AN: Ok, finally got some updates up, there's a lot here though so I'm sure you'll enjoy it! I'm very sorry for the sporadic updates and all but it's the way I operate. I'm still looking for a beta (and some reviews for that matter) so it you have either go ahead and tell me. Enjoy everyone… -Richard S.
Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 14
"Illy what bloody took you so long? We've already lost two games!" Harry ran to meet Killious as she and Dolan walked into the room.
"Actually, the three of us all fell asleep while we were getting ready!" She explained, hugging Harry briskly.
"The three of you?" Harry looked puzzled before Draco walked into the room, moving to stand to the right of Illy. "Oh…you two are talking again…" Harry seemed disappointed but he behaved himself, deciding that if her relationship with Draco was to persist it might be best to let everyone know he could be civil…hopefully Draco couldn't.
"Yes, well actually we had a rather lengthy discussion in the common room while Dolan was getting ready and we ended up falling asleep." She giggled, trying to hide the fact that both she and Draco were flushed, thinking about just how lengthy their 'conversation' had been. Dolan put an arm on Draco's shoulder, gripping tighter than was really necessary to remind him not to gloat,
"And while they were waiting I ended up falling asleep in the tub…now that I think about it, it's a good thing I didn't drown."
"I see. well next game starts in five so make sure you're ready." Harry smiled and walked awkwardly away from the group, who went to find a place to set up Illy's kotatsu. In honesty they should have come up with something better than each of them mysteriously falling asleep at the same time, but it was the truth, when Dolan woke up he was in the tub, oddly still in his boxers, after he quickly toweled off and got dressed he came down stairs to find Illy asleep on Draco's shoulder, both of them soundly asleep in a rather odd position in one arm chair. They each recalled the entire near-sex encounter, down to Draco's asking permission, but then, out of no where they fell asleep, no one was around and they had no memory of anyone cursing them, so there was no explanation other than that they had simply collapsed from sudden exhaustion, a prospect that disappointed Draco as much as it fed his ego. Draco smiled in Harry's direction, he could feel the deep scratches in his back underneath his shirt, he couldn't help but boast to himself, privately concealing his personal triumph, if only to delay the grief that would follow when he came to terms with the fact that, for at least the next year, he wouldn't be able to even suggest such a thing.
"Where the fuck did you get such a pointless, most likely expensive, thing?" Dolan asked with repulse, as Illy snuggled her legs under the kotatsu, the table was two and a half feet by two feet, making it plenty large to do homework on or play chess. As she settled in Draco pulled himself away from his thoughts to look down at Illy, who had stuffed her legs under the white comforter portion of the table.
"Don't worry dear, some people just don't understand luxury, you know poor folk." Draco sneered at Dolan,
"Oh blow me pretty boy!" He made a vulgar motion involving his tongue and his hand at Draco.
"So….what in the hell is that?" Draco asked, turning from Dolan. Illy smiled at him,
"It's called a kotatsu, it's a piece of Japanese furniture, it has a table top that is affixed to a heated bottom, usually you put something around it, like a comforter, and it keeps your legs warm while you sit on your cushion." She motioned to the other three cushions she had shrunk and brought with her. Draco took the invitation and had a seat.
"My mum has pottery from Japan…and some glassware from China, I think my dad might have some swords too, but I've never actually been." Small talk was practically torture for him at the moment, as his eyes kept becoming affixed to her lips, and her cool mannerisms were depressing him more than he thought they would, a one sided war could be worse than both of them struggling.
"I went to pick things up a few times, Dragon eggs, two Katana's, a full suit of armor that was too fragile to shrink…stuff like that." She couldn't help but feel like this was easier for him that it was for her, he was playing things off, making small talk, she just wanted to run her fingers over the scratches she had put in his back, as she played through scenarios involving the things that Pansy or Matty would say to him when they found the marks from another woman's nails brutally carved into his milky skin. She smiled softly at him as he inquired further,
"Why use a broom, why not floo powder, or a port key?"
"Broom's are in the air, they're more personal, and if an item is being sought by non-owners than it's harder to track. Of course you would rush to the nearest port key if you lost track of an artifact, but who would guess to look for some teenage girl who was three hundred feet in the air?"
"So no one really cares if you fall and die, because this approach is more sentimental, it builds a good customer base, and most of all there's plenty of time for anyone looking to take something from you to get good and angry before they brutally murder you." Draco was clearly not happy with her career of choice,
"I wanted the job, I wanted to travel and my parents had been having a hard time being around me after the accident, so they talked to Gringott's. I was an on-sight delivery girl between villages and dig sites already, so it worked out. I usually end up with things that people aren't in a rush to get, or fragile items, but I do use floo powder and port keys if people just don't have time to get things."
"So why not be safe and just take all non-flight jobs?" Harry inquired. Illy and Draco hadn't even noticed his presence, but he must have been eaves dropping from a few feet away for a minute or so, Illy smiled, Draco sneered.
"Flights pay more, and they're more dangerous, I enjoy them more."
"Attention, the next round is beginning now, please take your seats and begin your match as soon as I come by your table." Professor Binn's announced.
The night was light hearted and had minimal Draco and Harry or Ron conflicts, in all honesty Ron didn't hate Draco all that much, they both had an animal cruelty towards anyone other than themselves; Hermione and Illy shook their heads as the boys jeered at other students.
