A cool breeze blew through Y/N's curly brown hair as she traipsed through the snow on the main road of Hogsmeade with her best friends and twin sister. Even though it was frigid outside, the sun was shining down on them. That meant it was going to be a good day.

"Blimey, it's cold out here." Ron blew out a billowing white breath. He stuffed his gloved hands into the pockets on his ratty jacket and said, "Why couldn't we have stayed back at Hogwarts?"

"Stop whining, Ronald," Hermione, Y/N's twin sister, said with a roll of her matching brown eyes. "You're the one who pushed us to come here. Don't go blaming someone else for your problems."

Ron grumbled something under his breath. Hermione playfully shoved his shoulder, so Harry trailed behind the two of them, keeping pace with Y/N. Their feet made prints in the snow as they walked down the road. People bundled up in winter coats were huddled together when they walked toward Honeydukes. Every time the door opened, steam floated out from the sweet shop. It must've been so warm in there with the fire blazing in the fireplace.

"They always seem to do this, don't they?" Harry asked Y/N.

"Unfortunately." Y/N watched as Hermione pointed to one of their other friends on the other side of the road. Y/N couldn't tell who it was because they were standing too far away from her and Harry. "I've talked to Hermione about it, but she usually dodges my questions."

Suddenly, someone ran into Y/N's back. She nearly fell down because of the force of the impact, but she caught herself. When she turned around, she stifled a groan. In front of her stood Draco Malfoy, Mortal Enemy Number One. Her heart picked up pace when he sneered at her.

"Apparently the mudblood wasn't watching where she was going," he snarled, his lip curling slightly. He showed off his perfect white teeth to her and the others around them. For some reason, Harry had disappeared, leaving her in the center of attention. The people around him snickered. "I forgot that this certain mudblood doesn't really have a lot going on in that pretty head of hers."

Y/N slipped her hand into one of the pockets on her winter coat and felt the cool wood of her wand against her palm. If she had to, she would use it against everyone around them. She was one of the best witches in their grade, almost better than Hermione, so she didn't really worry about taking on at least seven people. 

"Get out of my way," Y/N snapped toward Draco. 

His perfect grey eyes met hers, so she took a threatening step toward him. Something flashed in his eyes, and he let her brush by him. Before she could get away from him, though, his hand shot out and latched onto her arm. The frigid air bit at her skin, but little fires danced across her arm where his fingers were touching. He pulled her closer to him and something sharp pressed against her ribs.

"If you try anything while you're walking away, don't think that I won't hesitate to hurt you," he hissed in her ear.

"And don't think that I won't hesitate to hurt you, either," Y/N hissed back to him. "You should know by now that I'm not as useless as you are."

He squeezed her arm before releasing her. Y/N stumbled over toward her friends and sister and snapped, "Why did you guys not come and help me?"

Hermione touched her shoulder sympathetically. She knew exactly how it felt to be called a mudblood because she was her twin sister. Yet Draco targeted Y/N more than he did Hermione. He always caught her when she was alone and would taunt her. 

After all that Draco had done to her, her heart still fluttered whenever she saw him. He had used slurs against her and nearly physically hurt her, yet she still had feelings for him. There was something about the way he acted when he wasn't with his friends or groupies or whatever they were that made her think that he wasn't as bad as everyone said he was. But he always proved her wrong when he provoked her.

"We thought you had it handled," Ron said with a shrug. "You normally hate when we intervene, so that's why we left you alone this time."

Anger flooded through Y/N's veins. Of course he would justify his actions with that. Yes, she hated that they helped her because she didn't like other people fighting her battles for her. However, sometimes she would like the help, especially when there was more than just Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. 

Her eyes flicked over to the Three Broomsticks Inn, so she said, "I think I'm going to stop in here and grab a quick drink. You guys go on ahead without me, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked her.

"Positive. I'll meet you at the Shrieking Shack."

Before any of her friends could answer, she pushed open the door to the Three Broomsticks Inn. A cloud of warm, smokey air floated over to her. There were a lot of people crowded around the thick wooden tables. She pushed past some people that were loitering near the door, angrily muttering to herself. She thought that today would be a good day, but so far, it turned out terrible. She should have stayed back at Hogwarts. 

Y/N quickly bought a bottle of butterbeer. She turned around and nearly ran into Mortal Enemy Number One again. His brow was furrowed and it didn't look like he saw her at all. 

