DRACO MALFOY X CEDRIC DIGGORY X READERSomething Different | Part Eighta/n: literally having the

DRACO MALFOY X CEDRIC DIGGORY X READER

Something Different | Part Eight

a/n: literally having the most fun writing this rn, thank you all for your support! i know this one is gonna tear many of you to shreds but i am ensuring y’all that there will be smut in the next chapter, though i won’t reveal with whom it’s happening. >:) 

tag list: @call-me-banana-bandit@pillowjj@truly-insatiable@natsiboo@justmesadgirl@boredoffmebox@jjjmaybank@jejegu@superpowereddonut@irritantive@salemlilly@marshmelloyellow02@puffymints@is-it-really-a-secret @i-mmunity@sebastiansass@hisoldlover@kyobien@averagefangirl21@inurealiyah@fuzzzwald@lesfleursmonet@you-bleed-just-toknowyouarealive @darkqueennyx-blog @cityintexas-dallas @summerconcerto @awesomebooklover17@nicodoesntexist

X

The next week, they had potions class again. In the few days since their drunken encounter, the girl and Cedric had timidly avoided stepping near the topic. The same went for Draco. The three had seemingly silently agreed not to communicate about that which had occurred between them. It was standard, anyways, given the house duties and crippling hangover the girl had bore just previously. Come class time, Y/N sat at a rickety stool beside Cedric, who took his place happily beside her as Slughorn jovially welcomed his students in. The man wore a devastating purple suit and orange bow tie combination. Today, they would learn to make the Elixir to Induce Euphoria, a sunshine yellow liquid which the professor had set an example of up in a large and bulbous glass vial at the front of the room. Stools scraped and feet scuffed on the dungeon floor as the stirring from the room began to settle. From across the room, the girl made eye contact with the snow-white boy whose icy stare was already settled very obviously to her own. His mouth was hardened into a thin line, his white hair looking neat and smooth over his pale skin. Draco blinked slowly at her, shifted his eyes coldly to Cedric, and then removed his gaze altogether. Feeling as unsure and uncomfortable as his deathly silent communication typically left her, the girl shifted awkwardly in her chair and cleared her throat as Horace Slughorn launched into the usual pre-lesson rant.

“…shrivelfig and porcupine quills,” his voice came swarming into focus. “It will induce a euphoric frenzy in you that will cause you to rejoice with glee, and perhaps even burst into song.”

The class stirred with interest.

“Can you imagine this stuff at the next house party?” a student nearby chuckled quietly.

“Reckon we wouldn’t need it,” Cedric said in reply, speaking to his surroundings discreetly.

The girl’s eyes flickered curiously up to Cedric’s mischievous ones, and they swum blue-green with a sparkle of delight.

“Like we need to bottle a potion for this elixir when we already have empty bottles of the stuff lying round’ the Common Room,” his cheeks creased with dimples as he spoke softly, running a large hand over his mouth in an attempt to hide his grin.

Referring to the alcohol-strewn disaster of a Common Room they’d had to clean up that weekend, of course, the Hufflepuffs in close proximity all bent forward in suppressed laughter. Collectively, a strangled noise of amusement sounded from the table. This included one from the girl, who was taken aback by the boy’s cheek but enjoying it nonetheless as she blew her cheeks up in surprise at him. Giggling mutely, she turned her head back to the professor and kicked Cedric’s foot from under the table. He shrugged with a lopsided smirk and kicked her right back.

“And for today, I thought we’d shake things up a little,” the frog-like man clapped his hands together. “So we’ll be doing this with a little help from a friend! Yes, yes! Do partner up for this class!”

Y/N’s eyes moved instinctively to the bronzed boy beside her, and he was already staring down hopefully at her through his long lashes. In silent question, he flashed his white teeth handsomely at her with want.

“But,” the professor interrupted them, “a rule! Now I know the house rivalries have been getting next to hostile these days, especially between these two.”

Slughorn stopped and wagged a large finger at the Slytherins and Huffelpuffs who crowded around him. His beady eyes landed on the girl, and she couldn’t help but to recall the remark he’d made on the issue upon taking over for her and Draco’s joint detention.

“And so, to bolster our spirits and teamwork, you must pair with someone from the opposite house.”

