a gilded cage .

you're  choking  on all your  silver spoons

[failset-blog]

havent done one of these in a hot minute so !!  this is a  starter call  for  mutuals .  multis please specify muse  &  everyone else just hit that lil heart for me  c:

[failset-blog]

✦.*  (  @owlwand  . *     |    ♡ ’d

                she looks so much like her sister  ,  his aunt  ,    that it’s almost hard to look at her at times .  the hair  ,  the eyes  ,  the overall features  ;  it is only the kindness in them  ,  the fatigue and the will to do  better   that sets them apart and there are moments when in the right lighting those things are  swallowed up  ,  replaced by the image of a  dead woman  and all the things she did to him prior to being confined to an existence in memory alone .  it isn’t her fault any more than it is his  ,  truthfully  ,  the one to blame being bellatrix herself but it does not stop him from feeling  embarrassment  and  guilt  as he hastily   ------   and  ungracefully   ------   attempts to come to his feet  ,  the chair he knocked over upon tripping backward over it and  slamming  into the kitchen floor working as a sort of crutch in the awkward action .

                ❛  i  ---  sorry  ,  i was just  ---  distracted  ,  you know  ,  in my own head .  startled me when you walked in .  ❜      it’s a lame excuse though not entirely a lie  ;  startled he  was  ,  even if he neglects to mention it was because for a millisecond he thought pain incarnate had returned to haunt him .  it isn’t fair to compare the two of them  ,  he knows  ;  he tries not to  ,  at least aloud .

                throat clears  ,  chair pushed back under the table though he continues to lean upon it  ,  gaze shifting to various objects about the room .      ❛  i  ,  um .  i’ll be more  ...  careful ?  with your furniture  ,  i mean .  i mean unless you want me to break it in which case i’ll have to try and fall harder next time .  ❜      it’s a joke  ,  a stupid one .  as thankful as he is for her letting him stay the night he almost wishes she hadn’t  ,  if only to have avoided  ...  well  ,  this .

[failset-blog]

✦.*  (  @cursedrawn  . *     |    ♡ ’d

                it sounds so accusatory  ,  the way she comments    on his lack of presence in any and all of their shared classes today and were he but two years younger he’d have had more of a  retort  ,  something snappy  ,  witty  ,  scowling and quick to irritate .  the him that he is now  ,  however  ,  doesn’t even deign to look up from letter in his hands   ------   from his mother  ,  already read over several times as he clings to the threads of comfort that accompany every line of ink   ------   and when he speaks it is something  hollowed out  ,  voice but an echo in an otherwise empty husk of a boy built only of regret  &  fear .

                ❛  i stayed here .  it’s not as though they’re teaching us anything important  ,  or that i don’t already know .  ❜      last few syllables take on a bitter  twinge  ,  thinking briefly of the woman he is forced to call  ‘ aunt ’  living in his home  ,  the things she’s subjected him to  /  the things she’s taught him against his will .  he already knows how to torture  ,  how to hurt  /  how to be tortured  ,  how to be hurt .  he turns his head up  ,  finally  ;  pursed lips are a prelude to a  dry  quip .      ❛  suspect you were disappointed i couldn’t be your practice dummy ?  ❜      the boy who caused this mess  /  the boy who let  them  in .  to some  ,  he’s a  hero    (  &  the thought of  praise  for his deeds make his  stomach churn  )    and to others he’s iscariot  ,  damnable creature heading misfortune for the promise of meager reward .  

                draco hasn’t asked her where he falls   ------   he barely talks to anyone  ,  these days .  but he’s seen the way she frets over her sister  ;  he feels he can take a solid  guess .

