Chapter 23
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, it all belongs to JK Rowling…I'm merely an obsessed fan with ideas stuck in my head.
… … … … … …
January soon turned into February and brought with it an almost constant fall of bone-chilling rain. Leila woke up one of those dreary mornings and headed to the library. She and Hermione had taken to spending all their spare time looking for books on Horcruxes.
"This is useless." Leila groaned.
"There's got to be something in here." Hermione said paging through a wailing book.
"Maybe it's so bad they can't keep resources on it in the library." Leila suggested.
"Well, in that case, it looks like you're just going to have to ask, Malfoy." Hermione quipped.
"Let me think about that…umm…how about, no!" Leila quickly shot back.
"Leila, it might just be our only option." Hermione said.
"No, there are still plenty of books we haven't looked at. Look at this one, Magick Moste Evile? This looks like a gruesome enough title." Leila said holding it.
Hermione rolled her eyes and continued flipping though her book. Leila quickly thumbed through her own book. She was shocked when her eyes actually came upon the word Horcrux.
"Hermione, I found a mention of it." Leila said.
"You're going to need to do better than that to fool me." Hermione said not glancing up from her book.
"I'm being serious. 'Of the Horcrux…" Leila began.
"Let me see." Hermione gasped.
Hermione gently pushed Leila aside and looked at the page marked.
"Of the Horcux, wickedest of magical inventions, we shall not speak nor give direction." Hermione read.
"That's a letdown." Leila sighed.
"And this is the only mention we've found of it. It told us what we had already guessed. Why even bother to mention it then?" Hermione said.
"As much as I'd love to continue this, I need to get going." Leila said standing up.
"You're honestly going to ditch me to go snog Malfoy?" Hermione asked.
"Sh! I don't want that getting out, and no, I'm not going to go snog him. I happened to have promised Neville that I'd help study for the Defence test. You know how Snape's tests are." Leila said.
"You don't have to lie to me." Hermione said.
"I know that, but I'm not lying. You can follow me if you'd like." Leila said.
Hermione raised an eyebrow at her and Leila simply shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, I'm still going to check this book out." Hermione said.
"But it's useless." Leila groaned.
"It's all we have." Hermione added.
The long soggy days of February seemed to drag on. The only glimmer of hope was the first Apparition lesson one Saturday morning. Leila woke up after breakfast that morning, choosing to sleep in until the lesson. The sixth year girls' dormitory was empty when she woke up. She looked at her alarm clock and found that the lesson began in fifteen minutes.
"Not again." Leila moaned.
She quickly jumped out of bed, hurriedly put clothes on, threw her hair up in a messy bun, and ran for the Great Hall. She was practically out of breath when she got there, and the first person she ran into, literally, was Draco.
"Watch where you're going, Potter." Draco snarled.
"I would if there was something to watch for." Leila retorted.
"Don't talk to me like that." Draco hissed.
Draco grabbed her forearm and pulled her closer to him, so he could whisper in her ear. Leila pretended to fight him off, but was rather interested in what he could possibly have to say.
"Meet me later…" Draco whispered.
Harry abruptly interrupted them, by pulling Leila from Draco's grasp.
"Leave my sister alone." Harry growled.
Draco cocked an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest. Harry, with a grip on Leila's arm, pulled them toward Hermione.
"I was doing just fine." Leila whined.
"You're welcome." Harry muttered.
"Harry, I can handle, Malfoy." Leila said.
Harry shook his head as they met up with Hermione, who was scowling in Ron and Lavender's direction. Leila stood next to Hermione, facing Draco. Harry stood on the other side of Hermione, focusing on the Heads of Houses and a wizard, whom Leila assumed was their instructor.
"Glaring at them isn't going to make them go away." Leila quipped.
"Just like staring at Malfoy isn't going to give you two away?" Hermione whispered.
Leila blushed and was about to respond when the Ministry wizard introduced himself, so she shut her mouth to listen.
"My name is Wilkie Twycross and I shall be your Ministry Apparition instructor for the next twelve weeks…" the Ministry wizard began.
"Twelve weeks? Kill me now." Leila groaned.
