What Lies Within

"So... Quidditch tomorrow." Sophie says to her husband as the two of them sit in the room of requirement. She was sprawled out on the floor, doing her homework. Draco was of course working on the cabinet.

"Hmm." Draco hums back, not really paying attention. Sophie sighs and sits up, staring at her husband.

"Dray.. you haven't even been coming to practices." She says. He finally glances at her but it's just for a second before he shrugs and is back to the cabinet.

"Just tell Urquhart I won't be playing tomorrow. Harper can take my spot, he's who you said was filling in at practice anyway." Draco responds.

"Well what if I wan't you there, Draco? The only time I ever spend with you is in this room where you don't even pay attention to me because you are too focused on that damn cabinet." Sophie yells as she stands up. "What happened to our marriage, Draco? You say you're doing this to save us and yet... it's what's tearing us apart. I can't take this anymore. You're giving up on Quidditch, something you've loved for years," as she says this, she gathers up her things and shoves them in her bag. "just to be You Know Who's little lap dog." She glares at him. He stares back at her, his arms limp at his side. "That's not the man I married." She turns and walks away, navigating her way through the familiar shelves and finds the door. Draco does not follow.

Instead of heading to the dormitory she goes to the library and finishes her homework there. Once that's done, she browses the shelves, still trying to find something to help Draco. All she wanted was for him to finish that cabinet so he could go back to being the husband she married and who payed attention to her. She found one book that kind of sounded interesting so she took it back to her table and began to flip through it. Two hours later, her eyes came across a spell. Harmonia Nectere Passus

That was it. That was the incantation needed. Sophie felt excited as she wrote down the spell and information. When she put the book back, she began to go back to the room of requirement but then stopped. She was still mad at Draco. He had neglected her. But she had the answer. She had what would bring him back to her.

"Oi, Hill!" Sophie turns to see Urquhart, the Slytherin team captain walking towards her. She sighs and puts up a smile.

"It's Malfoy, now. Remember?" He grunts.

"Yeah, whatever. Speaking of Malfoy... is he playing tomorrow or what?" He barks at her. She shakes her head.

"No... he's still... not feeling all that well. He said to let Harper play his position." She tells him. He rolls his eyes.

"You're playing though, right? We don't have an alternate for you, there isn't an alternate better than you anyway." Sophie can't help but grin at his comment.

"I'll be there. You know I'd never let the team down." Urquhart just nods and walks away.

"So what's wrong with Malfoy?" Sophie jumps and turns around to see Ginny Weasley standing behind her, her arms crossed.

"He's just sick. He can't play tomorrow. He needs to rest." Sophie says, simply shrugging.

"Harry thinks he's up to something." Sophie gives a small laugh.

"Harry always thinks Draco is up to something." She says. She notices a small smile tug at Ginny's mouth. She wanted to fix things with her and everyone else. She hated that just because she fell in love she lost all of her friends. "Look, Ginny... I know..." Sophie sighs. "I know that I'm married to Draco and everything but... but that doesn't change who I am. I'm still me." She looks into Ginny's eyes, seeing them soften.

"I know you are. And... I'm sorry for treating you like you're the enemy now." Ginny steps forward, hugging Sophie. Sophie hugs her back tightly, happy to have a friend back. "And I'll talk to Harry and Ron, they can't still possibly believe you had anything to do with Katie being cursed."

"Please do, I'd never want anyone harmed." Ginny nods and smiles.

"I know. I gotta get going but... see you on the field tomorrow." She playfully bumps Sophie's shoulder as she passes, the two exchanging a smile before Ginny turns a corner. Sophie grins and begins walking again, realizing she had taken the familiar route to the Room of Requirement. She sighs and goes inside, finding Draco in his spot.

"Look, Sophie-" He starts but she shakes her head. She shoves the parchment with the incantation and information on it.

"Hope this helps." With that she turns on her heel and starts to head out. "See you in bed, if you ever leave your precious cabinet." She calls over her shoulder before she's too far to hear if he responds or not.

