One Friday evening, a few weeks after my detention, as Evan and I are doing homework in the common room, Lucius motions for me to come over to him. He and his friends are sitting at the chairs around the fire. I look inquisitively at him.
"Severus! Why don't you join us at the fire?" he calls, "You can do your homework here, and I have a proposition for you."
Sighing, I stand up and gather my books. When Evan does not do the same, I say, "Well? Come on!"
"He only wants you," he mutters.
"Yeah, but I want to hang out with you. It'll be lonely over there by myself. Come on, Evan. Pleeeease?"
He tries to hold back a smile, and picking up his books, he says, "Fine, I'll come with you."
When we get over to the fire, Evan stands awkwardly in front of the fire, looking for an open seat. I know what to do— I hang out with Lucius and his friends by the fire all the time. I put my books on the floor and lay down on the sheepskin rug. I pull Evan's pant leg and give him a meaningful look. Getting the hint, he sets his books down as well, then he lays down next to me by the fire. I glance over to see if Lucius is okay with me bringing Evan, but he is already talking to his other friends. For a while, nobody pays attention to us, and we continue to work on our homework. When we've finished our homework, we play Hangman on some of Evan's extra parchment.
"Severus?" Lucius asks.
"Mmm?"
"Would you like to polish my broom for me? I've been so busy studying for my N.E.W.T's that I completely forgot it needs to be done before the Quidditch game tomorrow."
"Sure," I mumble, tearing my attention away from my game to look at him. He lifts a long hand and beckons to me. I get up and shuffle over to him on my knees. Why bother standing up if I'm just going to sit back down again?
He smiles, and pulls a lollipop out of his pocket. He unwraps the lollipop, and saying, "Open up!" he pops it into my mouth. Some of his friends laugh lightly. Lucius ignores them, and says, "You know where my broom and polishing kit are. You can go get them yourself, right?"
"Mm hmm!" I say through my lollipop. It's strawberries and cream— my favorite!
Oliver Jugson, who has curly, dirty-blond hair and is one of the Beaters, asks, "Lucius, would he be able to do mine tonight, too? I have a chocolate bar from Honeydukes I can give him!"
I glance at Lucius as he turns to Oliver, "He can if he has time, but I don't want him up too late tonight."
I frown, and Rodolphus chuckles.
"Don't frown at me," Lucius laughs, "You were up late last night messing around in the lab. I saw you come back and told you not to go sneaking around after hours anymore, remember?"
I nod, smiling slightly.
"Well, if we're not sure if he'll have time, then what about that one?" Oliver says, pointing at Evan.
"That's the Rosier's kid, you idiot," whispers Rodolphus, elbowing Oliver in the side.
"Oh, shit, sorry," mumbles Oliver, looking abashed, and he leans back in his chair.
After an awkward pause, Lucius ruffles my hair and says, "Well, go on then!"
I get up and run to his dorm to grab his broom and polishing kit. I get back on my knees to get them out from under his bed, but stop when I see a big book on his bedside table. It looks very old and is bound in black leather. I glance around quickly, then look closely at the cover. In faded silver, the words A Practical Guide to the Dark Arts. Intrigued, I open it up to the page Lucius has bookmarked, and start to read. There are so many curses that do so many different things! I never knew these things even existed! When I get to the bottom of the page, I suddenly remember that I'm supposed to be getting Lucius' broom and polishing kit. I know he wouldn't want me reading through his stuff, so I quickly close the book, making sure it's exactly where it was before I touched it. I grab his broom and polishing kit, run back out to the common room, and set Lucius' stuff down. Then, seeing Evan looking uncomfortable, I walk back over to Lucius. He looks at me expectantly, and raises one eyebrow.
I beckon for him to lean forward, then, pushing his hair out of the way, I whisper in his ear, "Can Evan have a lollipop, too?"
He thinks for a second, then hands me a smaller piece of candy to give to Evan.
"Thank you!" I whisper, and sit, cross-legged, back down at the fire next to Evan. I give him the candy before I get Lucius' broom polish and rag out, and he smiles gratefully at me. We finish a few games of Hangman while I work on Lucius' broom. When I'm done, I pack everything back up very carefully, then, holding his broom out in front of me, I shuffle on my knees back over to Lucius.
"Wow, Severus, it looks great! You always do such a good job!" he exclaims, taking his broom to look over, and ruffling my hair again, "Why don't you go ahead and put this away now? Then when you get back, I'll look over your charms homework to make sure you did everything correctly."
My stomach knots up, and I look down. I'm not very good at charms, and I don't want him to see all the times I scratched out what I wrote on my homework to put what Evan wrote, and how poorly I spelled everything, "Do you have to?" I ask quietly as I stand up.
