Chapter 14

It was windy, on the rooftop. But as soon as I'd finished scowling up at the stars and cursing the heavens, I noticed Her. She was standing at the edge, looking down. Wasn't she just the least bit afraid? Because I sure as hell was. And not for me, either. For her. Spells or not, standing there, with nothing but a few decayed spells to stop her from being dragged down mercilessly onto the cold, stone floor below. . .

"Come and join me, Lucius." She smiled at me, patting the seat beside her. I smoothed my features, making sure I looked completely free of worry, before sitting down.

"Why must you always say my name?" All right, I suppose it *was* rather out- of-topic (although what topic we were on completely beyond me), but it was a question that had been plaguing me for a while, now. People didn't my name often, but, for some odd reason, she did.

"I like it."

"You do?" Absolutely nothing but surprises tonight, I thought.

"I do. Why, is anything wrong with your name?"

"Nothing. However, people seem to enjoy calling me Malfoy instead." I shrugged.

"Well, Lucius is a nice name."

"So is Lily." It was a bit too. . . feminine for my taste, yes, but it seemed to suit her.

"Oh, I would've liked being named something else." My usually dormant curiosity was aroused. That, in itself, was a rather rare occasion, as it was ordinarily inclined towards the dark arts.

"Like?"

"Jasmine, maybe. Or Tamara. Something more exotic and less. . . *boring*." She laughed to herself. "Of course everyone probably thought 'good little lily' was the most boring person on earth, before I started having these dreams."

"I didn't think you were *boring*," I lied, ignoring memories of the time Peter had made a list of the top ten most boring people in Hogwarts, and she'd been awarded third place. Her surprisingly penetrating, jade green eyes turned from the stars and looked, no, pierced, into mine.

"Really."

"All right, you may have been a little on the. . . er. . . unnoticeable side, but, hey, we noticed enough to call you Scarecrow, didn't we?" She smiled a little, and resumed stargazing. This woman thought too much. Girl! Not woman, girl. Just because she happened to *look* like a woman, it didn't mean she *was* a woman. A girl. That's all she was. Absolutely.

I most probably would have continued along this particular line of thought for some time. However, the undeniably delicious smells coming from the platter drew me out of them. "Food?" I offered. She looked at me. Or, more accurately, stared. Blankly. Her eyes were distant for a moment, as if she were seeing something from somewhere else. Then they focused.

"Yes, right, food, I almost forgot." Her words were rather ironic, really, because *we* soon 'forgot' everything but the plate in front of us. I wasn't usually this much of a glutton, but I had worked up quite an appetite. The astronomy tower was *at least* half a mile away from the castle, and if you added stair-climbing and cold weather to the equation, you had an extremely hungry young man.

Eventually (two plates of pasta, bread, cheese, and pork roast later), our appetites were sated and we were once again left in silence.

Don't misunderstand me when I speak of silence; not *all* silence is uncomfortable. This kind of silence was more of a quiet, look-at-the-sky- instead-of-me silence. Fine. So maybe it *was* just a tad bit uncomfortable. But you should know I'm not one for initiating conversations. Luckily, Lily was.

"Look Lucius, the moon's smiling." Had all the wind gone into her head, and made her some unrecognizably daft woman (girl, not woman, girl.)? The moon didn't *smile*, not in the muggle world, and definitely not in the wizarding world. Besides, as far as my limited muggle knowledge told me, we both had the same moon anyway.

It was only when I looked up at the sky that I understood. The moon was a thin, sliver of crescent brightness, with two, exceptionally bright stars beside it, very much like a colon. Hmm, maybe she *hadn't* gone daft after all. It *did* look very much like a. . . what do you call it? A smiley face.

"Strange, I've never seen those stars before."

"You never looked." Her answer was so plain, so simple, so. . . *true*, that I couldn't help but say something in my defense.

"For your information, I go star gazing at my manor all the time," I said, rather smugly.

"Maybe you *do* look. But do you *see* the stars? The shapes they make. . ." She didn't look at me, even as she said all this. She seemed fixated by the sight of the night sky.

"I know all the constellations. Muggle *and* wizarding." Silence. Then, I heard and odd sound coming from her direction. I turned, and to my astonishment, she was laughing quietly. At me! She was laughing at me! People don't *laugh* at Malfoys. "What?" I said, grouchiness once again setting in.

"You. . . take yourself much too seriously sometimes." Here she was, a *fifth-year* muggle-born, and she was *assessing* MY character?

"I do *not*!" It's amazing how childish I sounded when I said this. Her quiet laughter had somehow bubbled out, and now she was leaning forward and clutching her sides.

Normally, I would have continued this heated little argument (heated on my part, that is). But the fear and worry I had managed to squash down was rising up again, at an alarming pace. Why, you ask? Read that portion again, about her *leaning forward* and *clutching her sides*. Focus more on the leaning forward. Leaning forward, especially when you're seated on the roof of an old, dilapidated tower, with high winds pushing at you from behind, is dangerous business. Minds can do all sorts of tricks, when you're *that* high up, looking *that* far down.

I stood, and pulled her up a roughly. Judging by the look in her eyes, I wasn't the only one being bombarded by surprises tonight.

