Blah..Blah...Blaahhh! I don't own it and all that jazz...
Author's note: Holy Cow! What a surprise... I come back from training this weekend to find that I have gained reviews and followers! Welcome...I appreciate each and everyone of you. I hope this next chapter is fulfilling. :)
This is the detention with Draco and Emerald. Next chapter is the Daily Prophet. Please Read/Review!
By the time Seven-thirty arrived on Sunday evening, Emerald was a mess of nerves and agitation. Her worry over Monday's Prophet, her detention with Draco and her guilt over her aggressive behavior towards Rita Skeeter the night prior, had the petite brunette downing more than a few nauge to rid herself of her oppressive mood.
After saying her good-byes to Harry, Hermione and Ron, Emerald made her way to the trophy room, feeling high and free of her earlier troubled thoughts. She pushed open the closed door, ready to face whatever Draco decided to throw at her, her high state placing a protective bubble around her, a barricade between her and the blonde Slytherin.
On the floor in the middle of the large room full of trophies for Hogwart's past "Over-achievers", stood a muggle bucket full to the rim of soapy water, a spongy looking foam ball floating on top. Emerald raised an eyebrow at the muggle cleaning gadget, wondering what Draco had in store for her, surely he wasn't going to make her clean all of these awards with that.
The annoyingly arrogant blonde bastard sat in a comfortable looking arm chair, his smirk not present, a first in Emerald's history with him. "Wand." He said simply, holding open his hand, his expression all business. Silently, Emerald walked forward, obeying his order, she removed her wand from her pocket and placed it in his expectant hand. The petite brunette waited patiently for Draco to tell her the terms of the detention, nonchalantly twirling a piece of her long chocolate hair, her face neutral, unconcerned. "Get to work. I want all of these trophies and awards cleaned; I don't care how long it takes, or how late it gets." He ordered, pointing to the bucket and sponge.
Emerald didn't argue with the blonde or attempt to get out of her detention, she slowly approached the bucket and grabbed the sponge, looked around for a good place to start and then got to work. The nauge keeping her thoughts and emotions in check, making her feel like this was a wonderful way to spend her evening. Happily she hummed as she dipped the sponge in the water and then wiped at a trophy, removing layer upon layer of grim and dust from the tarnished metallic surface of each award.
For a while it seemed that Emerald's humming and the dunking of her sponge were the only sounds going to be shared between the two people in the otherwise quiet room. Two hours into the petite brunette's detention and Draco hadn't uttered a word, which was difficult for him, regardless of his relaxed posture and other wise bored attitude. The more he stared at Emerald's bent back, the more he had questions circle in his head. It took everything he could not to break the silence, to give in to the nagging of his subconscious mind.
He was staring at her again. Emerald could feel the little hairs on the back of her neck stand on end in response to his glaring eyes. Her blissful ignorance was starting to wear off and the petite brunette was aware that she had been in detention with Draco for over two hours. Refusing to budge, Emerald continued her cleaning, hating that she wasn't even a quarter of the way done with the trophies, this was going to take forever and ever. The chocolate brunette would be old and grey by the time she finished and Draco would continue to stare at her back without saying a word for all eternity. She must have died without knowing it, this must be her punishment for all of her sins, her inner most circle of Hell.
Feeling his eyes on her, yet again, Emerald turned her head to look in Draco's direction. Finding a deep frown disturbing his handsome features, she gave into the annoyance she felt "What are you staring at?" She asked rudely her jade eyes narrowed into a glare. For fuck sake, there was only so much someone could take before they blew a fuse. Glad that it was her who had broken their silence, Draco responded waspishly "I'm not sure, yet! Maybe you can tell me…" He said as he steepled his long graceful fingers under his pointed chin. "Are you a harlot or do you just enjoy the attention you receive from celebrated wizards?" If it was at all possible, Emerald's eyes narrowed further and anger coursed through her veins. She stood, slinging the sponge into the bucket, water splashing onto the wooden floor. She stalked towards the smirking blonde, with something akin to murder on her brain. How fucking dare he insult her like that.
