Chapter 11

The ride home on the train the next day should have been miserable with my hangover, but between Hermione's spellwork and my slowly returning memories of the early morning hours, I was in the best mood imaginable. If I hadn't known better, I would have wondered if Harry had put some of his Felix Felicis in my drink that morning at breakfast. I leaned back in my seat, remembering my conversation with Draco. Draco, I thought. How fitting. He cared about me and wanted to be with me, and that's all that mattered. So what if he didn't think he was good for me, or was convinced that he was making dangerous decisions? We could work through that together. That was the point of having a relationship, wasn't it? I looked for him briefly on the train, but I didn't want to make Harry or Ron suspicious. I had explained everything that morning to a frantic Hermione who had panicked when I didn't return to the dorm all night.

"MERLIN'S PANTS," she had screamed, hugging me tightly. "At least one of our boys has his head on straight!"

I had thought of Ron and Lavender's increased promiscuity and been annoyed. If only Ron would stop being a wanker and realize how happy he could be with Hermione. Now I was watching them argue as the Hogwarts Express rocketed along, and I selfishly felt relieved things had finally worked out with Draco. I looked for him in the crowd as we got our trunks off the train, but he was nowhere to be seen. A surge of disappointment washed over me. Didn't he even want to say goodbye?

By the time Mum and I had gotten home, I was in a foul mood. After everything that had happened, how could he not have talked to me? A realization hit me, however, brightening my mood immediately. Of course he hadn't come to find me, he probably didn't even know I remembered. I felt guilty for becoming angry. And how would he have explained things in front of Harry, Ron, Seamus, Neville, and Luna? That wouldn't have gone over well at all. No, I was sure he was feeling the same as I had been, upset that I hadn't acknowledged him. I considered sending him an owl but didn't want to reveal I remembered in such an impersonal way. For once, I could hardly wait for the break to be over so I could get back to school and see his happiness in person.

New Year's came and went, and then it was the start of the new term. I met up with Harry and Hermione in the common room, as Ron had already become glued to Lavender. I was dying to go find Draco, but Harry said he needed to tell us something important. He went on to recount an exchange between Draco and Snape that he had overheard during Slughorn's party. Harry was convinced Draco was acting on Voldemort's orders, and Hermione was arguing the point ― mostly for my sake, I felt, as she kept casting nervous glances in my direction. I wasn't concerned. Draco couldn't be working for Voldemort, couldn't be a Death Eater. He may be mean and nasty and cruel at times, but he wouldn't move to full on evil.

However, when Harry brought up the fact that he knew Fenrir Greyback, I blanched. That fucker was directly responsible for everything that happened to my brother, how could Draco be involved with him unless he was a Death Eater? I shook those thoughts from my mind, refusing to believe them. He surely would have told me that night in the Room of Requirement, especially if he thought I wouldn't remember. By the time we had finished discussing Scrimgeour and his visit with Harry, it was too late to go find Draco. I was disappointed, but still excited for the next morning. I fell asleep thinking of the look on his face when he realized I wanted to be with him too, and I let myself have happy-little-girl-love-story dreams.

The next morning, I practically ran down to breakfast, dragging a laughing Hermione behind me. "When are you going to tell Harry and Ron about this?" she asked. I was momentarily stymied. "I guess I'll wait a bit to make sure the relationship even lasts. It needs to be worth getting them worked up over, because you know they're going to think I'm a nutter."

She couldn't object, because we both knew they were going to be angry with me. Their rivalry and hatred for Draco was six years strong, and that wasn't something they were going to get over. I was actually surprised that Hermione wasn't upset, seeing as he constantly referred to her as a Mudblood. I supposed she understood what it was like to have feelings for someone that made things difficult. In any case, once Draco and I were together, I would see to it that he left her alone. Harry and Ron were big lads, they could take care of themselves.

As we came down the stairs into the Great Hall, I saw Draco coming up from the dungeons. Hermione squeezed my hand as I followed him into the Hall. Butterflies swarmed in my stomach, and I scolded myself for feeling nervous. Of course things had changed that night, but they had changed for the better. I walked up to him, smiling, but the moment he met my eye he turned away. I stopped in my tracks. What the hell? He was standing still with his back turned towards me, and I could see his shoulders were tensed. No one had noticed the two of us frozen in place yet. I slowly walked around him until I stood in front of him. He raised his eyes to meet mine, and I was startled to find they were cold and distant.

