Chapter 2.
Why couldn't he tell that stupid girl that he couldn't go himself? Sending me to do errands for him. It's not the way it goes. He knows who my father is. Draco pushed himself into the library, searching for a glimpse of long dark hair. He didn't see it.
"For God sake…" He breathed as he began to wander the aisles. Why would she walk off? Maybe she's left already. In which case this was a waste of my time.
As he turned the corner, Draco saw Isabelle holding her lit wand with a small book in her hands. Her hair was messier than it had been before. Had she taken it down to impress Blaise and then tired it back up again? Why would she want Blaise? Her features were so slight. Angular eyes, tanned, flawless skin, tapered ears. WHY DO YOU CARE, he thought aggressively. You're here to tell her about Blaise. He told himself. It's always best to keep a distance from those with a connection to you, especially one as strong as hers.
"Isabelle!" He reached out, hesitated, and then grabbed her shoulder. She spun around and transfixed him with her beautiful, playful eyes. Her face dropped when she realised who it was.
"Draco." She replied smartly, looking back to her book. I don't think I've ever had a pure blood look at me with anything but respect. Especially HER. A snarl spread onto his face, but before she had a chance to look back up to register it, he continued to fix it into a sarcastic smile, his eyes narrowing.
"Blaise can't come" he sneered "sorry, looks like he didn't care that much about anything you had to say. Pansy's helping him instead"
"thanks." She turned and walked off gracefully. Everything she did seemed calculated, like a cat. He was transfixed as she walked away. And he was pretty sure she knew it.
*
"ERUGH" dark-hair-bright-eye-Izzy shouted. "He's such a creep. There was no need for him to be such… such a PRICK" I nodded along from where I lolled on a sofa in front of the bright-dancing-heat-fire. I enjoy watching her. Her actions are so precise and feline. It's most endearing, I thought to myself, but her thoughts are cloudy, which is disappointing. I was always unimpressed that her thoughts were not as calm as her body language. I was tired, it was half past 12, but it was the holidays and she seemed genuinely bothered about ferret-face-Malfoy.
"Honestly Iz. I don't care. And you know I don't. So essentially I don't know why we're here. But okay. Malfoy is just like that. He's always been like that. Blaise wasn't revising with Parkison. He had to talk to Snape about something. So stop stressing. McGonagall wanted to see you by the way. Something about animagus. I wasn't really listening"
"Oh shit really? I need to go see her as soon as possible then. I'll go tomorrow. I've mastered it anyway."
"Well that's good" I said and turned toward the bright-hot-flame-fire, and when I turned back there was a black lynx staring pointedly towards me. Its eyes were green and angled, the ears tapered with tufts of hair on the ends.
"It's got much better. Last year you were hardly recognisable as a cat, let alone a lynx"
"I told you so" it purred contentedly "I'm going up to the boy's dorm to see what havoc I can wreak in Malfoy's room"
"Okay" I mumbled "I really don't care" and drifted off into soft-sleep-awake-dreams.
*
I slid up the stairs. The silence with which I could walk and the shadows I could blend in to never failed to amaze me. It must, I purred, have been a surprise for my parents when they had come into my room when I was 1 and found a small cat like creature curled in my cot. A cough like noise escaped from my throat as I laughed to myself. At first I couldn't consciously change my form, or stop myself changing. That's why I had to have private tuition all my life. If I got too stressed, or my emotions ran high, my body would resort to its animagus form. It was a gift rather than a problem, as it provided a release, allowed me a second existence. When I first came to Hogwarts, McGonagall was the first person that came to find me, offering tuition and advice about my unnatural but not unheard of ability. Therefore, the only people that knew of my gift were my parents, Charlie, and a few more trusted Hogwarts staff. It proved quite useful as I slunk up the stairs to the boy's dorms, heading towards Malfoy's room. I wasn't going to do anything major. Just move things about a bit. For amusement rather than malice. My ears flicked towards whispers coming from inside the room
Shit, I thought, he's in there. Well that ruins my fun. I turned to leave, my small body making turning on the narrow staircase as simple as a person in the great hall.
"Did you tell her I was sorry?" said one mumbled voice. I thanked my lucky stars cats hearing was sharper than a humans
"Of course not, I'm not you're fucking messenger" came the reply "all I said was that you couldn't make it. Now shut up and get over it"
"Draco! You have to admit… there's something about her. I don't believe Snape made me go for extra potions practice! I could've used that time to… oh I don't know"
"You're pathetic. Shut up and stop pining after some girl. There's nothing special about her"
"Oh you can talk. Pansy Parkinson for the win I guess?"
"Fuck off"
I purred in satisfaction. Malfoy was having a tough enough time listening to Zabini's ramblings. I wonder what he was talking about. The size of a cat's brain confuses human thought processes occasionally. Then it dawned on me, me? He's pining over me? How odd. I slid around the door slowly so that it wouldn't be noticed. At that moment, I thanked Hogwarts for the fact they had magical candles that cast shadows perfect for hiding in.
My eyes fell upon Draco and could not be turned away. His blonde hair was tousled where he had removed his shirt to expose his torso. And what a torso… I thought to myself and purred in satisfaction. The ridges of his six-pack were accentuated by the candle light, and as he turned to hang his shirt up his back muscles rippled. Quidditch is definitely his sport… my eyes drifted to Blaise who was still fully clothed, red faced and angry. There was something attractive about his gait, his defensiveness. His dark hair fell over his slanted eyes and framed his square jaw. It was obvious he took after his famed-beauty of a mother. Turning back towards the door, I padded out with a mind to return to Charlie.
"In all honesty Blaise" drawled Draco as I began the descent to the common room, "the way she looked at me earlier in the library just oozed lust…"
I jumped back up the four steps I had climbed down and settled myself in the shadow by the door frame. She wanted to hear this.
