Draco's POV
I woke up with Vanessa laying on my chest fast asleep. I smiled to myself and kissed the top of her head, I slowly extracted my body out from underneath her and went to the kitchen area but stopped when I saw Blaise's door slightly ajar. I slowly pushed the rest of his door open to see him and a red headed girl making out in his bed. I cleared my throat and she jumped off him and fell face first back into the pillow. He sighed and he directed his attention to me.
"Vanessa is still asleep. I would suggest getting her out of here before she wakes up. I want her to have a good birthday." I told the both of them. Blaise nodded and I left them to it while I hurried down to the Great Hall to bring Vanessa breakfast. When I walked into the Great Hall, I felt a pair of eyes on me as I walked into the kitchen. I found one of the house elves and started speaking to them about what I needed when I heard someone clear their throat. I turned around to see Potter standing there looking at me.
"What do you want, Potter? I don't particularly have the time for it." I asked.
"Where is she? She's normally awake by now." He said
"She's fine, Potter."
"That's not what I asked, Malfoy. Where is she?"
"She's asleep in her bed. She's fine." I told him.
"I want to believe you, for her, but I really don't." He said as the house elves came back to me.
"Mister Malfoy, we delivered the things to Miss Vanessa's kitchen for you." The first elf said.
"Yes, Mister Malfoy everything you asked." The second one continued and I nodded at them then they disappeared. I looked back towards Potter as he started to speak.
"Very well, Malfoy. Have her come see us at some time we have things for her birthday."
He exited the kitchens with a curt nod towards me. Once he was gone, I quickly exited the kitchens through the portrait hole, and quickly returned to Vanessa's room. When I walked in, I saw Blaise sitting on the couch looking very confused.
"You wanna talk?" I asked and Blaise looked at me like I had grown 3 different heads.
"No. Since when did you turn into a therapist?" He questioned
"Vanessa is rubbing off on me, I guess…" I said with a chuckle, then I heard her door open and she walked out.
"Speak of the devil." I said with a smile.
Vanessa's POV
I woke up and realized Draco wasn't in bed anymore. I frowned and got out of bed and started into the kitchen.
"Speak of the devil." I heard him say then I smiled at him as I noticed the display of breakfast on the counter, so I went to get some. Then, I walked over to him and he snaked his hand around my waist and kissed the top of my head. I looked up and him and then noticed Blaise sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. I got out of Draco's grasp and walked over to him.
"Do you wanna talk?" I asked Blaise.
Blaise just nodded his head slowly.
"I'm gonna go change." Draco said as he looked over at me and smiled as he asked me.
"Go have lunch with your friends, but come out to dinner with me?"
"Of course." I said as I walked back over to him and gave him a gentle kiss, and then he left. I looked over towards Blaise and he was staring off into space.
"You ready?" I questioned him.
"As ready as I'm gonna be… So, I've been hooking up with this girl." He started
"And? It's not like you don't do that already?" I questioned with a small laugh, but he glared at me and continued.
"And well we like each other but we can't be together."
"Why?" I asked.
"We just can't."
"But why?" I asked again
"WE JUST CAN'T!" Blaise yelled.
The room went silent. Blaise has never yelled at me like that...
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell." He said looking down at the ground
I nodded, understanding that he is confused and frustrated.
"I understand why you think that, but you were the biggest motivation for Draco and me, and to hear you say that… I don't believe it one bit. I don't believe it at all." I told him
"You don't understand, Ness." He said
"I don't understand? I'm dating the boy who almost murdered my father." I explained
"Ness, you know…" Blaise started to speak, but I cut him off.
"Yes, I know he was scared. He was confused and scared out of his mind. But you saying that you and this girl can't be together is bullshit. You're just scared."
"I'm not scared." He said.
"You're scared about what's going to happen."
"So what? What's it going to do for me? Nothing! Her family isn't going to accept me. Her friends aren't going to accept me. It's not going to work out. So why try?" He questioned.
"That's like saying 'I'm going to die, so why should I try to live?' That's BULLSHIT. You're scared and you're being a coward. Man up!" I told him, slightly aggressive and he just nodded.
"You don't wanna know who she is?" Blaise asked.
"You didn't tell me when we first started, so you don't want me to know and that's okay." I said and he wrapped his arms around me in a hug and I returned it.
"Thank you." He said while smiling.
"You're welcome. Now I'm gonna put some clothes on. You gonna be okay?" I asked him.
