Hey everyone! Another week, another chapter! I know that it's probably annoying to hear yet another author asking for this, but just think of what you would want for your story/ies and you'll understand: Please please please review! It always makes me feel very happy when I see a new reviewer (or a returning reviewer) especially the one's that give constructive criticism! I love those ones! I really do... Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to XxOnlyanOutcastxX because she is the one that told me it would be nice to see a Draco POV chapter (*hint hint*). I'm going to see how this one goes as to whether I do another one for him or not. Thanks for reading, and please review!
gotalife
Chapter Nine
"Draco!" A knock sounds outside my door. I open my eyes and groan. The water outside my window is still pitch black- which, granted, isn't much darker than normal but it's still early.
"What the hell do you want?" I yell through my pillow.
"It is quarter to seven, Draco."
"What? What the hell!" I scramble off my bed to where I left my clothes for today and then down the stairs to the great hall for food. I quickly grab a piece of toast and cram it into my mouth. I look up from my plate to find myself staring in the direction of the Gryffindor table. A girl has just walked up to her bushy haired friend. Her long, messy, wavy black hair resting lightly along her back as she talks to her friend.
It takes me a second, but, I finally notice that Hermione, the bushy haired friend, is staring at me. Andi follows her gaze to me and her eyes widen when she realizes it's me her friend is staring at.
"Excuse me," I excuse myself from Crabbe and Goyle's company and walk down the hallway. After only a few seconds, footsteps follow me down the corridor. I turn, right before a corner, to face bushy haired Hermione Granger.
"Malfoy!"
"Granger," I answer in a mildly bored tone.
"Where did you get that jacket?"
"Back from someone," I mumble quietly and quickly.
"Where?" She didn't understand what I said.
"I got it in a store in Diagon Alley."
"No! You didn't!"
"Yes. I did."
"I have seen that jacket before."
"Yeah, on me."
"In a girl's room."
Oh shit.
"I don't know whose jacket you saw in her room, but it most definitely was not mine!"
She snaps out her arm, grabs hold of my wrist and lifts it up to her nose. She takes a quick sniff of my jacket.
Hermione is still holding my arm, looking shocked- her mouth is hanging open and her eyes are wide- while I remain as calm as possible, though I can still feel my eyes widen a little bit.
Her voice is deadly low when she talks again, "Where did you get the jacket back from?"
I lower my voice too, "It's mine. It has been with me."
Hermione spins around and stomps off back in the direction of the great hall, I turn back down the hallway. After a couple seconds, I hear footsteps that stop a few feet behind me.
"She knows it was me," Andi's voice flows through the hall.
I stop and spin around to face her, "How?"
"She saw it in my trunk on the night of Slughorn's party."
My mouth falls open in shock.
"I thought by the time I gave it back she would have forgotten. She knows you were in my room, too," she continues
"How?"
"Well... She doesn't know it was you."
"Oh yeah, that's a lot better!" I yell sarcastically.
"What? You thought you could just go on with your pathetic existence, pretending that nothing ever happened? You thought no one would ever find out anything? Tough luck." Her eyes dart around the hall and her hand into her pocket. She takes something out and lifts her arm. She throws a rock at me- I assume it hit the intended mark, right beneath my left eye. Then she turns back the way we came and storms off.
Anger flashes through me and I yell after her, "Detention!"
She stops promptly and spins around, "What?"
"You heard me!"
"Can you even give them!" More a yelled statement than a question. Apparently, she has forgotten the new set of rules.
"Yes. Eight o'clock tonight."
"Whatever!" She yells at me before storming off back down the hall again in a similar to the way Hermione had.
I sit and wait in the classroom for about an hour, until nine-thirteen exactly, before Andi finally shows up for her detention.
"You know, I have other things to do than waste my time waiting for you," I declare before she has a chance to speak.
"Mighty nice of you to point out," she snaps back sarcastically.
"You're late."
"You should have started with that. And, I shouldn't have to be here." She is still standing in front of where I am leaning against the teacher's table.
"You threw a rock at my head."
She lifts her hand to try to muffle her laugh.
"Something funny?" I sneer.
"It was a pebble. And, you deserved it."
My temper starts boiling and she looks like she realizes that another snide remark could send me on another of my lovely yelling sprees.
"How could I possible deserve that? I barely said anything!" My voice starts rising.
