What Lies Within

"So, are you taking Draco to Slughorn's party in a few days?" Harry asked Sophie as the two did some last minute term studying in the library. Draco was in the room of requirement, and Ron and Hermione were off doing some prefect things for their house.

"Um... No, probably not." Sophie responds, not looking up from her textbook.

"Why wouldn't you? You are going, aren't you?" Harry continues to question.

"Yeah, I'm going. Draco just doesn't do parties. They aren't his thing. I won't stay long, just make an appearance to appease Slughorn." Sophie explains, shrugging.

"Well... want to go together?" Harry asks. "Hermione is taking some secret person and.. who I really want to go with is too." Sophie smiles.

"Harry, Hermione told me it's Ginny." Harry turns bright red, looking down. Sophie reaches over and pats his arm. "But I'd love to go with you." He looks up at her, smiling softly.

"Your husband won't be angry?"

"Draco bailed on me, so he has no say in who I go with." They both laugh. Later, when they've finished and it was dinner time, Sophie went in search of Draco, finding him in his usual spot in the room of requirement. "Dinner time, babe."

"Oh, alright." Draco turns away from the cabinet and smiles at her. He comes over, wrapping his arms around her waist, smiling down at her. "How was studying?" He asks before kissing her forehead, she can't help but smile, melting into his arms.

"Good." She responds. "Harry and I decided we're going to Slughorn's party together since neither of us can go with who we want." Draco froze and pulls away from Sophie.

"You're going with Potter?" Sophie sighs, running a hand through her hair.

"Draco, please don't make a big deal out of this. It's not a date. We're just two friends going to hang out at a party because who we love won't go with us." She defends but she sees that the anger stays in Draco's eyes.

"It's not just some friend, Sophie!" He exclaims. "It's Potter. You know, the guy you're supposed to be staying away from?"

"You know as well as I do that there's nothing I can do anymore, Draco. Either way I'm screwed. I stay friends with Harry, I become the Dark Lords little puppet, if I don't stay friends with Harry, then I'm dead because I become useless. No matter what either of us do, one or both of us will get hurt. There's no way out of this." Sophie had a tear welling up in her eye. She hated this, the past year all she's done is cry. Sophie never cried before, ever. She wiped at the wetness quickly.

"Let's runaway." Draco whispers, looking over at his wife. She'd never seen this look in his eyes before. He looked terrified, helpless, lost, and determined all at once. There was also a tinge of anger there, but she wasn't sure if it was towards her, himself, or just the situation in general.

"Dray..." Sophie sighs and steps forward, resting her hand on his cheek. "You know as well as I do that we can't do that."

"I know," He mumbles, looking down at the ground. "I can hope though." Sophie smiles softly and presses a soft kiss to her husbands lips.

"Come on, let's head to dinner." He nods and allows her to take his hand and pull him from the room and down towards the Great Hall.

____

Over the course of the next few days, the school took their exams and the Christmas Holiday finally began.

"Our second Christmas together. Can you believe it?" Draco said to his wife as the two of them lounged in the Slytherin Common Room. Only a few Slytherin's stayed behind for the holiday, so they had the giant room to themselves. There was a large fire burning in front of them, keeping them warm all the way down in the dungeons.

"Wow.. it's only been a year since we finally had a real kiss?" Sophie frowns. "It feels like it's been much longer with all that's happened this past year." She answers. He nods, staring into the flames of the crackling fire. "It's been a year since my father died." She mutters a minute later. Draco snaps his gaze to her, seeing that she looked close to tears. They hadn't talked about her father in months.

"I know you miss him." Draco reaches over, putting his arm around Sophie and pulling her against his body, much like he had a year ago on the first night of their Christmas break, when he almost confessed that it was her he had been having feelings for all of last term. Things really had changed.

"He wasn't much of a father, but... he was still my father." She mumbles in response, now staring into the flames herself.

"I know, love." Draco presses a soft kiss to the top of her head, breathing in her flowery scent that always calmed him and made him feel at home. "He died protecting you, he truly cared for you."

