_____

''You love me?''

_____

Amelie groaned out a sigh as she stumbled after the blond through the woods, her feet tripping across tiny rocks and roots fixed in the soil. The sun trickled between the massive boles, wind scored lively around them.

She didn't quite understand why he dragged her all the way out in the forest to show her something — a secret he claimed to have kept from her.

Malfoy didn't seem to be a secretive person when it came to Amelie, but now he was, and it earned her curiosity in a heartbeat. Even if she held no memory of the two of them together, she was still her.

Tubers and branches caused her to nearly fall over repeatedly, but Draco always seemed to turn around at the right time, and with a hand upon her body, gripping her shoulder and snatching her arm, he kept her steady.

That was something he seemed to have a talent for, keeping her balanced.

''God,'' He mumbled, dragging her close from yet another chance of her falling over. His voice laced with frustration as he sought to hide it, ''I'm glad to see that you didn't lose those clumsy feet of yours.''

Parting her lips dismally at what he told, she pouted, ''Well, you didn't need to bring me all the way out here for a secret you'll most likely keep to yourself anyway.''

Her sight lowered onto the black leather book he was holding. It never clocked her mind until the second she owned to study it from afar, that it could be the thing he thirsted to show her.

Huffing out a sigh at his amused expression, she knitted her brows and tangled her fingers in front of her, ''What is it? The book? Is it something you want to read for me—''

Draco rolled his eyes away from her, getting comfortable with the way their dynamics changed, ''Patience, Amelie,'' He grinned as he began walking ahead of her again, and she muttered behind him.

Draco couldn't help but let a full smile stretch across his lips as he remembered the last time they were walking in the woods — and how he was the one complaining back then.

He wished he'd be able to take her to the cabin, where she'd mastered to rethink her ways with him last time they were split apart, but he couldn't. He wasn't capable of doing that to her when she was raveled within her mind already.

He held the arch on his lips at the image of that tiny house. It was where their journey began — he indeed felt a lot for her while still being in the Manor before he convinced her to leave, but it felt as if it all changed for them in the cabin.

Where it all became real in a way, he'd failed to see before.

''I just don't understand—'' Amelie hushed, folding her arms across her chest and kept stumbling, ''I don't understand why we have to walk so far, not that I don't like walking in the woods, but I don't see why you want me to wait—''

''We're almost there. Hang on for a few more minutes,'' Draco shrugged, peering over his shoulder to check up on her, and he could sense his heart as it hammered roughly within his chest.

Her shoulders were still bruised, the mauve shades had faded into fair ones, yet it still caught his attention every time.

Amelie exhaled, louder this time as she floundered. Her sight still floored, and Malfoy merely chuckled at her lack of patience. He heard every little noise of her moody behavior.

It took a toll on her, and a massive one at that — for Theodore to invade her body as he did. It made her temperamental, unstable nearly. Not consciously. She wouldn't act this way in her right mind, but something shifted within the coat of her skin — he could tell.

A spark of his Amelie showed.

They continued walking for a few more minutes until he halted, turning around to fully face her in the dimmed forest. Sparkles of sun crackled through the tree trunks.

Draco hesitated at first, not knowing if this was truly the time to do this. Show her the one thing he'd carried along with himself for all the months she'd been missing.

It was sensitive to him, more than it.

He exposed to loving her in that diary. Not that she hadn't figured it out on her own already, but it was sore.

He indeed poured his soul and heart into that book, but the very instant his mind reached those thoughts — he stopped. He couldn't be thinking like that.

This was for her. This was about him, having his Amelie again, and there wasn't a thing he wouldn't do to have her back.

His hand stretched out, almost shakingly handing her the book he'd been carrying.

Amelie's brows knitted, puzzlingly as to why he waited all this time to give it to her. They had been walking for more than thirty minutes, only to falter in a glade. She gazed around, curious about where he'd taken her.

