A week passed by without any further discussion of Draco Malfoy, or Y/N’s father. Frankly, the girl was just happy to have Cedric in her life the way she did, meaning the effect of Draco’s cold glares and that growing pit of curiosity she’d buried were stifled almost entirely. Almost. On the blond’s end, it almost seemed as if he had been sure she would come back. So, the longer she didn’t, the more bitter she watched the Slytherin grow. It was only at the end of the week, during which Draco had been especially frigid with the two Hufflepuffs, that Cedric spoke. But, when he did, his words certainly startled his girlfriend.
“I reckon we should talk to him,” he said as they left Potions class.
The sun shone magnificently on the cold day. The girl, folding her arms across her crisp black robes, stopped. The two had just emerged from the dungeons, the air sharp and cool as it snapped against her cheeks. Students in the corridor bustled noisily past without a care, and birds chirped encouragingly from the nearby greenery.
“What are you on about?” the girl asked questioningly.
“Don’t get me wrong, I hate the git,” he added cooly, “but he might know something about your father.”
“So?” she said defeatedly. “I cut him out, remember?”
“Right,” the brunette clicked his tongue, “that’s why I said ‘we’.”
She folded her potions book under her arm with a tilt of her head.
“Huh?”
“If the both of us talk to him, maybe we can get through to him,” Cedric elaborated.
“Cedric, he hates our guts,” she reminded him.
“Not our,” he corrected, “my.”
She grimaced.
“Well it’s true,” he shrugged in defeat.
“I’m not so sure.”
A contemplative silence ensued. Then they resumed walking. The halls emptied as students made their way to lunch, leaving the slow-moving pair in a thoughtful stroll.
“I don’t get it,” she chuckled, “why would you of all people want to help Draco?”
“Simple,” he replied at once, “for you. You deserve the truth.”
The girl sighed, full of so much love for the boy.
“That’s very sweet, Ced” she smiled softly. “But, aren’t you forgetting he nearly killed a girl? And that he’s likely a death eater?”
“Course’ not,” the Hufflepuff grinned. “That’s the only somewhat leverage we have on the ferret. And we haven’t said a word on it.”
“Meaning?” she asked confusedly.
“Meaning,” he stopped, “either he helps you, or we out his misdeeds for good.”
Cedric’s big blue-green eyes sparkled in the sunlight, the boy looking as handsome as ever as he blinked down at his girl. Y/N’s mouth fell into a hard line, the words ringing uncomfortably and weirdly in her ears as she stared up at her boyfriend. She wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that, after all. And then, at once, they were conveniently interrupted by a boy with a mess of black hair and a prominent scar on his forehead.
“Harry!” the girl chuckled in uncomfortable surprise.
“Hullo,” he waved with an on-brand nod of greeting.
Then, not knowing how else but to skip the niceties, he mumbled with a wave of his hand.
“Y/N, have a moment?” he asked distantly.
“Erm,” she cleared her throat, eyes darting to Cedric’s, “is this about Draco?”
The boy-who-lived read the two Hufflepuff’s with a squint, a crease forming between his brow.
“Malfoy, yeah,” Harry said timidly, eyeing Cedric. “Does he–” Harry began.
“I’ve let him in on everything, yeah,” the girl answered Potter’s hanging phrase.
Harry didn’t judge, only observed curiously, a cautious smile dancing on the corners of his mouth. Beside her, Cedric nodded, folding his long fingers into the pockets of his robes. Not revealing a word, the Gryffindor blinked in silence for a second, his green eyes narrowing as the cogs in his brain whirred.
“Ah,” Harry shrugged at last. “Well, erm, that’s good actually. There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. It’s about Katie and that cursed necklace.”
The Hufflepuff pair tensed in anticipation.
“I–” Harry began timidly, “–I think he did it. Malfoy, I mean”
Y/N and Cedric exchanged a silent glance, communicating wordlessly in their wide stares.
“What makes you say that?” Cedric feigned ignorance, moving his eyes back to Harry.
“Well, I’ve already got the itch that he’s working for Voldemort, right? But then I saw him leaving towards the castle looking desperately guilty only moments before she was cursed. And he’s been acting extra offputting this whole week since,” he rambled.
The girl clenched her jaw. His pieces were lining up, even if the latter ones had far less to do with the necklace than Harry knew. Sucking in a breath, Y/N darted her eyes to Cedric’s before responding carefully.
“I don’t know, H…” she tried.
“If the three of us all come forward,” he stammered, “surely then McGonagall or someone would listen, right?”
Probably, actually, he was right. But doing so meant severing ties with the blond for good and making him suffer a deserved but likely ghastly fate. And it also meant losing any chance of gaining intel on her father, she thought. Not that she loved Cedric’s idea morally, either. But, she felt upon his proposal that she couldn’t not try.
“Listen, Harry,” she sighed. “I don’t think it’s best unless we have actual proof.”
Harry frowned, “and have you found any?”
The girl shook her head, hating to let him down like this again. More specifically, she hated that she was keeping secrets from a dear friend.
“Draco and I haven’t been talking,” she told the half-truth.
“Again?” Harry retorted.
She winced.
“Sorry– just–” Harry caught himself, “that git is one hell of an emotional rollercoaster.”
The girl looked at Cedric, swallowing, “I know.”
He looked rather off-put, as his mouth hardened into a faux smile of assurance.
“Well,” Harry cleared his throat, “okay. I suppose you’re right. I can’t go about sounding loony with baseless accusations, even if they are true, so… okay. You’ll let me know if anything changes?”
The Hufflepuff’s made a noise of agreement, staring at the jet-black-haired boy as he pushed his glasses up his nose and made down the corridor with a sigh. She noticed he was looking a little disheveled, what with his laces undone and a rather crumpled set of robes on. Kindly, Cedric gave his friend a pat on the back as he departed, the polite smile fading from his lips as he watched him go. Then, slowly, he turned back to his girlfriend. He didn’t look all the most pleased, but what was there to do? This was them being honest with each other, after all.
“Alright, Ced,” the girl exhaled slowly, bringing each of her hands to the side of his robes as she leaned into his torso, “what do you think I should do?”
…
This time it was Y/N who sent the bird-shaped parchment Draco’s way. On it, she’d written:
. . - Y/N
Of course, what she hadn’t mentioned was that Cedric would be joining. After a rushed dinner of rosemary glazed potatoes and pork in the Great Hall, the pair slipped away into the castle and pattered over to the library. For a second, they stood outside together. The girl wore her robes still, her hair in a high pony and her lips flushed a little red. Cedric stopped, grabbing her gently by the wrist. His blue-green stare moved all over her face, his expression worried.
“You look very lovely,” he offered nervously, rubbing his thumb against her wrist.
Taken aback, the girl chuckled a bewildered thanks.
“You do,” he prodded again, moving his free hand up to brush back the loose pieces of hair she sported.
Then, eyeing her hair with an odd determination, the boy moved his hand to her hair tie, pulling her hair loose altogether.
“Ced?” she questioned, scrunching her nose as her locks fell around her halo face.
“Well, now you just look arguably more beautiful,” he huffed in annoyance, fiddling at her with his long fingers again.
“Ced– what–” the girl was laughing now as she slapped his hand back with a giggle. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” he shrugged through his lie, letting his fingers stay on her rosy cheek, “nothing. Come here.”
Then he brought his lips gently down to hers, the kiss soft and brief. Blinking through her surprise, the girl cleared her throat and stared at the towering boy’s mouth. He looked utterly love-struck, and something else, too. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think he was jealous.
“What was that for?” she mumbled softly.
“Nothing,” he lied obviously, silencing her with a peck to the lips and a grin. “Nothing.”
Struggling to breathe right, the girl came off of his lips once more, breath faltered. Regaining her composure, she smoothed her hands over her little black skirt and cleared her throat with a nod. It was odd, but she wasn’t complaining. Entering the library first, the girl slinked between its opened doors. She knew where to go immediately this time. Brushing past huge wooden oak shelves, focused huddles of students, and warm gas lamps, the girl made her way to the musty and dusty abandoned back corner of the room. Crammed between the two back shelves, she stood alone, just like last time. Recalling her previous encounter there, she reached nimbly for an old blue book on healing incantations, the one she’d skimmed the time before. Flipping it open, she barely had a second to observe its old yellowed pages before Draco Malfoy stood before her. He didn’t hide behind the opposite shelf this time, embarrassed to be seen near her. Rather, he strode quite confidently to her, his long pale fingers glittering as he pushed the book gently down from the girl’s nose with a smirk.
“Hello,” he murmured, icy blue eyes gentle.
She lowered the reading slowly, growing nervous at the proximity. He wore his uniform, too, but minus the robes. His dark emerald tie stood out against the white fabric that clenched to his definite chest. His bright white hair was neatly framed over his head. His pale and sallow features held some smug in them, she noticed.
“Hi,” she cleared her throat, setting down the book.
She gave a nervous glance around. Some nearby students had lifted their heads from the other side of the shelf. She could just make out Cedric’s tall frame approaching from the opposite side. In front of her, Draco hummed curiously.
“I was wondering how long you’d shut me out,” he spoke softly, “before you’d come back.”
The girl’s doe-eyes narrowed. Was he really that full of himself? Or was this him being vulnerable?
“I missed you,” the blond added softly, taking the girl immediately off-guard.
Perhaps it was both, she decided with a swallow. His words and that dark minty smell alike were making her head spin. She wasn’t sure how to reply. In all truth, as much as she was furious with him, this– him– she’d missed. But she couldn’t ever admit that to herself, much less Draco Malfoy. Opting for something curt, she straightened.
“Draco, I’m not doing this.”
His pale brows came together, his pink lips creasing, “hm?”
“We’re here on behalf of my father and nothing else,” she continued, leaning back away from him and into the bookshelf.
Draco’s face grew dark.
“We?” he asked dangerously.
“That’s right.”
Cedric stood behind the blond, both of his hands in his pockets as his hard gaze leveled that of the snow-white boy. Grimacing, Draco tilted his head with a scowl.
“Diggory,” he uttered with dislike.
From behind him, Cedric’s throat rumbled an acknowledgment
The smug Draco wore dissipated, the blond hardening before Y/N’s very eyes. The glitter in his icy eyes melted, a cool gray glaze replacing it.
His hands moved to his pockets, “what is this, hm?”
