T W E N T Y O N E

"Draco, I love you."

"I will always love you, my child."

Narcissa Malfoy's comforting voice whispered. Her dark eyes crinkling as she smiled, her hands reaching out to touch Draco's cheek, her black hair pinned to perfection, lips painted red smiling. And suddenly, she wasn't.

Her smile faded, the red lipstick smeared, her hair in a disarray, her outreached hand falling limp.

"Avada Kedavra."

Blinding flashes of green.

Cries of anguish.

"Draco..." He could hear his father's voice stand out between the cries, deafening almost.

"You did this." Lucius Malfoy said, furiously pointing to something.

Draco watched him point to a body on the ground. He ran to the familiar set of black and silver hair that he saw peeking out.

"Mother!" He cried out but she wouldn't listen. Wouldn't open her eyes. Wouldn't tell him she loved him. Her hand was ice cold as Draco picked it up.

"You did this!" His father bellowed.

"I didn't want to— I never—" Draco tried to get the words out but his mouth wouldn't move.

"She lied for you! If she hadn't she would be alive! You got her killed!"

Draco wanted to shout at him to stop but his voice just got louder and louder to the point it was deafening and all he could hear was him. Then suddenly it was silent.

"It's okay, Draco." He heard as he turned to look at his side.

"Midget?" He asked, relieved to see her.

"Who else would it be, dummy?" She giggled as she ran into his arms.

"I'm glad you're here." Draco sighed into the embrace as he felt her running her hands in circles in a soothing action.

"I know. It's going to be okay, Draco. I'm here for you. I love you."

But her hands suddenly fell limp.

"Eclaire?" Draco called but she didn't respond.

He pushed her body to only see it fall limp, her eyes closed.

"Midget?" He asked shaking her. "Eclaire!" He called, getting desperate when he felt a warm liquid on his hands. He looked down to see it tainted red.

Blood.

Where did it come from?

He looked down to see Eclaire's tshirt stained the same color.

No.

Not her.

Please not her.

"You got her killed just like your mother." Ronald Weasley's voice flooded in.

No! He wanted to shout but his voice wouldn't come out.

"You got them all killed!" He shouted as he pointed behind him.

Bodies and bodies piled where Ron pointed towards. Draco could recognise Eclaire among them the first. His mother came next, Dumbledore and his classmates followed. The bodies kept growing in number.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"You got her killed!"

"You got them killed!"

Dying cries of anguish.

Draco awoke with a jolt. He could feel his skin coated with a sheen of sweat, his heart beating erratically. His head swerved to his right to see his bed devoid of the short haired witch. His eyes followed the clock on his table to see it read six thirty in the morning.

Eclaire's absence did nothing but aggravate his already erratic heart. He jumped out of bed clad in nothing but his sweats and stormed out of his room.

I need to see her. He thought. I need to see that she's — alive.

His hurried footsteps resounded throughout the manor as he descended.

"Eclaire?!" He called out.

"Ecl—"

He saw her pop her head out from the living room couch.

"Draco? What are you doing here? And what are you wearing? Actually, what are you not wearing? You're going to give the maids a heart attack!" The short haired witch said as she smiled up at him, amused.

"Why weren't you in bed?" He asked.

Oops. Am I in trouble? He did use my full name. She thought to herself.

"I swear I didn't get into trouble this time!" Eclaire exclaimed. "I got up early to work on the murder case but then I got hungry and I wanted to eat cereals but you didn't have any and the shops were closed so I made mini cookies to eat as cereals and I may have forgotten to take out the last batch because I got distracted by Bells and it almost set the fire alarms off but I took care of it before it did. Before you ask, I know you said we can't get a cat but I'm just fostering Bells so—"

Eclaire was cut off as she felt slender arms wrap around her as the fragrance of Chocolate and Spice engulfed her.

"Draco?" He heard her ask confused but he just responded by tightening his arms around her. He didn't realize he was shaking until Eclaire rubbed her palms on his back.

"Honey, are you okay? Did you have a bad dream?" He heard her soothing voice ask as she slowly ran her fingers through his silver hair.

He didn't answer; He didn't need to, the short haired witch already knew the answer.

"I'm here. It's going to be okay. I'm here." Eclaire whispered as she kept running her hands through his hair. He seemed to calmed down after awhile when his arms loosened.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Eclaire asked as she pulled away and took his face in her palms.