"Yea, I'm fine." He nodded and I smiled at him and walked into my room and fixed my hair and makeup and changed into some flared jeans and a long sleeved grey crisscross crop top. When I was finished getting ready, I walked back out into the living area to see Blaise was nowhere to be seen. So, I headed out the door and started to the Gryffindor common room to find my other friends. I was on my way to the Gryffindor common room when I saw a flash of two redheads walking in the same direction as I was. I started a slight jog to catch up to them. I noticed it was Fred and George and started into a full out sprint to run to them. When I got close enough, I jumped and landed onto Fred's back, he stumbled forward a bit then regained his composure.
"Well, hello birthday girl!" George said and Fred turned his neck around to try to see me.
"Happy Birthday, Nessa!" Fred said smiling
"Thanks guys! What are you guys doing here?" I asked
"Well, we remembered it was your birthday…" Fred started
"And Ron told us that you guys were going out to lunch…" George continued
"And we thought we would tag along." Fred finished
"Really?! Who's watching the shop?" I asked them
"We had Lee watch it while we came to see you!" Fred explained
"We couldn't miss your birthday!" George assured me
"You're awesome!" I said excited
"So where were you off to?" Fred asked
"I was going up to the Gryffindor common room to find everyone to go to lunch." I told them
"We will accompany you there!" George said
"Well I would have hoped so because I'm not getting off Fred's back. Looks like you're going to have to carry the birthday girl up to the tower!" I laughed
"Ha! Not bloody likely Nessa!" Fred said with a chuckle
"Hey, I figured I had to try!" I said as I jumped off his back and walked around so that I was in between them and we started off once again to the Gryffindor common room.
"So, what have you been up to since the last time we saw you, Nessa?" George asked and I debated on telling them the truth but concluded that it would be too long of a story for right now.
"Not a whole lot. I had my birthday party last night and that was fun, but other than that not much has been going on." I said as they nodded but gave each other a knowing look.
"What was that look for?" I asked
"Oh, nothing little Vanessa." Fred said as he patted the top of my head since he was pretty much a whole foot taller than me. I looked up at him and glared.
"You know I hate secrets AND people patting me on top of the head." I told him but Fred and George just laughed and we continued to the top of the tower. When we got there the Fat Lady let us in immediately and I saw Harry, Ron, Hermione, Jordan, Ginny, Neville, Dean, Seamus, and Luna all sitting there waiting on us.
"Happy Birthday, Vanessa!" They all said
"Thank you guys!"
"We were planning on taking you to eat in Hogsmeade." Hermione said
"Is that okay?" Ron asked looking over at me.
"That's perfect!" I said excited
"Nessa, can I talk to you before we head out? Alone?" Harry asked and I gave him a smile and nodded. We walked over to a corner of the common room and stood there while we talked.
"So, you fixed things with Malfoy?" He asked
"Yea, how did you know?" I responded
"I saw him go into the kitchen this morning and you weren't awake yet. If he was just coming down for breakfast he wouldn't have went into the kitchen. So, I went to talk to him to make sure you were okay. He really likes you." He told me with a smile
"I know. I like him too. I'm glad we made up yesterday." I said grinning
"Vanessa be careful. I'm glad you're happy, but just be careful."
"I can take care of myself Harry, but I'll be careful. I promise."
He nodded and we walked over to join the others.
"Everyone ready to head over to Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked and we all nodded and started out of the portrait hole. We were walking to the front of Hogwarts when I caught a glimpse of Draco with Blaise and Pansy. I gave all of them a small smile and saw Pansy and Blaise smile back and Draco gave me a quick wink. I felt a blush creep up onto my face, but I quickly just walked out the door with my friends. I quickened my pace and caught up with Hermione.
"So, Mione, where are we going for lunch?" I asked her
"I was thinking the Three Broomsticks! Is that okay with you? Since it is your birthday?" She asked
"Of course! That's great!"
"Happy Birthday, Ness!" Hermione said and I grabbed her hand then we skipped off towards the Three Broomsticks leaving the others in the dust. Once we got there, we requested a table for twelve and waited on the others to catch up to us. When the table was ready and everyone got there, we went over to sit down and order drinks. I ended up ordering a glass of water and a firewhiskey; most everyone else ordered a butterbeer Fred and George followed in my and suit and ordered a water and a firewhiskey.
"So, Ness, do you want your gifts before food or after?" Ron asked
"You guys got me gifts? You didn't have to do that!" I said scolding them slightly.
"Of course, we did, Vanessa!" Dean told me excitedly.
"You're our friend!" Neville said with a smile.
