Chapter 13

Flustered

Draco's POV

I watched the magnificent girl wander up the steps towards our flat door from the window of my bedroom. Saranna had captured my attention from the moment I saw her. She wasn't the normal type I would usually be attracted to, but she was the most captivating woman I had ever met. I had to admit I was thrown off by her direct and honest approach to life at first, but the longer I knew her the more I began to understand the workings of my American friend. I sighed, how I wished it would we could be more. I'd thought we might be moving towards something after our conversation last week. I'd have to see how she reacted towards me tonight.

The loud knock-knock-knock on the door had me springing from my perch towards the door. I was beyond excited to see her. Only just before opening the door did I remember myself and paused to take a deep breath, compose my face and check my reflection in the mirror next to the door. After ensuring every hair was in place, I opened the door.

"How's the hair?" Saranna asked flatly as she marched past me into the room. She headed directly for the refrigerator, pulled out a butterbeer and then leaned against the counter. I grinned at her, and tried to hide my embarrassment by making a flippant comment.

"You tell me."

"Eh, I've seen better." She replied causally, not quite able to hid the grin that had begun to stretch across her lovely face.

"Oh, really?" I raised one eyebrow, enjoying the sarcastic banter between us, but then I realized how this was a sign that our friendship had not changed since last week.

She grinned at me, oblivious to the dejection that overwhelmed me.

"Now THERE's a perfectly coiffed head of hair!" Saranna exclaimed as Harry wandered into the kitchen. He had obviously either just got up from a nap or had been nervously messing with his hair lately because it was beyond its normal wild. Every strand of his inky black hair was standing on end and pointing in different directions.

He looked from Saranna back to me with an extremely confused expression on his face and Saranna and I both burst out laughing. Saranna was laughing so hard that she let out a very un-lady like snort. As Harry and I watched in shock, she began to laugh even louder and slopped butterbeer down the front of her shirt.

"Oh, *gasp* Sorry! *gasp* this is so embarrassing." She panted as she tried to mop herself up with a towel. I just grinned at her, whipped out my wand and cleaned her shirt.

" One would think that a good school of magic would teach the proper spells for removing butterbeer stains," I teased as I leaned back up against the counter.

Saranna glared up at me, taking three large steps towards me so that her face was directly in front of mine. I could smell her perfume mix with the butterbeer on her breath. I gazed down at her, frozen. I wouldn't have been able to move even if Voldemort had risen from the dead and had his wand at my temple.

"That may be but I could hex you so bad right now. You wouldn't be able to sit for weeks. " She all but growled in my face.

"I...uh…" I stuttered. Brilliant. Good Job Draco. That was such an intelligent response.

"Saranna?" Harry's tired voice made her turn to look at him, I sighed in relief. Not that I didn't like her standing that close to me, but I needed a moment to collect my thoughts. My head was swimming.

"Yes?" She walked over to the table and sat down next to Harry.

"Did you hear anything today?" He asked quietly.

"Nope, Sorry Hun." She replied, rubbing her hand in circles on his back. I sighed and walked towards the living room and sat on the sofa. She was a completely different person with him, and it bothered me more than I thought. I knew it was partly my fault, as I was sarcastic with her as well.

I listened to their hushed conversation as I dozed on the sofa. I woke up a few hours later when a door shut and sat upright on the sofa a bit confused.

"Calm down blondie. Harry was just going to bed." Saranna replied from the chair next to the sofa.

I glared at her, smoothing my hand over my hair.

"You look fine," she muttered, "bed head suits you."

I raised one eyebrow, "all the same, I prefer my hair to be in place."

"You're such a weird guy!" Saranna exclaimed loudly throwing her hands up in frustration. "You are so sarcastic and… I don't know, back at home the girls would call you metro. But yet you're all proper and..." she trailed off looking for a word, "hoity-toity."

I glared at her, " I am not hoity-toity." I said flatly.

"Fine, whatever. Never mind." She muttered.

"You're not all that normal yourself." I stated, trying to spur conversation. "You are super sarcastic and cryptic with me, but get all mushy and nice to Harry. Except for that one night last week when you just listened to me babble on about my family. That is what would I call confusing."

"You fluster me." She said quickly, than covered her mouth like she wished that hadn't escaped.

"I fluster you?" I asked quietly.

Saranna looked at me carefully for a moment, "Yeah, from the moment I caught you staring at me, I was flustered. My natural defense is to be sarcastic."

