Chapter 11
“What’s this?”
I turned to see Draco coming out from the bathroom with his black bottoms and no shirt covering his bare chest. I found my gaze lingering over the pale planes of his chest. Ginny’s comment from a couple months came through my mind. Draco was not just handsome, he was sexy.
“Are you gonna answer my questions Granger or are you gonna keep eyeing me like you are taking my clothes off mentally,” he popped off at me as he strode over to the table.
“I thought we could eat breakfast together,” I averted my eyes as he got closer. “Here, in the quiet. I felt we could both use a break from the commotion of the school.”
“How thoughtful,” Draco snagged a bright green apple off of the table and took a bite before continuing. “But I will not be joining you. Why would I Granger?”
He started to walk away towards his room when I reached out to grab his wrist. The apple fell to the floor with a loud thunk. He flinched and looked down at my hand. I pulled him gently back towards me, surprised that he was being compliant. As I pulled him closer, I turned his arm over and looked at the dark mark that was so stark on his smooth skin. I ran my other hand up his arm and placed it directly over the black ink in his skin. His arm tensed under my hand and he pulled against my grip. I held a bit tighter and looked directly into his pained grey eyes.
“This does not define you,” I said as soothingly as possible. “The war is over. The past is the past. You are free now.”
“What makes you think I was ever not free,” he gritted his teeth. “I picked this Hermione. It was my choice.”
“But was it what you were told it would be? Did you enjoy it? Or did you fight against Him as much as you could?”
His jaw was still tight and his eyes sharp as he glared down at me.
“You must be forgetting how I stood and watched as you received your own scars,” he grabbed my own arm with his free hand and yanked back the sleeve of my cardigan to expose the word carved into my skin. Mudblood. His expression became darker as we both looked at it.
“Draco, I have forgiven you for that a long time ago.”
“What! Why,” he exclaimed in disbelief. “I just stood there and let Bellatrix torture you!”
“No,” I shake my head. “I saw your mother restrain you. I saw the tears that you shed. I heard you calling my name.”
I look up at him and see tears in his eyes, just as I did that horrid night. I pull on his arm that I was holding and he stumbled forward, blinded by the water welling up in his white eyelashes, yet to spill over. He stumbled right into my embrace. I stood on my tip toes and whispered in his ear.
“I forgive you.”
His body shaked as he wraps his arms around me, pulling me in tighter. I heard him whisper something into my neck as my skin became moist from tears that flowed freely.
“I’m sorry, so sorry…”