If Only

Jeni Draco's Girl
"Well, I think I may have an idea," Draco said as they walked around the lake that afternoon. It was chilly, and their breath was fogging in the air, but it was a beautiful clear day: the lake was frozen over and there was a good two feet of snow on the ground, giving Hogwarts the appearance of a winter wonderland.

"Really?" Jeni replied eagerly. They had both been thinking hard for the last half hour, but were yet to come up with a viable idea.

"What we have to do is provoke Emily enough, in public, to say something about how much she thinks I love her, so that I can tell her how wrong she is, and she'll be so embarrassed that she'll get together with the first available male with the intention of getting back at me," Draco explained.

"Then all we have to do is ensure that the guy is Henri."

"Exactly."

"Hmm…" Jeni wasn't exactly sure how easy it would be to firstly, provoke Emily enough, and secondly, make sure Henri was around. She told Draco this.

"I'm sure you'll find," Draco replied, "That Emily is fast approaching the phase where she is highly unsure about the whole situation. No matter how much she says that she's sure I don't like you, she can't really believe it herself. And besides," he added just as Jeni began to object, "If that isn't true, than the fact that she thinks I've just proclaimed my love for her to the world, and yet am still going out with you should easily be enough to get her riled up."

Jeni had to agree with Draco here.

"So when are you going to do it?" she asked.

Draco smiled slyly.

Jeni frowned.

"What?"

"It's less of a case of when I'm going to do it, and more of a case of when we're going to do it."

"Why do I have to be involved? And what exactly did you have in mind when you said 'provoking'?"

"Because we," he said softly, as he stopped walking and pulled her close to him, "Are a team. Aren't we?"

Jeni looked down. She really would prefer to avoid Emily at all costs. Images danced before her eyes of waving meat in front of starving tigers. This was sounding just as safe.

"Jeni," Draco whispered, tilting her chin up with a finger.

Jeni wavered.

Draco kissed her, and she felt herself almost melt. She also had a feeling that this was what he meant by 'provoke'. But how could she say no when he said her name like that, when he kissed her like this? She sighed, defeated, and pulled away.

Jeni glared at him for a second before the corner of her mouth quirked upward, a shadow of a smirk.

"You're evil, Draco Malfoy."

He smiled back in that devastating manner.

"I know."

In the Great Hall at dinner that night, Professor Dumbledore stood up to announce the beginning of Quidditch season, and that Slytherin would play Gryffindor in two weeks time.

Jeni glanced down the table at the fourth year boy who'd replaced Cho as seeker. Unless he was some kind of natural, she didn't think they'd be able to beat anyone except the Hufflepuffs. Even that was looking doubtful. Still, it wasn't as if she could do any better, she thought, remembering the last time she'd tried to fly a broom.

Gryffindor would probably win. They always did with Potter as seeker. But still, she wished that Draco could catch the snitch for once. She looked over at him, only to see that he was glaring powerfully past her towards the Gryffindors, and sighed. She would have to say that Draco seemed to have a little bit of an issue.

After dinner had finished, Jeni walked over past the Hufflepuff table and met up with Draco and Henri.

"Are you going to be alright, Draco?" she asked him concernedly.

"What're you talking about?" Draco replied distractedly, still glancing over toward Potter and probably wishing he'd randomly drop dead.

Jeni just looked at him. "You're not serious? You're still staring at him. I'm the one you're suppose to be staring at!" There was no reaction. "Right then. Henri and I'll just go elope together and I'll leave you to Emily shall I?" Still nothing. Jeni groaned, grabbed his tie and pulled his head down to her level. "Look at me Draco Malfoy! You can beat him. Just stop obsessing, already! Gods! You know," she continued, finally releasing him and turning to leave, "Maybe if you just practised a little more, you'd be as good as him."

That finally got his attention.

"What!? I do practise! And I am as good as him!"

"Funny," Jeni replied, pausing and turning back, "You don't seem to have won yet."

"But I…and it's…and you…he…That's not fair," Draco said sulkily.

Henri chuckled.

Draco glared.

Jeni pouted cutely at him.

"Aww. Of course it's not, Drakie."

Draco scowled. "Don't patronise me," he growled.

"But it's so easy -"

"That's it! You're in for it now." Draco strode forward and grabbed her hand, tugging her off in search of a deserted classroom.

"In for what?" Jeni asked innocently, quietly thinking to herself she might rather enjoy it.

As Jeni's voice faded around the corner, Henri glanced over at where Emily was sitting with her friends at the table, laughing prettily, and sighed. There was no way he'd ever get her to like him, he thought. Then he saw her fingering something around her neck. He squinted at it. It was the necklace he'd given her. Well, he thought to himself, there's always hope. With this, he turned and left the hall, not noticing Emily's split second glance at him.

Twenty minutes later, Draco stuck his head out of a classroom somewhere on the third floor.

"All clear," he said as he stepped out, closely followed by Jeni. She giggled. "What?" he asked, a smirk on his face.

"Nothing," she replied, and giggled again. "Well, alright," she conceded when Draco raised an eyebrow. "It's silly…it's just that I've never done that before. It was actually kind of fun. As long as we don't get caught."

"Well it's not like it's too late, is it?" Draco said reassuringly.

"I guess. But still…I guess we should try and find Henri."

