Ila and Draco sitting in the Room of Requirement: R-E-A-D-I-N-G

"Would anyone care to explain to me what just happened?" McGonagall questioned, her arms crossed over her body as she stood in front of all the Gryffindors. Obviously no one said a word. "You all seem pretty quiet now. Strange to think that just minutes all of you were acting like screeching monkeys! Did not one of you think about what you were doing? Throwing and wasting food like that? Wasting the amount of hard work those house-elves do for you? Not to mention, attacking professors and your fellow peers? You aren't children – in fact I wouldn't expect this from children. Each and every single one of are able to think for yourselves and are responsible for your actions. You're lucky Dumbledore didn't call off the Yule Ball right there and then. So now, could someone explain to me what the hell was going on out there?"
Someone had coughed, sounding very similar to Slytherin and a few murmurs of agreement went around the crowd. McGonagall scoffed at their answer.

"You're blaming all of this on another house?"

It was a bit of Ravenclaw too," another voice said.

"Unbelievable," McGonagall muttered, rubbing her temples and closing her eyes for a few moments. She turned a few shades red before instantly going back to her normal pale self, a feat that impressed Ila – or at least would have, if it weren't for the…situation. "All of you, get yourselves cleaned."

The crowd dispersed at the sound of their head of house's dismissal, including Ila, who was ready to go to her dorm when –

"Not you, Potter. You're coming with me."

"But Professor, I never even did anything...look, look how clean I am, you could eat food off of my clothes because of how clean they are Professor!"

For their whole walk, Ila tried as hard as she could to convince her Professor that she was innocent – she was the one who hid underneath the table – but it was no use. McGonagall ignored her, whispered the password to the Gargoyle and walked up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.

It was definitely a surprise to say the least to see that Ila wasn't the only person there. Professor Snape, Flitwick and Sprout all stood in line with Dumbledore's seat. McGonagall joined them, leaving Ila to stand in front of Dumbledore's office. What was even stranger, was Cedric standing there, hands in his pockets. He looked behind and smiled when he saw Ila, giving her some sort comfort amid the mess that she had inadvertently put herself in.

"I'm sure the both of you are confused about why you are here – no you aren't in trouble," Dumbeldore said quickly, seeing Ila open her mouth in defence. "I know that neither you nor Cedric were responsible for what just happened but…it has made me think about the relationship between everyone."

"How do you mean sir?" Ila asked.

"Well, if you let him finish, perhaps you'll hear how," Snape snapped, whipping a piece of hair out of his face. Ila rolled her eyes, letting Dumbeldore continue.

"Just because I'm old, doesn't mean I don't know what goes on in the school," he said, standing up from his chair and made his way to the front of his desk, where the two students stood. "I know the tensions between the houses and perhaps it was my fault for not addressing it sooner and maybe something like this wouldn't have happened…something tells me that this inter-house rivalry will be used against the school," he said, giving Ila a significant look. "We can't let that happen," he said, clapping his hands suddenly, he woke up the portrait of Phineas Black, "so the best way we can start tackling this problem – the two of you, being representatives of Hogwarts – are going to be the…whistleblowers. You will each pick a partner from another house to take to Yule Ball."

Ila was pretty sure there were other ways to get rid of the inter-house rivalry Dumbeldore was so scared about like…getting rid of the houses?

But the thought of Ila getting rid of her Gryffindor identity and be in the same house as…Slytherins, was enough for Ila to never mention it.

"Do we have to chose it now?" Cedric said unsure, as he looked around to see all the professors watching the two.

Dumbledore nodded enthusiastically. "Go on…I'm sure you were planning to ask people already."

Malfoy.

This was her chance. She could carry out Hermione's plan without making it seem from everyone else that she wanted to go with him.

But…

She can't mention Malfoy – not in front of the professors and definitely not in front of Cedric. There could still be a chance that he might say her and everything would work well. But it seemed that the Universe had helped her.

"Er – I think – I'll choose Cho, er – Cho Chang, she's – she's from Ravenclaw," Cedric said, rubbing the back of his neck as Professor Flitwick clapped his hands, celebrating that Cedric had chosen from his house. While she knew that it was basically never going to happen, it still felt as if Cedric had rejected her proposal.

