Luca Starling

Draco Malfoy wasn't in a good mood at all. He had spent the whole night in the room of requirement trying to make any sort of progress on repairing the vanishing cabinet that was in there. So far, he'd been utterly unsuccessful. Frustrated and heavy with tiredness, he dragged himself back to the Slytherin common room and pretended to be up early. Not that he thought Crabbe or Goyle would notice he'd missed breakfast. They weren't exactly the most attentive kind of friends.

In Transfiguration class Draco wasn't able to concentrate on anything longer than a few seconds. Instead of transfiguring his water goblet into a living rat, he had managed to replace the glass with a brown fur and rattail. Parvati Patil and her other Gryffindor friend Lavender Brown had started giggling and pointing at his squealing goblet. Draco was so pissed off that he'd tried the spell on Lavender next, who sprouted whiskers and a tail and started crying.

It had earned him a few laughs from his fellow Slytherins, but Professor McGonagall hadn't been so appreciative. An afternoon of detention was awaiting him. Draco, who knew better than to argue with Professor McGonagall, resided to his fate with rising anger in his chest.

Those stupid girls. They had no idea that he had far more serious matters on his mind than Transfiguration class or some pointless detention.

Draco waited in front of Professor McGonagall's office. It was a quarter past 5 and all of his other classes had ended. Draco hoped that whatever Professor McGonagall was going to assign to him, it wouldn't take more than an hour. He was in a desperate need of sleep.

Then the door opened and Professor McGonagall stepped into the hall. She gave Draco a sharp look and said: 'Follow me mister Malfoy.' Draco slugged after her in a pace that Professor McGonagall seemed to find utmost annoying, for she repeatedly told him to hurry up. Finally, they reached the trophy room on the third floor.

They entered the room, and Draco who had expected it to be empty, was surprised to see that there was already someone waiting there. A girl with long, hazel brown hair and pale blue eyes was leaning against one of the marble statues in the middle of the room. She was reading a book with a dark leather binding but put it in her bag the moment the door opened. The golden lion on her robe told Draco that she was a Gryffindor.

'Ah, miss Starling. You and mister Malfoy here will be polishing the trophies in this room together. By hand.' McGonagall emphasized the last two words. 'No magic allowed. I will send mister Filch to check up on you every half hour or so to make sure you are performing your tasks as ordered.'

Draco felt another stab of annoyance. Polishing silver all evening was one thing, but having to do it in the company of a Gryffindor was simply too much for him. 'Please, Professor, can't we do our detention in different rooms? Or at a different time perhaps?' he asked, trying hard to ban the frustration out of his voice.

Professor McGonagall raised one eyebrow. 'Performing a spell on a Gryffindor girl is what got you into this situation mister Malfoy. I can hardly agree to remove all of them from your sight simply because it doesn't please you.' She gave him a hard look. 'Try to behave yourselves.' She disappeared into the hall, leaving Draco, and the brown-haired girl, behind.

Draco let out a sigh and dropped in a chair at the large table in the back. The girl didn't move. Draco put his bag on the floor and studied her under his eyelashes. She was fair skinned and fairly tall, though she must have been at least several inches shorter than him still. Her face was heart shaped and her long hazel brown hair fell like a waterfall down her back. Draco had to admit that she was quite pretty.

The girl caught him staring and gave him a curious look. Quickly he adverted his eyes. If she expected friendly chatter from him, she could forget it.

'So, you're Malfoy?' To his surprise, the Gryffindor sat down next to him and gave him another examining look. She didn't sound unfriendly but she wasn't smiling either. Draco frowned slightly. 'Why? Do you know my family?' he snarled at her. Her eyes narrowed. 'Something like that.' Draco sighed. What was that supposed to mean? He had a feeling that whatever she knew about him, given the fact that she was a Gryffindor, would not make him very popular.

He had to admit that he was a little bit curious about her. She didn't seem shy and far from the giggling type. He could give it a try. 'Starling, are you? Never heard of that name.' The girl next to him didn't seem bothered by that fact at all. 'I didn't expect you to.' She took out her wand and flew a set of trophies towards them. They landed on the table with a light thud. 'Let's get to the polishing then. If we don't hurry up, we will sit here all night.'

Draco's frown deepened. She wasn't giving him any information. He was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable around the mysterious girl. Most sixth-year girls he knew were the kind who either tried hard to ignore him, or looked up to him because of his family's status. From Gryffindors in particular, he didn't expect any friendly behavior. Slytherin and Gryffindor had been rival houses for centuries. Most of the time they hated each other on principle.

This girl however, gave out an aura of a stubborn sort of self-confidence that Draco couldn't seem to penetrate. He suddenly wondered what she had done to be given detention by Professor McGonagall. Next to him, she'd started to polish the first trophy without any further ado. Draco picked one up himself and cursed under his breath. For a second he saw the girl next to him grin.

'What's so funny if you don't mind me asking?' he spat at her. His annoyance from earlier came rising up again. 'Nothing… This just really sucks, don't you think? This detention… And no using magic…' She sighed and put down the golden cup she was holding. 'There should be a way to speed things up, right?' Draco gave her a blank look. Of course he wanted to get out of there as fast as possible but he thought it to be rather reckless to cheat his way out of this one. If they were caught, he had a feeling that it wouldn't just be one night of polishing trophies for him.

'Oh, come on, Filch hasn't even showed up yet.' She sounded genuinely surprised at his lack of enthusiasm for the plan. Draco folded his arms and tried to maintain his uncaring and smug exterior. 'Go ahead if you want. I won't be risking any more detention today. If that old bat catches you she will punish you for the rest of the week. You do realize that, right?'