A collective groan ensued. Nobody seemed particularly enthused about the idea, but Slughorn cheered over their complaints with several flaps of his chubby little hands. The girl felt her stomach lurch as she dragged her eyes forcedly to their next target. Only, this time, upon looking at him, she noticed that he wasn’t doing the same. No, Draco Malfoy’s eyes were fixated on the boy beside her. Turning, the girl felt her throat harden as she watched the events beside her unfold, a mild horror spelling across her face. Cedric had seemingly caught Draco’s stare, and he was holding it unflinchingly with a pulsing jaw and a flare of his nostrils. A large hand clasped at his potions book, his knuckles whitened against it as he stood.

“I’ll get the brat,” he decided, his eyes glued forward still.

“Uh–” the girl’s stool scraped loudly as she shot up, her eyes moving with panic over the two of them, “no!”

Cedric froze, his eyes slow as they tore from Draco’s and resumed their focus on her own.

“No?” he asked with bewilderment.

He couldn’t, she realized, looking up at the boy. There was a quiet and contemplative hatred behind that stare, she deciphered. And, moving to look at Draco’s not-so-quiet-and-contemplative-hatred filled scowl, something dangerous dawned upon her. The handsome and slender framed boy’s light blue contemplation was laced with spite, and glimmered dangerously as he fixated it now upon the girl. If Cedric did anything to rile him up in the slightest, he would undoubtedly weaponize the secret the two shared. Not just of their last encounter, but of any before that. Panicking, and feeling her mouth go dry, the girl placed a hand to Cedric’s chest. She could feel his heart thrumming excitedly beneath her fingertips, and she had to snap twice at him to regain his flickering attention.

“Ced,” she protested, “you’ll only start a row.”

The boy showed not an ounce of care as he forced his tongue over his teeth with a bitter laugh.

“Only if he starts one first,” he grimaced.

“Ced,” she said again, hissing through her teeth now.

Jealousy was a new look on the boy. He sported a bead of sweat on his knit brows, his full lips curved in distaste, and his eyes had hardened with a coldness that softened the instant he looked back down at his girlfriend.

“Y/N,” he repeated curtly.

She shook her head with a laugh of mingled amusement and fear, “you can’t. As house prefects, it’s our job to set an example.”

She felt the tense muscles beneath her touch loosen, Cedric’s brows lowering a little with disappointment. Huffing softly, he gave his girl a defeated nod, and brought his fingers briefly up to her own so as to grasp her small hand in his large one.

“Okay?” she whispered softly at him, blinking with worry up at the boy.

“Okay,” he decided, “you’re right. Okay.”

Taking her hand up in his own, he brought her knuckles briefly to his lips, dropping the faintest of kisses upon her hand with a defeated little smile.

“But if he tries anything–” Cedric began with a flare.

“I will gladly take care of him myself,” she finished, flashing him a confident smile as she drew his hand back to her mouth and returned the favor.

Cedric released a slow sigh, his golden brown locks spilling handsomely over his ocean eyes as he blinked lovingly down with defeat. Letting him go with upset, the girl turned, her back pressed against Cedric’s large front as she took position in line of Draco’s sight. The pale figure of Draco Malfoy held an aura similar to that of a black stormcloud around him. His mouth had curled down with distaste at whatever he’d just witnessed, and his eyes narrowed in frustratingly silent communication at the girl. Clearing her throat and tucking a book beneath her arm, the girl stepped confidently towards her target, her black skirt swinging confidently at her hips as she took her place across from the Slytherin. Beside her, Cedric begrudgingly partnered up with Pansy Parkinson, his narrow eyes attentive to the two as he took his place across the dungeon.

The girl threw her book against the table with a slam, throwing its crisp pages open coolly.

“Shall I start, or shall you?” she said to the pages beneath her nose.

“Hm,” Draco’s throat rumbled. “And hello to you too.”

Her eyes flickered up. The boy before her wore a smug half-smile on his pink lips.

“Hello,” she responded mechanically. “Pass me the Shrivelfig.”

Draco’s long and ring-clas fingers moved slowly, his eyes ever-present on hers as he slid their first ingredients across the faded wooden table. The girl paid him no mind as she began slicing and grinding their materials on her own, her tongue firm against her teeth as she forced a slow breath through her nostrils. Draco eyed her all the while, his cogs turning.

“Porcupine quills,” she commanded.

