The room they emerged in was breathtaking. Velvet green walls, a large black canopy bed, and silver accents littered the room made for royalty.

"Who lives here?" Vega spun around, taking it all in.

"This is my bedroom," breathed Draco beside her. She gave him an incredulous glance before eyeing the doorless walls. "My temporary bedroom," he clarified.

"So we're at your house?" She checked, trying to make sense of it all.

"One of them. Malfoy Manor is on the other side of the world. This is my private home in Sydney."

"We're in Australia? Why don't you have a door?" Panic was beginning to rise in gut at the thought of being brought to a prison.

He smiled and released a throaty laugh at her questions. "We just came through the door."

She looked back at the mirror and back to him. "I don't understand," she said quietly, pleading with her eyes.

"Its a dern," he elaborated. "It only works for--"

"I know what a dern is," Vega said, shifting her feet and staring at the floor. Her mother had a dern gifted to her by father once, a long time ago. At first, it had seemed like such a beautifully thought out gift, but then they discovered how it worked. She looked at Draco with a small frown. "You're the only one who can enter this room aren't you? Unless you invite them in, like me."

"There's only three left in the world," he said bewildered. "How on earth do you know how they work?"

Vega chewed her lip and studied the mirror. "My mother had one. Has one."

He seemed to think over what he wanted to say very carefully before speaking. His dark blond brows pulled together and she could see him working out the pieces. "She had a prison." It wasn't a question. Even as grand as his bedroom was, it was still only that. A bedroom. A room. A cell.

"It wasn't anything like this. Hers was just a room in some tower somewhere. There was a window but she couldn't ever leave. She couldn't--"

"--use magic in the mirror. I know. I've tried," he said solemnly.

Vega looked up at him. His pale face was shadowed by bits of his white blond hair falling out of its carefully styled crop. He wasn't crying, just...looking. "She would go there to hide from my dad. I guess a few days without food or water was better than being around him." Draco gave her an inquisitive look, but said nothing. Somehow she knew that he understood what she was talking about.

"We can stay here as long as you like. No one will ever find you here, and I can bring you clothes and food and--"

"Draco," said Vega as she put a hand on his arm, "I'm not a doll. You can't keep me here."

Draco frowned stubbornly at her. "Then what? You want to go back? To your father?" He practically spit the word at her.

"Not necessarily him, but I can't stay here. I haven't done anything wrong! Those...they attacked me! I didn't know what he was planning, I just thought..."

The anger pulsated off the Slytherin in hot waves. "You didn't know? Ask anyone in that school about his reputation and they'll all tell you the same thing," he said accusingly.

Vega gaped at him, her nostrils flared as she blinked. "Are you saying I asked for this?" She could barely say the words without shouting.

Draco's jaw clenched and his eyes softened. "No," he decided and let his shoulders drop, "of course not."

Vega shook her head and walked away from him, taking in the grand room with both awe and somber realization. She went to the mirror and touched it. Hard glass pressed back against her fingertips. There was no way out without Draco's permission. "My mother is expecting me tomorrow evening," she said without turning. She could feel Draco standing behind her. "Its her birthday."

"I know."

Vega pushed at the glass and did her best to seem unphased by the knowledge. She steadied herself and faced him, seeing him gauging her reaction. "Does anyone know about this place?"

"My mother and our house elf. And now you," he said carefully.

"Why are you showing me all this?" She took a step closer, seeing the pained look flicker across his face. "You've given me shit ever since I entered the castle, so why are you risking so much for me? You could spend the rest of your life in Azkaban!" Draco didn't meet her eyes at first, content with staring at his expensive shoes.

"I...I don't know," he murmured. His hand went to his tie and loosened it, the lumo in his throat bobbed as he swallowed down everything else he wanted to say. Vega didn't need him to say anymore. She could see it in his gray eyes how lonely and confused he was by his own emotions. A spoiled, rich kid raised by death eaters that couldn't fully understand the butterflies in his stomach. She could relate to that.

Sighing, Vega went to him and let her hand rest on his cheek. She reached up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips as if to say that she understood. She did understand. She understood it better than anyone, and she felt it too. Draco kissed her back, carefully this time, his hands wrapping around her waist tenderly.