[failset-blog]

havent done one of these in a hot minute so !!  this is a  starter call  for  mutuals .  multis please specify muse  &  everyone else just hit that lil heart for me  c:

[failset-blog]

havent done one of these in a hot minute so !!  this is a  starter call  for  mutuals .  multis please specify muse  &  everyone else just hit that lil heart for me  c:

[wandwon-blog]

the wizarding world celebrates today, articles in the paper expressing HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY JAMES POTTER accompanied by a list of his personal achievements, the most flattering photos they can find and as much as he'd like to celebrate with the man he finds it difficult to give him any attention he doesn't already have -- particularly when he knows harry didn't want the attention to begin with. (1/3)

but ignoring the day is out of the question as is downplaying it, reducing it to a ’ happy birthday ’ and a kiss on the cheek. so instead he finds a happy medium, or hopes that he has at least, with reservations made at a nice /muggle/ restaurant that hermione introduced him to and a small box slid across the table toward him as their silverware is set down, simply enjoying the atmosphere. ❛ you may be tired of hearing it by now but i don’t really care so you’re going to have to at least one more time , ❜ a small smile , loving / affectionate. ❛ happy birthday , potter. and let me know if you hate that , i’m never quite sure what to get you . you’re somehow both the easiest and hardest person to please . ❜

         It was so easy to remember a time when he didn’t celebrate his birthdays at all  ,  if the Dursley’s remembered him  ,  they didn’t care to show it  –  presents in the shape of the scattered junk around the house  /  a reminder that  ,  as much as he was their nephew  ,  their cousin  ,  he wasn’t anything important  ,  deserved nothing of value the way that Dudley did  ;  he didn’t measure up in their eyes  ,  no matter what he did  ,  and all along there were thousands who celebrated him in secret  ,  hidden away in a world he was to know nothing about.

That thrilled him.  Once.

Over the course of the years following his re - arrival into the wizarding world  ,  he’d been delighted by the simple gestures of his friends  ,  but not the fanfare that occurred as a result of it  :  they’d even wanted to make his birthday into a holiday  (  grateful  ,  as always  ,  for Hermione  /  he’d begged her to not let it happen  )  to be celebrated amongst themselves  ,  and he definitely didn’t want that.  All he’d ever wanted was a private affair  ;  intimate  ,  close  ,  with the people he cared about  ,  and who  ,  in turn  ,  cared about him.   

Harry promised Ron and Hermione both that he’d come see them  ,  that they could spend some time together on this day of his  –  but he also wanted to spend it with Draco  ,  just the two of them  /  lately  ,  it’d felt like it’d been so hard for it to just be the two of them.  Marriage and family were many things  ,  but was not what it’d been before  –  a quiet house  (  at times  )  with moments and lives they needn’t have put in halves for anyone else but each other  ,  and so  ,  when Draco asked him here  ,  he accepted without hesitation  … but maybe a bit too eagerly.

           “  If it’s you  ,  “   Harry began  ,  taking the box from Draco with careful hands.  Nice  ,  and small.  Grateful that it was small  /  not long after Voldemort’s defeat  ,  Harry had once received the largest present he’d seen in his life from a woman he’d never even met  :  a treehouse of charmed birds that repeated at him the recorded adulation of the suitor who’d sent it.  He didn’t care for large packages after that.      “  you can say it as much as you want.  But if one more stranger on the street tells me that it’s my birthday  …  “

           Harry unwrapped the present.  Inside were tickets  ,  and a watch.  Harry took the tickets out  ,  first  ,  a smile spreading over his face.   VIP box seats for the World Cup.   “  For all of us?   “   he counted the tickets.  One for him  ,  Draco  ,  Albus  ,  Scorpius and Carina  ,  it looked like.  And a watch  …  it had a red face  ,  and what looked like numerous buttons.  He fiddled with the buttons for a moment.  There was a face that reminded him of the clock in the Burrow  ;  it told him where the kids were  ,  where Draco was  ,  right in front of him.  Another predicted the weather  ,  and another face reminded him of important dates and what needed to be done.  It was a practical  ,  thoughtful gift  ,  and it made a handsome addition to his wrist.

