If Only

Jeni Draco's Girl

AN: SORRY x 10 000 000. There. That should be enough. I'm REALLY sorry that this has taken so long. Now R&R.

...(the squiggles aren't working...-.-)

Friday afternoon found Jeni half asleep at her desk in Potions. Professor Snape was lecturing an unfortunate Hufflepuff, who had managed to do something to their potion to make it turn green instead of orange, on the importance of remembering to actually add porcupine spines, but Jeni didn't really care. She'd finished about ten minutes ago and was waiting for the lesson to end whilst gazing into her simmering cauldron. The week had crept by amazingly slowly. She hadn't seen Draco since Monday, and had only had a few minutes this whole week to talk to Henri. The Christmas holidays were still seven weeks away, too.

Professor Snape swept past, his robes billowing behind him on some slight breeze. He glanced around the dungeon classroom, the same frown as ever marking his face.

'You may clean up now.' He barely whispered, yet the whole class heard him clearly. 'Everyone must decant some of their potion into a flask and leave it on my desk to be marked.' The Hufflepuff whose potion was green looked panicked now. 'When you are done, you may leave.' He returned to the front of the room in only a few grand strides, and sat down at his desk, watching them tidy up over steeped fingers without any sign of emotion.

Jeni sighed, pulling herself to her feet. She returned her unused ingredients to the cupboard, and waved her wand to clean her cauldron after she'd handed in her sample. After a quick glance to ensure nothing had been forgotten, she grabbed her bag and left.

The corridors below ground, where the dungeons were, were chilly. Jeni hurried along, her robes pulled tight around her. She stared straight at the ground, looking out for uneven stones in the floor, ever mindful of the embarrassing incident in her first year when she'd tripped over in front of a whole group of Slytherins who'd laughed every time they saw her for a week afterwards. When she thought of it, she recalled that Draco had been part of that group, though he hadn't laughed…

Lost in the memory, she didn't notice a looming shape ahead of her until she walked straight into it.

'Hey!' cried the shape playfully, grabbing hold of her shoulders to stop her falling backwards.

'What?…oh…'Jeni trailed off when she saw who she'd run into. Her face broke into a grin and she threw her arms around his neck, laughing. 'God, I haven't seen you since Monday!'

Draco smiled back. 'Yeah, well, not much I can do about that, you know.'

He turned and continued walking with her in the direction she was going.

'Just have potions?' he asked, his arm around her shoulders.

'Uh-huh.' Jeni answered glumly.

'Not much fun, then?'

'Gee, you think?' Jeni muttered. 'I'm only in this class 'cause I got a high enough mark last year in exams. And I needed another subject.'

'Well, Father chose my subjects,' Draco told her.

'Oh!' Jeni said, feeling guilty that she was complaining about one subject when Draco probably had several he hated.

He smiled. 'It's not that bad,' he reassured her. 'Most of them I would have picked myself, anyway.'

'What wouldn't you have picked?' she asked, curious.

'Care of Magical Creatures, definitely,' he replied. 'Especially after that Hippogriff mauled my arm in third year.'

'But I thought that you were just faking that.'

'Well, still. Besides it was a good way to annoy Potter and his friends.'

'Hmm…would you still pull something like that now?'

'Of course not! Who do you take me for?' Draco replied pompously.

Jeni couldn't help laughing. 'So manipulating innocent young girls into going out with you is a different Draco how?' she teased.

Draco sighed like it was oh-so-obvious. 'Back then I wouldn't have bothered with the manipulation. The first time you said "no", you'd have ended up a pot plant faster then you could say "Salazar".' He grinned, the same devilish grin that always made Jeni's knees weak as it did now. 'And since when are you innocent?' Jeni frowned. 'Anyway, I have recently discovered talents of manipulation that mean I no longer need to resort to childish hexes.'

Jeni smirked slightly. 'Obviously these talents of manipulation don't extend to the male half of the species, or else Weasley wouldn't have ended up a pot plant.'

Draco shrugged. 'There's only so much I can do,' he said, by way of explanation.

By now they had reached the bottom of the stair case. Jeni had to go up to the Ravenclaw dorms, and Draco had to go back the way they'd come, to Slytherin.

Draco's arm was still around Jeni's shoulders, and he pulled her close to him before placing a quick kiss on her lips. 'I'll see you down here tomorrow morning, after breakfast, K?'

Jeni nodded in reply, a faint smile on her face. Draco raised an eyebrow in question, curious, but Jeni lifted her chin defiantly, and started up the stairs.

