Single Sweet Soul
Chapter Two: Can I Be A Slythindor?
By Angelee
Yayy.. chapter two. I really like this fic so far and I've gotten positive feedback.. so one with the story!
Cali's already met a lot of people, some that envy her, some that fancy her, some that don't quite know what to think.. and through all this, she's torn inside.. what will she tell Draco?
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"Oh." Cali blushed. "Sorry 'bout that."
"It's okay, I wouldn't have minded," he smirked.
Cali smiled but the smile quickly faded. "So.. I didn't get Sorted into Slytherin.."
"No, you didn't.." Draco replied.
Cali's eyes were downcast for a moment but then her face took on a look of anger. "Argh, it's just not FAIR!"
Draco looked a bit taken back. "What isn't?"
"Well, I know for a fact that you'd like me a lot better if I were in Slytherin. But why? Just because I'm in Gryffindor.." she sighed. "It's just.." she trailed off, thoughts furiously running through her head.
He sighed, sounding a bit frustrated. "To be honest… I'd like if you weren't in Gryffindor, but Cali," he placed his fingers under her chin, directing her eyes up to his. "I think… This doesn't mean I'll stop wanting to see you," he said, choosing his words carefully.
Cali looked up at him with pain and longing then told him, "I just don't see why it should be a big deal at all."
Then he moved his hand from under her chin to rest on her shoulder. "Cali.. it's just the way things are, the way they've been for as long as I can remember. I don't like those filthy Mudbloods, they shouldn't be here-" He stopped short. "You—you are pure-blooded.. right?" he asked, suddenly worried.
She smiled and said, "Yes, I am."
He sighed. "Phew. But that's how it is.. Slytherin and Gryffindor have never liked each other, even when my parents were here.. and I don't see anything wrong with it.."
She nodded, processing this information. "Well, if that's so.. I swear I'm going to find out why.. there better be a good reason."
He smiled at her as she looked straight into his eyes. She tentatively raised her own hand to stroke a strand of his silky, white-blonde hair that matched hers exactly in all but length. Draco always prided himself in keeping a certain kind of poise about him, and this generally entailed not allowing people to touch his hair, but something in her sparkling emeralds unconsciously tugged at his heart.
The crowd of students was thinning out as the prefects and professors sorted out the students. "Well.. we should get going.." Draco said. "To our respective Houses," he added in a softer tone.
Cali nodded and with one final look, they separated, Cali following some stray Gryffindors to Gryffindor Tower and Draco on his way to the Slytherin Dungeons.
After awhile, the lost group of Gryffindors found their way to the fat lady portrait, sighing in relief. But when the lady asked for the password, they all realized that they had no idea. Fortunately, a prefect came along shortly, on the patrol for lost Gryffindors.
When Cali arrived at the door for fifth year girls, she could hear talking inside. The person currently talking, she recognized, was none other but Hermoine.
"Even though she is in Gryffindor, I still don't completely trust her. I mean, she's taken a liking to Malfoy, and you'd think he'd hate her since she's not in Slytherin; she's in Gryffindor, the 'worst of them all'-"
"He must like her, too, then," another girl interrupted.
There was a pause and Hermoine agreed. "I suppose so. But doesn't she look like she's in Slytherin? She's got green eyes and her clothes.. hmm, I just realized that her hair is the exact same colour as Malfoy's!"
There was a gasp from the other girl, whose voice Cali didn't recognize. "You don't think.. she's part.. part.." the unknown girl stuttered.
"Part veela?" another unfamiliar voice finished.
"Yeah.." the first voice answered.
"Maybe, who knows," Hermoine said darkly then continued her earlier topic. "And seriously, she was wearing green and silver ribbons in that hair of hers AND a green tank.. she was sitting with Harry, Ron, and I on the train. I saw it before she put her robes on," she explained.
"Wow.. you're so smart, Hermoine," the girl said.
Hermoine shook off the girl's comment. "There's something else. Supposedly, she already knows spells without ever coming here. She must be smart, too."
"Yeah, she could be competition for top of our class."
There was an uncomfortable pause and Cali chose that moment to walk in.
"Why, hello, Cali," Hermoine greeted her, looking guilty.
'We were just talking about you,' Cali thought, scowling inwardly.