“   it’s beautiful  ,   “   he said after a moment  ,  before handing the watch out to Draco  ,  and extending his wrist.   “   but you ought to put it on me  ,  don’t you think?   “

[failset-blog]

draco is allergic to cheap  /  fake material  ( pleather , imitation animal or reptile skin , copper  &  nickel , etc  ---  he gets bad hives )  &  has a  ‘ princess and the pea ’  level of physical awareness re : his comfort .  you could put a single coin under his thick  ,  double mattresses at home and he’d toss and turn until it was removed .  he can also tell if something such as furniture or an artifact  /  art piece is an imitation  /  fake  /  cheaply made and you will never find him owning anything but genuine and well made things .

as a side note  ,  this does apply to  food  as well  ;  his sense of taste is very good and he knows if cheap ingredients were used to make something .  not to say he could make it himself or he’s a good cook or anything like that  ,  but he was raised on such fine food that the difference is incredibly stark to him even if it’s barely noticeable for someone else .

[failset-blog]

✦.*  (  pansy  . * 

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄.  The real thing,  not this mockery her life has turned into,  where she could practice the steps over and over and over again to perfection and at the end of the day she could leave.  Walk away.  Continue on and return later.  Now there is no practice,  only carefully analyzing each step,  each movement,  each word down to the syllable,  and hoping it’s right.  A single misstep is disaster ; a stage of her own making,  a one - girl show with no rehearsal and no end.

                              ❝ How can I mope over a letter I clearly didn’t read? ❞

She’s leaned back in her chair,  legs crossed at the knees and hands folded in her lap – her gaze does not waver,  does not relent ; he’s wrong,  about the letter.  It had been her father’s handwriting on the outside,  and she half expects her little brother to come waltzing in any moment to announce the man is worried.  She might tell him any of this if his excuses weren’t weak,  if he would just tell her more than one sliver of truth.

                              (  Apology crosses those pale features of his and she cannot bring it in herself to accept it ; harsh words are not the thing he needs to apologize for.  )

❝ You’re right.  We should catch up. ❞  Elbow props itself on the armrest,  chin finding it’s home on the back of her hand.  If he wants to play this game,  she’ll play it,  and she will beat him at it.  (  It does not occur to her that he is genuine,  that he might care ; he should know better,  know how fickle that heart is and how easily she will banish someone from it the moment they leave a mark.  )  ❝ How’s your mother holding up?  I worry about her sometimes,  you know ; I’ve always adored Narcissa. ❞  To the untrained ear she sounds genuine ; he will know better,  will know Pansy Parkinson says nothing without a blade hidden between the words.

                              ❝ Or you could just tell me where you’ve been running off to. ❞

                she wants to play  ,  takes sincerity  &  imagines it a game    and it isn’t that he faults her for it    (  he’d do the same  ,  in her position  ;  you cannot be shoved away then face open arms without a degree of  apprehension  )    but he finds himself wishing  ,  for the first time  ,  that she were less hardened of a person .  that softness came easier  ,  forgiveness  ,  understanding  ;  grudges are the staple of the slytherin house but weary bones beg in silence for something different  /  beg in vain .  and truthfully he wants to tell her  ,  wants to collapse at her feet with his tale of woe spilling from his lips in some jumbled  ,  out of order format  ,  let his guilt and regret and  fear  be shouldered by more than simply himself   ------   but he won’t  ,  can’t .  even if he had been granted permission to speak of his task to others he’d force himself into silence  ,  stitch his lips  shut  and pretend the water he is drowning in is far more shallow than it truly is  ,  lest the knowledge endanger those who should remain uninvolved .  but there’s no way to  tell  her that  ,  that they’re both in danger if he opens up  ,  hollows out his chest to her  ;  not without details  ,  anyway  ,  and that would ruin the  point .

                he looks away  ,  fiddles with his sleeve with a frown adorning his face and pretends that if he does not meet her gaze that lying will come easier  /  that losing her  ,  will come easier .  because he  is  losing her  ;  he knows that well  ,  more than aware that pansy parkinson wears herself thin enough for the attention of those who  don’t deserve it  and she hasn’t the energy nor want to chase yet another shadow and he doesn’t blame her  ,  for being tired  /  tired of him  ,  them  ,  reaching out only to have fingers  broken  time and time again .  it’s a cruelty  ,  what he’s doing to her  /  to all of them .  he wonders if it would be any consolation if they knew the likelihood that karma will feast on him soon enough in the form of a failure - spurned corpse .

he shivers  ;  it’s suppressed as best it can be .

