39: His Apology

It wasn't until two months later; you were practising again with your violin by the lake as usual. You were tired and fell asleep underneath the tree, with your back leaning against the trunk of the tree.

You felt something on your face and opened your eyes.

Your eyes found Draco with his at the side of your face, you could feel his fingers by the back of your ear and within the strands of your hair.

You didn't say anything to him and just stared at Draco. Draco did the same but his hand never leaving its spot by your head.

"Why am I not surprised to find that you're a light sleeper?" He said, breaking the silence.

Was that really the first thing he said to you after two months?

You raised an eyebrow, which earned a guilty expression from Draco.

"I know..." He answered you without you even have to say anything as he sighed.

It was hard for Draco to apologize, that's why there was an awkward silence between you and him as you just waited sleepily for him to say something. And honestly, you could feel your eyes dropping back down to close, waiting so long for him to say something.

But clearly, Draco was still finding the right words in his mind.

"Why don't you sit down first? You clearly won't say anything for a while." You just said.

Without thinking, your hand reached his and just pulled him down, making him stumbling forward.

Draco tripped forward, but his other that wasn't held by you acted quickly enough to slam itself to the ground to support him before crashing into you.

You were in between his arms now.

Now, Draco's face was just an inch away from yours. He could feel your soft breath blowing against his face as he froze.

While you were oblivious to how close you both were, Draco was shocked by your actions, you had already closed your eyes, going back to your nap.

Draco just stared at you, dumbfounded. But then, his facial expression was quickly replaced with something else.

Draco felt the side of his lips tugged up, a real smile, something he never had for two long months.

You never faltered by his presence, even after your fight with him. You were supposed to be on guard around him, seeing that you didn't want anything to do with him anymore. It almost seemed like nothing happened between you at all.

He carefully sat down beside you, trying not to disturb your slumber.

He beamed, even more, when he noticed that you never let the grip you had on his hand go. He clutched on it slightly tighter, enjoying your warm touch.

And instinctively, you did the same, gripping his hand tighter. Draco jumped a little bit, he thought he accidentally had woken you up. But it seemed like you did it subconsciously, so he released a breath of relief.

When you finally woke up, you were met with the clouds reflecting the brilliant orange light that shined across the horizon, you quickly realize that it was sundown.

Your mind was still blurry and muffled, as you blinked your mind awake, you eventually became aware of the fact your head was lying on Draco's shoulder.

Even after finding that out, you never got up from his shoulder and just remained there.

You looked further down, discovering your hands are still entangled with his.

Almost yearningly, you squeezed his hand.

Feeling the sudden tightness around his hand, Draco looked down to see you awake. But your face was giving off that you were not going to move anytime soon.

"I missed you." You blurted out suddenly, surprising Draco.

Draco knew what he did was horrible for what he said to you, and it wasn't even the first time he acted like this, that's why he thought that you wouldn't miss his horrible company.

He felt terrible about what he said to you, he thought that you didn't want to talk to him for the same reason. And yet, here you are, telling him that you missed him.

"I missed you too." He answered you.

Then, there was silence.

"How long was I out?" Your voice rings around the quiet atmosphere.

"Just an hour." He answered you obediently, his voice was so soft that you almost didn't hear him.

You quietly nodded your head against his shoulder, letting him know that you heard him.

The deafening silence fills the air again.

You waited for Draco to say something.

But he still doesn't say anything, so you decided to do it for him.

"I never told anyone else." Draco hears your sudden words.

He was about to ask you what you were referring to, but then it hit him.

You were talking about the prestigious status your family has in the muggle world.

Guilt immediately climbed all over his body. He looks down to his knees, ashamed of what he did.

You slowly got up from your spot by his shoulder, finally clearly awake.

"I-" You glanced over to him, waiting for him to say something.

"I didn't mean what I said," Draco screamed in his mind, scolding himself for such a lame apology.

"I know." You were visibly dissatisfied from Draco's point of view.

He held his head back down, continuing.

"You're the closest thing I have to a friend, Amorlia. And you know that I sometimes maybe envious of Potter."

You mentally took note when he said sometimes because it clearly wasn't that but ALL the time.

But you didn't say anything and lets him continue since you knew he was trying to be sincere.

"That day was just a really bad day for me, so I wanted to let out some steam. I admit that I might have gone a little too far that day."

"A little?" You accidentally blurted out, couldn't hold your tongue.

Draco looks back up to you, caught off guard.

"I'm sorry. Please continue." You quickly say before you make him feel bad.

"And when you defended them that day, it just made me even more... mad. It just felt like the one thing I thought I had that Potter doesn't, chose him over me." Draco confessed.