Hermione jabbed her in the side, causing her to yelp. Professor Snape seemed to glare daggers at her, but what caused her to flinch was Professor McGonagall's yelling. Only, it wasn't her, McGonagall was reprimanding.
"Malfoy, be quiet and pay attention!" Professor McGonagall barked.
Everyone's attention turned to Draco. His appearance was flushed and he looked furious, with focus on the ground. Leila looked back to Snape, who was no longer glaring at her, but at Professor McGonagall.
"Where's Harry?" Leila whispered.
"Sh!" Hermione shushed.
Leila groaned and scanned the Great Hall for her brother. When she found him, he was standing behind Draco, with his gaze to the ground. He was probably eavesdropping on Draco, who was conversing with Crabbe. Leila slightly panicked. She quickly made her way to the back of the forming line, in case she should need to intervene. It seemed like she tore her gaze away for one second, and both boys went for their wands. Leila ran to them as the Heads of House shouted for them to quiet down. By the time Leila reached Harry and Draco, they were silently glaring at each other.
"Get him away from me, Potter." Draco sneered.
Leila looked at Draco and nodded. She could tell by the look on his face that they would need to talk about this later. Draco turned around to face the front, while Leila tried to drag Harry away.
"Harry, come on." Leila said.
"I think I'll stay here." Harry said.
"Harry." Leila growled.
Harry glared at her, so she gave in. The Ministry wizard continued to explain the process of apparition, however boring it was. Leila looked at the hoop in front of her, but couldn't concentrate on what she was supposed to be doing. Her thoughts were plagued by Harry and Draco. Knowing Harry, whatever he found out about Draco probably further convinced him that Draco was a Death Eater. As true as that was, Leila was torn between her brother and her boyfriend. She had to shake her thoughts off as she prepared to apparate. The first time she tried, nothing happened. Actually, nothing happened every time she attempted it. This frustrated Leila beyond belief. Usually she caught onto magic things right away, but she glanced over at Hermione who was also having difficulties.
The lesson finally came to an end, and Leila walked back to the common room, behind the other Slytherins. She saw Draco with Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, and Parkinson. Pansy was trying to hold onto Draco's arm, but he kept brushing her off. She could hear Draco telling Pansy to knock it off and Pansy whine. Leila slightly smiled. He must not be too upset if he's keeping Pansy away. When she got back to the common room, she quickly grabbed her book bag and headed to the library. She was going to meet up with Hermione to do homework and recheck the library for anything on Horcruxes.
Leila found Hermione already waiting at a table, working on her homework. Hermione was furiously writing on her parchment. Apparently, her frustrations with Ron were getting to her. Leila could only take so much growling and sighing, before she finally confronted Hermione.
"You want to talk about it?" Leila asked.
"Talk about what?" Hermione asked.
"Whatever it is that is bothering you." Leila said.
"Nothing's bothering me." Hermione rushed.
"Hermione." Leila sighed.
"Just leave it alone." Hermione said.
Hermione slammed close her book and walked away. Leila watched Hermione walk into the restricted section, probably for some alone time with books. Leila sighed and focused her attention to her Transfiguration homework.
"I was beginning to think Granger would never leave." Draco whispered from behind.
Leila jumped in her seat and turned to Draco.
"What are you doing here?" Leila asked.
"Looking for you, of course." Draco said.
"What if we're caught?" Leila hissed.
"We won't be. Granger's too caught up in her books, and no one else is here." Draco said.
"Except for a bunch of fifth years cramming for their OWLs." Leila argued.
"I can't want to see my girlfriend?" Draco asked.
"Not when we're only going to fight." Leila said.
"Who says we're going to fight?" Draco asked.
"Draco, I know you. We're going to get in some stupid fight about my brother and right now I'm working on my homework. Besides, I'm not his keeper, I can't control his actions. Am I sorry he pissed you off, sure. But what exactly am I supposed to do about it?" Leila said.
"Keep him away from me." Draco said.
"Well, maybe you should quite egging him on." Leila retorted.
"So now what your idiot brother does is my fault?" Draco hissed.
"I didn't say that, but you are part of the problem." Leila continued.
"Don't point this all on me. Your brother was the one being rude, I was talking with Crabbe and he was eavesdropping." Draco furthered.
