The next few days passed rather quickly, Elodie kept busy, between hanging out with Pansy and the Greengrass sisters and their new beaus, she barely had time to realize that she hadn't heard from Draco since their date. She didn't expect much, as she knew Draco never dated anyone in this way before, so she didn't even seem to notice that five days passed until she was getting ready to take the trip to Hogwarts with her mère to get sorted.
"Best of luck, love," Daphne smiled at Elodie before kissing each of her cheeks and stepping back to where Pansy and Astoria were, "You'll be fine regardless, we don't care much for house rivalries anyway, we leave that to the blokes."
"Yeah, says the girl that trashed the entire Hufflepuff common room because Ernie Macmillan fucked her and chucked her," Astoria laughed at her sister's expense.
"Alright, alright, off with you," Pansy said, waving Elodie and her mère away.
The two set off on a walk down to the apparition point and then popped away to the castle grounds.
"Welcome!" The headmistress smiled at the two witches as they walked into her office, "We are so happy to have you, dear."
"Thank you for welcoming her with open arms," Amilie smiled back, "And apologies for our tardiness, we got quite lost on your moving stairs."
"Of course, that is terribly common, don't worry," Mcgonagall said, giving a sympathetic look, "Your transcripts are marvelous, have you considered any NEWT level classes with us this year?"
"Yes, have you taken a look at my class list?" Elodie asked, "I was hoping for your opinion on if it might be too much."
The elder professor nodded, pulling out a piece of paper and going over it.
"Well, I'll say, the only other witch with a class load like this is Hermoine Granger. I'll have to introduce you two on your first day. You will be in a lot of them together, it might be good to have each other. I do think you will do well, if your transcripts are any precursor of your capabilities here."
"Thank you, professor," Elodie smiled, "I hate to be rude, but can we get on with the sorting now? I'm just terribly nervous, I would love to get it out of the way," Elodie lied, no longer feeling nervous and just wanting to get this entire day over with and have a glass of wine.
"Of course, no need to be nervous though. It's just a dusty old hat," Mcgonagall chuckled, pulling it down off of a high shelf, despite it's protests of it being too early to be waking him. The elder woman walked behind Elodie, and lowered the hat slowly onto her head.
Ahhhh, a transfer hm? Always so difficult, you know, your mind is already made up. Very hard to persuade a witch into what is best for her when her mind is already so developed. Quite the ambitious little witch, aren't you dear. You have big plans ahead. Ahhh and so smart, you might even be on track to keep up with the smartest witch of your generation. This is terribly difficult… Oh, what do we have here, buried away all the way in the back. Pureblood elite, eh? You are so much more than your parent's ideologies, young one. Ahhh, but you do look great in green, - AH SLYTHERIN.
Shortly after that, and receiving the list of items that she will need to attend school, Elodie and her maman both made their way back to the Parkinson manor. Elodie was beaming the whole way back, so happy that she would be able to be with her friends once the year began. She went straight to Pansy's room upon returning and knocked on the door. After a brief moment she heard rustling, and then Pansy opened the door.
"Oh, thank Merlin, it's you. It's alright love, it's just Elodie," Pansy said, turning to the bed.
"Thank Merlin," Elodie heard Blaise's voice, and then saw him roll out from underneath, no shirt or pants on.
"Oh Gods, you two are impossible," Elodie laughed, "I'll only be a moment, don't worry."
"Oh that's alright, we just got carried away. We shouldn't be fucking here anyway," Pansy said, eyeing an annoyed glance in Blaise's direction.
"I just came to tell you, I got Slytherin," Elodie smirked, "So you won't be getting rid of me for the whole year."
"Oh that is wonderful!" Pany clasped her hands together, looking elated.
"Cheers," Blaise said, sounding bored at the conversation, earning him another glare from Pansy.
"Ignore him," Pansy started, "He's just mad he has to deal with blue jewels now."
"Well, don't let that be on my account," Elodie said, turning for the door, "I'm going to go floo Daphne and Astoria anyway, have fun!" She hurried out of the room and down the stairs to the floo.
After flooing the Greengrass sisters, they showed up to celebrate. They flooed a few of their Slytherin friends, who flooed their friends, and slowly but surely, it turned into a congratulatory party in Elodie's honor, and she ended up meeting almost all of the Slytherin's in her year. The best part about it, was Pansy's parents not only didn't care about the large gathering of teenagers, they barely even seemed to notice. Elodie's parents would have lost their minds, but French people and English people are not the same, that is certain, and they couldn't be mad at this, because Pansy told them she had the idea to throw the party. It was perfect.