"You guys are great! It doesn't matter to me! Whatever you guys want to do is fine with me!" I told them
"Let's do them now! I can't wait to see your face!" Jordan said and I nodded as everyone got out their gifts and passed them to me. I started with Ron's gift; I opened it up to see a pair of Adidas superstars in black and white. I thanked him a lot then moved onto Harry's box. As I opened it, I almost had a heart attack when I opened the box to see a brand-new muggle camera!
"Harry James Potter! I told you that I didn't want anything and you go out and get me the most expensive muggle camera on the market!?" I yelled to him while giving him a smile.
"You deserve the best, Nessa." He said to me
"Thank you so much, Harry!"
After I was done dying over Harry's gift, I moved onto George's gift which was a large stack of pranking books written by him and Fred. I laughed and thanked him. Next was Fred's gift, as I opened the box, I could've killed him too! I opened the box to see an Apple Watch!
"Fred Weasley! Once again I tell you not to get me anything and you spend the most amount of money possible!" I screamed
"I agree with Harry, Vanessa, you deserve it!" Fred said as I rolled my eyes, thanked him profusely, and gave him a hug seeing as he was sat to the right of me. I moved on to Neville's gift and saw that it was a sunflower choker which I thanked him for. After Neville's box, the next one was Dean's; I opened his to see a faux leather beret. I exploded with thanks and gave him a small smile as he was sitting across from me. The last box of the guys gifts was Seamus', I opened his box to find a black purse, which I thanked him for. I then moved onto the girls' boxes, Hermione's being the one I started with first. I opened her gift to see a beautiful pearl necklace with a gold clasp. I grabbed her in an awkward, sitting down side hug and thanked her. Then was Jordan's box, it was a lot larger than the others so I was already slightly concerned. I opened her box to fine incredible thigh high black heeled boots. I screamed with joy and thanked her about seventy times. After I was done fangirling over my new boots, I moved on to Luna's small box. I retch into the small box to find pastel pink fuzzy earrings. I gave her a smile and thanked her. Finally, was Ginny's box, I opened her box to see a gorgeous grey clutch purse. I thanked her and finally slumped back into my seat.
"Okay, now I'm officially tired!" I said with a laugh
Everyone laughed with me as our drinks came out and we ordered our food. After we ordered our food, Fred nudged my arm and gave me a side glance. He started whispering to me so no one else would hear.
"So, what is going on with you?" Fred asked with a smirk
"What do you mean?" I questioned him
"I don't know. You just seem different." Fred said
"Good different?" I asked with a chuckle
"Definitely! Happier, livelier maybe? You just seem like you enjoy life more now than before." He said with a smile towards me
"I'm not sure but thank you. You're one of the most important people in my life. I love you like you're my family." I told him truthfully
"You are family. You're my little sister, and I would do anything for you." He told me as he grabbed my shoulder for a side hug.
"I know. You all would. I love you guys, you are a huge part of my life and part of my family." I said while he nodded and we turned back to the conversation being held at the table about Quidditch this season.
"I can't believe Demelza Robbins quit on us mid-season!" Ron said angrily
"Yea, I don't know who I will get to replace her on such a short notice." Harry said eyeing me across the table.
"No. No. No. I'm done with Quidditch." I told him, quickly shooting him down
"Please! You are the best chaser Gryffindor has had since Harry's dad!" Ginny begged
"She's right, Nessa. You're the best chaser I've ever seen!" George agreed
"But guys! I said I was done with Quidditch to work on my grades this year." I told them
"Your grades are perfection! You don't need to focus on them." Harry said
"Yes, she does, but you can't get any better than an Outstanding in every subject." Hermione agreed
"Okay. Let me think about it. I'll let you know by Monday, okay?" I told everyone
"Okay. I'll take it." Harry said and he gave me a grin, already knowing my answer before I did. Once our food came out, we started eating and continued talking about school and slowly transitioned slowly into the Triwizard Tournament.
"So, are you guys excited to go to France?" George asked
"Definitely! I'm excited to see who is picked to be Hogwarts' champion." Ron said
"Yeah me too." Dean agreed
"Yeah and Beauxbatons girls are so hot." Seamus said with a grin
Hermione, Ginny, Jordan, Luna, and I all rolled our eyes in sync at that comment.
"I'm excited to see what the tasks are this year." Jordan said
"Yeah they have to be different than the last time." Neville agreed while we all nodded in unison. When we were all finished with our food, we paid the waitress and left the restaurant. We said goodbye to Fred and George as they headed back to their shop, and everyone else turned towards the castle. Once we reached the castle, I turned to my friends and gave them all a hug.