She could feel his gaze burning through her as he handed over the next ingredients. The girl’s eyes flashed quickly across the room to Cedric, who was peering out of the corner of his eye at the two of them. Swallowing, the girl’s fingers began to tremble. Draco took note, his sharp focus catching the scene before him.

“Why wouldn’t you let your little boyfriend have a go with me?” he asked after a minute of further silence.

Her head shot up, hand dropping as she placed both palms flat against the table before her.

“You too oughtn’t start a row in the classroom,” she spoke her prepared reply formally.

The corners of Draco’s mouth twitched.

“Shall I wait til’ after, then?” he shot back cleverly.

Her teeth came together.

“Draco!” she hissed loudly.

Drawing the attention of a few turning heads, the girl went beet red. Nodding awkwardly with a forced smile, she tugged her long strands of hair back behind her ears and composed herself as she prepared her next attempt at conversing.

“Draco,” she said again, gently this time.

He just smiled. And he smiled with his lips still shut in sly knowing, making her grow all the more furious. This was internal, of course.

“Draco, you really should leave him alone.”

“Oh believe me, I would love to,” the blond scoffed sheepishly, standing. “But it really does seem that he wants to have a word. And who would I be to stop him?”

The girl felt her cheeks flare as Draco began his nonchalant stride over to her side of the table. Ignoring him, and making an attempt to play casual, the girl retrieved their stirring utensil. And, with timid hands, she began to stir the funny-looking fluid beneath them in a clockwise manner.

“Anti-clockwise,” came a smug voice from beside her.

As if it was nothing, she felt the cool movement of the boy behind her. The typical smell of mint and the dark aroma he sported came charging at her lungs, making her head flood further as Draco slinked an arm around her side and plucked the utensil from her fingers before nudging her right out of the way with a bump of his elbows to hers. Stepping aside with a sharp exhale, the girl folded her arms, eyes fixated on the pot before her as the Slytherin stirred their ingredients four times, counter-clockwise.

“Draco,” she tried again calmly, speaking to the fluid under her nose, “I need you to promise me something.

The stirring stopped. Draco let the thing fall from his long white fingers with a blinding flash of his teeth, the boy turning casually to his side as he folded those long arms over the ripples of his black robes, mirroring his subject of interest. At last, the girl met his ferocious ice colored eyes.

“And what might that be?” he asked innocently.

She grimaced, still facing forward as her eyes moved quickly to the big ocean ones that peered at her from across the room. Feeling her stomach lurch, she took her bottom lip between her teeth with a drawn sigh.

“Don’t tell Cedric about the other nig–”

She’d barely gotten a word out before Draco, anticipating her response, interjected.

“Why not?”

Now she turned, facing him.

Blinking desperately at him through her long lashes, she watched the boy’s sickly deviant gaze softened.

“Please,” she uttered quietly.

His jaw pulsed, his hollow cheekbones growing hollower as he sucked a breath between his teeth. He looked torn between choosing pettiness, or letting his soft spot for the girl get the better of his cheek.

He asked the question again, tenderly this time, “why?”

“He already doesn’t like–” she paused, shaking her head and waving her hand in indication at the boy, “–this. Us.”

“Us?” Draco echoed back, the word sounding strange on his lips.

“Yes,us.”

She sighed shortly, lashes fluttering as the two just stared in silence at each other. Draco’s slender form towered over her, the boy restraining himself from edging closer with a dart of his eyes up and above the girl’s head. Moving his large hands to the folds of his pockets, he hummed with soft contemplation.

“Well I don’t like him either,” he decided after a moment.

She almost laughed. What a stupid reply, she thought, fighting the curl of her lips.

“If he finds out,” she phrased carefully, adding, “even if it was nothing–”

“Mm, mhm,” the icy figure nodded casually.

“He’ll be,” she sucked her tongue back, “furious.”

“Oh I suspect so,” Draco swung his hips forward with an infuriating little smile.

“And I’ll never be able to see you again,” she finished.

The attitude vanished from the boy’s visage at once, his face falling.

“Oh,” he spoke.

“Right,” she replied slowly, mirroring the boy with a move of her hands to her pockets.

