L'Auror à Londres | L.A.à.P. novella

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Chapter 15 - First Decisions

𝙲𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚎́𝚕𝚒𝚊

I did not know why I decided to come here tonight, but here I was. Speechless. Nicolas solely stood there in the doorway of the old pub and lit himself a cigarette.

»Go ahead. Continue your conversation. Is there anything else you want to know, Malfoy?«, I grimaced at how cold he said my last name. Then I remembered one of our conversations, where he specifically asked me not to put my nose in his business. But how could I have known that Theseus told him? During the last few months Nicolas had changed. He actually turned out to be quite nice. This, however; the way he looked at me with so much hatred in his eyes, now made shivers crawl up my spine.

But that was not everything. There was something else glistening in his eyes which I could not determine. Was he hurt? I noticed how Theseus cleared his throat next to me. »I'll be heading back inside now.«, he muttered before leaving me alone with his blond colleague.

The moment Nicolas stepped away from the doorframe - closer to me - I swallowed my fear down. He is not Maxim. He won't hurt you. I told myself, but then again how could I have known? Swiftly I straightened my posture and looked at him. »I shouldn't have asked him all of this. I'm sorry.«, I whispered. The half French wizard shook his head in disbelief before meeting my eyes. »Are you really sorry, though? Because I remember a conversation in which I specifically asked you, not to snoop around in my personal life. Yet, this is exactly what you did right now.« True. He did ask me not to do that. But even though I wanted to say something I could not bring myself to respond.

Finally, as he moved another few steps closer to me and stopped right in front of me, I dared to speak. »I'm aware I made a mistake.«, I whispered. »But will you please step away from me?« When I asked him this one question his eyes widened in disbelief. Then he raised his hand and clutched it in front of his own mouth. Had I known he would be keeping it to himself I would not have flinched the moment he even raised it.

»Why did you- « Shocked, Nicolas shook his head. »Excuse me?!« Once again there was something odd in his voice. »How could you ever think I'd hit a woman?« This time he seemed more hurt by my reaction than anything else.

My heart sunk to my stomach as he turned his back towards me. Then, as he turned back to face me, I once more made a step backwards. »You can't be serious right now?«, he gasped out loud. »Cornélia, I would never hurt you like that. I thought you trusted me enough to know that.« But the truth was, if the last few months taught me anything, it was that his behaviour -, him being nice to me all sudden, only confused me. I did not know what to think of him anymore. I was not sure whether I could trust him.

Sure, we barely argued since we returned from Vienna and if we did, it was harmless compared to how it used to be before, but I still could not understand why he started being nice to me in the first place.

»How am I supposed to trust you?«, I asked quietly. I felt tears starting to well up in my eyes and swiftly tried to blink them away.

Nicolas furrowed his brows and his jaw tensed as he looked at the cobbled street next to us. Then he spoke in a low, cold voice: »You know damn well that it was not easy for me to tell anyone what happened back in Paris. Bloody hell, I opened up to you so many damn times and you tell me you can't trust me?!« Towards the end he had raised his voice, but the wizard still did not look at me. Only as he said those last few words, he finally met my gaze: »You know what? Damn you Malfoy. If you want to act like a bitch, so be it. I really tried being somewhat nice to you. Now go crawl back into Whitlock's arms, will you? Because I sure as hell am done with protecting you from him.«