This party was nothing like the formal gathering at the Zabini Manor, this was like your typical teenage house party. There were plastic cups everywhere, no bar to speak of so there were bottles of varying liquors all over the tables, music blaring out of magical speakers in the corner of the room, so loud it was practically shaking the house. Teenagers everywhere, smoking and playing cards and drinking games. It was the type of party that Elodie was used to, so she felt much more at home at this one. The Slytherin teenagers lost their formal and elegant upbringing for the night, just to celebrate Elodie, and probably to celebrate the end of summer. School was only two weeks away, this could be the last time they were all gathered together without the drab of school rules getting in their way.
Pansy rushed over to Elodie and grabbed her hand, wordlessly pulling her over to and up the stairs. Elodie, feeling a little drunk, hurried behind her but was stumbling all over the place.
"Where're we goin' Pansss," Elodie slurred, "I don wanna go to bed yet!"
"We aren't going to bed, we need to sober you up a little, love," Pansy pulled her into her bedroom and closed the door behind herself.
"Why? I like me right now," Elodie laughed, "I haven't a care in the world!"
"Draco is here, and he is looking for you. I know how much you like him, I don't want you to embarrass yourself."
"Draco is here?" Elodie said, flopping back on Pansy's bed, "I look a wreck, he hasn't talked to me since our date."
"I know, I know, he's an arse some times, Ellie, but he's here now so lets get you something…" Pansy said looking through her medicine cabinet in her adjoining bathroom.
"What're ya gonna get me?"
"A pepperup potion," Pansy said, plainly, before walking back into the room with a small vial, "Bottoms up, love."
Elodie drank it down all in one, and immediately felt a cool sensation wash over her body, before immediately sobering up.
"Ah, that is better," Elodie said, standing up and walking over to Pansy's vanity to assess herself, "Oh Gods, look at me."
"Just spruce yourself up, and we'll get back to it," She said sympathetically, "I didn't realize how drunk you were, until it was too late and he was already here."
"I got a little carried away, because I was disappointed that he wasn't here, actually," Elodie said, brushing out her long black hair.
"Ah, yeah that makes sense, a little advice though, Draco comes to every party, but always fashionably late."
"Well, of course he does, but he hasn't spoken to me in a week, I figured he wasn't interested," Elodie said, moving on to fix her make-up, "This is a party in my honor, after all. If he isn't interested, he shouldn't have come."
"I'm pretty sure he is," Pansy said, pulling out a dress from her wardrobe, "or else I don't think he would be here now. Here, switch into this."
"That will never fit me," Elodie said, motioning to her chest.
"It's perfect for the occasion, and I will alter it," Pansy said, pulling out her wand, "I do this all the time for the damned Greengrass's, I swear they don't have their own closets."
Elodie nodded and continued to fix herself up to the best of her abilities. After slipping into the dress and assessing herself once more in the mirror, she realized that Pansy was right, it was perfect. It was a green skater style dress, with long sleeves, an a-line neckline and a dangerously low back. Black lace covered the chest, and thinned out toward the waist of the dress before disappearing in the skirt of it. It fit her like a glove after Pansy's alterations, and it suited her figure perfectly.
"I've got the shoes, too," Pansy said, handing her a pair of black knee-high boots, with about a four inch heel. She slipped them on, zipped them up, and the two headed back downstairs to re-join the party.
After a few minutes of mingling, getting herself a drink, and looking for him, Elodie finally saw Draco across the room, talking to a blonde girl. Immediately feeling annoyed, Elodie decided to look for Pansy again. She turned back toward the stairs and crashed into someone's chest.
"Oh I'm so sorry," Elodie said, taking a step back to assess the damage, "I should look where I'm going."
"No, no that's okay," the boy replied to her, "Oh, aren't you the girl of the hour? Elodie, right?"
"Oh," she said, feigning shyness, "Yeah, I suppose that is me."
"My name is Adrian, Adrian Pucey," The boy extended his hand to Elodie, "It's so nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," Elodie smiled, shaking his hand, "Thank you for coming to celebrate with us."
"Of course, never ignore a party invitation from the Greengrass's," He chuckled, "Even after you graduate."
"Oh, you don't go to Hogwarts?"
"Not anymore, last year was it for me."
"Oh," Elodie shrugged, "That is a shame."
"Is that right?" He raised his eyebrow, "Why is that?"
"Oh, it's just.." She trailed off, once again feigning shyness, "You seem so nice."
"I promise you, get to know me, you won't think that for long," He smirked.
