MetroDweller – hee hee. I keep picturing two little boys slapping their hands where their ears should be and screaming like the kid from "Home Alone"…
Shahrezad1 – I'll let you in on a secret, Ginny's a bit a meddlesome friend. (I know, big surprise, right?) She'll have a bit of a role to play later…
J Wish – Here's a bit more potion time, and yes, there'll be more to come! Don't forget that sneaky little thing Draco's working on… he'll need it later on. Oops, don't want to say too much…
Everyone else: Read!! Review!! Thank you!!!
Chapter 12
Cara was understandably nervous that night as she headed for the dungeons. After all, the last time she'd been face to face with Draco, they'd been, well, kissing. She coughed lightly. Ok. So she'd kissed him. Big deal, right?
She resisted the urge to stop and beat her head against the stone wall. Maybe it hadn't been the smartest thing to do, but at the time it had felt pretty darn good. She'd like to see what a real kiss with him would be like.
Bad Cara, she admonished herself. Bad, bad. No more thoughts like that.
She slowed her steps to a halt and stared at the Potions classroom door. Oh boy.
**********
Draco was waiting, practically watching the clock as he sat in the dimly lit classroom. He'd already checked his potion, and assured himself that the mixture was coming along nicely. Professor Stone had breezed through on her way to some staff meeting, and she'd smiled at him and told him she was very impressed by his work so far.
And now here he was, glaring at the clock as the second hand slowly ticked its way around the face, marking off time. She was two minutes and thirty-seven seconds late.
Finally the door opened and the girl in question walked in. Draco watched her, not saying anything. Frankly, he was in the unfamiliar position of not knowing what to say. What was the proper protocol for talking to a girl who'd kissed you out of the blue the last time you'd seen her?
Cara set her bag down on the table next to him, and raised her eyes rather shyly, he thought. For some reason, he felt like smiling. "Hi," she said.
Draco was forced to restrain the bizarre impulse to smile back. Instead, he inclined his head and kept watching her.
She bit her lip and stared at him a moment. Then she heaved a sigh. "Ok, this is weird," she said. Draco raised one eyebrow and kept watching her. It was a rather interesting thing to do, he'd discovered. She had a very expressive face. He'd wager she was lousy at games of chance, she'd give away everything with those eyes and that mouth.
Merlin, he was loosing it, he thought.
She dropped into a seat across from him, and studied him again. "Draco, I'd like you to be my friend," she said. Rather out of the blue, he thought.
"Your friend?" he echoed. He had to admit, it didn't quite meld with the images that had plagued him for the entire span of last night.
Cara nodded. "Yeah. I mean, you saved my life last night," she said seriously. "And you looked out for me, when you didn't really have to. And I saw you at lunch, laughing at me hexing those stupid Ravenclaws. Ok, you weren't really laughing, more like smirking, and I suppose if I hadn't looked over, I wouldn't have really seen it, but…"
"McDouglas," he interrupted. "Babbling." Something she seemed to do on a regular basis in moments of stress. Or nerves, perhaps.
Cara gulped a little. "Right. Sorry. Anyway." She took another deep breath. "I'd like to be your friend," she finally said. "I think… I think if you weren't being mean and nasty to me, I think I'd like you a lot."
Draco studied the girl sitting across from him. Small, slim, dark hair pulled back away from her face. Dark eyes and fair skin, and a very mobile and expressive mouth. "I don't have friends," he finally said. And immediately scowled, wondering why on earth he'd said something so remotely stupid.
Cara tilted her head a little, those dark eyes fixed on him. "You could have me," she said simply.
Draco scowled deeper. Did she have a clue how that sounded? And just what was he supposed to do with a 'friend', anyway?
"You don't have to think that I'll be bugging you or anything," she said. "I… just if, say, you're in the library and there's no empty tables, you could come work at mine. Or if you got a particularly good grade in a class, you can tell me and I'll be impressed. Or if you want some help with your project," she nodded toward his cauldron in the corner, "I could take notes or something." She shrugged. "Or if you ever just wanted someone to talk to."
Draco couldn't even wrap his mind around the concept. A friend? His previous experience with 'friends' was the likes of Crabbe and Goyle, two meatheads who did as they were told and followed on his every footstep because he had more power than them. Or Pansy, who hung on his every word and tried to please him however she could in the hopes of getting something from him.
"And just what would you want?" he asked, deeply distrustful. People didn't just offer him friendship. And he wouldn't have believed it if they had.
Cara blinked at him. "What would I want?" She sounded genuinely puzzled. "Friends don't 'want' something, they're just… there."
Draco snorted. Sure they were. "Enough wasted chatter, McDouglas," he said harshly. "Get your things together and begin on the potion on page 97 of your text." He rose and began to pull his Charms homework out of his bag.
Cara was still studying him with a puzzled frown, and Draco had to resist the urge to glare at her again. Then she shrugged and got up. As she was setting up her workspace, he noticed she was grinning to herself.
"Something amusing, McDouglas?" he snapped.
She flashed him a smile, that had the strange effect of making some part of him feel lighter. "Nope," she said cheerfully. And then smirked. "Friend."
He resisted the urge to growl, and instead just glared. "Medium flame, you dolt," he snapped instead. "Not a roaring blaze." She just grinned some more, and began to hum rather tunelessly. It was that same annoying tune he'd heard out of her before. Something about sunshine…
Draco gave a mental growl, and turned his attention to his Charms homework. He was not letting the little Gryffindor get under his skin.
