Shades of Grey
14. Affairs

Detention with Snape proved to be worse than she would have thought. It was made so by Pansy, who tried to be as difficult as possible. Whenever Snape wasn't looking or was out of the room, she would mutter snide remarks or try to tip Rose's ink bottle over unto her parchment. She never let this get to her, and by the end of the third night, Rose had done more homework in detention than in her entire Hogwarts career—and ground her teeth so hard she suspected they were an inch shorter. As she tried to avoid being tripped on her way out of Snape's office on Wednesday, she saw Draco standing by the door, leaning casually against the wall.

"Draco!" screeched Pansy cheerfully. "You came to see me!"

"Thought you might fancy a stroll," he said, looking Rose in the eye, paying no attention Pansy.

"Oh, baby, I'd love to!" she squealed again.

"Why not," Rose replied, taking the arm he offered, and leaving Pansy fuming.

"This is strangely kind of you," she remarked once they were out of the dungeons.

"I was bored," he admitted. "Plus I couldn't pass up the opportunity to fuck with Pansy."

"I don't understand why you dated her if you hate her so much."

"I don't hate her!" he said defensively. "She's actually not so bad. At least she wasn't with me. Yeah, she's pretty unbearable now, and she was really irritating a lot of the time then, but I didn't hate her. Plus, she's a bunny in the sack."

She smacked his arm. "Very classy," she commented sarcastically. "But you know, being in a relationship is more than just tolerating someone. You had other options. Me, for instance."

He didn't notice her blush. "Nah, you never would have dated me. I would have been your Pansy."

She laughed. "No, you are nothing like her."

"I just mean that you would only have been 'tolerating' me, to quote you."

"That's not what's happening now. I quite enjoy your company."

"We're not dating," he said seriously.

"Aren't we?" He shook his head. She added, "Should we?"

He seemed to think about this a minute.

"If you want, yeah," he said finally. Rose grinned.

. . .

"Are you coming tonight?" Draco suddenly whispered in Rose's ear.

"Are you kidding? Of course I am," she murmured back, looking over to see if Daphne had heard the exchange.

But Daphne was busy flipping manically through her Transfiguration textbook. She had been trying in vain to write her essay all night, with absolutely no success. Rose found it all rather amusing, having already written the essay herself in detention. It wasn't very often she was the one that had her homework done. She also found that essays weren't as hard as everyone made them out to be. It's basically just copying things from the textbook and mixing the words around to make them sound different. Not a big deal.

"I hate McGonagall," Daphne proclaimed finally. She looked down at her watch. "Time for bed. I'm going to fail this class."

"There is a very strong possibility that you will," Rose nodded.

"Hilarious, Rosie. Coming up with me?"

"No, you go on. I'll hang out here some more."

Daphne looked around at Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and Blaise, seeming to find this a strange thing to want to do. "Right-o. 'Night!"

"'Night," Rose replied. She felt a hand on her thigh and shot Draco a scathing look. He shrugged, then clapped his hands together.

"Crabbe, Goyle, you look tired," he said pointedly. They shook their heads. "No, really, you look exhausted. Why don't you go up to bed?"

"We're fine, Draco," Crabbe answered, not understanding.

"Just go," Draco said through gritted teeth, rolling his eyes. They shrugged and disappeared to the dormitories. "They are perhaps the dumbest people on the planet."

Rose laughed. Blaise sat staring at them curiously, but not saying a word. Things had become a little awkward between them since the punching incident. Though Blaise shrugged it off as he usually shrugs everything off, he did seem a little more afraid of Draco than normal. He made a noise in his throat, and picked up a magazine.

"Maybe we shouldn't go tonight, Rose whispered. "Take a night off."

"Rose, you know I can't do that," he replied, his breath tickling her ear. He ran his hand up and down her thigh again.

"You need a proper night's rest," she insisted.

"I'm fine, believe me. Sleep is really unimportant in comparison."

"Please?"

"You seem awfully eager to avoid going up there. Afraid to be alone with me?" he muttered, placing a light kiss on her neck.

She squirmed. "No, just think we should get some sleep."

"Make you a deal," he whispered, his lips so close, she could feel them brush her earlobe. "Sleep with me, and we won't go."

She laughed audibly. Blaise looked up from his magazine, his eyes resting on Draco's hand, which still lay on Rose's leg, his other arm draped around the back of the couch behind her head. Draco shot him a look, and he turned his attention back to the article.

"Okay fine, we'll go, but tomorrow we rest."

"What? No, I don't want to go now. I'd much rather go to sleep," he smirked.

"But only if I come along?" she asked. He nodded. "Not gonna happen."

"Oh no?" he said, putting his mouth to hers.

She turned into pudding faster than if she had been Transfigured. The hand on her leg pulled her close, and she found herself practically on his lap. All too soon, they heard someone clear their throat from behind them. They broke away to see Blaise staring at them.

"Can we help you?" Draco asked in exasperation.

"Get a room?" Blaise suggested.

