"What are you doing up here Lils?" a voice said from on top of a ledge of the balcony.
Lilia looked up to see icy blue eyes staring down at her.
"Well, when I was here before I would come up here to think and clear my head," she said turning away from him to stare at the stars once more.
Draco jumped down from the ledge and landed right next to her. He turned her to face him. She looked up into his icy blue eyes once more, and she could see a hint of a sparkle in them.
"What's on your mind Lils?" Draco said softly, caressing her cheek with his coarse hands from years of Quidditch practice.
"It's nothing," she said looking down towards the ground.
"It didn't seem like nothing when you showed up," he said. "It looked like you were about to cry."
"It's just stuff I need to figure out on my own," she said turning her head slightly, still looking towards the ground.
Draco gently lifted her chin to where her eyes met his. "You know you can tell me anything."
Lilia looked into his eyes, almost into his soul, the corner of her lip slightly raised. "I know I can, but trust me, this I need to work out for myself."
He leaned down to her, his face inches away from hers. "I believe you."
A light breeze kicked up sending the scent of tart apple wafting over Lilia. Her heart pounding so hard against her chest, she was surprised he couldn't hear it. Her eyes never left his, until his slightly chapped lips met hers, then she closed her eyes taking in his kiss. One of his hands entangled itself in her hair, while the other pulled her into him. She could feel his heart beating as her chest pressed up against his.
Her thoughts, again, raced to her feelings. This was the second time in one night that she was kissed by someone she had some kind of feelings towards. She just didn't know who she had stronger feelings towards.
After mere seconds, they broke apart from one another.
"I have been wanting to do that ever since you came to the manor," Draco said.
Lilia smiled at him, then looked at her watch, her eyes suddenly enlarging.
"It's almost ten!" she blurted. "We're going to get into so much trouble."
"I'm a Prefect, so it's okay," he said grabbing both her hands to try to calm her down.
"But I'm not," she said calmly. "Technically, you could give me detention."
"I would never do that to you Lils," he said. "But we should be heading back to the common room."
Lilia reached for her bag, but Draco snatched it up and slung it over his shoulder.
"I could've handled my own bag," she huffed.
Draco chuckled as they started making their way out of the Astronomy Tower. "Deal with it."
They walked along a corridor, leading them to the staircases that would take them down to the dungeon. Draco suddenly stopped, grabbed Lilia's arm, swinging her behind a large statue. He pressed his body up against hers, in a protective sort of way.
"What are you doing? Get off me!" Lilia exclaimed, trying to push Draco away from her.
"Shh!" Draco whispered. "Listen."
Lilia listened, as Draco said, and heard an evil cackle followed by: "Silly, willy, kiddies, out after curfew. Come out, come out wherever you are! Peesive wants to play!"
"Peeves!" Lilia whispered.
"Silly, willy, kiddies. Come out, come out wherever you are! Peesive wants to play!"
Peeves cackled mischievously.
Draco pressed himself closer to Lilia, using his whole body to shield her from whatever Peeves had planned for them if they were to reveal themselves.
Peeves' taunting and cackling continued, but got softer and softer. After five or so minutes, they could hear nothing anymore. Draco leaned back and peered around the statue, still leaving his lower body pressed against Lilia in case he needed to quickly shield her again.
"I think we're good," Draco said still keeping his voice low.
They slowly made their way out from behind the statue, keeping an eye out for Peeves. They quickly made their way down the corridor and down a couple flights of stairs. They started down another corridor.
"Thank you for protecting me," Lilia finally said, making sure they were far enough away that Peeves wouldn't come after them. "How did you hear him before me?"
"Years and years of practice," Draco said smirking. "And you are welcome, Lils."
They walked a little bit further on down the corridor. Lilia was thinking about some homework that she needed to finish up before going to bed, when she felt fingers intertwine with hers. She looked down to see Draco's hand clasped with hers. She looked up at him, he was looking straight ahead as they continued to walk, but he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. They made their way all the way back to the common room, hands laced together.
The common room was empty by the time they got to it. Lilia was just about to head to her dormitory when Draco squeezed her hand and pulled her into a spin back into him. She landed chest to chest with him, staring into those icy pools of his. Him spinning her reminded her of her dream.
"You almost forgot your bag," he said.
"Oh, right," she said taking her bag from his shoulder. "Well, goodnight Draco."
She turned to leave, but he spun her around, lips colliding with hers. There was so much heat and passion in just the few seconds of the kiss that it left Lilia breathless when they pulled apart.
"Goodnight Lils," Draco said almost breathlessly.
"Goodnight," she said smiling at him and she turned to head to her room.
She collapsed on her bed moments later. She quickly finished up her Divination essay, before starting on her essay for Herbology on how to successfully grow Rue. She fell asleep, quill still in hand.
