"All right there, Scarhead?"
The match was on, and Draco was attempting to distract Potter. It was done by insulting the other, and Draco wished he could tell Potter he didn't mean it.
Suddenly, a Bludger came out of nowhere and attempted to, well, bludger Potter. He supposed this was another of Dobby's attempts to get Potter home. They were getting progressively more dangerous.
The entire match was spent with Potter dodging the thing, and it seemed he was tiring of it. A timeout was called, and the Gryffindor team carefully landed, wood shouting at the Weasley twins for leaving one of their Chasers unguarded.
Draco looked up to the score, finding Slytherin in the lead, seventy to zero. The timeout ended and everyone got back on their brooms.
The game was quite long, quite scary, and the ending was something Draco had never expected. He berated himself for not hearing the metallic fluttering of the Snitch right beside his ear, and the fact that his attempt at saving the boy, through Dobby, had landed him in the hospital wing with no bones in his arm. The Slytherins had laughed themselves hoarse with that predicament, and Draco was definitely going to have a talk with the House Elf that night.
.
"Dobby! What were you thinking? You could have killed him!"
"Young Master, I has only been doing what yous has asked of Dobby. Get the Potter boy home, so he would be safe from the dangers, sir."
"Yes, get him home safely! Get him home safely so he is still safe. Now, go to Potter and apologize, but don't let him know you were ordered. Say you are doing this on your own."
"Of course, Young Master."
Dobby popped away and Draco sighed at the mess the school was this year. He walked out of the common room, waving off the attempts Pansy made to attach herself to him, it was just getting worse by the week, and shook off the tail that Crabbe made. Honestly, those boys couldn't be discrete to save their lives. He went to the second floor girls bathroom, where Mya said she and her boys would be brewing the potion. Seeing her sitting on the floor, adding ingredients, he just leaned against the edge of one of the cubicles, waiting for her to finish. She looked up from the potion to get her hair out of her face and jumped when she saw Draco standing there. "How long have you been there Dray?"
"Less than five minutes. Figured I'd let you get finished with this stage."
She nodded and asked him to help her put her hair up. She forgot to do it before she started, and it was now causing a bit of a problem. Her hands were covered in muck, so Draco got behind her and gently pulled her hair behind her, tying it back in a nice braid. It was a skill taught to him by his mother. Quite a useful one, if he did say so.
"So, when will this be ready?"
"In about a month, so, over the holidays. Are you staying?"
"I will now. It would be best if I did. Also, good job at the game." Mya stood up and went to a specific sink, the only one that worked in that bathroom. Not sure why he knew that. After her hands were clean, they hugged as was their usual. Some unknown force prompted Draco to kiss her temple, and he did so. It felt nice. Good nice.
She giggled and looked at him funny when they pulled away. Even though it was close to ten thirty at night, their get-togethers were often at odd times. There was just no way they could meet in broad daylight. Well, maybe they could, under a glamour or something. Eh, he'll just see how it went in the future.
"So, over the holidays. Have you decided who's gonna be who?"
"Not yet, though I suppose Harry and Ron will take over the spots of Crabbe and Goyle. You are the closest to them, after all."
"Not really. They just report me to my father, every little move I make or someone makes against me. Quite annoying, really."
Mya nodded in understanding and turned back to the potion, making sure everything was good for the night. Draco left her to it and went to the kitchens. Meeting the many house elves there, he asked for a bottle of butterbeer. He went back to his common room, placing the full bottle on his nightstand in his dorm, and changing into his night clothes. Picking up the bottle and opening it, he 'lumos'ed' his wand and read Shakespeare late into the night. His eyes drooping, he put the book up and fell into a pleasant sleep.
.
Apparently, there was another attack last night. Creevey, the annoying first year that had been taking pictures of Potter, had been petrified.
It was all stacking against Potter right now.
Draco was nervous for Mya, she was probably in the most danger, unless someone was trying to frame Potter. Then she was probably one of the safest people. Potter would never attack her.
.
The winter holidays were about two and a half weeks away, and Mya needed a couple of things from Uncle Sev's personal stores. He wanted to get them for her himself, but knew there was little he could do without attracting suspicion. Draco signed the list to stay at the school over the holidays, knowing Mya would make it suspicious sounding that he was. And he loved her for doing that, this was never going to work otherwise. Wait, loved? Liked, that's surely all he meant. Right? He didn't even know anymore.
He had a genius idea one night with Mya. They were in the RoR, the potion on standby until they could get the boomslang skin and the bicorn horn. Well, actually, he had two ideas. One, he could write his father for them, and two, they could cause a diversion in class and steal it then.
It would mean that Draco would most likely get injured in the diversion, but he knew it was necessary.
The lesson was tomorrow, so Mya brought it up with 'her boys' that night. They had enthusiastically agreed, and the plan was in motion.
.