"One down, one more to go," Dumbledore said, looking at Ila, who struggled to think of an answer that didn't being with Mal- and finished with -foy. Was there seriously no other boy at Hogwarts that she wanted to take? There was Seamus –

No.

Dean?

No.

Neville?

….

This was useless!

"It seems that Potter's struggling," Snape remarked. "Strange, with all the articles that had come out from the past month, one would've thought she would have plenty of options."

"Severus," McGonagall said testily.

Snape took a step forward from the line of professors. "If Potter's unable to think of someone, I have a suitable candidate for her."

Dumbledore looked at her. She shrugged in return – no harm in hearing him out.

"There's always been some animosity between her and Draco. Perhaps if the two went together, a Slytherin and Gryffindor, that would definitely help to overcome this inter-house rivalry."

Dumbledore nodded, taking in Snape's suggestion while Ila tried to figure out what her reaction should be. While on the one hand, she should have been annoyed, angry in fact that Snape had suggested that. But on the other hand, it would help with her plan. At least people wouldn't think that she willingly wanted to go with Malfoy.

"Alright," Dumbledore said, clapping his hands once more, "Cedric will go with Cho and Ila with Draco."

"Professor!" Ila exclaimed, as if just saying that would be enough to let all her teachers know her distress. "You – you can't do this, I don't want to - "

"It's been decided Ila," McGonagall said sternly. "Deal with it and go back to your room."

As Ila walked back to her common room, she wasn't sure why she wasn't as angry as she should have been. While it was apart of her plan – she assumed that there would still be some sort of anger. But there was nothing. She didn't care. When she tried to defend herself from Dumbedlore's decision, deep down, it didn't matter to her.

What was wrong with her?

She should be disgusted that she's going to the Yule Ball with…with Draco Malfoy of all people but…

Maybe she had been spending too much time with Malfoy or maybe he was getting too confusing for Ila that she was getting tired of figuring him out all the time.

"Sorry," she muttered, as she collided with another person, to busy staring at the floor, her mind filled with thoughts about Malfoy to see where she was going.

"It'd help if you looked where you were going, Potter," the other person said. She was already past him. She closed her eyes, seeing nothing but the image of his face. Ila had a sneaking suspicion that Snape was going to break the news to Malfoy in front of the entire Slytherin house.

And the Gryffindor house too.

She needed to prepare him. If he wasn't too careful, he might actually look excited about going. She slowly turned around and opened her eyes. She could see Malfoy walking further and further away from her.

She could always just let him walk away. It would be his own fault for not controlling his stupid crush on her.

"MALFOY!" she shouted, as her conscious told her off. He spun on his heel, walking back to her, without any hesitation. Merlin, he really did have a crush on her.

No he doesn't.

She was also spending too much time with Ron. Just because he helped her out all those times like in the Forest, and fixing her nose, and helping her with the Triwizard Tournaments all those times…

Ila shoved that idea down. If she kept on thinking about that, she was going to get herself distracted. Besides, it wouldn't even matter if he had a crush on her – he was still working with Voldemort.

"What do you want?" he asked.

Ila looked anywhere but his eyes. "I – er – IhavetogototheYuleBallwithyou."

Malfoy struggled to understand what she had said, taking a few moments to decipher her sentenced before – surprise took over his face. "Right…why?"

"Dumbledore – and Snape – are making me do it. Something about overcoming inter-house rivalry."

Malfoy nodded along, as if everything that Ila had said made sense and needed no further questioning. "You don't sound too excited."

Oh yeah…she completely forgot about that thing. She was supposed to be infatuated with him. Merlin, Malfoy was tiring her out more that doing a three hour Quidditch session. Maybe she didn't have to do that all the time. Only when she needed it. He wouldn't see the difference. And not to mention, he gets pissed off at her all the time. What's the difference if she does it too?

"Why the fuck would you think I would be excited? Even if the two of us were the last two people on the Earth, and the only way to save the world was to go to the Yule Ball, I would rather stuff cotton balls and suffocate to death than go with you."

Draco watched Ila turn around and stomp away, probably back to her common room. That was…strange to say the least. He thought that she was finally starting to like him – she was being nice the last couple of days. She was being nice, wasn't she?

Draco wasn't reading too deeply into things.

But – she sounded pretty genuine when she said that. Was she angry at him? Did he do anything to her?