Interesting… I never thought that the reason she acted the way she did was because she was nervous. It was a bit flattering. I shouldn't let it go to my head, but I was extremely pleased. Did she like me? What a dumb thought, this wasn't first year at Hogwarts.

She glared at me. "I'm going home." She rose from the chair and turned towards the door.

"Hey wait," I called as I jumped up from the couch. "Can I have a hug?" I reached my arms out. She looked at me skeptically. "Purely platonic hug," I added, trying to portray a trustworthy person.

She eyed me but moved towards my open arms. I wrapped my arms around her back, not quite paying attention to my face, but it soon became quite obvious that something had gone awry. Her face was extremely close. One of us had tilted our head in the wrong direction and we were now so close our noses brushed.

"Well this is awkward." She whispered. I could feel her breath on my lips, and I decided in that moment to go for it. I leaned forward and brushed my lips softly against hers. I could hear the catch in her breath as she registered the fact that I was kissing her. I pulled my face back quickly, leaving my arms around her waist.

"Sure, platonic." She rolled her eyes but couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. I grinned down at her, but I let her go and opened the door so she could leave.

"Some things just can't be helped." I stated as she walked quickly out the door.

I called in sick the next day at work. I wasn't going to get anything done anyway with my mind they way it was. Plus, I wasn't excited about leaving Harry alone at home, he had take a weeklong vacation. It wasn't that I mistrusted him, but he had fallen back into the depression that plagued him when we first left Hogwarts. It was easy to understand, Ginny was back with Dean and Harry still loved her.

My old self would have left him alone to deal with his misery. But I had become a different person in the past seven years. I didn't think anyone in England was the same after the rise and fall of Voldemort, and those of us who were in the middle of it all were changed completely. Myself included.

If you would have told me six years ago that I would be living with Harry Potter and worried about his mental well-being, I would have cursed you on the spot. As it was, I was living with my once "enemy" and we were actually good friends. And I was worried about him.

I spent a majority of my morning reading on the sofa in our living room. Harry had yet to venture from his room and I was going to let him pout for a while longer before I made him do something. I was completely immersed in my book when a loud knock shook our front door. As I stood up, the visitor pounded on the door again and again.

"Calm down!" I yelled at the door. I heard Harry's bedroom door creek open and saw Harry's head poke out.

I swung the door open and Saranna stumbled in, looking frantically around the room. She saw Harry and ran towards him.

"It's…She's...he's got…went to find…" she panted out multiple disjointed words. I grabbed her by the shoulders and directed her towards the sofa.

"Breathe. Go slow. Who's got who?"I asked quickly.

"It's Ginny." She started, "Lucius kidnapped Dean and she went after him. They sent Aurors out but they haven't found a thing. That's all I know."

I looked over at Harry; he was frozen halfway between the living room and his bedroom door. His face was surprisingly calm.

"We have to find them then. Draco?" He turned to look at me. "You probably know him better than anyone else. Do you know where he might go?"

I struggled to think about my father. He wasn't the man I knew growing up anymore. He wasn't even the man who followed Voldemort around our house like a lost puppy either. Did I know where he would take someone? Why would he want Ginny Weasley in the first place?

"Harry," I gasped, astounded at my own realization, "It's a trap. He wants you to come save her. He wants you."

At that moment a silvery figure glided into the room. It had flown right through the wall and landed in the very middle of our flat. It was a peacock, my father's patronus.

"Harry Potter. I've taken your little muggle-loving girlfriend. All I ask is for you in return. I do hope you hurry, we wouldn't want poor Ginny to suffer. Just ask my son where to find me, he spent many summer days with me here."

The peacock vanished and along with it, the eerie sound of my father's crazed voice. Both Saranna and Harry were looking at me. I knew where he meant.

"We spent most of my summers working in the potions lab he built for me under the basement. It would be extremely difficult to sneak in there undetected."

"Well, what are we going to do?" Saranna asked quickly, standing up and glancing between Harry and myself.

"We go save her." Harry answered.

A/N I already know people are going to think that Draco is OOC, but just think a moment. Draco was raised to be a certain type of person, and then he had to KILL his Headmaster or be killed himself by Voldemort. Who knows what kind of dark and creepy things he was asked to do the summer he LIVED with Voldemort. Then, after Voldemort was gone, he had to go back into society and be all normal and try to get people to like him. Tough crap! So he changed a lot. So there is my defense against my interpreation of Draco.

-Sarah

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