third person pov

' if i could make you the enemy,
i would '

After ducking and hiding behind multiple tapestry's and statues, Draco and Rose finally made it to the astronomy tower.

Rose let out a laugh she was holding in as they began to climb the spiral staircase leading up, "Merlin, Minnie's face when she heard my laugh but couldn't find us was glorious"

Draco rolled his eyes, placing a hand on her back and pushing forward, annoyed by the slow space she kept going at.

"If you were capable of not finding everything excessively hilarious, we wouldn't have had to hide behind that molded tapestry"

To Rose, Draco sounded annoyed. But in all actuality, he felt at his happiest in a way he hadn't since the night he held her up there after Orion Black's funeral. Her laugh, that damn laugh, spread a warmth into his chest that made him uncomfortable.

Upon stepping off the last stair, Rose let out a dramatic sigh and started to spin herself around with arms spread.

Draco watched in amusement, coming to a stop on the top step where she had just left from. Rose was always wearing this facade, a mask if you will. He enjoyed being alone with her even if he wouldn't ever be able to admit it. There was this twinge in his heart at the way she always seemed to drop that mask when it was just them.

Rose stopped spinning and looked at him expectantly, "Well are you going to join me or just stand there?"

Her voice snapped him out of his daze, "You want me to spin around with you?"

Draco shot her a odd look as he stepped onto the floor, walking closer.

"Well of course Mister Malfoy"

He began to roll his eyes until his arm was snatched, Rose spinning herself under it with laughter filling up the tower once more.

She dropped his arm with a pinch to his cheek before walking away to the edge of the tower, the boots on her feet loud.

Weird as ever, with no explanation, Draco thought.

Rose leaned an elbow against the railing, reaching into the pouch and pulling out the cigarette pack. She placed one in between her lips, using a hand to attempt to shield it from the wind while her pointer finger lit the tabacco.

Draco once again was too busy staring at her to move until the smell of smoke hit his nose, forcing him to shake his head and walk up beside her. Unlike Rose, he leaned both his elbows down onto the railing, their shoulders brushing as he focused on the night sky littered with stars and the bright half moon.

Rose turned her head toward him, comforted to see his relaxed face with eyes flickering around the sky.

He glanced over at her lingering gaze, Rose quickly handing the pack to him. Draco nodded with a signal to do it they way they used to-the way they did it after the funeral.

Rose rolled her eyes while pressing her shoulder firmly against his and leaning up. He did the opposite, leaning down and pressing the end of his cigarette to the lit end of her own with intense eye contact.

It brought back a sense of nostalgia.

A painful one.

They were best friends once, childhood lovers once, but now they only had the hateful words to hold onto in the midst of hurt.

Still, there was something unreachable about their bond for others to comprehend. Both had heard one another's screams of pain while being 'taught' by their families. They knew things about each other no one else did, and they knew to keep those things unspoken.

Rose once kicked Lucius in his private parts at the ripe age of eight when he pinned Draco up against a wall. That was just one of the many instances providing proof she would always want to protect him, even Narcissa used to say Rose acted as if she was his personal protector.

Draco had done his part too, comforting Rose when Walburga would leave her in the family tapestry room after each 'lesson'. They'd sneak first aid kits and clean one another up any time they got too injured from their family.

But then they came to Hogwarts, things changed. Rose being put into Gryffindor was the start of it all. Lucius's hate for the girl only grew after that with the need to fill up Draco's ears full of nonsense about her. But he never listened, and Rose would never know how many punishments he endured for standing up for her.

When she befriended Harry and actually became close with him during first year, Draco began to quickly change his demeanor toward her. Then her friendship with Hermione and Ron made him angry too. He felt replaced, like all it would take were a few years of being around that group for her to abandon him.

Draco wouldn't ever admit that though.

The two began arguing during first year even though Rose barely spent time with any of the Gryffindors, and had Draco begged Theo and Whitman to see his reason-he was so terrified of losing her and what the future could hold.

Draco began to call Hermione awful names, and it hurt Rose. She had never been allowed girl friends before and then she found one, only for him to treat her like scum. At the end of the day Rose knew what they all thought of Hermione, even Whitman and Theo who were great people would always see her as lesser from their upbringing but all that mattered to Rose was they never voiced it or treated Hermione that way.

Despite Rose still spending all her time with Draco, Theo, Whitman, and Blaise-Draco and her couldn't stop fighting. And when she switched into Slytherin for second year, moving into their dorm and everything, they still didn't give in. Both too prideful and hurt and too fearful of abandonment.

Their arguing only escalated throughout the years and turned from bickering to spiteful.

Attempting to shoot for the heart almost every time.

It was sad for Narcissa to witness, she loved Rose almost as much as she loved Draco and she knew from both asides how hopelessly in love they were.

At the tower, Rose and Draco realized in sync that they had been staring off into the distance without speaking, the only sound being them taking long drags of the cigarettes.