There was no warning, Goyle's potion exploded. The Swelling Solution hit everyone, and, in the confusion, Hermione was able to get in and out of the potions cupboard. Judging by her smile, it was a success. The only casualty on his side was an extra swollen nose, about the size of a small melon. Later, they would laugh over it.
Once everyone was back to their correct proportions, Professor Snape stalked over to the origin of the explosion. Reaching into Goyle's empty cauldron, he grabbed the cause of the explosion, a blackened firework.
"If I ever find out who threw this, it is certain that that person will find themselves expelled," he practically hissed. Draco decided he would visit his honorary uncle later that evening. He was staring so hard at Potter that the look seriously could have killed. Muggle expression.
.
There was a notice up all over the school. In the common rooms, up on a few of the pillars. It was a dueling club. Draco already knew a bit on how to duel, but perhaps it would be a good experience. Unfortunately, it was taught by Lockhart. They were more likely to learn how to drop their wand and run away gracefully than any real spells.
The first night of the club, Lockhart was dressed in fancy robes of a deep plum, not at all useful in dueling. Uncle Sev was on the other side of the table-like platform, dressed in his usual stuff, black robes.
"Gather round, gather round. Great! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me?
"Now, I have received permission from the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, that is, to form this little club. To train you all in case you need to defend yourselves, as I have done, countless times." Draco nearly wanted to vomit. Or scoff. If Lockhart had even done half of those things, Draco would eat his broomstick. "For the full details, read my published works, dears.
"Now, I would like to introduce my assistant, Professor Snape. He told me that he knows a bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help teach you youngsters. Now, for a short demonstration, and don't worry. You will still have both of us by the end of the night."
Uncle Sev's upper lip was curled in distaste. The two professors turned to each other, bowed, and paced off an even amount of steps each. Holding their wands in the dueling position, they both paused. "As you can see, we are both holding our wands in acceptable dueling positions. On the count of three, we will fire off our first spell. One … two … three!"
Both wands moved quickly, and a vibrant red that correlated with the Expelliarmus spell left Uncle Sev's wand. When the spell hit Lockhart, he was sent flying, almost the rest of the way down the table. Once he was back on his unsteady feet, he called out. "Well, there you have it! That was a Disarming Charm, as you can see, I've lost my wand. Now, who has it? Thank you, Miss Brown. An excellent idea, Professor Snape, really, but I saw that from a kilometer away. I could have easily blocked it, instead finding it more useful and instructive to let everyone see …" He broke off, finally looking at the professor, and gulped.
"Enough demonstrating. I'm going to pair everyone up now. Professor Snape, if you wouldn't mind?"
Everyone split off to their preferred partners, Pansy reattaching herself to Draco's arm for the thousandth time that year. It was getting old. He shook her off when he heard Severus calling him over to Potter. Strutting thataways, he smirked as he saw Weasley and Potter had been separated. It was all an act. It was all an act. It was all an act. He wished there was something he could do to show he didn't mean anything he was doing.
"Face your partners. Now bow!" Draco barely inclined his head to Potter, and the same courtesy was extended to him.
"Wands at the ready! On three, disarm only! Ready? One … Two … Three!"
Draco sent off a nonverbal spell, something he really shouldn't have done, but it was one of Uncle Sev's, and he didn't like anyone knowing them. Potter retaliated with a Rictusempra, and, through the fake laughter, Draco sent off a Tarantallegra. Potter was now dancing uncontrollably, and the laughter threatened to turn real. But only Mya deserved that laughter, so it was going to stay to himself. He heard Uncle Sev call out "Finite Incantatem," and the tickling stopped. Potter also stopped dancing. Draco stood with the little amount of dignity he was able to dredge up and looked around. Mya's portner, a Slytherin, was holding her in a headlock, cutting off her air, and Draco wanted to tackle the larger girl. They were, luckily, broken up quickly.
A few minutes later, Draco and Potter were dragged up onto the stage, and a few words were whispered in Draco's ear. He caught most of them, and smirked at the spell that was whispered.
The new duel started, and Draco bellowed, "Serpensortia!" A large black snake shot from the tip, and almost everyone screamed.
"Don't worry, Potter, I've got this."
"Allow me!" Lockhart shot a curse at the snake, but it just shot into the air and got even more mad. It was now practically spitting at all of them. It slithered up to Finch-Fletchley, a Hufflepuff boy. To everyone's surprise, Potter started speaking in Parseltongue. It was scary, Potter really could have been saying anything, and once the snake was gone, pretty much everyone in the hall left. Potter was dragged off by Weasley and Hermione. He would talk to her tomorrow.
.
Apparently, Finch-Fletchley was attacked in the halls the next day. Everyone was ushered to their common rooms. A lot of people down for the winter holidays decided it was going to be safer at home, and took their names off of the list. Pretty soon, it was just a few people from each house left.
