Draco wasn't happy. Not only had he spent the day as a girl, all the girls were sniggering at him and dropping hints how he looked better as a girl…and that he should consider keeping it.
He was just walking outside with Harry and complaining to him about Kaitlyn and Hermione, with Harry's mouth duck taped shut to prevent him singing, when a large red bird swooped down and grabbed Draco by the shoulders and flew off with him into the forest.
The bird dropped him in a clearing and then landed on the ground opposite him. Kaitlyn stood up.
"I haven't seen you change like that for years. What did you bring me here for?" he asked her in confusion.
"To talk, nothing more. But first. Drink this. Seeing you as a girl is just too weird. This is the antidote." She handed him a purple vial.
"You've changed your tune." He said and forced down the liquid which was very sour and handed back the vial. "I would have thought you would be overjoyed at seeing me as a girl. It's the ultimate humiliation for me."
"No, I'm done playing games. I'm calling a truce. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss you. I miss what we had."
Draco looked surprised and wrong-footed. "What brought all this on?"
"Having to write that article for the Prophet. The true account behind the story of us. Well it made me realise that I never really got over you. You're a hard guy to forget, Draco." She sat on the floor miserably.
"But then why did you help the girls?"
"You know me, girl power forever."
"Ah."
"So now what do we do?"
"About what?"
She looked at him like he was a complete imbecile. "This prank war we're in."
"You want to call it off? I could call a truce." Draco tried not to sound relieved. He was getting sick of losing to the girls.
"I think I should leave."
"Because that's your answer to everything?" Kaitlyn stayed quiet. "That's what you did last time. You ran away from everything. You ran away from me."
"Yes I ran, and you didn't come after me."
"Did you want me to?"
Kaitlyn looked down and nodded. "Yes. Call me a fool but I actually thought you would."
"I didn't know that you wanted me to. I thought you hated me."
"No. I've never hated you."
"Then what about Hermione?"
"I only did it to see if you could feel what I did. I was in so much pain, I couldn't cope with it. Hermione actually came up with the plan. None of it was real. We just made it look like it was."
"I'm sorry I cheated. I know I never said it but I am sincerely sorry. I shouldn't have spoilt what we had."
"No, you shouldn't have."
"Ok, I was kinda hoping you would sympathise."
"I'm not going to lie to you Dragon. Yes you did screw it up, and yes you screwed me up."
"You called me dragon. No one calls me that anymore."
"I was always the only one who called you that."
"How did I screw you up? From what I can tell you're the one of us who's doing better for yourself."
"Shows how little you know me. I'm miserable. I have to work 24/7 to stop myself from thinking about you. I went all the way to Romania to put distance between us." She got up and started to pace before him, as if she was still having to put distance between them. "I work as a dragon handler, with Charlie Weasley. Dragons. Bam! I'm back to square one. Dragons. You. Heck! I'm eighteen and I'm in full time work. I should still be at school."
"But you know it all."
"School is more than that. Yes I'm clever, but I never got a prom. I never got a Yule Ball, not one. I don't know what's happened to my friends at the Academy. I missed out on the whole experience. I had to grow up alone. My father doesn't understand me, and I don't understand him. Did you know it's been four years since I've been home? I don't have a home anymore. I've got nowhere to go, no one to turn to. I put on this thing that I'm strong, but I'm not." She sank down on a log and hid her head in her hands. "I'm not. And I can't do this anymore. I can't be near you anymore, know that it's over and that it won't happen again…that we won't happen again. I'm leaving. Being around you…it's too much." A few tears rolled down her arms.
"Where will you go?" Draco hadn't moved.
"I may as well just let Voldemort find me."
"No. Do you know what you're saying? Do you know what he'll do to you? He'll make you a Death Eater! Or he'll kill you. And knowing your history with him he's more likely to do the latter." He paused as realisation hit him. "But you know that, don't you?"
"You were my reason for living Draco. Now that I know it's thoroughly over I don't have that reason anymore. One of the reasons I came here was to see if we could still happen, but we can't."
"Then why did you prank us so horribly?"
"I don't know. To get back at you? To show that I was here for a reason. So they wouldn't send me away, so I could see more of you. Take your pick."
"I'll take that last one." Kaitlyn looked up at him in surprise. He smiled at her.
"Why must you joke about it? That's it, I'm going back to Romania. Take that path it'll get you back to the outskirts of the forest." She rose to leave but he grabbed her hand.
"I wasn't joking, Kate." He spun her around and caught her, pulling her closer.
"Is this really happening?" she whispered.
"You bet your ass it is!" he laughed and then closed the gap between them, pulling her closer into their first kiss in years.