"I'm going to see you guys later. I have to go and check on something." I told them and they all nodded then went their separate ways. I turned around and went to see my dad. I was walking down the corridors when I got pulled into an empty classroom. I looked around, startled, before I saw Blaise standing there smiling.
"Blaise! What the hell are you doing?!" I asked still shocked from being pulled into the classroom
"I didn't get a chance to give you your presents this morning!" He said with a smile
"So, you give me a heart attack?" I asked with a small laugh
"That wasn't the goal, but if it happened in the process that isn't my fault." He said laughing and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Oh, and I have your presents from someone else." He said kind of awkwardly
"Draco?" I asked filled with confusion
"No, Pansy."
"Pansy? Why did she get me something?" I questioned
"I don't know. She said something about you two making up." He said still confused
"We did, but I didn't expect this." I told him honestly
"Just open them!" He said as he handed me the two very different boxes. One was wrapped in silver and green wrapping paper, and the other one was wrapped in very sparkly, glitter paper. I decided to open the silver and green box, which I opened to see a black leather jacket. I grabbed Blaise in a hug and thanked him a lot. Then I grabbed the glittery box and opened it to see metallic knee-high boots and a bright red lipstick.
"Remind me to thank Pansy when I see her next." I told him with a smile
"Of course."
"Have you seen Draco?" I asked
"Not since this morning."
"I wonder where he went. Well, if that's all you wanted, I was going to see my dad."
"Yea, that's all."
I walked out of the classroom and back into the corridor and headed towards dad's office. I stopped at the statue and whispered the password. Once the statue started to move, I followed it up the stairs and into the office. Dad was sitting at his desk reading the Daily Prophet and noticed I was there almost immediately.
"Vanessa, happy birthday!" Dad said as he got up out of his seat to walk around his desk and give me a hug.
"Thanks dad."
"So, what is the occasion that you come to see your old man?"" He asked with a chuckle
"Since it was my birthday, I thought I would come and see you."
"Honey, you should be spending this day with your friends."
"I've already spent some time with them and I want to spend time with you." I told him honestly
"Did you fix things with Draco?" He asked
"Yes."
"So…?" He questioned while wiggling his eyebrows
I think you're right! I'm gonna try and find some of my friends!" I said with a laugh and he grabbed me in a hug.
"I love you, Vanessa."
"I love you too, dad!"
"Now go and find some friends to spend your birthday with." He said smiling
"Okay, I will."
I left his office and headed back to the heads' common room. Even though I told dad I would find friends, I need some me time. I'm probably going to try to take a nap. I opened the door to the common room and saw a perfectly good couch and plopped down on it and fell asleep immediately.
I awoke a few hours later to Blaise walking in the common room.
"Don't you have a date with Draco tonight?" Blaise said as he walked through the door
"Shit! What time is it?" I asked slightly freaking out
"5:30"
I jumped off the couch and ran into my room to start getting ready. I grabbed my brush and started rapidly brushing my hair. Then I took my wand and made my hair start curling itself while I started on my makeup. I started with my eye makeup and made it a brown smoky eye. Then moved onto my lips and they were a dark wine-red color. Once my hair and makeup were done, I quickly changed into a black cocktail dress with a gold belt around my waist and grabbed my black heels with gold detailing. After I got dressed, I grabbed some of my gold jewelry and put it on before I walked out into the living room area. As I walked into the living area, I saw Draco and Blaise talking and waiting on me. When they noticed my presence in the room, they both looked towards me and I saw Draco's jaw drop to the floor.
"Hey… You look gorgeous." He said with a smile. I looked at Draco to see him in dark dress pants with a white button up undershirt and a black blazer over top of his white shirt. He also had on black suede dress shoes instead of his usual shoes.
"You don't look so bad yourself, someone knows how to clean up nice!" I smiled at him and he laughed at me then extended his arm for me to be escorted by.
"You ready to go?" He asked
"Of course." I told him as I took his arm and before I could think I realized we were apparating. I closed my eyes because I don't like apparating with other people, I like to be in control. When I realized we were there, I opened my eyes to see that we were on a busy street with people walking all around us.
"Draco, where are we?" I asked him
"Muggle London."
"Muggle London? Why?"
"I wanted to take you to dinner and not have people looking and staring us down. With the war, people in the wizarding world look at me and my family differently. Even after the trials and even after Potter vouched for us, people still believe that I'm plotting Voldemort's return. So, I wanted you to have a nice birthday without people staring." He said, looking down at the concrete floor below us.