She looked at the deathly handsome Slytherin, awaiting his reply. But, his mind overflowing, he never did. Rather, he turned back to their pot, looking dejected. Silent in thought, his nimble fingers plucked up their next ingredient, and he got back to work. Not knowing what else to say, the girl cleared her throat, doing her best not to stare too much as she scrutinized him. And so they went on like that, helping one another and working frighteningly in sync at their concoction. Approximately forty-five minutes later, a shimmering sunshine yellow fluid sat before them. From its top, a literal rainbow glow emerged, spilling like fog from the edges of the cauldron before sizzling out over a set of luminescent little pops. As usual, Professor Slughorn made his rounds through the students, inspecting their results one by one. Cedric and Pansy’s, he claimed, was very well done. But Y/N and Draco’s, he scoffed, was spectacular.

“Just brilliant, just brilliant!” he danced, pouring a vial of the fluid into a thin vial before his frog-face.

Giving a cheers to the class, the professor downed a serving of the potion right before them, making his students jitter excitedly.

“It’s all well,” he giggled, slamming a hand to the back of the two students before him in appreciation. “I haven’t any more classes today, there’s no harm in some singing, I suppose.”

The class laughed. Well, except for his proclaimed prodigies, who exchanged a terrified glance. Draco moved his eyes back and forth over the girl’s features, deep in thought. She felt her legs almost jelly at the sight. Anxious, she scanned the faces before hers, and landed on a familiar one. Cedric looked like he was unsure whether to be proud of his girl or devastated by the look of guilt she and her partner wore. Still, he clapped her on, giving her a nervous smile. Even that, she thought as she straightened, made her feel better.

“And so you see how–” Slughorn realized, bubbling, “two students such as these old foes, can– can come together.”

The faces of the Slytherin and Hufflepuff students around them looked equally unimpressed.

“Very good dear girl,” he finished with a beam. “You too, Mr. Malfoy.”

Draco nodded, and the class was dismissed. As the girl made to run, scrambling as she picked up her things, a hand stopped her. Grabbing her frayed and dustied book, Draco’s long white fingers snatched the object out from under her, making her huff. His silver rings glittered beautifully into her face.

“What?” she snapped, not even bothering to feign niceties at this point.

“Not seeing me again,” he said quietly, plucking up the line from which they’d left off.

“Yes?” she said with uncertainty, her heart quickening as Cedric approached the two.

“You say it’s my punishment,” he phrased matter-of-factly. “You say it like it would be me who suffers that consequence, and me alone.”

The girl went still. Her mind fired hot shocks of panic down to her heart. Then her heart came to an abrupt halt, her throat growing hard in turn. The boy read her expression easily, his next words deathly quiet.

“But you fear it too,” he finished.

Dumbfounded, the girl found herself unable to breathe. Looking unsurprised, but confident with his choice of words, the snow-white boy leaned closer, if only for a second. He forced the book between her hands, making the girl gasp sharply as her lashes fluttered up into his dead-set crystalline gaze. She instinctively took a faltered step back, her brows knitting as cement seemingly poured down and through her throat. Muttering softly as he drifted away, Draco Malfoy now spoke vaguely to her mouth.

“Not just me,” he breathed. “You.”

She stared.

“You fear it as well,” he murmured.

…

Two more weeks passed after that. Two weeks in which the weather assumed its frosty autumn bite, and during which time Y/N found it increasingly more difficult to manage the entanglement of lies and meetings which she’d spun between herself, Cedric, Draco, and even Harry. It was Harry who was perhaps the most suspicious. Upon discovering his plan had worked and she’d gained the Slytherin’s trust, she’d had to satisfy his need for Voldemort-related answers with something of a shrug and a “it’s not like I can just ask him to roll up his sleeves.” Promising she’d dig deeper, the girl had continued to meet Draco Malfoy a few times in secret, only there was no sleuthing involved. Rather, they talked. They talked and grew closer. Every few days they’d meet at the Astronomy Tower, which was increasingly hard to get a spot alone at. Finally, come October, it was time for the students’ trip to Hogsmeade. The girl wore a knit black sweater with a striped pair of pants and the typical boot, her hair cascading down freely on that day. Cedric, conversely, wore a striped sweater and black pants, almost unintentionally mirroring the girl. Alongside their friends Julian, Ernie, and Hannah, they visited Zonkos, Honeydukes, and Dogweed and Deathcap. Finally, the two alone headed to the Three Broomsticks, losing their friends to J. Pippin’s Potions on the way.

“Thank God,” the girl breathed, stepping into the establishment.