The next morning she wakes to Draco fast asleep beside her. She can't help but smile. She then notices that he slightly had dark circles on her his eyes and lines appearing on his face. He looked so warn down. This was taking a toll on him and she hadn't even noticed. She yelled at him for being a lousy husband while she was being a lousy wife in return. She moves and rests her head against his chest, bringing her hand up to rest on his heart.

"I love you so much, Draco." She whispers. She looks up at him, seeing him still fast asleep. She smiles a little and then sees his hand down by his waist. She pulls it to her carefully, her fingers brushing across the bracelet she had given him what felt like ages ago. It glowed lightly red but wasn't that warm. Was that because she had been angry at him. She puts his hand across his chest and then just stares at him. She looks at his face and begins to play with his hair as she looks into the face of the man she's fallen in love for. She goes through every happy memory they have together, all the smiles they've shared, all the intimate moments shared. She looks down at the bracelet, it was glowing bright red again.

Draco's eyes open slowly and he looks over at her, frowning and then looks down at his wrist. He touches his hand to the bracelet.

"It's never this warm unless we're making love." He comments. Sophie can't help but grin. "It was cold last night, as soon as you walked out." Her grin quickly dropped. It was still red so I knew you weren't harmed but it was cold.. because you were angry at me."

"I was." She says, nodding. They both look down at the still glowing warm bracelet.

"But you aren't now?" He asks, making her shake her head. "Why not?"

"Draco," She sighs. "Waking up this morning... I realized that while you neglected me... I also neglected you. I had no right to be angry with you when I didn't even notice how much this has taken out of you." She brings her hand up to his cheek, staring into his tired eyes.

"I'm fine." He says.

"Draco... I know you. I know that you aren't, and in a situation like this, it's completely understandable to not be. I just... I'm here for you now. How did the incantation I found for you go last night?" She asked him. He sighed and shrugged.

"I think it'll take time but I'm definitely on the right path now. That's what it's going to take to fix it." He explains, making her nod.

"I think you should take the day off." She says, resting her hand on his chest. "Stay here and sleep. You need to sleep, Dray. You're already out of the game today, I took care of that last night, so just stay here. We can go work on the cabinet after the game, okay?" He sighs.

"Okay." Giving in, he really did want to just sleep and relax for a day. But he also wanted to finish the deed and protect his wife. "I really would like a rest day." Sophie smiles and nods.

"Good, then have one." She leans down to press her lips to his gently before sliding out of the bed. She changes into her Quidditch robes while he lays in bed, watching her. It was a good thing everyone else from the dormitory was already down at breakfast, the look he was giving her was one meant for only in private. "None of that." She scolds as she comes to sit beside him. He sits up and puts his hand on her cheek, pulling her face to his, his fingers sliding into her hair. She can't help but melt against him. His touch and lips just felt so good.

When he slid his other hand into her robe and over her hip, she pulled back from him and gave him a look. He laughed and took both of his hands off of her, holding them up defensively.

"Don't blame me for wanting to do bad things to my beautiful," He kisses her lips. "sexy," another kiss. "gorgeous wife." The last kiss lasted longer until Sophie pulled away when he tried to slide his tongue into her mouth. She stood up and smacked her with her Quidditch gloves. He laughs and swats her away.

"Maybe after the game." She says, leaning down to give him one last kiss. "I have to go now." With that she left the room while he laid back down. They exchanged I love you's before she shut the door and made her way down to breakfast. She ran into Harry in the Entrance Hall. "Uhh.... good luck today." She says. He nods.

"You too." With that they walked away from each other and went to eat. Soon, Sophie was in the Slytherin changing room and listening to Urquhart go on and on about how we had to win. And then they were on the field. Even though Sophie was angry that Harry no longer trusted her just because of his feud with her husband, she couldn't help but feel happiness for him as he stood there as Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He deserved it, he really really did. She caught his eye and smiled at him. She got a small smile in return.