Draco just sighed, slightly, and turned to reenter the cold, gloomy corridor he'd just left. He felt like it was just that bit colder and gloomier without Jeni beside him.

...

The next morning, Jeni was humming as she got up, dressed, and left her dorm, crossed the commonroom, and headed down the corridor towards the stairs. She was still humming as she descended and made her way across the Entrance Hall. And she was still humming as she sat down at the Ravenclaw table and started breakfast. In fact, the humming only ceased when she glanced up towards the Slytherin table to see Draco's serious grey eyes staring at her. A quick smile flashed across his lips. She smiled slightly in return, then looked back down at her food.

The humming resumed.

No one seemed to notice that the two got up at the same time, and made their way over to the large doorway.

Draco hand touched Jeni's lightly as they fell into step beside each other, and he bent down to whisper in her ear.

'Wait outside; I have to get something from my dorm.'

She nodded, and headed straight out.

Draco crossed the Entrance Hall towards the corridor to the dungeons.

Emily sat scowling in her seat at the Slytherin table, having seen the short exchange between the raven and the snake.

And Jeni stood, shivering slightly, just outside the door to the castle.

She had been there for about five minutes, and was beginning to wonder what was taking Draco so long, when there was a "whoosh" from behind her and she was flying up into the air on a broom for about the third time in two weeks. Although she couldn't see him, she felt sure that Draco was grinning. At least, she thought, he should be happy that I didn't scream this time.

'Hey,' Draco began. 'You didn't scream this time. Definite improvement.'

Jeni just grinned herself; thinking that this whole mind reading thing wasn't so hard after all.

'You know what?' she called back over her shoulder.

'What?'

'Maybe I should get to steer this thing for once, after all I've put up with, the number of times you've…er…swept me of my feet.'

'Well…' Draco wavered, stopping the broom in midair.

Jeni looked back at him over her shoulder, pouting.

'Oh…okay,' Draco relented.

'Yay! So…' Jeni wasn't exactly sure HOW to fly a broom.

'Ready?' Draco asked. He didn't seem to have noticed her sudden apprehension. He just took his hands off the handle in front of her and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. 'All yours.'

'Um…okay…how do I…um…make it…'

'Make it what?'

'Um…go?…ahh!'

As soon as Jeni had said the word, the broom shot forward. She was barely able to keep herself from screaming. She could hear Draco laughing out loud behind her.

'What did I do?' she asked, bewildered. 'Make it STOP!' Jeni really did scream this time as she almost flew forward over the handle of the broom as it came to a sudden halt. 'What the…!'

Draco was still laughing, but managed to control himself relatively quickly. 'Don't tell me you don't know how to fly!?' he exclaimed.

'Fine then, I won't,' Jeni said, crossing her arms.

He gave her a hug. 'The broom responds to your thoughts, silly!'

'So…?'

'So when you think "go", as I'm sure you were just before when you said it, it goes.'

'Um…okay…'

'Give it a try,' Draco said encouragingly.

Jeni shut her eyes tight and thought, go slowly. The broom started forward at a manageable rate. She opened one eye, then the other.

'See?' Draco told her. 'It's not that hard, is it? After all,' he added, 'If Potter can do it, then everyone must be able to.'

Jeni ignored the insult to both herself and Potter and just concentrated on flying straight. She thought for a second, then sighed. 'This is much more fun when you're steering.'

'But of course,' Draco said, matter-of-factly. 'There has to be something I'm better at, else how would I impress you?'

Jeni smiled, and lent back against him, as Draco took control of the broom again.

'Ready?' he asked.

'Ready,' she affirmed.

Draco accelerated rapidly around the west side of the castle towards the quidditch pitch, but he didn't turn off, instead he continued around the castle, until the lake was coming into view, along with the forest. They sped on around the building, spiraling upwards, until they reached the very top centre – the astronomy tower. Draco slowed the broom and flew carefully through the window to land.

Jeni dismounted stiffly and sat down on one of the benches. 'Phew!' she sighed, slumping. She ran her hands over her hair, trying to smooth the wind blown curls. She looked up and laughed when she saw Draco's hair – it was standing up in all different directions. He just scowled and ran his fingers through it, but only succeeded in making it spikier. Jeni giggled.

'Come here,' she said, turning sideways to her right on the bench and motioning for Draco to sit in front of her. He did so, but there was still a slight scowl on his face.

Jeni finger-combed his hair into some slight resemblance of neatness, and was just starting to enjoy the feel of Draco's fine hair on her hands when he cleared his throat rather obviously. Jeni started, and realised she'd just spent a full two minutes sitting there combing his hair! She snatched her hands back and muttered an apology. Draco just turned and gathered her in his arms, a faint smirk on his face.