It was toasty and warm inside. The sloped ceilings glimmered with rings of candlelight, and it smelled deliciously of something roasted. The sounds of chairs scuffing against the gray floors, silverware clattering, and happy chattering sounded from all around. Cedric released his girlfriend’s hand with a content sigh.

“I’ll grab us both a hot butterbeer?” he asked excitedly.

“Sure, thanks Ced,” she beamed.

“Wonderful, pick somewhere out for us?”

The boy bent forward, his chestnut hair flopping over his forehead as he knelt down to drop a kiss to his girlfriend’s forehead. Y/N felt her skin flush with rose, a smile spreading wide on her lips as she watched the boy slink off with a grin. Scanning the place, she eventually noticed a free table up on the second floor, across from the big bar Cedric stood at. Making her way hastily through the bustle, the girl thudded her path towards the stairs, stopping only when her nose came in contact with the front of a crisp black dress-shirt whose scent she recognized at once.

“Ouch, Draco!” she rubbed her face with a scowl, tilting her face up to get a look at him.

His sharp jaw was tilted down so as to scowl back better at her.

“You’ll never learn to watch where you’re going, will you?” he observed.

But his voice was quiet, and tired. Like he didn’t have the energy to be either funny or bitter with her. Instead, his eyes looked drained and tired, his skin somehow even paler than paper, and his lips hung down into a creased line of worry. Noticing her staring, the boy cleared his throat with a flicker of his ice colored eyes over her shoulder.

“You’d better be going,” he muttered. “Don’t want to be seen hanging round’ with me in front of all these people.”

She stiffened, feeling her heart sink at his words. The girl was unsure of whether she should be more upset with his statement or the fact that it was an evident lie to get her off of his trail, whatever that was.

“Oh, okay,” she mumbled unsurely, not moving.

That searing gaze penetrated her still, the boy unmoving as well.

“Draco, is everything alright?” she worded under her breath.

His eyes grew sad, contradicting the stiff nod he gave her.

“Your boyfriend is coming,” he answered in reply, his shoulders straightening.

The girl turned, and sure enough he was right. There was Cedric, navigating through the crowd with two drinks and a rapidly fading smile. His ocean stare fixated first above her head, and then back to her eyes. Turning once more, the girl watched confusedly as Draco slipped off wordlessly away, melting like a black fog into the sea of people.

“Hello.”

The girl snapped back around to Cedric.

“Hi.”

He raised an inquisitive brow, saying nothing.

“Erm,” she fumbled, suddenly at a loss for words.

Luckily, Cedric finished the thought for her.

“He looked rather grim, didn’t he?” he pondered aloud, handing her a drink.

The girl wrapped her hands gratefully around the beverage, taking a sip. The foamy froth hit her tongue first. It was sweet and fluffy like white clouds on her lips. And then the butterbeer. It was like pure delight was seeping into her system, warming her up and making her skin tingle. Cedric mimicked her as he slinked an arm through her side and around her waist, his arm so large it wrapped around to the front of her torso. The girl nuzzled silently against him as he guided her up the stairs, the smell of aftershave and parchment thick on his sweater.

“D’you remember what you told me, about how you thought Malfoy was a death eater?” he asked as the two assumed their seating positions upstairs.

The girl swallowed quickly, feeling the butterbeer struggle against her throat as she covered her mouth with a cough.

“Yes,” she responded flatly, her eyes itching to look at the scratched up table before her.

Cedric’s big blue-green eyes narrowed in observation.

“Well,” he started, “I think you’re right.

She tensed, “why?”

“What you said before makes sense,” he defended, “and the bloke has looked rather down, like he’s carrying the weight of the world on those stupid padded shoulders.”

The girl took a tentative sip of her drink, a nervous smile perching on her mouth as she leaned forward.

“Is this just because you don’t like him?” she joked lightly.

Cedric brushed her off sheepishly, “do you not think he is?”

She faltered, unsure of how to respond.

“I don’t know what to think,” she lied passively, tucking her bottom lip between her teeth.

Cedric read her every movement, his eyes narrowing with a sort of knowing.

“Is that just because you do like him?”

Her heart stopped. Her brain drew an utter blank. Honestly, she’d never seen those words coming. Struggling, the girl stammered and leaned back, her long lashes fluttering.

“Ced–” she began. “Look, no. I mean, not really. It’s not like that.”

The boy tensed, swallowing the hard lump in his throat as he knitted his brows together and shoved a large hand through his brown hair, like her flustered reply had worried him more than he’d anticipated.