Lilia awoke the next morning with a little bit of ink smeared across her face. She quickly went to the bathroom and washed it off before returning to grab her uniform to change into. She looked around and she was one of the last ones up this morning, except for Ariel, who was still snoring lightly in her bed. Lilia didn't know whether to wake her or not to head to breakfast, so she just left.
Once inside the Great Hall she made her way over to the almost full Slytherin table and sat down next to Draco.
"Someone was up late last night," he said, while she grabbed some milk and a couple cinnamon rolls.
Lilia yawned then replied, "Yeah, I was working on some homework. Finished the Divination essay that's due today, and started on the Herbology essay due tomorrow."
"You're on top of things," he said grabbing her hand that was sitting on her lap and lacing his fingers with hers.
She quickly looked at their joined hands then up to him and gave him a gentle smile. She continued to eat her breakfast one handed and made small talk with those around her. Ariel soon joined them grabbing a plate of pancakes and dousing them in syrup. Ariel, who had sat down on the other side of Lilia, glanced over at the intertwined hands on Lilia's lap, shook her head, then went back to talking to Blaise who was sitting on her other side.
Breakfast was soon over, so they went to their Wednesday classes, which were all the same as Monday's except for at midnight they had Astronomy. They went to Divination, where they worked on tarot card reading. It was a little bit tricky, but Lilia and Ariel made guesses of what the cards could mean for each other from the definitions they were given in their books. Soon after they were making their way to Transfiguration, where Ariel grabbed a seat in the back of the room for her and Lilia. Draco and Blaise found seats further up in the classroom that were two seats together. Professor McGonagall had them practicing the same thing they were doing Monday, except for those that had mastered the skill, they were to change the cotton balls into a white dove.
Lilia swished her wand and the end of the cotton balls turned into a feathery tail, but it was mostly still cotton balls. She kept practicing. Ariel was still trying to get the cotton balls into a rabbit.
"So, I saw you this morning," Ariel said focusing on getting the rabbit to not have cotton ball ears.
"What do you mean?" Lilia asked.
"You and Draco. You both have said there is nothing going on between you two, but obviously there is something going on now since you were holding hands secretly this morning," Ariel said managing to get one ear and one cotton ball on the rabbit.
"Oh, that," Lilia said swishing her wand and getting more of a body of a bird with a tail and a cotton ball head.
"Yes, that, now spill."
"Well," Lilia began, but she didn't know quite where to begin. "There's quite a bit to that."
Ariel gave Lilia the you-better-continue-or-else look.
"When I was working with Harry in the library, we got so caught up in everything, that we kissed," Lilia said cheeks turning slightly pink.
"And what does that have to do with you holding hands with Draco?" Ariel said raising her eyebrow.
"Well, I got so flustered about the kiss and how I was feeling, that I left him and went to the Astronomy tower to think. I used to do that when I was here before, so I thought I would go up there to clear my head and think, but I wasn't alone up there. Draco was up there apparently thinking as well. He was concerned about me and so sweet that one thing led to another and we kissed," Lilia said managing to get the cotton balls to completely change into a dove.
"Well done, Ms. Snape. 15 points to Slytherin for being the first one to master both transfigurations," Professor McGonagall said as she made her way past where Lilia and Ariel were sitting.
Once Professor McGonagall was out of ear range, Ariel said, "And they call me a slut. Really two guys kissing you in one night?"
Ariel shook her head with a wicked grin plastered across her face.
"Yeah, so that wasn't the only thing though," Lilia continued. "On our way back to the common room, Draco shielded and protected me from whatever that annoying ghost Peeves had planned since he heard us talking in the hallway. After that incident, we held hands on the way back to the common room and before I went to the dormitory, we kissed again. That time though it was different then the first. The first one was soft and gentle and sweet. That one was filled with passion and heat. It was intense."
"Was there tongue with the second kiss?" Ariel asked smirking.
"No!" Lilia said. "It just was intense."
"So, you managed to kiss both boys you have feelings for, but it seems Draco's was something more," Ariel said. "Who are you going to choose? Draco?"
"I don't know," Lilia said looking at her lap. "When I was kissing Draco, I couldn't help but think of my feelings towards Harry, and when I was kissing Harry, I couldn't help but think about my feelings towards Draco. So, I don't know what I'm going to do."
"You've got it bad," Ariel said chuckling.
"Yeah, don't remind me," Lilia said rolling her eyes at Ariel.
"If I were you, I would continue to do whatever it is you want to do with both of them and figure out which one means more to you after awhile," Ariel said finally managing to get a full rabbit out of her cotton balls.
"No wonder people think you're a slut," Lilia said giggling, but then became serious once again. "But I see what you mean, I think I might do that."