**********
Cara was feeling pretty darn cheerful as she tidied up after her latest mess. Ok, so she'd nearly singed off her eyebrows when she'd added the powdered graphorn too early. The mixture had shot straight up toward the ceiling, and if it hadn't been for Draco's quick shield spell, she'd probably have lost more than her eyebrows. Instead, there was just a new clean spot on the ceiling, where the grimy buildup from centuries of students cauldrons had been eaten away.
She hummed again as she tucked her notes away. I'm walking on sunshine… it was starting to become some kind of theme song.
Draco was grumbling something over where he was sitting, writing some kind of homework. Charms, it looked like. "All done," she announced. And swung her bag up over her shoulder. "I'm heading back to the dorm, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Don't forget your parchment," he said, voice cool and impersonal. "Write out your mistakes, and for Merlin's sake, don't forget the graphorn."
She chuckled. "I nearly lost my bloody face to it, I'm not about to forget it." One pale eyebrow slid up, even though he didn't look at her. She made a face at him. "Ha ha. Funny," she said. And then paused a second. What the hell, she decided. He was a friend now, whether he liked it or not.
She leaned over and quickly dropped a kiss on his cheek, causing him to jerk backwards a little. Hah. "See you," she said cheerfully and darted out of the room.
Outside in the hall, she blew out a breath. Whew. Her heart was pounding and her hands were shaking. This 'friends' thing she'd come up with was going to be tough. One, he didn't seem to be that enthusiastic about the whole thing, and it meant she'd have to ignore his mean little comments. Two, she was having the new and unusual urge to do a tad bit more than kiss his cheek. Not that it hadn't been a nice cheek, there'd been the faintest bit of roughness against her lips for that fleeting second she'd pressed them…
Down girl, she told herself, with a sigh. Friends, remember? She'd realized, standing outside the classroom door that evening, that it was what he deserved. And probably needed. After all, he was always so alone. He didn't even have anyone to eat lunch with. Never mind that she wanted to feel those well-muscled shoulders again, the boy needed a friend and by golly, that was what she was going to be.
She gave a determined nod, and headed up the steps toward Gryffindor tower, not before giving a wary glance about for pranksters. She wasn't making that mistake again.
**********
Draco was cursing himself for all kinds of an idiot as he followed Cara to Gryffindor, several steps back in the shadows. He was just making sure she didn't fall victim to another idiotic prank, he told himself. After all, he'd probably be blamed if she fell off another staircase.
She was walking quickly, still humming that ridiculous tune. It was starting to get annoying, particularly since he had no idea what it was, beyond the 'sunshine' part. Her hair was bouncing against the nape of her neck as she walked, and her legs were quick and slim as she hurried up the steps.
What was he doing, looking at her legs? Draco silently chastised himself. Even if he was the friend she'd offered to let him be, he shouldn't be looking at her legs. At least, he didn't think he should. He wasn't terribly certain about the protocol of being a friend.
Cara finally reached the portrait guarding the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, and spoke the password. Draco was tempted to move closer to hear it, but he didn't want to be spotted. He didn't want Cara to get the wrong idea, after all, he'd merely followed her to be certain that he himself wouldn't get in trouble. Not because he had any particular concern for her.
The portrait closed, and Draco headed for the stairs once more. He needed another hot shower to ease the tension in his shoulders. Absently, he rolled one back, trying to loosen the muscle. Really, the best thing had been when Cara had been using her fingers and digging into the muscle…
He gave a little growl. Merlin, what was happening to him? He scowled blackly. He needed to get his mind off the little Gryffindor, and back to where it belonged, on Bellatrix and her schemes.
Bleakly, he stared straight ahead as he walked, remembering.
Bellatrix laughed, a shrill and slightly crazed sound. "You killed your own father," she taunted. "Crucio!"
Draco screamed as the curse hit him, unable to control the wild jerking of his body on the floor. It hurt, oh gods, it hurt. All the times he'd suffered through the curse, he never acclimated to it.
She finally stopped and bent low. "I'm going to teach you a thing or two before you pay," she whispered as he lay panting. "The Dark Lord wants you dead. But I'll have a little fun, first. After all, you betrayed your own father, for that muggle-loving fool and his spy." She kicked him in the ribs, the toe of her shoe catching him under the arm and breaking the skin. Draco moaned, he could feel the blood starting to well, and he was too weak to fight back. He should have been quicker, should have darted down the other corridor.
"I'm going to be around every corner," she continued, voice gleeful. "You'll always be wondering where I am, when I'll strike. And you'll finally beg me to end it all."
"Fuck you," Draco finally managed to spit out. Oh god, he hurt.
Bellatrix just threw back her head and laughed. "No, no, that was your father," she smirked. "You're just a pathetic little boy." She straightened up and started to saunter away, twirling her wand in her fingers. "See you soon, cousin," her voice trailed behind her.
Draco lay on the ground, nerves still twitching, blood leaking from the wound beneath his arm, body too weak to stand. She was going to kill him, eventually.
If he could just make it until Hogwarts, he thought. Forcing himself, he rolled over and slowly and painfully pulled himself to his feet. Staggering a little, he headed for his rooms. There were enough secret passages and wards there, he could be safe for a little while. If he could just make it until he could get to Hogwarts, he might have a chance. He didn't want to die, not now, not by Bellatrix.
Draco found himself staring blindly at the back door of Slytherin. He shook off the memory. Bellatrix had made it very clear that he wasn't safe, not even here at school. He didn't know how she'd do it, but somehow… He had to be on his guard. Not distracted by a cute little Gryffindor.
Cute? Bloody hell, Malfoy, he grumbled, pushing the door open and stepping inside. You're really loosing it now.