She didn't complain about the tiny opening in the deep forest. It was adorable. Plain grass coated the ground with boles standing thickly around them.

Her eyes fell upon the leather material of the book again, doubtfully allowing her palm to stroke along the bounded spine, and she could feel Draco as his intense stare ignited her skin. As soon as her fingers grasped at the material — it stung vividly in her chest.

A swirl of emotion stormed through her, spiritedly as she gasped at the tickling feeling it brought. It felt similar to a bond, something mysterious.

Her hues flickered, shooting up to watch the blond boy still leveled in front of her as the wind seeped around them. They sparkled, her eyes and a flush of hope pushed through her nerves, Draco could tell.

''What is this?'' She whispered curiously as he drew his hand away, taking a gaping breath, ''I mean, where did you get this? What does it have to do with me—''

''You bought it for me,'' He cleared his throat, getting rid of the lump he felt annoyingly increasing in the back of it, ''And I wrote a few things when you were...''

His hand balled into fists at his sides, and his heartbeat swelled in his ears. He couldn't tell her why they weren't with each other at the time. He promised Theodore not to do so, to keep her out of it as much as possible, ''When you were away.''

Amelie could still feel that slight, tingling sensation within as she held the diary.

Draco quieted his talks, looking straight at her, ''I'd like for you to read it.''

Squinting as she nodded, agreeing. If it made him feel better, she'd do it without a second thought — even if a share of her did it for her own sake.

Draco stepped to the side, parting from standing close, and he gestured for her to walk past him, to keep going through the woods.

Her eyes snapped across the pages of the diary, reading it carefully as she struggled not to fall across the small path they were walking on.

Draco's pulse stressed every time she took a misstep and every time it looked to him as if she was tripping, but he tried to remain calm, not to put more pressure upon her than he was already.

Regretting his own decision to let her read it. He was on edge to ask her to give it back and forget that any of this even took place, to begin with.

It wouldn't change anything to her, he believed. She'd read it, and he'd even so be missing from her memories.

It wasn't all bad, he thought as she turned another page over, and he knew that she was getting close to the parts where he'd been welling his heart out.

Amelie tenderly smiled to herself, cheekily almost as she flipped through the sheets of paper, learning what he thought of her.

Reading as she blushed, seeing how much he'd missed her and how intensely he was longing for her. Amelie couldn't quite grasp just how much the blond boy, nervously walking behind her, prepared to catch her if she'd fall over — cared for her.

Everyone except Theodore had failed to do so. No one cared, not one single human being did, but now — now Malfoy did too.

Draco's palms layered in a thin coat of sweat as he tried to peek over her shoulder, reading what side she was on, but he couldn't see, and that caused him to feel more and more unsure for every minute that passed.

He was marching after her, clouded in his own head, weighing the possibilities of right and wrong, damned that he'd let her read it in the first place, yet thankful for the courage he held to do so.

Amelie halted abruptly in front of him, nearly causing him to stride right into her.

Her spine straightened as she gasped unheedingly.

''What?'' Draco choked out, his brows dragged together as the crease in his forehead grew, ''Did you hurt yourself?''

He tried to look if a branch had caught her or if she'd taking a misstep and sprained her ankle, but nothing.

''What is this...'' Amelie whispered, pearls of tears formed in her eyes, making a heavy feeling lingering her, ''Malfoy—''

''What?'' He snapped again, concerned to an unlimited point with her spine still facing him. He couldn't understand why she sounded so upset, ''What happened—''

Amelie turned around slowly as he met her glinting eyes, and his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach at the look of it.

That fragile cloak she carried. Her rosy cheeks and her teary eyes could easily be the death of him, ''Amelie, what happened? Was it something I wrote—''

''You love me?''

Draco's eyes widened. His breaths shifted, none existent.

A seep of silence hovered. For long moments Amelie stood, with her lips parted, her hands shaking, looking at him as if someone had ripped her heart right out of her chest.

He didn't look any different.