"What?" She said this breathlessly. I'd obviously knocked the wind out of her when I'd pulled her up. Upon realizing I was still holding her by the shoulders, I let go, ignoring how soft she'd felt beneath her robes, and, even more, how flushed and pretty she'd looked, as if she'd just been kissed-

"You could have fallen."

"There are spells to stop that." Around this time, I was starting to get quite embarrassed.

"Well-yes, but it's dangerous, nonetheless." I searched my mind for excuses. "Besides, if those spells are as old as this tower, they've probably lost their strength. But, if you wish to test them, then, by all means, jump off." I motioned coldly toward the stone floor below, inviting her to 'take the plunge', so to speak. This was a little mean, and unsympathetic, but. . . I couldn't just let her stand there and make an idiot out of me (not that she could).

Then again, I didn't know *what* I'd do, if she decided to accept that invitation. Haul her downstairs, probably, talk some sense into her (this, in itself, was quite an odd expression for me, because I usually opted for 'knock some sense into so-and-so') and make sure she would never set foot on the Astronomy Tower again.

She was silent.

"I never got to thank you, for helping me that time at the field." I didn't know *what* I'd been expecting, but I certainly *hadn't* expected this.

"You don't have to." I said shortly.

"But I want to. Thank you, Lucius." She'd said my name again. I rather liked how she said it; Lucius was one of the names people often found hard to say kindly. That was probably *why* my father had chosen it for me. But she was different. She said the name, in such a way that it reminded me of something nice, like cool breezes on a hot day. Maybe it was her voice. Or maybe it was the life behind her voice, beautiful and young. What was I thinking? Beautiful? Young? These words had definitely *not* been in my vocabulary a few short months ago.

"Are you always like this?" I was annoyed, and exasperated. Exasperated by her, and annoyed at myself.

"Always like what?" She said innocently.

"Oh, I don't know, stubborn, *spoiled*. . ." I ticked them off my fingers. She started laughing again.

"And what's so funny?"

"You!" She giggled, and I couldn't help but think she didn't sound at all like those Giggly-Gossipy-Gryffindor Girls. I wanted to keep her giggling, for the same reason I'd wanted to keep her frustrated an hour ago. She looked so. . . nice. Annoyingly, yet entrancingly so.

"Me?" I said incredulously, pointing at myself.

"Yes, you've been 'painting' your self portrait." She giggled some more.

Why did she have to look so beautiful when she giggled? Why did she have to be so bloody nice to me? And *why*, out of all the things I could have done, did I decide to choose that exact moment to lean over and KISS HER?

No, I *didn't* make a fool of myself, oh you of little faith. Like I said before, I never was, and never will be, a fool. So, with instincts only years of experienced kissing and snogging could give, I pulled away at the perfect moment. Not that I wanted to.

"You giggle to much." This was supposed to sound a little mischievous, but I hadn't known my voice would come out so. . . husky. And serious. She said nothing, only looking at me with her bright green eyes, which were wide with an emotion I couldn't understand. If she *had* said something, I probably wouldn't have heard it anyway. I was too busy seeing (and, quite unconsciously, memorizing) every detail of her face. The light dusting of freckles sprinkled on the bridge of her nose, the pale, delicate skin of her eyelids, her porcelain cheeks that were now tinged with pink, the curve of her lips-

That was my big mistake. Did you see it? Yes, I know. I *really* shouldn't have looked at her lips.

Because when I did, I remembered the feel of them against my own, their softness, their warmth.

Because when I did, I kissed her. Again.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Bwahahaha!!! How *is* dear Lucius going to squirm his way out of this one? You'll see. In the next chapter :D But then, the only way to *get* that next chapter will be to review!!! So please please please review??? Pretty please with a cute Lucius figurine on top of a nice strawberry sundae? Hmm, I'm hungry. Ouch. What was that?

*turns around, only to see our favorite villain behind her, poking yet again with his wand*

*"What do you want?"*

*Lucius gives an evil smirk*

*"Accio muggle typing instrument!"* Oh drat--

Greetings, all of you. After doing a little research on the muggle- information-storing-device *"It's a computer"* Yes, well, whatever it's called. Now, after looking through it, I saw a certain, already written chapter. I wonder, what could it be. *feigns stupidity* Why, yes, of course, it's the chapter after this one! What I mean to say is, I've taken that particular chapter hostage. Yes, until this muggle-typer-writer-girl tells me (under *strong* Veritaserum influence, thanks to Severus) that she's received a certain number of reviews. Four or Five should do the trick, as I'm feeling *quite* generous today. Oh, and one more thing, pertaining to the girl's earlier comment, about me 'squirming my way' out of a certain situation. I don't squirm. Malfoys do not *squirm*.

*Disapparates*

Well, at least I got my keyboard back. Thanks to all of you who reviewed!

Addy--*shudder* latin tests sound. . . scary. Hope you did well, and hope this chappie's fluffy enough for you :D But there is tons more fluff to come, but not in the next chapter, unfortunately :D

Dwendilwen-I'm glad you liked it, and I hope you keep on reading! I'm a LOTR Fan too :D

Glass-bead-- I'm glad you like the chapter title! I didn't really know what to type down there, The Kitchens sounded too boring, so I just *stole* the flaming furnace part from Lucius :D