Cedric stepped around him now, Draco’s eyes dead-set to the girl still.
“What is this?” he repeated, flicking a finger between the two Hufflepuff’s but speaking only to one.
There was a brief silence. The girl felt as if her heart had grown tendrils that were now reaching from her chest to her throat, shutting her down from the inside out. Now the cozy library suddenly felt too hot, and the turning of yellowed pages too loud.
“If you’re going to say anything to me,” the girl said through an unconfident stammer, “it should be something the both of us are hearing.”
The Slytherin pondered this for a moment, his enrapturing eyes glinting devilishly.
“Anything?” he dared, ego consuming him.
The girl swallowed, “to the both of us.”
Draco’s lips split at once – it was as if she was just begging for it.
“Alright,” he decided with cheek, turning to the brunette with predictable spite. “I kissed her.”
He aired it so confidently that the slow stopping shuffle of nearby pages had to be an indication that his words had reached a few perked ears. Draco didn’t seem to care. As the girl swallowed, she thought back to when she’d last been with him, like this. At the time, Draco Malfoy had tried with all efforts to keep the girl a secret, a mindset he’d clearly lost interest in sporting.
Cedric sucked in a breath with a straight smile, “I know.”
And there went his cheek.
“What?” his facade crumbled quickly, his brows lowering on his handsome face.
“I know,” Y/N’s boyfriend uttered, leaning in a little this time, so he could really get it.
“I don’t–”
Draco’s face softened, then grew hard again. His snowstorm gaze was slow as it moved back to the girl’s face. She wore a look of feigned togetherness and a hint of something else… guilt? Her eyes were quick to flee to the floorboards, her bottom lip disappearing beneath the gentle bite of her teeth.
“Did–” Draco began, so soft now that his quivering was hard to place as rage or upset, “did something happen with you two?”
She hadn’t responded, but judging by the Slytherin’s next words, her and Cedric’s expressions had told him enough.
“Right,” he said, and it came as a sour, hurt, laugh. “Well, I suppose you’re in luck then, Y/N.”
Her glossy eyes lifted. His own were right where she’d left them. Buried under the familiar loathing within his demeanor, she sensed a quelled but definite rage, one he barely had on edge.
“I have nothing to say to you,” he uttered, cold and firm, his back straightening.
His stare flickered to the other boy, who folded his arms in silence.
“Diggory.”
“Still feeling cocky?” he shot back cooly, the reply fired instantaneously.
The blond’s nostrils flared, his slender fingers growing tight in unison.
“Right. You must be loving this,” he snarled sarcastically.
“As a matter of fact, I am.”
It was like watching a ticking bomb.
“Ced,” the girl perked up glumly, reaching for his arm, “don’t.”
Two blue-green eyes moved to hers, but they were shrouded in defiance. Before them, the snow-white was shaking. But then, pale fingers trembling as they came undone, Draco Malfoy stopped. That crystalline stare went dim as he turned, various curious eyes and ears tuned into the sight of his swift exit from the library. It was only after he left that Cedric spoke.
“I’m going after him,” he announced coldly, bright eyes forward.
“What?” the girl stammered, pulling her fingertips from their gentle clasp of his wrist. “He’s never going to want to help us.”
“He will,” the boy said, barely giving her a glance as he began striding forward.
“Ced! No! Ce–” the girl tripped on her boots after him.
Y/N went stumbling through a maze of novels, hands still clasped to her own book as she tried to slow the Hufflepuff with a loud library-like whisper-scream. When wandering eyes turned, her mouth closed, the girl straightening her back as a good Prefect might. Palms to her sides, she proceeded to curtly and formally chase her boyfriend through the doors of the library in silence.
“CED!” she hollered the second her feet landed outside the place.
But the boy was practically miles ahead as he hollered down at his target, Malfoy.
“Draco!” he called. “DRACO.”
Cedric’s hand touched his shoulder, and he stopped. The blond looked like he was holding it together by a half of a hair as he turned, his eyes alight with rage and facade tremoring with something more wounded. Very slowly, his lips split.
“Malfoy,” he responded.
There was that voice thick with hatred – she knew it from memory.
“Malfoy,” Cedric corrected himself with a curt smile. “Won’t you hear us out?”
“No,” he responded simply, eyes darting to the girl who came to a halt behind Cedric’s shoulder. “Not you. Not her.”
Cedric’s jaw went stiff, the boy half-turning to cast a pair of sad eyes upon his girlfriend.
“I’ll talk to him,” she tried softly, willing Cedric to listen.
His brows creased. This was grappling with logic and ego.
“Please, Ced. It’s fine.”
Her words were soft, the boy’s demeanor shrinking as he stepped back with a nod, a brown lock of hair falling handsomely over his right eye. His gaze grew defeated as he turned, moving to stand just behind the heavy-breathing Hufflepuff. Sighing with relief, the girl closed her eyes. Bomb diffused.
“Draco,” she began softly, her eyes opening.
He didn’t correct her.
“Draco, I want to know more about my father,” she spoke, stepping closer.
The boy’s ice-colored eyes doubled in size as they moved from Cedric to Y/N, his entire face softening with the like for her that he couldn’t quite hide. He shook his head with a clear of his throat, masking whatever pain was crawling around at the back of his vocal cords.
“Why is he here?” he asked back simply, dodging her plea.
“Because I trust him and I want him to be a part of this,” she responded firmly.
From behind her, Cedric’s back straightened a little.
Draco moved a hand to his emerald tie, pulling at it with unease. He looked unhappy with her reply.
“And because you kissed me,” she added definitely, moving her hair behind her ear with a glance down.
This was the answer he’d both expected and dreaded together. The boy’s lips tightened as he rubbed at his chin, the silver on his long fingers glittering. Next to her, Cedric didn’t move.
“Because you kissed me,” the girl repeated breathily, “which means you can’t be trusted alone around me.”
Draco’s frosty stare glimmered, his slender fingers dropping from his face.
“Because I can’t, or because you can’t?”
He’d asked it so softly, so calmly, that she’d barely caught it.
Feeling her throat close, the girl stammered in a wordless reply.
“Watch your mouth,” Cedric warned, turning a broad shoulder out with a glance at the Slytherin.
But Draco didn’t pay him any mind. Rather, his eyes were still locked to the flushed cheeks of the girl before him.
“Draco please,” she ignored his remark, “I’m ready for this.”
It was true, not that she knew what ‘this’ implied. Knowing more? Absolutely. Vengeance for her mother? Most certainly.
His eyes softened, “Y/N, this is so very dangerous. For bot– all of us.”
Her jaw hardened, “it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
He tilted his perfect face a little, white locks splaying across the edges of his sharp features.
“This might not work,” he tried.
“Well, then I’ll take that risk too.”
The blond sighed, his jaw pulsating as he shook his head with a sheepish laugh.
“Ever stubborn,” he said with a press of his tongue to his cheek.
The girl suppressed a smile, eyes flickering around nervously. And, for a moment there, Draco looked at ease – happy, even. Hie eyes on the girl’s uplifted mouth, the Slytherin’s smile faded slowly, his stare shifting to the Hufflepuff boy beside her. Cedric was facing him now, wearing a look of mingled stress and upset on his creased brow. As the brunette’s shoulder bumped against his girlfriend’s, Draco Malfoy grew quickly bitter.
“I don’t trust you,” Draco announced simply, his eyes dead-set on his rival.
“I don’t trust you either,” Cedric chuckled, voice thick with distaste.
“Then it’s her or nothing,” he shrugged simply.
“Draco,” the girl chimed, stepping forward.
His crystal stare moved quickly down, hurt visible behind those wide pupils. He took a step forward, lowering his voice for her.
“I do trust you, you know?” he uttered gently, sucking his lower lip beneath his teeth with a shake of his head. “That’s something you earned.”
True, she thought. Trust wasn’t something Draco Malfoy gave easily. But then again, the basis of their trust revolved around a lie she’d schemed with Harry, which of course he had no clue about.
He threw a glance at Cedric as if he wasn’t a person worth actually acknowledging, “but not him. I mean, what would I even get from this? From him?”
“The skin on your back,” Cedric replied flatly, interjecting the exchange before him.
The Slytherin didn’t look too pleased.
“C’mon, Cedric,” the girl moved her head, shaking it.
“I haven’t forgotten about Katie,” Cedric continued calmly. “Watching you terrorize students under my nose isn’t something I could’ve.”
Draco scoffed, “so righteous. And even if that lie were true, what would it serve you, Diggory?”
This was pointless. Even without flat-out blackmail, the girl had found herself on the verge of earning Malfoy’s agreement. What was happening now served no purpose but to quell Cedric of the sting of his challenged ego. She had never wanted it to come to this, not if there was an alternative.
“Stop,” the girl tried, finding herself growing quickly invisible.
Only the light from the cobbled wall’s torches illuminated the deserted hallway as the three stood there, fiercely entangled.
“I’m suggesting that you’ll help the both of us, or I’ll report you to the headmaster myself, and out you as the traitorous death eater you are.”
Cedric looked pleased as he aired out his threat.
“Impressive, for a Hufflepuff.”
Draco’s head tilted, his ice-blue eyes wide with alarm and even horror, like he couldn’t comprehend the words he was hearing from good-boy Cedric Diggory’s mouth.
“Cedric!” the girl hissed quietly, shaking her head in frustration.
Draco Malfoy moved his bewildered stare to the girl, begging a question of her from within his eyes. Was this her idea? Had she been in on it? The answers in her expression told him no, and also somewhat.
“And was this what you wanted?” Draco then asked the girl, bonds of trust fraying quickly.
“No,” she said surely, throwing her boyfriend a disappointed glance. “No, Draco. I just want to know about my father, but… I don’t want to see you hurt, either.”
The bonds somewhat mended, Draco just looked disappointed now. So did Cedric.
“Even if he deserves it,” Cedric worded from behind her shoulder.
She snapped around, “don’t.”
The bronzed boy’s expression fell, his face hardening and ocean eyes moving to the stone ground. Turning back to the blond now, the girl released a sigh of distress, hating every second of what was happening. Timidly, she approached the Slytherin. She came before him, folding her hands into her pockets with a nervous chew of her jutted lip.
“Will you help us?” she pleaded softly, blinking up at the boy through long lashes.
Still stinging, Draco looked down at her with a sense of betrayal festering in his stare.
