The night grew dark but me and Draco never moved, we managed to find a dry patch of grass just next to the corridor where we had our..encounter. I knew no one could see us as we'd heard several voices coming and going past us but nobody noticed. The air was freezing but the cold touch helped release some of the heat from anger inside my body. Even though our bodies were only inches away from each other I was no longer filled with anticipation for his touch, inside I was consumed by the grim reality of what had happened with Harry. We never spoke a word to each other since we had found our spot. Something about tonight had made words just feel not enough. I mean was there any words that either of us could say right now to help the other? Was there something that Draco could say that would help strike the fear of god out of me?

I looked around the garden surrounding us, through all the dark that had been clouding my thoughts for the last hour I had failed to see all the beauty around me. The light from a classroom had lit up the shrubs that rose above us in with their overgrown looks. Each red berry on the bush stood out amongst the sea of green. My eyes caught a large stone that was buried under the bush, I noticed something etched into it but I couldn't make out the words from the fallen leaves and debris that had almost buried the stone into the ground. I pulled myself forward to get onto my feet, I crouched down and began brushing away the mess. Engraved were the words 'always and forever' a small smile reached my lips. The handwriting was nearly unreadable clearly whoever had done this had struggled with whatever tool they had used.

"Look at this" I broke the silence.

Draco pulled himself forward to match my stance, even though his face hardly altered I saw his face soften as he read it.

"I wonder who did this..how old it might be?" I smiled again imagining someone trying their best to scratch the words into the stone. "Maybe it was two people in love, or friends making a pact." My mind danced around the possibilities. I hoped whoever it was had kept their promise, that there was prospect that there was a forever.

"I remember when I figured it out. It was a couple years before he ever admitted it. I knew it was a secret I didn't need to be told...growing up I always thought of it as my weapon. That's what I had that others didn't." He let out an exhale through his nose in humour. "I didn't realise what it meant. Especially as the Dark Lord wasn't here to prove anything. It was a title, a name but the older I got the more distant I became from my father..well and my mother really and there's something about it now that doesn't seem as..powerful as before. Maybe that's the wrong way of putting it.. there's something now that's seems dangerously powerful. I've spent my whole life trying to prove to others I'm not weak and I've always believed it. So tell why I'm terrified Ivy?"

Draco's words crushed me. The pain was all over him and I knew there was nothing I could do to help him. I reached over and placed my hand on top of his. He winced slightly underneath me almost like he was allergic to care and warmth.

"What does it mean for you Draco?" I let my eyes fall back down onto the words written beneath us.

He took a while before he spoke. "I don't know. My mother never allows him so speak of it around me. I can see the pain in her eyes when he tries"

I felt his other hand come over mine that was resting on him, he slowly cupped it and brought it up to his mouth. He placed a single kiss on my hand, his eyes remained closed as he did. Just his touch sent a shiver up my arm to the top of my head. I couldn't help the smile that formed, even if whatever was happening between us had taken a deeper, darker turn than I ever expected it was still him. He was still the person that could take my mind to a different place, a dream.

"We should go back. It's our last night and I'm sure you won't of packed yet." I tried to break the undeniable tension with a lighter topic.

"Yes, you're right. What will you do over Christmas? Stay here?"

"Yeah, it's not that bad really. There was a few students who stayed last year maybe this year I might actually try and talk to them" I laughed.

"Don't bother they are all fucking useless anyway" his infamous cheeky grin reached his face. Something about the return of his usual self settled my nerves.

He pushed up from his knees till he was standing, he pulled up my hand in a swift movement. Without invitation I pushed myself into him resting my head onto his shoulder, my hands were tight up to my chest. His arms held me tight, pushing me closer and closer into him. I can't explain the affect his touch had on me, my nerves just seemed to melt and my skin felt electric. No matter what ever was going on around us I knew as long as he could hold me in some way that I would be ok.

I took a final look at the stone as his arm steered me from around my waist back into the corridor.

'Always and forever'