                ❛  i’m  busy  ,  didn’t i just tell you ?  clearly it doesn’t concern you so i don’t see why you think you need the details .  ❜      there’s an attempt made at channeling the irritation of a younger draco  ,  a bite  ,  a snarl  ,  a  back off  in so many words  ;  instead  ,  he sounds tired  ,  distant .  defensive at worst as he picks a thread loose from his robes .  there’s a vial of poison hidden away beneath his mattress  ;  tomorrow it will be emptied and he is trying not to think about it  /  trying to pretend he can  justify  it .

                ❛  look  ,  ❜      he says  ,  glancing up to give the common room a quick glance - over  ;  no one’s near enough for it to matter  ,  all caught up in their own problems as it is and draco allows his gaze to settle back upon pansy after a long moment  ,  discomfort clawing at his stomach .      ❛  i’ll just say i’ve been working on something important .  something that’ll free my father  ,  if i pull it off .  ❜      pause .  he licks his lips  ,  gaze darting away and back  ;  it’s not a good enough answer  ,  he knows .  but he wishes it could be  ,  if only for tonight .      ❛  just  ...  trust me  ,  pans   ---   if there was anything you needed to know i’d tell you  ,  you know i would .  don’t ask me to talk about it further  ;  can’t we just pretend things are normal for a bit ?  ❜

[failset-blog]

a darker shade of magic  .  accepting  .  @purearsenic 

                he’s observant  ,  a skill that often goes unnoticed    by those that don’t care to think about him beyond the outer shell of a  dramatic prick    (  read  :  every one of his peers  )     and one of the few he makes no attempt to emphasize to others .  whether or not he acts upon what he sees  ,  notices  ,  is another story entirely   ------   he’s content to let most things be  ,  store them away  for future blackmail if anything and leave the rest alone unless it serves some malicious or  teasing  purpose   ------   but there are times that he feels it necessary  ,  times  separate  from the typical selfish mind of a fourteen year old and now  ,  as it would happen  ,  is one of those times .  not well thought out  ,  however  ,  he realizes as he stands a few feet away from pansy with an uncertainty regarding what to do now that he’s tracked her here to the far side of the lake .  her eyes are red  ,  the remnants of tears she’s attempting to hide in his presence  ,  a quiver to her voice that he’s rarely heard and he should’ve had a  plan  before coming here  ,  done something other than simply  taking off  when blaise mentioned the howler from her father   ------   but he didn’t  ,  impulsiveness sneaking up on him in the face of unspoken concern and he opens his mouth   ------   closes it again .  silent  ,  as he walks forward to settle  himself on the ground beside her  ,  a long pause taken in the form of his fingers running over a smooth stone settled at the lake edge .  he throws it  ,  skips it  ;  one  ,  two  ,  three  ,  four  ...  plunk .

                ❛  yeah .  you  have .  ❜      draco says  ,  finally  ,  breaking the silence that’s stretched out between them in the span of a minute or two as he slides another rock into the center of his palm .  he glances at her  ,  briefly  ,  before turning his gaze away toward the slow ripples on the water’s surface  ;  she may prefer that  ,  he thinks  ,  for him to look away .  for him to pretend he hasn’t noticed her tears  ,  pretend that’s not why he’s here .

one  ,  two  ,  three  ,  four  ,  five  ...  plunk .  he picks up another .

                ❛  i won’t ask what he said .  but if you  want  to tell me you know i won’t laugh .  at you  ,  at least   ---   can’t promise i won’t take a jab at your father’s expense .  ❜      a semi - amused huff escapes him at that  ,  both a joke and not one .  he wants to lighten the mood  ,  give her something else to think about  ;  he isn’t sure of the best way to do that  ,  isn’t sure she even wants him to .  pansy has yet to ask him to leave  ,  at least  ,  and he takes that as a sign that if nothing else the effort is appreciated  /  if nothing else  ,  he isn’t making her feel  worse  by being here .

one  ,  two  ...  plunk .

