AN: Hi guys. Sorry this chapter is kind of short. It doesn't really contribute to the story but I thought it would be a fun bit to stick in there to sort of even out the drama that's been taking place. Heh. So I hope you like it. I'm not too happy with the tail end, but it's better than some other stuff I've written so I guess it's okay-ish. Happy reading!
Chapter 21: A Bit of Fun
Sitting at the edge of the lake, Draco watched Seraphim toss pebbles in the water. They'd come down to get away from the noise and people in the castle so Draco could 'study for the yearly exams'; but so far they'd only accomplished getting into a water fight and noticing that Harry, Ron, Ginny, and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were holding practice.
"Draco…" Seraphim stood and walked over to the Slytherin, "you're lucky these notes are waterproof. I thought you dragged me out here to keep you company while you studied."
The blonde nodded slyly, "Yes, that was the pretense. But I'm a bit sneaky so maybe it was just a ploy to get you alone so I could have some fun." He grinned cheekily, pulling her down to sit with him.
"You idiot," Seraphim slapped him lightly and pointed at the sheets of parchment. "Study."
Grumbling, Draco began to read over his notes. "When was the Vampire's Guild founded? I don't seem to have it written down."
Seraphim scrunched her nose. "Um…late seventeen hundreds? Early eighteen hundreds? I know it was on December thirteenth, the day after my birthday."
"Hm." Draco continued half-heartedly perusing the sheets of parchment.
Sighing, Seraphim snatched the notes from Draco's hands. "I have an idea," she sing-songed to the annoyed blonde sitting next to her.
Glaring, Draco looked down his nose at her, "What is it?"
"We'll play a game," Seraphim grinned, looking pleased with herself and shuffling through the papers.
"A game," echoed Draco skeptically. He stretched and slid down to lay on the grass, watching Seraphim lazily. "What kind of game?"
"I'll test you," Seraphim explained, "and you give me answers. A correct answer gets you a point and a wrong answer gets me a point." She smiled, "Most points at the end of the game wins."
Draco rolled his eyes. "But what do they win?"
Seraphim thought for a moment. "Um…whatever they want!" she exclaimed, grinning. There was no way Draco had studied hard enough to beat her and then she'd get him to buy her the new songbook she wanted.
A familiar gleam entered the Slytherin's eye. "Whatever they want?"
Seraphim nodded, confident, "Whatever they want."
Sitting up and smiling cordially, if a bit smugly, Draco gestured to the notes, "Whenever you're ready."
"Okay," Seraphim looked over the notes. "In what year were the properties of the Mandrake root discovered?"
"Twelve seventy-nine, November eighth, noon," Draco smirked.
Jaw unhinged, Seraphim glanced at the paper in disbelief. "Correct…"
Beside them, Draco conjured a tally sheet. "Draco: one, Seraphim: zero."
Grumbling, Seraphim looked over the notes again. "Aha, what are the properties of the Etatisucer charm?"
Deep in thought, Draco wracked his brain for the definition. He'd heard Flitwick explain it once, but hadn't quite been paying attention. "Something about…reflecting…" He sighed. "Oh, it allows you to see another person using the same spell in a reflective surface. It is often combined with the Verbalius Charm for full audio-video communication," he answered proudly.
Seraphim growled as Draco changed the score from one-zero to two-zero. "Fine then." She perused the sheets once more. "Oh, I know. This is a good one. What is the difference between a Amphiptere and a Wyvern dragon?"
Draco bit his lip. "Um…" He mumbled some things to himself. "You know I don't pay attention in that class!" he objected.
"Which is exactly why I should test you on it," retorted Seraphim.
"Um, is it because one has feathered wings and the other bat wings?" he guessed.
"Wrong!" Seraphim shouted gleefully. "The Amphiptere can have bat or bird wings but no legs. The Wyvern is like the Amphiptere except it has two legs. A famous Amphiptere is the Quetzalcoatl." She waved at Draco's tally sheet grinning. "Next question…"
When the sun began to dip over the forbidden forest, Seraphim and Draco agreed that the next question was to be the last. Tied at forty-two to forty-two, and each knowing exactly what they wanted when they won, Seraphim perused the now-wrinkled sheets for a really, really tough question.