"I just needed to see you were...alive." He whispered. The short haired witch could see the raw fear in his eyes and it broke her heart to see that he was hurting. She leaned forward a placed a whisper of a kiss on both his eyes.

"Was it about the war?" Eclaire asked slowly. The silver haired wizard looked up at her, her soft brown eyes shining with concern.

"It was a mix of everything. I just saw...bodies everywhere and father blaming me for it and you were among them and it was fucking terrible." The silver haired wizard sighed.

The short haired witch bent forward and kissed his forehead. She had an inkling that the serial murders was what had triggered her lover's nightmares and the fact that she had yet to solve them just made her sad.

"Can I lay down?" The silver haired wizard asked her. Eclaire held up her hand.

"Wait!" She said as she made a dash upstairs. Draco's eyes followed her movement as he saw her disappear towards his room. She emerged again with his blanket bundled in her hand before getting her feet entangled in it and falling on her face.

"I'm okay!" Eclaire shouted as she got up and ran downstairs to where he sat on the sofa.

She plopped down on the sofa and patted her thighs. The silver haired wizard laid down as the short haired witch spread the blanket over him.

"You weren't wearing a shirt, you might have caught a cold." She explained as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"You could've used the summoning charm, you know?" The silver haired wizard smiled up at her.

"Hush now." She said, her face turning red.

How is it that the woman could solve high security criminal cases but couldn't remember to use the summoning charm? Draco thought to himself amused.

"Do you want me to sing you a lullaby?"

"Don't push it."

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

D

raco's eyes slowly opened as he felt something furry touching his sides under the blanket. His hand reached out to pick it up.

A furry black feline stared back at him from his grip. It was as big as his palm.

"Oh no! Did Bells wake you up?" He heard Eclaire exclaim as she put down her pen.

"Did you pick this urchin up from the street as well?" Draco asked looking up at her.

"Oh no." Eclaire said waving her arms as she took the kitten from his hands and set it down on the floor. "My neighbour's cat just had babies and she's found homes for all of them except Bells. People didn't want to adopt Bells because she's black and they associate black cats with witches." Eclaire said with a huff. "And Beth's getting married this week so she just needed someone to foster Bells for a few weeks or till someone decides to adopt her."

"Why doesn't Beth just keep Bells?" Draco asked as he watched the little feline try to jump onto the couch.

"She would, but her fiance's allergic to fur. She's already pushing it by keeping Notty— that's Bells' mother by the way." She explained as Draco felt the feline finally manage to jump up to the couch and settle right above his belly where it curled up and laid down, purring softly.

"She likes you." Eclaire giggled as Draco looked up at her smiling face. I always want to see her happy. The thought made its way into his head.

"Do you want to keep it?" He asked suddenly as Eclaire glanced at him.

"But you told me not to get any pets because there wouldn't be anyone to take care of them at home while I'm at work." Eclaire pouted.

"Keep it here. Martha can look after it. You're over at my place most of the time anyway." Draco grumbled out.

Bells meowed and jumped into Eclaire's  outstretched hands.

"Are you asking us to move in?" Draco looked up to see Eclaire' brown eyes blinking rapidly as she cradled Bells like a newborn. The kitten blinked at the silver haired haired wizard.

"Essentially, yes—"

The words died in his mouth as Eclaire put Bells down and invaded his space with a bear hug, laughing.

"Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!" She whispered, pulling away with the biggest of grins on her face, she might have shed a few tears, too but she was too elated to care.

And right there, with her brown eyes shining bright, her face flushed at the excitement, lips stretched into a grin showing her single crooked tooth and her hair falling around her like a halo, she looked beyond ethereal to the silver haired wizard. Warmth radiated off her, engulfing the blue eyed wizard and filling his entirety with it's essence.

"I love you," she whispered with emotion evident in her eyes.

Fools, thought Draco, fools who'd said—to make a woman fall in love, you must make her laugh. There couldn't be anything farther from the truth for, everytime that she laughed her enchanting laugh and smiled her entrancing smile it was he, who fell deeper into the bewitching spiral that was love. Every grin pulling at his heart like vines until it was unfathomable to picture a life without her in it.

"I love you more." He whispered back with a gentle smile of his own, his icy blue eyes crinkling with something he hadn't felt in ages— elation.

And the Gods above bore witness to the truth laced behind each word of ardent affection that the pair shared.