"And then you pulled your wand on him!" Leila hissed.
"He had his drawn as well." Draco commented.
"That's not the point!" Leila hissed.
"Then what is the point?" Draco asked.
"I hate fighting with you!" Leila exclaimed.
"But us fighting leads to my favorite part, making-up." Draco smirked.
"You're such a guy." Leila groaned.
"Finally noticing that, are you?" Draco asked.
"Can you be serious for one second?" Leila asked.
"So you want to go back to the fighting then?" Draco asked.
"No." Leila moped.
"Making-up?" Draco smirked.
Leila ignored Draco's comment, turned around, and focused back on her homework. Draco nuzzled at her neck, distracting her from her homework.
"Draco." Leila groaned.
"Hmm?" Draco mumbled on her skin.
"Stop. We can't be this careless." Leila said.
Draco stopped and Leila's hand rubbed at her neck.
"Come with me then." Draco said.
"Draco, I have homework." Leila said.
"And we have detention." Draco said holding up a detention notice.
"Since when?" Leila asked.
Leila swiped the notice from Draco to find out that Snape had assigned them yet another detention.
"You've got to be kidding me! What did we do this time?" Leila complained.
"Dunno. It's Snape." Draco said.
"Is this why you came to find me?" Leila asked.
"Maybe." Draco said.
"And then I go off on you. I'm a jerk. Sorry." Leila said.
Draco shrugged his shoulders and headed for the exit. Leila grabbed her bag, left the detention notice for Hermione to find, and followed Draco out of the library.
"I really am sorry." Leila mumbled.
"Your brother was bound to come up sooner or later." Draco said carelessly.
"We really should talk about him though." Leila said.
"I have one Potter in my life, that's enough for me." Draco said.
"Is having me in your life really that bad?" Leila asked.
"No, of course not." Draco said.
"So what did Harry say that got you so riled up?" Leila asked.
"Nothing." Draco commented.
"Right. So what did you say to make Harry comment?" Leila asked.
"It's nothing you need to worry about, Leila." Draco said.
"It's my brother and my boyfriend, of course I need to worry." Leila said.
"Well don't." Draco said.
The pair reached Snape's office and sat in the chairs in front of his desk. Snape narrowed his eyes at them.
"What did we do this time?" Leila sighed.
"Don't think that your actions this morning went unnoticed by me. I don't know what else I need to do to show you both how serious the consequences are for tarnishing Slytherin's good name." Snape said.
"Technically, Professor Snape, Slytherin doesn't have a good name; considering Voldemort and many of his Death Eaters were once Slytherins." Leila commented.
Draco flinched at the mention of Voldemort.
"Miss Potter, that's enough of your cheek." Snape said.
"Well…" Leila began.
"Shut up, Potter." Draco hissed.
Leila folded her arms across her chest and slouched in her chair. Professor Snape gave them their detention assignment and they unwillingly went to complete it. By the time detention was over, Leila was exhausted. After Draco walked her back, she quickly kissed him on the cheek, and went to bed ignoring Daphne's death glares.
Monday morning soon rolled around. Leila lazily got out of bed and ready for breakfast with Hermione. Leila got to the Great Hall first and waited for Hermione at the Gryffindor table. Hermione roughly sat on the benches and looked straight at Leila.
"You've got a problem." Hermione said.
"Can you expand on that?" Leila asked.
"After our apparition lessons, Harry's been keeping a close watch of Draco on the map." Hermione said.
"Why?" Leila asked.
"Because Harry believes Crabbe and Goyle to be keeping watch of Draco for something." Hermione said.
"Do you have the same suspicions?" Leila asked.
"That doesn't matter, what matters is that Harry is becoming suspicious of you." Hermione said.
"What?" Leila gasped.
"I've been covering for you; but I can't cover for you all the time. I'm clever, but not clever enough to come up with that many excuses." Hermione said.
"Well, Saturday night I had detention. Did you show him the slip?" Leila asked.
"I did, but when you were with Malfoy last night, I lied and told him that you switched patrols with Ernie and Hannah." Hermione said.
"So what do I do?" Leila asked.
"Either you tell your brother what you're up to, or you're going to have to break-up with Malfoy." Hermione said.
