This story is written for The House Competition by Moonlight Forgotten (Year 2).
Round 9
House: Gryffindor
Year: 4
Themed (Love- Romantic)
Prompt: Book
Words: 2308
Eleven year old Elsa Malfoy and fifteen year old Louis Malfoy were on the Hogwarts Express and about to begin their first and fifth years at Hogwarts respectively. Both brother and sister were blonde and rather attractive. Louis was pale and had a pointed chin known as the Malfoy chin, but Elsa had an oval face, beautiful skin and sparkling blue eyes.
"Elsa, I have to go to the prefect's compartment. Will you be alright on your own?" asked Louis.
"I'll be fine, Louis. I can take care of myself," Elsa said to her brother.
"Alright then, I'll see you at the feast," said Loius as he walked away.
Elsa entered a compartment with only one boy in it. She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw the boy. He had messy black hair and glasses and he was reading her favorite book, The Mystery of the Bronze Leather Box. The book was written by her favorite wizard fiction author, Vance McMillan. She wondered if the boy was a muggle born as her family was rather strict about not associating with muggle-borns. But he couldn't be a muggle-born, she told herself. He's reading a book from a wizard author and he's dressed in wizard robes rather than muggle clothes. From his robes, she could tell the boy came from a reasonably wealthy family.
"Excuse me, may I sit here?" she asked.
The boy looked up at Elsa with his piercing grey eyes and she felt a jolt in her stomach. His eyes had an effect on her even behind his glasses. She couldn't explain it to herself, but this boy made her feel something in herself that she had never felt before. It was odd but nice.
"Sure," he said courteously.
"I'm Henry Potter by the way, but people usually call me Harry," the boy held out his hand.
Potter, the boy was definitely pureblood.
"I'm Elsa Malfoy. People usually call me Elsa," she said, taking Henry's hand, and blushing as they shook hands and he chuckled at her attempt at a joke.
"Is that your favorite book too," Elsa asked eagerly before she could stop herself.
"It's your favorite too?" Henry asked just as eagerly.
Henry and Elsa launched into the best conversation that Elsa had ever had. They chatted about the Mystery of the Bronze Leather Box which was both their favorite book and were delighted to find that they loved and hated the same characters. The enjoyed bashing their least favorite characters. They mostly had the same opinions, but still enjoyed debating where their opinions differed. Henry and Elsa also chatted about other books that they liked and found that they had the same passion for books, particularly mystery books. They also found out that they were both first years. Soon however, the conversation came to Hogwarts houses and beliefs.
"Potters usually get sorted into Gryffindor," said Henry proudly. "But I wouldn't mind Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, though I would say no thank you to Slytherin,"
"Why not," asked Elsa.
"Well, Slytherins usually follow Salazar Slytherin's views, including being bigoted against muggle-borns and muggles," said Henry.
Elsa felt an uncomfortable lurch in her stomach. She really liked Henry and he probably wouldn't want anything to do with her once she was sorted into Slytherin.
"My family usually gets sorted into Slytherin," said Elsa awkwardly.
"Oh, I …" Henry was lost for words.
"What does your family say about muggles and muggle-borns?" asked Elsa, trying to diminish the awkwardness.
"We don't see why muggles should be treated with disdain simply because they don't have magic in them. And Muggle-borns have just as much magic as purebloods and half-bloods. The whole dirty blood was made up by prejudiced purebloods," Henry explained.
Elsa didn't know whether or not it was because she was attracted to Henry, but she felt that he had a point. She had never thought about it in that way. Before she could respond, the train had reached Hogwarts and they heard the gamekeeper calling for first years.
"That's us," said Henry.
Henry and Elsa remained silent throughout the journey of getting to Hogwarts in a boat and waiting for the Sorting Ceremony.
"Malfoy, Elsa," called the Gryffindor Head of House.
Elsa nervously walked up to the Sorting hat. She was confused as to whether she should follow her family's tradition of being sorted into Slytherin or be sorted in Gryffindor to be with Henry. Alas, she wasn't brave enough to face her family's wrath and her Malfoy blood won out as the hat shouted "SLYTHERIN".
