling off his trousers also to wipe the cuts on his legs. I stuck bandages and plasters all over his body, before asking a house elf to just help me carry him to his room. We placed Draco on his bed, and I covered him with his quilt before turning off the light. I was about to leave before I turned back and looked at him. What if Lucius came back to finish him off? I couldn’t leave him. Even if Lucius started on me also, I had to do something. I couldn’t just leave Draco when he was so weak. I crawled into bed next to Draco, hugging him into me and placing extra pillows around him to make him comfortable. I wiped away my tears and hugged him tightly.