Loyalties

A week had passed and Draco hadn’t spoken to her once. He had barely looked at her, but when he had she could see that he didn’t look so good. He had bags under his eyes as if he hadn’t been sleeping. She didn’t want to worry about him, but she couldn’t help it.

She had tried to catch him alone a few times, but had failed so far. It seemed like everywhere he went, he was accompanied by Crabbe and Goyle. She had finally given up and was focusing on her schoolwork. As busy as she was with it she had really been enjoying it. There was so much to learn.

At about eight thirty that night, Alex was having a hard time getting any studying done in the common room because of the noise. She decided to go take the secret passageway and get some fresh air by the lake.

As she stepped out of the passageway she inhaled the cool night air deeply. After looking around to make sure she was alone, she sank down onto the grass.

“What are you doing here?” a voice suddenly called out.

Alex let out a small shriek as she shot up off the ground and spun around.

Draco laughed as he stepped out where she could see him in the moonlight. “You scared me half to death,” Alex said, sitting back down.

Draco joined her on the ground and looked toward the sky. “The stars are bright tonight. Is that why you’re out here?”

“No, I just needed some air. It was getting too crowded in the common room. What brings you out here?”

“This is the place I come when I want to be alone.”

“Oh? Well I’ll go if that’s what you want,” Alex moved as if to stand, but Draco put a hand on her arm.

“No, stay. I could use the company.”

Alex studied Draco’s face for a few moments, noticing that the bags under his eyes were darker.

“What’s going on with you? You look like you haven’t slept in a week.”

He didn’t answer, just dropped his face into his hands and sat there.

“You can talk to me. Who am I going to tell? I have no friends here.”

He raised his head up and looked at her and she could see him debating it in his mind. Finally after almost a minute, he spoke “Someone is pressuring me to do something. Something bad. Something I don’t want to do, but I’m afraid of what they’ll do to me if I refuse.”

“That’s not so bad, just do what you think is right.”

A small smile formed on his lips, “See there’s that innocence I was talking about before. It’s not as easy as all that.”

“If it was something I really thought was wrong, I wouldn’t do it. No matter what it cost me, I wouldn’t do it.”

Draco shook his head and looked away again, “The price is huge and I’m a selfish person.”

Alex frowned thinking she really should leave. She shouldn’t care about what happened to someone who openly admitted he wasn’t a good person. She shouldn’t, but she did.

“Maybe if you explained the situation, I’d be able to give better advice.”

“I can’t talk about it.” Alex could sense him shutting down.

“You look exhausted, Draco. We should get back to the castle so you can get rest.”

“You can go if you want. I don’t want to keep you, but I need to stay a while longer.”

Alex smiled as lay back on the ground, “I get this feeling you don’t really want to be alone. I’m staying.”

Draco said nothing, just lay back next to her. They spent a while discussing their favorite constellations, pointing them out and telling the stories of them. After that, they lapsed into silence. For so long that Alex thought he’d fallen asleep.

She jumped when he suddenly spoke. “You know what I was saying before about being selfish?”

Alex only nodded and Draco sat up, grabbing her arm and pulling her with him. He reached out and brushed her hair back from her face. “As much as I know I shouldn’t, I can’t stop myself any longer.”

Then he kissed her. She froze for a moment before melting against him, wrapping her arms around him. He took that as invitation to deepen the kiss and pushed her lips apart with his tongue. They kissed until she felt like her head was going to explode.

Draco pulled away slowly, an amused expression occupying his face. “What? Did I do something wrong?” Alex asked, panicking slightly. She had kissed guys before, but wasn’t exactly an expert.

“No, no. You were perfect.”

Alex’s cheeks flushed which made Draco smile “C’mon.” he said, getting to his feet and extended a hand to her. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. “Let’s get back to the castle.”