She didn't dare look at Henry. She was afraid that he now viewed her with disdain. As expected, Henry got sorted into Gryffindor. Elsa sneaked several looks at Henry who was at the Gryffindor table throughout dinner. At one point, he was looking at her too, but it was hard to tell what was on his mind.
Classes begin and the Slytherins shared Potions class with the Gryffindors. Elsa found herself constantly looking at Henry in class and at times, she would find him looking at her too and they would exchange glances that were longing and sad. At least that's what she thought Henry's glances looked like, but she couldn't be sure.
During their first flying lesson, Slytherins were paired with Gryffindors again. Henry had become good friends with an auburn-haired Gryffindor in their year named Albus Dumbledore. Henry's broom was the first to shoot up to his hand. A clumsy Gryffindor had an accident with his broom and had to be taken to the Hospital Wing by their Flying Instructor. They were warned to stay on the ground. A Slytherin boy took up the boy's Remembrall that he had dropped and took off with it. Henry shot up in air and threatened the boy to return the Remembrall. After an argument, the Slytherin kid threw the Remembrall which Henry made an excellent catch of. The Slytherin kid then lost his balance and nearly fell off his broom but was caught by Henry while having the Remembrall in one hand. The whole fray only made Elsa more attracted to him.
Unfortunately, they landed just as their Gryffindor Head of House arrived. Fortunately for Henry, he wasn't punished but was made Seeker of the Gryffindor's Quidditch team. He was the youngest Seeker in half a century. Throughout the year, Elsa ran into Henry a few times and thought about talking to him, but she was afraid of doing so. At times, Henry opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but would end up remaining mute. They would both just exchange small courteous smiles and keep walking instead.
In their second year, their new Defense Against the Dark Art's professor made a joke in reference to The Mystery of the Bronze Leather Box. Henry and Elsa sniggered at the joke and exchanged secret smiles. They were the only two in class who got the joke. The Mystery of the Bronze Leather Box was usually read by adults and not very popular among kids their age.
Elsa had become good friends with Phineas Black from Slytherin, the second son of the Headmaster. He was quite liberal in his views and was friendly with Albus Dumbledore. During her third year, Elsa's brother Louis had made Headboy. Her three years at Hogwarts had made her realize that her brother was not as nice as she thought he was. Prior to attending Hogwarts, she didn't know that his prejudice against muggle-borns extended to bullying muggle-borns with his gang of friends. On one particular occasion, she caught Louis and his friends torturing a muggle-born boy named Alex with Crucio and nastily telling him that a mudblood like him didn't belong at Hogwarts. Elsa yelled at her brother and made him let the muggle-born boy go. He brother protested at first but Elsa threatened to alert the Minstry that he used an Unforgivable Curse if he didn't let the boy go. She knew that Headmaster Black would not have cared much if she brought it to his attention. She kindly comforted the boy who was merely a first year before sending him off.
Surprisingly, this incident is what finally made Henry talk to her for the first time in two years. She was in the library when he walked up to her.
"What you did the other day was really admirable," said Henry.
"Whaaaat are you talking about?" asked Elsa, stammering. Her heart was beating twice as fast.
"Defending Alex against your own brother," he said.
Elsa didn't know yet, but Henry had admired her soft, kind side when she comforted the muggle-born boy even more.
"Oh, that was nothing, really," said Elsa.
"I thought it was admirable," Henry shrugged. "I'll see you around, Elsa," said Henry as he walked away, shooting her a last smile.
From then on, they would exchange friendly but bashful smiles, instead of small, awkward ones.
