Disclaimer: This AU idea came to me as I sat there watching Cruel Intentions and playing Clue. Anything you don't recognize is mine. And for those of you dopes who don't recognize the song, I'll give the rights away at the end.
Who's got their clawsIn you my friend?
Into your heart I'll beat again
I had perhaps gotten bolder.
That is what I concluded. It was dangerous to walk down this particular corridor, past 'Uncle' Terrance's room, without a robe, especially in the particular dressing gowns I was infamous for wearing around the Gryffindor tower.
This scarlet one was a gift from Parvati that was a great deal longer and so much warmer than the ones I usually refreshed my boudoir bureau with. I had opened it as she had sent it this very morning of Christmas Eve, an early present she hoped would be put to good use.
"Let simplicity seduce your choice, and let the warming Charm of the silk make certain your bed is never empty." I had read in confusion that morning. How on earth was a warming charm supposed to keep a lover lingering? Warmth was nice, but to make such a promise? I had shaken it off.
The gown was actually quite nice. It had a low back and thin straps that flowed from the sweetheart neckline and it almost had a train. It kept every inch it covered warm.
My hair was still in a twist from Christmas Eve supper. We had each decided to retire to our beds early, in hopes that Christmas would come faster. But late into the evening, about eleven thirty, something urged me to take a walk. Tendrils were softly falling from my hairstyle I had yet to take down, although I had put my jewelry away long ago. I put on a pair of silken boudoir slippers and grasped my wand.
"Lumos." I whispered, sneaking out of the East wing and past horrid 'Uncle' Terrance's room, thankful I could not hear his snores in my suite. I passed Tony's room, and the door was slightly ajar, and he looked just so adorable while he slept, I decided not to include him on my little journey.
As I shivered, tiptoeing softly through the courtyard as not to wake the resident of the North wing, Narcissa, I noticed the servants' quarters, which were above the South wing, were alit and the children were whispering with glee. I smiled up at them for a moment, but then the cold hit me hard and I rushed into the West wing's door and slammed it fiercely behind me.
I only hoped I wouldn't waken the beast of the West wing- Draco.
I don't necessarily know where I was headed that Christmas Eve, but I decided, after having loudly arrived in the West wing, I might as well go to the library. I couldn't light any torches, so all I could do was look at the titles of the children's section with the light of the moonlight guiding me as it poured through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows.
"Peter Pan. Sleeping Beauty. Cinderella. Beauty and the Beast." I smiled when I reached White Fang, Draco's precious favorite since childhood.
I reached up for it and as it was just above my arm level, I could barely grasp it. I finally managed to pull it down, but pulled down about eighteen more books with it, and some expensive bookends.
Needless to say, it was not a quiet experience.
Crashes and the sounds of breaking glass were not the only sounds made. I swore I heard little feet, but the children of the servants knew better than to be romping around the manor this late and I knew there were no mice.
I gasped in alarm, dropping my wand. Perhaps there were burglars!
I frantically tried to jump over the mess I had made into the light, where I felt somewhat safer. I'd have to get my wand later. However, my heel smashed what had been a glass bookend only so much further and I tripped into the arms of a very upset resident of the house.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" My assailant whispered harshly, pulling me up into the light so I could see him. It was Draco grasping me by my bare forearms. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"
I nodded meekly.
"Do you have any idea who I thought you were?"
"A burglar?"
"Yes." He dropped my arms and rolled his eyes and I noticed that he was barefoot and shirtless. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "God, Gin, you do me in sometimes. What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Hey!" I scolded in a breathy whisper. "Don't talk to me like that, I'm a lady, remember?"
"What are you doing across the house in the middle of the night dressed the way you are?" He continued. He paused and dipped his head so our eyes were on the same level. "Uncle Terrance didn't rape you, did he?"
I let out a small fit of quiet giggles. "No, he was snoring when I passed his room."
"Then what—" He shook his head, sitting down in a large wing chair. "Knowing you, you have absolutely no logical explanation for your presence in this library."
I placed my hands on my hips, jutting out my lower lip. "Excuse me, but I can be in this library whenever I wish. I live here too."
He laughed. "That you do. But there are no torches lit, Miss Rockford. Any explanations for that?"
I avoided looking at the Ravenclaw. "I don't know how to light them."
"And you're supposing…hoping that I know how?" Draco asked in amusement, standing up.
"Well, wouldn't you? You've made out enough in this library to know how to create a pleasant ambiance with light in here!" I protested in my defense and I almost felt like the ingénue I was supposed to be. I hated feeling too innocent.
He laughed even more and lit the torches for me. "Any favorites amongst my expensive first-edition volumes?"
I placed one hand on my hip and smirked. He mounted the arm of the wing chair cockily. "White Fang."
He grabbed my hands playfully, pulling me towards him. "Oh really?"
I nodded without a word, looking down at our feet almost bashfully. He dipped his head under to meet my eyes and for a moment, he just stared at them.
And then he kissed me.
Very softly at first, and then he pulled away breathlessly, going in for more soft kisses. I couldn't stop him. I didn't know how. I had had countless beaus but I had never had them in such rushes of cutesy romance that I could stand, let alone enjoy.