                ❛  ...  do you remember the pond at the center of our garden ?  you fell in once  ,  dragged me in after you .  dobby had to drag us out before we both drowned   ---   my mother wouldn’t let either of us go after that  ,  would she ?  took ages to convince her we were fine and to not say a word to either of your parents about it .  ❜      one  ,  two  ,  three  ...  plunk .  but that’s not the point  ,  not where he wanted to go with this .      ❛  anyways  ,   you attempting to kill us both aside we used to spend afternoons there  ,  my mother and i .  i was too restless to stay still so she taught me  ,  ❜      one  ,  two  ,  three  ,  four  ,  five  ,  six  ,  seven  ...  plunk .  a record .      ❛  how to do this  ,  so i’d have something to do with myself .  ❜

                draco picks up another stone before reaching for her hand  ,  uncurling her fingers to drop the rock onto her open palm .  smooth and cold and glistening faintly in the sunlight slowly disappearing behind the trees .      ❛  i can teach you  ,  if you want .  so long as you promise not to push me in when you can’t match me  ,  that is .  just because i can swim now doesn’t mean i’m eager to go swimming in this muck  ,  and we both know i’m not above dragging you in with me .  ❜

[failset-blog]

your name used to mean something  /  used to be a token  ,  a key  ;  dirt now  ,  beneath your tongue to match the blood beneath your nails .  ‘ malfoy ’  exists as a warning  ,  a threat  :  do not follow the serpent into its hole   (  it may not let you back out  )  .  draco lucius malfoy  as written by  nyx  .  personals do not interact 

[failset-blog]

draco speaks french  &  english fluently  ,  with both being considered his  ‘ first language ’  in his mind as he learned them at the same time .  he is  ,  however  ,  more comfortable with english as it’s the one he uses the most frequently .  

during the triwizard tournament he was  ,  at times  ,  something of a translator for the beauxbatons students who had trouble articulating themselves or hogwarts students  ( read :  slytherins almost exclusively )  who wished to ask or convey something to the aforementioned .  depending on his mood and how much he liked whoever he was speaking to  ,  his translations were not always kind / accurate  ,  entirely on purpose .

[promaethean]

A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC / A GATHERING OF SHADOWS by v. e. schwab sentence meme.

❛  I’d rather die on an adventure than live standing still.  ❜

❛  After all, you can kill people, but you cannot kill magic. Not truly.  ❜

❛  Impossible. What a useless word, in a world with magic.  ❜

❛  Everyone thinks I have a death wish, you know? But I don’t want to die – dying is easy. No, I want to live, but getting close to death is the only way to feel alive. And once you do, it makes you realize that everything you were actually doing before wasn’t actually living. It was just making do. Call me crazy, but I think we do the best living when the stakes are high.  ❜

❛  You have two faces. One you wear for the world at large, and the one you wear for those you love.  ❜

❛  Everyone’s immortal until they’re not.  ❜

❛  It is as it is. It cannot be undone. So please, be grateful, and be done with it.  ❜

❛  The thing about freedom? It doesn’t come naturally. Almost no one has it handed to them. I’m free because I fought for it.  ❜

❛  I know you can do this. I know you can hear me. Stay with me. Listen to my voice.  ❜

❛  Maybe you just got a taste of what it really means to be alive. You almost died. So now you know what it feels like to live. To fear for that life. To fight for it. And once you know, well, there’s no going back.  ❜

❛  You made a mistake. Everybody makes them. Even me. I’ve made many. It’s only fair that you made one.  ❜

❛  I did only what I had to do. If I could have given my life for yours, I would have.  ❜

❛  A kiss for luck. Not that I need it.  ❜

❛  I know. I know what and who you are. What will you do? Kill me?  ❜

❛  Why am I the only one in this fucking world to be held accountable for my actions?  ❜

❛  Aren’t you afraid of dying?  ❜

❛  I’m sorry. For whatever happened to you. For whoever hurt you so deeply that you see things like friends and fondness as weapons instead of shields.  ❜