During their fifth year, Elsa and Henry had both been made prefects. One night, during one of her patrol nights, she sat down by one of the walls of the castle, holding her copy of The Mystery of the Bronze Leather Box. She tried reading it, but she kept being distracted by her problematic relationship with her family. Without noticing, she had adopted the liberal views of the Potters and this had caused several arguments with her parents and brother. On top of everything, her parents were unsupportive of her desire to become an author. They wanted her to become a socialite cum housewife to a wealthy pureblood from a prominent family. She looked up from her book to see Henry Potter approach her. It was his patrol night too. To her surprise, he sat beside her and their shoulders were almost touching. She felt a mixture of nervousness and excitement as she had never been this close to him physically.
"You know, that's still my favorite book," he said.
"Mine too," she said sheepishly.
"What's bothering you?" Henry asked.
"Why would you think something's bothering me," Elsa asked, stuttering.
"I can tell," he shrugged.
This was only the third time they had spoken, but Elsa found herself feeling comfortable enough to confide in him about her problems with her family. Henry was supportive of her dream of becoming an author, and comforted her that things would soon be alright with her family. Though she knew he was only saying those things to make her feel better.
"How come you're suddenly speaking to me?" she asked before she could stop herself. "I mean, after our conversation on the train, we only spoke to each other once in our third year."
"I did want to speak to you, but I was afraid. I'd try to say something, but I was usually lost for words. When you saved Alex, I finally had a reason to speak to you, that I didn't have to fear about what I should say," Henry confessed.
"I always wanted to speak to you too," said Elsa.
"Why didn't you?"
"I was afraid that you thought I was disdainful because I was a Slytherin," Elsa confessed.
"I apologize. I shouldn't have been stereotypical," said Henry who looked ashamed of himself. "But people like you and Phineas have made me realize that I was wrong about stereotyping Slytherin."
"I really like you," Elsa blurted out.
"I really like you too," said Henry, taking her hand in his.
They gazed at each other for several moments before they leaned in and pressed their lips together. Elsa's heart skipped a beat as they kissed passionately and she was on cloud nine. Elsa returned to her Common Room, feeling happier than she had been in a long time. Henry had asked her out on a date during their next Hogsmeade visit.
Henry and Elsa began dating to the surprise of their school as he was a Gryffindor and she was a Slytherin. Elsa's family wasn't too happy about it but reluctantly accepted her romance as Henry was from a prominent pureblood family. By their seventh year, Henry and Albus Dumbledore had drifted apart due to his budding friendship with Gellert Grindelwald. However, Dumbledore had realized his mistake shortly after they graduated and his relationship with Henry began to gradually mend.
Almost a year after they had graduated from Hogwarts, Henry and Elsa were having her Birthday dinner at the Malfoy Manor when Henry took out a package from his cloak.
"Happy Birthday," he said, giving her peck on the cheek.
Elsa opened the package to find a bronze leather box like the one described in their favorite book.
"Goodness, Harry, it's beautiful," Elsa exclaimed.
"There's more," said Henry.
Elsa opened the leather box to find a book with a black leather cover which she took out and admired. It had the words "The Mystery of the Bronze Leather Box" engraved in gold letters.
"It's the first edition of the book published more than a hundred years ago," said Henry.
"Harry, you've outdone yourself," said Elsa.
"Open it," he coaxed.
Elsa flipped through the pages of the book to find a diamond ring. It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. Henry took the ring from her hand and got on his knee.
"Elsa Victoria Malfoy, will you marry me?" he asked.
"Yes," she exclaimed excitedly, a few happy tears rolling down her cheeks.
She noticed him glow with happiness at her answer as he slid the ring on her finger. She threw her arms around him he wrapped his arms around her waist.
They were married within a few months and were soon blessed with two sons. Their older son Fleamont was named in honor of Henry's mother's maiden name as part of her dying wish. Their second son was named Charlus, after their favorite character from their favorite book.
A/N: Henry Potter is original character and Harry Potter's great-grandfather (nicknamed Harry). Phineas Black's second son Phineas was more liberal and friends with Dumbeldore. Louis Malfoy is meant to be Draco Malfoy's great-great grandfather. Fleamont and Euphemia had James at an old age, so it makes sense for Harry's great-grandparents to be in the same generation as Draco's great-great grandfather