'Nothing having to do with potions,' she thought to herself. 'And nothing with Defense Against the Dark Arts or Astronomy.' Biting her lip frantically, Seraphim turned to the last page. In the by-now-familiar scrawl of Draco's handwriting, she noticed the bottom of the page was discontinued. Reading to herself, she smirked, 'Griffin-story: chimera, dragon. Intelligence, battle, win. Bloody hell, I'm bored. Monogamous. Closest relative-'
"I'm waiting," Draco gestured to the sun, "and we're going to be late for dinner."
"All right," Seraphim sighed, crossing her arms. "Give me two out of the following three: what is a griffin, what is the story behind the griffin, and what is it's closest relative?"
An unfamiliar gleam appeared in Draco's eyes. "A griffin…" he mused. "A griffin." Mumbling to himself for a few moments, and then nodding, he smiled. "The griffin is an eagle with the hindquarters of a lion. That's easy, Gryffindor mascot. The griffin's stories…there were originally three mythical beasts, my namesake, the chimera, and the griffin. The dragon was unbeatable because of it's fire breathing and the chimera could not be attacked because of its many heads. The griffin watched them and used its intelligence to beat the other two. By luring the dragon underwater, its fire was extinguished and the griffin was the victor. But attacking the chimera from underground, it was caught off-guard and easily vanquished." Draco smirked.
Seraphim's mouth hung open, complete shock radiating from her entire being.
"And," Draco continued, "the closest relative of the griffin is the," he made a face, "hippogriff; an eagle with the hindquarters of a horse."
Seraphim continued to stare at him in disbelief.
"Darling," he said sweetly, inching closer to her, "I believe I've won."
Pouted for a moment. "All right, what is it you want?"
In response, Draco's grim turned feral as he continued to close the difference between them. In a matter of moments, Draco had trapped Seraphim between himself and a tree she'd backed into, blocking her ways of escape with one arm on either side of her. "What do you think?" he asked, playfully nipping at her ear.
"Dra-co," Seraphim rolled her eyes. "Stop playing."
"Who said I was playing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. The sun had nearly set and they were already going to be quite late for dinner.
"Draco," Seraphim began seriously, "if you wanted to snog, we can do that somewhere warmer and considerably less grass-smelling."
"Aren't you up for a bit of fun?" he grinned, tilting his head to one side.
"Draco…" Seraphim trailed off. It really was getting late. And cold. And grass-smelling. Plus, she was supposed to be the responsible one. "I promise we can snog later. After dinner when it isn't as cold."
Draco pouted. "But I won. To the victor go the spoils, or so I've heard," he smirked. "And it really isn't that cold, is it?" he asked, creeping closer to inhale Seraphim's scent.
Seraphim sighed, shook her head, and smiled. "No, it's not really that cold."
Removing one hand from the tree, Draco tilted Seraphim's chin up and grinned. "Good." Leaning down, Draco began brushing his lips over Seraphim's lightly, continuously, reveling in the feel of her body trapped delicately against his, the way she drew security from his presence. The way her fingers caught in his robes, the way she sighed with each gentle kiss.
Positioning her arms around Draco's neck, Seraphim drew herself up to more firmly connect her lips with his. Feeling his hands on her shoulders, running down her arms and up her back, Seraphim shivered. So ultimately reminded of the indescribably right feeling of their first kiss, a smile crept over her lips.
Soft, quiet laughter escaped Seraphim's parted lips when Draco paused to trail feathery butterfly kisses over her cheekbones. "Draco…"
"Seraphim…" he echoed back, pleased with himself.
Another languid kiss, another sweet whisper; each feeling so completely whole, so unbelievably content, so utterly perfect in one's adoration of the other. Soft touches and soothing caresses fashioned a world where everything made sense and their problems faded.
The day, like their wonderful fantasy world, soon ebbed; the last rays of sun disappearing as the couple parted. Dinner would be well under way in the Great Hall.
"You know," Draco mused as they sought to gather the fallen notes, "this is so much better than the Astronomy Tower."
"Hm?" asked Seraphim, straightening her hair as best she could.
"The Astronomy Tower, it's where everyone else goes to snog, there are too many stairs to climb and it's drafty," Draco explained.
Seraphim laughed and grabbed Draco's hand. "Come on, we'd better get back to the castle or we won't have anything to eat."
"Race you back!"
And they were off.