Elodie giggled, and playfully tapped her hand to his chest, then tucked her hair behind her ear, glancing back to where she saw Draco last. He was staring, eyes looking like they were on fire. She smirked, before looking back to her new friend, leaning in and whispering in his ear, "And I promise you, that wouldn't deter me much. Why don't we take this conversation outside, I'd love a cigarette, do you have one?"
Adrian nodded, so she took his hand and pulled him toward the back door, looking over her shoulder at Draco and the blonde girl once more, who he was visibly flirting with, once again. They passed Pansy on the way to the back yard, she looked worried before running over and grabbing Elodie's hand.
"Adrian, a moment," Pansy said curtly.
"I'll be outside," He replied before walking outside.
"What's wrong?" Elodie asked.
"What are you doing with Adrian?" Pansy snapped.
"Draco was busy with some blonde, and he was sweet to me," Elodie said defensively.
"Oh, he was?" She said, sounding sympathetic.
"Yeah so, I guess I was right," Elodie said, "He isn't interested, so I'm putting my efforts in elsewhere."
"Oh, Ellie, I'm sorry," Pansy said, "I didn't mean-"
"It's alright," Elodie cut her off, "I'll be outside if you need me," She said, walking outside.
"Welcome," Adrian said, taking a drag off of his cigarette, "Fag?" He asked, extending the pack to her. She smiled and accepted one, and he used the tip of his wand to light it for her.
"Sorry about that," She began, taking a drag, "Pansy was just worried."
"Right, see I told you I wasn't so nice," He smirked, shaking his head.
"I guess-"
"Have an extra?" Elodie was cut off by a voice from the door, she turned to see Draco.
"Oh, yeah, here you are," Adrian said, extending the pack to Draco.
"Cheers," He said, "Elodie, I've been looking for you all night."
"Well, I fear you were mistaken, I've not ever been a blonde," She retorted.
"What?" Draco raised an eyebrow, "Are you talking about Isabelle?"
"I don't know, you sure didn't seem like you were looking for me though," She snipped.
"I should probably get back inside, then," Adrian said.
"Yeah, that's an idea," Draco snapped.
"Don't be rude, let's go, Adrian," Elodie said, plainly.
"Are you trying to make me jealous?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrow.
"No, I'm trying to make friends," Elodie said, "Which you are hindering."
"Listen, I-" Draco began.
"Not interested," Elodie said, following Adrian inside, "I'm sorry about that," she said, grabbing Adrian's hand.
"Listen, I didn't know you got on with Malfoy," He said, pulling his hand back, "I'm in no sort of place to be stepping on his toes."
"No, no, we just went out once, we aren't a thing," She said quickly.
"You sure? It sorta seemed like you are."
"No, we aren't, and I'd like to further get to know you," She smiled, running her hands up his arms.
"Yeah, I'd like that, too," he grinned.
They spent the rest of the night, chatting and flirting in the corner of the room. By 1 AM, most of the party goers had retired, either in a guest room or back to their homes. She never noticed Draco come back inside and figured he probably went home after their argument.
"Well, I've loved chatting with you Adrian, but I should probably be off to sleep," Elodie said.
"Oh, come on, love, don't be a cock tease, we've been talking all night," Adrian said, grabbing her arm as she went to stand.
"Not sure how that makes me a cock tease," Elodie said, rolling her eyes.
"Come on, let's go up to your room, together," he smirked, "Or we can just fuck right here on this couch."
"Gods, what have I said to you to make you think we're fucking tonight?" She said, yanking her arm away.
"Oh come on, where is all that bad girl bullshit flirting you've been carrying on with tonight?" He rolled his eyes, "Or was all this small talk a waste of my time?"
"Alright you two, that's enough of that pathetic conversation, Adrian," Pansy cut in, from the doorway of the room, "Glad I came to find you, Ellie. Get the fuck out of my house Pucey," He held up his hands in defense and walked to the floo grate, "Don't touch my floo, out, walk to the apparition point, you cunt."
"Lovely seeing you, Pansy. I'll see you around, Brodeur," Adrian said, sending a wink at them, before walking out of the door.
"Oh, he is such a creep," Elodie shivered.
"Yeah, and he's officially on the ward list, that was foul," Pansy said, waving her wand to summon a piece of parchment, and writing his name on it with a quill.
"Thanks, Pans," Elodie said, "I feel really lucky that you came when you did, that could have been terrible for me."
"I'm here to take down the creeps of the world, love," Pansy smiled, flipping her hair over her shoulder, "I'm sorry for whatever happened with Draco that made you feel like hanging out with that creep was worth your time."