"I can't believe you! You are such a prick!"
My breath catches for a moment but then I quickly pick up my bag and storm out of the room. I listen to hear if she follows me, but I hear no footsteps and my stomach drops. What is wrong with me? This is ridiculous, I don't care about her. I know it's not true, but sometimes you have to try to convince yourself that what you feel is wrong so it goes away. It has always worked for me before.
I reach the common room entrance in a couple minutes, "Pure blood." It opens to reveal the passage and I walk right through the common room to my room and sit down on my bed looking out into the lake. Some fish swim by, but that's it.
I wake up in the morning feeling a strange sense of loss. Weird. I quickly pick up the clothes for the day and head upstairs to the great hall. Crabbe and Goyle are already seated at the table when I arrive, so I sit close by to eat my food.
I look up halfway through my meal to find the same long-wavy-black-haired girl walking into the great hall with her bushy haired friend. She takes a seat at the Gryffindor table next to Finnigan- who looks at her with puppy eyes, which makes me feel sick. Right as the food appears before them on the table, she looks up across the room. Her brilliant blue-green eyes connect with mine, making it quite obvious that I was looking in her direction, before she breaks her gaze to look at Seamus, who has started talking to her.
A weird feeling enters the pit of my stomach as I watch them talk for a few more seconds. She smiles and laughs along with whatever Seamus Finnigan is saying. I look away, gulp down the rest of my food, excuse myself, and head up the flights of stairs for the seventh floor hallway painting of Beetle the Bard. The problem with getting into the room is that you have to want something. And, as much as I want to live, I don't want to hurt anyone. I'm tired of trying different ways to get Dumbledore, so calling the Death Eaters is my only choice. Otherwise, I'll die.
And, that is the problem that I encounter when I walk three times in front of the entrance to the hidden room. It doesn't appear immediately, and when I walk in, there is nothing. Anywhere. I walk further into the room presented to me. There are blue-green drapes covering the walls, emerald green and crimson objects scattered around. Everything in here reminds me of Andi.
I don't understand it. This isn't what I was asking for! I was asking for a room that I need- not this! I'm not dying over blue-green drapes!
I storm out of the room and down every flight of stairs to the entrance of the castle. I walk out into the early morning air. If I'm not going to get into the room, I'll just go to class then, I decide as I walk back to the entrance.
I storm all the way to Defense class and take a seat near the back. As I sit, everyone- aside from the black haired Andi- turns to stare at me. Potter and Weasley are staring back at me with smirks on their faces, I ignore them.
"Come see me after class, Mister Malfoy."
Everyone staring back at me laughs briefly, but Andi has stayed in her non-respondent place the entire time. Snape's lecture on the history of the forbidden curses passes quickly after the students staring back at me are threatened with detentions if they don't pay attention. I can see him glance at Andi's still non-respondent position as he harps out the orders.
At the end of class, I sit for a minute in my seat and watch Andi pack up and leave, and then I pack my own bag and head up to where Snape is impatiently waiting for me.
"You were a very impertinent distraction to most of the class when you walked in fifteen minutes late."
"Yeah, I know. Only one person didn't turn around though, so I wouldn't say it was most of the class- more like all but one."
"Yes, A- Miss Irbane has finally decided to practice some self-control."
I nod in agreement.
"Don't let that happen again. You are dismissed."
I turn and walk briskly out the door. Noticing, on my way out, Potter and Weasley are standing feet from the door speaking quietly to one another. I ignore them and head off my own way.
By February fourteenth, it's like someone has put a charm on all the girls in the castle- making them giggly, flirtatious, and more air-headed than usual. A few exceptions, of course.
Pansy Parkinson has been the worst of the flirtatious girls in Slytherin, her normally laid back snobbish demeanor has been shed in favor of the ultimate flirt. I ignore it, of course. It makes me uncomfortable to hang around with all of the Slytherins that know this is my normal "season", but this year I have decided not to take advantage.
When the gates are officially open to couples going to Hogsmeade for Valentine's day, I slip out without attracting any attention and head for the Hog's Head.
Sitting in a booth seat, when I arrive, is Andi. I grab a butterbeer from the counter and take a seat across from her.
"Hey Andi."
She looks up from her butterbeer briefly, then back down, and says, "My birthday is in twelve days."
"Uh, okay."