"Hey, Hermoine. And you two are..?"
"Lavender Brown."
"Parvati Patil."
"Ok, well, what's up?"
"Uhh.. we were just talking. Did you get lost or something?"
"Yeah, I mean, kinda.." She thought about how she probably wouldn't have been lost if she hadn't talked with Draco. "Um.. well, I followed a couple of other lost people and a prefect let us in with the password."
"I see.." Hermoine said suspiciously. "Well, we better get ready for bed, it's getting late."
"Okay.."
All three of them changed into their pajamas. Hermoine had a simple red and yellow plaid nightgown, Lavender wore a purple and blue patterned nightgown, and Cali wore a green camisole with pajama pants. The pants were white with green dragons printed on them.
"Did you know," Hermoine could not keep this comment to herself, "that green and silver are the Slytherin colours? And that the sign of Slytherin is a serpent?"
Cali looked down at herself and her eyes widened, along with Hermoine and Lavender's. "Well I saw their banners at dinner, but no, I didn't.. green has always been one of favourite colours."
"Hmm.." was all Hermoine said, but Cali could tell she was really suspicious of her now.
'Why couldn't she just stick to innocent little doggies and kitties,' Cali imagine Hermoine to be thinking.
Cali just stayed quiet. She was really starting to not like Hermoine quite as much as she had on the train, but decided that she would not get any sleep feeling mad.
So much for sleep. The slow breathing of Hermoine, Lavender, and Parvati could soon be heard, but Cali, on the other hand lay, wide-awake, thinking of one person..
She sighed. 'Why can I not stop thinking about him? I only just met him today… and these Gryffindors keep making it into a bigger deal than it is… geez.' She paused, letting her thoughts form slowly. 'It would all be different if I were in Slytherin, but obviously-' - she looked around at the scarlet and gold curtains around her bed - 'I'm not. Ugh, I just can't understand why Slytherin and Gryffindor hate each other. There must be some reason.. I'll find out,' she promised.
'He did say he still wanted to be friends though.' At that, she cracked a grin. 'And maybe that's a lot coming from him. But he would like me more of I wasn't in Gryffindor. Argh. It just isn't right. There better be a very good reason for all this..'
Her thoughts would not stop galloping round and round. In the end, after making sure the other three were fast asleep, she snuck out of the room. She walked down the stairs into the Common Room and sat down, staring at the fire that was still ablaze. After staring into it for awhile, she swore she could see Draco's face in the fire.
Then all of a sudden, the fire died out. She screamed in fright and almost immediately, there were footsteps. Cali wasn't sure she had a very good explanation for being out of bed at this time, so she did the first thing she could think of; she stumbled out the portrait hole, guided only by a thin beam of moonlight.
Once out in the hallway, the cold air hit her and she cursed forcefully for not bringing along a jacket. 'Well, I can't go back now, at least not for awhile,' she thought regretfully.
There wasn't much to do, besides walking around, so that's just what she did. Somehow, she found herself at the entrance to the Great Hall after walking down the stairs, which, thankfully, did not change while she was on them.
"Oh, just great. Why didn't I think of this before I left Gryffindor Tower? I DON'T KNOW THE WAY BACK!" she said to herself, and her voice carried a little more loudly than she had intended. She clapped a hand over her mouth, remembering a moment too late that it was in the middle of the night.
"And I'm not even supposed to be out here.." she moaned. "What am I supposed to do, sit out here till daylight? This is great, just great.."
Cali decided after awhile that it couldn't hurt much to try to find her way back. She attempted to retrace her steps. Soon, she noticed that the air was colder. With a huff of frustration, she turned to go back in the direction she'd come from when she almost bumped into something.
The offending object took his hood off, pulled a lantern out of his robes, and when her eyes adjusted, he grinned at her. It wasn't a thing she'd nearly bumped into; it was a person!
"DRACO MALFOY!" she screeched, forgetting that it was after hours again, "You scared the hell out of me!"
She could see him smirking. "Sorry, Cali, but may I ask what you're doing... out in front of the Slytherin Dungeons?"
She stared and after a moment, she gave a sigh of resignation. "Well, I'll be. I ended up in front of the dorms of the House of the most rivalry! Well, what do you know?"