'What?' Jeni asked, trying to keep some of her dignity.

'Nothing,' Draco replied, seemingly innocently. 'Just wondering what took so long.'

'Well…er…your hair's really…fine, and smooth…and, um, it feels nice.'

'Hmm,' Draco said, distracted, as he raised a hand to her head and ran his fingers through her hair, brushing it back from her face. 'Turn around.'

Jeni frowned slightly, but obeyed, swiveling around. She closed her eyes as Draco began to comb her hair, his hands gentle and oddly comforting. After about three minutes she shifted slightly, her legs were starting to go to sleep. She felt Draco pause momentarily at her movement, then gathered all her hair together and pulled it out of the way over her left shoulder, at the same time leaning forward to kiss her neck, fleetingly, on the right. Jeni's hand flew to her neck, and she span around to face Draco, who seized her around her waist immediately and kissed her.

Jeni froze for a second, surprised, before slipping her hands up around Draco's neck and tangling her fingers in his hair, pulling him closer to her. Draco's fingers tensed slightly against her back as he remembered something, and he pulled away from her. He glanced out the window.

'Come on, we should go. It'll be lunch time soon.' He squeezed her hand.

Jeni pouted. 'I suppose,' she said, sadly.

'Don't worry,' he said, smiling wickedly. 'We can always come back up again after.'

'Hmm,' Jeni agreed, returning the smile.

Draco picked up his broom and slid his arm around her waist. They descended the spiral stairs together and walked down towards the Great Hall.

Outside the library they ran into Henri.

'Gods! Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you guys,' he gushed, extremely un-Henri-like.

Jeni and Draco just looked at each other knowingly.

Henri raised his hands. 'Say no more, I think I'd rather not hear.'

'You're probably right,' Jeni told him. 'Anyway, shall we continue? I'm famished.'

'You weren't a minute ago,' Draco said, an eyebrow raised. 'As I recall, you didn't want to come down -'

'Arh! I don't want to hear it! Say no more!' Henri cried theatrically, clamping his hands over his ears and jumping up and down.

Jeni frowned and cocked her head. 'What do you think is wrong with him?' she whispered to Draco. 'I mean, he doesn't usually want to hear, but he also doesn't usually react this dramatically.'

'I know what you mean,' Draco replied. 'It reminds me of something, but I can't quite figure out what.'

'What did you say?' Henri asked, having finally taken his hands off his ears.

Jeni and Draco glanced at each other again, and said simultaneously, 'Nothing.'

Henri frowned, but didn't press it.

The three entered the Great Hall together, Jeni leaving the two guys to sit at the Ravenclaw table. Henri sat down after a quick scan of the Slytherin table, Draco beside him. Henri had deliberately sat at the opposite end to a certain female, from whence he could sneak quick glances at her without being too obvious. But not much escapes the watchful eye of Draco Malfoy, and he soon remembered what it was that Henri's behavior reminded him of.

It reminded him of his own behavior around everyone else when he'd been trying to get Jeni to go out with him.

It would seem to Draco that Henri had a little crush.

He smirked.

This should prove to be of some amusement to both him and Jeni.

...

HEHE! Henri has a crush!! I can't wait for CS's reaction when she reads this…giggle

Anyway, hope this was…um…at least entertaining. Jeni isn't perfect! She can't fly a broom! But…whatever…

I know this is the second time that Draco's looked out the window and mysteriously known what time it is…well, he has to somehow since wizards and witches wouldn't have watches, would they? Watches are muggle inventions. So whilst people like Harry or Hermione might have one, Draco wouldn't as he's strictly pureblood, and wouldn't associate with anything muggle related.

I am extremely proud of myself…this chapter is 2523 words! (7 pages, size 12, Times New Roman…if you wanted to know.) YAY! My longest yet!

Thank you SO much to HANNAH and EMMA for being so patient, and for bugging me cause that's what gets these chapters posted…no one else bugs me, so…(Jeni looks sad and abandoned) (sniff)...the little asterixes aren't uploading...-.- Oh well…I shall live…hopefully…PLEASE REVIEW EVERYBODY! Or I may die…

There seem to have been an over abundance of fluff bunnies in this chapter…how could that have happened…OH NO!! I must have left the cage door open accidentally! (imagination asterix)Quick glance(and again) ARGH! The cage is empty!! What will I do?! The fluff bunnies are loose! (pretend asterix)Hurries off to search under bed and in other fluff-bunny-hiding spots(once more please)

CYA!!