A/N: I don't really know what happens in this chapter. Honestly.

The Seventh Year

Chapter 13

The Concession and Another Detention

After class Marisa disappeared like she was wont to do at times, and Erin tried to remain in the midst of her girls so that she could ignore Malfoy.

She should have known not to trust them, especially Luna.

"Hello Draco!" the blond said brightly. "Charms was fascinating today, wasn't it?"

"Yes, I always love to learn new useless extraordinarily difficult charms," Malfoy said blandly. "You don't mind if I borrow Erin, do you?"

"You go on ahead Luna," Erin sighed, glaring at her other friends as they sidled away. "I'll catch up with you at dinner." She turned to Malfoy, but he beat her to it.

"Lovely day for a walk, Benz," he said smoothly.

"I'm not going outside," she said rather waspishly.

"I can take you back to our common room then," he said rather gallantly. "Unless, of course, you're afraid of being all alone with a frighteningly handsome bloke like me. Is that why Marisa lives with us?"

"No of course not, and I am not afraid of you," she murmured, smiling politely and waving as Professor Vector passed them. "Hello, Professor!"

"I think you are," he said equally quietly. "Professor! Are you heading outside on this crisp autumn day unlike the Head Girl here?"

Vector treated them to a warm smile. "I think I just might. I don't blame Erin though, I remember how she dislikes the cold."

Erin blushed. "I was eleven then, Professor. But yes, I would rather stay inside."

"You made an adorable chattering icicle by the front doors though," Vector grinned. "I still say you are lucky I found you."

"I was," Erin conceded.

"Well off you go then, you two! I may as well pop in on Hagrid. Have lovely afternoon!"

"The same, Professor!" Draco returned.

"You too, Professor!" Erin replied, before hissing, "I might be afraid of the cold, but I am not afraid of you, Draco Malfoy."

"I think you are. You've been avoiding me, and you've been skirting the common room lately. I think you are afraid of how you feel about me."

"Really? What's that?" she asked.

"You're afraid of how deeply attracted to my devilish attractiveness you are. And you're afraid of how much you want me—"

"Do not finish that sentence," she growled, but she was fighting not to smile. "You're delusional."

"Or you are afraid that I will suddenly turn into a scary Death Eater and tie you up in a closet somewhere and do unspeakable things to you until—"

"I think it is amusing that you think that I find you as a Death Eater frightening, Malfoy."

"Really?" he smirked, before turning a corner sharply and pinning her to a wall. She gasped indignantly. "I could hex you into oblivion with curses invented by the Dark Lord himself. Frightened?"

"Bluffing," she scoffed.

"Empty closet—"

"You can't find your way to the bathroom in the morning, let alone find a closet," she sneered.

"Which brings us back to your fear of your attraction to me." He brought one hand up and cupped her neck, using his thumb to tilt her chin. "Now are you frightened?"

She couldn't breathe. And if he got much closer, she wouldn't want to be held accountable for her actions. "Yes," she murmured, before she thought. His eyes widened, and she pushed herself away from the wall and spun them around. She had to look up at him, which spoiled the effect, but she smirked anyway. "Afraid?"

He shot her a dazzling smile that almost made her wish she hadn't moved so quickly. "My, Benzene, you are one terrifying witch."

"Damn straight I am," she muttered stepping away.

His hand was on her shoulder and they were walking again before she could blink. Then his hand dropped and the moment was gone, replaced by planning for the Halloween feast and their normal bickering.

They parted ways at the common room, and each went to dinner, which was a rather uneventful affair. Erin picked at her food as Marisa listened, glaze-eyed, to Padma Patil recount her terrible Herbology lesson. After dinner the two had detention with the Slytherins again, which was not something either of the twins wanted to do, especially since they weren't exactly sure how they were supposed to act towards the two boys.

"Marisa, do you even like him?" Erin hissed as trotted to keep up with her sister as they whizzed down to the dungeons.

"Go away," Marisa shot back. "Not talking about this."

"Come on!"

"Go away," she whined again.

"Please? Please, please, please? I just want to know if this is ok or not. I mean, you are getting dressed up, for Merlin's sake."

"He's alright," Marisa conceded. Erin knew that was really all she was going to get out of her sister.

Slughorn interrupted them and set them to sorting out ingredients that he thankfully didn't know that they had ransacked in the first place. They huddled as far away as possible from the door, and ignored Malfoy and Zabini when they entered.

Erin shot a furtive glance at the boys and then muttered, "Is it ok—I mean, do you think I can trust. . .Draco. Can I trust Malfoy?"

Marisa shrugged. "Ferret is ok, I guess."

Before she could comment on her sister's surprising acceptance of their predicament, Blaise slid into the closet next to Marisa with a self-satisfied smirk. "Looking good, Benz-Deux. And I wasn't just talking about the shelves.

Erin missed Marisa's scathing reply because Malfoy latched onto her arm and dragged her out of the closet to finish planning the feast.

And the funny thing was, they didn't get into an angry shouting match once.

A/N: But I wanted them to get into a shouting match. . . :( Things are heating up. . .review please!