It was worse than being hit by a train, suffering underneath the spells of torture, torn apart from the inside — hearing her ask it as if it was a question.

It would never be a question to him.

It would never be something he'd ever doubt. Not an inner conflict. Not a battle between his heart and mind. Nothing grey in black and white, not colorless and not filled with shades.

It wasn't like that for Draco.

It was so clear, so obvious.

"You love me?"

He did.

He still does.

Not a day passed that he didn't.

Amelie swallowed the urging feeling to cry, the blooming shade on her skin faded, ''You—'' A shaky breath passed her quivering lips, ''You love me?''

She already knew it. She did. She had figured it out days ago that he indeed loved her, not only that she loved him but that he held so much affection for her.

Draco's jaws gritted, shutting his eyes closed for a second to regain himself from drowning within. It hurt so much to have to justify that he loved her.

Malfoy looked back at her, ''I do.''

Her face fell into grief, mourning something she never knew she had, and it pained her tremendously to know what she lost him without feeling it.

All she felt was his loss, his suffering in her, and it drained her. It overwhelmed her to look at him as he looked ghastly. He didn't look human to her, he portrayed as someone who'd strayed everything he lived for, and in ways — he did.

As he stood there, his hands in his pockets, the vivid summer wind tousling his hair as her danced in the strokes of it, looking back at him with blown pupils.

They knew, both of them, even if they didn't.

The excited feeling she held inside shifted into a heartbreaking one, and she could hear his breaths as they heaved. His face cooly and his shoulders tense.

Amelie didn't know what to do — she caught onto her question, being a terrible one. That it upset him, and she didn't mean for it to happen, but to see it for herself — to see his handwriting in that book, writing that he loved her over and over.

It felt strange, not confusing, more known.

''I'm sorry,'' She whispered, lowering the book entirely, and she looked at him, ''I'm sorry I hurt you. I never meant to do that.''

''I know you didn't,'' He answered, blankly while tearing his stare from the trapped hold she kept him in, glaring out over the crowd of trees around them, ''It was never about you hurting me—''

''Did you hurt people when you tried to find me?'' Amelie blurted out unexpectedly, but it felt as if she knew the answer already — as if she asked only to see if she was right. The loss in her head didn't feel as heavy anymore.

Draco looked at her, a razor-sharp dash in his pained eyes, ''I'd tear this whole world apart for you.''

It was a promise. He didn't speak with doubt. It fell off his lips with honesty.

Amelie swallowed the suspicion she felt, and she bowed her head slowly, ''Would I have done the same for you?'' She asked shyly, more uncertain this time.

Draco's jaws sharpened tightly, ''You did, but worse,'' He admitted, causing a frown to mount her unsettled features, ''You hurt yourself because of me.''

She nodded as the birds chirping around them caught her attention for a brief moment, and she looked back at him, seeing all the blasting pain he kept inside, ''I don't think that's your fault—''

''Don't—'' He cut her short, snapping his head to the side, rolling his shoulders to ease his own tension, ''It's not your job to make me feel better.''

Malfoy sighed worryingly. He felt horrible for bemusing her, for being the reason she felt more trapped than before.

''You might not be mine anymore,'' It was a slight, hurtful pause in his talking. His heart ached in the missing of her, ''But I belong to you, always.''

Fuming inside her as she caught those words, ''Don't—'' She nearly snapped at him, ''Don't say that. I don't want you to wait for me. What if I can't remember you? What if I can't get any of it back?''

She crackled, wounded by her loss of realization, ''You don't have to do this—''

''Then I'll show you.'' He talked so calmly, reassuring her that he meant every word as he took a stride closer, his palm soothed against her jaw, ''You think it's missing, all the strength and power you learned to master this past year but—''

Gazing over him, watching the flicker of pain in his soft stare as she let her head rest against his touch. He tried to suppress it, to deny that this hurt, but he couldn't, she noticed without falter.