Feeling vindictive, she smiled viciously at him, fire flaming from her eyes as she stood less than two feet from his chair. "Oh, Draco…" she said shaking her head at him in a mocking manner. " At least I didn't run into the arms of the first person who would have me. I actually like Harry; can you say the same for Pansy Parkinson? If my memory is correct, you denied ever having a relationship with her in the first place. What does that make you?" She sneered at him, the expression marring her attractive features "Desperate." She spit, letting all of her pent up emotion come out in that one word. Mercury eyes met hers, as he stood from his chair and used his full height to tower over her.
Emerald didn't back down, she stared up into his silver eyes, hands clenched into tight fists, her body tight with tension waiting for the bastard to deliver his next insult. She was ready, let him say what he wanted or do whatever he saw fit, she wasn't intimidated in the slightest and she wasn't going to go down without a good old fashioned fight. "Would Potter desire you if he learned of your little addiction? Wouldn't that be a travesty, little snake?" The words were like silk, his serpent's tongue delivering his next poisoned words "Maybe I should tell him." Draco threatened, his eyes promising that he would.
Needing distance between them, her position causing a crick in her upturned neck, she backed up a few steps from Draco, crossing her arms across her chest defensively. She shrugged her shoulders, her attitude uncaring "Tell him." She said, letting him know she wasn't afraid of him or what he could do to her relationship with Harry. "If it will make you feel better, tell him." She said again "He's eventually going to find out, anyway." She responded truthfully, she had no doubt that he would, as much as she didn't want him to; it was unrealistic to think that it wasn't a definite possibility.
Exhaling deeply, Emerald turn away from Draco and grabbed the sponge out of the bucket of water, muttering to herself "It's not like I did it on purpose." The blonde's eyebrows rose in surprise "What was that?" He demanded to know. When she didn't immediately respond, having not realized that she had actually confessed that out loud in front of Draco in the first place, Draco repeated his question "I asked you a question, Emerald. WHAT WAS THAT? He said enunciating each word carefully; she was going to tell him, even if he had to force it out of her.
Emerald began to wipe at the trophy in front of her, attempting to ignore the blonde's repeated question. She really didn't want to have to explain her careless confession. "Fucking hell, answer me!" Draco said in annoyance, rushing over to the petite brunette kneeling on the floor and snatching the sponge out of her hand, throwing it to the other side of the room. Emerald looked up at him in shock "I was using that!" She said with furrowed brows and a frown. The annoyed Slytherin pulled her up from her kneeling position by grabbing her wrists tightly and nearly lifting her small body off of the ground in his anger. "Get your hands off of me!" She ground out through clenched teeth, attempting to free herself from Draco's tight grip. "Emerald, answer me! Or so help me God, I will put you in a full body bind and tickle you till you do." Draco threatened the wiggling brunette caught in his grip. She stilled instantly, comprehension lighting up her jade eyes, she was at the disadvantage here, he had both of their wands and she had none.
Draco repeated his question one more time, his breath freezing in his lungs as Emerald finally answered quietly "It's not like I did it on purpose." She admitted, her eyes looking down at the ground afraid of the reaction she'd see in Draco's. "What didn't you do on purpose?" He pushed, making her clarify her response further. He thought he had an inkling of what she was referring to; he just wanted to hear it come from her mouth.
Merlin's saggy balls! He was really going to make her spell it out for him. She didn't want to say it. It would just make her feel even more awful for what she was doing to Harry. Hermione had warned her against leading him on and she liked Harry, she really did… It was just… she liked Draco, too. She swallowed, her throat and mouth feeling dry, seeing no other option, she answered "I had just finished dancing, it had felt so good to be doing what I love again, he felt emotional, I felt emotional and we… we kissed. It just happened, Draco. I didn't plan it… I don't understand why you are so mad at me, anyway, it's not like you and I are in a committed relationship." Emerald knew better than to blame what happened on the alcohol she had consumed, in her opinion that was no excuse and a cop-out. Millions upon millions of people consumed alcohol all of the time without kissing members of the opposite sex, it wasn't an excuse for anyone; alcohol didn't make you do anything.