"Do you really have to follow me everywhere?" Y/N snapped.

Draco's head lifted, and his eyes widened when he saw her in front of him. He looked a little nervous when he noticed her. "I'm not following you," he said with a shrug. He shoved his hands into his pockets. His collar on his black jacket was drawn up to cover his ears. "I needed a drink."

"Do you need that drink to make you forget about all the hurt you've put me through?"

His eyes softened for a split second before they hardened again. He crossed his arm over his chest and cocked an eyebrow at her. "What about you? Why do you need that drink?"

"Because I'm mad at everyone right now, and I need to get away from them. Especially you." Y/N shoved Draco to the side and said, "So get out of my way and let me be alone."

"Being alone isn't always the greatest thing," Draco said darkly. "Trust me, I know."

Y/N stopped short and stared up into his eyes. He seemed more vulnerable right now. She glanced around them and didn't see any of his friends. "I've never been alone a single day in my life," she said to him with a shrug. "I've always been with Hermione."

He gestured to an empty table next to them and said, "Would you like to sit down?"

Y/N wasn't sure why he wanted to sit with her. Did he want to taunt her some more? Or was there something else he wanted to talk about? "Not really," she said to him. "Unfortunately, I have to get back to my friends. If you want to talk, we can talk back at Hogwarts or something."

The vulnerability in his eyes quickly switched off, and in its place came anger. He shook his head and said, "Never mind. Just go now."

Y/N hovered next to Draco, wondering if she should leave him or not. She didn't have much time to think about it because he suddenly shoved her away; she stumbled into a crowd of people. Many of them yelled something at her, so she hurried toward the door. With a quick glance behind her, she saw Draco watching her with a slight frown on his handsome face.

The door slammed shut behind her, cutting off the warm air. Even though she was in there for a few minutes, somehow a light snow covered the ground. She pulled her jacket tighter around her and took a sip of her butterbeer. It warmed her up slightly but not much.

Y/N started to make her way over to the Shrieking Shack when her vision went dark. Hands wrapped around her body and face, pulling her backward. Her butterbeer fell to the ground, the glass smashing and the contents spilling out in the snow. Fear rose up in her throat, so she lashed out behind her. Unfortunately, she hit nothing; instead, she accidentally knocked herself and her attacker down into the snow.

The person growled in her ear and hissed, "Stop struggling, little girl."

Y/N was surprised to hear a female's voice speaking to her. She seemed so much stronger than Y/N was, which was saying something. Y/N had practiced martial arts since she was little just so she could do something different than Hermione. 

Before Y/N could do anything else, the woman whispered a spell, and Y/N slowly went limp. The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was the yellow liquid spilling out of her shattered bottle into the white snow.

---

A thick fog covered Y/N's mind. All she knew was that her body ached from unknown bruises. It felt like her head was going to explode. Her chest rose and fell heavily as she tried to get oxygen to her brain so she could actually think and feel anything else besides the pain.

"It looks like she's waking up," a gleeful voice said. It was the same one that attacked her back at Hogsmeade. "Can we start now? Please?"

"Give her a few more minutes." This time it was a man's voice that answered the other woman. "I want her to be coherent enough to know what we're doing to her."

Y/N's eyes flashed open. It was surprisingly dark in the room she was in. Two people stood in front of her in the shadows. The door behind them was cracked open, and the smallest sliver of light fell into the room. 

Y/N hung in the air, suspended between the ceiling and the floor. Her hands were chained above her head to the ceiling, and her feet barely touched the ground. There was something in her mouth, a piece of cloth that was tied around her head. They had gagged her. 

She squirmed as she tried to get out of her chains. She didn't even know why someone wanted to kidnap her. She hadn't done anything wrong. She hadn't gotten on the wrong side of people. There was nothing that came to her mind that told her why she got kidnapped.

"She's awake now!" the woman said cheerfully. She clapped her hands in quick succession. "Can I start first?"

"Go ahead."

The woman stepped forward, waving around a wand. Her curly hair shone in the sliver of light from the door, but that was all Y/N could see. 

All of a sudden, pain erupted all over her body. The woman must've used the Cruciatus Curse because it was unbearable, the pain was. Y/N clenched her eyes shut. A scream gurgled out through the the gag in her mouth. 

