"Blackwood."

The voice came from behind Y/N, and it startled her. He sounded stern. She turned around to find that the voice that belonged to Draco Malfoy.

"Malfoy," her voice was shaky despite your attempt at masking her panic.

"We need to talk."

"Not here," she said as she looked around at the third-years who were already staring.

"Of course not here, I'm not daft Blackwood. We're going on a walk," He left no room for negotiation in his voice. They were going on a walk.

She rose, leaving her breakfast uneaten and the letter with Hermione. "I'll see you all later."

"Let's go," Draco said through his teeth.

He grabbed her wrist tightly as she stepped over the long bench in an attempt to rush her. His grip brought a sharp pain to her wrist, but she didn't want to cause a scene so she exited the Great Hall without a word to the man at her side. It wasn't until she was outside the castle that Y/N ripped her wrist from Draco's grip.

"Don't ever grab me like that again. You understand, Malfoy?" She was still afraid and confused, but that didn't mean he could treat her however he pleased.

"I'm sorry, I just-" she cut him off.

"I know it's sudden and confusing, but we both knew an arranged marriage was coming. I just always figured I'd end up with Zabini or Nott," she understood what he was trying to say, the two of them were an unlikely pairing. "Look, I don't fancy the idea of marrying you either, Draco, but I don't have a choice. I don't have the luxury of loving parents who care about my wellbeing. I know you don't like me, you've made that plenty clear over the past six years, but this arrangement means more than you think," As far as you could tell, Malfoy's were pure. They didn't abuse and harm their children. They were just the perfect pureblood family, and Draco was their stuck-up, privileged silver boy.

"I'm sorry, loving?" He asked which piqued her curiosity, that's what he got from that?

"Yes, I said loving, why?" she responded.

Draco scoffed, "Just because I'm not a bloodtraitor doesn't mean my parents treat me with unconditional love Blackwood."

"I'm just a Gryffindor, I couldn't have controlled that Draco,"she said through gritted teeth; why were you defending yourself to him?

"A Gryffindor who's friends with a Weasley, a mudblood, and Harry Potter. That was a choice. You want your parents to be nicer to you? Stop being a fuck-up," He said, acting exactly like the bully she had known all these years.

"So, this is why you wanted to talk? So you could bully me?" Y/N said, she was unintentionally raising your voice.

"It's your fucking fault we're talking about this!" Draco matched her tone and volume, getting in herface and under herskin.

"Why did you bring me out here, Draco?" Y/N asked, stepping back and crossing her arms over her chest.

"So we can figure this out," he said, frustrated, as he ran his hand through his striking platinum blond hair.

"What is there to figure out? Are you going to go tell your mother this isn't going to happen? That you'd rather be in an arranged marriage with some other pureblood because you don't like me? You know that isn't going to happen, Draco. We'd both ought to figure out how to live with this because it isn't going away."

"My mother said that I should try and befriend you, that it was my best chance at having a decently happy marriage," he said under his breath.

His statement caused Y/N to roll her eyes, "Oh well, I'm glad your mother cares about your happiness."

"What's with all of the snide remarks about my family?" He asked.

"Do you remember my brother Draco, James?"

"Of course I do, I'm sorry he went the way he did, he was a great man," he said respectfully

"Yes, a great man who was murdered by his Father for 'betraying his family' and doing what's right. James didn't die from any accident, Draco, my Father killed him," she said in a flat tone.

"You can't know that Y/n," he said, trying to reason his way out of what she was proposing.

"He did it in front of me and my mother, Draco. In the sitting room in the Manor. Why do you think they were so cold at the funeral, why they never speak of him, why he disappeared from the family tree and every single family portrait? He made the wrong choice, he was a stain on the family image, and he had to be removed. They won't be afraid of doing that do me." hot tears were leaking from her eyes, not from fear but from frustration. Frustration and anger that Draco couldn't understand. With that, she pulled off your robe, letting it drop onto the grass below, her red and gold tie following along, and started unbuttoning herr shirt.

"Woah, Y/n, what are you doing?" Draco asked, startled by Y/N stripping right outside of the castle.

She pulled her shirt off and turned around, revealing a myriad of scars. Some were clearly fresh, the skin raised, red and angry, while others could have been there for years as they had started resting into your skin, some even beginning to fade. Only Hermione and James had seen them. Harry and Ron knew of them, and her parents had created them. She never planned on showing her scars to Draco Malfoy, especially not now. But she was compelled to prove a point, to show him what they put her through every day, so, here she was, with her arms over your chest and her bareback to Draco Malfoy.

She could feel his eyes scanning her back, and it was so quiet you could nearly hear his thoughts, "Y/n put this on," he said after a long moment, tossing her his Slytherin jumper, and picking up her school robes off of the ground.

She caught it and threw it on over her head, turning back to face him. The two of them were closer, and this time when he put his hand on her arm, it wasn't out of malice, she could even describe it as gentle.

