Four

Three hours. He'd been trapped in that store with Leda for three hours. He didn't see how it was possible that in that time the girl hadn't tried on every sample dress the shop carried although the shopkeeper assured him that she hadn't. In all that time his mind had begun to become numb to the subtle differences of the dresses—the waistline, the fullness of the skirt, the cut of the neckline. It had all seemed the same to him.

Of course, it hadn't been his job to offer advice on how the dress looked. Draco's job had been to sit outside the dressing room while Leda and an attendant got the dress on, not look horrified when she appeared, and whisk her around the shop to try out the suitability of the dress for dancing. After his dance, Leda would stand in front of the mirror for a long moment assessing the virtues and vices of each dress before disappearing back to the dressing rooms to begin the whole process again.

Draco kept his mouth shut on how she looked in the dresses unless he was asked. It was clear early on in the process that Leda didn't need kindly meant comments about how she looked. The attendant was just gushing over Leda while she stood looking at herself in the mirror. Draco had retaken his seat having performed his duty of sweeping the girl around the room and watched with amused interest as the attendant fluffed the gauzy fabric of the skirt and expounded on Leda's beauty in the dress.

"You look so grown up and…and regal in this one, miss!" The attendant said squatting to straighten the skirt after Leda had turned from side to side several times to see the back of the dress.

Leda stopped her assessment suddenly dropping her arms to the side heavily hitting the woman in the face not quite by accident. "That's enough," she said sharply as the woman fell back more stunned by the blow than hurt. "I won't be getting this one."

Leda picked up her skirts with both hands and glided majestically back into the dressing room. The attendant was left scurrying to join the girl and help her out of the dress. Draco chuckled silently. It was gratifying to see Leda show a little more of her Slytherin side and superiority. If she hadn't done something, he certainly would have to the simpering attendant.

In truth, Draco didn't know which dress she had decided to have made. Leda wasn't like most girls who'd he accompanied on a shopping trip. She was utterly silent, expecting this incident, beyond asking pertinent questions of the attendant about the dresses and the occasional irritated comments when the dress would cause her to stumble in Draco's arms while they swirled around the shop. On one of those occasions, she'd fallen into Draco's chest, and he'd gotten the great satisfaction of holding her weight in his arms before she regained her footing. She'd pushed away from him angry at the dress muttering curses back to the dressing room. It had been another case of her Slytherin side showing leaving Draco to smile in solitude awaiting the next selection.

Despite its being the longest three hours of his life, Draco couldn't remember more pleasurable ones up to that point. He'd rather enjoyed it. Leda was a fair dancer. He could tell that she'd not been taught, but she was a natural follower in this one thing at least. It was pleasant to hold her in his arms despite the knowledge that for now he wouldn't get to explore her thoroughly as he had with every other girl he'd held in a similar manner. She'd been genuinely funny to hear as she cursed the way a dress cut her or its difficultly in putting on, and there had been a few times she'd come out…she'd been breath taking even wearing a sample dress. He hoped she'd chosen one of the ones he'd liked. He'd only risked giving her his opinion on the ones that took his breath away unbidden. Yes, it had been a lovely afternoon.

Draco thought of all of this when he entered the Great Hall the following Monday morning. It was early. Very few students were sitting at the plate lined tables filled with eggs, oatmeal, and toast. Leda, however, sat towards the end of the Slytherin table hunched over a book, sitting beside Tracey, while feeding herself small bite of eggs with every turn of the page. Tracey was reading over some notes of her own, and Draco assumed they were preparing for the test scheduled in Ancient Runes that morning.

"Good morning, ladies," he said smoothly taking a seat across from Leda. "Studying at the last minute for a test is never a good sign," he said smiling at Tracey, the only one to look up from her work.

She smiled back with a saucy quirk of her eyebrow and answered, "I know. Professor Babbling is going to fail me for sure. I don't know why Leda's studying; she has the highest marks after Granger in that class."

"That, Tracey, is exactly the reason why I am studying," Leda said without looking up and turning the page of her textbook. "Second best is not good enough."

