**Sorry this one took longer than usual but it was finals week and that kinda takes a lot out of a girl… Anyway new chapter so yay for that. Thank you for all the comments and reviews and what not. They're in the triple digits now as well as my followers \(^▽^)/ So thank you for that and yeah… :)**
.
I stumbled along the corridor of the Hogwarts Express looking for a place to sit. This was my fourth year yet that part always remained the same. Someone slammed their door shut startling and making me pause. That was a rude gesture yet understandable, considering the racket the people in the next compartment were making. That's when I noticed the loud gloating was coming from a voice I was only too familiar with; Draco's voice. I shook my head leading Lev to the source.
Their conversation had something to do with Durmstrang Institute. I wasn't paying particular attention but I had a hunch of what it pertained to. Draco was most likely telling Crabbe and Goyle about the Triwizard Tournament. That or about how much better he thought the school was than Hogwarts and how he would've gone there if not for his mother. That part I had never been convinced on. She had been evasive about allowing him to go so far from home but his mother's overbearing nature had never changed his mind before. Yet that didn't stop him from bragging every chance he got. Either way I shrugged and walked into the middle of their discussion.
"Again with this? We get it, your mum loves you" I teased stepping into the compartment and closing the door behind me. Recognizing my voice Draco rolled his eyes and moved over slightly, leaving me enough room to take the seat next to him. With a wave at the other two boys I took my seat. They smiled and waved kindly. Those two weren't too bright, and the bully sort at times, but otherwise they were actually rather sweet.
"Like it's my fault I'm so lovable" Draco teased back. I laughed and Lev jumped onto my lap.
"Well if you think it's so great and hate Hogwarts so much why not just transfer there?" I asked petting Lev who was growling quietly to himself. I wouldn't have been able to tell if not for the slight vibrations coming from his body
"Can you do that?" Goyle asked sounding intrigued. I nodded still looking down at my puppy
"You can though most don't like doing so. I think it's either from lack of knowledge or because they won't know anyone. But you won't have that problem" I added turning to Draco. Our fathers both knew the Durmstrang headmaster well. In fact, from time to time, Draco and I would visit the institute grounds during their school year. I did so because it helped me feel better to see my brother whenever I started missing him too much. It had always been boring without him at home and since the headmaster allowed it I got to see Nikolai before things got too bad.
"You won't either. We could both go" Draco suggested frowning at Lev. His growling had grown louder and slightly more conspicuous
"Nah, I actually like Hogwarts. And if memory serves correctly I wouldn't be a very good student there." He scoffed at my answer trying to ignore my irate puppy as he did
"You'd get top marks in every dark magic class."
"Not what I meant" I sighed crossing my arm at him; he knew me better than that
"So you'll get into a few fights" said Draco, waving his hand dismissively. "It's not like you don't already do that with Pansy."
"Still I told you I like it here. You can go without me" I smiled. He had always wanted to go to Durmstrang Institute. Whenever we would visit the grounds he seemed excited about it. And even if his mother didn't want him going, that had never stopped him before. She hadn't wanted him to visit me the first few times either and I'm sure she still has some problems with it, yet now he's there for about every other day during the summer. Still, Draco gave me a look. "What?"
"You're an idiot" he muttered. Lev barked loudly still faintly shaking. Draco jumped back a little as did the other boys.
"Lev" I scolded pulling him back before he got too close to any of them. He didn't fight me though his tense posture made it obvious that, given the chance, he would jump any one of them, most likely starting with Draco
"What's with that thing? It's more vicious that usual" Draco grumbled having noticed his earlier growling. Lev barked again annoyed with him
"He is just a little upset. We were running a tad late this morning and Alla didn't have time to pack him his usual treats."