"The Dark Lord murdered my father because my mother was angry he didn't offer me up like a pig for slaughter like she so willingly did." Sophie's voice was full of anger. The two of them had never actually spoken of what her mother had done. Draco never wanted to bring it up, and Sophie never made the move to either.

"Your father didn't want you dragged into The Dark Lord's reign of terror. He died rather than have that happen for you."

"It was all in vein." Sophie spat. "Here I am, stuck right in the middle of his plans, both of us being used like his puppets."

"You don't hav-" Draco started but Sophie shut him up by looking over at him, giving him a cold stare. "We'll get through this though. Together forever, remember?" He reached over, taking her left hand in his, the gleam of the fire dancing off the diamond of her wedding band. He ran his fingers over the jewel, smiling slightly.

"Forever." Sophie whispers in agreement, turning her head slightly to hide the tear that rolls down her cheek.

A few days later, the couple were in The Room of Requirement, Sophie getting ready for Slughorn's Christmas party down one floor in his office.

"Are you sure you won't come?" She asks her husband one more time. She'd been asking him a few times everyday, but to no avail.. he simply didn't want to go. "So you really don't want to go so badly that you're okay with me going with Harry?" Draco looks up from where he had been focusing on tossing his wand up in the air and catching it in the palm of his hand.

"I hate Slughorn and his little club of the kids who wish they were popular and going to become something someday but won't." Draco answers, going back to tossing his want. Sophie puts her hands on her hips and glares at him.

"Wow. Thanks, it means so much to me that you think so highly of something I enjoy. And I'm one of those kids in the club, remember? I guess I won't amount to anything because I'll probably be dead in a year anyway, the Dark Lord will kill me like my father, right?" Sophie rolled her eyes as Draco glares at her.

"Don't even talk like that." He growls at her.

"Goodnight, Draco." She says, turning on her heel and exiting the room. She stands in the hallway for a few seconds, waiting to see if he came after her but there was no movement on the other side of the door. Sophie sighed and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. The last few days, it being the anniversary of her father's murder, was taking a tole on her. And fixing the vanishing cabinet was taking a tole on Draco, which in turn was effecting the way he spoke to his wife and everyone around him. It was the old Draco all over again.

"Hey, Soph!" She turned back, thinking the voice calling to her was Draco but it was Harry, rushing towards her. "Everything okay? What's wrong?" She gives a small smile. Harry had always been very good at sensing her emotions, even when she tried her hardest to hide them. Sometimes Harry knew how she was feeling better than Draco did.

"Just Draco being Draco. Shall we go?" She holds her hand out to her best friend who smiles and nods, taking it. They link arms and making their way down the staircase one floor down and then followed all the lanterns recently hung up to where Slughorn's office was.

"This is going to be so fun." Harry muttered sarcastically. Sophie smiles and nudges him with her elbow jokingly.

"That's why we stick together. Separated we're more vulnerable." They both laugh. The room was filled with adult witches and wizards, most of which Sophie knew nothing of, but there was a face here and there that she knew through her family or the Daily Prophet.

"Would you like a drink?" Harry asked after they stood off to the side of the room quietly for a bit.

"Yes, please." Sophie nodded.

"So really, how are you and Malfoy?" Harry asks Sophie after they have their drinks and have returned to their original spot, the party moving around them.

"We're really good, actually. We've been stressing, it being the second to last year here at Hogwarts, but Draco is sweet and caring.. most of the time. He's doing his best to protect and take care of me and that's all I could ask for of him." She explains, making him nod, a small smile on his lips.

"Well you know I hate the bugger but I can see you two make each other happy and that's all I've ever wanted for you, Sophie." Sophie smiles up at her best friend before they heard yelling, the entire room quieting down as Filtch came in, dragging behind him none other than Draco Malfoy. Sophie gasped and rushed forward.

"What is going on?" She asks, looking at her husband who finally wrestles free of the caretaker's grip, glaring at the man.

"I found him snooping around upstairs. Trying to get to the party, I reckon." Filtch answered. Sophie frowned, looking at Draco who gave her a look that said he'd been trying to make the room where the cabinet was appear and was caught in the act.

