"Evanesco." I muttered for the millionth time at the snail in front of me. Only it's shell disappeared this time, better at least than only it's antennae.
It was around eleven o'clock, past the time students were allowed in the corridors, on a Saturday night and I was sitting in the unused classroom in the North Wing by myself. Everyone was back in the Common Room but I didn't feel like being with them. By that, I mean I didn't want to have to talk to Laurie and actually sort things out with him. I had said that I would give him a chance to explain, but that was a lot harder said than done. I would have just gone to bed, but I wasn't at all tired. So, I settled for sitting alone and practising my Transfiguration.
The forgotten unlocked door creaked open and I did my best to hide behind the nearest desk. A boy with platinum blonde hair walked in and shut the door behind him before becoming aware of my presence.
"Didn't know you were in here." Draco mumbled, quickly opening the door again.
I didn't say anything, I just let him be on his way. However, he lingered in the doorway.
"How's Laurie... and you?" He asked uncertainly.
I couldn't ignore him forever.
"Uhh... I-I don't know." I answered truthfully.
He tilted his head and frowned in confusion.
"It's complicated." And once again, I poured my soul out to Draco Malfoy, telling him everything that had happened.
When I was finished, we were both sitting on the floor facing each other and I was, of course, crying, feeling extremely idiotic. He pulled a large, unlabelled bottle of something out of his robes and handed it to me.
"Drink some, it'll make you feel better." He offered, "Merlin! It's not poison!" He added, noticing the untrusting look on my face and took the first swig as proof.
He handed it to me and I swallowed a mouthful of the strange liquid. It was extremely hot and it burnt my throat as it went down.
"Where did you get Firewhiskey from?" I spluttered.
"I know people." He shrugged.
Within minutes, everything was already fuzzy and I was soon accepting more after Draco had taken another drink for himself. I don't remember much after that, it's all sort of a blur. All I can really get from that ill judged night is a lot of laughing and giggling and at one stage, I'm certain I passed out because everything went black and then I felt strong arms around me, lifting me up.
I awoke the next morning in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room, with an unfamiliar arm around me, holding me closely to it's unfamiliar owner. As I wasn't fully awake yet, I had no idea where I was, but I made no move to get up. I lay there for a while longer, enjoying the warmth of the stranger's body next to mine, absentmindedly placing my hand on top of his.
The boy stirred next to me and woke also.
"Morning." He mumbled into my neck, pulling me even closer.
Then I remembered.
My eyes flew open and I jumped out of his grasp as quickly as I possibly could.
"Malfoy!" I hissed, standing on the cold stone floor.
"Reflexes." He smirked, not even remotely sorry.
I realised that I was no longer wearing the clothes I had had on the previous night. In fact, all I was wearing now was a white dress shirt that barely covered me. It didn't help the situation at all.
"Why am I wearing this? I did not have this on last night! Did you changemy clothes, Malfoy?" I asked furiously, tugging at the hem.
"Relax. I used a spell." He answered, pushing back the covers and getting out of bed. "Hey! That was the longest thing of mine I could find!" He added defiantly, seeing the look of disgust I was giving him.
"You didn't think of maybe pants as well?"
"Nope." He replied, making no effort to hide his wandering eyes.
I stopped, lost in thought. I remembered being in the empty room with Draco and then waking up in his Slytherin dorm, but in between was a complete mental blank. Anything could have happened in that time...
"We didn't... last night?" I stuttered.
"Like I'd want to with you!" He snidely remarked.
"Then why am I even here?" I snapped, a little hurt.
"You may what to be a little kinder to the man who saved you from a month's worth of detentions."
I rolled my eyes and glanced around at the other beds, only just remembering that Draco, like all other students, had roommates, but they were all empty.
"Where are your friends?"
He shrugged, "Probably downstairs. It's ten o'clock."
"How am I supposed to leave?" I asked, horrified at the thought of having to walk past a crowd of sneering Slytherins.
