You're Safe With Me ( Draco Malfoy )

Chapter Eighteen

A few weeks had passed since the Golden Trio had accepted that Draco and Alice were together, and everything had been going seemingly okay, other than Ron calling Draco a git at every given opportunity. There was no Harry and Draco calling each other names in the hallways, no stare-downs and over all no negativity.

Alice was loving it, having her friends and her boyfriend not at each other's throats, and it was also a relief to not have any more secrets from her friends. On the other hand, though, some people were starting to get suspicious.

"Are you feeling okay, Malfoy?" Blaise Zambini asked as he lounged on a chair in the Slytherin common room, a cold room made of stone and covered in green and silver decorations. Blaise and Draco were the only two there, since everyone else had gone to bed far earlier. Draco sat staring pensively in to the fireplace, where the once roaring fire had been reduced to glowing red embers.

"Hm?" Draco asked, looking away from the fire and to Blaise, who raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Why'd you ask?"

Draco liked Blaise, they were good friends. Of course he had his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, but Blaise wasn't just a henchman. He was honest, funny and genuinely just wanted to be Draco's friend instead of just befriending him for power. Draco was glad he had a proper friend in his house, he'd get bored if the only people he could talk to just wanted to befriend him for status.

"Bullshit. I asked if you were alright three times but you were so zoned out looking at the fire you didn't even reply. What's wrong man?" Blaise asked, causing Draco to let out a sigh.

"It's nothing, I'm just stressed about what Voldemort wants me to do," He replied, which wasn't necessarily a lie, but it wasn't truly what he was stressed about.

He had pretty much completed the construction of the vanishing cabinet, he knew that he'd have it working in the next week or so, but he had no idea what would come after that. He had been ordered to kill Dumbledore, and if he followed through with that he knew that he'd have to go in to hiding or go to Azkaban, and that wasn't very appealing.

As well as that, being in hiding meant being away from Alice, and he didn't want to lose her.

"That's fair, you've got a lot going on," Blaise replied, luckily buying in to what Draco had said. "I know you're not meant to get help, but I'm here, y'know. Just let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks, I appreciate that." Draco replied, and honestly meant it. They sat in silence for a few moments before Blaise broke it again.

"Y'know, maybe having a girlfriend would help you out, take away some of that stress," He suggested, wiggling his eyebrows, Draco couldn't help but chuckle. The fact he had a girlfriend that he cared so much about was just causing him more stress, and Blaise had no clue. He decided to play it cool.

"Oh yeah? And who am I meant to date? Parkinson?" He asked jokingly, making Blaise laugh.

"That stalker? No way. Someone you actually like, obviously."

"Well that's tough considering there isn't anyone who I like, sorry to disappoint." Draco lied through his teeth. Blaise laughed again, causing Draco to raise an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

"I'm hurt, you're meant to be my best friend and here you sit, lying to my beautiful face," Blaise said jokingly.

"What? I'm not lying, and stop being so narcissistic," Draco replied, chuckling at his friend.

"Oh yeah?"Blaise asked, sitting up properly in his seat. "So that Gryffindor girl you're always staring at, you don't like her?" Draco knew straight away that he was blushing, he could feel the heat rushing to his cheeks, but he hoped that the lighting was dim enough that Blaise wouldn't see.