"Excuse me, Mousseau, you're blocking my way."

I blinked. Was he joking with me? "What ―?"

"Was I not clear enough? Move."

I narrowed my eyes. I knew he didn't know I remembered, but that was no excuse to be so rude. I had planned on informing him gently, as I knew he would be embarrassed that I remembered his candidness. I changed my mind in the face of his attitude, however. "Look, I remember. I remember everything. So just stop being like this, it's okay now."

I started to reach for his hand, but the look on his face stopped me. Horror was creeping over his features. "No, you don't. You were incredibly drunk, anything you think you remember is your mind playing tricks on you…."

He trailed off, looking trapped. Why was he acting this was? He had admitted to wanting to be with me, why couldn't he see that I was trying to tell him I wanted it too?

"I do remember. I know that you said you cared, that you wanted to be with me ―"

"You're wrong," he hissed, stepping closer. By now several people were watching us closely. "You don't remember, you just think you do."

"If you would just listen you'd hear that I do ―"

"Would you DROP IT," he snapped, finally coming unglued and raising his voice, thereby attracting the attention of most the Great Hall. I could see Harry and Ron rising from their seats in concern, and Hermione trying to pull them back down. "No, I won't," I said, keeping my voice low. "I'm not going to let you ruin what you started the other night. I've spent the past weeks thinking about us, and we can do this, I know we can. You let me in once, just do it again and you'll see that I remember, and that I care about you too."

His eyes were stormy and wild, and I was losing hope. Why didn't he believe me? Or did he believe me but didn't care anymore? Had he changed his mind about me already? "Mousseau, just stop. You don't know what you're talking about ―"

"Yes I do, Draco."

His eyes widened at my use of his name. He knew I remembered then. Color rose on his cheeks and I could tell he wasn't happy. He stepped closer, about to yell or hex me or I don't know. I didn't give him time. The moment he got within my reach, I pulled him into me to communicate how we did best. A collective gasp rose throughout the Hall, and I heard a goblet crash to the ground behind us. But when he smirked into the kiss and knotted his hands in my hair, I forgot everything around us. I knew that was his way of agreeing that we could try this, and I never wanted to let him go. Moments later, however, we were roughly separated and a wand appeared, pointed at his chest. Another joined it seconds after.

I looked around in surprise, still dazed from our snog. A panting Hermione was tugging on Ron and Harry's arms, trying to get them to lower their wands. Draco stood tall, smirking at them with his eyes blazing. He winked at me and Harry growled, pushing the tip of his wand into Draco's chest. "What the fuck do you think you're doing to her, Malfoy?"

"Excuse me, Potter, but it looks to me like Eleanor began that."

Ron sputtered incomprehensibly, and it was only then that I realized he was half covered in pumpkin juice. I grinned, realizing it must have been his goblet that fell. Hermione had stopped trying to make them lower their wands and was looking at the High Table nervously. None of the teachers seemed to be paying attention to the quite obvious scene in front of them, but I could have sworn I saw Dumbledore smile at me. Harry turned to me. "Ellie, are you….is he forcing you to do this?"

Draco's smirk widened, and I shot him a glare, trying to make him behave. This was going to be tricky, and his attitude certainly wasn't helping anything. I turned to both Harry and Ron.

"Look, I know the way you lot feel about each other. I'm not going to expect that to change. All that matters is the way Draco and I feel about each other. I also don't expect you to understand or approve. I just know that Draco makes me happy, and if you're really my friends, you wouldn't judge me for it at the very least."

Harry looked bewildered and ran a hand through his already messy hair. "Merlin, Ellie, when you put it that way, you make it hard not to feel guilty….but are you sure you know everything about him? Or enough about him that you can be sure this is a good decision?"

I immediately knew he was referring to Draco's alleged Death Eater involvement, and Draco knew too. His smirk twisted into a snarl and his hand twitched toward his own wand. I hurried to calm them both. "No, I don't know everything about Draco, and he doesn't know everything about me. But we're going to learn about each other, that's the point. If you don't trust him, trust me. Please."