Tracey gave Draco a look which said, "I'd be happy with second best. Why can't she?" Draco nodded his head in understanding and flashed her a brilliant smile, although, he understood better than most the drive to be the best. He knew what it was like to live in the shadow of someone else who didn't deserve to stand there. He was beginning to expect things of Leda, and in this as all things so far she met or exceeded his expectations. Of course, Tracey would be content with second best. It was a fair sight better than where she stood at present. The poor girl had her uses, certainly, but she never could hope to reach the same level as Leda. Draco was only beginning to understand that level in a female himself.

Draco piled food on his plate as Tracey made dreamy eyes at him. She didn't return to her studying, but Leda hadn't acknowledged his presence yet. It was getting on his nerves that she so blatantly disregarded his favor to her by ignoring him all the time. He tried to make conversation with her a few times, but only Tracey would answer too eager to please him.

Finally, Draco bent forward and forced his face in Leda's view by laying his head nearly on the table at an awkward angle. Leda kept her eyes on her book determined to study her text thoroughly before class. Draco called her name several times without success until he slammed his hand down on the table causing everyone in the Great Hall to jump including Leda.

"What?" She demanded in an irritated tone.

"I've been trying to speak with you for ten minutes. The least you could do is look at me," he said straightening up and looking fiercely at the girl across from him.

"I'm studying, Malfoy. Nothing stands between me and my scores. Nothing."

"I asked you to call me, Draco," he reminded in a friendly voice thinly veiling his anger.

Leda closed her book with a loud thwack! and stood from her seat fluidly. "And I told you where I stand on first names. Good day," she said in a tightly control voice.

She turned and walked towards the large doors of the hall while Tracey called back that she'd barely eaten anything. Draco clinched his fists and counted to twenty before standing and walking after Leda. Tracey called after him, as well, but he didn't hear what she said.

Leda's long legs as shapely and lovely as they are were no match for Draco's. He caught up to her at the top of the staircase, grabbed her upper arm, and spun her around before she could protest.

"What is your problem, Vieson?" He demanded.

"You! You are my problem! Now leave me alone. I need to study," she replied in a dignified manner.

"I thought we were going to be friends."

"Did I say that? Did I ever say, 'Yes, Draco Malfoy, I will be your friend'?"

Draco was silent as he thought out his words carefully. "It was implied. I agreed to help you at Hogsmead, and you were going to be my friend."

Draco shook her roughly by the grip he had on her arm. When he was done, she smiled malignantly and pried his hand off her finger by finger.

"I used you, Malfoy. I took a page from the old book, and used you for my own purposes like you use girls. I never meant to be your friend, and I'm certainly not going to be now. Nothing you have to offer could interest me."

Draco smiled wickedly stepping so close to Leda that the barest of shifts between them had their robes brushing against one another. Leda was too proud to back down, and Draco was not above using blackmail if it suited him.

"That's not what you said Saturday," he breathed over her. Her face remained defiant and black, but he could see the fear in her lilac eyes. "What would happen to that carefully protected reputation if word got out that you spent the entire afternoon alone with me? What would people think if they heard you found certain attributes of mine very interesting then? Hmm?"

Leda opened her mouth to say something, stopped and then closed her mouth into a firm line while shooting daggers at Draco with her eyes. If looks could kill, he thought. "And just how would people hear about this?"

"It might just…slip by accident, of course, during a conversation."

"That would be very stupid of you, Malfoy. Something like that might just get you killed or worse."

She was quick. She was good, but Draco was better. She might have gotten the slip on him the last time, but when she looked down it was to find that Draco's wand was already drawn and pointed at her abdomen. Her wand was pointed again at his crotch, but they were truly at an impasse now.

She looked up wide-eyed in surprise. He smirked at her expression and triumphed. She hadn't expected that he would such a fast learner. That was his Ace in the hole. No one ever expected so much from him as he expected from himself. His father had taught him that much in life.

"Fine," she said returning her wand to its place inside her robes, and Draco followed suit. "I would just like to remind you that my grandmother is the richest witch in the country, Draco Malfoy. Cross me, and she'll hear about it.

"As you may know, she sits on several committees with your father. Your indiscretions widely celebrated here may not be taken so well at home if it were to just…slip by accident, of course, during a conversation."

Draco paled considerably at the thought. His father had been very clear that if Draco were to dabble in the fine selections at school he had better keep it under wraps. Lucious made it clear that if Narcissa heard anything about it or if he embarrassed his family with his conquests that a stringent punishment would be quick and very painful.