The polyjuice potion was almost done, and Hermione was getting more and more apprehensive as the day got closer. She didn't want to go. She had hairs, from the dueling night, and when Draco confirmed them as Bulstrode's cat's hair, she decided it was worth the risk to use them versus any other hairs.
The night the potion was ready, she told Draco right away. He was expecting Potter and Weasley to mess up greatly, and he really wasn't disappointed. Crabbe and Goylewere really out of character, and when the two of them left for Crabbe's 'stomachache', Weasley's hair was turning back and Potter's scar was reforming.
.
He visited Hermione in the hospital wing almost every day she was in there recovering. She knew what she was getting into, they both did, but they just wished it was a little less painful.
She kept the Lockhart card under her pillow for show, all she really wanted was to rip it to pieces and throw it into a fire, then throw the ashes into the ocean. In other words, she hated it.
.
It was almost Valentine's Day, and Lockhart had decided he was going to do something fun. It was going to be horrible. There were dwarves, who looked absolutely miserable, delivering messages in the middle of classes.
He teased Potter for the poem he had received, and the diary that had fallen out of his bag too. He was just teasing everyone today, wasn't he.
He received a poem of his own from Pansy, a horrid thing that she obviously wrote herself. He considered sending something to Mya, but decided it could wait until the RoR later that night.
.
He was pacing. Back and forth, back and forth. He didn't know what Mya would say, and it terrified him. He tried to sit down, but jumped right back up. Even her comfy armchair just didn't feel right. He wanted her to get here already, it was killing him.
She finally arrived, and in one piece. He was thankful, then, that she was safe. Anything could have happened, and he was scared that he could have caused that and then not known for a long time. He chickened out from asking her, and they just practiced their magic, deciding dueling was a good idea. Dueling each other was a hard thing, though, they knew exactly which spells were going to be used, and when. The wandless shields were getting stronger, and Mys was now able to hold hers against one of his Jelly-Leg Jinxes. They were going to ace the exams this year.
They sat talking about the upcoming decisions, the elective courses they would be taking. Draco was most likely going to take Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures. They were both easy courses, Arithmancy being much like muggle math, and CoMC being quite simple in theory.
.
In the end, those were the classes he chose. He never got a straight answer out of Hermione, she always seemed to dodge the question when he asked.
It was after the Easter holidays, Draco had stayed for those too, and it was almost time for a Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff game. It was cancelled, though, due to another attack. He had no idea of who the victim was, though, and it stressed him. He hadn't seen 'Mione that day, except for a brief flash out of the Great Hall on her way to the library, most likely. He hoped she was safe.
But, their luck mustn't hold out. It was indeed Hermione that was attacked, and a bunch of new rules were put in place. Everyone had to be accompanied everywhere, and the curfew had been lowered to six o'clock, instead of the usual ten forty-five. And the school was most likely to close if another attack happened. He hoped there wasn't another.
.
He visited Hermione every night, under a weak Disillusionment Charm. They hadn't been practicing them much, and with all the sneaking off he was doing, Draco was getting much better at it. One night, he saw the Weasley twins near the bed, looking down at something. As one, they turned around.
"Hey Malfoy."
His breath caught in his throat. How could they possibly know he was there?
"We can see you. Well, we see your dot."
"It's on this map here." He sighed and removed the Disillusionment. They already knew, and Madam Pomfrey was asleep, Draco had already placed another one of Uncle Sev's spells over the door.
"Why are you here?"
"Well, you see-"
"-we've seen you here often-"
"And we've been wondering why."
The broken speech was really confusing, and Draco didn't even know where to look.
"We also noticed that you were visiting a certain bathroom quite a bit over a month, oftentimes when 'Mione was in there."
"Yeah. Well, we are friends. She's my best friend, the only one I can be myself around. It's nice to let go sometimes."
"So, wait, what does that mean, Malfoy? You two hang out a lot?"
"Draco, and yeah. A lot. Everything I ever said to her in public, I meant the exact opposite. You have no idea how hard it is, how much it physically hurts, to call her those things. That day, the one where I was Seeker, and the slugs, I thought I had ruined all chances I had with her. I thought she was going to ditch me and never look back."
The two of them just nodded, and pulled something over themselves. 'Well, as we are borrowing this from Harry without him knowing-"
"-We better get going."
"Never know if he's going to need it or not."
"We trust you Draco."
"Fred"
"George."
And with that, they dropped the cloak over themselves and disappeared. Invisibility Cloak. Lucky guy.
Draco sat with Hermione, brushing the fan of hair behind her and talking to her. He knew she couldn't hear him, but it was normal to talk about things with her.
"Merlin, Mya. I miss you so much. There's so much I want to tell you. Mainly that I really, really like you. More than friends should. I wish you were really here, Mya."
As he left for the night, He kissed her temple, as was now normal. If only she could hear him.
.
If only he knew she heard every word and felt every touch.