“Have you left me a choice?” he asked softly.
The girl couldn’t reply, opting for a gentle head-shake of sadness. She could barely hold his gaze, feeling her heart race and blood rush hot against her ears as she tried desperately not to break the guilt-inducing scrutiny of the blond. With no words, she begged of him.
“Okay,” he decided softly, clearing his throat. “I will.”
Cedric perked up, eyes lifting. It had worked. Now, however, Draco acknowledged him.
“But know one thing.”
He swallowed.
“I’m doing this for her,” Draco spoke firmly, stepping so close the girl had to retreat into Cedric’s front with alarm.
The boy’s arm snaked into the girl’s front, holding her arm snugly into the grasp of his large hand. She could feel Cedric’s heart thumping against her frame.
“Not for your sake, or the sake of the skin on my back,” he murmured assertively, confidently. “But for her.”
Cedric tensed, his face hard as he nodded with unenthusiastic understanding.
“Whatever it takes to help her,” Cedric responded calmly.
She felt his grip tighten. From before her, Draco’s eyes fell, resting on hers with a mingled hurt and care. It looked as if there were a million things he’d wanted to say to her, but he had restrained them behind his parted lips.
“We’ll need somewhere to meet,” he said at last, straightening. “Somewhere we can’t be found.”
The girl thought hard, eyes widening as she thought back.
Then, with a clear of her throat; “I know a place.”
…
The two Hufflepuffs had made their way from the Library and to their Common Room in almost absolute silence. It was quiet, save for the clack of their shoes on the ground and the occasional passing set of students chattering. The girl was aware of the silence, of course, since it was paired with the intense and upset stare of one Cedric Diggory. The boy, though keeping his mouth shut, looked desperately like he was fighting for his life. Only when reaching the set of barrels at the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room did Cedric dare make a noise.
“Wait.”
A large hand sprung out, its hold gentle as Cedric’s long finger curled against his girlfriend’s wrist. She turned, her eyes blank as she tilted her jaw up, giving him the floor. Cedric’s handsome face looked stricken with regret.
“I shouldn’t have been so–” he tried.
“So eager to get yourself into a pissing contest?” she replied.
“Y/N, he almost killed a girl,” he defended.
“And is that why you said what you did?” she challenged with a raise of her brow.
Slowly, Cedric’s hand moved away, his lashes fluttering as he stood straight. From outside their Common Room, the girl could hear the jovial delights of fellow friends and the wonderful smell of fresh cookies. She craved knowing those two things at that moment.
“No,” the boy admitted, running a hand over the curve of his jaw in agitation. “No, you’re right.”
The girl swallowed, sucking in a breath.
“I got very defensive, I’m sorry. I didn’t need to be that way he just–” Cedric heaved, his head rolling back. “He’s infuriating.”
“I’m aware,” she replied, stifling a tired chuckle. “Ced, I’m aware.”
“No, you d–” the brunette started, stammering and growing quickly flustered. “You don’t see what I see, Y/N. When he– When he looks at you, he does it like you’re a piece of food. Like you’re prey and he’s the predator.”
It sounded ridiculous. She couldn’t help but to snort, her nose scrunching. Cedric involuntarily smiled at the sight, then grew more frustrated yet. His brown locks were becoming messy as he streaked his fingers through them in distress.
“I’m being dead serious,” he tried, “it’– it’s maddening.”
The girl’s smile faltered. What was she supposed to say to that? She pulled nervously at her skirt as Cedric’s big bluish greenish eyes grew sad. He stepped forward, bringing his index and middle fingers to her cheek with a tilt of his head.
“Y/N,” he began slowly, so slowly she could feel his thickly layered hesitation, “are you sure about this? About him? There’s still time–”
“I’m sure,” she answered shortly, blinking through a shaky sigh. “I’m almost certain of it. And I’ve committed now, so, I suppose I can’t run from my past forever… right?”
Cedric’s face softened, “yeah. Right.”
There was a moment of tension. It was somewhat dark in the little corridor and felt cold in comparison to what lay behind the bricked wall. The girl ran her tongue against her teeth nervously, then shook her head. This was right, and everything was going to be okay. Desperate to ease herself of the rigidity of it all, the girl allowed herself a smile.
“And you promise you’ll not go about making trouble?” she said, voice rising with cheek.
The girl’s lips quivered as they split. Slowly, she stepped forward into her boyfriend’s muscular chest. Her small hands moved to his golden-yellow tie, grabbing him by it with ease, and tugging in playful request.
Cedric let out an attractive sigh, lowering his forehead closer to his girl’s.
“Not unless he does first,” he said.
She smacked lightly at his bicep. The boy’s lashes fluttered closed as his forehead came upon the girl’s. Beneath him, she giggled. His lips twitched into a devastatingly gorgeous smirk, his shoulders relaxing from her touch and the sound alone. Eventually, the two and their quiet laughs fell quiet, their breathing low as they embraced each other’s gentle touch. Silence ensuing, the girl’s eyes opened, meeting Cedric’s magnificent ocean stare. He had something clear on his mind.
“Nothing,” he began, his voice wavering. “Erm..”
He pulled away, clearing his throat and curling his arms to his chest with a nervous and adorable chuckle.
“Ced?”
He tried again, smiling anxiously
“Nothing frightens me more than the thought of losing this,” he announced simply. “This. You.”
The girl felt her brows crease and her heart grow three sizes. He was certainly direct, not to mention he had caught her very off guard. Blushing furiously, Y/N bounced to the balls of her feet, grabbing each side of her boyfriend’s face with a flicker of her love-struck stare. Cedric burned red beneath her touch, his lashes fluttering as his dimples creased beneath the girl’s palms.
“Good thing I’m not in a rush to go anywhere,” she teased, smiling into his mouth.
Her lips closed to Cedric’s. They were delightful and soft, just like always. He hummed lowly with content against the girl’s mouth, two hands coming gingerly beneath her chin so as to keep her propped to his level, the kiss slow and drawn. He smelled wonderfully of aftershave, and his skin was perfectly smooth. When at last the two pulled back, it was with a slow and drawn sigh, as well as a lingering smile. Cedric grinned one of those earth-shattering grins of his as he reached for his wand and turned to the barrels before them like he was a little drunk. Taking Y/N’s hand, he tapped at the barrels in order, the warmth and light of the Hufflepuff Common Room spilling invitingly over the pair. Fellow housemates were eager in greeting, and a set of cookies was soon to make its way over to them, of course. Smile fading, the girl trailed after her best friend, the noise around her beginning to ring ever so slightly. The voices grew a little fainter, and the lights a little brighter, Then, amongst the commotion, she heard it. It was soft but present, and there was no denying it, for that was surely the dreadful and indistinguishable sound of a bomb, its ticks growing louder, and louder.
Your daily routine hadn’t changed much since your encounter with Draco Malfoy, well it hadn’t changed if you didn’t count all the times since then that you spent anywhere quite far away with that blond who made you shiver.
The rumour had already spread around the school, your Ravenclaw beau hadn’t wasted any time, but you were fine with the situation as long as people talked from afar and didn’t bother you.
But that day you had to face your friend’s interrogation, at least she deserved answers.
“How long have you been with Malfoy behind my back?” she asked without understanding how or when that had happened.
“Almost two weeks.” You answered with a face as red as a tomato and fiddling with the food on your plate. Feeling Draco’s eyes on you in the Great Hall, whenever you were apart, hadn’t helped you to hold normal conversations.
“So, the mark on your neck wasn’t a mosquito?” she glanced at you somewhere between amused and embarrassed.
“No…” you confessed, remembering the number of hickeys Malfoy had devoted himself to leaving on your neck, marking you as his own.
“I can’t believe it.” she laughed out loud. “Who made the first move?”
“He took the initiative and I did the rest.” you said proudly.
“Look at you… And I thought you only had eyes for the characters in those novels you read.” she mocked you.
It was true that the only person who had aroused your fascination was the famous Slytherin. You didn’t know why, but before you knew it, your gaze was already following him everywhere, trying to decipher what it was hiding behind those cold and lonely eyes.
The same seemed to have happened to him, or so he confessed to you on one of your nocturnal escapades. He didn’t understand how anyone could look at him with such indifference, and he promised himself that he would get some kind of reaction from the face he had fallen in love with.
You two still had a deal to keep, the Yule Ball was in less than three days. The Heads of Houses had already started to teach you the necessary rules, though you could only think about what Draco would look like in a suit.
Oh, hell! You hadn’t even considered what you were going to wear, your head had been occupied with far more amusing thoughts.
That evening your friend came along with you to Hogsmeade, your parents had sent you some money and you were hoping to find something decent at Gladrags amongst all those socks.
You wanted to dazzle Draco, to see his pupils dilate in your presence so that he could think of nothing but you. So you went to great lengths to find a dress to match the situation.
As you imagined, there was hardly anything worthwhile left on the hangers in that shop. You went round and round, searching every possible nook and cranny, but nothing. Just as you were about to give up, a piece of blue cloth, hanging on a nearby rack, caught your eye. You couldn’t even get your hands on it before a group of Slytherin girls who had been lurking around the shop got to it before you could.
“Did you want this?” one of them asked you mischievously. “Well you wouldn’t know how to wear it anyway, some people just aren’t cut out for classy clothes.”
You were caught unawares. It was the first time you had ever been the target of a Slytherin and you thought you knew why.
“Why don’t you mind your own business?” Your friend stood up for you.
“Give it up, it’s not worth it. Some people have too much time on their hands.” You stopped her before things got ugly.
It couldn’t bother you any less, that attempted sabotage only meant that they knew Draco was no longer on the market.
You left the shop disappointed that you hadn’t found a dress for the ball. Although the bad mood lasted as long as it took you to find Draco strolling around Hogsmeade with Crabbe and Goyle.
“Well, well, but who do we have here?” his expression turned from his typical frown to a warm, relaxed smile as you approached him.
You didn’t miss the surprised faces of Malfoy’s "friends” at his change of mood. You were more than pleased to know that this was a side of Draco that only you could experience.
“We had shopping to do.” you explained. “But, we were just on our way back to Hogwarts.”
“Empty-handed?” he wondered, giving you a suspicious look.
“You should tell him.” your friend whispered in your ear.
“Tell me what?” you noticed his brow furrowing. You didn’t want Draco to know what happened, you weren’t a little girl who needed his protection, but it was already too late.