They sat down and she started explaining herself, in lower tones this time, "Well, I couldn't get to sleep.. so I went down to the Common Room-"
"Too busy thinking of me?"
Cali rolled her eyes, her blush hidden in the semi-darkness. "That may have been part of it. But anyways, after awhile, the fire went out without warning so I screamed-"
"You've been doing a lot of exercising your vocal cords tonight?"
"Hey! It wasn't my fault!"
"That you ended up getting lost in the school after hours, you mean?" he interjected, once again, more as a statement than a question.
Cali glared at him, but he just grinned. She couldn't help but melt. "Draco…" She tried telling him off, but couldn't.
He smirked. "I rather know I'm irresistible."
She rolled her eyes again, catching his pompous expression in the flickers of the lantern. She lowered her voice to a whisper. " And you may be right about that."
He smiled at her and all of a sudden blurted, "Are you cold?"
She then realized that she was only wearing a camisole and pajama pants and that the Slytherin Dungeons must be lower in the school, for she was quite freezing by now.
She nodded sheepishly. "I forgot a jacket.."
"Here.." Draco put his arm around her, pulling his cloak around the both of them, and she smiled.
"Thanks…" Had Cali known Draco better, she would've been surprised at this show of kindness, or perhaps this lack of his normal selfishness.
He also smiled, void of a smirk, as she scooted closer to him. They sat down, backs against the cold stone wall. "Hey," he said, getting an idea, "do you wanna come in the Dungeons?"
She was about to answer when Draco's face, pale in the light of the lantern, went even whiter.
"I.. what is it?" She looked around and nearly screamed for the fourth time that night.
"Pro-professor Snape, I-" Draco started, but Snape, stepping into the moonlight, cut him off.
"If you happen to have a good reason to be up after hours, and I am most interested to hear it.. Draco, California, follow me." He then whirled around, holding his own lantern above his head, not leaving them any choice but to obey.
They followed Snape deeper into the school, to his office, Cali's eyes wide but Draco's calm. He knew Snape wasn't likely to give him any punishment, almost definitely so after a feasible explanation.
"He knows my name?" Cali hissed to Draco.
"I think everybody does."
She rolled her eyes. "You probably won't like Potions much, 'cause Professor Snape favours his House, the Slytherins, and bullies all the rest," Hermoine had said on the train, Cali remembered nervously. She had no more time to dwell upon it, for they had reached Snape's office. Draco entered first, then Cali.
"Mister Malfoy, Miss Drache, care to explain yourselves?" Snape asked.
"Well, you see,--" Draco and Cali started in unison. They stopped short, glancing at each other, then continued.
"I left the Common Room-" Cali said at the same time Draco said, "She left Gryffindor Tower-"
Snape looked quite exasperated. "Malfoy, you first," he commanded.
"Well," Draco said, looking up innocently at Snape, once again taking advantage of his professor's obvious favouritism, "Cali left her Common Room, feeling a slight sense of insomnia-" he grinned.
"I am NOT an insomniac!" she said, glaring at Draco.
"Silence!" Snape demanded. "Malfoy, continue."
"Okay, so I meant to say that she couldn't fall asleep, for she was too busy thinking of me-"
Though this was true, Cali hit Draco across the arm and said, rather calmly, "This is getting nowhere. Professor, may I continue?"
To everyone's surprise, Snape nodded slightly, and Draco rubbed his sore arm though Cali hadn't hit him that hard.
"I did leave Gryffindor Tower, and decided to take a walk around the school, hoping to get my mind off... things."
"I'm not a 'thing!'" Draco protested, feigning a hurt expression.
Cali glanced up uneasily at Snape, who spoke. "So you like young Mister Malfoy?" he asked bemusedly.
"Er.." Cali blushed as Draco tried not to snicker too loudly.
"Never mind that," Snape said, actually saving Cali of further embarrassment. "Leaving dorms after hours? Ten points from Gryffindor," he pronounced.
Cali remembered vaguely from the welcoming feast about the Inter-House Competition. She remembered enough to know that getting points off wasn't a good thing, but that wasn't the matter at hand.
"Professor, please don't take any points from Slytherin, 'cause if Draco hadn't been there to find me, I'd probably still be wandering the school," she said in a rush.