Ignore her for the past couple of days when you specifically told her that you needed her help?

He groaned internally. He supposed he was pushing it a bit too far. But –

She needs answers soon, Draco. Or you'll lose her.

But he can't say everything all at once. It'll be too much for her.

"OI! POTTER!" She stopped in her tracks but she didn't turn around. Even though her eyes weren't on him, he still felt nervous, as if they were still being watched. He wiped his palms on his trousers. "I need your help. Tomorrow evening – meet me in the library."

Ila bit back her smile. She was finally getting somewhere.

"How many people know?" Hermione asked Ila, as they waited for Moody to come into the classroom and start their lesson. Everyone was still buzzing about the food fight and the Yule Ball, but no one had heard of Ila and Malfoy's arrangement.

"Er – Dumbledore, head of houses, Cedric and…are you ok?" she said when she saw Hermione was a bit distracted, staring at Ron, who was staring right back at her.

"Are you alright?" Hermione said Ron.

"Yeah."

"You've been staring at my head for the past 15 minutes," Hermione said.

"I'm not staring at your head," Ron said, distractingly. He sat straighter, trying to get a better view of what was going on at the back of the classroom.

"Ron!" Hermione said loudly, but he was undeterred, his eyes never leaving the back of the room. Ila, deciding it would be better to spend her time wondering what was going on with Ron and Hermione, followed Ron's gaze.

"Why's Terry on the table - "

"Shush!"

Terry cleared his throat, trying to get the attention of the class. It took him a couple of tries before he gave up and finally yelled –

"OI!"

Once the class was silent, Terry switched his direction. Rather than facing the entire class, he moved so that, now he was only focusing on none other than Eloise Midgen, who was sitting a couple of desks away with her friends. Immediately, the girls became excited, Lavender and Parvati joined their table once they realised what was about to happen.

"Er – hello everyone," Terry said, his voice craking in the middle of his sentence, making everyone laugh. He wiped his hands on his trousers a few times before carrying on. "I – er – I thought that now would be a pretty good time to – er – well…"

He fished something out of his pocket. It was so small, even squinting didn't help Ila see what he was holding. It wasn't until he began unfolding it, did Ila realise he was holding a piece of card.

A very large piece of card. So large, Ila wondered how it was physically possible for him to fold that many times. She had seen in a world record book her causing kept that the number of times one could fold a piece of paper was seven times.

She had counted twenty times that Terry nervously unfolded his card until it was big enough that it covered his body, barring his head and a few fingers. It read, "Eloise Midgen, come with to the Yule Ball and made me Smidgen!"

"Is it my eyes or did he spell smitten wrong?" Ila whispered to her friends.

"Eloise, do you want to go to the Yule Ball?"

A silence so tense fell over the entire classroom as they watched Eloise pretend to think deeply about the question. Her friends asked her the same question. The longer this went on, the more anxious Terry was getting. His friends were still cheering him on, but even they were starting to get agitated too.

"Yes!" Eloise said, and the entire class burst into cheers. Ila and Ron whooped, while Hermione clapped loudly as they watched Terry step down from the table and embrace each other. They boys clapped his back as they broke apart before closing the gap once more, locking lips with each other.

"Way to ruin it!" Ila moaned but was drowned out by the wolf whistles from everyone.

"OI! LAST TIME I CHECKED, KISSING WASN'T ONE OF THE UNFORGIVABLES!" Moody yelled, the entire class quietening down as Elosie and Terry drew apart, red. "But from the way some you's do it…" Moody once again split the class into two groups .

"Oi, move over Ila!" Ron whispered as he scurried to the opposite side, with Ila.

"Alright, you lot are defensive," Moody said, pointing to the group with Hermione in, "and you lot are offensive. Pick a partner from the other group and I want you to practise these spells. Go on!"

Hermione looked smug as she partnered up with Ila, while Ron partnered with Neville. Moody wrote down the spells that each group was going to practise, the defensive having to learn hex deflector and the offensive learning a water spell.

"Do you think he'll actually do it?" Hermione asked, as Ila made her first attempt to blast Hermione off her feet with water. There was a trickle of water that came out of her wand.

"Who?"

"Malfoy," she whispered, looking around to make sure that no one else was listening to their conversation.

"Oh – er, well I don't know."