“Could you at least buy me a butterbeer?” you sighed a little wearily at the number of events that had happened in such a short time.
Your friend took that proposal as a sign to get back on her way. She didn’t want to come between the lovebirds. As for Crabbe and Goyle, all it took was a “Disappear” from the blond and within seconds it was just the two of you.
“You should be nicer to them,” you smiled as you realised how childish Draco could be sometimes. He was so eager for you two to be alone that he didn’t even bother to hide it.
“They’re used to it.” he defended himself as he took you by the hand and led you in the direction of The Three Broomsticks. You intertwined your fingers with his and let yourself be swept away with an idiotic grin on your face.
For a few seconds you regretted your request. There, in those snowy streets, it was just you, Draco, and the feeling that the world belonged to you and the slytherin alone. You didn’t want it to end.
He sensed your body’s resistance and turned to you. He caught you in his arms, grabbing your chin and forced you to look at him. His cheeks were red with cold, his eyes tinged with worry and fear…
“Have you had enough of me?” he asked bitterly. You blinked in confusion, what the hell was he talking about? You cupped his cheeks with your hands, making him shiver with the warmth you radiated.
“As if that were possible… “ you whispered, looking him in the eyes, to make your message clear. You had never been aware of how lonely Draco felt until you started dating him, but what broke your heart the most was seeing how he was ready for you to leave him at any moment. “It is you, Draco Malfoy, who will not get rid of me so easily.” you threatened him.
Without you expecting it he wrapped his arms around you and hugged you as if his soul went into it. If you didn’t know how proud the Slytherin could be you would swear that for a second you saw a tear fall down his cheek, but trapped against his chest, you couldn’t see anything, only feel Draco’s heartbeat thundering against your whole body.
“If we stay here much longer we’ll freeze, and I don’t want you to blame me if you catch a cold.” He broke the embrace and without waiting for a response, he took you by the hand and led you to The Three Broomsticks. Someone had suddenly become shy and you couldn’t help but smile.
Once there, finally with a butterbeer in your hand, he forced you to tell him what had happened to you before you met. The Slytherin had too good a memory to forget the incident. You explained to him, somewhat embarrassed, how you had completely forgotten to buy a dress for the Yule Ball and how the only thing you could find in the shop had been taken from you by a group of Slytherins.
“y/n, tell me who they are and I swear they won’t dare show their faces in front of you ever again.” The knuckles of his hand turned white and his body language adopted his father’s gestures.
“Don’t even think about it.” you tried to calm him by taking his hand and interlacing your fingers. “But…” you put a finger to his lips to shut him up. “I want all your attention on me, I don’t want you to even think about them.” you interrupted him. Draco grinned slyly, every day he was more and more sure that he had found the right one.
“Don’t worry sweetheart, you’re already the only thing I think about all day long.” he confessed before kissing you, the taste of butterbeer intensified in your mouth accompanied by an overflowing warmth.
English is not my first language sorry it’s something feel awkward.
1,4k words
Everyone was excited about Yule Ball but you couldn’t be less bothered about it.
Changing classes was a spectacle since Yule Ball was two weeks ahead. Boys and girls declaring their love in every single corner. Such a cheesy view made you want to shut yourself in your bedroom and not go out until everything came to an end. Why was everyone so desperate?
As a Ravenclaw anything apart from books, classes, etc. was a waste of time. Going to the Yule Ball wouldn’t make you pass Snape’s exams.
“y/n” your friend called you several times before you could hear her “Any date for the Yule Ball?”
“You too?” you spited out almost offended. Why are you so obsessed? You asked her trying to figure out how a dance could make people go insane.
“C’mon, you could relax.” she laughed “Tell me the truth, not even a Durmstrang student makes you want to go to the ball?” she added when some of them walked by your left.
Your eyes landed on them, they were handsome, tall and the dream of every girl or boy. But not yours…
A huge group of people in front of the class you were going to made you curious. “What is going on?”
“It’s happening again” your friend laughed excitedly while she dragged you with her to have a better view. It wasn’t a surprise to find a certain blonde in the middle of that fuss. A really nervous Slytherin was in front of him with her eyes shut down and with her whole body shaking.
“She must be the fifteenth or even the twentieth.” Another Slytherin murmured behind you.
Your brain started to put the pieces together. As the most popular Slytherin, Draco Malfoy was a very desirable target for the Yule Ball, but you didn’t expect to witness a proposal, and even more, as far you had heard it wasn’t the first one.
“Do you want to be my date to Yule Ball?” the girl in front of Draco said with a honeyed voice.
The boy didn’t seem very amazed. Giving a fast peek at his surroundings, sighed in frustration with his hand buried in his blonde hair. Your eyes met for a few seconds and he narrowed them in your presence. The truth was that you weren’t friends, not even acquaintances but for a mysterious reason he detested you. You were a great witch from a good family, none blood thing could justify his aversion. But every time you crossed paths you felt like you did something wrong.
His face displayed an annoyed gesture, and his fingers went to his temples, massaging them. “I don’t have time for this rubbish.” his head turned away from you and landed on the poor Slytherin’s girl. “Get lost.” he huffed just the right moment McGonagall appeared, dissolving the big crowd. “Whatever is happening can continue after my class.” she announced heading every student inside.
The next classes were very peaceful, no more random events on the hallway. You and your friend were on your way to the Great Hall when you remembered you needed to return a book. Your friend and you split apart, and you hurried up your way.
The hallways were empty, everyone one was on their break. You were grateful for a little bit of peace, you took your time in the library wandering around, it didn’t surprise you when you found another Ravenclaw. The library was the temple of all of you, but it didn’t feel right when he started to smile in your direction and not take his eyes off of you. Something was wrong and it pissed you.
It almost gave you a heart attack when he faced you the moment you put one foot out the library. “y/n, can we talk for a moment?” he asked you kindly with his face tinted slightly pink. That scene recalled a certain moment of the morning and your hands started to sweat. The boy in front of you was the same age but you hadn’t exchanged many words through the years, you didn’t even know his name. You bit your lower lip trying to kill the urge of running away. “Sure…” you hesitated in a lower voice and with your hands clenched to your cape
“I hope it isn’t too late.” he whispered, rubbing his neck “By any chance would you like to go with me to Yule Ball?”
You froze and your usual eloquence disappeared. You couldn’t imagine that that would happen to you. You didn’t plan a negative for the occasion, and you didn’t want to go to the ball, because the truth was that HE would never ask you to go with him, and no one else had your interest.
“I’m sorry but…” you faltered to say. Your mouth was dry, and you couldn’t find the words.
“What y/n want to say is that she is already taken.” a very known voice interrupted you. Your brows raised in surprise when you saw Draco come out from behind a pillar.
“That’s true?” the Ravenclaw looked at you with surprise, you were surprised as well, in which world were you Draco’s date? Maybe you just hit your head.
He came closer and one of his arms wrapped around your waist, your whole body shivered. He was the only one who could make you feel like that. “It’s true” you lied with your face completely red and avoiding the eyes of any of the boys. Sadly, it was a lie you wanted to believe with all your heart. The Ravenclaw gave up and disappeared after he looked at you very surprised. Your heart was pounding in your chest, you were alone with Draco and you were afraid to do or say anything that could break the spell.
“Why have you done that?” you slapped Draco away, as much as you wanted that touch you didn’t want it to be as a part of a lie. He faced you with his beautiful grey eyes and smirked maciously. “Don’t you know?” he whispered in your ear. You blushed entirely, your face, your neck, etc. “I thought you hated me.” you answered with your eyes locked on the floor, you were unable to look him in the face. Your head was spinning, you couldn’t forget all those scornful looks in the hallway.
He grabbed you by the chin and lifted it forcing you to look at him. “And I hate you.” he said in a deep voice. “I hate your indifferent face every time we meet, the way you smile at all your friends.” You got goose bumps but trying not to be intimidated you answered "If I didn’t know you, I’d say you have feelings for me…” you tilted your head with innocence and a wide smile on your face. You weren’t going to let Malfoy have all the control of the situation, if he wanted to play dirty you also knew. The blond boy looked at you in surprise, you had left him speechless. Point for you. But he seemed to recover immediately, clinging to your hips, and trapping you against the nearest wall, his head rising to your height, and your faces just a few inches away. “You’ve always been very smart.” he sighed on your neck, making you turn your head to the side leaving even more bare skin in sight. He deposited a quick kiss in the crack of your neck “What about you? he started to play with a strand of your hair. Your head was full of Malfoy, your legs were shaking and since he had cornered you against that wall you were unable to add two plus two. Everything seemed like a dream. A dirty one, but with Draco it couldn’t be any other way. You managed to hear his question, he wanted to know how you felt even if he had not spoken, not verbally. “I’d say it’s a tie.” you almost moaned when he pulled up your skirt caressing your thighs. He rested his forehead on yours, enraptured by your half-open mouth, your watery eyes and your heavy breath. “What do you say if we try to break the tie? ” he smiled “You and me at the Yule Ball.”
You smiled at him. “Deal.” you whispered, taking him by his tie to press his lips against you in a hungry kiss. He took advantage immediately and did not hold back. You melted in his embrace and bit his lower lip when you felt his hard bulge against your centre.
Summary: Halloween with Draco <3 Friends into BOO’s (teehee)
Warnings: mild drinking nothing tooo crazy but not encouraging it !
Words: 5.2K
A/N: this is my first one shot in like a month and i ofc had to do something for halloween even tho im a tad late but its still a halloweekend KIND OF !!!!!!! </3 I HOPE ITS GOOOD
“No, it’s a stupid holiday.”
Draco crossed his arms in a stubborn child-like way, a scowl on his face as he stared forward towards the front of the class where Snape was giving a lecture on the small but vicious Erkling creatures.
“Come on, please,” you pleaded quietly. Your gaze kept flickering between your easily-irked professor and the pouting blond beside you, hoping that in a few short seconds you would get the answer you were hoping for that way you could get back into your notes instead of possibly getting a detention or losing house points.
In all the years you’ve been friends with the Prince of Slytherin, you learned that he loathed the holiday and any festivities that came with it. Every year, you beg him to go out to one of the many parties that are thrown ranging from small gatherings to full-on blowouts or just do something halloween related with you, but he always refuses. His reasoning, as he put it, was that he was simply ‘too mature to be dressing up as a foul creature.’