"I'm sorry, alright? I'm still in shock, and, well, Y/n, you're not the only one with scars, okay? Now we're going to make this work. For both of our sakes, I don't know what that means right now, but I'm sure we'll figure it out, anyways I-" He stopped as if he was censoring himself.

"You what? Draco?" Y/n had no clue why he suddenly stopped.

"Nothing, just nothing, okay?" He was hiding something

"Alright," she said, not wanting to push things

"Now, did your letter say anything about the winter holiday?" He asked, starting to walk back towards the castle, indicating for you to join him.

"Just that I'm expected home," she answered.

-

"I showed him the scars," Y/N said to Hermione, sitting on her bed in their dorm room.

It wasn't until after dinner that she had the opportunity to tell her best friend everything. After the walk with Draco ended, shehad potions, after which came DADA, and so on. You hadn't the opportunity to even think about the tumultuous morning.

"How'd he react?" She asked, utterly shocked.

"I honestly don't know, the whole thing was so weird. He was almost kind about it, it was like speaking to a different person," Y/N said.

"It didn't look that way when the two of you left breakfast," she said, referencing his tight grip.

"He was confused like I was, we both got vague letters deciding our fates."

"Don't start making excuses for him Y/n," Hermione shook her head. "He didn't just change overnight, and he clearly wasn't being all that nice."

"Of course! I'm not trying to make excuses, but Hermione, the whole interaction was so different, I don't know what to think."

She nodded, "I'm sorry, I'm just worried for you."

Y/N appreciated the concern and nodded. "Thank you, and I'm worried as well, I just don't know what for yet."

"Of course, I'm really sorry that this is how the year is starting."

"Hey, it isn't us if it's an easy term," she said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"That's true," Hermione said and smiled, sadness still lacing her voice.

"I'll be alright, Hermione, I promise."

"I'm going to hold you to that, alright?"

"Yes, ma'am," Y/N said as she pulled you into a tight hug.

-

Draco had always known he'd end up in an arranged marriage of sorts, but he always assumed he'd have some say or warning. However, that morning his family owl arrived with news he hadn't expected. At the head of the Slytherin table, Draco had the privacy to read the letter without bother.

Dearest Draco,

I know that this feels sudden, but your Father and I have news.

We have been corresponding with the Y/l/n family for some time now, and have come to the agreement that you and Y/n Y/l/n shall be married next summer. Y/n is in your year, I am sure you know her. She may not have the best history, but she comes from an important family in favor of the Dark Lord. This marriage will hopefully prove advantageous for your Father, and for yourself. The Dark Lord himself has approved it.

As your Father says, 'Being a Malfoy means power, a power that needs to be cultivated, and strengthened with every generation.' This, Draco, is part of your duty as a Malfoy.

While arranged marriages feel antiquated and stuffy, I admit they do not have to be loveless. Y/n is a passionate young woman, and should you put the effort in, I am sure the two of you could grow close. I would recommend befriending her and getting to know her before the wedding. That is your best chance at a loving marriage.

We shall be spending Winter Holiday at Malfoy Manor with the Blackwood's planning the wedding, so please do not make other plans.

Love,

Mother

Draco had to read the letter three times to even begin to understand the sharp turn his life just took, the change that took place with only one letter.

"Dray!" Pansy's shrill voice cut through his thoughts. "What're you reading, baby?"

"One, my private affairs are none of your business Parkinson. Two, and we have talked about this, we are not together. Understood?" His words cut her, as they were intended. With that, he rose from his seat and scanned the Gryffindor to find you. Of course, you were with Potter, Granger, and Weasley, you always were. It's like the four of you were attached at the hip. Without a second look to his housemates and friends, he made his way over to you.

-

Draco always knew your family was far from kind, but he never knew your Father was cruel enough to kill his own son. The scars on her back, the ones that matched his, jabbed at the soft spot in his heart for Y/N. The soft spot that had has always been there. Memories of her surfaced as he thought of the scars racing around her back. Being young and running around the gardens at Malfoy Manor, desperately dodging the peacocks who were not afraid to bite. Seeing Y/N at society events with her Father's iron grip on her shoulder, and a corset tied far too tightly. The dark bags steadily under James's eyes despite his cheery demeanor, and his overprotective glance that was always on Y/N. The shift in her posture when any authority figure entered the room or how she would wince at sudden movements or sharp noises. It all suddenly made sense, and Draco's little crush on Y/N grew even more. He also abruptly had an instinct to protect her and care for her.

At the same time, he knew the two of them disagreed, that she wanted out of the blood-purity culture entirely, that you had far more radical ideas than he, and that the two of you respectfully surrounded yourself with very different people. Y/n's heart was kinder than his; the abuse she'd gone through strengthened her, while it beat him into submission.

Instead of reaching out with love and kindness, Draco did precisely what was done to him. He bullied and hurt people who he was taught were lesser than him. He became a Death Eater, and he would soon be a murderer.

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