"You know, people stare at me as well. It wouldn't be just because of you. You can't blame yourself." I told him trying to reassure him.
"They stare at you for a different reason. They stare at you because you saved the world, but I betrayed it. They look at you like a hero, while I'm the villain and they're right. But I want you to have a good birthday, so let's get to the restaurant."
I didn't want to argue with him, so I just nodded as he led the way to the restaurant. When we got to the outside of the restaurant I looked around and noticed how fancy it was.
"Draco… This place is really fancy." I told him slightly concerned.
"I wanted you to have a really nice dinner on your birthday, come on we have reservations." He said as he pulled me up to the host and we got seated at our table. We ordered our drinks and our food then had some time to chat before our food came.
"Have you had a good birthday so far?" Draco asked
"Of course! Best birthday yet!"
"Good. I'm happy that you're happy." He said with a smile
He had his hand on top of the table, so I put my hand on top of his and squeezed. He gave me a smile.
"Stay with me tonight?" I asked hopeful
"Of course, my love."
I smiled back at him and squeezed his hand again.
"Good. I like it when you're there…" I told him honestly
"I like being around you. He said with a smile
"I like being around you too." I said and smiled back at him. Without either of us noticing the waiter brought us our food and set it down in front of us. We thanked him and started eating the delicious looking food in front of us. Once we were done with the food, we paid the bill and tipped our waiter generously. Then we were out the door and walking down the street. After we found a nice, quiet place, we apparated back to Hogwarts.
"Go on upstairs, I will be up in a minute I have to get something." Draco said then I nodded and we turned in opposite directions. As I was walking up to my dorm, I got stopped by Ron, Harry, Jordan, and Hermione.
"Nessa, why weren't you at dinner?" Ron asked
"Yeah, where were you?" Jordan questioned
"Chill out guys! I had dinner with Sirius and Remus for my birthday." I lied and looked over at Harry and he rolled my eyes at my lie, but I can't tell them about Draco and me just yet.
"That's good! We were just worried about you!" Jordan exclaimed
"I'm okay. I'm tired guys, I'm going to head up to bed." I told them and Harry grinned at me.
"Have a nice night, Nessa. And happy birthday!" He said as he turned towards the Gryffindor tower, and the others said their goodbyes and followed in suit. Once I finally got to my common room, I looked around and saw that Blaise was nowhere to be found so I sat on the couch and waited on Draco to get there. It wasn't long before I heard the door open and saw Draco peeking his head inside. I walked over to open the door to let him inside.
"Come on in!" I told him
When he came inside, I noticed he was holding a bouquet of sunflowers (my favorite flowers), a small box, and had a very large box floating behind him.
"Oh, my Merlin! Draco!"
"I told you I wanted you to have a good birthday." He said as he walked into the kitchen to get a vase to put the sunflowers in, and then returned to the living room. He handed me the small box first.
"Open."
I glared at him for a second then slowly ripped the paper off the small box to reveal a white gold ring with a small heart where normally the stone would be.
"Oh Draco, it's beautiful!" I told him excitedly
"I'm glad you liked it, now open the other one." He said with a smile as I walked over to the large box and ripped off the paper and screamed! It was an old school keyboard and a two-story stand!
"Draco! Where on earth did you find this?!" I screamed and I gripped him in a tight hug, squeezed him tight.
"That's a secret." He said with a smirk
"Why don't we test it out?" I asked
"Do you want to do the honors?" He asked
I stood up and started playing a tune, and Draco started singing some lyrics.
Draco: I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river, and it made me complete
Both: Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old, and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired, and I need somewhere to begin
Me: I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?
Both: Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old, and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired, and I need somewhere to begin
And if you have a minute, why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know?
Draco: Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old, and I need something to rely on
Me: So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired, and I need somewhere to begin
Both: And if you have a minute, why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go?
Somewhere only we know
Somewhere only we know
Somewhere only we know?
Me: I love singing with you.
Draco: I love singing with you as well. It's getting late you should probably get some sleep.
Me: I'm going to change, you should too.
I gave him a smile as I walked into my room to change into my pajamas. I walked back out into the living area and sat down on the couch until Draco was done changing. He came out of Blaise's room and looked around the corner to find me sitting on the couch.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked
"Just thinking… Not about anything in particular." I told him honestly.
"You ready for bed?" He asked me
I nodded and jumped up to grab his hand and then took him into my bedroom. We laid down on the bed, he grabbed my waist and pulled me close to him. He kissed the top of my head, and we both went to sleep.