"Do calm down, Miss Drache, I wasn't planning on taking points from my own House," Snape said, his lip curling.
"Oh." Cali looked down, embarrassed again.
"Anything to add, Draco?" Snape asked.
"Nope, not really, Professor," Draco drawled.
"Then Draco, you can take Miss Drache back to Gryffindor Tower," Snape said, dismissing them. "And I better not find you two out after hours again," he hissed at their retreating forms.
Carefully shutting the door, Cali turned to Draco, expecting him to start for Gryffindor Tower. But he merely whirled around, grabbing her by the shoulders to prevent her from crashing into him, since she couldn't stop herself this time.
"Hey," he whispered, looking down into her curious eyes. "Snape said I could take you back to Gryffindor Tower."
"Yeah?" she said. "I heard him, too."
"Nooo," he said, laughing. "What I meant was, he said I could. So I don't have to, do I?"
She stared. "Well, no… but how am I supposed to get back on my own?" she asked indignantly. 'He wouldn't just leave me here in the dark would he?' she wondered. A voice in her head seemed to be saying, 'Sure he would.'
Draco laughed again. "You are so thick," he told her. "What I mean is that you should just stay here. With me."
Cali continued staring. "You mean.. in the Slytherin dungeons?"
Draco nodded, clapping a hand over her mouth. "Pipe down, won't you? If Snape hears us, he might possibly give me my first detention ever."
"Detention with you? I don't see any downside to that," Cali said without thinking. She then clapped her hand over Draco's who then removed his hand, turning slightly red.
He cleared his throat. "No, there isn't any downside," he said seriously, making Cali giggle, "but believe me, detention is not fun, boring, yes, but NEVER fun."
She nodded. "Whatever you say.. but.. am I allowed to even go in there?"
"No, not really," he said nonchalantly. "So, you coming or not? I guess if you really wanted to go back to those Gryffindors I'll take you," he said.
She smiled, making up her mind. "I think.. I'll stay with you," she said sweetly.
He grinned. "Come on, then." He lead her back to the entrance of the Dungeons, murmured something, the password she guessed, and they walked through.
Cali gazed about. Though the room was lit by only moonlight, she could make out the fireplace, a marble table, couches.. She took note of the smooth, polished black marble throughout the room, draped with rich green tapestries. The Slytherin common room did not have the same warm and genial vibe as the Gryffindor one, but she found herself admiring its sophisticated elegance.
"It's nice," she whispered, quietly and truthfully.
Draco nodded, waving an arm over the room. "Pick a couch, any couch, unless.. you'd like to come up and sleep in the dorms with me?" he smirked, grinning slyly at her.
She hit him on the arm again. "And what would the other guys would think?"
Draco considered this with a serious face. "Well, Crabbe and Goyle would do no less than goggle, but they'd never tell if I told them not to. As for the others, I could just," he shrugged, "hit them over the head with a broomstick and put a bottle of pills next to their beds. Explanations can wait till morning."
Cali suppressed a laugh. She seemed to have almost no control over her voice, which was quite unfortunate, considering they were up in the dead of the night. "Well.." she said, "I guess I should just pick a couch."
Then she shivered. Obviously, Draco no longer had his arm around her. He watched her for a moment then his eyes flickered with another idea.
"I could stay down here with you," he suggested.
Cali took on a look of mock surprise. "You weren't planning on it?!"
Draco played along. "Nope, never thought of it, really."
Cali smiled, rolling her eyes a bit.
"Well, then.." Draco led the way over to the couches, and plopped down gracefully (yes, it is possible, at least for Draco it is) on a rather large one. Cali promptly sat down next to him. He arranged himself against a corner of the couch, and she curled up next to him. After a moment's consideration, she mischievously moved to lay her head in his lap.
After they were comfortable, they carried on a conversation in whispers. Cali sighed. "You know we only met a few hours ago… but I feel closer to you than anyone else here..." she said.
Draco smiled, gazing down at her. He definitely admired her appearance, especially as the artificial moonlight glanced off her silvery hair and smooth features. "So tell me," he said, wanting to ask her the question that had been in his head since the Sorting. "Did you want to be Sorted into Gryffindor?"
