Avery

2.My Betrothed

Avery and Draco are engaged. People knew, her relationship with Draco was very smooth; they think of each other as already a family. Every year they celebrate each other's birthdays, giving presents to each other lovingly. Avery puts all of Draco's gifts preciousy in a glass box in her room. Their bond gets stronger each year, and Draco grew very protective of her, but things turned differently when she became the champion of Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament; one of her dreams came true. When her name came out of the blue fire, everyone clapped and congratulated her as she stepped up to the front podium. She looked at Slytherin's house, searching for her fiancé Draco; he had a blank face. But Avery still gave him the Slytherin smirk—their smirk. She was very happy; she felt like she was out of this world, like floating, and she believed that Draco was very proud of her too.

Before the tournament began, Avery's family and the Malfoys came to support her. They exchanged supportive words and hugs, telling her they were very proud of her. She was also very proud of herself; her name would be written in history. After her mother, father, and brother finished, she turned to the Malfoys, her future family. They came.

"I'm very, very, very proud of you, my dear, dear Avery. Whenever I see your face, I always think that you are the daughter I never had; you are the sunshine in my life, dear," he said, looking into her eyes. "Thank you, Mr. Malfoy."  

"From now on, you can call me Father. Since you'll be my daughter-in-law, why don't we begin calling each other that? What do you think?" Smiling, Avery replied, "Thank you, Father," and then proceeded to hug Narcissa before looking at Draco, who had his head down, not looking at her. Avery stepped forward to him and called him, "Draco?" But he still looked down and silent. "Thank you for coming and supporting me; it means a lot to me. I'll never forget this," she said, smiling happily towards him. Draco looked up and looked deep into her eyes, not saying a word. Then she turned around, took a couple of steps, then turned again to Draco and said, 

"I won't die, don't worry, because if I die, you'll start looking for a new bride. I won't let that happen." She smirked and winked at him at the same time, just like Draco always did to her whenever they passed each other at school. All the parents burst out laughing, but not Draco. His expression was hard to read, and then Avery went to the field and got ready.

Avery won the game but ended up in the hospital, unconscious for three days straight. She got hit by the wind, like a tornado, and got tossed around until her head bumped into something, but she never let go of the Triwizard trophy and portkeyed herself to the field of people who were cheering. And she won; she found the trophy.

Draco never left her side at St. Mungo's hospital for those three days. He also didn’t watch the game; he was in his library reading when he heard from the elf that her father told him to come to St. Mungo's because Avery was injured.

Avery awoke and smiled at Draco, telling him how she got injured. "I was very tired at the end of the game, I got carried out by this wind, and I started to think if I let it go and float in this wind, maybe it'll get me somewhere as long as I held on to the trophy. So I did, but then I bumped into something hard and blackout."

"Stupid idea, I know, but I was very tired, but I won!" She smiled proudly at Draco, waiting for his response or a congratulations or any words... But nothing came out.

After 18 years together, he had never been this silent in front of her. They were usually very chatty, and topics flew by themselves like water—talking about his Quidditch, some spells she invented, planning for upcoming parties, his stupid Slytherin friends Nott and Blaise asking her to find them fiancées too, asking Draco what his cravings were these days so that she would learn to cook it for him, or she would tell him about her favorite place in Hufflepuff, where she always read books, and how desperately she wanted Draco to read books with her there. Or Draco's sweet words like how he could not wait to be her husband and wanted to ask his father to expedite their wedding day right after they finished school.

After a while of silence, Draco spoke, "I almost lost you," looking into her eyes with a horrified face—the face Avery had never seen before.

"Draco, I..." and then he was gone.

Avery thought Draco was just mad at her temporarily, but he never came to see her after that, not even coming to her manor to make sure she was okay. But Lucius sent her many gifts for a speedy recovery and her winning presents. He gave her the most expensive potions from all over Europe for his future daughter-in-law, the mother of his future grandchildren, he wrote in his card, all high-quality branded fashion items, books, rare wizarding stuff that he knew she liked, her favorite flowers—a lot of flowers, jewelry, and paintings, but none of them were from Draco. Nothing at all. She had never been single her whole entire life; she had always had Draco by her side.

When they were little, if one of them was sick, they would sit beside each other and wait until one of them woke up, always there for each other in sickness and health. Even the promises had never been spoken yet, but they had already done it like true spouses. Draco always said when he was sick,

"I wish you could stay here forever with me and never had to leave me or go back to your home." And she smiled.

"That day will come eventually, Draco. I'm not going anywhere as long as you want me to," and she hugged him tight.

When Draco fell during his Quidditch game when he was 17, he broke his left leg. She stayed by his bedside, helping him walk or wherever he wanted to go; she would hold his hand and lead him. Even the house-elves were just standing there, admiring them both with happy, wide-eyed expressions: Avery's elf and Malfoy's elf, who had helped raise them since they were little, holding hands and seeing their masters so close like a couple they adored.

When Draco was recovering, after school, Avery always flooed herself to the Malfoy manor to help him eat. Even though his hands were completely fine, she insisted she wanted to help him eat. After Draco finished his meal, he looked at her from his bed and said, "How did I get so lucky to have you?"

"Because your father acted first before anybody else," and they both laughed. He smiled and kissed Avery softly on her lips; this was not their first kiss. Their first kiss was when they were 15 years old, in the garden of Malfoy manor when Draco showed her around the garden. Draco continued kissing her more on her ears and neck as he pulled her to his side on his bed and started kissing her neck near her cleavage, back to near her ear, and leaving a mark there. Avery moaned and then closed her lips instantly, blushing, as Draco smiled and opened her mouth out of her hand, kissing her more passionately as he put his tongue in her mouth and caressed her right breast. All her uniform was messed up now, also her hair, but they kept snogging each other until Avery said,

"I think you're not sick anymore." Draco laughed.

"Can't you tell? I'm sickly in love with you," he answered.

Avery giggled. "You snake!"

"You know what the good thing about snakes is? I can always Slyther in to you and kiss your cute Badger's nose!" Hermione was wide-eyed and blushed.

"I can't wait for you to become Mrs. Malfoy, My Wife, My Avery..." and she was smiling at him, and he was staring at her, adoring her.