Draco stared down at the beautiful witch sleeping in his arms and felt his stomach twist uneasily.

It had been his intention to tell her to stay away from him.

But instead he had ended up declaring his love before fucking her on an old dusty classroom floor.

He had gone and made everything a million times worse.

It was for the best, his mother had said, as she and Snape informed him of his father's arrest, that he disassociate himself away from anyone that could cause Lord Voldemort anymore upset.

And despite Neve being a pureblood, he had the uneasy feeling that her involvement in that evening's activities had surely placed her on Voldemort's hate list.

He felt such fury at her for it. He had begged her to stay away from Potter, he knew that all he was doing was leading her to trouble.

He couldn't understand why Neve didn't see that all he wanted to do was protect her, but she didn't listen and instead blindly went after bloody Potter on one of his mad missions.

A mission that had turned out to be a trap led by his father.

A trap that had failed thanks to Potter and his meddling little gang, causing the Malfoy's to be in for a world of punishment.

But when he had seen her in the corridor, looking broken and forlorn, his fury had quickly evaporated. And he realised in that moment that he could never hate her because he loved her, he loved her so much that he knew he'd do anything to keep her safe.

"Draco?" Neve stirred beneath him, her eyes fluttering open as she stared up lovingly into his own.

It made his heart swell and ache all at the same time.

"How are you feeling?" he murmured, brushing his lips gently down upon hers, pulling the cloak he had used as a blanket tighter around them as she shivered against him.

"Sore," she confessed, wincing slightly as she moved her head to look around at their surroundings. "What time is it?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders, without windows it was difficult to tell. "Still early, I think. At least, I haven't heard anyone leave for breakfast yet."

He hadn't slept, instead just watched as Neve fell almost instantly into an exhausted sleep in his arms, wanting to savour every second being with her like this whilst he could.

"I should get back to Trevor," Neve said softly, reluctance in her eyes as she looked up at him. "I haven't seen him since- since..."

She trailed off, clearly afraid to mention the previous night.

Draco automatically tightened his arms around her, pressing his forehead gently down against hers and closing his eyes as a wave of pain washed over him.

Because he knew that the moment she walked out of that door, whatever this was between them, had to end.

"Draco, what is?" she asked, her voice a small tremble as her eyes looked wide and fearful into his.

He felt panicked; not sure how to put it into words to make her understand without hurting her.

"We- we can't be together," he murmured and, despite his words he found his arms tightening around her, holding her as close to him as possible. "I'm sorry, Neve. It's... this- it's not safe anymore."

"What?" she gasped, panic flitting across her face as she sat up. "But last night you said..." her voice dropped to small whisper, "...you said you loved me."

"I do!" he said at once, his heart beating frantically as he too sat up. He could see already that he was going to hurt her; that it was impossible not to. "Which is why I've got to do this! You're not safe with me. After my father- after last night... my mother and I are in a whole lot of danger. It wouldn't be fair to get you involved."

"But I don't care, I want to be with you! Draco, I need you!"

"No, you don't need me," he said sadly, pleading for her to understand, "believe me, Neve... I'm the last thing you need."

"Please don't say that," she cried, her voice trembling dangerously, "I love you!"

"Oh, Neve, I'm so sorry. I should never have said... I should never have done..."

But he couldn't say it, he couldn't tell her that he never should have slept with her or told her that he loved her.

However, the tears spilling down her cheeks and the hurt creasing her face told him she understood exactly what he meant.

"Is this because of last night? Because I went with Harry to the Ministry?"

"Even if you hadn't followed that tosser, I'd still be saying this to you, Neve," he admitted, trying to make his voice sound firmer. "I'm too dangerous to be with. The Dark Lord wants to punish my family right now and I don't want to give him any reason to go after you!"

"So we'll keep it a secret!" She said, the desperation in her voice twisting at his heart. "No one needs to know about us, just you and me!"

"It's too risky, Neve," Draco sighed, shaking his head sadly. "The Dark Lord can read minds. And I won't put you in that kind of danger."

She started to reach for her clothes, tears falling furiously down her face.

He slowly put his own clothes on, the sound of her soft weeping breaking his heart.

"I'm so sorry, Neve," he murmured gently, reaching for her hands once they were both fully clothed and on their feet.

But she took a step back, her eyes flashing up at him in hurt. "You had already made your mind up about this last night, hadn't you?" she said, her voice cracking slightly. "Before you saw me? Before we... before we...?"

He couldn't lie to her and, as he slowly nodded, he felt like the shittiest person in the world.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "You looked so broken and so desperate... I just wanted to comfort you."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realised how awful they sounded; how it sounded as though he had just pitied her.

Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks, and he was reminded of the times he had made her cry in the past; how he had cruelly laughed at seeing her so upset.

And now he felt nothing but self loathing and guilt at seeing the hurt crumple her face. He wanted to pull her to him and kiss away her tears and hold her until her heart was healed.

But it was because he loved and cared about her so much that he had to do this.

So he kept his mouth shut and let her believe it had just been a pity fuck.

Wiping her face, she shrugged her cloak on and defiantly strode over to the door, trying to pull it open but it wouldn't budge.

Draco stood watching, hesitating, not sure if he should further risk humiliating her by reminding her that he had locked it.

"Open the damn door!" she cried, hitting it in frustration as her whole body shook through her sobs.

Draco silently flicked his wand; the door gave a loud click and Neve immediately yanked it open.

She paused at the doorway, and Draco had to turn away, not being able to bear seeing the hurt upon her face; terrified he might cave and beg her to come back to him.

But he remained mute as a loaded silence filled the air between them.

And when she finally left, slamming the door shut behind her, Draco choked out a cracked shuddering sob of his own.

*****