Leda stepped back with a satisfied smirk on her face as Draco sucked in a shaky breath. "What do you want?"

"Want?" She asked in an innocent voice. Then her features fell into restrained anger and her voice deepened. "I want you to leave me alone."

Draco shook his head as she turned and walked away. "No, that's the last thing you want, Leda Vieson." She paused four steps away but didn't turn around. "I've watched you. You've got no one in the whole world. You're completely alone, and I've seen the isolation and sadness on your face when you thought no one was looking. You want to be alone no more than anyone else." She turned her head slightly as though to look over her shoulder, but she stopped herself. "You've isolated yourself from everyone even Tracey—you're not really friends with her—and you hate it. You want a friend, a real one, and I'm trying to offer you one."

Leda waited only a moment after Draco had finished before leaving. She didn't look back, and she didn't say a word.

The next day Draco took an opportunity before dinner to sit and think by the lake. Other blokes, those who weren't blessed to be Malfoys, would have given up their schemes on Leda at this point. She'd carefully ignored him since their confrontation and hadn't shown a single second of weakening determination. Other blokes were not Draco Malfoy, however, although discouraged, he was not devoid of hope as of yet.

He'd been so sure of his estimation of her. He'd counted on his little speech to poke holes in that icy demeanor. That was what puzzled him. Where had he gone wrong in his observations? It had seemed so obvious. She kept people just far enough away that they couldn't really know her but close enough for Leda to appear normal. Had he misread the looks, the sad expressions, the longing in her big, violet eyes? He shook his head and sighed as Crabbe and Goyle laughed loudly at some sordid remark between them. No, he'd known he was right. It just hadn't worked. Why?

Crabbe and Goyle didn't understand the need to sit still and silent to think. Draco assumed that was because the two great lugs shared a brain the size of a walnut and had no use for thinking. They'd tried sitting beside him, but after only a few moments of silence one or both would start talking. Draco lashed out at them to shut up, but it wasn't long before Goyle started fidgeting. Draco had ordered them to go do something so he could think. They chose to throw stones into the black surface of the lake and see who could make the largest splash. It always surprised Draco how little it really took to amuse those two. He half-watched their antics as he continued to consider his problem.

There were many scenarios that played out in his head. Most of them included him being devastatingly patient and charming. Charming he could manage, but patience was not one of his virtues. The desired goal was still the same, though. He wanted Leda. He wanted her to fall head over heels in love with him so much so that she worshiped at the altar of Draco. He wanted her begging for his attention and fighting off other girls jealously. In short, he wanted to possess her—body, mind, and spirit. Then he would break her heart.

Of all the plans he thought through, not one provided for what did happen. A shadow fell over him where he sat on a fallen tree stump leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. The late afternoon sunlight added a great deal of unnatural length to the shadow, and Draco found Leda standing a fair distance away. She looked at him calmly with her delicate hands clasped before her. There was something very different about her. She managed to make their cursed school robes look elegant where none of the other girls were able. She wore them rather than letting them wear her.

Draco raised an eyebrow in question, and Leda stepped forward. "I wondered if I might speak with you."

Draco opened his clasped hands and indicated that she could proceed with a curious expression on his face. Now, what did she want with him? This was interesting. He would never have guessed that she would come to him like this.

"Will you walk with me?" She asked pausing only a moment before walking away from the castle along the lake's shore.

That was irritating. She assumed he would follow again like a lovesick puppy. Everything inside him was revolted at her assumption, but his curiosity was peaked. He stood begrudgingly and told Crabbe and Goyle to stay there. He followed after Leda cursing himself.

"What do you want?" He asked sourly.

Leda was different from other girls. Others would have drawn back at Draco's anger. His temper was legendary in his house…one of the many reasons he was called their prince. Not Leda, though. She was unfazed by his apparent anger and annoyance. She was calm and peaceful walking beside him with her hands clasped. She was unlike other girls, too, in that she didn't feel the need to fidget nervously or fill silence with unneeded speech. She reminded him of a quiet, gentle brook peaceful and serene. It relaxed him against his will.

"I want you to know," she began after a long silence with only their footsteps filling the void between them, "that this changes nothing. I don't trust you further than I can throw you. You're up to something, and I want no part in it. I'm not interested in being sucked into the drama that seems to follow you, Draco Malfoy. Remember that."