❛  You know so little of war. Battles may be fought from the outside in, but wars are won from the inside out.  ❜

❛  Between the two of us, we’ll tear the whole world down.  ❜

❛  I am going to cut that smile off your face.  ❜

❛  It hurts. More than dying ever did. There are days when I feel like I deserve this.  ❜

❛  Death doesn’t scare me. Not nearly as much as the idea of wasting a perfectly good life in fear of it.  ❜

❛ You’re always so eager to slash and stab, why couldn’t you have stabbed him.  ❜

❛  Which is it, huh? You’re angry at me, or worried about me, or happy to see me? Because I can’t keep up.  ❜

❛  Wouldn’t it be amazing, if we got away with it?  ❜

Keep reading

[failset-blog]

august !!  this was completely unexpected but so greatly appreciated  ;  i really am so thankful for the time you take out of your day to bring me some love  &  cheer when i’m not feeling the best  ,  it means so much to me honestly ??  &  tbh seeing you back on ruby has really improved my mood  /  feelings on writing in general  /  it’s an ongoing list honestly just b/c i’ve missed you and your passion so  ,  SO  much since you took a  ( well deserved and totally understood )  break from rp.  

you’re truly such a light in my life and i’m so glad you’re around man  ;  thank you again  &  know that i wish only the absolute best for you b/c you undoubtedly deserve nothing but 

[failset-blog]

i genuinely do like the HP movies and overall feel they do a good job  summarizing   the books but god i will never forgive them for taking draco’s character and making him appear as nothing more than an incompetent bully who lacks depth beyond  ‘ my father ’  &  was merely a fly in terms of nuisance in harry’s life  LIKE  ...  it just upsets me so much bc draco was written as this beautiful  ,  prodigal  asshole  who goes OUT OF HIS WAY to bother those around him in very  dramatic  ways  ( he makes faces across hallways or dining halls  ,  he created those potter stinks buttons on his  own  ,  he tricked harry and ron into nearly getting caught out of bed in the middle of the night under the lie of a midnight duel  ,  etc ) .  he’s  intelligent  and  crafty  and despite how much he may dislike sb he  will  listen to them if he knows it’s important to  ( see :  buckbeak scene in Y4 )  and the movies rly out here like oh yeah draco  exists  for 5 years and now that he’s 16 and sad we expect you to have some kind of concern for this boy you barely know anything about 

and even ??  then ??  he’s barely in the 6th movie  ( in comparison to time he has the book )  n i’m just ... it’s ... his ... book ... ?  harry is  OBSESSED  with him ... almost the ENTIRE ... BOOK ... ?  yet he has about a total of 20 minutes of screentime in the entire 2 hour movie and i just  ( starts screaming )

[failset-blog]

✦.*  (  professor  . *  · 

          Arms crossed over her chest. “I am a patient woman Mr. Malfoy, I have given you a lot of slack however missing my class is where I draw the line.” Her voice was stern but not angry. She was not angry. Annoyed, yes, but it took more for her to become angry. “You are a student here, a life outside of class or not, you are required to attend, as seeing as you have no viable excuse as to why you have not been this can go one of two ways.”

          If anything she was half tempted to give him a detention for how he had decided to speak to her, but perhaps another day. “I can either give you a detention, and you do not miss another one of my classes, and turn in all your assignments completed and on time, or you and I can go speak to your head of house, your choice.”

           She rose a brow and waited for him to decide. She had been pushed enough by him and she would not stand for it any longer. He was going to have the learn the hard way it seemed she was no one to be messed with.  

                neither of those options are inviting  ,  truthfully  ,    a once easy decision muddled by the current situation  ,  one in which he’d like to avoid  everyone  whenever possible  ,  hole up in his dormitory and pretend that holding his knees to his chest is enough of a  comfort  in between the time he spends poisoning wine or turning innocents into puppets  ,  information brokers  &  couriers .  telling the truth is  ,  of course  ,  out of the question   ------   funny  ,  almost  ,  how she didn’t ask for it .  he doesn’t know whether to be thankful for the lack of interest in invading his privacy  ,  or offended by it .  doesn’t matter either way  ,  ultimately  ,  and seconds tick by as he thinks .  he  should  just take the detention  ,  he knows  ,  show up to class  ,  do his work  ,  appear  normal  in the eyes of his peers   ------   but he’s always been partial to dragging things out  ,  desperate for any outcome that makes himself look better  ,  someone else look smaller .

