Chapter 15
Christmas came around quite quickly, and as Trinity made her way downstairs the next morning, she was suprised to see the three Weasley's already out of bed and ripping open their presents from home.
"We couldn't wait." George sent Trinity an apologetic look.
She shook her head and smiled, "don't worry, I'm just glad you saved mine."
Mr. and Mrs Weasley had sent their children new jumpers, George had a green one with a gold 'G', Ron recieved a red one with a gold 'R' and Ginny recieved a blue one with a gold 'G'. The Weasley's sighed, obviously their mother had forgotten their red hair clashed with those colours.
Trinity smiled, "there're nice, does your mum knit them herself?"
Ginny nodded, "yeah, magical needles." She rolled her eyes, "come on then, open yours."
Trinity peeled back the red wrapping paper, and thanked the Weasley's for her Treacle Fudge. As she opened the second gift, happy tears came to her eyes. It was a photo of herself with the three Weasley's, smiling and laughing at the camera, their arms around each other with the snow gently falling. The moving photograph was set in a small square silver frame.
"It's wonderful, thank you." She hugged them each in turn. "It's the best present I've ever had."
The Weasley smiled before tearing open their presents from Trinity.
"Jelly Snakes!" Ron exclaimed, a big grin etched onto his face. "And a new scarf! Thanks, Trin!"
"Thank you," Ginny's eyes shined when she pulled the mirror out of the wrapping paper, followed by Strawberry Bertie Botts Beans. "It's beautiful!"
George thanked Trinity for his new hat and for the Chocolate Caramel Frogs and as the wrapping paper was cleared away, Trinity picked up the wrapped present for her Uncle. "Will one of you come to the Owlery with me?" She asked, holding up the parcel.
"Is that for your Uncle?" Ginny asked as all three Weasley's climbed to their feet, sporting Mrs Weasley's new knitted jumpers and the clothing items Trinity had brought them.
Trinity nodded, "it's a new quill and a Secrecy Sensor." She informed them, looking at the green and silver parcel in her hands.
"Nice." George stated.
They waited for Ginny to put her handheld mirror safely in her dorm room before they stepped outside the Gryffindor common room. They cheerily made their way through the corridors and past the Great Hall, stepping outside in the snow and crossing the courtyard towards the Owlery.
A few owls were flying in an out of the Tower, taking away parcels and flying back empty handed. Trinity climbed up the stone steps first, being careful to dodge the ice patch at the top of the stairs just before she rounded the corner; the Weasley's carefully followed her footsteps.
Trinity placed the parcel on the stone table and looked around for her Uncle's owl. "Shade?" She called out to the owls. A huge dark grey owl with black beady eyes swooped down and landed on the table infront of Trinity, his sharp talons clawing at the table.
Her Uncle didn't care for cards, so Trinity just handed the gift to the owl along with a treat. As the Gryffindor nearly lost her fingers, the snappy owl spread his wings and took off out the door and towards Hogwarts to deliver the Christmas parcel.
She turned to the Weasley's and smiled, "sorted."
"Come on then, let's go to breakfast - I'm starving!" Ron complained, rubbing his growling stomach.
They quickly made their way back to Hogwarts and stepped into the Great Hall for breakfast. As they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Ginny looked up to see they were just in time for the owl deliveries.
A white owl dropped a parcel infront of the Weasley's and they opened it to find that Hagrid had sent them some of his Home-made Treacle Fudge each. Ron began munching on it immediately and Trinity looked up once more owl's began flying into the great hall. One owl in particular, a dark brown owl dropped a bouquet of Dancing Daisies infront of her, and another; Shade dropped a black box tied with silver ribbon.
"What's in the box?" Ginny asked, reading the label. "It's from your Uncle."
Trinity carefully untied the ribbon and lifted the lid, running her fingers over the smooth silky green fabric inside. "It's a dress." She replied, lifting the bodice out of the box.
"It's beautiful." Ginny touched the fabric. "Try it on later." The Weasley smiled in excitement.
"Who're these from?" Ron gestured to the bouquet.
Trinity lifted them to her face and smelled the sweet plant. She sighed dreamily and a smile spread across her face, "they're from Draco."
George cleared his throat and frowned, "how do you know that? They don't have a card."
"I just know." Trinity sighed peacefully, her eyes searching the Slytherin table for the platinum haired boy, but to her disappointment he wasn't there. "I should go and find him to say thank you." She picked up the serving spoon and began to slowly stir the contents of porridge, sighing dreamily as she did so.
George cleared his throat, "you seem to like him more and more every day."
The raven haired girl sighed again, but this time a small smile spread onto her face, "I love him."
Ginny began to choke on her slice of toast and Ron frowned, inspecting the daisies from arms length. "You can put Amortentia on flowers can't you?" He asked George.
"Only if it's boiled three days after it's been brewed." The eldest Weasley replied, catching onto what Ron was suggesting.