"If he actually has a crush on you, then he'll do anything to spend time with her," Ron butted in, completely ignoring Neville.

"Shh!" Hermione hissed. "Don't talk too loudly," she said, nodding to Neville.

"Oh don't mind him," Ron said, waving any worry from Hermione away. "He's too busy with…" The three friends watched as he sprouted water at everyone but Ron.

"I thought you were supposed to be doing that," Ila pointed out, while also trying to copy Neville.

Ron shrugged before going back to their conversation. "Anyway, like I said, he'll do anything."

"But what about the other slightly more important stuff," Hermione said, stepping aside when the jet of water coming from Neville's wand was aimed in her direction.

"Look, he'll probably…I don't know," Ila sighed, giving up entirely on her spell. "I mean, Malfoy did tell me that he needed my help tonight – I have to meet him in the library but- "

"Did he seem genuine?"

"I had my back to him," she said. "For all I know, he was probably smiling at how gullible I was."

"But…I mean, I know you don't like hearing about this, but if he does have a crush on you," Hermione said quickly when she saw Ila's face, "surely he'll keep his word."

"Or he could lie just to string her along," Ron added.

"Thanks Ron," Ila muttered.

"Ok but think about it," Hermione said, stepping closer and bringing Ron closer to them. "Even though Malfoy has alliance with You Know Who – he's clearly struggling considering he's done all of these things."

"Or maybe this whole thing is apart of His plan, and I'm falling for it because I think he has a crush on me. Maybe this is his plan too."

"There's no harm in trying," Ron said calmly, clearing seeing Ila getting more anxious. "Go tonight and see what happens."

"What happens if he hurts me?" Ila said.

"He won't," Hermione said. "If we have the map, we'll see what happens. If you get hurt, we'll tell Dumbledore."

Ila felt a bit more calm but couldn't do anything more as Neville had finally found his target.

Draco checked his watch for what would have been the tenth time that hour. She was late.

Of course she was late, what else would he have been expecting. Maybe she got lost. He made sure to choose a table that was hidden away from any curious on lookers. He has seen a few articles about them.

It was strange.

He thought that he go back to feel weird about seeing her and him in the same picture, but it seems everything that he had felt during the summer was coming back again - something he tried hard to not realise.

He thought it was just hormones. He was growing boy. The amount of conversations his father had with him about how his relationships with women would be different now that he was growing up was enough for him to dismiss his feelings for her. But then again, he shouldn't have trusted his father so easily.

Draco stared at the book laid out in front of him before putting it back into his bag. Another reason as to why he chose this area was that it was right beside the newspapers. There countless of them, dating back all the way to late 1800s. He wondered if there would be any mention of them in the older newspapers.

He can check on that later. He had a bigger problem to deal with now.

Draco heard the heavy footsteps that he associated with Ila.

"You're la-"

He turned around, ready to scold her when he stopped, not expecting what was in front of him.

Ila Potter limped towards him, holding a bloodied piece of paper. On the other hand, a large gash etched into her palm, droplets of blood trailing after her. Her hair, that usually in a braid had come undone, the end of her right brow was singed. Her tights had ripped on both sides. She looked like she was going to faint right there and then.

"As much as I'm against men controlling women," Ila said breathlessly, shoving Malfoy the note, "you need to tell Parkinson to back off." Ila limped back to the table and collapsed onto the chair, resting her head on the table and closed her eyes.

Malfoy didn't realised, too busy staring at Ila and her injuries that he had crumpled the note she had given to him.

The note wasn't addressed to anyone. The only thing that it said was "STAY AWAY FROM DRACO AT THE YULE BALL IF YOU WANT TO COMPETE IN THE SECOND TASK!"

There was a heavy weight against his chest the longer he stared at her. It reminded of him of when he saw her during the First Task, except it felt heavier. Like it buried deep within him, struggling to come to the surface. Perhaps, because it would bring other feelings too. Other feelings he had been trying hard not to feel.

"Are you alright?" Malfoy asked stiffly. He walked over to the table, dropping the note on the table.

Ila made a muffled noise in response. At least she hadn't died.

But she could have and you weren't there to -

"You have cut on your hand," Malfoy pointed out.

Ila slowly lifted her head. Her large brown eyes, reminding him of a doll, stared into his. He didn't know why she did this. Was she trying to scare him away?