"So it's upset because it didn't get chocolate this morning" he jeered. A ferocious growl came from the little dog making Draco scoot farther from me
"Stop" I told him hitting him lightly on the nose. Lev whined at me but soon continued to glower at Draco
"Stop staring at me you mutt!" he barked. Lev growled in return. But Draco knew him well enough to know what he wanted. Knowing that making my puppy happy was in his best interest he let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine! Crabbe, Goyle, go get it some things from the trolley witch"
The two boys nodded and stood up. Carefully but quickly they slid out of the compartment and headed down the corridor. Lev relaxed as soon as they left and moved to snuggle into the nook of my arm. It made me giggle how easily he could get people to do things for him too. It was like we were meant to be together
"Demon mongrel" Draco hissed slowly leaning back towards me. Lev ignored him and remained snuggled against me
"Oh, stop it. He's just a little puppy. Aren't you Lev" I cooed scratching him affectionately behind his ear. My puppy raised his head and pushed it against my hand, barking affectionately and happily as I petted him. He turned to lick my hand making me giggle again
"Why do you still call it that?" Draco frowned at us but settled back into his regular place realizing the sudden mood change
"Him" I corrected. "And what do you mean?"
"I know it's a half breed and won't grow much and all but you do know it's not little anymore. That mutt isn't a puppy" he concluded. Lev snarled and I hugged him, stopping him from attacking. Draco wasn't the first person to make that comment and Lev was never too happy about it. A few of our servants were even sent to St. Mungo's Hospital. But I had talked to him about that and hopefully no one else would have to go see a healer. I gave Lev a kiss and he and licked my face in return.
"He'll always be my puppy" I replied petting my pup's head. "Just because we're growing older doesn't mean we change who we are. And just like Lev's always going to be my puppy, you will always be my Deedee" I smiled at him. Draco looked taken aback for a second before turning away
"Whatever" he muttered looking out window. I patted his head too making him look back with glare. It made me giggle but that turned into a yawn and Draco's stare turned to one of concern. "What is it?"
"I guess I haven't been sleeping well" I mumbled. Somehow Nikolai had heard about the events of the game and had worried for me. Since I had told him about my going to the World Cup he was aware that I would have been involved with the actions that took place. And because he was worried I was worried and so on and so forth. It was rather exhausting, which is why I usually stayed away from feelings. But this was my brother and it couldn't be helped. "Because of the World Cup and all…"
"Oh, really?" Draco halfheartedly commented. We had been avoiding the topic seeing as his father had clearly been involved. I shrugged not wanting to further that conversation either. He knew how I felt about Death Eaters and I knew how he felt about his father. It would do no one any good to have that conversation
"So where's Pansy?" I asked changing subject.
"Who knows" he sighed. "I think she's with Millicent somewhere"
"I would expect her to be sitting next to you" I added; it was the truth. That girl clung to him like a kappa to an unsuspecting swimmer. I felt bad for her at times. But then she insulted me and I got over it
"Yeah well she's not" he muttered almost grateful. I smiled at his tone. The thought of her in the compartment with us might have been even more dreadful for him than for me
"I don't like her but you should probably not use her like that" I muttered feeling bad for her again. Yet another downside to having feelings; the constant need to please those you care for. Besides my family I only had Draco and Alla on that list. As of late Hermione and the twins have been making their way to it too, though I was reluctantly allowing it. Caring about too many people could be troublesome so I chose to stay away from that. And as for everyone else, I was indifferent towards. If something happened to some, like Daphne or Theodore, I might miss them but probably not more than that
"Not use her? This from the puppet master herself" he smirked. I hit his arm but giggled at his comment
"I'm serious. You know all you have to do is ask and she'll do it." Pansy was annoying, insufferable even, but she was still a person; a loose definition of the term, but a person none the less.