"I'll take care of it." Professor Snape said, stepping forward from the shadows. "Come, Malfoy. Both of you." He barked, shoving Draco towards the door and looking back at Sophie.

"You're right, he is a complete bugger." Sophie said to Harry quickly, making him laugh, before rushing after the two men. Down the hall they were in a heated argument.

"I swore to protect you." Snape sneered in Draco's face.

"I don't need your help. The Dark Lord chose me!" Draco hisses back in his professors face.

"Dray..." Sophie says softly, both men turn to look at her. "Maybe we could use his help. We know we can trust him and I'm sure he knows something." She tried to reason, thinking that an older, more experienced wizard would know how to fix the cabinet; but Draco shook his head.

"I don't need his help, or your help, or anyone's help." Draco seethed.

"Without me you wouldn't have made any progress at all. I found the incantation." Sophie reminded him.

"I would have found it myself eventually." He mutters. His gray eyes were so cold. They hadn't looked upon her this way in over a year and a half. Something changed in Draco in just a matter of a couple days. Sophie didn't know what but she wasn't sure she wanted to stick around and find out.

"Alright, Mr. Malfoy. You do this alone then." Sophie lifts up her hands in defeat before turning and walking away. She heard Snape and Draco hissing words back and forth to each other but she didn't try to listen to what their conversation was about.

"Sophie!" Sophie had been so lost in thought about what just happened with her husband that she didn't notice that she was already by the staircase. She turns and see's Hermione rushing out of Slughorn's office.

"Hey, Hermione." Sophie greets softly.

"What was with Draco? You two seemed... cold towards each other. And why did you come with Harry? Harry didn't tell me he asked you." Hermione questions quickly.

"Draco is just having a bad time right now, as am I; it being the anniversary of my father's death and all. Harry and I came together because Draco refused to go and as you know... the person Harry wanted to come with was already taken." Sophie explains making Hermione nod sadly.

"You and Draco are okay though, right?" She asked making Sophie shrug. Her lip started to tremble and her eyes welled up. "Oh, Sophie." Hermione gasped, pulling her best friend into a hug.

"He was fine a few days ago. He's been so cold towards me today and I don't know why." Sophie tells her, pulling back to look at her again. Hermione nods sadly. Just then, they hear footsteps and turn to see none other than Draco himself, walking towards them. That same cold look was still in his eyes but Sophie could see through it now... He was scared and she instantly felt a wave of guilt run through her. He had so much going on and she wasn't helping much with her negative attitude and rudness. He just made her so mad sometimes.

"Where are you sleeping tonight?" He stops to ask Sophie, obviously seeing the tears on her cheeks and her hand on Hermione's arm.

"I don't know. Where am I sleeping?" Sophie asks back. Draco shrugs, his hands in his suit pockets.

"Wherever you feel most comfortable." He then went past them and started to descend the stairs.

"Where will you be?" Sophie called after him. He stops and turns back to look at her.

"I don't plan on sleeping tonight. I'm not tired." Before Sophie could say anything back, he turned and was gone down the stairs, disappearing from view.

"Yeah.. my marriage is great." Sophie mutters, her tears returning. Hermione sighs and rubs her friends arm.

"Wanna go to the Room of Requirement and have a girls sleepover like we used to at Ron's house every summer and holiday?" Hermione suggests. "I can even find Ginny in there and have her join."

"Girl time actually sounds fantastic right now." Sophie answers, laughing a little through her tears.

"Yeah, it really does." Hermione agrees. "Come on." She takes Sophie's hand and pulls her back to the party, in search of their third part, who quickly agrees when she see's Sophie's tears. Ginny gives her goodbyes to Dean, her boyfriend, and then the three of them head up to the room. It changed exactly into Ginny's room at the burrow, all set up and ready for the three of them to stay up and have girl talk all night.

Sophie forgot what it was like to have a normal, fun night with her girl friends. She'd only really been with Draco the last year. It was nice to have a little change. At the back of her mind the entire time though was how she was going to fix things with Draco.