"Well, now I suppose I know better," Elodie shrugged.
The next two weeks went on without incident for the two girls, spending their days by the pool, shopping, or hanging out with the Greengrass girls. Elodie hadn't heard from Draco at all in the days passing, and was fairly disappointed about his lack of interest in her, but didn't think of it often. On their last day at the Parkinson manor before the start of the school term, Pansy and Elodie sat by the pool all day, soaking in the last bit of summer.
"Oh, Pansy I'm not ready to go to Hogwarts," Elodie huffed.
"I know, I'm not ready to be stuck in that drab castle," Pansy sighed, "Draco's got a way in and out though, he'll show us the trick, I'm certain, so it won't be all bad."
"Eh," Elodie sighed, "I doubt Draco will be interested in showing me much of anything."
"Oh, speaking of, everyone is getting together at the Greengrass place tonight for our last free night. Draco owled me to see if you would be attending."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, and I told him you would be," Pansy smirked.
"Well, write him and tell him you were mistaken," Elodie grumbled, "I'm not interested in being anywhere that he is."
"You sure about that?" her smirk grew larger, "We're having a swim."
"We can have a swim here."
"Right, but here we won't have beautiful shirtless blokes to look at," Pansy laughed and smacked Elodie with the book she was holding. Elodie chuckled as well, jumped up and grabbed Pansy by her arm, pulling her backwards and both of them fell in the pool, laughing uncontrollably.
A short while later, the two found themselves in Elodie's room getting ready to go to Daphne's and Astoria's. Pansy chose her swimwear and cover up with ease, but the two were having a hard time figuring out what was best for Elodie. Normally, she would pick something without hesitation, but today the issue was Draco.
"Well, I don't want him to think I'm wearing this to show off for him!" Elodie sighed, exasperated.
"Well are all of your suits so revealing, Elodie?" Pansy threw her hands up in the air, tossing a very small, thong, swimsuit bottom at her.
"Yes, Pansy, I'm French," Elodie said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Everything that everyone in France looks like underwear."
"You have a point," She said, rummaging through Elodie's bathing suits, "Just wear something sexy Ellie, it will only help your case," She laughed.
"Oh, you pick for me Pans," Elodie said, giving up and flopping back on her bed, "Make it green."
Elodie and Pansy arrived at the Greengrass manor one hour later, and they were as well dressed as you can possibly be for an evening by the pool. Pansy wore a red one piece, with the sides cut out in triangles, a black cover up, big circular red sunglasses, and a pair of strappy black stilettos. Elodie wore a green and silver bikini that tied in the front for the top and on the sides for the bottoms. The ties rested high on her hips, which accentuated her curves perfectly. She also wore silver sunglasses, silver pumps, and a silver kimono. The two looked like a force to be reckoned with, and they knew it. They navigated the grounds of the Greengrass manor, and found their way out to the poolside where they found Astoria, Daphne, Millicent, and Theo.
"Oh, thank Merlin, I thought that we would be the last to arrive!" Pansy said, clasping her hands together and shrugging off her cover up, "Where is the wine?" She sat and then laid back in a pool chair, before a house elf appeared next to her with two glasses. She accepted one, and it delivered the other to Elodie.
"Oh, you were, Blaise and Draco just flooed back to Draco's for some aged firewhisky," Astoria said.
"Apparently, everything we have is trash," Daphne said, laughing and plopping down next to Pansy.
"Ugh, snobs," Elodie said, "There goes our entrance," she laughed, elbowing Pansy playfully from the sun chair next to her.
The five girls all laughed together and Theo grumbled, "I knew I should have gone with them, I can't take all of this estrogen."
"Oh, shove off," Millicent said, "You love being around us."
He rolled his eyes, stripped off his shirt, and jumped in the pool, making a large splash that got Millicent and Astoria soaking wet. Astoria grumbled, pulled off her blue cover up and shoes, and jumped in after him. She chased him all over the pool trying to pull him under and splashing him. The others all erupted in laughter at the scene, it was quite a sight to behold. Draco and Blaise returned, a few moments later and observed the scene, joining in on the laughter. When Elodie heard the low grumble of his laughter, her head snapped to his direction, and butterflies ensued in the pit of her belly. His hair was unkempt for once, like he and Blaise had been in the pool earlier, and the pair were both without their shirts. They were both built like chiseled perfection, every inch of their exposed skin looked soft and taut. Draco noticed her stare, and she snapped her head in the other direction before he could even think twice about it.
"Are you lot just going to stay out there laughing or are you going to help me drown this git?" Astoria huffed.