"You use me like that" he reminded both of us. I leaned against his shoulder and turned to look up at him
"The difference is you're not in love with me" I replied batting my eyelashes playfully. He turned away from me and back to the window
"She's not in love with me" he muttered in a quiet tone. For a few seconds I kept looking at him as he continued to stare out of the window. Eventually I turned my face back to look at my puppy. Lev had repositioned himself on my lap resting his head on one of my leg. Draco had always done as I said, more so as our relationship developed, but from his tone I could tell something was bothering him. The annoying part was I could never tell for sure what that thing was. Of everyone I had ever met Draco was one of the few individuals, along with my brother, that I sometimes couldn't read. It was aggravating at times but I had grown slightly used to it and mostly ignored when faced by it
"Well if not then it's some form of obsession" I said getting back to our conversation. "Don't pretend you haven't noticed. She follows after you like a little puppy; well, a clingy puppy. Lev doesn't even follow me around like that"
"It's not a puppy" he sighed roughly, making me smile. I felt his face shift to look at me and I turned my head to look at him. He smiled a little when he saw mine but turned back to the window. "Do you want me to stop?"
"I told you I don't like her, so go on if you want, but it's still not something I think is good for her. As much as she tries to deny it she's weak and I doubt she could take a lot of emotional damage" I added sitting up
"That's awfully nice of you" he frowned. I laughed at his expression
"I have a nice side" I smiled and looked up innocently. Draco rolled his eyes at me knowing me too well to fall for that
"I don't like it." He made face and I laughed again. "You're much better as the manipulative stubborn terror we both know you truly are"
"Well every once in a while it's healthy to be nice, Deedee"
"If you say so" he mumbled. I giggled one last time before Crabbe and Goyle walked back into the compartment. In their arms lay two large piles of sweets. My puppy barked, making both stumble back a little and drop some of the sweets they were carrying. Lev happily picked it up then came to sit by my feet
Some noise came from the door the boys had left open when they arrived. Voices were heard from the next compartment and we all recognized just who those voices were. I saw Draco make a face as the conversation from the Gryffindors next to us continued. It was about the World Cup though they seemed to be sticking to only the actual game. Ron was particularly fixating on Viktor Krum. Lev went to get another sweet from Goyle and I saw the two boys staring at Draco, wondering what he wanted them to do. He looked like he wasn't sure
"If you're going to go make trouble, close the door behind you" I told him, bringing Lev from the floor back onto my lap. Draco smirked at me then turned to nod at the other two boys. They nodded in return and all three stood up. Closing the door behind them they walked out leaving me alone with my puppy.
"Do you think he'll ever be a good boy?" I asked Lev repositioning myself on the seat. I lifted my legs onto the seat placing them out in front of me. The compartment was much more comfortable this way. My puppy gave me a snort in reply and I giggled at him. "Yeah, I don't think so either."
I had accepted Draco as the troublemaker he was. Just because he refused to do things the orthodox way didn't mean he was a bad person. He was stubborn and spoiled and so was I. If he was a bad person then I was a bad person. And if I was a bad person, well then there is a significantly larger number of bad than good.
"Do you think I'm a bad person?" I mumbled to my puppy. He whined at me and snuggled against my stomach. In an attempt to cheer me up he started swatting his paw against my robes. I smiled at him and reached to bring him closer to my face. His smiling puppy face met mine as his wet cold nose against my cheek. And just like Draco, Lev always found a way to cheer me up. The two were a lot of bark but had a soft and fuzzy layer to them that only seemed to come out when alone with me.
Suddenly a loud sound erupted like someone slammed something with as much force as they could muster. Glass shattered and rang as it hit the floor. I looked towards the door as my compartment buddies came back. The three boys walked back in looking satisfied with themselves. By the looks of it they must have done something to really annoy the Gryffindors.
I smiled in their direction though still thinking about my talk with Lev. The line between good and bad had always been thin but that's just how things were. Not only that, but the way one perceive others is ever changing. From one day to another the way you view someone you've known for years could change. Would something change between Draco and I one day? I noticed Draco was starting to give me a look and I realized I hadn't spoken since they arrived
"I don't want to know" I told him playfully, scooting forward to make room for him. Draco smirked at me again and took his seat. I leaned my back against him and put my cheek on his shoulder, making myself comfortable. He didn't seem to mind as I let my weight fall on him. As I did I realized just how tired I was. And before I knew it I was asleep on his shoulder