---

Y/N could barely hold her head up, the pain was so bad. It had been a few days since the two people tortured her, but the pain never ceased. They hadn't told her anything, so she was still confused as to why she was there. Why were they torturing her? 

Tears fell from her eyes when a particularly bad wave of pain hit her. She squirmed in her chains, trying to break free. She could feel her wand in her pocket, which meant that the people who kidnapped her didn't search her pockets. Why hadn't she felt it the other day? She could've used any spell on them because she had mastered the use of not speaking to cast a spell.

The door suddenly opened. More tears filled her eyes. They were back to torture her some more. She didn't think she would be able to handle it again. The tears that streaked down her face were hot, and she let out a sob.

"You don't have to cry," a voice whispered in the darkness. "It's me. It's Draco. I'm here to get you out."

He stepped into the thin light, his white-blond hair shining like a halo. He reached up and pulled the gag out of her mouth. 

"Are you sure?" Y/N whispered to him. Her voice was hoarse. "If you hurt me -"

"I will never hurt you again."

Draco slipped his wand out of his sleeve and whispered a spell. The chains holding her up suddenly disintegrated. Y/N fell forward into his strong arms. She shook slightly, so he rubbed his hands along her shoulders and back.

"I got you," he whispered into her hair. "I'll get you out of here."

"Why are you doing this?" she cried. "You hate me!"

"I've never hated you."

The door flung open with a ferocity that matched a tornado. It slammed against the wall, the sound echoing around the small room. The two people who had tortured her were back again. Y/N let out a small whimper.

"Draco!" the man yelled. "What are you doing?"

"What I should have done a long time before this." Draco set Y/N down gently on the ground and brandished his wand toward the two people. "I'm never going to be a Death Eater. I am not you, Father. I am my own person. And the first decision that I'm going to make when being my own person is to save Y/N."

Draco flicked his wand, and a bright light emitted from it. It shot toward the two people who had tortured her, knocking them against the wall out in the hallway. Draco stood there for a second, his back rigid, until he remembered that Y/N was still on the ground.

"Are you okay?" he asked her after lifting her in his arms. Her head rested against his chest because she didn't have the strength to do anything else right now. "I know they hurt you really badly, so don't give me that look."

"I've never been better," Y/N said sarcastically. 

"Stop it!" Draco yelled. "Stop being sarcastic. I want to know if you're okay!"

Y/N took a rattling breath and shrugged. "I'm not okay, as you would expect. But I'll be fine."

"You don't need to lie to me."

Y/N scrunched up her nose. She did not want to tell him that she probably wouldn't be okay, but he seemed to care for her. "Can we just get back to Hogwarts? I want to see Hermione and the boys."

"Yes." Draco walked out into the hallway and bent down slight. He picked up their two wands and put them into one of his pockets. "Just to be safe, I'm taking their wands with me."

Y/N nodded and closed her eyes. She was so tired. So tired of the pain. So tired of hiding her feelings for Draco. So tired of life.

It didn't take as long as Y/N thought it would to get back to Hogwarts. She wasn't sure if she had fallen asleep on the journey back or not, but when she opened her eyes again, they were in a hallway in Hogwarts. Her strength must've come back to her as well because she didn't feel as weak or in pain. Draco opened a door and walked inside of it.

"Y/N!"

Y/N perked up when she heard Hermione's voice. She touched Draco's neck, and he got the memo that she wanted to be put down. Her legs were shaky, but she ran over to her sister and wrapped her up in a hug. Ron and Harry must've wrapped their arms around her, too, because she suddenly got trapped in between multiple bodies.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked her. His voice was muffled because he was behind Hermione. 

Y/N pursed her lips together for a split second before saying, "Yeah, I'm okay. I could be better, but I'm okay."

"Did they hurt you?" Hermione asked her. 

Y/N pulled out of all of their hugs and shrugged. "What do you expect?"

Ron shook his head angrily. "I knew something was wrong when you didn't come to the Shrieking Shack. I knew I should have stayed with you or at least gone back to find you."

"Don't blame yourself," Y/N said gently. She rested her hand on Ron's arm. "I'll be fine. It wasn't your fault." She glanced at Draco to see him hovering near the door. "It wasn't any of your guys' fault."