Leila didn't like the ultimatum, but what other choice did she have? She stared blankly at Hermione as Harry took a seat next to them. Leila lost in her thoughts, ignored her brother's greeting, and headed for the bathroom. Leila locked herself in a stall. What was she to do? Tell Harry? That would be worse than giving Snape a bottle of shampoo for Christmas. Break-up with Draco? She loved him, loved him more than she had ever loved anyone. That wasn't an option either. There had to be a third option. She could steal the map? But now that Harry was practically glued to it, he would never let it out of his sight. The only other option seemed to be, see less of Draco.
February moved toward March, and Leila was seeing less of Draco, much to her disappointment. She saw him in class, detention, and on patrol. If there was no reliable excuse to be with Draco, she would offer an excuse as to why she couldn't be with him. More often than not, homework and sleep were her worn out excuses. If Draco noticed she was avoiding him, he never confronted her about it. Then again, Draco was busy with his own task, and didn't much notice the lack of time with Leila.
March first, Ron's birthday soon rolled around. Leila woke up to the Slytherin girls primping themselves for another apparition lesson. She was tempted to skip the lesson and stay cuddled up in her bed, but she dragged herself out of bed. Half-asleep, Leila began walking toward the Great Hall. Once on the main level, she became distracted by a window. For the first time in what seemed like months, Leila saw the sun, and smiled. She was disappointed that she had to waste the precious time the sun was out on breakfast and apparition lessons. She sighed and turned to finish her walk to the Great Hall, when she saw Draco walking toward her.
"Come with me." Draco said.
"Draco, we're going to get caught." Leila whined.
"No we're not, just come on." Draco said.
Draco grabbed Leila's hand and dragged her away. He led her outside to the courtyard. He motioned for Leila to sit at the edge of the fountain.
"What's this for?" Leila asked.
"I just wanted to spend some time with you." Draco said.
"We do spend time together." Leila pointed out.
"Besides class, patrol, and detention." Draco said.
"You're usually busy otherwise." Leila said.
"And so are you." Draco argued.
"What if we're caught?" Leila challenged.
"Everyone is either at breakfast or sleeping." Draco offered.
"Seeing as you weren't already at breakfast and aren't still sleeping, where were you this morning?" Leila asked.
"I was taking care of something." Draco said.
"And here we go again with the excuses." Leila said.
"Leila." Draco groaned.
"It's beautiful out." Leila said calmly changing the subject.
"It is." Draco agreed.
"So, I suppose we should make the best of the time we have together." Leila caved.
"That we should." Draco smirked.
Draco stepped onto the ledge of the fountain and Leila glanced up at him.
"I'm very tempted to give you a proper shove sending you falling into the fountain." Leila smiled.
"Wouldn't be the first time." Draco smirked.
Leila rolled her eyes and smiled.
Flashback to 4th year
Leila was walking down a corridor with her books in her arms talking with Cedric Diggory. They had just been discussing the Yule Ball, in which Leila had secretly been hoping that Cedric would ask her to. Suddenly, Daphne came running up to her, looking somewhat furious.
"Why didn't you tell me!" Daphne exclaimed.
"Tell you what?" Leila asked.
"Tell me that you said yes to the Yule Ball with Draco!" Daphne screamed.
"Because I didn't." Leila rolled her eyes.
"That's not what I heard." Daphne said.
"Who did you hear this information from?" Leila hissed.
"Draco told me himself." Daphne said.
Leila scrunched her face and narrowed his eyes.
"He told you that, did he? Where is he?" Leila asked.
"He's in the courtyard…" Daphne began.
"Excuse me, Cedric." Leila said through gritted teeth.
Leila sharply turned around and marched to the courtyard. Daphne ran after her. When Leila reached the courtyard snow began to lightly fall and she found Draco with the Slytherin boys standing on the ledge of the fountain talking.
"Malfoy!" Leila screamed.
Draco looked at her and smirked. Leila threw her books to the ground and marched to the space right in front of him. She looked up at him and glared.
"I always knew you looked up to me, Potter." Draco smirked.
"What the hell are you trying to get at, Malfoy." Leila hissed.
"The Yule Ball, you're going with me." Draco said.
"No. I'm. Not." Leila shouted.