Draco broke the silence, turning his gaze down to her. "Are you scared of him being back?"

She looked up at him, "Honestly?"

"Honestly." He nodded.

"I'm not scared, I'm fucking furious" She flicked her cigarette off the tower, frustratedly reaching down to grab another. Draco waited patiently for her to light it and became amused again as she handed him one, signaling him in for their old ritual this time. His lips twitched as he leaned down to press the cigarette against hers, adoring the anger in her eyes.

Rose pulled away with a huff, "He selfishly left me with a nanny and went off to murder thirteen people" she blew out her smoke angrily, "And now what? He's come to kill me? What did I do to him? He doesn't even know me"

Draco focused back on the stars above, "He's not going to kill you Rosie, you'll kill him first. You're not some fragile girl, you never have been"

Rose smiled manically as she spotted the Sirius star, "He deserves it, doesn't he? To be killed, like he did to all those muggles and his best friend?"

Draco shot her a look that showed he meant his words, nudging her shoulder. "If you didn't kill him, I would"

And Draco really, really meant it too. He would kill for Rose in a heartbeat because frankly, he would do anything for her. Sometimes he wished to steal some of her bravery so he could drop his facade against her and tell her that.

Rose smiled at him, making his chest tighten. "Can I tell you a naked truth?"

Draco stared back down at her, bringing the cigarette up to his lips while tightening his fingers around the handrail. "Tell me a naked truth Rosie"

The way he was looking at her as if she's the only one to exist in the universe with him and the sound of his voice made her speak more truthfully than she has in years.

"That night in the hospital is the best I've slept in so long" She whispered in a hush tone, unable to look away from his piercing blue eyes.

As more intent showed on his face, she willed herself to garner the strength to look away. Because how he was staring into her right then made it feel like he could see every part of her, as if she couldn't hide anything.

Draco looked away to flick his cigarette off the tower, giving Rose the out she needed to pull her gaze away.

But then he abruptly grasped her chin, forcing her to face him at his full height with a chill shooting down her spine,

A pause, a long one.

He moved his hand onto her cheek, brushing his knuckles over the skin there. "I still have them too"

Rose simply nodded at him, afraid if she moved too much his touch would slip away. She knew what he was speaking about, the night terrors. The cause of her vulnerability is clear, the words tumbling out as their eyes stayed locked. "I want them gone Draco, you know?"

Draco felt such a deep pang of understanding that he almost stopped breathing for a minute.

He began to nod, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I do too Rosie"

Rose sighed, leaning her head into Draco's chest. He tensed for a minute, not used to being touched anymore. He was extremely touched deprived, and if someone did touch him he would get chills-every time someone's fingers grazed his skin it was a reminder of the abuse he went through.

After a moment or two he put his arms around her, Rose touching him never made him flinch or feel disgusted. When he held her after the funeral it seemed like the first time he had been touched in years.

Draco let out a heavy breath and rested his chin atop her head, them both just standing there, enjoying letting someone see them-even if it's just for a few minutes.

"I like you best when it's just you and me" Draco said, breaking their bubble of silence.

Rose tightened her arms around him, unsure why she could feel such anger for him at times but when alone with Draco she became the most vulnerable version of herself.

"I think I like you best when it's just you and me too" she sighed out deeply like it hurt her to think about how they will return to their cold shoulders towards one another tomorrow morning.

"You could just be like this all the time you know" he responded, knowing it was foolish to say. Of course she couldn't be like this, she was raised to have a fortress around her heart and her true feelings.

Walburga Black crafted the perfect mask for Rose.

She let herself take in the familiar smell of him she missed gravely, "It's not that simple Draco"

"Nothings ever that simple with you Rosie"

Rose couldn't help but think maybe in another lifetime her and Draco never grow apart, they never begin to hold 'hate' for one another, that they stick by each other's side through anything.

She had to pull back from their embrace in fear of crying, inspecting his face in the process with the softest smile he had seen on her lips in a long time.

Her head shook before she turned back to the railing, grabbing it with both hands. "The moon holds all our secrets, doesn't she?"

Draco felt the sudden urge to wrap his arms back around her, force her to stay in his embrace until he is no longer touched deprived and the warmth she gave him is permanent.

But he doesn't.

Instead, he puts his shoulder directly against her own, grabbing the railing and looking up at the moon.

"That she does"

Rose smiled without letting her focus fall from the moon, laying her head down onto his shoulder without thinking. "I like to think she's a good secret keeper"

Draco couldn't help the smile that spread on his face. He wanted to shake Rose and remind her he had been in love with her since the day they met as children, that his love for her grew from a childlike love to the most all consuming one in existence. But he wasn't in Gryffindor for a reason.

Draco Malfoy is not brave, especially not in the matters of the heart.

He settled for being in Rose's presence with her leaned up against his shoulder as enough for now.

He would love her in silence for the rest of his life if he had to.