You knew he mostly spent the holiday either asleep in his dorm or walking around aimlessly with Crabbe and Goyle to target unsuspecting first-years after the big feast but this year, you finally had enough of his anti-halloween agenda. You wanted to spend the evening and hopefully night with him laughing by your side and showing him how fun everything could be, but most of all - you wanted to see him in a costume.
“Please, if you go I will never ask you for anything ever again,” you tried again once Snape had turned his back to the class.
Draco pursed his lips as though he was genuinely considering it, his eyes still locked on the back of the greasy-haired professor before he turned slightly to you with a deep sigh. “Fine, but don’t expect this to be an annual thing.”
You gave him a bright smile, holding yourself back from jumping around in your seat and completely pushing aside the desire to throw your arms around him in excitement.
“I promise you’ll have fun.”
He hid the small smile that grew on his face from seeing how happy his answer made you, turning his head down towards his parchment filled with notes that all of a sudden seemed interesting as he avoided your gaze. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was the smallest bit of excited at the thought of spending the holiday with you because he knew that wherever you went or whatever you did, he would be perfectly content with you by his side because for the first time in all your years as friends; he realized only a month ago that the weird fluttering feeling in the pit of his stomach when he was around you or the weird overwhelming warmth that spread throughout his entire body like an ocean of water breaking through a dam - was a crush. He hated it at first, noticing and begrudgingly acknowledging it. He thought it was cliche that he somehow fell for one of his closest friends and mostly, he thought that he was going to ruin the friendship entirely. He wanted to wreck it himself, trying to distance himself from you and being extra mean - but he couldn’t.
He adored your company too much and everything that came with you. He adores your laugh, your smile, your hugs when you greet him and how you somehow give him one each time he needs it the most. He adores the study-buddy system you guys have almost every other week before a quiz or an exam. He adores your bad jokes and clumsy accidents even though those qualities annoy him with anyone else. He adores the way you want him to join you in everything fun you and he especially adores the times when he overhears you talking about him as if he’s your favorite person in the world.
Bottom line, he’s all about you.
So when this season of spookiness came, he was expecting your pleading for him to spend the day with you. Only this time, it only took you a couple times before he ultimately agreed to give in to you.
You were ready to explode with thrill at the thought of what the night held in store for you and you didn’t hide it one bit. When the big Hogwarts Hallowe’en feast was over and every one began spilling out from the Great Hall and into the main foyer, you were searching restlessly for a clean mop of silver hair that almost always stuck out in the mass of students. You weren’t sure if you were able to spot him anywhere in under a few seconds because he was unimaginably important to you, or because his hair was so uniquely bright, or maybe it was how boisterous and loud Crabbe and Goyle always were when they were by him, especially if he was with other Slytherins - but you found him, every single time with ease.
After standing on your tippy-toes several times to overlook the stampede of everyone, you finally spotted Draco leaning across a pillar with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face while he stood in a circle of his House friends that included his two goons and his quidditch teammates. You watched him thoughtfully as you approached, taking slow steps towards the group to admire him from afar and also because they were all slightly intimidating. He looked lost in the conversation, laughs escaping from his upturned lips as he listened to whatever was being said, large pale hands running through his hair every so often when the front pieces of his hair would flop down to his forehead.
He looked ridiculously good and effortlessly at that.
You weren’t sure if you should interrupt, hesitating a few feet away from them to where they couldn’t sense your presence but you were close enough to see and hear them clearly.
“We’ll see you later tonight then, Malfoy?” One of the boys nodded towards Draco.
“I’ll show up for a bit, I suppose,” he shrugs.
You see him look around the circle of boys, eyes landing on you momentarily and then back to his friends before doing a double-take towards you again in surprise. You tried to ignore the butterflies erupting in your stomach when his smile widens slightly into a short-lived toothy grin while he said a quick goodbye to his friends causing them all to disband and him to start approaching you.
“Are you ready for the halloween of a lifetime?” You ask as he neared.
He rolled his eyes, laughing faintly. “Where am I meeting you, darling?”
The nick name he used so rarely for you made your knees feel weak, a warm blush rushing up your neck and inching onto your cheeks that you knew was going to be very apparent on your face in a few seconds.
“I’ll meet you right here in an hour,” you say quickly.
You didn’t give him time to answer before you turned quickly in the direction of your common room and began rushing away before he could see the effect he had on you that was so clearly appearing on your face.
You didn’t know what the night held for you and Draco or where it would lead you. Unknowing to you, you were both hoping something more could come out of the evening between the two of you. But he wasn’t one to express himself in that department of feelings and you weren’t feeling bold enough to say anything about yours. It was a gray area of hoping that fate could somehow intervene and throw the two of you into what you both wanted without either of you really saying anything - but it was impossible. There was no outcome or situation you had in mind that could lead you into that, so you were stuck desperately hoping that one day things might end up differently.
It was beginning to feel ironic how in your world full of real tangible magic, there wasn’t a magical solution to your problem. You were trapped feeling like a muggle who had to figure things out by themselves, no magic included. The thought of giving him a love potion did cross your mind as a joke, but it wasn’t a genuine or fair option but little did you know, you don’t need a potion for him to feel the same way - because he already did.
Walking into your dorm felt like an exuberant disaster of everyone running around and sitting in front of mirrors with their makeup or dressing into their costumes. It was noisy and filled with chatter and you were in shock from how much clutter everyone was able to make in such a short period of time from when the feast ended to now. A simple spell would clean everything up so you and everybody else didn’t really pay it any mind.
You maneuvered around the mess of your housemates and towards your bed where your costume was kept in the trunk underneath it, plopping down onto the floor to pull it from the underskirt of your House colored bedding.
“Did he finally say yes?” Your closest roomie friend jumped onto your bed, propping herself up on her elbows and resting her chin on her hands as she watched you dig through your bottomless trunk.
“Surprisingly, yes,” you answered, hiding the smile on your face.
She drawled out a teasing ‘ooh,’ poking your arm lightly with her index finger as you shied away and leaned deeper into your trunk. She was the only one who you willingly admitted your crush to as she was the only person you really trusted to not blather it off to someone.
“Will I be seeing you two in the Slytherin common room?” She wiggled her eyebrows. “The boys are throwing a party and I luckily got an invite, you know how they are. So picky with who shows up.”
“You mean they’re pretentious?” You laugh. “But I don’t know if we’ll be going to it. I know Draco obviously got invited but I was thinking we could do other things.”
“Like what?” She questions as if she knew it was going to be something dirty. “I know a few secret spots around the castle-”
“No, get your mind out of the gutter,” you smack her arm lightly. “I honestly have no clue what to do. I didn’t think he’d actually agree because he never does.”
She runs her hands over her face, stifling her laughs of disbelief before she sighed loudly. “I still suggest some broom closets, hidden out of sight.”
You sit up, pushing her from where she was lying while she laughed amusingly at your false horrified reaction that you put on to hide the fact from her that what she was suggestion really waswhat you wanted.
“I’ll leave you alone so you can get your costume on,” she smiles, jumping up from your bed and tossing one of your pillows at you as she walked away. You let out a huff, tossing it back onto your duvet before setting your costume down on the spot your friend was lying in.
You stared at it hesitantly, all of a sudden feeling nauseous at the thought of going out later with Draco as if it was some sort of date even though you knew it wasn’t. It was just two friends, hanging out, doing some spooky and fun Halloween activities together and nothing more; so why were you feeling so nervous? You weren’t sure if it was your instincts warning you of something major that was approaching or the fear that what you didn’t have planned was going to bite you in the arse when you continuously told Draco he was going to enjoy himself when you didn’t even know if that was going to be true. You didn’t want to disappoint him and mess it up for you in the future when the holiday came again and you didn’t want this to be the first and last time you experienced it with him.
The pressure was raining down on you like thick, hard pieces of hail with no end in sight.
As you were getting dressed and doing your makeup for your costume as you liked, (i’m trying to be vague for your own imagination teehee) all you could think about was what in the hell you were going to do once you met up with the Prince of Slytherin. Your train of thought was then derailed into wondering what he was going to be dressed up as or if he was going to be dressed up at all considering the way he is. He was the type to make fun of people who dressed up, that you knew when you ran into him last year as you were walking back to your common room with your friend, both of you in costume and victims of his gentle bullying. He obviously went easier on the two of you since you were there, telling you he was just messing around afterwards and saying he liked yours but once you were out of his sight but still in ear-shot, you heard him and his two minions berating a small group of people that unfortunately passed by them.
You gave yourself one last look in the floor mirror, letting out a long shaky exhale with your hands clasped together before you started towards the way out of your dorm, through the common room, and ultimately towards the foyer outside the Great Hall where Draco was most likely waiting for you. An hour had gone by since you last saw him, an hour of stress and panic that hadn’t slowed down or stopped.
Your shoes dragged against the stone floors, hugging yourself tightly as you walked nearer towards the spot where you were supposed to meet and as you lifted your gaze - you saw him there, staring right at you with a small grin and just like you expected, no costume.
“Nice costume,” he compliments when you reach him.
“Where’s yours?” You frown.
“I’m not dressing up. That’s embarrassing,” he shakes his head.
You scoff, crossing your arms. “You’re the only one not dressed up,that’sembarrassing.”
You don’t know why it was irritating to you that he wasn’t in costume, even if you knew he wasn’t. You figured it was because you were trying to overpower your nervousness with different more consuming feelings, and much to your and Draco’s dismay, it worked.
You weren’t nervous anymore, just irked.
“I’m staying like this, take it or leave it.”
You rolled your eyes, staring him down and hoping that he would change his mind but he wouldn’t. He was ridiculously stubborn.
In the heat of the moment of a fleeting thought, you decided that if he wasn’t going to be in costume, you would put him in one or at least a hint of one. You pulled your wand out, pointing it onto his striking white hair and with one easy spell, his hair was now a flaming vibrant red.
“Y/N!” He growled, running towards the closest thing that would show off his reflection where he let out a string of frantic curse words. “I look like a bloody Weasley.”
Your laughter caught him off guard, the sound ringing in his ears like music that spread warmth throughout him. You were clutching at your stomach with one hand and pointing at him with the other, giggling wildly at the sight of him with hair that did not suit him at all. He smiled to himself, your glee rubbing off on him abruptly that ate away quickly at his anger.