''It's right...'' His hand slid down her arm. Goosebumps caressed her skin as his touch went further down, grabbing her hand gently before tracing it back up between them. He placed their tangled fingers on his chest, ''Here.''

''Our hearts...'' She breathed, her nerves coming back together, calming down from almost losing her tamed mind, ''You say it all the time.''

Tightening his fingers around hers as she shivered by the icing feeling his hand brought, ''I do,'' Draco whispered, peering down at her. He was so tall in comparison to her height, ''So did you.''

She felt the heat of his body radiating off on her, and she still couldn't wrap her head around it. How she was supposed to love someone that had hurt as many people as he did — someone so uncaring and dangerous, but he wasn't with her.

He cared for that brown-haired girl more than he'd ever admitted to. He confessed to loving her, several times but it was still an understatement. Not a word was viable to explain how he felt about her. It wasn't something that could be put into speaking.

It was something that had to be shown, and to show that to a girl who was terrified by touch wasn't easy. Still, Draco's touch never bothered her. Not back then and not now. It never troubled the frail soul she carried because he'd never hurt her.

He did once, and he learned from it. He'd never do it again.

''I must have loved you a lot,'' She spoke up after moments in silence. Her tone shaky and uncertain, ''Not to be scared of you.''

Draco felt an arch on his lips as he smiled, not a natural smile, not a fraud one either but a smile of hope in the most desperate times, ''I hope you did. I like to believe that you did.''

''Did it hurt?'' She asked, her hand still on his chest. She wished to drag away, to take a step back and distance herself, but she couldn't. It wasn't possible, ''Losing me, I mean.''

Draco's eyes flickered, landing on the bracelet, hugging her wrist, and it burnt his soul seeing it, ''More than you know.''

They stayed like that. Close to each other for moments until they walked their way back to the Manor.

He didn't push her further today. He let her take in the missing pieces of her mind at her best capabilities, and he let it go.

He knew that they'd try it again, another day, but for this one — it was enough. Amelie deserved to rest now.

Draco watched as she stepped up the stairs, with his diary still close to her, and disappeared into their room again.

A loud sigh fell off his lips as he hunched down onto the couch in the living room. Not realizing that Theodore had been waiting for them to return.

Malfoy's arms spread out over the backrest of the sofa as he allowed his head to tip back.

He was exhausted.

''Mate,'' Theodore called out for him in the doorway, standing with his shoulder pressed to the wood, ''I need a word—''

''Yeah?'' Draco scoffed, shaking his head and with a twitch of his wand, resting next to him — he let the fireplace on fire, ''It's been a long day, Nott. What do you want?''

There was a delay in Theodore's answer as his forehead was trimly covered in lather. He was timid to speak about this, to say at least — still, he needed to do so.

He'd been doing something unforgivable behind Draco's back, when he wasn't looking and when he was mourning the believed loss of Amelie. Theodore could never speak of this out loud. He understood that, and it was his price to pay.

He'd pay for this one day. He'd be held responsible for what he agreed to do, even if he'd done so to save the two people closest to him.

''I'm leaving,'' Theodore kept his tone on the lower side, not for Amelie to hear if she'd by any chance, walk down the stairs, ''I'll be back in the morning—''

''Again?'' Draco's voice filled with anger, ''Where do you possibly have to be at this hour, every damn night—''

''That's none of your concern, and even if it was. I wouldn't tell you,'' Theodore fired back.

Malfoy's eyes widened, still staring into the fireplace, and his fingers dug into the backrest of the couch his arms rested against. It maddened him exceedingly that his friend was keeping secrets from him.

That he wasn't entitled to know what Theodore knew.

''Then don't tell me,'' Draco gritted, his chin rose in the air, ''Don't tell me and don't tell her.''

Theodore's arms fell to his sides, feeling beaten, ''I don't know why you have to bring her into every conversation we have. This has nothing to do with her, and if you continue to use her against me—''

''Because it's not just you and me anymore!'' Draco turned around, his eyes glared in pure evil, ''It's not us looking for her, it's us being with her, and that is a bit hard when you're not here anymore.''