"How could I forget? You keep reminding me if what a horrible person I am."

He tried to keep the bitterness he felt out of his voice, but Leda looked at him for a moment before returning her gaze to the ground before them saying quietly, "You reap what you sow."

"Sage wisdom," Draco replied with a snarl. "Say, you dispense advice often enough. Do you ever practice what you preach?"

"Point well taken," she nodded. "But we're not here to discuss that."

"Then, what are we to discuss?"

"You."

She said nothing more as they continued along. Draco was determined to remain quiet until she said whatever it was she'd come to say. The restraint made him jittery. That feeling was amplified by the exaggerated stillness walking beside him. He put his hands in his pockets needing some place to hide their nervous, excited movements.

"I've been thinking about our…conversation," Draco snorted and she looked up disapprovingly, "yesterday." Draco would hardly call it a conversation, but Leda's look expressed both that she understood his criticism and begged him to just go with it. He obeyed. "You don't have to admit or agree to anything, but I've thought about it ever since. I got the impression that the consequences of your family finding out about your…pursuits," she cut her eyes at him to cut off another snort, "would be greater than a simple punishment—reduced allowance, grounding, and such."

She paused to give him opportunity to comment. Draco clenched his jaws and said nothing.

"That's what I thought," she continued watching him carefully. "From your reaction then and now, I'd wager that it would be at best very bad and at worst illegal."

Draco looked at her surprised. Could she know? His heart raced inside his chest. If she knew, their entire family could be ruined. How could she have guessed? Had he given it away?

She judged his reaction and nodded. "Hmm-mmm. That's what I thought."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied in a falsely snide voice.

"Of course," she returned nodding once more. "I will not tell, Malfoy. I give you my word. I will also keep my mouth shut to my grandmother about your escapades."

Draco stopped as stunned as he was. She was offering to keep his secrets without any expected repayment. She knew or guessed that his father was not above administering the Cruciatus Curse on his son when he disobeyed. That reality made him pale yesterday as well as today. Draco had been raised to believe that beatings and illegal curses were the only appropriate way to punish a child. The Malfoy name had never been tarnished in its history, and Lucious made sure that his son adhered to strict standards to maintain the family name. If Draco stepped a toe out of line, he was given a sound whipping with his father's notorious cane. If he dared do worse then, the excruciating pain of the Cruciatus Curse was his reward.

Not only was Leda telling him that she would keep this secret, she was also promising to keep his antics a secret as well. She was willing to give up a bargaining chip to protect him from his father. That was very un-Slytherin-like. How strange?

"What do you want?" He asked suspiciously. No Slytherin would give up an advantage without demanding something in return.

Leda turned to face him and looked him carefully in the eyes. "Nothing. I only wanted you to know that you didn't have to worry about it coming out from me, but you should be careful, Malfoy. If you keep it up, it will come out from another quarter."

"You expect me to believe that you're just doing this out of the goodness of your heart?"

"I don't expect you to believe anything, but it is the truth. The unkindness of others has made you believe that kindness itself doesn't exist."

"Not from a Slytherin. Not from you," he remarked in a quiet voice. They were silent for several minutes as they continued their walk around the lake.

It was a beautiful autumn afternoon. The sun was beginning to sink, and there were birds flying south in preparation for winter. Draco noticed even the giant squid broke the surface of the deep loch to enjoying the remaining hours of sunlight. Its large tentacles flew above the surface of the water like banners in a gentle breeze. It was quaint and picturesque. Something inside of Draco told him he shouldn't enjoy it, but he did.

"Why?" He asked her at last.

It was Leda's turn to pause her step, but she turned to face the setting sun looking at the fiery orb over the black lake. "Because you were right about me. Because you were the first to notice."

"So you are in need of a friend?" He asked trying to hold back the excitement he felt. Here was progress.

Leda shook her head and looked at him over her shoulder. "No. And I would warn anyone who dared take that place, that it would be dangerous folly to continue."

She returned her gaze to the lake, and Draco stepped towards her slowly. "What if that person," he asked standing now behind her, "heard your warning and didn't care?"

"Then I would say that person was immensely stupid." She crossed her arms over her chest. "You've been warned."