"Of course! I can't have you turning in sub-par work! Oliver? Why don't you go with him and get him your broom and polishing kit?" Lucius says.
Oliver gets up, and we head back to their dorm room. I put Lucius' stuff away as Oliver gets out his broom and polishing kit, and as we're on our way back, I stop next to Lucius and beckon to him. Smiling, he leans forward. I push his hair back, and whisper in his ear, "Can I read your book if I'm good?"
"Hmm, let me think about it, alright? I don't know if you're quite old enough for that book, but we'll see," he muses aloud, "Why don't I make you a deal? I'll let you read the first chapter this Sunday since you've been so good, but I think you should wait to read more till you're a bit older. How does that sound?"
"Thanks, Lucius!" I exclaim, and give him a big hug.
He pats my back, then shoos me off back to the fireplace to polish Oliver's broom.
"Damn, Lucius," I hear Rodolphus murmur as I walk away, "your little project's going really well for you."
"It really is," Lucius murmurs back, "And without too much effort."
Evan helps me polish Oliver's broom, and once we're done and I've put his stuff away, I grab Lucius' fuzzy blanket, and stop by my dorm to grab my pillow and Evan's pillow, then I make my way back to the fire. I leave my special quilt and my rabbit plushie on my bed, since I want them to stay nice and neat. It's getting late in the common room, and usually when I hang out with Lucius and his friends, I don't go to bed until Lucius tells me to. Sometimes if I fall asleep by the fire, Lucius will carry me to my bed and tuck me in before he goes to his dorm, and that makes me feel special. I put our pillows on the floor, hand Lucius my charms homework, take the bar of chocolate Oliver hands me, lie down next to Evan, and cover us both with Lucius' blanket. Evan smiles peacefully at me, and I give him half of my bar of chocolate as we start a new game of Hangman. A little while later, Narcissa comes into the common room. I quickly get up and run over to give her a hug. She picks me up, twirls me around, quickly kisses the top of my head, then, laughing, gives me a light shove in the direction of the fireplace. I go back to my place at the fire as she goes over, sits on Lucius' lap, and gives him a kiss.
"How has your day been, love?" she asks.
"It's been wonderful, darling. Are you excited to watch the game tomorrow?" he smiles at her, and runs his hand through her hair. I can hear Rodolphus making kissing noises at them, and Evan and I giggle softly.
"Of course! Remember our bet, now! If Ravenclaw wins the cup, then you get to take me out somewhere extra nice, so you had better play well tomorrow!"
"And if we win?"
"Well, that's between us," she purrs, and kisses him again before standing up, "I'm going to take a bath, then I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow morning!"
"Enjoy your bath," he says, winking at her. Macnair and Goyle whistle at them, and Evan and I cover our mouths, trying to stop the giggles from coming out.
"Oh, I will," she smiles seductively, and throws her long, thick blonde hair over her shoulder as she saunters away.
Feeling tired, I close my eyes.
"Sev," Evan whispers.
"What?"
"Do you want to go to bed? I'm tired!"
"You can if you want, but I'm gonna stay here by the fire. I like listening to them talk, and the fire's warm."
"Okay, I'll stay a little longer with you, but I don't know how you can fall asleep on the floor like this!"
"It's not that hard, Evan! You just need to get used to it, that's all."
"You're crazy, Sev. I could never get used to sleeping on the floor."
I just shrug my shoulders and snuggle into the blanket. Everything feels so peaceful in this moment right now— I let the warmth of the fire, the scent of Lucius' blanket, the low sounds of Lucius and his friends talking, and Evan's deep breaths wash over me, and I feel my breathing slow as I drift off to sleep.
When I wake, I am cocooned in Lucius' blanket. He is carrying me to my bed. The lights in the common room are dim, and Evan is nowhere to be seen. I figure he must have gone to bed on his own when he couldn't fall asleep by the fire. I snuggle into Lucius' chest. The sound of his heartbeat is soothing. When he enters my dorm, all my friends are already asleep. Evan hasn't changed out of his clothes, and he's curled up on top of his covers as if he fell asleep waiting for something. Lucius opens up my covers and sets me down in bed. I know I should get out of bed to change into pajamas, but I'm too tired. Lucius puts the covers over me, but doesn't take his blanket back.
"You can hang onto that tonight, Severus. Your charms homework was fine— I only had a few corrections, and we can go over those on Sunday evening. Sleep well— I expect to see you in the stands at the game tomorrow!" he whispers to me before he leaves.
"Mm hmm, I'll be there! Goodnight!" I whisper sleepily back at him. He smiles at me, then leaves. Cuddled up in his blanket and my covers, and still warm from the fire, I fall back asleep, eager to watch the quidditch game tomorrow with my friends.