Draco had no clue that Theodore was, in reality, saving their lives by vanishing in the late hours.

''I know, but she has you.'' It hurt Theo to admit that, to speak it loudly and not hear the whispers in his head, ''She has you now and that's all she'll ever—''

''Oh, for fucks sake!'' Draco growled, forcing himself off the furniture, ''Don't start that, she loves you more than me shit again—''

''I'm not!'' Theodore yelled, but he wasn't upset with the blond. Theo was tired. He was just so tired.

He'd been bending himself inside out, draining every last piece of morality he kept inside to try and help his best friend, and now — now he was tired.

''I'm not, but I can't tell you about it, just like you didn't tell me how you found out about that Death Eater meeting and you don't see me accusing you of lying,'' He made a fair point, even Draco believed that, ''I'm doing this for her, trust me.''

Draco felt his chest as it tightened, and he looked away.

''I'm not doing anything to piss you off, but this is something I have to do, and I need to know that you'll stay here with her,'' His talk discontinued for a brief moment, scared of what he was implying himself, ''You leave too, sometimes but you can't do that when I'm not here. You need to look after her.''

''I am—'' Draco still glanced away, ''I won't leave her.''

It eased the strained feeling within Theodore, hearing Malfoy saying it out loud. He wouldn't leave her, and if anything ever would happen to Theodore, she'd always have him.

''You better not,'' He said severely, ''I have to go, but tell her goodnight for me, would you?''

Malfoy nodded, letting his sight drag over Theodore as he walked out of the room. He wanted to shout and scream and take all that build-up rage he kept deep inside out on the brunet, but it wouldn't be fair.

Theodore had to learn too. He had to master the lines of right and wrong on his own. There was something special about learning from your own mistakes. To heal, take it in, and move on.

Never did Theo have anyone similar to that in his life, someone that would let him fail but still support him — but Amelie, and now — now Draco was that person too.

Malfoy slipped down onto the couch again. Too tired to keep his eyes open but too exhausted to sleep. It felt to him as if he lost consciousness.

Amelie's body jolted violently.

She felt trapped in her own sheets as her legs kicked them off of her. Her breaths were heavy, and her skin damp. Her nightdress smeared to her body.

She flinched again, hearing the screams and whimpers from downstairs.

Ripping through her like daggers, shredding her apart from the inside as she — without thinking twice about it, pushed herself off her bed. Her bare feet struck the floor cooly.

It was dark throughout the Manor. Every corner held even dimmer than the prior, but she stumbled her way down the corridor, and she was out of breath. Both panic and agony bolted within.

Amelie shivered by the chilly air stroking her skin as she nearly ran down the stairs. Her nightdress fluttered in the wind.

Halting, right in the doorway to the living room, she watched as his pale body twisted and turned by the agonizing thoughts he was dreaming.

Amelie's fingers twitched against the palms of her hands, and she shook her head slightly.

She recognized this — as if she'd seen it before, a tempest of deja vu poured over her, and her lower lip quivered.

Another whimper passed him, and she tripped over, closing in on him, hurrying around the sofa to kneel right where his head was. She slipped onto the frigid floor, her hands grasping at his tense jaws.

''Malfoy,'' Amelie whispered closely. Her fingers brushed over the blond strands of his hair, ''Malfoy... I'm here.''

Gasping the very instant, she watched his eyes peel open and his body coiled. He looked scared, his eyes crowded in tears as his head shook, ''Amelie, what are you—''

Draco tried to sound solid. He didn't want to give in to what he knew had taken place, to the reason she'd found her way down here in the middle of the night.

He fell asleep without her, and this always happened to him when he did. Draco cursed to himself within the flesh of his mouth as he watched the heavy-eyed girl resting on her knees beside him.

She looked terrified.