She looks up at me again, a ghost smile on her lips, "Not gonna say happy early birthday, huh?"
"I'll say happy birthday in twelve days. What are you doing here, without your friends?"
"They're used to me being here."
"Looking sullen?"
She blinks up at me again, "Do I? Really?"
"Weren't going for it, eh?"
She arches her eyebrow, "Sure."
"Are you not one of the hyper-flirt girls on Valentine's day?"
"I try not to," she fingers the mug in front of her, tracing an imaginary design on the clear surface.
A strand of her raven black hair falls out of place, dancing temptingly in front of her face.
"Why? Because you're afraid Seamus might ask you out?"
She looks up at me, a startled expression on her face.
"So that's a yes?"
She stands up abruptly, shakes her head and dashes out of the pub, grabbing her coat on the way out. I blink in confusion, drain my cup, grab my jacket and head slowly back up to the castle.
Exactly ten days later, I walk into the same pub around eleven-thirty- which is, admittedly, fairly late. The lateness is the reason I am expecting no one from school to be there, especially not the almost-birthday-girl. I grab my mug from the bartender and head over to her, slipping into the seat in front of her.
"Happy birthday, Andi."
She looks up, a little startled, "Thanks. But, it's not my birthday yet."
"Yeah, a full half-hour to wait. Not close at all."
"Exactly," another ghost smile crosses her face quickly.
We sit in relative silence until the clock in the corner of the room trills midnight.
"Happy actual birthday, Andi."
The right side of her mouth tugs up in a half-smile, "Thank you, Draco."
"You're welcome."
She laughs after a second.
"What?"
Another short laugh, "Did you get me anything?"
My mind goes blank for a moment and the words just flow out on their own, "Well, no. But, I can definitely do something for you," I lift my eyebrow suggestively.
She looks pensive for a moment, and then, very seriously, she says, "Yes. Okay."
I can feel my whole face fall in shock when she agrees, my mouth actually falls open.
"Close your mouth."
I close my mouth, but continue to stare at her incredulously.
"Finish your drink and let's go," she stands and walks over to the coat rack, grabbing her jacket and staring back at me.
I gulp down the rest of my butterbeer, and follow her over to the jackets. She hands me mine impatiently.
Merlin, how many drinks did she have before I came?
She starts the walk back to the castle at a brisk pace, me following quickly behind her. Once we reach the castle, she carefully makes her way up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room, making sure to keep quiet all the way up. She quietly wakes up the portrait and says the password. The portrait is still not happy about me entering the common room, but Andi doesn't give up until she lets us both in.
Andi petrifies the stairs on our way up through the common room. This is definitely something I never thought I would do: go up the stairs to the girls' rooms in the Gryffindor tower with Andi at midnight on the night before her birthday. She pulls my arm and starts laughing quietly all the way up the stairs to her room. And, when she pulls me inside and quietly closes the door behind her, she pulls me down to her and kisses me. A thought forms in the back of my mind and she voices the same thing moments later:
"I thought we said we weren't going to do this," she says as she takes a breath.
"This is a one-time thing then," I answer before kissing her neck and then her lips. Her fingers play at the hem of my black T-shirt and she snakes one of her hands underneath it, then she pulls it up over my head. Leaning down into her kiss, I fumble with the buttons on her shirt. She shrugs it off as we back across the room to her bed.
"In my bed. Cool," she pants as she falls back onto the bed, pressing her lips to mine and wrapping her arms around my neck, pulling me down against her.
I wake up the next morning in her bed. One time thing, I remind myself. I pull on my pants and shirt and stare down at her sleeping form. She looks so beautiful. More so than she would ever think.
"I shouldn't have done this," I say quietly to myself. I shouldn't have done this. I wipe my eyes before they start to tear up. "I can't do this, Andi, you deserve so much better."
Especially on your birthday, I think to myself.
She groans and shifts a little under the sheets. It makes me want her so much more, but instead I back away from her to the door.
"Bye Andi," I open the door, still the stairs and run out of the Gryffindor common room. Luckily it's still early so no one is up.
Merlin, I'm in love with a Gryffindor! At first, I'm not sure it was me that thought that, it sounds like it came from somewhere else. But, when I realize it was, I'm not shocked or horrified, I just feel scared and extremely happy for the first time in a long time. Of course, fear usually wins precedence.