Why would she?

Doesn't she know that he was trying to be nice?

"No shit, Sherlock."

Or maybe it because her concussion made her bit slow when it came to insulting him. He never felt offended whenever she would say things like that. He realised that a couple of months before their third year had finished. He almost felt a sense of pride. For every comeback that she had, he could easily think of three to throw at her. It would be like a game, the two going on until one of them surrenders.

"You do know you've left a trail of blood leading right towards us?" Malfoy asked. "While I couldn't care less about what people would think, I'd rather work undistrubed. Which is the same reason why picked the most secluded spot in the library. You've somehow managed to ruin that within" - Malfoy checked his watch for added effect - "ten seconds," he finished flatly.

Ila groaned, covering her ears with her hands.

"And do you know that I've just been attacked physically," Ila replied. "I'd rather not get attacked verbally too."

Malfoy sighed, looking at the shelf. He had to research them soon. The sound of a clock ticking came back.

Technically it never left.

He knew it was always there. Always in the back of his head. This was another thing that started in the summer. If he distracted himself enough, he wouldn't be able to hear but at other times -

"What did you want me for?" Ila asked.

"I was going to ask you to help me with some research-"

"For what?"

Malfoy turned around to see her sit up in her chair, trying her best to look disinterested.

It wasn't working well.

"A personal project," he said. He couldn't tell. Not now at least. But she was the only one who would understand. The only that wouldn't question him. Hopefully.

"It's not so personal if I'm involved is it?" She asked.

"Your only helping me with research, you won't know what it's for," he said. "But in that state, I don't think you can tell the difference between left and right, let alone research."

"Left" - she held up her right hand - "right" - she held up her left hand. "Now." Ila walked to Malfoy, struggling to stay in a straight line. Her arms would be out to keep her balanced as she kept her eyes on his until she closed the distance. Perhaps it was the concussion however, that ruined her spatial awareness, causing her to bump into his chest.

"Ow!" Ila hissed, one hand on his shoulder to keep her from falling and the other on her head. "I thought you we're further away."

Draco hadn't realised both his hands around her waist until then.

He hesitated before he let go.

"This wouldn't have happened if you actually paid attention."

"Give me a break, I nearly got attacked!"

"And you've also gotten blood on my shirt," Malfoy sighed, moving her hand away from his shoulder.

"Look just tell me-"

"Hide those newspapers under your jumper or something and follow me."

Ila watched as the two Malfoys' began to shove newspapers from the box that read '19441944-19641964' under his jumper before he motioned Ila to go the same. Warily, she grabbed a fistful of newspapers from '19741974-19931993' and shoved them down her jumper.

"How many people were in the library?" Malfoy asked her as he peeked his head out of the aisle.

"I dunno." She could practically hear Malfoy's pinched expression. "Oi, I just got-"

"Attacked, yes I've heard all about it," he said before shaking his head and took Ila's hand before making a run for it.

Being already dizzy when she stood up, something was telling Ila that maybe running wasn't going to do her good.

"Can you stop stepping on the back of my shoes!" Malfoy hissed as a blur of brown passed by them, making Ila even more sick. "And why do you have your eyes closed?"

"I'd rather not have to listen to you also complain about me ruining your shoes because I threw up, in the next few minutes."

Ila felt them come to stop. Malfoy still held her hand as he opened the door before they ran once more.

"Where are we even goin-umph!" For the second time that hour, Ila bumped into Malfoy.

"Do you always have to do that?" he asked.

"It's not my fault that your holding my hand," Ila said. She opened her eyes to see Malfoy staring at her. It was only for moment that she saw concern from him before he looked away and let go of her hand. It was then did she began to pay attention to where he had taken her.

"Please tell me we're not hiding behind that tapestry?" Ila asked as she stared at the large tapestry that stretched out to the entire wall. She knew where they were. Everyone always talked about how the floor with the trolls in tutus tapestry was the best for snogging couples because no one ever comes up here.

Suddenly she had a horrifying thought about why Malfoy bought her here. It was squashed down by another: he knew what she thinking as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"It's the other side," Malfoy said before turning around. He walked to one side of the empty wall, closed his eyes and began to walk. He kept muttering something under his breath, something Ila couldn't hear. He paced up and down. By his third, a door appeared in front of them.