At that, Cali's eyes narrowed. "Yes. The Sorting Hat told me it was between putting me in Gryffindor and Slytherin, and I told it that I didn't really have a preference since I figured I'd have friends in either House… though for a moment, while Hermoine was ranting about Slytherin, I didn't want to.. but then.. I met you." She paused.
"Then you wanted to again…?"
Cali smiled. "Guess so."
"But then.. you were put in Gryffindor."
Cali nodded.
"But..." Draco could not believe he was saying this. "You've probably heard this before, but you look like you should be in Slytherin!"
Cali smiled. "Yeah, I heard Hermoine saying stuff 'bout it before I went in our dorm."
"Does she like you?" Draco wondered.
"Nope," Cali said simply. "She was nice to me on the train, for good impression, I assume, but even then, before I heard her spill her suspicions to Lavender and Parva, whatever their names are, it was pretty obvious that she doesn't like me."
Draco snorted. "Don't worry about her, she's nothing but a filthy Mudblood. You don't need her."
"Mudblood?" she said, feeling quite peculiar as the word rolled off her tongue. "You mean Muggle?"
"Mudblood's a more accurate term," he answered.
She just nodded. Sometimes she felt like a 'Mudblood' herself; her parents had never told her anything of their past till she figured it out for herself.
"She's jealous," Cali stated bluntly.
"Jealous? I never thought of that one," Draco said. "Excellent, I'll add it to my 'Why I Hate Hermoine Granger' list."
Cali stared. "You have a list?"
"Yep, I've got thirty-four reasons and oh, thirty-five now."
"You.. oh wait." Cali realized she had been had.
"Hey, I just remembered something," she said suddenly.
"Wonderful, care to tell?"
She glared. "I remember Hermoine-'
"Don't say her name. It gives me a headache."
"Stop interrupting!" she hissed. "Now, she said that Snape is mean to everyone but Slytherins. But he didn't seem entirely nasty to me."
Draco's eyes widened. "Yeah, I thought he was being strangely nice to you. He let you speak before I finished!"
Cali rolled her eyes. "So why do you think he doesn't hate me?"
"Maaaybe," he drawled. "'cause you're cute?"
She blushed. "I'm sure, er, I'm hoping he's not like that." Her blush immediately turned into a shudder.
Draco laughed, trying to stifle a yawn, but to no avail. Cali looked up into his eyes, a sparkling silver colour now, and whispered, "You tired?"
He shook his head but let out another yawn. Cali giggled.
"Wait here," he told her, balling up his cloak to pillow her head as he got up. "I'll be right back."
Draco quickly disappeared into the darkness. She nodded feeling suddenly cold again. She sighed, sitting up and wrapping the cloak around herself. There was no doubt about it. California Drache was most definitely interested in Draco Malfoy.
A moment later, while Cali was rubbing her arms, trying to warm up inside the silky cloak, Draco snuck up behind her and grabbed her, nearly causing the entire couch to topple over.
Needless to say, Cali screamed.
"Shhh!" he hissed. He came back around the couch, a blanket draped over his shoulder and wearing his pajamas ('How cute!' Cali thought delightedly).
They settled themselves back on the couch and Draco pulled the blanket over them. He watched, somewhat mesmerized, as Cali undid the ribbons that had been sliding slowly down her hair all day. She ran her fingers through a couple of strands, though it looked like it had just been combed. He ran his own fingers through the hair cascading down her back.
He stopped suddenly. 'No way her hair's softer than mine!' he thought, shocked. Cali giggled, as if she knew what he had thought. But all his thoughts melted as she lay back against him. They smiled. Draco buried his face in her hair for a moment. She smelled faintly of raspberries.
Then, it was completely silent as they fell to sleep on the Slytherin Dungeons couch.
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Phew, it took me awhile to make the wording exactly how I wanted it.
Hope you're liking this so far.. I didn't realize Cali was somewhat of a "Mary-Sue"; actually, I didn't know WHAT a Mary-Sue was till I got the review about it. Truthfully, that's how I meant for her to be so I don't suppose it'll change much. Sorry if you wanted it changed. And thanks for the reviews!! It's a really great feeling knowing that people really like your fic.
Please tell me if you like this, if you think Cali's an okay character. Knowing that there's even one person out there who wants you to keep writing is a HUGE motivation. I'll keep working over the weekend!
Angelee