Chapter 44
Draco glared at Granger as he continued to wait for her to speak. She did seem rather tongue tied...which was quite unfortunate, and in this case it was unfortunate for the both of them considering he was the one waiting for her to tell him what she so desperately seemed to wish for him to know. He could...understand that it may be difficult to talk to him, but really he had better things to do than wait in the owlry stairwell, biding his time until she seemed to be able to articulate what exactly it is that she seemed to be so worried about. He really did not have the patience for this, as it was already low in the first place with what he was dealing with amongst the Slytherins, and then on top of that the issues with the Veela realm seemingly chasing him from where he had thought-or rather hoped-that he had left them. Unfortunately for Granger that left very little patience for him to deal with whatever it was that she seemed to want to speak on.
"I said I was worried." Draco scoffed at the repetition. Who would have thought. He contemplated to himself. She was worried. I know that you utter imbicile but about what are you worried? Furthermore, why come to me, of all people? Surely there are plenty of people amongst the Gryffindors that would care a whole lot more about her ability to vent her worries out on them. I, unfortunately for her, am not someone that cares that much.
"No, Granger, I got that part, as it seemed to be the only coherent thing that you are capable of today, however that is not what I want to know. What I want to know, is what is it that you are ever so anxious about that you felt the need to hunt me down, dog me, and try and insist upon speaking with me with nobody else present. Clearly, it must be something of vital importance, else wise why would you go through so much trouble." Draco stated, his tone slightly sarcastic, with a wry edge to it. Truly, sometimes Muggleborns baffled him in ways that he did not think that he would ever quite understand. Gryffindors were hard enough to comprehend, let alone gryffindor mudbloods. They merely made his head spin, and that was not something he wanted to deal with right now. There was quite the plenty that he had to worry about outside of one idiot's concern for something that they can't even place.
"I...I just meant, that I am worried about you." Granger finally said something cohesive. Draco thought to himself. What a shocker, it only took several hours it would seem like. He rolled his eyes outwardly, however, at the declaration. What is it that seems to cause her to worry. I doubt that I have done much to be worthy of such a thing. He thought to himself, somewhat concerned. unless I truly am loosing my edge, which spells trouble when Father returns. If my mask is slowly dwindling, what am I going to do when Father comes back? Draco felt himself beginning to panic and ruthlessly shoved the emotion away from him. He did not have time to dwell on that worry. There was so much else to contemplate.
"Right, well, I can say that there is nothing to be worried about but I doubt you would listen as you Gryffindors have a bad habit of not listening, in which case I would be wasting my breath trying to convince you, now if you don't mind, Granger, I do have other things that I should be getting to that are a little more important than this conversation right now, so I will be taking my leave." Draco stated this matter-of-factly, pushing himself off the wall and sliding to the side of the muggleborn, before swiftly descending down the stairs, ignoring the calls of her to his back.
He did not want to deal with her in the first place, and he certainly did not want to deal with her now. There was simply far too much else going on to handle her at the moment, and he could get back to that when he had the time, it was just that there was no time to deal with a wayward Muggleborn who was too nosy for their own good. He had plenty to worry over and plenty to give him enough anxiety rather than adding her thoughts to the mix. He would prefer to not even associate with her anyways. As much as Pansy claims the Trio is broken, Draco would rather not take any chances. After all, the idiotic Golden Trio had been broken plenty of times, they just kept coming back together in the end.
Hastily making his way back down to his Godfather's quarters his thoughts turned to a more dark subject. His father and his godfather. Draco honestly had no idea what truly went on between the two. He had no knowledge of what his father did to keep Severus in line, but he knew that it had to be something rather...severe. After all, there was plenty of things that Severus could be, but idle was not one of them. He knew that Severus was just as wary and cautious (and scared) of his father as Draco was, if not a bit more, which he supposed made a little bit of sense considering the other had known him longer. Draco never quite understood how it was or why it was that Severus was so terrified of him, and he doubted that he ever would, but it was something that he wondered on, especially now that his father was in prison and liable to break out soon enough.
Draco doubted that he would ever truly find out, but it was something that he occasionally wondered about. After all, it was rare to associate with wizards outside of the pureblood circle, but Severus was a half blood, and furthermore, Severus had the explicit trust of the Malfoy household. He was Draco's godfather for crying out loud. such a declaration of good will and trust? Well it was not commonly made from a pureblood house to a halfblood, that was certain. Especially not for the heir of the family name and family line.
Draco sighed out softly as he stopped before his godfather's office quarters. As much as he may want to know, he knew better than to ask about such things. Severus got anxious just thinking about his father, and whilst most people would not see the tenseness about the eyes and shoulders, Draco was not most people. He was observant on the best of days. Furthermore, he had seen his godfather completely relaxed, as opposed to whenever Lucius was in the vicinity, so he supposed that helped a bit as well.