"Go to hell?" Draco retorted. Rose stifled a giggle.

"Eat dirt, Malfoy," Blaise replied.

"Jealous?"

"Not even a little."

Rose snorted. "I bet you aren't. I bet you're not going to stay up all night wanking off to this sight, wishing it was you, either. Remember what I taste like Blaise? Remember how good it was? And now your best friend is getting it."

Rose had no idea what came over her. She was surprised to hear those words come out of her mouth, but she couldn't stop it. Something about Draco was very empowering. Being with him made her want to be like him, and she felt his energy, his anger, his attitude seep into her. She let it out on Blaise, and it felt good. As she thought this, Blaise stood up in, seething, and retreated to the dormitory. Rose chuckled, and looked over to Draco, expecting him to be proud. Instead, he looked angry.

"What?"

"What was that?" he asked with a clenched jaw.

"What?" she repeated, not understand why he was mad at her.

He pushed her away from him. "Does he remember? When the fuck did you do anything with Blaise?"

"Oh! It was after Slughorn's Christmas party. It was no big deal. He just sort of caught me off guard. I didn't even want to. It was awful, actually, but I was trying to make him jealous. You're not — you're not jealous, are you?"

"It just would have been nice to know."

"It's not any of your business, Draco. I don't owe it to you to tell you everything about my life."

"No, you don't. But it would have been nice to hear it from him."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh.'"

"If it helps, I don't think he really even likes me that much," she shrugged. "He's just a git that wants what he can't have."

"Or what I have," Draco smirked, coming closer to her.

"Especially what you have," she murmured into his lips. They kissed for a little while again, until Draco pulled back.

"We really should be getting upstairs," he said.

Rose nodded, and they headed to the seventh floor. As much as they both would have liked to stay up there and snog all night, Draco actually did have a job to do. He worked for a few hours until they decided they should at least try to get some semblance sleep. On the way back to the common room, they stopped several times to kiss in the dark corridors, and narrowly escaped being caught twice. Rose found it all very exciting. She thought that maybe life with Draco wouldn't be as bad as she originally thought. He was fun to be around, and he made her feel different than she'd felt before. She felt strong, fearless, and maybe just a little bit like a Death Eater.

. . .

With the arrival of the weekend, everyone was feeling less aggravated. It was evident that the students deserved a break after the hell they endured during January, which, in Rose's opinion, was the hardest month of the year. After breakfast Saturday morning, the Slytherins decided to venture outside. They all put on their warmest cloaks, house scarves, hats, and gloves, ready to play in the snow, which had been falling all week. The grounds were covered in the silvery-white substance, just waiting to be played in.

Which is just what the students of Hogwarts did. Bundled up in their warmest clothes, they threw snowballs at each other and bewitched them to chase people around. Rose was standing in the knee-high snow, talking to Daphne about McGonagall, when a giant clump of snow hit the side of her head. She lost balance, and fell backwards, her mouth filling with snow. She sputtered, sitting up, looking for the culprit. A few paces away, Draco Malfoy was doubled over in laughter. She narrowed her eyes, pulled out her wand, charmed the snow to form several balls, and sent them all after Draco. He was hit in several places, and thrown backwards by the force. Rose laughed at him, standing in satisfaction.

"Brilliant," Daphne laughed.

"He deserved it," Rose grinned, proud of herself.

Her face suddenly fell as she saw Draco charge toward her. She squealed and turned to run. As she rounded a tree, a figure appeared from the opposite side of it, and tackled her to the ground. Draco lay atop her, grinning, both of them buried in the snow.

"Gotcha," he said smugly, kissed her lips, and ran away before she could retaliate.

Suffice to say, a war broke out between the two of them. Daphne joined in, and Draco was suddenly outnumbered. He surrendered after an hour of being pelted with snowballs, and everyone made their way into the castle for lunch. The morning outside starved them, so no one spoke much through the meal, after which they were full beyond the ability to move. They retired to the common room, and collapsed on the couches.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the common room. Draco beat Rose at Wizard's Chess four times in a row, then Draco was beat twice by Daphne, which signalled the end of chess. They all engaged in a few games of Exploding Snap, which took the better part of the afternoon. By dinnertime, they were all laughing at each others' expense. It was turning out to be a perfect day, so, naturally, it had to be ruined before it was over.

"I need to pee," Daphne laughed, clutching her side.

"Hey everyone!" Rose called loudly to the common room. "Daphne Greengrass has to pee, if you failed to hear!"

"Thanks, Rosie. I really appreciate it," she replied, sticking her tongue out, and left to the girls' lavatories.

"You two could be related, you're so alike," Draco teased.

Before she could retort, an annoying voice piped up from behind them. "Yes, you're so cute," Pansy drawled, coming toward them. "Don't think I don't know what you've been doing all day."

"Having snowball fights and playing cards?" Rose supplied.

