Thanks so much to the_mischevious_pixie, Madtala Bird That Flies At Dawn, Linzerj and SexyFireBendingNinja for reviewing and giving me support – it's good to know that I'm doing a little better than original author of this fanfic. This is for all you guys!
Chapter Two
I was woken up the next morning in exactly the same way as I have been woken up every day for the past seven years: a pillow smacked me in the face. Groaning, I tossed it on the floor, and barely closed my eyes again when this time a green converse hit me square in the forehead. Damn, but Raven was a good shot: she had to be to be a Chaser on the Slytherin quidditch team.
"Wake up, sleepyhead, or Snape's gonna grill and eat you for breakfast!" Raven grinned wickedly at me in the mirror as I rolled out of bed, still wrapped up in my duvet on account of how the Slytherin girls' dorm room was always so cold, even in the summer. Peering into the mirror through the eerie green light, I pulled my hair into a messy bun.
"You do realise that it's the weekend, right?" Raven drawled as I fumbled around for my school clothes. I paused for a second and then glared at her.
"Oh, very funny Raven."
"It was," Raven beamed, outlining her eyes with my kohl pencil. "I love the way you over-react whenever I mention 'Snape'."
"Yeah well, you know how much that guy creeps me out." I complained, slipping a woollen green jumper over my head and picking out a fresh pair of jeans.
"Still funny."
"Is not."
"Is so!"
"So fucking childish." I growled, snatching the kohl pencil out of her hand.
Raven's mouth twitched. "Touché. Someone got out on the wrong side of the bed."
"Shut up!"
"Oi, it's thanks to me that you even got out of bed at all!"
I didn't even grace her with an answer, instead drawing a massive black line down her face and then legging it out of the girls' dorm to avoid immediate total annihilation.
After Raven chucked both her converses down the stairs at me and fixed her make-up, we both headed for the Great Hall.
"Sooo," Raven linked her arm through mine, the smell of bacon and eggs coming ever closer. "Anything you want to tell me?"
I feigned innocence. "Like what?"
She scoffed. "Oh come on, like Draco Malfoy finally talking to you after a six-year wait?"
"It wasn't that momentous…"
"Pur-lease, you've had a crush on him since you first laid eyes on his smarmy little face. Just because I don't like him doesn't mean that I don't see these things!"
"I do not!"
"You totally do – you want to shag the arse off him!"
I rounded on her. "I do not want to shag the arse off Draco Malfoy, kapeesh?"
"That's good," Came an all-too familiar voice. "Because I'd rather not have you anywhere near the vicinity of my arse, either now or ever."
Oh, shit. Shir, shit, SHIT… Cheeks burning, I turned slowly round. "Hello Malfoy." I said in what I hoped was a level voice.
"Hello, Ebony." His eyes bored into mine. I felt flustered, hot and embarrassed: dammit, why did this have to happen to me? I felt Raven nudge me and say that we needed to go to breakfast; I realised that I'd been staring at Malfoy for far longer than necessary. Breaking eye contact I went to go into the Great Hall.
"So, apparently they're getting Caldron Fire to play in Hogsmead." Malfoy said suddenly. Thrown, I turned to Raven for guidance: she just gave me a knowing wink and walked into the Great Hall, leaving me behind. I looked at Malfoy, trying to figure out where the conversation was going. I was also trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about.
"Uh…who is Caldron Fire?"
He looked at me like I'd grown two heads. "Caldron Fire is not a 'who' it's a 'what'. Caldron Fire is a band – one of the best bands in the known wizard world – although I expect if you've never heard of them you're not going to be interested."
"Whoever said that I wasn't interested?" I fumbled for something to say that wouldn't make me look like an idiot – well, at least not as much of an idiot as I looked right now. "What style of music do they do?"
Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Some idiots who can't tell good music from ridiculously awful think they sound a bit like Good Charlotte, some muggle rock band."
I brightened at the comparison. "Good Charlotte? Oh I'll probably like Caldron Fire then, I love Good Charlotte's stu – " And then I remembered who I was talking to. Shit.
Malfoy raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Seriously? You listen to muggle bands?" I refused to look at him, to see the mocking sneer spread across his face. I hoped that he would just say something cutting and leave; the least I could expect from him before he spent the rest of our time here making my life hell. His response surprised me: forcing my chin up with his forefingers, he gave me a small smile. "I suppose I'd better educate you in some proper music, seeing as all you like right now is dirty muggle trash."
Forgetting the insult, I stared blankly back at him. Was he…was he being serious?
My lack of response made his smile fade slightly. "Ebony, do you want to go and see Caldron Fire with me or not? Because generally people require an answer to that kind of question, and gaping at me like a goldfish isn't exactly a 'yes' or 'no'?"
I blinked and quickly closed my mouth. I went through a dozen different replies in my head, finally replacing "Yes, I'd love to." with "Sure, sounds cool."
Malfoy nodded, and all at once a faint feel of shyness seemed to radiate off him, just like outside the potions classroom in the dungeons the day before. "I'll see you at eight in the Entrance Hall: father said he'd gotten permission from Professor Snape for us to leave the school." He seemed unsure of how to end, so he just said "See you later." and went into the Great Hall.
I stood there for a few seconds, trying to take it all in. A date with Draco Malfoy, who would've thought it? But pretty soon, excitement turned to panic as a single question resounded in my mind.
What the hell was I going to wear?