Wordlessly, Malfoy opened the door, waiting for Ila to go first. He checked both ways into the hallway before closing it behind him.

"What kind of room is this?" Ila asked in awe. It wasn't a classroom, in fact, it looked like it shouldn't even belong here. It was a large room, with three floor-length windows that looked out over to the grounds of Hogwarts, mainly the Quidditch Pitch. There was a fire place that was burning wood and a long green couch that took up most of the room. Behind the couch, stood a desk, reminding Ila more of the tables in the Great Hall than the ones used in class. There were many things on it, cauldron, potions, stacks of paper that were beneath some books to stop them from flying away. Covering two of the walls were floor to ceiling bookcases, each one filled to brim of books that could even tire out Hermione's insatiable need to read books. "I've never seen this room before."

Malfoy pushed past her, pulling his jumper up to reveal all the newspapers he hid fall onto the table.

"You said you wanted help," Malfoy said to Ila, "so hurry up."

Still in bewilderment, Ila walked to the table and copied Malfoy as she looked around the room.

"First thing we need to do is check all the newspapers for their dates and whether or not there's any mention a of group called the Sister of Heliopolis, alright Il-Potter?...Potter...Potter!"

"Yes, I get it. I know what to do, check the dates and find that group," Ila said annoyed before sitting on the bench and picked the first newspaper off the pile.

"Hang on," Malfoy said before grabbing a vial and making his way over to her. "You're going to ruin all the papers if you keep going on like that."

Malfoy swung one leg over the bench and sat next to Ila.

"Do you have to sit like that?" She said, making sure to look anywhere but his legs.

"It's not that big of a problem," he muttered. Thankfully Ila couldn't see his pink-tipped ears. "Now give me your hand."

Ila extended her left hand while moving backwards. Malfoy stared at her before pulling her arm hard so that she slid closer to him.

Too close.

Luckily she had decided to sit cross-legged. Unfortunately, she had to rest her legs on top of his. She should really start asking him what was going on. But it wasn't the right time. He could back off and suddenly she would lose her link. She needed to warm up to him. Or at least make him think that she was warming up to him.

"I never knew you were so good at healing either," Ila said quietly. His hand was gently wrapped around his as he slowly traced her wound.

"Does it still hurt?"

He was applying the lightest pressure possible but she still winced.

"A bit."

He hummed his response. Ila looked at his face. His brows furrowed as he concentrated on trying to heal her hand.

"First it was my nose and now it's my hand," Ila said. "At this rate, you could replace Madame Pomfrey."

Ila was so close she could see the corners of his lip turn up ever so slightly.

Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to be nice to him.

Or make him think that she was being nice to him.

"I think I need to work on a few more things before I could start working on an actual student."

"I don't count as a student?" Ila scoffed.

"You know what I meant," he said. The two stayed silent. Malfoy glanced up to check if Ila was actually offended. He made sure not to put her in pain that she was already in. Her gash was across her entire palm. Luckily it already stopped bleeding, but seeing the streaks down her arm, she lost a lot of blood. Which also explain why she was so dizzy. Malfoy could see a few more injuries that were hidden. There was a large cut on her knee. Being this close, she could see a few small nicks on her face and just how much of her eyebrow that had been burnt off.

"That's too tight!" Ila hissed.

He hasn't realised he was gripping onto her. He slowly let go. A bowl of murtlap essence, with a bottle of dittany, appeared on the table.

"What is this room?" She asked.

Without taking his eyes off her hand, he gingerly lifted it and placed her hand in the bowl. He felt her hands twitch at how cold it was but soon relaxed.

"Room of Requirement," Malfoy said. He looked up at her. It was then could he really examine her face. With all the injuries she had, she still somehow managed to look calm. Her eyes didn't show any sliver of fear. Only curiosity. "I found it a few months back, right before we broke up for summer. You can only find it if you think about it."

"How do you mean?"

"The only way this room exists is if you want something. And then when you go into the room, whatever you were thinking, it'll be inside."

"So if I think about hot chocolate-"

"Doesn't work with food. Only objects that are already in the school."

"I'm guessing those books are from the school library," Ila said, motioning her head at the large bookshelves.