                ❛  ---  alright then .  let’s go speak with professor snape  ;  imagine he’s in his office at this hour  ,  isn’t he ?  ❜      for the first time in his life he doesn’t know if his godfather will protect him  ,  vouch for him  ,  and that’s a fearful thought  ,  truthfully  ,  another change this year that he finds himself less than fond of .  but he’s picked his poison  ,  weighed his chances  ;  he meets her gaze steadily  ,  jaw squared .      ❛  after you  ,  professor .  ❜

[failset-blog]

madness returns  .  accepting  .  @purearsenic 

                ❛  no  ,  then it’s just a  poorly kept  one .  ❜      he argues lazily  ,  legs sprawled out o’er the common room couch with his back leaning against her shoulder .  comfortable here  ,  warmed by the nearby fire and silently thankful for the company despite the late hour .  he shouldn’t be happy that she  ,  too  ,  is finding it hard to stay asleep through the night but it would be a lie to say he’d rather be  alone  at whatever odd hour it may be currently  ,  left only with his thoughts and the shadows on the walls .  instead  ,  he has her  ,  a friend  ,  a place to  lounge  undisturbed  ,  a plate of pastries set out before them that’s slowly disappearing as the dawn ticks ever closer .

                ❛  not that it matters either way  ,  really  ;  we don’t  have  secrets  ,  do we ?  not from each other  ,  anyway .  ❜      it’s a joke  ,  of course  ,  well aware that there are things they keep so close to their chests that even they sometimes forget they’re there but he aims only to  tease  here  ,  shifting his head to look up at her through his peripherals .  one may even think he were  batting his lashes  if they didn’t know better  ,  the expectancy in his gaze .  they have secrets  ,  but only some .  this shan’t be one of them .

                ❛  come on  ,  pans .  tell me how you managed it  ,  sneaking down into the kitchens .  we can trade  ,  even  ---  i  happen to know where that chained up cupboard leads  ;  you know   ,  the one on the fourth floor ?  ❜      he smiles  ,  more of a  smirk   really as he takes a tart from the nearby tray .      ❛  even know how to get in .  you can’t tell me you’re not curious  ,  can you ?  ❜

[failset-blog]

oh and before i forget  like i have several times already  on the subject of draco’s 6th year and pushing people away  /  doing everything on his own :

some of it  ,  absolutely  ,  is that he was  forbidden   from telling anyone besides his family about his task  under the threat of death  from voldemort himself  ,  as much as it is a feeling of having to do this on his own to prove a point both to himself and others that he’s worthy of being considered more than a mere child  /  prove to his father that he’s a son to be proud of .

another  part of it however  ,  i do firmly believe is that he wants  the least amount of people in danger as possible .  he is willing to take risks to avoid having to physically be there when dumbledore dies as draco  ,  honestly  ,  does not possess the ability to kill another human being while looking them in the eye  ,  but they were considered  minimal risks .  if someone got hurt  ...  it was just one person  ,  and someone he didn’t have a fondness for anyhow such as slughorn or katie .  not to say he doesn’t feel guilt or concern b/c he does !!  but that’s far different from like  ...

basically what i’m saying is even had voldemort not forbid draco from telling his friends he wouldn’t have due to concern for their well being .  he doesn’t know what information would make them appear as liabilities  ,  or would put them in any sort of danger and as much as it does  genuinely  pain him to push people he cares about away from him he would rather lose friendships than one of them lose their life or something else vile along those lines .  he’s terrified for himself  ,  yes  ,  but he’s just as terrified for those around him and if he fails and he dies at the end  ,  better to be just him than to drag others down to the grave with him .