Draco and Blaise needed no convincing, and jumped in the pool to assist Astoria in the drowning of Theo. Millicent jumped in seconds after them, and Daphne wasn't far behind her.
"I'm busy," Pansy shouted, "Who else is going to drink all this wine?" Elodie laughed and tapped her glass to Pansy's for a cheers.
"I'll drink to that," Elodie smiled, slipping out of her pumps and kimono before kicking her feet up to soak in the sun.
A moment later, a wave of water came crashing down around the two and they were completely soaked. Pansy squealed in horror and Elodie looked to the pool to find the source, where Blaise was laughing maniacally with Draco.
"Those are 400 galleon shoes you arse," Pansy huffed, pulling them off of her feet and waving her wand and whispering a drying spell frantically, "You better pray to Merlin that I can save these."
Elodie stood, glaring in their direction, and walked over to the bottle of firewhisky that they made a fuss over. She picked it up, never leaving eye contact with Draco, unscrewed the top, and brought the bottle to her lips.
"What are you doing?" Blaise raised an eyebrow at her, "That bottle costs more than your entire wardrobe."
"I doubt that," She smirked, "I have very expensive taste," She stated before closing her mouth around the bottle and lifting it to start chugging it.
"HEY!" Blaise gasped, "Come on, that is a disgrace, if you're going to drink it all at least put it in a tumbler. Let it breathe! My Gods woman."
She smiled, and put the bottle on the ground, bending over to screw the lid back on. A quarter of the small bottle was gone, and it wasn't even completely full when she started, so there wasn't much left now.
"You're right about it though," She giggled, "That is a fine firewhisky."
After a while, the whole group ended up in the pool, laughing and splashing, playing a few pool games, getting increasingly more drunk, as the house elves never ceased to deliver them wine the second their glasses fell empty. Eventually they all got out and moved over to a fire pit and sat around it. Elodie ended up between Draco and Daphne, his arm draped over the back of her chair, not touching her, but making his presence impossible to ignore. The group was starting to thin out, Pansy and Blaise snuck out not long after the fire started, and Millicent wasn't feeling well so she went home. Astoria and Theo were cozying up across from the other three, and it was becoming increasingly clear that they were not going to be staying for much longer.
"Eh, I'm gonna go turn in," Daphne said, standing up, "I've got to get up early tomorrow, we still haven't finished our school shopping."
"You're mad," Elodie chuckled, "We leave tomorrow!"
"Hence the 'get up early' thing," Daphne clasped her hands together, "Goodnight, all!"
Theo and Astoria stood up to leave, wordlessly, and ran off inside the house together.
"Well, I guess I'll be off too," Elodie said, unenthusiastically, "Good-"
"Wait," Draco said clasping his hand over her knee so she could not stand, "We still haven't spoken about why you're angry with me."
"Where do I begin?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Honestly, Elodie, I just want to know what went so horribly wrong after our date. You said it was the best you had ever been on."
"You're a cul," She rolled her eyes.
"That isn't news."
"You went weeks without a floo or an owl, or any attempt at all to speak to me. Then you come to my celebration party and flirt with another girl right in front of me. A blonde no less. I mean how thick can you get?"
"Oh Merlin, is that all," He smacked his hand to his forehead, "I'm so glad I asked before letting you get away from me completely. I didn't reach out to you at all because I was in Germany, I didn't have a way to reach you. I should have told you I was going, so you didn't think I was rejecting you, but I thought reaching out the following day would have been too soon. Seemed a little desperate. And Isabelle, as I tried to tell you at the party, is my father's business partner's daughter. We were quite literally discussing work."
"Why were you flirting with her, then?" She raised her eyebrows.
"I wasn't, I was networking. The body language is to make people feel at ease when dealing with business," He said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I see," Elodie turned a bright shade of red, feeling embarrassed for her apparent over reaction.
"I get it, I have some jealousy issues myself. I hated seeing you so close to Adrian. Pansy told me how that went, by the way. He will be dealt with, should you want him to be."
"Dealt with, how?"
"Well, I have a few things in mind," He smirked, "But, he will be fired from his job in my father's company."
"No, no, he didn't actually do anything, he shouldn't have his life ruined for being a drunk arse."
"You are a very fair woman," Draco said, admiration dripping from his words.
"Not always, apparently," She said, her voice soft and meek.
They talked for a while longer, like they had the night of their date. They sat close together, their knees and thighs occasionally brushing one another. It felt to Elodie like the two had been great friends for years because of the ease they had making conversation. By the end of the night, they slumped over where they were sitting on the outdoor love seat and fell asleep, leaning on each other.