"Those are mine," he said. It's been a minute. He took Ila's hand out of the bowl and gently wiped it dry.

"All of them?"

"I was just as surprised when my parents hadn't realised."

"You're more of bookworm than Mione," Ila said in awe. "What're they all about?"

"Anything I find interesting," Malfoy said. "Alchemy, potions...healing."

"See, you're already halfway there to becoming the next Pomfrey."

Malfoy snorted. "I'm not going to spend my time looking after a bunch of stupid kids that willingly get themselves hurt because trouble always seems to follow them."

"I hope you're not talking about anyone specific," Ila said. "So what do you want to do then?"

Malfoy looked up from her injuries hand. He stared at her for a few moments.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, quickly looking back down. "I don't know really...father wants me to work in the ministry."

He sounded angry.

Why would he sound angry about his father?

"But that's not what you want to do?"

"Maybe I will be the next Madame Pomfrey," he said jokingly. "What about you?"

Ila shrugged her shoulders.

"C'mon Potter," he said, "where's you ambition?"

"I dunno," she said. A clump was beginning to form in her throat. She needed to move on quickly. Malfoy placed the cloth on the table and looked up at her. He stopped paying attention to her hand.

"Surely the Girl Who Lived wants to do something with her life?"

Ila was reminded of the night of the tournament, when she was with Hermione, who asked the same question.

"I s'pose being an Auror would be nice but..."

"What?"

"It's nothing."

Malfoy tutted.

She had to keep him close. She couldn't leave him just yet.

"I haven't put much thought to it because...what's the point?"

"How do you mean?"

"I mean...I'm the Girl Who Lived...there's always going to be someone out there that hates me enough to kill me."

"Like who?"

"I don't know," Ila said. "Voldemort."

Malfoy flinched at the sound of his name. It was ever so sudden. Ila wouldn't have realised if he wasn't still holding her hand. He could feel his grip tighten.

"He's dead," Malfoy said.

He's not and you know that.

"Everyone thought he was dead for eleven years," Ila said. "Until first year."

"But you know he's dead now," Malfoy said, although he didn't know why. He knew he was lying. But how else was he going to comfort her?

"You don't know that."

Malfoy hesitated. "He's not back."

He's lying

Why the hell is lying? What kind of comforting is this! Did Voldemort not give him any tips to comfort people properly?

Ila pushed down the urge to roll her eyes.

"There are still others," Ila said. "The Death Eaters."

"Most of them are in Azkaban."

"Karakoffs one of them."

"All the dangerous ones are in Azkaban."

"What about the night of the Cup Final?" Ila asked. "You were there in the forest, you saw them." Malfoy looked away. Her hand was now in her lap. It looked much cleaner. Without the blood, the cut didn't look that bad.

"They shouldn't have done that," he said lowly.

"So much for all the dangerous one in Azkaban," Ila muttered. "Anyway, as they years go by, it feels like the likelihood of me seeing my next birthday decreases bit by bit until…"

The sound of the Dittany bottle materialising startled Ila.

"You've got all of these people out to get you and you're scared of a bottle," Malfoy said.

Ila didn't laugh, instead she watched as Malfoy held her hand in his while the other twisted the dropper out of the bottle. Hovering above her hand, Ila watching him mouth a countdown to zero. He applied pressure to the top and watched the droplet land on her palm. Her hand twitched reflexively as the pain shot through her arm. She could feel Malfoy making sure her palm stayed flat before he counted down again and another drop seemed into her wound. He did this once more before placing the dropper back into the bottle.

"Does anyone else know about this?"

"No," Ila said. "You'd think I'd betray you that quickly?"

"It's not like we're known to be worst enemies," Malfoy replied. "Forgive me for being slightly paranoid."

The two remained silent. Her hand was fixed. Ila would have thought Malfoy was going to go back to his seat, opposite the table. But he didn't. He stayed where he was, staring at her legs.

"Do you want me to check your knee?"
"Why did you pick me?" Malfoy and Ila said simultaneously.

"You go first - "

"No, it's fine, you go…"

Malfoy cleared his throat before nodding to the cut on her knee. "I can look at that too. There's enough essence and dittany too…I just need to grab a cloth."

He got up from his seat and walked towards the table at the back of the room. Ila thought it would be a good time to ask him now, with his back facing her.