"Funny, Martell. Bet you think I'm jealous, don't you? I'm not. You're not fooling anyone." She turned to Draco. "Baby, just tell me the truth. I know you don't love her. You don't even like her. Just come back to me. Enough of these games."

"Pansy," he said in a soft voice, looking her in the eyes.

"Yes?" she said excitedly.

"You want the truth?" he purred. She nodded eagerly. "About everything?"

"Yes, Draco, please!" she cried, barely able to contain herself.

"Rose is my girlfriend—no, my fiancé—and much better in bed than you. Your face slightly resembles a dog. I saw your mother sleeping with the bartender at Marcus' wedding. And when I 'went to bed' early at the Yule Ball because I said I had a headache, I was actually snogging a French girl behind the greenhouses. Oh, and sod off."

Pansy's face was something Rose wished she could frame and look at any time she was in a bad mood and needed a laugh. But before she could imprint it permanently in her memory, Draco kissed her. He kissed her hard, making a show of it for Pansy, who Rose knew was still standing there, probably unable to believe what she was seeing. He put his hand on the back of her head and pushed her closer to him. Rose put her hands on either side of his neck, wanting Pansy to finally get what she deserved.

"The fuck is this?" a familiar voice said in shock.

Rose pulled away as quickly as she could, and looked over Draco's shoulder. "Daphne!" she gasped, standing up.

"Were you planning to tell me?" she said, hurt in her voice.

"Daphne—I—I was—Daphne, no wait!" she called, but Daphne had already disappeared into the passageway leading to the dormitories. Rose heard the door slam.

Pansy still stood in the same spot, tears streaming down her face, her features contorted with rage. Blaise was sitting in his armchair, fuming. Crabbe and Goyle were looking on in shock, still processing what had just happened. And the rest of the common room was staring at the scene in disbelief.

Rose didn't know what to do. She stood quite still for a moment before tearing after Daphne. The door to the dormitory was locked. Rose took out her wand, but then decided to knock instead.

"Do not come in here, Roselyn Martell," Daphne's voice warned from the other side.

"Daph, please, I just want to explain."

The door flew open. "Explain what?" she shouted. "How you lied to me? How you kept secrets from me?"

"Well, er, yeah," she shrugged.

The corner of Daphne's mouth twitched. "Explain away," she snapped, walking back to her bed.

Rose closed the door as she walked in, but stayed standing against it. "I'm sorry."

"You better be."

"I wasn't keeping anything from you, Daph, I swear. Everything just happened very suddenly. I just didn't get the chance, and I guess I forgot. We haven't been acting very secretive."

"I seem to recall you telling me that I would be the first to know if anything happened between you and Draco. And yet I am the last. The entire house knows." She turned to look at her. "I felt like such an idiot in there!"

"Daph, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"It's a little late for that, Roselyn," she spat. "Leave."

"Daph," Rose said, her voice breaking.

"Leave!" she repeated.

Rose hesitated, then walked slowly from the room, hoping Daphne would call her back, but she didn't. The common room seemed to have gone back to normal, but the buzz of conversation felt threatening, as though everyone was talking about her. When Draco saw Rose, he stood up. She walked up to him, grabbed his robes, and pulled him in the direction of the boys' dormitory. She locked the door behind her, and levitated the nearest trunk to rest against it.

"Rose, what are you doing? Are you okay?" he asked in confusion.

"Fine," she replied shortly, removing her shoes and sweater.

"What are you doing?" he asked again, his voice heavy with worry.

"Making this worth it," she answered, and pushed Draco backwards on a bed which may or may not have been his—she didn't particularly care. She climbed atop him and kissed him hard on the lips.

. . .

Christopher Martell lay awake in bed, his mind reeling, refusing to settle on one thought. He stared at the dark ceiling, not quite sure how he felt at the moment. Things were getting very out of hand. First the Dark Lord orders his daughter into his ranks, and now this. What's worse is he didn't feel guilt or remorse for his actions, and certainly not worry for his daughter. He wondered if that made him a bad person. Of course it did, but he'd been a bad person for a long time now. It didn't much matter.

He looked over at the sleeping woman next to him. Her blonde hair was splayed across the pillow, tangled and matted with sweat. One of her breasts was peeking out from beneath the covers. The moonlight from the window illuminated the pale skin of it, still red in some places from his hands and mouth. Christopher watched the steady rise and fall of her breast as she breathed. After another few minutes, he was confident that she was deeply asleep, and began to rise from the bed. She stirred.

"Narcissa?" he whispered. "Are you awake?"

When she didn't reply, he continued to get up from the bed. Gathering his clothes from the floor, he quietly left the room. He dressed as he descended the stairs, and walked out of the front door of Malfoy Manor. He still had a hard time understanding how the evening took such an unexpected turn. One minute he was comforting Narcissa about her endangered son and imprisoned husband, the next he was making love to her in the bedroom. What a mess. What a mess, indeed. He closed the Malfoy's gate behind him and Apparated home, hoping Claire wouldn't wonder where he'd been most of the night.