"Are you two secretly girls? Because you gossip worse than we do!" Hermione exclaimed as they began to make fun of Neville, who was winning his current match but wincing at every crushing move. "Everyone gossips more than you two!" Ron snapped back, "You've never had your face out of a book and Illy just tells everyone whatever she's thinking about them!" Draco joined in. The two continued the night, attached at the hip, much like Dolan and Christian and the twins, who had all begun saying things in unison, which became eerie when four people chorused, "Off with their head!" or "Check mate!" The boys, of course, were overly competitive, but in the end Jackquinn and Clause won, upon which Illy, Draco, Harry, Ron, Dolan, Christian, and the twins all decided that it would make more sense to just have a quiditch match over who the real winner was, but the couple declined and laughed as Illy and Harry began a fight with Draco and Ron over which team was better, with Ron and Draco both claiming that Hermione could have won by a land slide if she had a better partner, seeing as Draco knew that while he may have been a half decent player, Matty was a disaster, who was told so more than once during the game by Ron and Draco, leading to her eventual tearful retreat to the dorm. Once the tournament was over Draco decided he should go find Matty and make sure she wasn't going to kill herself, and everyone one but Harry dispersed toward their dorm, exhausted and laughing uncontrollably at one another's sleep deprived and semi-delirious state.
Harry had promised to walk Illy back to the dorm and was more than excited to do so, as he did his best to persuade everyone to leave them to their own devices. His hands were sweaty, and his breathing irregular, as he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
"So…you and Draco talked, that's good." He finally came up with something to talk about, even if it was one of his least favorite subjects.
"Yeah, it went well, we decided that best friends shouldn't hate each other, it's not worth it." She tried to be vague and avoid the subject to the best of her ability.
"That's good…" was all he could come up with.
"You already said that Harry." She giggled, causing his heart to race as he smiled at her.
"I guess I did, well, I don't really know why you were fighting to begin with, the twins have their lips sealed, we just know what they did to get back at him!"
"I'm not really comf-"
"Don't worry about it, not everyone has to be as open about their problems as the famous Harry Potter, everyone knows my business, I understand wanting to keep some things to yourself."
"Speaking of someone famous, what do you think about all of this Sirius Black bullocks?"
"What do you mean bullocks, the man was sent to Azkaban for a horrible crime." Harry's blood was starting to heat, but he had to control himself, this was Killious, she wasn't on Black's side she was just a stupid uninformed girl.
"You can't really think that your parents' best friend would betray them?" She was shocked.
"Of course he did, I mean who else could have known where they were hiding?"
"It just doesn't make sense, think about it Harry, he was their friend for years, friendships die hard, even when someone like the dark lord is involved, for him to do something that horrible he would have had to be a death eater for years, since he started attending Hogwarts practically! That or he was under the control of a very powerful spell, one stronger than the bond two best friends have, even for Voldemort, that seems excessive, I just don't see the plausibility." Harry had become suddenly dark, Illy could feel his mood hit her, chills ran up and down her body, she had to do something, she reached out a hand to his, meshing his fingers between his own, "that'd be like you betraying Ron or Herm, on a whim, just because, you would kill yourself trying to resist a spell before you hurt either one of them, or any of their children." Harry nodded, gripping her hand uncomfortably tight, she ignored it, trying to pull him back from his thoughts.
"So, how have other things been?"
"Not so great, Hagrid has some pretty rough charges against him, I'm not sure what we can do to help him…" Harry stopped outside the door to the common room, but the two continued their conversation, rather than delay it, he told her about Draco, Buckbeak, and Hagrid. She remembered the day, she was there with him, in fact she almost felt bad for him, or she would have if she hadn't known that they had argued about her flirting too much just hours before class, it wasn't a new topic for the two, he always had something to say about how she was dressed, or her unorthodox displays of affection towards others, or, in this case, how much she seemed to gush over other male students, he was bad at hiding his true intentions, but they usually tried to pretend that he cared in a brotherly sense. That morning they had fought more than usual and she had spent the class with Ron and Harry, being extra careful to make excuses for contact, when Harry returned from his ride she had given him a hug and a small kiss on the cheek in plane view of the already agitated Draco.
"I think I probably contributed to his fowl mood that morning, we had fought, and I was being extra touchy with you and Ron just to make him angry…I don't think he meant to cause so much trouble in reality, he just wanted to make me feel bad. We hurt the people we care about most right?" She tried to smile and shrug things off but she felt bad. "I think I'm going to head to bed, now that I feel like I've clubbed a baby seal inadvertently." Harry laughed,
"It's not your fault he's a bloody son a bitch." His ability to have so much concentrated hatred for people no matter what mood he was in astounded her. She couldn't conceive how someone could laugh and then call someone a bastard, it made no sense to her.
"Forgive him Harry, he's nicer than you think." She gave him a hug and turned to go, he grabbed her wrist forcefully and pulled her back,
"I didn't get to say goodnight." He said, his green eyes sparking and turning darker,
"Oh" she let out a nervous laugh, "Well then, goodnight." She smiled, but he didn't release her wrist, instead he pulled her close, eyes on her mouth, his face came closer to hers, he closed his eyes, she turned her cheek to the side, letting him give her a small kiss on the cheek before trying to leave again,
"Why are you in such a hurry, its Friday, we have nothing to wake up early for." He was calm and demanding, she had to think of a good excuse, fast.
"Draco said he would be waiting for me when I got back, if I'm too late he said he'd come to find me, just one of those protective things, I'd hate to end such a great night with him accusing you of something." He nodded and released her, as she scampered through the door of the common room, holding her now bruised wrist.