“You should’ve given me some ratty old hand-me-down robes and I’d look just like Ron,” he notes.
“That’s rude, Draco,” you say still laughing. He smirks, leaving the shiny statue of a knight in armor where he was checking his reflection and back over to you where you were still stuck in between doubling over in laughter and watching him.
“I’m glad this is funny to you,” he muses. He begins digging into the pocket of his dress pants, taking your vulnerability as a chance for him to tap his wand to the top of your head and before you could react, your whole hair had turned a deep green.
Your laughter immediately ended as you ran towards the suit of armor, your grimacing reflection staring back at you with deep Slytherin green hair and a distorted Draco behind you doubling over just like you were moments ago.
“This looks,” you couldn’t even finish your sentence, the scowl on your face saying enough for you as you turned bitterly towards Draco.
“Great?” He suggested, his guffawing subsiding into airy chuckles as you stood in front of him. Yours picked up again as you stared up at him, his striking bright red hair looking terribly unfamiliar on him. He was looking down at you, his heart jumping at the sight of you holding back your laughter. “You really do look dashing by the way.”
You swallowed thickly, thankful for the darkness that had settled around the castle and easily hid the scarlet brush appearing on your face. “But my hair is green.”
“Green is my favorite color.”
You opened your mouth to speak, your stomach and heart dropping simultaneously as your mind went completely blank. You pretended to not notice how he took a step closer to you to where he was almost fully against you and he pretended not to notice the way your lips were parted and how your chest was rising and falling a little too heavily as if you were nervous. It was game over for you when his gaze flickered down towards your lips and then back to your eyes, his head leaning down just the slightest like if he were waiting for you to meet him halfway. You were about to get closer to him, about to let your eyes close and give in to what you believed was him wanting to kiss you - but the world had other plans.
“Malfoy! There you are!” Someone boomed, clambering up the steps from the direction of the dungeons. You both jumped away from each other, your attention diverted to the Slytherin boy that interrupted the moment. “Malfoy come on, the party! And you can bring her too.”
You frowned when the boy came up to the two of you, clearly tipsy, dressed as a stereotypical vampire, and over-excited with the fact that Draco was out and willing to participate in Halloween festivities. It seemed like it bothered the now red-head when he looked to you and then back to the Slytherin boy with an apprehensive expression.
The boy, sensing the pause in the air, grabbed onto both you and Draco’s arms and started dragging the two of you towards the Slytherin common room where although the stone walls were thick, the sound of people celebrating inside were easily slipping past the stone slabs. He spoke the password out quickly and as soon as the entrance was open, you were both shoved inside into what looked like the largest party you had ever witnessed in all your years at Hogwarts. It was packed and filled with what looked like half of the school, or at least a huge majority of fifth-years and up. It was loud with music booming from a brand new wizarding-world radio in the middle of the room currently playing a song from the Weird Sisters. It smelled like a mixture of everyone’s perfumes and colognes and like firewhisky. The boy that pushed you two inside quickly passed you two cups of the very potent firewhisky before downing the third one he had in his hand and disappeared into the crowd while screaming for you to enjoy yourselves.
You both stood awkwardly away from the big and rowdy crowd, your drink clenched tightly in your hand against your chest and Draco swishing his around while it was still in the cup.
He wanted to up and run, thinking that someone was going to make a comment about his hair or about him being there, but no one seemed to pay attention to him or that he was there and in a way, he felt relieved by it and less tense by the second.
“How in the bloody hell did we end up here?” You yelled over the music, putting a hand over his arm that was holding his drink up. You didn’t mean to, but you were glad you did because he glanced down at the contact with a small smile before looking back up to you.
“We got dragged here, remember!” He yelled back.
“What?”
“We got dragged here!”
“I can’t hear you!”
He rolled his eyes, bending down towards your ear to repeat himself one last time before you finally heard him over the mayhem around you.
“This is crazy!” You looked around the room, the sight of all the bodies and recklessness being too much as they were all more than likely drunk and oblivious to how stuffy and suffocating the room was becoming.
You looked down at the golden brown liquid sloshing around in your cup, wondering whether or not you should take it, but with the nervousness you felt coming back, it didn’t take you much longer to decide to down your cup and allow the liquid courage to seep into your veins. Draco watched you with amusement, chuckling to himself when you scrunched up your face in disgust from the burn he knew it caused as it went down your throat. He shook his head, deciding to drink his too and it was only minutes that passed before the drink was quickly becoming apparent in your systems. There was something about Firewhisky that always made its mark promptly and it really was courage in a bottle that you were glad was available to you in that moment because you were sure that in just a few minutes you were close to fainting.
You were beginning to sway faintly to the music, the rhythm sounding more loud but distant and more invigorating. You didn’t care anymore if anyone was watching or that Draco was observing you curiously just as he was beginning to lose all sense of holding himself back. He was inching closer to you, his head moving slightly to beat of the song and pure joy etched onto his features when your eyes met his.
“I keep forgetting I turned your hair red!” You yelled up to him, laughing loudly when he ran his hand through it. In your moment of confidence, you reached up and lightly ran your fingers over one of the front pieces hanging over his forehead. He didn’t stop you, his heart hammering against his chest from the drink and his overwhelming crush that was clouding all his senses. “Your hair is so soft!”
He wanted to pin you up against the wall right then and there. You were peering up at him, just as you were before you were dragged inside by one of his Housemates and as soon as he was about to kiss you.
“Do you want to get out of here?” He knew to bend down this time for you to hear him to which you responded with a fervent nod. You took his hand in yours, pulling him towards the exit of the common room and he let you lead him into the coldness of the dungeons that bit at his cheeks. It was a stark difference from the warmth inside, the crisp October air being more chilled than what either of you were expecting. It felt nice against your flushed skin and easier to breathe, especially once after the common room closed again and you could hear was muffled talking and music.
Neither of you were drunk and were still aware of pretty much everything, mostly the feelings stirring inside you both that was begging either of you to make a move towards the other. You were just a tad tipsy, and so was he, but it was enough for you to still enjoy the night without the initial awkwardness that oddly settled in between you. It was weird, considering how open and talkative you usually were with each other but there was something about the evening that made it feel like if you didn’t know each other.
“What now?” He asked you with a raised brow, his hand slipping into his pocket.
You smiled, an idea coming to your head that you knew he would love and you didn’t mind doing in the name of Halloween. “Do you want to go mess with people?”
He stared at you with widened eyes, “bloody hell, I love you.”
There was nothing that could have prepared you for his response, your own eyes widening in shock as you stared at him. He felt his face get hot in embarrassment, Merlin, he felt so stupid. He was mentally smacking himself in the head, desperately wishing he could bury himself seven feet under the Earth and staying there until the end of time.
He was about to play off what he said in a joking way, but for the second time that night he was interrupted by a couple that stumbled out of the common room drunkenly snogging each other’s faces off and wholly oblivious to you and Draco standing there in lingering panic. You jumped back into his arms when the couple staggered past you, almost knocking you over in the process of their makeout session and it annoyed you beyond belief. It annoyed you that they were in your way, annoyed that they interrupted you, annoyed that it wasn’t you in their position with the one you wanted.
You dug your wand out of your pocket, flicking it their way as they rolled onto the wall, still in each other’s hold until the hex that flew from your wand hit the boy causing him to stagger back from the girl and holding his nose in pain. You heard Draco laugh from behind you when bats began to fly out from the boy’s nostrils while the girl screamed and ran away from one of the bats that swept down onto her head. The bats flew out of the dungeon and up the stairs with the boy struggling loudly the whole way up until his panicked screams were no longer heard.
“That was a perfect bat-bogey,” he looks at you proudly. “I feel bad for that poor bloke’s nose.”
“Thank you, thank you,” you bowed jokingly.
When the sound of the door opened again, you both ran to hide behind a long drape against the wall that didn’t hide your shoes very well and pressed up against your bodies that’s shapes were no doubt visible from the opposite side.
You heard footsteps trail haphazardly down the corridor, their back seemingly facing you and as you both peeked your heads out from behind the drape, Draco nodded towards the boy and pointed his wand towards him.
“Slugulus Eructo,” you heard him whisper and a stream of green light from his wand hit the back of the boy’s head and as he turned around in surprise while doubling over in pain, his hand clamped tightly over his mouth as slugs began to slip past the spaces between his fingers. When he stood up to run away, you noticed it was the same boy from earlier that stopped you two from the almost kiss and dragged you to the party. You let out a string of giggles as he ran away just like your last victims.
“This is so mean,” you chortle, leaning into him from behind the drape in an attempt to get closer to him. You were feeling bolder when he beamed down at you, feeling happy knowing that although the night was still young, he was having fun. “Thank you for coming with me tonight, I know you don’t like Halloween.” You say quietly.
“You finally convinced me, it’s not that bad,” he grins.
“Why’d you hate it in the first place?”
The question seemed to strike a nerve but the Firewhisky still flowing freely in his veins tore away easily at his defenses so instead of avoiding your question entirely like he usually would, he frowned and let his guard down.
“I don’t hate it,” he answers apprehensively. “My father never let me celebrate it. He never let me dress up. He told me respectable wizards don’t partake in holidays like these.”
His pout made your gut twist in sympathy, your hand instinctively going into his as you squeezed it reassuringly. “It’s never too late to start celebrating. Besides, I don’t see him here stopping you.”
He smiled for what felt like the hundredth time that night, his stained-red hair falling over his eyes as he looked down to his shoes.
“You have a point, darling.”
The door of the common room opened again and what you suspected to be another snogging couple to stumble out from the sound of heavy breathing and multiple shoes scuffling about was something completely different.
“Glad Malfoy stayed with someone else today.” It was Crabbe.
“Yeah, he never lets us go to these parties,” Goyle responds. “Go ahead and thank Y/L/N for freeing us, he fancies her like a fool.”
“Reckon we should go look for them?”
You figured Goyle nodded to him like the blathering idiot he was because in a few short seconds they were running away up the same steps everyone else had.
You peered up slowly at Draco who was already gaping at you like a deer in headlights. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. The gears in your brain were spinning wildly with happiness, the gossip hopefully being proven true when he didn’t try to deny it. You didn’t realize how close his face was to yours, cheeks tinged with pink from both the firewhisky and sudden shyness and his warm cinnamon breath fanning your face as he looked down at you.
“I can explain,” he finally said.