"Yes, you are."Draco furthered.
"I would much rather go to the ball with Professor Snape than ever go with you!" Leila screamed.
The other Slytherin boys laughed and Draco turned pink.
"You will be going to the ball with me." Draco said.
"First off, you can't just force me to go with you. The proper thing to do would be to ask. Second, you can't go telling people I'm going with you, before you even ask. And third, I have a date already." Leila said.
"Diggory's going with Chang." Draco smirked.
Leila narrowed her eyes and shoved Draco. Draco lost his balance on the ledge and fell into the fountain's water. Leila turned and walked away, while Draco glared at her and the Slytherins laughed at him.
End Flashback
"You deserved it." Leila smiled.
"I did not. I was just trying to ask you to the Yule Ball." Draco said.
"You never even asked me." Leila laughed.
"I was getting there." Draco said.
"I never would have said yes, you know that." Leila said.
"True, but things worked out anyways." Draco smirked.
"Our first dance and first kiss." Leila commented.
"That wasn't much of a dance." Draco said.
"I personally thought it was great. I would step wrong so that you would run into Cedric. Killing two birds with one stone, totally worth it." Leila smiled.
"Stand up." Draco demanded.
"What for?" Leila asked.
"You owe me a real dance." Draco said.
"I owe you?" Leila asked slightly offended.
"Fine, fine. Leila Potter, can I have this dance?" Draco asked.
Leila's heart almost jumped from her chest, but she tried to play it off smoothly.
"Well, since you did ask…" Leila said.
Draco held his hand out for her to grab and she placed her hand in his. He helped her stand up. He then placed a hand on her waist and held the other one out with her small hand in it.
"Here? We're going to dance on the ledge of the fountain?" Leila asked.
"Trust me, I won't let you fall." Draco whispered.
They pair slowly danced around the ledge of the fountain. Leila's heart felt like it was going to explode with every twist and turn. This is how their first dance should have been, in love.
"You're not as bad as I remember." Leila commented.
"I've never been a bad dancer; you were just a terrible partner." Draco smirked.
Leila chuckled and Draco dipped her. She tightly clamped her hands on him, causing Draco to chuckle.
"What happened to trusting me?" Draco asked.
"I do, but I'm just taking precautions. If I'm going down, you're going down with me." Leila said.
Draco chuckled and they dance slowly ended. When they stopped moving, Draco held Leila close to him. If only he could keep her in his arms forever, the world may seem all right. If only he could always have Leila by his side, but if she knew his secrets she would probably leave him. Draco sighed and Leila looked up at him with her beautiful emerald eyes.
"I love you." Leila whispered.
Draco smiled and bent his head down to kiss her. Their lips met and for only a moment, the world seemed to stop. Leila's outside foot popped up, causing her to balance her foot on the edge of the fountain. She lost her balance, screamed, and crashed down into the fountain. Water splashed over Draco, but he was nowhere near as wet as Leila. Leila spluttered trying to get the water out of her face, while Draco watched her with an amused look on his face.
"Graceful." Draco smirked.
"Shut up, Draco, and help me up." Leila groaned.
"Why should I?" Draco teased.
"You really want to find out what happens if you don't?" Leila retorted.
Draco raised an eyebrow and placed his hand out for Leila to grab. Leila, with a glint in her eyes, grabbed his hand and pulled him into the fountain with her. Draco spluttered with all the water in his face.
"What was that for?" Draco demanded.
Leila laughed, grabbed Draco by his collar, and pressed her lips against his. His lips eagerly responded to hers. They remained in the fountain snogging. Draco brought Leila to his lap and pulled her closer, not missing a kiss. Leila wrapped her arms around his neck instinctively. It had been far too long since things had been this heated. Usually, it was just a peck before bed; but this was just what they both needed.
"Leila!" a voice screamed.
The pair instantly pulled apart, eyes wide with shock; they were caught. Leila turned to find Hermione screaming her name. Draco narrowed his eyes at Hermione.
"Draco, it's fine; she already knows." Leila whispered.
"What?" Draco hissed.
Hermione, with her face flaming red, ran closer.
"Leila, its Ron…something's happened…he's in the Hospital Wing." Hermione cried, out of breath.