Lily Potter and the Potions Professor
AN: Hello again. Thanks for all your reviews etc. Here's another chapter; it's another short-ish one. :P
Chapter 11: Right or Wrong
Professor Wandwood, the headmaster, stood at the front of the Great Hall on the first night back after Christmas and surveyed the students of Hogwarts. He cleared his throat and everyone fell silent.
"I have a special announcement," he declared in a loud voice. "Hogwarts will be hosting some very special guests at the end of this month."
There was a sudden ripple of excited whispers and Wandwood waited for silence to fall again.
"We will be honoured by the presence of Mr Harry Potter, Mr Ron Weasley and Mrs Hermione Weasley," he went on as excited chatter erupted in the hall.
Oh great! thought Lily. Why didn't they tell me?
Apparently she was the only student who wasn't looking forward to the visit from the acclaimed wizards and witch. She loved her father and her aunt and uncle but she knew that their visit would draw unwanted attention to her, as it always did.
Professor Wandwood had finished his speech and large piles of delicious food had magically appeared along the four long house tables. Everyone was eating and talking enthusiastically.
Lily seemed to have lost her appetite and decided that she would take this chance, while everyone was distracted, to slip out of the Great Hall unnoticed. She had noticed that, as usual, Professor Malfoy was absent at the start of term feast.
She found him in his office where he seemed to spend a lot of his time. The door was slightly ajar so she pushed it open and peeked in. He was sitting at his desk, he had a quill in his hand but he wasn't writing anything or even looking at the piece of parchment in front of him. He had a distant look in his eye as though he was deep in thought.
"Hi," said Lily stepping into the room.
Malfoy jumped, apparently he hadn't realised that she was there.
"Sorry," she apologised.
"How long have you been there?" he asked, looking her in the eye for the first time in weeks.
"Only about a minute," she answered, walking closer to him.
Her necklace glinted in the light of the fire that was burning brightly in the fireplace. Malfoy smiled.
"Nice pendant," he said moving around the desk, towards her and taking it up in his hand.
"I wanted to thank you for it," Lily whispered leaning closer to him.
He let it go and it fell lightly on her chest. His grey eyes came up to meet her blue ones again. They were only inches apart now. Lily was almost on the tips of her toes as he cupped her face in his hand and leant towards her. Lily's heart was beating wildly and her breath caught. Their lips brushed in a gentle kiss. Lily reached up and put her hand on the back of his neck but at her touch he pulled away.
"What?" said Lily as her lungs finally filled with air again.
"I've told you," he said painfully as he hung his head.
Lily could feel the anger burning inside of her again but she knew that getting angry with him was not the way to go so she took his hand in hers and waited for him to look up.
After a long interval he finally looked up and faced her.
"Why did you give this to me?" she asked indicating the pendent hanging around her neck.
He broke their eye contact and took a deep breath.
"Draco," she said gently, urging him to be honest with her.
"I don't know," he finally answered. "I don't know what it is about you but..."
"But what?" she asked, desperate for him to tell her.
"But, I just want to be with you," he looked her in the eye again. "I know it's wrong, it's so wrong."
"It's not wrong," said Lily significantly. "It's not because I feel it too. I've spent the last four months trying to tell myself that it's nothing, just a school girl crush but it's not, it's so much more. It could be so much more if you'd just stop fighting it. Let this be what it should be."
"Sometimes it's not enough," he said. "Sometimes you can't always have what you want or what you want to be right."
"Why not? There's nothing wrong with this," Lily was almost pleading with him now.
He finally pulled his hand away from her and the tears came to her eyes.
"I need to do the right thing for once," he finally said.
"Oh so now you want to do the right thing," she said bitterly, turning away from him.
He didn't say anything and she wanted to yell at him; to grab him and shake him; make him listen to her. But she didn't and she reflected for a moment on how this reaction was so like him; so like the thing that made her so angry. Lily cast him one more hopeless look before turning and making her way towards the door. Just as she'd reached the door she heard a rustling of robes behind her. Before she could turn around he'd grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. Without another moments wait he pulled her into a long kiss. When they finally broke apart she was shocked and he was smiling.
AN: So what did you think? Please do tell...