He didn’t need to; you placed your hands gently on his cheeks, pulling him impossibly closer to you and pressing your lips against his, catching him completely by surprise. His eyes were wide at first, his body rigid and his lips unmoving, but once it finally clicked that this was real and no longer a fantasy that played like a broken record in his head, his lips moved fervently against yours with the rest of his body following. His hands gripped your hips tightly, his fingers squeezing at the hem of your bottoms and his body pushing even further into yours.
Your bottom lip caught lightly in between his teeth as you reluctantly pulled away from him, the both of you breathing raggedly as you searched each other’s eyes.
“I feel the same,” you said softly. “Happy Halloween.”
He smashes his lips hungrily against yours again, his ego growing with each gasp of a delight that escapes your mouth as your hands roamed and tangled themselves into his magically colored strands.
“Very…happy…halloween,” he mutters against your lips in between kisses, a dazy smile adorning your face while he tightened his arms around you.
a/n: thank you for all the support on my last fic! this one was sort of a request from @fungusbabeyenjoy!!
t.w.: none!
draco malfoy was the unspoken king of the slytherin house. he presented himself as a leader, spiteful, hateful, and plain rude, but a leader nonetheless. he was, of course, the heir to the malfoy legacy, but his actions were no more fueled by pride than fear. he lived every minute of his life surrounded by his father. from “my father will be hearing about this!” to “i mustn’t disappoint my father” and then to “am i going to be my father?” draco was tired from trying to be both exactly like and the furthest from his father at all times. his thoughts were always occupied with his troubles, his trauma, and his name. malfoy. that’s all he’d ever been called, all he’d ever known, and all he’d ever come to be proud of. that is, until a certain y/h/c lady caught his attention.
she was merely sitting in his transfiguration class, doing her work, and excelling in it, as per usual, and he’d never seemed to notice her at all, at least up to this point. professor mcgonagall had decided that, despite the resulting groans and sighs, she was going to assign a partner project, even worse, she was choosing the partners. crabbe and goyle still somehow ended up with each other, blaise and millicent were paired, leaving pansy and theodore (who also became partners). draco, of course, he thought, was alone.
“mister malfoy and,” she paused for an eternity before continuing. “and miss y/l/n.” a small, sly smile appeared on the professors face, but only draco had seemed to notice.
“so uh, draco, i guess we’re partners?” y/n said, setting her books down on the desk beside the boy.
“guess so” he said, following a scoff, but he gazed at her when she looked away. he pretended not to care, he tried so hard to stay bitter, but her eyes drew him in so deep, it was impossible to look away.
when class ended, he made a point to leave just after her, shrugging off crabbe and goyle when they questioned his actions. he followed her until she reached her destination; a willow. no, not the whomping willow (thank goodness), but a simple weeping willow, sat just off the castle grounds. it had a nice, distant view of the quidditch pitch, and was surrounded by tiny wildflowers. draco had kept enough distance to remain unseen, but he watched her every move from him position. she sat below the tree and took a small leather-bound journal from her satchel, as well as a quill.
homework? really? he watched further, and she began to sketch her surroundings. he stared..and stared…and stared some more. the sun was beginning to set before he realized how long he had been standing, staring at y/n, when she was hardly doing anything at all. he grew hot, and started off toward the castle to think in his dorm.
the next day, and for a week after, he followed her to the same willow, watched her draw, and returned to the slytherin common room. draco’s actions didn’t go unnoticed by his peers. each time he left after transfiguration, stayed missing for hours, and returned without a single explanation for his strange disappearance.
“malfoy, where’ve you been, mate?” blaise had asked after his first count of being MIA. “you’ve been gone for hours.”
“none of your business,” he spat back.
“he’s right malfoy, you’ve been gone all day,” crabbe chimed in. “got a secret snog or somethin’ you’re not telling us about?”
“it’s absolutely none of your business you gits, shove off,” and with that, he was gone again, to his room to think.
———–
“draco. draco!” voice filled his ears, seemingly out of nowhere.
“what?” he snapped from his zone, meeting a pair of y/e/c eyes.
“are you going to help, or am i going to do the entire project?” she questioned.
“yeah sorry, sorry, what are we doing?” he was completely out of it.
“i swear it’s like you’re not even on the planet this week,” she mumbled. to be entirely honest, he wasn’t. he was too focused on her hands to worry about some stupid project. he had watched her so often that he began to notice little things, like how, when she was meant to be taking notes, she would be sketching a tree or a toad instead. and when she was really focused, the tip of her tongue would leave the corner of her mouth. and every time she wrote an ‘i’ the dot would be in the shape of a spark or a teardrop, or anything that wasn’t an actual dot.
to tell the truth, draco wanted nothing more than to be held by her. he felt completely at ease in her presence, and he never felt more calm than when he was watching her. he wanted to tell her how he felt. it was like she had snuck him a love potion or something, he was completely and utterly entranced by her. but his mind told him that he couldn’t, after all, she’s a lady, and he was just a boy.
“malfoy, honestly, do i need to result to violence?” she hit him lightly on the arm to get his attention. he jerked up to meet her gaze and practically vomited his next words.
“oh, baby i am a wreck when i’m without you.” he grabbed her hand.
“what?” she looked at him, confused by his sudden change of tone.
“i need you here to stay.” he waited for a response, but the lady in question was entirely taken aback. “was it something i said?” he released her hand, mow worried that he had ruined his chances with her.
“no it’s just, it took you long enough,” she giggled, he looked mortified.
“excuse me?”
“what, you don’t think i didn’t notice you following me every day? you’re not exactly slick, draco.” how is it that she could be so calm when he felt like his hands were going to fall off? she laughed again, and he suddenly felt a wave of courage rush over him. he swept up her hair into his hand and pulled her into a brash kiss. she froze, but eventually melted into him. he relaxed a little, and held her cheek in his previously free hand. he pulled away for a second to ask:
summary;after spending the night of the yule ball with renowned slytherin, draco malfoy, you catch his eye at breakfast. the boy seems to be hell-bent on seeing into your thoughts, and so you let him — but now you think he might’ve seen too much.
word count; 1kgive or take a few words maybe like exactly 23 idk i don’t have specifics
content;use of legilimency and occlumency, sexual themes, choking if you use a magnifying glass, i really came for draco’s childhood trauma + mental issues… my apologies, mentions of love (gross but also will they,won’t they?).
a/n; this is a rewrite of “last night”, something shitty i made ages ago !! anyway absolutely brilliant title god my mind is so powerful ugh </3 food ??? breakfast. for ??? thought??? occlumency, legilimency !!! i’m so sorry, i rewrote pretty much every word(including this authors note, is it that obvious?) at 5:30 am, it’s not amazing, but i’m sleep deprived and on my period so safe to say i did tear up for absolutely no reason.
you and draco both said that you’d never speak of what ensued in his dormitory the night of the yule ball. and you obliged. and you both swore it would never happen again. and you nodded your head. it was a mutual, meaningful agreement, and post-orgasm, it had seemed like a brilliant idea. no consequences, no ties between you two, being from different houses.
but it was extremely difficult to stick to your word when your legs still ached from the night before.
and his breathy groans, hot air fanning over your ear as he railed into you senselessly, wouldn’t push out of your mind.
and the bruises trailing down from your neck to your waistline were constant reminders of his tongue tracing over them, blowing on them, teasing you to all hell.
every time you blinked, the images flashed beneath your eyelids.
every time you inhaled, you missed his hand squeezing over your throat, restricting air.
and merlin, any slight brush against your own skin made you jump, thinking of his body on yours, skin on skin, sweat, clammy hands, your arched back, the veins in his hands, his jaw, his collarbones.
in the great hall, you made your way to your table for breakfast alone, and gnawed at your bottom lip while playing around with the food on your plate, famished, yet still so full of racing thoughts and fresh memories. his hands on your thighs, the way he sighed your name, your nails digging into his back, leaving little crescent moons over it, and his shoulders, and his hips, too. again and again and again.
looking up from your plate to scan the empty room, your eyes met draco’s ones, his irises a stormy grey, pupils dilated, and you inhaled sharply, looking away. you’d gotten up early, as if it would stop suspicion rising if you seemed like you hadn’t had a long night. it seemed as if he’d done that too, sat alone just the same.
merlin, you could feel the burn of his gaze, it made your body freeze and your cheeks heat up. he was looking right at you, right into you. you could feel it, the thumping at your temple that wouldn’t cease, the throbbing behind your eyelids. he was attempting to penetrate into your thoughts.
as if he hadn’t penetrated enough of you within the twenty-four hours, for fucks sake.
in need of a distraction, you turned your attention to the fork still lazily dancing across your plate, the cold handle twirling beneath your fingertips. it didn’t feel fair, what he’d done to you. turning you into a mess, mind hazy. giving you a taste, then taking it away immediately, albeit that being exactly what you’d agreed on. and although he really had given you absolutely everything the night before (or rather, this morning), it still felt like a neverending tease, with all that need careening through your veins.
swallowing harshly, you straightened up in your seat, pulling at the hem of your skirt, playing with a loose, dark thread. christ, he was still trying. the headache never seemed to stop, so persistent, so demanding, a feeling you knew well through conversations with dumbledore. but this headache clouded your mind, unforgiving, begging to be let through. it wasn’t asking for permission.
looking up once again, keeping your body still and your breath steady, you stared right back. taught ruthlessly by your grandmother, you’d always kept your mind shut from peering intruders. yet he was so fearlessly determined that you could feel it through his magic, snaking its way right through you, searching for any slight weaknesses in your armour. a strand of white hair fell over his forehead as he tilted his head slightly, jaw clenching. he wasn’t giving up.
draco malfoy always had something to prove. he was always so sure of his own success, so much to the point of insecurity, of doubt. it was a troubling mix of brashness, arrogance, and cowardice sprouting from the child rooted deep inside him, desperate for assurance and acceptance.
but it wasn’t your pity that led you to allow him to break through.
it was your need for him to know something you weren’t so sure you could admit verbally. you were thinking of him. that was all.
so, you stared straight into the silver of his eyes and let him right in.
his hands digging into your hips. the sheen of sweat over his entire body, glistening. the faint bruises he left on your wrists. you begging him to go harder.
him obliging.
his eyes were clouded over, as if in a trance, flitting through your memories.
but using legilimency was as much a curse as it was a blessing. because he could feel everything you felt too. the lust, the want, the pain filtering through the pleasure. and he could feel every little thing you’d noticed about him; the mole above his left knee, and the other on his waist, and the few freckles beneath his eyes, and the scar he had just above his eyebrow that you’d never really noticed until you’d tipsily placed wet kisses over his hairline.
for what felt like hours, you let him in, until he decided he’d had enough.
he was blinking quickly, brows furrowed, pale cheeks now flushed pink. he clumsily stood up from the slytherin table, pushing aside his plate of food, and stormed, flustered, out of the room, much like the boy who’d kissed you the night before. all tongue and teeth, all desperation, all emotion. but it was just for the one night. that was all.
and you felt foolish.
because you realised, he’d felt everything.
that in those moments, you thought you might’ve even loved him.
the boy, all tongue, and teeth, and hands, all pale skin, all desperation. it was certainly something entirely worthy of love.
a/n: requested by my dearest hufflepuff, @fitzfiles i’m so soft for draco
You sat curled up in the Hufflepuff common room, your thick herbology book resting on your lap. Cedric was beside you on the couch in his golden quidditch sweater, smiling kindly at you.