“Well, what is it like?” he responded after a moment.

The girl felt her eyes well. He looked so taken aback, so struck. She needed to assure him, but she couldn’t do so as long as she kept up this lie. This lie, whatever it was. That her and Draco were, well, something like… friends. Friends. Even the thought sounded odd in her head. Anyways, she debated silently with herself, she couldn’t do it anymore.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” she said through an extended sigh, her jaw quivering with nervousness, “about Draco and I.”

The door swung open from downstairs with a massive slam, startling her. The occupants of the establishment all jumped in surprise at the sight of Horace Slugnorn in the doorway, the frog-like man paled with worry as a flurry of brown autumn leaves whirled around behind him.

“Get back to the castle!” he ordered.

For a moment, nobody moved.

“A student has been hurt!” he ordered seriously. “UP! NOW!”

…

Things only grew worse after that. On their walk back to the castle, the two moved swiftly, rounding up any students they could. Guiding a crowd of Hufflepuffs behind them, the prefects moved in deathly silence besides one another, their conversation put on an abrupt hold. Cedric said absolutely nothing the whole way back to the Common Room, and so neither had she. After leaving their housemates for a Prefect’s Meeting assembled by Professor Mcgonagall, they’d learned the victim of the recent tragedy: Katie Bell. Apparently she’d been carrying a cursed necklace in a parcel back to Hogwarts, only she’d touched it through her glove and just barely survived it herself. And she has no recollection of what had happened, according to the Professor. As she spoke, the girl turned silently to stare at Cedric. His face had gone unnaturally pale, and his jaw was beginning to visibly shake. Her heart rate rising, the girl fixated her eyes on the boy as she extended a cautious hand to his. Her fingers trembled with nervousness as they tapped his slender ones. And then he stopped. His breath slowing, Cedric, with eyes still forward, closed his long fingers around the girl’s hand.

“I’m going to find Draco,” he’d said the moment they got out.

From down the hallway, the girl could see the backside of the suit-clad Slytherin Prefect, Cedric catching it too and turning briskly in his direction. The boy skimmed easily through the open corridor and its frames that cast triangular flares of moonlight onto the cobblestone ground beneath it.

“Ced?! Hey– oi! Ced!” the girl barked in quiet confusion.

Cedric was displeased as he continued to walk, ignoring his girlfriend with determination setting deeply into his distressed expression. The moon sent ominous sorts of shadows over his knitted brows as he practically flew.

“CED!” she demanded, grabbing at his hand.

He stopped, fuming as he moved his big blue-green eyes down to hers. It was so bad that she swore she could see the cartoon smoke billowing from his nose. And in her haste to call him, the girl had drawn the attention of the nearby Draco Malfoy, who stopped slowly in his tracks to listen.

“What?!” she hissed through her teeth, her little hands struggling to hold his hesitant wrist to her chest. “What are you doing?!”

“He did it,” Cedric fired back, deathly quiet.

“He– what?!” the girl blinked confusedly back.

“He. Did. It.”

“Ced–” she tried urgently.

“Didn’t you?” he interrupted, turning his beautifully pointed nose to the boy before them.

Draco Malfoy’s slender form turned around excruciatingly slowly, a hard and cold smile plastered to his cruel lips. The boy had both hands folded neatly into the pockets of his black suit, and he raised a pale brow with a light chuckle.

“What are you assuming, Diggory?” he murmured through a slow and innocent blink.

“That you gave that necklace to Katie,” Cedric said back promptly. “Didn’t you?”

Flabbergasted, the girl’s mouth fell open. Her hands dropped from Cedric’s wrist as she forced them instead into the pockets of her pants with a stiff sigh of disbelief. Surely it couldn’t be true, could it?

But Malfoy barely reacted, save for an amused twitch of his brow.

“Careful what you go around saying,” his voice dropped dangerously in warning.

“I saw you in the Three Broomsticks earlier,” Cedric ignored him calmly.

“Alright,” the pale boy shrugged, the light from the moon sending a threatening cast of his silhouette down by his feet.

“You left right after Katie did,” Cedric said. “I saw her go.”

Draco stiffened, ever so lightly.

“That doesn’t mean anyth–” he started.

“Katie was cursed by that necklace only about five minutes later,” Cedic completed his thought, silencing the Slytherin.

