While You Slept

While You Slept

"Not yet."

My words echoed in my ears as I left him and went to bed. Not yet.

Merlin, please, let there be a way for me to get out of this....

An owl tapped on the window. My father's owl, I realized as I lit a candle. I took the scrap of paper it had and read it in the weak light as it took off through the window I had left open.

Fireplace. Now

I walked out into the common room and saw my father's head in the flames.

"What?" I asked, very aware that I was in only boxers and my father had never seen me this way.

"You really don't want to marry her?" he asked before I'd even sat down.

"No," I replied honestly. My father and I never kept secrets from eachother. It's probably the reason I'm still alive.

"What about the family?" he asked.

"There are other ways for the name to live on," I answered. "Men are having children now, and then there's adoption. Even if a child is a Malfoy only by name, he's still a Malfoy."

"No he isn't, and you know it."

"What would you have me do, Father?" I asked. "I can't marry this woman. I won't marry this woman."

"You have to."

"Please, Father, don't make me any less of myself than the Name already does."

He sighed. "You always were stubborn. I guess it'll be a first.... But only the second in a long line sure to come."

"What do you mean?"

"Your mother and I have agreed to a divorce. She's pregnant with her lover's child and wishes to be married immediately. And she is not the only one."

"What?" I asked confused.

"It appears that you will not be the last Malfoy son, Draco," he said. "There is another months away from joining this earth."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Did my father fall for a woman? Last I heard....

"As you said, men are having children now."

"A-Are you?" I asked suddenly shocked.

"No," he answered. "Not me."

"Your boyfriend?" I asked.

"My fiancé, Draco. Not me."

"You're engaged?" I demanded. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because your mother and I weren't getting a divorce sooner," he answered. "We were both keeping our engagements hidden, even from eachother. I discovered today that she was pregnant, and this is the final result.

"Whoever he is, Draco, cherish him."

"B-but--"

"No buts. She doesn't want to marry you anyway."

"WHAT?" I demanded. "She doesn't want me?" I pretended to be offended, and was struggling with my laughter. "How dare she?" I went on. "Does she know who I am? I am a Malfoy, for Merlin's sake. Nobody turns down a Malfoy."

My father chuckled. "I knew you would be pleased."

"Thank you," I answered seriously. He nodded and was gone.

I sat there for a moment, too stunned to do anything. I could be with him now. But I can't let him know that something's changed. He has to believe that I'm still engaged; he has to believe that I still want him but can't be with him.

"No one has to know."

I shivered. No one has to know....

I stood and turned to go back, no one, not even Blaise.... Especially not Blaise.

I watched him as he slept that night, the moonlight playing across his chest as he breathed contentedly. After watching him for some time, I realized I had been counting each precious breath. Each breath that meant he was still alive, that he still cared, that he still fought, even though the outcome was not proving to be in his favor.

I rose from my bed and silently walked over to his. I crouched by his head and brushed the hair from his face. I searched his face, looking for the answers I was sure were there. I had no idea why I was about to do what I was about to do, but...

"I love you, Harry Potter," I whispered, hoping the potion had him locked away in a deep enough sleep that he couldn't hear me. "I have for a while now, I think. I don't know what happened to change the way I felt, but I know that if they hadn't screwed up and given us both the job, I'd never have stopped hating you. Thank Merlin they did it, because I never wanted to hate you. I never once wanted to be the one who made you so mad that you spat nails. I never wanted to be the one on the receiving end of one of your punches--they hurt like hell.

"And I want to be with you, more than anything," I continued. It was so much easier saying all of this with him being asleep. "But I can't, and I don't really know why."

Then I did the unthinkable. I kissed him.

"You really do have feelings, don't you, Malfoy," Granger's voice said from behind me. I froze. How long had she been standing there?

She scoffed. "Don't act like that," she ordered. "You're pathetic. Don't you get it? Harry's been in love with you since sixth year. And out there, your father just told you you could have him. And you still say no. You still say that you can't. You're not engaged anymore, Malfoy. I'll tell Harry if I have to, but I'll only do so if you don't. Tell him, when he's awake. He cares about you more than I've ever seen anyone care before. If there's anyone who can save him, Draco, it's you. If you don't, he'll never make it. He'll never win this war, and we'll all die."

"So the fate of the world is now on my shoulders, is that it?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No, the burden is just shared between the four of us now. Ron and I bore the burden with Harry from first year on, now you share in its weight, as does anyone you bring into this."

She turned to leave but then turned back. "Oh, and Malfoy? If you dare hurt him, I'll kill you."

I nodded, accepting my fate.

But I was hurting him. She should just kill me now, but then, Harry, I knew, would seek his vengeance on her, even if she was practically family to him. Could I ever get over myself, or would Hermione be the one to bring us together?

Hermione nodded and walked out, softly closing the door behind her. Harry opened his eyes.

"What's going on?" he asked.

I looked at him and smiled slightly. "Nothing, go back to sleep," I requested, standing to do the same.

"What was Hermione talking about?" he asked groggily, sitting. "I heard her say something about you hurting me and her killing you. Why?"

I shook my head. "No reason."

The next morning I sat down next to Blaise and fought with myself to not tell him about the night's events. If Blaise knew, I'd be in for it for sure.

Not that there's really anything Blaise can do now. We had a thing a few years back, but that's over and done with. Last year's fling I guess.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Potter again," I answered.

"You tell him?"

"About the no-name fiancé?" I asked. "Yeah, I told him."

"And?"

"And he wants me to see if I can get out of it or if I'm just stuck being a pathetic Malfoy ensnared in what the name means."

"Ensnared?" Blaise asked. "Such a big word for someone so thick."

"I'm not thick, Blaise," I retorted. "Sometimes I'm just a bit slow on the upkeep. Besides, it was only two syllables."

"You're not the only one."

"I'm not the only one what?" I asked, pretending to not realize where the conversation was heading.

"The only one who's thick!" he answered. "Then again, if you can't pick up on that, I may just change my mind."

"No," I said. "No, you don't need to do that, I was joking."

"Next time warn me."

"Merlin, Blaise, you should know me better than that by now! We did date after all."

"A year and a half full of shagging and snogging doesn't really help you get to know someone better," he replied. "Most we ever talked about was the stupid stuff."

"Stupid stuff's important too," I answered. "Not all of it was meaningless."

"I never said any of it was," he replied. "I said that it was all stupid."