"They're used to it, and besides, they've already seen you here." He failed to reassure.
"You're terribly bad at telling girls what they want to hear." I sighed.
"So what do you want to hear?" He smirked, moving towards me.
Intimidated, I instinctively backed away and hit the wall behind me.
I'd woken up in Draco Malfoy's bed. That certainly wasn't something I planned on doing ever again. However, he assured nothing had happened, so I decided not to worry over it and to move on. But is it wrong that my mind was still lingering in his bed, laying next to him with his arm wrapped around me, holding me as close to his bare chest as he possibly could? After all, that was supposedly the affect he had on all girls... wasn't it?
"So, can you, er, change my clothes back so I don't suffer anymore humiliation than I already have to?" I quickly asked, trying to distract him.
"The thing is, I don't actually know the spell for bringing them back..." He chuckled.
"Malfoy!" I warned.
"You know, I like it better when you call me Draco." He chastised, "Fine, take the fun out of it. I'll lend you my cloak."
He retrieved his cloak from his dresser and draped it around my shoulders, it smelled smoky, like a wood fire, it was strangely addictive. I looked up into his swirling and sparkling grey eyes and he looked down into mine. I made out the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. Not a smirk, an actual, genuine smile.
Merlin, he was handsome.
"Well, hurry up then." He said suddenly, turning away.
He opened the door and taking a deep breath, I walked out into the Slytherin Common Room, Draco following closely behind me.
Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson and all of the other fifth year Slytherins were lounging about in chairs and on the floor, no doubt waiting to get a better look at the girl they had glimpsed in Draco's bed.
"Oh, she is nice!" Theodore catcalled.
Sitting next to him, Pansy scoffed.
I felt my cheeks redden as I quickened my pace and drew the cloak tighter around myself.
"Certainly the best, by far." Blaise agreed, looking me up and down.
"You know me, I only get the best." Draco chuckled, placing his hands on my waist.
If looks could kill, Pansy would have been in Azkaban for my murder.
"What are you doing?" I hissed, elbowing him in the ribs.
"Just having some fun." He replied innocently as we finally reached the door.
I wrenched it open and stepped out into the freezing corridor. He shut it behind him and casually leant against the doorframe.
"They're right you know." He said simply, that small hint of a smile back again.
I didn't answer, prompting him to go on.
"You're certainly... attractive, quite attractive really." He continued, not taking his eyes off me.
It wasn't as if I'd never had compliments from boys before, but something about receiving one from Draco Malfoy made my head spin.
I still find it somewhat humorous the way people used his name, the way I used his name. 'Draco Malfoy', the two come hand in hand. Together they make him sound like some sort of legend, and I guess in some ways he rather is. But use either of them alone and you get a completely different result; 'Draco' sounds seductive, but 'Malfoy' just sounds plain menacing.
"I bet you say that to all the girls." I mumbled, concentrating on avoiding his gaze.
He didn't say anything more and I finally looked back up at him.
Bad move.
His eyes were so... mesmerising. Boring into mine, they were almost drawing me towards him. Without thinking, I stood on my tiptoes and leant towards his lips. At the last minute, he turned his head and I kissed his cheek instead. I sat back on my heels, slightly offended, but mostly feeling very stupid.
"Sort things out with Laurie..." He mumbled, obvious disappointment in his voice.
I nodded my goodbye, too ashamed to say anything, and started down the dimly lit dungeon. Then I remembered his cloak.
"When do you want me to-" I began, turning back around. He was gone.
"Sarah, I know sorry isn't good enough." Laurie began, pacing in front of me.
I'd decided to take Draco's advice and sort things out with him, after all, there was no way I could just ignore the situation. However, between finding the unsent letter and sitting in Laurie's dorm talking to him about it, I'd had a pretty drastic change of heart. I'd forgiven him. At least, forgiven him to a certain extent, I definitely didn't want to be with him anymore. However, I didn't hate him, nor did I want to hate him. It was after dinner, I had spent the whole day alone thinking of what I would say to him and imagining what he would say back. Basically, I was scripting the whole scenario. Over-analysing and over-thinking things, my specialty.
