With a loud 'swoosh' and then 'clunk', the enormous oak front doors were thrown open and hit the stone wall, nearly knocking a large glass vase off of a table close to it. Alex's mother was passing through the foyer in her usual day dress.
"Did you...leave?" she said to Alex in a poorly disguised snippy tone.
"Honestly," Alex muttered, walking toward the west wing to her bed chamber, Draco close behind her, his usual smirk firmly in place.
"Are you taking a tone with me?!" her mother shouted down the hall at her. "Mother, I went storming out! If you're not going to pay attention all the time, then don't bother doing it selectively."
"What do you think you're doing, taking one of those boys up to your bed chamber. You're getting yourself into trouble missy-"
Alex skidded to a halt, getting tired of having to listen to this and mutter 'ignore her' to Draco every 5 seconds. When she stopped, Draco walked straight into her, slightly diminishing the effectiveness of her annoyed action. None the less, she spun around and began to take enraged steps toward her mother.
"What do you mean one of 'those' boys," she spat, emphasizing where she felt most effective.
Her mother was now at a standstill, arms crossed, eyes flashing.
"One of those Slytherin boys. The whole lot of them are nothing but trouble." Alex was now being out stridden by Draco, who looked more than willing to kill. But she flung out for his arm, pulling him back from lunging at her mother.
She came around in front of Draco, bracing his shoulders. He glanced icily down at her, then darted his eyes back to her mother, glaring daggers, but soon looked back down at Alex, his eyes a bit softer. The two friends silently communicated, her eyes saying, 'let me handle this' and his replying, 'do it'.
The intimate stare was broken when her mother said in an icy tone, "Oh, how very touching, the little Slytherin boy has a soft spot," in the next instant her tone changed to an even colder note, her eyes narrowing further still. "You just keep your slimy charm away from my daughter."
At that, Alex spun around, a look of disgusted shock on her face.
"Your daughter? Oh, so now you're protective of me? raises tone up to a shout "Well wake up mother! In case you haven't noticed, I usually stay with Draco's family. I'm not coming in here to go off and make out, I'm coming in here to get my stuff so I can stay at my best friend's house for the rest of the summer. His family actually understands me, so if you have anything foul to say about Slytherins, or the Malfoy family, just remember their hospitality, and if you can't find anything good in it, at least now you won't have to deal with a disappointment like me. But I don't care what you say mother, I'm going!-"
SMACK
Her mother had walked over to her during her little speech and slapped her right across the face.
Alex now sat on the floor clutching her cheek, Draco at her side.
"You're not going anywhere. You, boy, get out of my house." Draco helped Alex to her feet and said, "I will not be spoken to like a common servant."
"I'll talk to you anyway I please, you little trouble maker. Now get out!" When he didn't move, she grabbed his ear and began to drag him out.
After the few seconds it took her brain to register what was happening, Alex lunged forward, tackling her mother to the floor. Draco helped her to her feet and she half shouted, "Come on!"
They darted toward the west wing at top speed. Alex knew that she alone had the key to the entire west wing, and the door blocking it off was just 8 corridors and 6 stairwells away. Being in a dress and heals would definitely slow her mother down.
They dashed down the corridor (a/n: Or, up the corridor if ya like) and proceeded to climb the first set of spiraling stairs. Alex, being in front began to laugh. She was quite enjoying this.
Draco on the other hand, being in the back, was slightly panicking . "Oh shut up you, she won't be getting to you first if she catches us."
"Oh admit it, this is exciting!"
He slightly laughed in agreement, and they continued to speed up the many flights of stairs. When they reached the landing, it was only a short way down (a/n: Again, or up) the hall to the door blocking off the west wing. When they reached the door, Alex began searching the neck of her shirt for the chain holding the key.
They both got a rush of adrenaline when the clinking of her mothers heels steadily growing louder. She got the chain off and Draco heaved a great sigh when he saw that there at least a dozen keys in varied sizes.
"Oh my god," he groaned when she started fumbling around for the right one. "Oh relax," she said irritably, "I've got it."
Just as she said this, her mothers shadow could be seen making its way Io the final staircase.
Alex gasped loudly and shoved the key roughly into its hole. It was slightly jammed and she gasped louder than ever when her mother began stomping toward them, eyes blazing. "Come on, come on, come on, " Alex whispered desperately to the key.
Finally, they heard the tiny click, Alex's mother only yards away from them. They dashed through the door and were met on the other side by her mother shoving into the door.
They stood for a few moments shoving the door at each other . At long last, Alex and Draco managed to shut the door, and as Draco held it shut, Alex slid the think dead-bolt to lock her mother out. "Okay fine, but you'll have to come out of there some time, and when you do, I'll be waiting!" They heard her mother walk off and down the stairs.
As Alex began clicking other locks to ensure that they would be quite alone, Draco said, "Is she always like that?" Clicking the last lock into place, Alex said, "You mean that crazy? Not really, only when she wants something she can't have."