And then the game was going. Sophie knew with Ron in the goal it wouldn't be too hard to get in a few shots so as soon as she had the Quaffle passed to her, she shot straight towards him and threw it but he dodged it! She was stunned, as was everyone else, including Ron. He saved a goal! Sophie actually felt happy for him as well.

Though as the match wore on, she began to feel less happy for Ron. He had definitely improved, he was saving everything she, and the other chasers, shot at him. Meanwhile Gryffindor was scoring easily. It was Sixty to Zero and suddenly Harper noticed the snitch, and then Harry was chasing after him. And obviously, Harry being the better flyer, he got the snitch. Slytherin were just beaten down by the Gryffindors.

When she landed, the rest of her team went back to the changing room but she walked up to the Gryffindor team who were cheering and hugging. She went straight up to Harry and stuck her hand out to him.

"Great game, Potter." She says, smiling. He takes her hand and grins, pulling her into a hug.

"You made some good plays this game, Sophie. You just can't beat my team." They both laugh and she playfully shoves him.

"Yeah yeah, don't let being captain get to your head now." Ron then rushes up, looking the happiest she'd ever seen him.

"I did it! I didn't let a single one of your goals get past!" He exclaimed. Sophie laughed and pulled him into a tight hug.

"I'm so proud of you, Ron. You really are a great Keeper. Great job, and great game. I came out here thinking it would be a piece of cake to beat you guys... you proved me wrong." Ron grins.

"Thanks. You played good though, too." He says. She smiles and nods.

"Well gentleman, I'm going to head out now. Congratulations on the win." She hugs them both again before starting to walk back to the changing room. Though she first had to stop and hug Ginny, who got most four of the six Gryffindor goals. Sophie laughed to herself about how bad of a Slytherin she was while she walked back to the dressing room.

"You can't be so friendly to those people, Hill." Urquhart yelled as soon as she entered. Sophie rolls her eyes and goes about changing.

"I'll remember that." She mumbles.

"I'm serious. If I see you around a Gryffindor team member again, that's it. You're off the team." Sophie turns towards him, having finished changing.

"Fine.. I'm off the team. You're filthy scum and they are actual decent people. You guys are going to do great without me. You said it last night I'm a great chaser." Urquhart looks uncomfortable for a second before shaking his head.

"Fine, you aren't off the team, just don't be so friendly to them after they beat us so badly." With that he storms from the tent. Sophie laughs to herself and heads back to the castle herself. She heads to the dormitory and actually finds Draco still asleep.

"Hey," He says sleepily when she lays beside him. "did we win?" He asks. Sophie laughs and shakes her head.

"Ron did great today. He didn't let a single goal in. Final score was 210 to 0." Draco grimaces. "And Urquhart almost kicked me off the team until he realized I'm the best chaser he's got."

"Let me guess, it's because you made up with Potter and Weasley on the field?" Draco guesses. Sophie laughs and nods. She curls into her husbands warm arms as he kisses the top of her head. "You really are a bad Slytherin." Sophie laughs again.

"I was thinking the same exact thing." They both laugh.

"So, if I remember correctly.. you offered me something after the game." He says and in the next second rolls them over, leaning over her. She grins up at him and runs her hands down his bare chest.

"Oh I did, did I?" She asks, playing dumb. "And what was that?" She wonders.

"You." He growls before his lips are on hers. She laughs into his mouth and kisses him back. "This is what I need to relax and feel better." He says against her lips.

"Then you have it." He grins down at her but then stands up, holding her hand out to her. She frowns but takes it, both of them standing. He grabs a shirt and slides it on. "Isn't this the opposite of what's supposed to be happening right now?" She asks.

"I want to make love to you in my own bed." He says as he takes her hand after slipping on some shoes. She grins and in that moment, knows exactly what he meant. They make it from the dungeons all the way to the Room of Requirement and when they walk in, it's the bedroom at their cabin. "This is where I want it." He says, staring at the bed.