"Hey guys!" Henri said from behind them.

Jeni screamed and span around.

"What?" Henri asked, perplexed.

"Gods, Henri. What'd you have to do that for?"

Henri was confused.

Draco was amused. "Speak of the devil."

"What?" Henri asked again.

"Never mind."

"Oh. Well, anyway, I was looking for you guys everywhere! I figured you'd be in a classroom somewhere, and I didn't think you'd go back to that charms one any time soon, so I came to try up here -"

"Wait a minute," Jeni interrupted, "Why not 'that charms one'?"

Henri laughed.

Draco looked at the ceiling. Jeni would have sworn he was blushing slightly.

"Well?" she asked again, growing inpatient.

"This is just what I heard," Henri began.

Draco cleared his throat as a sign to shut up.

Henri ignored him.

"But apparently after the Yule Ball, Pansy dragged him into the charms classroom and tried to jump him. Needless to say she didn't talk to him for about twenty minutes after. By then she was over it. But I think Drakie here was a little shaken."

Draco was still silent.

Jeni hugged him. "You poor traumatised little -"

"Shut up," Draco gritted out.

Jeni smiled. "Then Emily's good for at least one thing. She can keep Pansy away."

Henri agreed.

Draco sighed. "Still, I don't want to see anything like that ever again." He shuddered.

"Don't worry," Henri reassured him, "I'm sure Jeni here's much better at stri-" Jeni elbowed him.

"Henri!" she exclaimed. "Were you going to say what I thought you were going to say?"

"What?" he replied innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Draco shook his head, amused, as he wrapped his arm around Jeni's waist and pulled her to him. "Anyone's better than Pansy," he said, with an air of finality. "Let's go to the library."

Jeni thought she knew several girls worse than Pansy but she chose not to say anything as they headed toward the library.

"So when are you going to start training your team twenty-four – seven?" Jeni asked Draco when they were all comfortably seated in some chairs near a fire in the library.

"Probably tomorrow," he replied, "I want to get ahead of Potter, after all."

Jeni rolled her eyes, and settled herself back against him.

"I want to prove to you that I can beat him," he said, hugging her tightly.

"That's sweet," Henri put in.

"Yeah," Jeni agreed, twisting back around to kiss his cheek. Draco quickly turned his head so that she kissed his lips instead. She giggled and slapped the arm that was across her stomach playfully.

"Okay," Henri said, beginning to stand, "If you two are getting like this then I'm off."

"No, no, it's alright, stay," Jeni insisted. "Who do you think will win, Henri?"

He sat again. "It's hard to say. Of course I'd love for Slytherin to win, but we haven't beaten Gryffindor once except for that time last year when Potter was sick and couldn't play. Ginny Weasley was quite a terrible seeker – it was a wonder she didn't fall off the broom. But…I don't know. You've both got a few new players, but it's really quite even." He grinned. "Just have to wait and see on the day, won't we?"

"Hardly," Draco drawled. "Slytherin will win. We are the best."

"But you can't be sure," Jeni said. "There's always a chance -"

"Every great man has a great woman behind him," Draco interrupted. "I've got the great woman part, but Potter sure doesn't," he said with conviction.

"Can't exactly be sure of that either, can you?" Jeni teased. "What about Hermione Granger? Or have you been stalking them?" She smiled at him slyly.

"I most certainly have not!" Draco said. "But if they are, he's not exactly flaunting it."

"True."

"Anyway, my point was," Draco continued.

"You had a point?" Jeni asked incredulously.

Draco ignored her. "My point was," he repeated, "That I will beat Potter."

"I thought your point was that Slytherin will beat Gryffindor?" Jeni said.

"I thought that you thought I didn't have a point?" Draco shot back.

"Answer the question."

Draco was silent.

"I'd say you have a bit of a personal vendetta with Potter. Am I right?"

Still nothing.

"Oh my God!" Jeni wailed, pretending to faint. "My boyfriend has a crush on a guy!"

"It'd make a kinky threesome, don't you think?" Draco asked, not in the least phased.

Jeni snapped back to reality. "WHAT?" she cried, earning a sharp "Shush!" from the librarian.

Draco smirked. "Just kidding."

Jeni glanced at him sidelong.

"Seriously!"

Jeni sighed, relieved. "We'd probably better go to bed. It's getting late."

"Yes, mother," Henri teased.

"Well it is!" Jeni said, defensively. "The rest of the library's empty!"

They looked around. It was.

Henri sighed. "You're right."

Jeni smirked triumphantly.

Henri laughed. "I think Draco's starting to have an effect on you," he said as they moved towards the exit of the library.

"Really?" Jeni asked.

"Really," Henri and Draco replied simultaneously.

They all laughed as they headed off to their respective common rooms.

Ok. I think this is well over due. Sorry to everyone and thanks to everyone who's stayed with this.

Keep reading!! It'll get more exciting (I hope) soon!

THANKS TO HANNAH for understanding…probably helped by us being in the same class.

Thanks to JENI BLACK for your review…wow…someone else is reading this…hope you keep reading.

Umm…just incase anyone's wondering, this WILL STAY G RATED…maybe I should make it PG…in any case, there will be no "stri-"ing, and no jumping, or anything like that.

THANKS TO MELANIE FOR BETA-ING!

K, that is enough. GO REVIEW NOW!