The kisses became firmer as he stood up. I backed up to oblige him some space. His hands both gently held me up by the small of my back and besides his lips, no other part of his body was touching me. I gasped for air when he started kissing my ears, my cheeks, and my forehead. And then he began suckling on my neck, leaving kisses in a trail along my jaw line and across my collarbone, and then along the low neckline of my dress.
"Draco—" I finally managed, pushing him away. After a few shallow breaths, I pushed out one breathy request. "As…wonderful at this as you are, I just can't, I mean…"
Draco sat back down again bashfully, looking away from me. "Sorry. I don't…"
I stepped forward, and my dress brushed against his hand. He stopped apologizing and he looked at me with a new hunger, a new fire burning in the back of his head.
"No, Draco." I said firmly, not knowing what had come over my childhood friend.
"Look, let me make it up to you." He said stone-faced, grasping one of my hands loosely and letting it fall to my side. "I have an adapted version of White Fang that I know you'll love. Hester gave it to me for Christmas last year."
My jealousy slightly flared at the sound of Hester's name, and his evil little fire in his eyes just moments before was explained. But I nodded timidly, taking his hand in mine.
He led me to his room in silence, but I could hear the spring in his step. I felt bad for putting it there under false pretenses, but as long as he behaved, I could tolerate this little crush.
His room was dark, and his silken blankets and sheets flipped down, showing me that he had jumped out when he had heard me in the library. But judging by the fact that the curtains on his magnificent floor-to-ceiling windows were drawn; I knew he hadn't been sleeping.
Draco had never shown me his room, although I always knew he had plenty of books in his room. The moonlight showed me the room more than Draco could. There was a lovely table for two next to the windows, and bookshelves near them as well.
His bed was gargantuan, to say the least. It was a cast iron four-poster with a frame for a canopy, but no canopy or curtains. It was not only large in space, but the posts were reaching for the high ceiling and almost made it. His sheets and blankets were made of white and black silk, something I thought was very characteristic.
I looked around a bit more. There was a desk next to a large dresser, and chess set with two chairs, a mirror and doors to other rooms in his suite.
I felt him behind me, sliding his arms over mine. I stepped forward as to avoid another uncomfortable moment.
"Where's that story?" I asked brightly, turning around to face him.
He drew in a sharp breath, and the look of praise he was giving my face, the serious intenseness of it, suddenly made me very aware that the door was closed.
"I have a story for you, Gin. Once upon a time there was a very beautiful princess who lived in a castle with a prince that had been her friend for a long time." He stepped forward, closing the gap between us, slowly untying one of the straps of my dressing gown. His voice dropped to a low, affection whisper. "He'd always loved her." He kissed the back of my neck gently. "And somewhere in her, she loved him too. She went through something of a bratty phase," He began untying the other strap. "But it made him see how much he wanted her to be his own." He let the straps fall, revealing my entire upper body to him. He didn't stare at it. He looked me in the eyes. "Parvati made an excellent gift selection. The packaging lies."
He gently pushed me back onto his bed. "Nothing but you could keep me in your bed for the rest of time."
Draco straddled my waist, dipping to kiss my neck as he had in the library, except now it was less urgent. His kisses were lingering, like the hug he had given me in his mother's boudoir only months before.
I pushed him up once more, but this time I was surrendering. "How does the story end?"
"The prince decided that he wanted his princess to be his in every aspect." He stood back up and slid my dress completely off, taking my slippers with him, placing them on a chair. I felt so vulnerable, being completely naked while he had the benefit of pants. He slipped those off almost as instantly as I shivered, as if he had read my mind. "Heart, mind, soul and body."
That night Draco made love to me. And the entire time, although he caressed me in other places, the entire time he kept his eyes on my face.
Although the night had been long and tiring, I was not ready to sleep. The worries have the morning after did not hit until days later, so I couldn't blame my lack of sleep on them. Nor was I worried about how this had 'changed things'. I just wasn't sleeping. And although Draco wasn't sleeping either, we weren't, thankfully, talking about it.
When I finally felt the soft whispers of slumber luring me, I curled up under the cool sheets and Draco threw his arm over my figure and as if we had planned it, our eyes fell to a close together.
Sadly, Draco had neglected to close the curtains, so as soon as the sun rose completely, it shone meekly into the West wing.
Draco put on his pajama pants and I slipped back into my dressing gown and slippers and we attended the informal Christmas breakfast.
Narcissa smirked when she saw us walk into her dining room, which was smack in the middle of the courtyard between the wings, and servants brought in the food from the South wing kitchen.
"My dear Scarlet, what ever were you doing in the West wing so early?" 'Uncle' Terrance asked in the sickliest of sweet voices.
"The library." I answered timidly, hoping my cheeks weren't growing hot.
"Happy Christmas." Draco muttered in some sort of attempt to change the subject. I looked at him strangely.
Draco did not seem at all uncomfortable with the events of the night before; it was almost like he had planned it since we had been introduced, but I couldn't and wouldn't give his demented little ten-year-old mind that kind of credit.
I just hoped it wouldn't be a recurring event, because that could get messy.
And of course, there was little I could do to prevent the unpreventable while I resided under his roof, or what was practically his roof. But in days we'd return to Hogwarts, and there I could try to hide.
But there were still days left before my safe haven.
I sat there, staring at Christmas breakfast, realizing that I was being sexually harassed, by one of my best friends and a man that had been my stepbrother for a few months.
This was sick, even for high society.
To be continued…