Harry's face softened and he nodded slightly. I thought he was going to lower his wand, but instead he raised it to Draco's throat. He stepped close enough that the rest of us could barely hear what he said next. "Listen carefully, you bastard. I don't trust you, she's right. If I find out that you hurt her in any way, I will fucking kill you. Look into my eyes and see if you don't think I'll do it."

Draco cocked an eyebrow, and I knew him well enough to take that as a sign he certainly believed Harry. My heart warmed at his words. Alec would have been proud to see Harry taking his place as my protector.

"If I hurt her, I assure you I will not object. Eleanor means more to me than you know. I don't need your threats to be motivated to take care of her."

His eyes were blazing again, and I wanted nothing more than to leap past Harry and Ron into his arms. Harry nodded once and lowered his wand. Ron, however, had practically turned purple with suppressed rage. Hermione and Harry tugged him back to the table, and I was left to finally have a proper discussion with Draco. The rest of the Hall began murmuring among themselves, in shock that the Prince of Slytherin was now together with the new Gryffindor. I turned to him, and he was staring at me intently.

"Are you sure this is what you want, Ellie?"

I had never imagined he would end up using my nickname, and it made me grin helplessly. "I've been sure for a long time, Draco. I just had to get you on board."

He muttered something about "stubborn Gryffindors" before taking my hand and leading me out of the Great Hall. He paused to swipe a stack of toast off the Ravenclaw table, earning him dirty looks. "How about we just take a walk?"

As we went through the doors into the Entrance Hall, we passed Dean walking in with Seamus, whose eyes dropped immediately to Draco's hand intertwined with mine. He looked up at me and hesitated slightly, as though he was about to say something. Draco stepped between us, however, blocking me from his sight almost entirely. Dean nudged him inside, and my stomach sank. I missed being friends with Seamus, but did I want to try again after what had happened?

Sixth year was improving greatly. Apparition lessons were just beginning, Harry had received a clue about something called Horcruxes through his meetings with Dumbledore, and Draco and I were still together a full two weeks after the morning of our confrontation in the Great Hall, which was about two weeks longer than Ron had predicted. He had been angrier than Harry and still complained about us. It soon became another point of contention between him and Hermione, which I felt guilty about. Ron wasn't the only one who disapproved of Draco and I, however. Draco's friends were disgusted he was with a Gryffindor. Most of his House didn't dare question him, but Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, Pansy, and the boy named Nott from our Potions class made a point of making my life difficult. They were sneaky, though, to avoid Draco's wrath. I hadn't mentioned anything to him, not wanting to start problems so soon.

In any case, we had an unspoken agreement to make time for each other separately. It would have not gone well for either one of us to dive into the mix of the other's House and friends. I enjoyed time alone with Draco for various reasons, but I occasionally found myself wishing I could invite him to study with Hermione and I in the library, or that I could go with him and his friends during free periods. I was happy to be with him at all, though, and was proud that we were working through our differences so well. I was finding it harder to do so with each passing day, however, as Harry had made it his personal mission in life to find out where Draco kept disappearing to. It was hard not to wonder, really, but he was becoming obsessed.

The obsession only intensified when Ron was poisoned on his birthday. He stayed in the hospital wing for over a week, long enough to miss the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match. This match wasn't good for anyone, as Harry's skull was cracked by a Bludger. Hermione, Ginny, and I had waited by his bed waiting for him to wake up as we talked to Ron. We were all in agreement that we hoped maybe some of his fixation on Draco would have been knocked out of him. The first thing he said when he woke up, however, was "Ellie, I need to talk to you."

Hermione and Ginny looked at me sympathetically as he launched into his encounter with Draco and two girls. My stomach lurched, but I somehow felt oddly relieved. I had been more concerned that he had found proof of Draco being a Death Eater than the fact he was worried Draco was cheating on me. I kissed Harry on the cheek, thanking him for looking out for me, and went to go find Draco. As I wandered down towards the dungeons, Pansy and Blaise stepped out of the shadows. "Well if it isn't Draco's little bitch," Pansy said, as she and Blaise advanced on me. I reached towards my wand, but Blaise shook his head and raised his own.

"Don't even think about it."