“Do you see? In order to care for the mandrakes, you must bury them in the soil like this,” you showed Cedric your notes. Every Friday afternoon was spent tutoring Cedric in herbology after your shared class.
“Yes. You’re much better than Sprout at explaining it. You should become the new herbology professor when the bloke finally retires.” Cedric grinned at you.
“IlikeProfessor Sprout! That would be fun though!” You giggled.
“Oi, Y/N! Your boyfriend is griping to be let in here,” One of the Hufflepuff girls called to you as she entered the common room. You smiled at her apologetically, squeezing Cedric’s shoulder as you stood. You walked to the painting, letting it swing open to reveal Draco Malfoy.
“Hi,” you smiled at him, and he gazed at you softly with a loving smile. His usual arrogance and sharpness was gone from his expression as he looked at you with utter adoration.
“Hi, darling,” he stepped into the common room, kissing your forehead lightly.
“Cedric.” He nodded, greeting your best friend. Draco had been a bit prickly toward him when the two of you first began dating, but he warmed up when he realized that Cedric wasn’t a threat.
“We’re not quite finished. Do you mind?”
“I’ll wait. You can’t go in this anyways.” he said, nodding to your school uniform you hadn’t changed out of.
“I know, darling. It’s warm in here and I haven’t had the chance to change.”
You walked back over to the couch, and he sat on the floor on a golden cushion, his head resting against your thigh. You lightly ran your fingertips through his snowy white locks as you leaned over your herbology book, helping Cedric identify the differences between the plants for your O.W.L.S.
The other Hufflepuffs no longer stared at Draco, now used to having him in their common room. Draco was often hanging around, enjoying the warmth and coziness, and the way he was welcomed. He found that he much preferred it to the chilly, marble elegance of the Slytherin commons.
One of the second-year girls walked over, setting down a plate of pumpkin pastries.
“Y/N, Draco, Cedric, have some,” She said sweetly, smiling at the three of you and sitting down across from the Slytherin prince.
“Draco, would you maybe look at my potions paper? I swear Professor Snape hates me, and I’m nervous.” She asked shyly, and Draco sat up.
“Of course, let me see.” He took the paper from her hand, and she moved to sit beside him. You smiled down at your boyfriend, and the kind way he spoke to her.
“This is great, but you should add here that polyjuice potion takes a long time to make…” He fell into soft chatter with her, showing her where her paper could be stronger. Draco was gentle, careful to praise the younger student on what she did well. It warmed your heart, and you turned back to finish with Cedric.
“This is perfect. I’ll put in a good word for you too, with Snape. Please, I’m always happy to help you or tutor you if you need it, alright?” he asked her as she stood.
“Thanks, Draco.”
“Of course.”
“I love it when you’re sweet.” You said, leaning down over Draco and kissing the tip of his nose. He stood, helping you to your feet and taking your heavy textbook for you.
“I’m still mean!” He teasingly defended himself and you shook your head at him with a small smile.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell Pansy that you’re secretly nice,” you teased back and he followed you to your dorm.
He set your textbook down on your desk, mindlessly folding the various clothing you had tossed over the back of your chair or top of the trunk at the end of your bed. He was extremely neat, always folding your clothes or putting things back in their places whenever he visited your dorm.
“Y/N, is this my quidditch sweater I’ve been looking for?” He asked as you pulled a yellow Hufflepuff jumper over your head, letting it fall over your black skinny jeans.
“Um, no, it belongs to my other boyfriend who plays on the Slytherin quidditch team,” you answered with a straight face.
“You’re dating Theo behind my back?” Draco asked, humor laced in his voice.
“No, sorry, the other one,” you bit back a giggle as he reached for you, tickling your sides and making you squeal.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m yours, Draco!” You squealed, trying to escape as your laughter interrupted your breathing.
“That’s right. You’re mine,”his voice dropped a few octaves, making you shudder with a small smile on your face.
“It doesn’t smell like you anymore. You can have it back.”
“Oh, I can have it back?” he smirked, pulling. you into a kiss.
“But I want another one in return.”
“Y/N, that jumper is mine too. And that one.” He pointed, and you rolled your eyes.
“You have plenty. You can share.”
“Come on, let’s get going.”
Draco wrapped a scarf around your neck and fastened the buttons on the coat like you were a child. You knew he was just doing it because he cared, and you let him, taking any affection you could get from Draco.
“Where are your gloves, honey?”
“I don’t know,” you admitted, and he frowned.
“It’s cold, you can’t keep losing them.”
“I know, let’s go now. I’ll find them later, for next time,” you begged.
“You can hold my hands so they don’t get cold, and my coat has pockets.”
“Alright, love, come on,” Draco wrapped an arm around your waist, holding you to him as you apparated to Diagon Alley.
You shivered as snowflakes gently dusted into your hair, the freezing air nipping at your skin. You squeezed Draco’s hand, and he led you through the bustling street, weaving through groups of people. Draco was right, it was cold, but you didn’t dare complain, not wanting a lecture from your boyfriend about how you should keep better track of your gloves and hat.
“Y/N, go ahead,” he gently pushed you in front of him as he opened the door to the Leaky Cauldron, helping the two of you escape the cold.
Draco kept a hand on the small of your back, leading you through the crowded pub. You squeezed through the crowded area, and ascended a flight of stairs to the second level. You smiled when you saw your favorite spot was open, a window bench with lots of pillows and a street view. You took a seat in the large round window, and Draco settled beside you.
“What can I get for you two?” A waitress asked.
“Butterbeer for us both, please.” You said politely, and Draco added vanilla cookies. She smiled and promised to have your order soon.
“Thanks for helping me escape school. I needed some “us time” away from it all,” you told Draco, who planted a kiss to your lips. He tasted like sage and vanilla, and his kiss was sweet and gentle.
“Of course, I love spending time with you,” Draco wrapped an arm around your waist, and you leaned into his side, your head resting on his shoulder. He turned and kissed the crown of your head, his fingers lightly tracing the embroidery on the sleeve of the coat you wore.
The waitress returned with your drinks, and you grinned, leaning forward and wrapping your hands around one of the glass mugs. Draco smiled at your excitement. He loved seeing you happy, even if it was over small things, like a warm drink on a cold day. You were so sweet.You were kind to everyone, especially him, and he loved you for it. You were the breath of fresh air and the gentleness he needed in his life, and he was profoundly in love with you. He adored you, and he was secretly happy when you stole his sweaters, because he loved to give them to you.
A tiny silver necklace with a moon charm always rested beneath your collar, matching the one he war. He’d given it to you as a gift on your birthday, three years ago when the two of you started dating, and you never took it off. It made him happy to see you wear it proudly. Sometimes, he would watch you from afar, seeing your fingers touch the pendant lightly whenever you missed him. He’d walk up to you then, and see your face light up with joy when you saw him.
“Draco, can I have one of your vanilla cookies?” you asked sweetly, looking up at your boyfriend expectantly.
He held out the plate to you, and you picked up the top one off the small pile with a smile. You bit into the soft cookie, smiling at him gratefully. He kissed your cheek, and you fed him a piece. He lightly nipped at your fingertip, making you squeal with delighted laughter.
“Don’t bite!” You giggled, pecking his lips, which now tasted like sugar and butterbeer.
“M’sorry, love,” Draco laughed, not sorry at all.
The two of you played chess on the tabletop with a small set the pub had while you drank the butterbeer and finished off the cookies. You watched the snow fall outside, and Draco tried to teach you chess strategies, though you were mostly lost.
“That’s alright. It’s getting late, anyway.” Draco said when the two of you got stuck in your match, the empty mugs long forgotten. You looked up, seeing that the sun had set, and the only light outside came from buzzing street lamps.
You held Draco’s hand tightly as you stepped out into the cold night, burying your face in his shoulder as the two of you walked back to a side street where you could apparate back to Hogwarts without being seen. You held your breath as Draco waved his wand, and you were suddenly back in your dormitory, disturbing your once-sleeping cat.
“Will you stay?” You asked Draco, and he nodded, a small smile pulling at his lips.
“Of course.” He kissed you, wrapping his arms around your waist and hugging you.
You hung up your coat and scarf, slipping your boots off and placing them in the bottom of the wardrobe. Draco draped his slacks, sweater, and undershirt over your chair, and pulled one of his jumpers you had stolen over his head. You stripped before pulling another over your head, his last name stitched on the chest. You turned to see Draco was pulling down your duvet, and you smiled at him softly.
You walked over, freeing your hair from your plait and picking up your brush from the dresser. Draco’s pale fingers wrapped around the brush, prying it from your grasp. You smiled up at him as he gently brushed the tangles from your hair, helping you get ready for bed. You sat on the sheets, knees pulled to your chest, and Draco softly dragging the brush through your hair. You were nearly asleep when he finished, yawning as you sat up.
“Get some sleep, love.” He slipped into bed behind you, pulling the duvet to cover you both. He murmured a spell to shut off the lights, darkness falling gently over the two of you.
He wrapped an arm around your waist, pulling your back against his chest, settling with you into his arms.
“Goodnight, Draco.” You whispered, and he kissed the back of your head.
“Goodnight, Y/N.”
Oh this is so soft!! I love seeing the soft side of Draco! He deserves all the love