"Emerald, look at me." The blonde Slytherin ordered his grasp unforgiving on the petite brunette's arms. Jade eyes finally met silver, Emerald looked up, expecting condemnation, she was startled to find hope there in his granite colored eyes. She shook her head, denying what she saw "No, Draco… it's too late. I can't do that to Harry, I'm sorry." After her words, Draco's grip on her arms loosened and Emerald was able to move away from him easily. His silence was so loud in Emerald's ears, his lack of response killing her, frightening her. Not knowing what else to say or what to do, she went over to the spot Draco had thrown the wet sponge, picked it up and began cleaning again. Humming to herself, attempting to rid the room of the deafening silence.
For the rest of the evening Emerald resolutely ignored the blonde's staring eyes, the weight of his stare weighing heavily on her. It was better this way, it was the right thing to do, Emerald repeated to herself over and over again. Harry deserved her loyalty and she would be loyal to him. They both had made their choices; there was no turning back, now. At a quarter past twelve Draco finally released Emerald from her detention, every award and trophy had been scrubbed clean, their bronze color shining brightly in the light of the large room.
Doing the gentlemanly thing, Draco escorted Emerald to the moving staircases "You don't have to that, Draco." She protested, wanting to get away from the distracting blonde as soon as was humanly possible. This was beyond awkward, he was a constant reminder of something she couldn't have, that she gave up willingly. Ignoring her protest, Draco led the way, his wand lit, without acknowledging the petite brunette's words, seeing to her safety was just good manners. It wasn't like he was doing this for any reason other than his upbringing. He couldn't, in good conscious, let her go by herself; she was still a lady after all.
Content in knowing that she had made it to the stairs in one piece, Draco stood stock still waiting for Emerald to climb them. His eyes stony in his wand light "Good night." He said, a finality in his voice, the sound piercing Emerald's heart as the words echoed off of the stone walls. "Good night." She whispered back, finding breathing difficult, it sounded like goodbye to her and maybe it was. With a heavy heart she turned from him and climbed the stairs that led her to Gryffindor Tower.
The chocolate brunette denied herself the simple turn of her head and eyes to see if Draco was still watching her from the bottom of the stairs. She stubbornly kept her head and eyes straight forward as she went from one staircase to the next. She couldn't look, fearful of feeling regret for her earlier actions and decision, especially if he was there, still standing at the foot of the stairs watching her departure. And if he was there, the mess of nerves and anxiety she would feel. Would she be able to continue her journey or would she run straight into his arms and tell him she didn't mean a word of her earlier declaration? And if he wasn't there… What would that mean? How would that make her feel? She didn't want to know, she refused to take that chance. Taking a deep breath, Emerald cleared those treacherous thoughts from her mind and focused on the task at hand, it wouldn't do her any good to look back or to continue to think about Draco. She made her choice; she'd have to live with it.
As soon as the thoughts of Draco were cast out of her very busy brain or at least put on the back burner, because really, it was impossible for her not to think about him at all, he seemed to be lurking there at every moment. Fear of tomorrow gave way to anxiousness over the unknown story that would be in the Daily Prophet. Was there ever going to be a time in her life that she didn't have to worry about something or another? This train of thought was far more disturbing than the last, it made her stomach ache and heart pound in fear.
By the time she had reached Gryffindor Tower and had entered the girl's dormitory, the petite brunette was a bundle of nerves. Knowing that sleep wouldn't come easily for her, she took one of her dwindling supply of nauge and climbed into her four-poster bed. She prayed for tomorrow, that whatever was coming wouldn't be too damaging. Unable to keep her eyes open any longer, the exhausted young woman slept fitfully. The turmoil of her life polluting even her dreams.