Black Roses 4

That night, Thalia made herself dim with a charm and snuck out of the common room. She made her way slowly through the castle, being careful to stay in shadows. She needed the shadows to help her further blend into the dark. Once she left the castle the going was a little easier, in the night she could hardly be seen. She walked out on the quidditch field, and found Draco sitting in the middle, polishing his broom.

"Thalia, I knew you'd come." he said, looking over his shoulder at her.

"I've decided to give you a chance. Don't make me regret it."

"Or you'll do what?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Let's just say you don't want to find out." Thalia replied. She had been training ever since her sister was put in the hospital and knew a wide variety of fighting spells, on the off chance that she should ever see Nikolas again.

"I should like to think it won't come to that. Are you ready?"

"For what?"

"I assumed that, being from America, you probably haven't rode a broom before. I was going to take you for a ride."

"Oh, well okay then."

Draco got on his broom, then lifted Thalia up behind him.

"Hold on to me so you don't fall off." he said over his shoulder.

Thalia put her arms around his waist and he kicked off from the ground lightly. The next thing she knew they were soaring high above the ground. It was a chilly night, do Thalia pressed herself against Draco's back, trying to keep warm. On the ground below they could see the quidditch field and beyond that the light from the windows in the castle. He flew her around the school grounds, dipping low above the lake their feet almost skimming the water. Talking was impossible because the wind was going by so fast that they took her words away before they could reach him, so she held on and watched the scenery change. Soon he began to slow and she discovered a hole in the stand of trees they had been passing over. On the ground there was a blanket. He brought his broom down, and landed softly on the ground. Thalia scooted off the back and he stepped over the broom and leaned it against a tree.

"I came up here earlier and put the blanket here, it was hell trying to get away without someone noticing."

"Why didn't you just bring the blanket with you?" Thalia asked, sitting down.

"Because with you on the broom with me I wouldn't have had enough room to tie the blanket to it. Would you like some wine? I have a basket I put behind that tree."

"Sure."

Draco walked over to the tree and brought back a basket with a bottle of wine and some strawberrys in it. He set it in the middle of the blanket and pulled two glasses out.

"Where did you get this from?" Thalia asked as he poured.

"My father has ways of making sure I always have what I want." Draco said, smiling.

"Oh I see."

"Strawberry?" He picked the green top off of one and held it out to her.

She reached out to take the strawberry from but he brushed her hand aside and put the strawberry to her lips. She bit into the strawberry, it's taste sweet and ripe.

"You're lips looked beautiful wrapped around that strawberry." Draco observed, eating the rest of the strawberry. He was laying down, propped up on one elbow, looking at her intently. He sat up and moved closer to her. He sat down in front of her and pulled her into his lap. Thalia put her head on his shoulder, she had forgotten how much she missed being held. She kissed him, their tongues probing each others mouths, her hands roamed through his blonde hair. He lay her down on the blanket, and pulled her robe over her head. She sat up with him, kissing him and trying to find the bottom of his robes, she pulled them and his shirt over his head. Thalia was now sitting on top of him, moving slowly back and forth on his lap. Draco's face flushed and he bit his lip. Thalia slipped off his lap, unbuttoning his pants and pulling them off. Draco pushed her back down on the blanket, getting on top of her. He reached under her skirt and pushed her underwear to the side, not wanting to take the time to remove them. Thalia gasped out when he entered her, he was quite large.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking concerned.

"I'm fine, you're just a little big." She breathed, "Go slow."

Draco smiled, and began moving in and out in slow even strokes. As it began to get more comfortable for her, he moved faster. Thalia scratched at his back with her nails and moaned softly as an orgasm moved through her. Draco bit her neck and she felt him tense. He made a groaning sound in his throat before collapsing on top of her. He kissed her forehead then rolled over. Thalia rolled with him, and lay with her head on his chest. They lay like that for a few minutes, catching their breath and then Thalia sat up. She picked up her glass of wine and took a sip. Draco stood up, stretched and began putting his clothes on. When he was dressed, he sat beside her and put his arm over her shoulder.

"What time do you think it is?" Thalia asked.

"I don't know, maybe eleven."

"I have to get back soon. Hermione's going to let me in the gryffindor common room at twelve."

"How did you get out with no one noticing? It's easy for me since I'm a prefect, I just tell them I'm doing a hallway check."

"I can make myself dim."

"Takes a powerful witch to do that." Draco drawled, topping off their wine with the last from the bottle.

"I've been practicing, there's a lot of things I know that most witches my age don't."

"A powerful witch with a powerful wizard."

"Yes, but we're on different sides. I don't now how we could ever work this out......" Thalia trailed off.

"Don't worry about such things right now, maybe one of these days I'll finally talk you into coming over to my side."

"Don't even joke, I could never be a dark witch."

"I was kidding. Just because I don't like your cousin or your friends doesn't mean I don't appreciate your company, among other things." he said, trailing a finger down her inner thigh. "Let's not talk about this now."

"You're right, we should be getting back so I can meet Hermione in the hall."

"Why did you come tonight anyway?"

"You grew on me. I figured that you weren't as bad as everyone thought. I wanted to get to know you better."

Draco stood up, stretched and turned to face her. Thalia thought he looked like he was going to say something, but changed his mind. He reached down and grabbed her hands to pull her up.

"Can we see each other during the day from now on? I don't know how often I can manage to sneak out at night."