They began walking down a long hallway, the vast cherry walls occupied by landscape paintings with the clouds shifting as if in a strong wind. They walked in silence for a little while, until Alex stopped in front of a huge birch door, which stuck out like a sore thumb against the mass of cherry.
She fiddled with the chain of keys yet again, and selected the largest of the bunch. A single turn of it made the door swing open. She stepped inside and went straight to a corner in the back to get her trunk.
Draco lingered in the doorway for a moment, then slowly stepped inside, wondering around the room. He walked along a line of dressers and desks, and stopped when he saw a picture of the two of them, but it couldn't be. It was at the train station, on their first trip to school, but he hadn't met her until shed gotten on the train. Then he saw that it was not a picture of the two of them, but two individual pictures that had been magically merged together.
He remembered that day perfectly. He wasn't in very high spirits, having to start school with a bunch of mud bloods, but his mother had forced him to have his picture taken. By the looks of the picture, Alex had been in the same possition. The two first-year versions of themselves scoweled up at him, and he laughed.
"Where did you get this?"
Alex, who'd been packing tentatively, looked up, and with a slightly embarrassed smile said, "Your mother." He placed the frame back down on the desk with a raise of his eyebrows.
"Need any help?" he asked, looking around the room still.
"Its okay, I've got it," she said, her head burried in her trunk.
Draco continued to walk around the large room, examining every corner. When he came to a narrow closet, he shot Alex a mischievous smirk and opened it.
Alex's head snapped up sharply to stare in the direction of the closet and Draco. His smirk slightly faded as the tune of "Green Sleeves" began to play. But he none the less inspected this closet as thoroughly as he had the rest of the room.
He noticed that the small closet went deceivingly far back into the wall. Inside was an old-fashioned camera and a few rolls of film, along with a red lamp.
"What the- so is this how u made that picture?"
"Yeah, my cousin kind of got me into photography." She thought he might think that this was very stupid, but on the contrary, he simpl saidm, "Cool," and continued to go deeper into the closet.
"What's back here", he said, more to himself than to her. He was completely engulfed in the closet when his muffled voice was heard saying, "Hey, look what I've found." He came back into the room with his hands containing 2 or 3 broomsticks each.
"See how ridiculous it is that they won't buy me a new one?" she said, not looking up from her packing.
"Look, father will buy u the lightening bolt. we're heading to Diagon Alley later in the week, we'll get u the broom then."
Alex lifted her head from her trunk and looked him hard in the face. "Draco, your father doesn't have to buy me anything."
Draco bent down to put the old brooms back in the small closet and said, his voice muffled again, "Nonsense, I can't stand the thought of a Slytherin owning the same broom as Potter. we deserve the best, and you'll have the best, I don't care how stubborn u are." He emerged from the closet with a smirk on his face.
"You'll just have to live with it." Alex's face adopted a very sweet yet annoyed smile.
"Don't go getting soft on me, Draco. Think of what it could do to your reputation." He began moving toward her, as if he were a lion stalking an antelope. "What are you suggesting, Alex?" He said, a hint of mischief showing through his glare.
"I am merely suggesting, Draco, that you are losing your image."
"Oh really." He said, drawing nearer, one of his hands clutching an unknown item behind his back.
"Really," Alex said, matching his stare. "Fine," he said, and he whipped out the broom he had hidden behind his back, and flew out of the huge open window.
Alex had retreated to the bed post in her surprise, but was soon laughing again when Draco made a huge circle and came back to hover in front of her window. She walked over to it and stood in the frame.
"I'm sorry Alex, but I simply wont stand for that."
Smiling broadly, Alex dashed back to the closet and grabbed her Firebolt, noticing that Draco had taken her nimbus 2001. She quickly mounted it, and with a 'whoosh' was flying out of the window as well. She too did a quick circle a stopped a good 15 feet in front of Draco.
"Come now Draco, be a good sport about it." He slowly brought the broom closer to hers, and said, "Why don't we settle this with a little race. If I win, you don't criticize me for a week, AND you let my father buy you the broom-"
"And if I win, you don't criticize me for a week and you have to polish my broom handle and wand. Cause I know your father will buy it for me not matter what I say," she finished in an undertone so Draco couldn't hear her.
"Deal, now it's the first one to the east edge of my property and back. you have to circle around the oak tree, or it doesn't count." He said, very sure of himself.
"Okay," Alex said, getting into a ready stance.
The race would soon commence, and Draco would have a little surprise of his own at the end of it.
Author's note: Well,I hope you enjoyed it, and I promise the next chappie with have more fluffiness in it. Plz R&R
Shasanixie: Thank you for being my one and only reviewer! I'm sorry the hershey park plans went under, but I look forward to taking u to school with my mom (if u can) and going to the lake to play tennis and swim!! Check ya at school (urgh, school)