The Starling girl seemed to consider that remark for a moment. Then she bent forward, until her face was just a few inches from his. Draco made out a few freckles on her nose and his mouth dried up slightly.

'Scared, Malfoy?' She drew out the last syllable with a daring look in her eyes. Draco felt his stomach convulse when she'd said his name. He noticed her eyes were almond shaped and had long, dark lashes. Quickly he rose from his chair.

'You wish Starling.' His tone was sneering as usual but he didn't feel sure of himself at all. She just shrugged, got up, and drew her wand. She pointed at a few of the objects before them and firmly said: 'scourgify.' It worked perfectly. The trophies shined and blinked as if they were freshly polished.

Draco shook his head in disbelief. 'And what if Filch turns up and asks how we did these all of these in 10 minutes?' He tried to keep his voice annoyed rather than scared. The girl raised her eyebrows and smiled slightly. 'Oh, I'll just tell him that I'm an excellent cleaner. Or that you are an excellent cleaner, whichever is more believable.' Draco let out a scornful hiss. 'In my house, we have servants for that kind of stuff. You know, house elves. I have never cleaned anything in my life.'

If he thought that would impress her, which he was only half sure about, he was mistaken. Her smile disappeared and was replaced by a look of disdain. 'Why would that be something to be proud of,' he heard her mumbling to herself. His grip on his wand tightened. Why did all Gryffindors have to be the muggle-loving kind who didn't see the value of true power?

At that moment, the door to the trophy room opened and Filch came shambling in. 'Why aren't you two polishing?' he growled at them in his usual grumpy manner. They both kept their silence and Filch raised his head suspiciously towards the Gryffindor girl. 'Ah I see. You two think you can use this time to have a nice chat ey? Getting to know each other are we? Why put a boy and a girl in detention together anyway? This is what you get,' he muttered.

Draco was a bit taken aback by Filch's reaction and stared at him for a moment. Is that what they were doing? Getting to know each other? Surely Filch must have noticed they were in rival houses. In his opinion, all they had done so far was disagreeing. The girl pointed at the polished trophies and hastily said: 'No mister Filch. Look, we did all of these already.' She glanced at Draco for a moment, as if to signal him to confirm her story.

Draco quickly nodded. Filch grumbled something and sat down in a corner of the room. 'Get to work! I'm here to make sure you do your job and then off you go.' For the next half hour, they sat in silence as they polished the silver and golden plates, cups and medals in the room. Draco was just about to finish cleaning his fifth Quidditch Cup when loud snoring rose from Filches chair. He had fallen asleep with his head cocked to the side and his mouth hanging wide open.

Draco had trouble staying awake himself. He put the cup next to the others that were finished and nearly knocked a few over. He looked to his side to see if the other student had seen his shaking hand but she was looking at the silver tray she was polishing. At that moment, she grinned and gave him a funny look. 'He's really out of it.' Malfoy assumed she meant Filch, now blowing bubbles of saliva in the corner of his mouth every time he drew breath. 'Yeah.' He rubbed his eyes furiously.
He didn't know how much longer he could keep them open. The lack of sleep was now seriously taking a toll on him.

'Hand it over.' It was the girl next to him, her hand outstretched and pointing at the medals he still had to polish. Draco looked at her with suspicion. There was enough work at her side of the table, why would she want his? Then he felt her fingers slightly grasping his as she pulled the medals from his hands. 'You look like a ghost do you know that? Put your head down for a minute. Filch isn't going to rat you out, that's for sure.'

She was smiling at him and he felt his stomach convulse again. What was wrong with him? And why was she being so nice to him? Not a moment ago, she had him feeling like a coward and a spoiled brat. Draco, still staring blankly at her, didn't know what to say. 'Come on. It's for my own benefit actually. If you get any sleepier you will knock over all of our stuff and we'd have to start over again.' She started to polish the medals with a determined look on her face. Draco muttered a soft 'thanks', and laid his head on the table. He was out in less than a minute.

He woke up by the soft touch of a hand on his shoulder. Instinctively he shot up and looked around in bewilderment, his wand at the ready. Next to him stood the girl with the long hazel hair, a surprised look on her face. 'Calm down. I was just trying to wake you. We can go now.' Her bag was on her shoulder again and the trophies were back in their cabinets. She had finished all the remaining work by herself, he realized. He felt a wave of gratitude wash over him.

'Better let Filch sleep. He might not appreciate it when we wake him at this time of night.' Draco looked at the clock in the middle of the room and saw that it was already past midnight. The girl turned around and started walking to the door. Draco followed her.

When they entered the hall, they both stopped and looked at each other. Draco felt strangely indebted to the blue-eyed girl and he did not like it. He didn't usually owe anyone anything, especially not a Gryffindor student.

'Get some rest Malfoy.' The girl gave him an odd sort of look that he couldn't place. Was it pity? Sympathy? Disdain? He couldn't tell. 'What's it to you?' he murmured back, avoiding her gaze. She pressed her lips together, shook her head lightly and started walking in the direction of the Gryffindor tower. He felt his heart sink a little. He'd surely offended her, but he couldn't think of anything else to say to her.

When Draco was back in the Slytherin boys-dormitory he expected his eyes to fall shut the moment his head touched the pillow. Instead, he lay awake for hours, analyzing every action and word the Gryffindor girl had spoken to him. He knew there were far more important matters he should be concerned with. And even though it made no sense to him whatsoever, when he finally closed his eyes, he got the best night's sleep he had in weeks.