"Why did you pick me?" Ila asked once more. She saw Malfoy still before going back to rummaging through the things on the table.

"What do you mean?"
He found the cloth and made his way back to Ila. He grabbed the bowl of Murtlap Essence and knelt before her. "Why not your friends?"

"They wouldn't understand," he replied. In one of the holes in her tights, Malfoy gently dabbed the damp cloth against the cut on her knee. She heard him take a sharp intake of breath. Her knee jolted reflexively. Malfoy held onto her leg to stop it from moving.

"How would you know that I would?" Ila asked through gritted teeth. She was in too much pain to notice his hands around her leg. Malfoy smirked slightly as he thought about his answer. "What?"
"It was the day after the Halloween party," he started, inspecting the wound, seeing if it needed more murtlap. "I was talking to Parkinson - "

SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SH –

Don't get worried now. He might not have known.

"She asked me if I should care about Voldemort – even asked me if I thought he was back," he said, dabbing ever so gently on her knee.

"Wh-why would she say that?" she said, hoping he wouldn't hear the crack in her voice.

"No idea," he replied. "But she told me that she believed he was back…" Malfoy straightened, taking the bowl of murtlap and placing it on the table beside Ila. The two were barely inches away. "I guess that's when inspiration hit me…"

"You still could've chosen her," Ila said, not wanting to look afraid. "If she gave you inspiration, why didn't you go with her?"
Malfoy smiled as if he knew the secret she held. From the way she was acting, it probably wasn't that hard to guess what she was doing. "She acted differently that day…wasn't too sure what it was but…I knew it wouldn't last too long."

With one more look, Malfoy grabbed the bottle of Dittany before kneeling back down once more. Ila tried her best to look as casual as possible, leaning back and accidentally knocking the bowl of murtlap over.

"So…what exactly am I supposed to be doing?"

"I told you two seconds ago what you were supposed to be doing," he uttered, screwing the dropper open.

"Yeah, but it's not like you explained it well. I mean – why do I have to do all those things?"
"It'll take too long to explain."

"Well it's not like you have anywhere to be," Ila countered.

Malfoy dropped a few drops of Dittany on her knee, the cut on her leg instantly sewing itself back together before coming back up to face her. He leaned over to place the bottle of Dittany back on the table all the while staring at her, the same way he looked at the Quidditch game. He was trying to find something. She wasn't scared. Did that put him off? She could handle anything he has. She was Ila Potter after all.

She's dealt with scarier things than Malfoy.

"Patience is a virtue," he whispered. They were so close, Ila could feel his breath on her lips. She was sure he could feel hers too. "You're not ready now." He paused, staring at her once more. "Start reading."

He pushed himself off the floor and walked to the other side of the table, towards the materialised sink. He placed the cloth in the sink and took a silent deep breath. He was getting too close. He looked at his hands, hands that just a few moments ago wanted to brush her hair away and kiss –

He leaned against the sink, his head in his hands. Which was a mistake. He could picture her face, he could see the disappointment on her face. That was the last thing he wanted – but he told her the truth. She wasn't ready. Besides, he still needs help with his mission from the Order. With her emotions in the way, she wouldn't work at her best.

And yet, he felt cruel.

Draco glanced behind him, to see Ila getting on with her work, carefully scanning the papers to see any mention of the Sisters. He looked down at his hands once more. While he was worried about Ila, the person he should be worried about was him. He couldn't get his emotions in the way as well.

But…

He was spending too much time with her. He knew he couldn't change the way he felt about Ila. They weren't going away. But the time he did spend with her, he could suppress them. No – he had to. Otherwise, he wouldn't concentrate. He'd spend all this time thinking about the warmth of her body, the shape of her lips and how they'd fit exactly onto his –

FOCUS!

Draco turned around, vanishing any thoughts that weren't related to the Sisters out of his mind – or at least, banished them to the depths of his mind – before sitting back on the table and started working.

That was how the night was spent. The two working peacefully and quietly side by side, occasionally glancing at the other to see how far they had come. At one point, the two caught eyes with one another. They weren't sure who was looking first. All they did know was the strangeness of their situation. Ila Potter and Draco Malfoy sitting in the Room of Requirement, R-E-A-D-I-N-G.

"What the fuck have is going on?" Ila thought to herself.