4

The Dungeon Stairs

Adrienne walked slowly, as she did not want to go to class. She had seen her schedule, and boy, did it piss her off. Potions with the Slytherins, Herbology with the Slytherins, Transfiguration with the Slytherins. Half her classes were with Slytherins and some not even with Gryffindors! She knew her current situation forbade her to be without Draco for any long period of time, but she wanted to be with her friends. She could NOT handle his.

She sighed as Katty and Hermione compared classes with her and another student, Carolyn Thompson. Carolyn was a Slytherin, a rather nice one at that. She was kind of a bad ass, her straight black hair had streaks of green in it today, which matched her eyes, nail polish and headband. She was a metamorphmagus, and changed the green she had now to a different color each day. It comforted Adrienne that she'd have someone to talk to and be there with her whom no one would mess with.

Adrienne entered the dungeon alone and felt a sudden absence of heat. She shivered, her jacket was dearly missed. The dungeon stairs were dimly lit and she could only see a few feet in front of her. She had almost tripped twice so far. A couple minutes passed and she was still walking down the dungeon stairs, cold and scared. It felt like hours had passed her by, walking down down down these stairs to a cold and dismal hell. Walking here had never been scary before, but now she felt alone and cold and scared for her life.

Then in an instant the worry and doubt was gone. She felt herself warm up, starting on her shoulders. A smell embodied her, captured her, making her stomach get butterflies. She looked down at what had happened and only found a black jacket with a Slytherin emblem had been placed on her shoulders.

Adrienne looked up to see who the angel was that gave her this and saw a tall blonde boy walking briskly in front of her, putting distance between them, with white sleeves rolled up and no jacket in sight.

As much as she hated Draco, she was somehow really attached to his jacket, which was not a personal thing to give. She was a tad disappointed by the fact that it was Draco who had given it to her, but didn't want to ever give it back to him. It was still warm from him wearing it, and it smelled wonderful. Like that American stuff… Axe I think it is. Harry wears the fruity one, but the one Malfoy wears is my favorite she thought, sniffing it again before he turned back to look at her.

She was careful not to look at him, but at her books. She didn't want him seeing any emotion about what he had just done for her. To keep the distance she thought.

She picked up speed, making sure to keep Draco in sight. Time went by much quicker now, she wasn't sure why. They arrived at the door to the class and it magically opened to them. Everyone was already there, sitting in their seats, awaiting Professor Snape.

Murmurs immediately began to fill the room, "Adrienne arrived with Draco? What are they doing together? Is that his jacket on her shoulders?" Adrienne took her place next to Carolyn and Draco found a seat on the other side of the room.

Carolyn passed Adrienne a note later in class, "What are you doing with Draco? I thought you hated him." Should she tell Carolyn? Questioning glances went from Draco to Adrienne, back and forth, from both Gryffindors and Slytherins. Adrienne rolled her eyes at the other classmates and put her arms through the sleeves of Draco's jacket, letting the sudden whole feeling she had capture her.

"I'm intrusting you with a secret that is never to repeated to anyone, or talked about with anyone except me, Katty, Hermione, Harry, Dumbledore, or Draco," she wrote back. Carolyn read the note with a concerned look on her face. She nodded at Adrienne and pushed the note back over to her. "On the train over here, me and Draco were in a compartment and were fighting until the door lurched open and smoke came into the room. She smoke was breathed in by both of us and, turns out, it's a binding potion. We can't stay more than six minutes and twelve seconds without some form of contact or we will start to have seizures and then something else will happen, but Dumbledore wouldn't tell us what it was.

"All of out classes are the same now, and we have to even live together. No one besides the people I told you know about this, and I want to keep it that way." Adrienne slid the note over to Carolyn and watched the look on her face go from content to shock to pity.

"Who did it?" Adrienne read off the paper once Snape's back had turned. Adrienne shrugged and shook her head.

Draco walked down the stairs, a few feet behind Adrienne, the coldness of the dungeon setting in. He liked the cold and was used to it over heat. Lately, the cold wasn't as nice as it used to be, for there was a fire inside of him that wasn't to be put out.

He watched her walk slowly down the steps and rub her arms with her hands, hoping to bring the warmth back into them. She turned her head to the side, he could not see her profile. She exhaled, he could see her smoky breath hanging in the air. Even though he only say her like that for a split second, the world went in slow motion as he looked through her, into her soul.

And even though there was only one eye to see, there was far more fear and loneliness in it that he had ever seen. Why is she scared? he asked himself. She's gone down these stairs a million times before, is she afraid of the dark or something? He chuckled quietly a little, but something made him jolt to attention and stop where he stood.

How long has it been since she's seen or heard me! He began walking faster and took off his coat. As he got to her, she was looking down and her teeth were chattering. He didn't want to talk to her, or make himself fully available for chit chat. To keep the distance, he thought. He placed his jacket lightly on her shoulders and walked at her pace for a moment or two, watching her reaction. When his jacket was on her, she smiled and lifted her head, her eyes remaining closed.

Something in him connected him to her, could sense her feelings and thoughts. And now she felt whole and warm, and complete. He began to walk faster as they neared the Potion's classroom, but as he got to the door he waited for her.

The door opened and Adrienne left his side, her hand lightly grazing his. The touch gave him goose bumps, but he quickly shook them off and went over to take his seat in between Crabbe and Goyle, whom he had not told about Adrienne and him. They were too dense to remember or care about it. Draco had forgotten why he had even kept them around. Destiny? he supposed. Or maybe I'm just really stupid.