"If you prefer. I just thought the easiest way to keep Pansy from being a bitch was to meet you at night."

"Oh, her. It's no big deal, I can easily put up with a bitchy ex girlfriend. I've been through worse."

"Oh? Pansy has quite the attitude. If she bothers you, let me know."

"I can take care of myself." Thalia replied, putting her arms around his neck. "There's more to me than meets the eye."

He kissed her, then walked over to the tree his broom was leaning against. Thalia got on behind him and he flew them back to the castle. He landed easily on the quidditch field, and she walked with him to the building they kept the brooms in. Draco put his broom inside and locked the shed. Taking Thalia's hand, he walked her to the castle.

"Thank you for coming to see me tonight."

"I had a great time." Thalia flushed. She was thinking of him on top of her, his muscular arms around her. Draco noticed her blushing, and his cockey smile resurfaced. Thalia was standing with her back to the school, he pressed her against it and kissed her. She wrapped a long leg around him, pulling him closer. He smelled so good. He began to kiss her neck, but she pulled away.

"I have to be getting back, if I don't meet Hermione then she'll be mad." she breathed.

"Alright. Sleep well Thalia, I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast."

"Alright. Tomorrow then."

Thalia made herself dim, then stepped into the shadows. She waited until Draco opened the door for her, then slipped inside. At the bottom of the stairs they parted, him going to the dungeons and Slytherin house and her up the stairs to Gryffindor tower. She made it to the picture of the lady, who currently had on face cream and curlers, and didn't have to wait long before Hermione rounded the corner.

"Thal?" She whispered.

Thalia poked her in the back to let her know she was there. Hermione woke up the lady in the painting and told her the password. The lady yawned and the picture swung open. Thalia snuck in ahead of Hermione and when she got into the common room she made herself visible again.

"One of these days you're going to have to show me how to do that." Hermione huffed, not being used to someone doing something she couldn't.

"Maybe." Thalia said, sticking out her tongue at her cousin. "I kinda like knowing something you don't."

Ron and Harry were sitting in chairs in front of the fire doing star charts for astronomy class. They looked up when they heard the girls.

"So, how was your date with the pretty boy?" Ron asked.

"Come on Ron, he's not that bad." Thalia protested, as she and Hermione pulled two more chairs over to where the boys were sitting.

"I think he's repulsive." Hermione said. "I don't know what you see in him."

"He's gorgeous. And when you get to know him, he's really nice." Thalia smiled, thinking of how tender he had been.

"I don't see how you can 'get to know' someone in two dates Thal." Ron said. "We've known him for years and he's always been an ass."

"But really Thalia, how did it go?" Harry asked.

"It was very nice, he took me on a broom ride. He had a blanket spread out in this clearing and a basket with wine and strawberries. We had a really romantic evening." She sighed.

"You didn't sleep with him did you?" Hermione asked.

Thalia tried to hide a smile, but she could feel her cheeks turning red and knew she wasn't going to be able to hide it from her friends. Hermione's jaw dropped, she was speechless.

"Agh. Thal that's gross." Ron gagged.

"No, actually what's gross is the fact that I can't take a shower until tomorrow." Thal laughed.

"You need to be careful with him Thal, he's evil." Harry said.

"Good grief guys. I really like him, can't you be a little nicer?"

"Like he's ever nice to us. You've heard him." Hermione said, exasperated.

"I know... maybe now that we're together I can get him to take it easy." Thalia pondered.

"Hmph. Good luck." Ron sniggered.

"Whatever. I'm tired." Thalia said, yawning.

She left them sitting by the fire. They watched her go up the stairs that led to the girls rooms.

"I can't believe she slept with him." Harry said.

"I know. Seems like we're going to have to get used to it though." Hermione sighed. "I really don't know what to do with her. When her parents find out they're going to freak out. They know Lucious and what he really is."

"Good, maybe they can talk some sense into her." Ron yawned, stretching.

"No, I don't think so. They tried to tell her about Nikolas too."

"Who is that? You guys argued about him on the first day of school didn't you?" Harry asked.

"She made me promise not to tell anyone, she doesn't want questions asked. I guess if you promise not to mention it to her I can tell you."

Hermione filled them in on what Nikolas had been doing to Thalia, how her sister tried to help and paid the price, and how Thalia was still looking for him so she could set things right.

"That's why I worry about her. I love my cousin and she's a great girl, but she has a thing for dark wizards. I don't know what it is." Hermione shrugged her shoulders.

"So this git put a hex on her sister and then just dissapeared? She has no idea where to?"

"No, Nikolas had no family so she doesn't know where to begin looking. One day she'll have to find him though, the magical doctors can't find out what's wrong with Hope. Nikolas is the only one who knows."

That night, Harry lay in bed thinking about what he had learned about Thalia. How could she go and date another dark wizard? At least it had explained why she had gotten mad at Hermione before, she didn't want to be reminded about her sister at home. What would happen when she found Nikolas? Hermione said Thalia had been practicing different defenses and attacks, but would that be enough. Harry wondered where he had gotten to. Finally he decided to let it go. Thalia had her reasons for not telling them and it was not his problem to deal with. His problem was Voldemort, and luckily enough he didn't seem to be around right now. Harry's scar hadn't bothered him since school started. Harry didn't quite know what to think about this either. Harry finally fell asleep an hour later, wondering what Voldemort could be planning, and where he was.