"Like the first time." She mutters. He looks over at her and smiles.

"Just like the first time." He repeats. He then grabs her by the back of he head and their lips meld together. She pushes her body flush up against his, causing him to moan as he grabs at her hips. First to go is his t-shirt. Then it doesn't take long for everything else from them both to be gone and they tumble back on the bed. She giggles down at him as she sits on him. She grabs his hands, pulling him up as she sinks down on him. Her legs wrap around him as she bounces up and down, her chest rubbing up and down against his. His nails dig into her hips as they both moan.

"Fuck." He moans. "I love you." He tosses his head back. She grins and leans down, pressing kiss after kiss on his chest, her red hair tickling his skin. When she leans her head back to moan, he presses his lips to her neck. He bites at her most sensitive spot, bringing more moans past her lips.

"Dray." She moans as she finds her release. He finds his seconds later, pulling her body closer against his. She buries her face in his neck, both of them breathing deeply.

"Yes, that is definitely exactly what I needed." He says breathlessly. Sophie laughs and lifts her head to look up at him.

"And that is exactly what I've been needing." She tells him. "I've missed intimacy with my husband." He smiles at her and brushes her hair from her face.

"Well you've got it, babe." She smiles and leans down to peck his lips. She loved that she could sit here in his lap, him still inside of her, and the moment just felt so perfect. She wrapped her arms around his neck and just rested there in his arms for a while, both of them just reveling in the closeness and intimacy of the moment.

Soon though they get up and get dressed once more before they curl up in the chair in the corner.

"For Christmas break... are we staying here or going home? And if we go home, to which home? Our place or the Manor?" Sophie asks him as she rests her head back on his chest while he sits behind her, his legs on either side of her.

"Mother sent a letter last week saying that we can go wherever we want or stay if we want." He explains before sighing. "What do you want to do?" Sophie turns so she's looking up at him.

"You know what I want to do." She says, glancing around the room. "I want to go back here. But actually there."

"I know.. I want to go there too.." He trails off, looking at the wall. She knows there is a 'but' about to come. "I just feel like I should... stay to work on the cabinet." Sophie wanted to argue. All she wanted was to get away from the castle for awhile. She wanted to go to her house with Draco and just be alone. They could go there and forget about everything for awhile. Narcissa had once told her that the Dark Lord knew nothing about this house and no one else did either except for the three of them. They were safe there.

"We can stay here then." Sophie says but her voice shakes and tears well up in her eyes. She quickly turns away from Draco, trying to hide her tears.

"Baby," He sighs, tightening his arms around her waist and putting his face in her hair at her neck. "don't be like this. We can go to our home. I just.. I feel like the clock is winding down and I only have a little time to protect you and there's still so much to do..." Sophie nods, a tear falling down her cheek but she refuses to look at him. The tear though falls on his arm, making him sigh. "I'm sorry." He whispers. She turns in his arms, curling up into his chest. His arms are tight around her and his face is buried in her hair. "I'm so sorry, Sophie." It was then that she noticed that he too was crying.

"I love you, Draco." She looks up at them, both with tears on their cheeks. She brings her hand up, wiping away the wetness. "I'll do anything for you. We can stay here, I know it's important that you finish this so... we stay here. We can come up here at night and just... pretend.." She gives him a watery smile. More tears fall down his cheeks.

"What if I can't do it, Sophie? What if I fail?" She sees how terrified he is. He thinks he can't do it. "You're in danger because of me and I'm so sorry." More tears fall. "So so sorry that I can't provide the safe and happy life for you I vowed to you I would."

"This is why I think we should go to our home for the Holiday. No one but us and your mother know where it's at. We can escape for a little while. You can relax and come back to this with a clear head and get it all worked out, okay?" He nods. She sighs and wipes at his tears. "You mean the world to me, Draco."

"You are the center of my universe." He leans down and gives her a wet kiss, their tears mingling on their lips.