''Amelie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you,'' He started to prop himself up, his feet against the floor, and the blanket fell off his chest, leaving his skin on display for her, ''Go back to sleep, I didn't—''

Amelie didn't speak one single word to him as she stood up in front of him before she dropped down onto his lap. He blinked quickly at her arms around his neck, and she could feel how his muscles flexed against hers.

Draco waited a minute to wrap his arms across her back. He didn't dare to at first — he was certain that she'd change her mind. That she'd wake up from her doziness and that she would realize what she was doing, but she didn't.

She didn't let go of him.

Amelie didn't budge.

She held onto him tightly as the silk of her nightdress rubbed over his bare skin.

''I'm here—'' She breathed, inching near, ''I'm sorry that I didn't sleep next to you today, but I'm here now...''

She was, yet she wasn't.

With a thick swallow, he let go of the fear of her rejecting him, and he allowed his arms to wrap around her lower back. His hands closed around her skin, and he buried his head in her hair.

Simply holding each other.

He loved doing that, drowning himself in every piece of her.

Amelie's head tipped to the side, slackening a bit in his hold. She let her cheek rest against his chin. Draco didn't even think about it as he pushed his lips into her hair.

He didn't kiss her, but he held in stillness for minutes, feeling how her steady breaths calmed his and his teeth clamped. Draco understood that he'd have to let go of her eventually. He couldn't sit there, in the middle of the night, with her on his lap — no matter how much he wanted to.

It didn't take long until Amelie's own breaths slowed, and she felt heavy upon him. Malfoy recognized the feeling instantly. She'd fallen asleep on top of him so many times before.

Draco smiled — a curl on his lips, reservedly. She came down here to comfort him, to check up on him as he shouted in his sleeping state, but instead, she was the one falling asleep. It usually turned out like that, not that he minded — not one single bit.

He adored it. He'd have her sleeping on his lap every night if he could.

Draco groaned lightly as he stood tall on his feet with her body clinging onto him. He walked upstairs, back to the room they once shared before he gently laid her down in between the pearly sheets.

He bent back, loosening the hold of her spine when she gripped his upper arm in a swift move. Her lashes battled, falling close again.

''Don't—'' She whispered. Her note airy, and her skin felt so warm upon his, ''Please, don't go.''

His breaths ragged, frowning at her in the darkness of midnight.

''Don't—'' Amelie started to pull him closer to her again, nearly dragging him down onto the bed entirely, ''Don't go. You can't sleep without me and I—''

She swallowed tiredly as she looked at him. The moonlight brushed his skin so beautifully.

''And I don't want to sleep without you.''

Draco could feel her panting breaths on his lips as one of her hands stroked over his hair. She was irresistible. He had no idea how he would ever stand against her,

''Don't go.''

It was a thickening feeling in his throat. One of his hands settled next to her head as she kept pulling him down. He wanted to lie beside her, more than anything. ''Amelie, I don't want you to do this because of me. I'm alright—''

He watched as the strap of her dress slipped down, revealing her exposed shoulder, and he could explode right there and then if he lacked self-control. Her beauty and her soft skin were captivating to him.

''I'm not,'' Her eyes flayed open again, meeting his grey ones in a heartbeat. He was leaning over her fully, still with one foot on the ground, ''I don't want to sleep alone. It's just so lonely.''

His gaze slipped over her. His jaws clenched.

God, how he missed her.

''I don't want you to regret it...'' His thumb brushed her cheek, locking his eyes with hers and her fist tightened in his hair, ''I'll wait for you. You know I will.''

''I'm not—'' She let out a sigh, feeling her heart as it pounded in her ears and her skin smoothly moved along the silky sheets, ''I'm not going to regret it, Malfoy. I asked you to stay, so just stay.''

Malfoy still hesitated. He didn't want her to feel bothered or even regretful when she woke up — but the ticking feeling within him nagged as he watched her body make room for his, shoving herself back so that he'd be able to nestle in next to her.