Draco’s raised brows lowered observantly with dislike, his lips twisting like he had something sour stuck in his mouth. He looked as if he may explode, for a moment. But only for a moment. And then, calmly, his face relaxed.

“I didn’t do anything,” he assured, his cerulean eyes flickering briefly to Y/N’s.

It was almost believable.

Her hands trembled in their pockets, and she held his gaze, feeling her stomach fall at the sight. But, fuck. He was lying. She could just barely read it through the facade, but there it was, the ever so slight quiver of his lower lip, something she’d only learned to be his tell through a month of careful study. Draco, reading her every thought effortlessly, clenched his teeth together, the grip so tight it made his jaw pulsate. His defined nostrils flared, and he brought his tongue briefly to the roof of his mouth so as to hold it hostage in place whilst he thought. At first he looked as if he’d snap back with something clever, but then, his face falling, he thought. She could see the cogs turning as he reflected back on their deal. That he would behave so long as it meant seeing Y/N.

Clicking his tongue, he sighed, “goodnight, you two.”

Cedric was not satisfied by this answer at all. His brows lifting, the boy followed briskly after the nonchalant Slytherin, who once again, came to a slow halt in his tracks. Then he stopped. The girl, extremely overwhelmed, skipped forward.

“Look at me,” Cedric demanded, “now.”

She froze. She looked at him. His face was hard, his lips were curled with fury, and a dark sweat had built against his forehead. The bronzed boy looked absolutely furious as he shot up a hand, pointing his wand in warning against the back of the boy’s suit. And his voice, it was so new. It was so low and threatening that she even found herself growing afraid at the sound.

“Cedric!”

Tensing, Draco sucked in a slow breath, his hands up in defense as he turned cautiously around to face Cedric, who stood just a bit taller over him. The blonde boy’s icy stare moved to Y/N’s, and she could see them visibly struggling to maintain control, a silent battle occurring in the iris’ of Draco Malfoy.

“Admit it,” Cedric snarled through his perfect teeth.

His gaze was wavering now, the rage seeping quickly into his sharp features.

“No,” he responded firmly.

Cedric raised his wand to the boy’s sloped nose, like it was nothing.

“Ced!” she pleaded again, to no avail.

Moving his eyes slowly back to the girl’s, Draco’s face fell. She could read the exact moment he’d tossed his composure aside. His eyes narrowed, darkening as he spoke his next words to the girl.

“I was only in there because I was trying to get a look at your girlfriend.”

Lie. It was a lie. She could tell he was lying. But that didn’t matter, because that wasn’t the point. No, the point was to fuel Cedric’s flames, and it had worked.

“What?” Cedric challenged, his voice barely audible.

“Cedric, please,” the girl tugged gently at his arm now, feeling her eyes grow wet with moisture.

It couldn’t happen like this. It couldn’t be happening like this.

He ignored her.

“Draco–” she tried

But it was as if she weren’t even there.

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Draco shrugged, his voice growing thick with bitterness now as his lips twitched upwards into a sick grin. “Hasn’t she told you?” he continued to the stricken boy, feigning mock shock.

“Told me what?” Cedric said hoarsely, his breath short as he refused to look down at his girlfriend beside him.

“That she’s been sneaking round’ to see me?” he shook his head innocently. “That she came drunk and bustling into my arms after you so brutally dissatisfied her the other week? You know, the day of the quidditch match?”

Cedric tensed. He’d gone shockingly still now, the breath barely coming from his pink lips. The girl, meanwhile, had shut down completely. This simply could not be going worse. Not only had she been blinded by the charm of Draco Malfoy, but she’d been foolish enough to trust in it, and to hide it like a shameful secret from the one person whom she cared for most. And now she watched as he, Cedric, held it barely together before her. The starlight alone revealed in the reflection of the orb-like glaze over his eyes that he was on the verge of tears.

“What?” Cedric winced, lowering his wand at once.

But he wasn’t talking to Draco now. Rather, his gaze was fixated beneath his nose, to the girl who had swung in front of his torso with a touch of her palms to his chest. Her breath rattled as she blinked through bleary tears up at him.

“Cedric,” her voice quivered. “Ced, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please I– I was going to tell you earlier.”

“Earlier?” his voice faltered, his nostrils flaring as he grew hesitant beneath her touch. “Earlier. Not earlier, like last week, or the week before. Not earlier like right after you did it. Because you did, you did do it. And then you lied.”