Draco took a hesitant step forward. Hermione glared at him and stood protectively in front of Y/N. "I wanted to apologize to the four of you," he said quickly. "I've been terrible to you all for years. I shouldn't have acted like that, and I am so very sorry."

"I don't believe you," Ron snarled.

"Guys, he took on his father to save me," Y/N said to them. "He has changed. Trust me."

Hermione, Harry, and Ron all looked uneasy at the thought of Draco helping her. Harry stepped forward and said, "I trust you, Y/N." He turned to Draco. "Thank you for getting her out of there."

Hermione stepped forward too. "This doesn't mean that I still don't trust you. But . . . thank you for saving my sister."

Ron didn't say anything. He just gave Draco a once over before nodding to him. He faced Y/N and said, "Come on. Let's get back to the common room so you can rest."

"I think I'm going to talk with Draco for a little bit," Y/N said. "I haven't thanked him yet for saving me."

"And you need to do it alone?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes."

The three of them all hugged Y/N again before exiting the room. Hermione was the last to exit and her gaze lingered on Y/N until she shut the door. 

"What is this place?" Y/N asked, glancing around. There was a cabinet over to her left and a small couch next to it. It looked like there was a pillow and a blanket on the couch, like someone was staying there.

"It's called the Room of Requirement," Draco explained. "I use it for . . ."

"For your Death Eater directions?"

"Yes." He sighed and said, "But I'm not a Death Eater. I'm not doing that anymore."

"Why?" He gave her a look, and she laughed slightly. Her chest constricted with the laughter, though, so she stopped. "Why would you go against what your father says?"

Y/N's legs suddenly buckled under her, and she had to sit down on the couch. It must've been adrenaline keeping her going when she saw her friends, but now that they were gone, it slowly dissipated. Along with the loss of adrenaline came the rush of fear and anxiety and pain.

"Do I need to take you to the infirmary?" Draco asked her. "You don't look so good."

Y/N glared at him. "Of course I don't look good. Your father tortured me."

Draco sunk to the couch, too. His leg was pressed against hers as he dropped his head into his hands. "It was all my fault. I am so sorry, Y/N."

Y/N sighed. She touched his shoulder, and he leaned against her. "It's not your fault. I know you never wanted this to happen. Your father's just a sadistic man."

A small chuckle came from Draco. "I guess you're right about that." He stayed silent for a little bit. The silence was comforting, though. He slowly wrapped his arms around her, and she allowed herself to rest her head on his shoulder. It fit perfectly. "Sometimes I wish my last name wasn't Malfoy," Draco murmured. "I wish people would see me as Draco. Just Draco."

"Your parents aren't who you're supposed to be," Y/N said softly. "They may raise you, but you can be your own person."

"I'm starting to realize that now."

He rested his head against hers. Oh, how did her heart pick up its pace. This had always been what she wanted. He was showing her that he wasn't the bad person many people painted him out to be. He was so much better than that.

"They came to me for help," Draco said to Y/N, running his fingers through her hair softly. She slowly closed her eyes. "Someone had seen us talking in the Three Broomsticks, so Hermione thought I had something to do with your disappearance. She nearly killed me until I told her."

"Told her what?"

"That I'm in love with you." Draco's hand rested against her cheek as he gazed into her eyes. "That's why my father and Bellatrix Lestrange kidnapped you. They heard me talking to myself about how I want to be a better man for you. They heard me tell myself that I wasn't going to be a Death Eater because you deserve so much better than that."

Y/N slowly lifted her head off of his shoulder. She faced Draco and whispered, "You love me?"

"I'm not really sure what love is," he confessed softly. "My father obviously doesn't love me. My mother - it's complicated with her. But I do know that you make me want to be a better person."

Y/N brushed his hair out of his eyes. "It's okay that you don't know what love is. We'll figure that out together."

"Are you sure, Y/N?" he asked. "I've been a rubbish person. I don't think you want to get caught up -"

Before Y/N could talk herself out of it, she kissed him. She kissed him like her life depended on it. She wanted him to know how she felt, how she had been feeling for the longest time.

He was the first one to pull away. "I guess you're sure about this," he said with a soft laugh. He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear and pressed his forehead against hers. "Yes, we'll figure this out together. I'm sure my father disowned me for disobeying his orders, but I don't care. All I need is you to be happy."

"Will you be my boyfriend, Just Draco?"

A small smile appeared on his face. "Yes, I will."