He caved.

He'd always cave for her.

''Amelie—''

''You don't have to. You can go downstairs and sleep on the sofa again if that suits you better,'' A forced, drowsy smile climbed upon her, and her head held heavy on her pillow, ''Just know that I want you here.''

She felt her fingers graze over his back, lingering for a brief moment, causing his muscles to tense before her arm dropped to her side, and she let go of him.

Even that loss of her stung.

''I want to be here,'' He breathed, his knee sunk into the mattress as he placed himself next to her. Nothing had completed him more, ever.

Amelie smiled, shifting around in her position so that she'd face him in the darkness. She was so tired, her eyes falling shut.

Draco didn't dare to touch her more than he already had. He studied her, noticing the tiny smile she carried as it faded in her way to sleep.

He fell asleep next to her like they'd done so many times before, but this was different. This was special. This was her — letting him in again. Signing a piece of herself and her faith over to him, all over.

Amelie squinted. Her eyelids held heavy as she felt pounding pain scorning through her head. A twinkle of hurt she'd failed to notice before as she peeled her eyes wide.

She huffed out, shifting a bit in her position as her sight adjusted to the bright light of morning sun seeping through the windows.

Draco's room always looked so cold to her, but not today — this morning, it looked warm, soothingly.

She reached her arms up, stretching her whole body as a squeal fled her throat, and the gesture earned the boy sleeping next to her to groan in his sleep.

Draco.

Her eyes flickered as she pushed her palms into the mattress, propping herself up against the headboard, frighteningly, creating space between them.

Suddenly, she couldn't breathe. The air in her lungs missed her as she saw his pale skin, his scars, and his toned muscles.

Drops of tears.

Her hues shredded in tears, and her breathing held so shallow as she watched the blond boy, with his hair long and messily over his forehead, his arms tucked around her.

She didn't even notice that he was holding her.

Amelie gasped silently, slamming her hand over her mouth to muffle her own sounds. Her skin shivered, goosebumps trickled every inch of her in between the sheets. She couldn't believe it.

This wasn't true.

He wasn't here. He couldn't be.

''Draco?'' She whispered, her own words broke in despair. It hurt to speak his name, knowing what he'd done the last time she saw him, but she couldn't hold it back. It wasn't real to her.

She watched him die. She was there.

Amelie saw him die, and now — now he was heavily asleep by her side. In their bed.

Shaking her head as she let a finger trace carefully over his arm. She needed to be sure that this wasn't a dream, her head playing tricks on her.

Her skin brushed against his. She cried out. Her body shaking.

''Draco—'' She whimpered, earning her way past his sleep as he jolted up, his eyes snapped to hers instantly in a fusion of fear and shock.

''Amelie, what are you—'' He paused, quickly. Draco's eyes widened at the look of tears rolling down her drained cheeks. Her skin ashenly and her eyes haunted, ''What did you just—''

He gulped, pushing his lips together and his sight studied hers, ''What did you just call me—''

Amelie's gaze of worry faded unknowingly into the loving look she always carried for him. The way she always looked at him. He recognized it without falter as she recognized him.

She was here.

''What did you just call me, Amelie?'' Draco shook his head, quirking a brow. A shade of confusion mantled him. He didn't understand. His chest felt heavy as it heaved beneath the bed-linen, ''Amelie, what did you just—''

He couldn't believe what he heard. He couldn't believe what he saw.

It was her.

She was here. She was back.

His Amelie. Always his Amelie.

''Draco...'' Amelie smiled tenderly, her lashes battled the glinting eyes, ''Draco,''

It sounded so familiar yet so unknown to both of them.

Malfoy reached his hand out, the tips of his fingers barely scratched against her chin. He just needed to feel her, to sense how she reacted to his touch, and she didn't. Instead, she melted into it.

Her jaw tipped into his palm as she closed her eyes, ''I called you Draco.''

_____