“Nothing really happened–” she tried.

This made both boys grow visibly tense. Behind her, Draco turned his jaw aside with a hurt chuckle. Before her, Cedric shook his brown locks disbelievingly.

“If that was true,” he said quietly, “why wouldn’t you have told me?”

The girl felt her throat close as she stammered in silent reply.

Cedric’s eyes doubled in size, a single tear hitting his curved cheekbones as he pulled from her touch with a mortified flutter of his eyelashes.

“Right,” he said at once, his face hardening. “That’s what I thought.”

And he drew slowly away. Panicking, the girl began to follow, but he shook his head, his lips plastered tightly to one another now. He had nothing left to say to her. Feeling the knot in her chest pull so tightly that it reached her throat and caused her to release a sharp gasp, Y/N turned. She turned and she listened to Cedric walk away from her. Then, she had one hand to her opened mouth as a mangled gasp of pain hit her lips. A silent and strangled sob burst forth, and she snapped furiously to the snow-white boy who had frozen in place before her. He looked guilty already. Guilty, but with fumes still running from his nose and mouth.

“How could you?!” she said through a quivering breath.

Draco’s icy eyes softened, his shoulders relaxing, “Y/N. He should know.”

“Did you do it?” she cut him off, her voice shaking as she pleaded gently before him. “Tell me he’s wrong. Tell me you didn’t.”

If there was this, at least, maybe it meant there was a shred of a salvageable human in the cold figure before her. Draco’s mouth came apart, his head tilting as the verdict of her question read simply across his features.

“I had no choice–” he tried softly.

“GOD!” she screamed.

It had been so hoarse and so loud that her throat burned, but she paid the sting of it no mind. Instead her hands came flying up, and she thudded them against Draco’s definite front, making him stumble back in surprise, his chest heaving and brows lifting. He looked devastated, his head shaking as he muttered a quiet plea.

“I trusted you!” she said, the words coming out as a half-statement-half-sob.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks now, the light from the sky making them look like little falling stars as they ran down her face and upon her unsteady lips. She hit him again, thudding her fists defeatedly to his chest as she dropped her hands with a shaky cry.

“I trusted you,” she uttered again, more softly this time. “You were my friend.”

The boy’s eyes were turning red as he held back a wall of emotion behind their blue-ness. He scoffed defeatedly, running his ring-clad fingers over his mouth with a pained laugh.

“Right,” his chest heaved as he bit his lip frustratedly, “right.”

The girl, sucking in a deep breath, stood straighter. Her head came forward as she hung it before him, blinking desperately up into his gorgeous stare. She folded her arms against herself in the cold, her hair cascading around her halo face as she awaited his words with a splatter of a tear to the bridge of her nose. Draco looked as if he’d wanted to collect it, but upon meeting her eyes again, thought twice. And he shook his head. His gorgeous blond hair fell messily from its sculpt over his eyes, the sallow boy locking his jaw closed with a horrible and wounded chuckle.

“Right,” he said again, shaking his head now.

The girl felt her breath cut short as the boy stared determinedly at her mouth now, his throat tightening as he forced his eyes back to hers. She was shaking, and her words struggled to leave her. The wind, biting nimbly at her face, had sent a pink flush to her cheeks and nose. And the tears, like diamonds upon her visage, made her twinkle with an ethereal presence in the dark. From between her twitching lips came a slow stream of cool silver air.

“What?” she tried at last.

Draco shook his head, making his mind up now as he moved his focus between her eyes and back down to her mouth.

“Right,” he began again. “Except I don’t want to be your friend.”

She felt the cold of his rings clasp to her wrist, and he was pulling her in before she could stop him. The Slytherin yanked the Huffelpuff forward, and she stumbled on her toes and into the welcoming and familiar minty-dark aroma that enshrouded her. Only, having anticipated her movement, Draco ensured that the girl would no longer meet her nose to his chest. No, he’d stooped down into her this time, his other hand flying to grasp her cheek as the cold of his rings met her skin again. He’d caught her in midair, the movement so swift and effortless that her lips had simply had no choice but to fall into his as the boy’s slender fingers moved to her ear, through her hair, and pulled her flush against him. Any noise she had tried to make was lost, silenced as he devoured it. And as the force of it brought them stumbling back into the shadows, Draco Malfoy tried to make the girl his own.