After the party, Draco and his parents stayed a while longer. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy had joined my parents in the living room to discuss some things while we chatted in the garden. We sat by the pond again, this time it was just the two of us. Well I was sitting at least. Draco had his head on my lap, resting his eyes.
"You can stay over if you want," I said looking down at him. "I don't think our parents would mind." Although your mum might, I thought. Draco's mother had a habit of being unnecessarily protective of her son. It had taken a while for her to trust me enough to let him visit when we first met. We practically had to beg her to let him come over as children
"Maybe…" he mumbled, keeping his eyes closed. I ran my fingers through his hair, messing up the neatly combed locks. He had looked nice today. "I do need your help with one of the essays we were assigned anyway."
"Which one?" I asked looking over to at the pond. The stars were reflecting off the water shining brightly. I liked coming out here at night. My home had a lot of beauty in it but was usually hidden among the piles of gaudy decor. Or maybe because I came alone. But being here with Draco, it made things feel better.
"The History of Magic one" he said opening his eyes and looking up at me. They were as shiny as the stars. "I'm guessing you already finished yours."
"More or less. I just need to proof read it a few more times." His eyes looked tired. It was really late now and I was starting to get tired myself. Pretending to be happy all the time was more exhausting than one would think. "Come on; let's go get some cold coco"
We got up, walked back into my house and straight to our kitchen. Since Bonny, our house elf, was already there I asked her to serve us. I liked her, she was cute. Draco and I sat by the kitchen island and drank our cold coco. Lev was running around the kitchen happy to be out of my room. My parents had insisted he stay up there during the party so he didn't harm any of the guests. As funny as it would've been to see him attack Pansy it was better having him stay inside. Bonny had been given the task of keeping him busy and I was just happy that Lev was at least decent towards her. She fed him his treats and he happily wondered off to another section of the house.
"So why do you want my help with the History of Magic essay?" I asked Draco in between sips. "You know that's my weakest subject."
"Yeah but you're still… better than me" he said unenthusiastic to admit it. "And I need to make sure my grades are better this year."
"You don't give yourself enough credit. You don't have to be perfect" I said glancing over to the living room. I knew Mr. Malfoy wasn't happy that Draco wasn't the first of his year and insisted he do better. I didn't like that. Draco was great just as he was
"Easy for you to say" he grumbled before calling Bonny to refill his cup
"I'm not perfect. I'm so imperfect I have to pretend to be perfect. Did you not just how many smiles I had to fake?"
"See you're even amazing at faking things" he said with a grin. I made face at him just as our parents walked into the room.
"Come, Draco, we're going now," his mum said and Draco stood but gave me a look. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I didn't understand why he couldn't ask his parents himself
"Um, Mrs. Malfoy, we were actually wondering if you would let Draco stay the night," I said in the most convincing tone I could think of
"I don't know…" she said looking over at her husband. "You two aren't little kids anymore."
"What do you mean?" I asked. Nobody answered. Mrs. Malfoy looked over at her son
"It's just Draco…" Draco looked back at his mum, almost scared. She didn't finish her sentence
"If you mean he snores, I already know."
"I don't snore!" he said distracted from whatever his mum was about to say
"Yeah you do. Albeit not as much as Crabbe or Goyle but-"
"I don't snore!" he insisted and I laughed a little
"It's not that…" Mrs. Malfoy went on. "It's just…" She and her son exchanged a look
"We have to finish an essay," I insisted, "and we wanted to go over ours together. Please?" I knew my parents were upset by this since insisting was childish but I had no other choice. I knew Draco wouldn't argue with his parents and there was no other way his mum would let him stay. Mrs. Malfoy thought about it and Draco gave her a pleading look.
"Alright I suppose," she agreed when she saw Draco's face. "But not in her room"
"They can sleep in the living room. I'll have Bonny look after them" my father said and I smiled at him
And that's how Draco and I had our little sleep over. It had been a while since he had stayed over. I saw him a lot during the summer and even more so at Hogwarts but it was still nice to spend this time together. Bonny had gotten blankets and pillows from all the spare rooms to make a nice set up for us in the living room. She had somehow managed to make it so comfortable that I almost forgot we were on the floor. It looked nicer than you would expect a pile of blankets and duvets to look too. We worked on our essays into late in the night and they were getting pretty good. Draco was almost done with his and I was almost done correcting mine.
"Let's stop," Draco said looking up from his essay to rub his eyes. "I'm getting a headache"
"Alright." We had been working for a while now and we deserved a break. Besides, this would be a good time to ask him something I had been very curious about. "Hey, Deedee, why did your mum not want to let you stay?"
"What?" he asked quickly turning back to the roll of parchment.
"You know when I said about your snoring, and she said that wasn't it. What did she mean?"
"How should I know?" he said still not meeting my eyes
"She was saying something about you but didn't finish-"
"Nothing! It's nothing! Just leave it alright!" he said frustrated. My eyes went a little wide as I realized what was happening
"Draco Malfoy, are you hiding something from me?" I asked taken aback
"No! I just don't know everything my mother thinks! Stop trying to manipulate me into telling you everything!"
"I don't manipulate you!" There was a pause. "Okay maybe a little but not that much." Another pause. "Shut up" I said and took a drink of my coco
"Just let it go" he sighed and dropped his head on my lap
"Alright..." I had my own secrets I could let him have one. I continued to look through my paper about witch burnings as Draco slowly fell asleep on my lap. I didn't know why he had chosen to sleep there when he had a perfectly soft pillow on the other side of him. He kept mumbling something to himself and rolling over. At least he isn't snoring. I ran my fingers through his hair. I was getting in the habit of doing that. It was soft though, and really pretty. When I finally finished my essay I carefully shifted his head onto his pillow and slid down to my own. As I began falling asleep he mumbled something again. I was only half awake but I could've sworn he had said my name
I woke to the sun in my eyes and Draco's head on my shoulder. How did he roll all the way over here? I yawned and I felt him stiffen. Was he awake already? I rubbed my eyes, blinked a few times to adjust them, and then poked his cheek.
"You awake?" I asked still poking his face. He let out a loud yawn and sat up. I sat up too
"I am now" he mumbled in a husky voice, rubbing his cheek. I smiled at him. We got up and headed towards the kitchen for some food. Alla made us some hotcakes. We sat in the dining room eating until my parents walked in. They greeted us briefly and sat down to eat themselves.
"Oh dear," I heard my mum say as she looked at the front page of my father's copy of The Daily Prophet. "How long has been out?"
"Black?" my father answered turning to the screaming man in the front page. "Not long. Nothing to worry about the Azkaban guards will get him soon enough. Doubt he'll get very far. He's mad you know."
My mother took my father's word for it and returned to her meal carefree as always. Draco and I finished and we made our way up to my room. I didn't think that there was much to worry about since my father had seemed very relaxed at the breakfast table. Then again it was the first prisoner who had broken out of Azkaban. My father had told me what he had done, to Harry's parents… That was enough to scare me. Plus my father never thought of someone being stronger than him as a possibility.
"Relax, they'll catch him" Draco reassured me but I didn't entirely believe him. Every year there seemed to be some other danger to worry about. I sighed faked a smile and continued to help him write his essay.