You really wanted to sigh right about now, you couldn't believe what you were hearing right now.

"I thought that since I had already lost you, so I kind of... lashed out on you..." his voice now filled with guilt, but you still didn't say anything to stop him.

"I never meant anything I said, Amorlia. I hope you can forgive me for what I did to your friends, but more importantly, you." Draco finally finished his speech, but still staring to the ground.

You were watching him this whole time, and you could tell this was the sincerest Draco has ever treated anyone.

You cursed yourself within your mind for having a soft spot for the blonde in front of you.

"Draco, look at me." Your hands came to his face and pulled him to face you.

"First of all, you crossed the line was too far that day, it wasn't just a little." You pointed the mistake you blurted out earlier.

"Yeah." Draco admitted with a guilty smile.

"Second, it wasn't just sometimes, Draco. It was all the time." You stated the obvious mistake he started out with about his jealousy towards Harry.

"It was not!" Draco felt accused, quickly defending himself.

"I think the number of times you vented to me about Harry would disagree." You told him now with a smile on your face.

Draco sighed in response, he knows that you're right.

"And finally, you said that I was the closest thing you had to a friend." Your voice returned to your serious tone.

"You weren't just that to me, Draco. You were my best friend." You told him.

"What about Granger?" Draco asked doubt laced within his voice.

"What do you think? You were pretty much the only person that I routinely talk to and you're the only one in this whole school who knows about my family status. Plus, Hermione is always with Ron." You answered him.

Draco finally smiled.

"I don't know If you think the same of me. But, because I think of you as my best friend that I'm telling you this. I'm not going to suck you up like Crabbe and Goyle or Pansy." You brutally told him not to hold back at all.

Ouch.

Draco gulped down his throat, your comment really hurt.

"Instead, I'm going to tell you what they were supposed to tell you." You thumb stroked his cheeks.

"You're not going to lose me ever, Draco. But this isn't going to work out if you keep tormenting my friends. If you continue your act like this, you just might eventually lose me. I don't want that and I know that you don't either." Your hand on his cheek came down and rested on his free hand.

Almost as soon as you did that, his hand turned to fit your palm into his, grabbing your hand in his.

Which of course you noticed, gripping his hand tighter.

"So, please promise me to not, or at least try to not do something like that again, that's all I'm asking." You plead to him.

Draco took a deep breath, before answering you.

"Okay." He surrendered to your plead, head hanging down.

"You promise to try?" You asked again, making Draco glance at you again.

Draco saw you, sticking your pinkie out.

"Seriously?" He asked, raising his eyebrows, but smiling.

"Yes." You were being serious, no smile hanging on your face but a thin line from your mouth.

Draco was certainly amused that you wanted to do a pinkie promise, but nevertheless, he hooked his own pinkie with yours that was waiting for his.

"I promise." You finally grinned.

Draco widened his eyes when you wrapped your arms around his neck, snuggling against the side of his head.

"What-"

"Just let me do this." You said, stopping him from finishing.

Draco was stiff the first few seconds before his arms wrapped around you, getting himself comfortable with the smell of your shampoo.

"Does this mean I have to apologize to Potter and the Weasleys?" He asked.

You chuckled at his question.

"Technically, you always had to do it but you never did. Plus, you have me."

"Have you? For what?" he asked, puzzled by what you said.

"Apologizing in your stead to them." You answered him.

"You did?" Draco pulled back, his arms moving to the sides of your shoulder.

"Well, yeah. Someone has to do it." You just shrugged, like it was nothing.

But it meant a lot to Draco.

"Lia... You didn't have to do that. It has nothing to do with you." Draco spoke out.

"I know, but I wanted to." You said, still thinking like it was not a big deal.

Draco could see that you had no idea, still oblivious about how much it meant to him. He could only smile at you. He always felt bad for everything he did, but he couldn't risk apologising and plummet his reputation as the Slytherin Prince. Having someone apologising for him actually gave him some relief for everything he's done.

He threw himself back into your embrace again.

"Thank you... and I'm sorry..." Draco finally got his apology out of his mouth, words that he desperately wanted to convey to you ever since he got those regrettable words out.

You smiled into his chest and returned the hug, giving him a tight squeeze.

"It's alright, Draco. I forgive you." you said softly.

Draco swallowed down his throat, holding back his relief.

How could you forgive him so easily after hurting you?

He was so sure that one day you would be done with him and leave him for good.

And that fight you had two months ago, Draco really thought that it would be the last conversation you would have with him.

Turns out, it wasn't.