"Laurie I-" I tried.
"Please, Sarah, just let me apologise and grovel, then you can yell at me." He pleaded.
"Laurie-"
"Sarah, I don't know what I was thinking..."
"Seriously, Lau-"
"I wasn't thinking, that's it!"
"LAURENCE, SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!"
He closed his mouth and prepared himself for the verbal abuse he expected to receive.
"I forgive you." I said calmly.
He cringed automatically but quickly stopped himself.
"What?" He asked in disbelief.
"I forgive you!" I repeated.
"But, Sarah!"
"You're really not helping yourself."
He sat down next to me and we just stayed there, staring into space.
"Is this the end of us?" He said after a while.
"Not as friends, you're not getting rid of me that easy." I answered sincerely.
He smiled faintly and continued to stare.
"Go on, Katie's probably waiting for you." I prompted.
"Thankyou." He whispered as he left.
I was in a graveyard, or rather, we were in a graveyard. Apart from myself, there were three others, two on my right and one on my left, but their faces were shrouded with darkness and I couldn't make out who they were. There was little light left and an eerie mist was gathering around the tallest of the tombstones, this did nothing but make the whole scene even more sinister. All appeared to be silent. It was that type of silence you experience underwater, as if you're completely numb to the world. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of green light and one of the figures on my right crumpled to the ground.
I knew where I was.
I awoke with a start and sat bolt upright in my bed, gasping for more air. Harry. I had to tell Harry about the visions. Everyone else in the dorm was still asleep. The first rays of morning sunlight were only just starting to filter in through the windows. I crept out of the room, careful not to make any noise, down the stairs and up another flight leading to the boys' dormitories. I made to open the door but it was locked.
"Alohomora!" I whispered after pulling my wand from the waistband of my pajama pants.
The lock rattled and fell open. I pushed the door forwards as quietly as I could and tiptoed over to Harry's bed. He was still sound asleep.
"Harry." I whispered.
He snored slightly in his sleep, but otherwise there was no effect.
"Harry..." I whispered slightly louder, nudging his shoulder.
Again, it had no effect.
Getting impatient, I forgot the rest of the sleeping boys and raised my voice to its height, "Harry! Get up!"
"Cedric! No!" He shouted in his dream before waking with a start.
I knelt beside his bed and calmed him down. Everyone in the room was now awake and Seamus was looking thoroughly disgruntled.
"Oh, give it rest, Potter!" He shouted.
"Shut it, Seamus!" I ordered, standing back up in anger, "Why don't you just go back to sleep?"
"No chance of that now, may as well go have breakfast." He snapped as he quickly put on his robes and stormed out.
"That's a great idea!" I yelled after him, thankful for him leaving the room.
Dean looked at me apologetically and followed his fiery friend out of the dorm.
"I don't mean to be rude, Sarah," Ron began, making his way over to me, "but why the the bloody hell are you here?"
And so I recounted everything I had experienced in my state of unconsciousness.
"It's just like the vision you had about Harry before school started!" Ron exclaimed, looking completely awestruck. Harry, however, wouldn't look at me and when he spoke his eyes darted around the room, trying to find something to focus on.
"I think you'd better talk to Dumbledore, Sarah." He suggested, "I mean, I know the world of magic is a bit out there at times, but this is too much."
I dismissed this instantly, Dumbledore didn't need to be worried with my silly little mind branching out to others, "I'll do it at dinner, I have to get to the library before lessons start." I lied and with a wave, departed the boys' dormitory, feeling slightly disappointed with Harry's reaction and advice.
I don't know what I had expected to achieve with telling Harry of my so called visions, but that surely hadn't been it. There was something about it that had made him uncomfortable, but what was it..?
We got some weird, voodoo stuff going on here, man! Hope you're enjoying, don't forget to review! :)