"And Malfoy would know that." Ron stated, "being top of our class and a Potions nerd."
"I'm going to put these in my dorm." Trinity stated, standing up with a dazed look on her face.
"I'll come with you." Ginny stood up aswell, "Merlin knows you're going to say the wrong password again." She rolled her eyes and led the raven haired Gryffindor out of the Great Hall.
George chuckled and shook his head, "it's out of our hands."
"Oh well." Ron shovelled a fork full of bacon into his mouth, "Ginny will look out for her."
George nodded and then fully turned to face his brother, "Kim owled me the other day and told me something."
"What?" Ron asked, slightly more interested in the plate of scrambled eggs. "You haven't got her pregnant have you?"
"No!" George exclaimed, slapping his brother on the side of the head in disgust. "There's going to be a ball when everyone comes back from Christmas break." He informed his brother. "A ball for the opening of the new dorms. We have to go partnered with our mates."
"Why's that a problem?" Ron chuckled, "you like Kimberly, so you're going to have fun."
"It's not just for my year, it's for your year and Ginny's year. The only years who have mates' are ages seventeen and above."
Ron frowned and then grimaced, suddenly loosing interest in his meal. "Im going to have to go with Lavender aren't I?"
George nodded and shot him an apologetic look. "I'm afraid so."
"Tell you what'd be even worse," Ron began. "Is if mum sends me those Merlin awful ancient robes. You know - the ones I had to wear for the Yule Ball in fourth year?"
"Oh yeah," George smiled, remeniscing. "That was special."
Ron punched his brother on the arm, and they both looked up to see their little sister walking towards them. Ginny sat down on the bench infront of them and chuckled, "she's head over heels."
"She's overdosed." George stated, "what has she done with those flowers?"
"Put them in a vase beside her bed." Ginny replied, picking up her half eaten toast. Ron sighed, "we'll have to remove them." He stated, "if any other girl in Trinity's dorm smells them, they'll fall in love with Malfoy."
"What do you mean Weasleby?" The sneering voice of a certain Slytherin said from behind them. "All girls love me already."
"I don't." Ginny glared at the blonde.
"You're in denial, Weasleby. But I think I can cope without your favour." All three Weasley's glared at him. "Now, where's Riddle?"
"Not here." Ron stated, "can't you see, Malfoy? She took one look at you and ran-"
"-Ron's girlfriend." George grinned, "is in the common room. The Gryffindor common room."
Trinity wasn't in the common room. She was in the library, daydreaming about Draco Malfoy. She sighed and tickled her cheek with the feathery end of her quill, she wasn't doing homework either, the parchment infront of her was blank, but she was supposed to be writing a Potions essay. Draco's notes were on the table beside her and his graceful, cursive script reminded her of his handsome face and captivating eyes (which had then distracted her from the task at hand).
As the door to the library opened, Trinity looked up, hopeful that the blonde Slytherin had entered. But when Madam Pince walked over to the main desk, Trinity sighed in disappointment, her eyes dropping back to her parchment.
"Waiting for anyone in particular?" Trinity smiled, butterflies fluttering around in her stomach, her heart throbbing at the sound of his voice. She turned around to see Draco standing beside the bookcase behind her. As he took the seat beside her, Trinity found herself smiling at him like he was the love of her life. Right then, he was the love of her life.
"The Weaslebys' said you were in the common room." He said, his eyes scanning her face, a smirk playing on his lips. "I didn't believe them. I knew you'd be somewhere I could find you."
"Thank you for the flowers." She bit her lip nervously and blushed.
Draco smirked, "how do you know they were from me?" He asked.
"I just know." Trinity's eyes met his, "they're my favourite."
"I know." Draco locked his eyes onto hers as he leant back in his chair. He studied her for a while before asking, "do you fancy me yet, Riddle?"
"Fancy?" She asked, "I love you."
Draco grinned and looked towards the library bookcase. "Glad to hear it Riddle. It's nice to know you've finally come to your senses." He glanced at the parchment infront of her and frowned when he noticed it was blank. "Still having problems with the essay?" He asked.
Trinity shook her head, "no, I was distraced by your handwriting."
"Is there something wrong with it?"
"It's beautiful. I was admiring it." Never in Draco's life had someone complemented him on his handwriting. But he could see where she was coming from, it was boyish, elegant and beautiful - just like him.
"Thank you, Riddle." He looked up to see she had moved to sit closer to him.
"I'm afraid to tell you..." she began, her eyes lowering from his eyes to his lips. "That I don't accept thanks in that way."
Draco chuckled. In a way he preferred the shy, timid Gryffindor compared to the one overdosed on Amortentia. It reminded him of Pansy - minus the potion. 'Oh Merlin,' Draco thought, 'Pansy on Amortentia.' The thought frightened him. But when a girl threw herself at Draco, was he really going to say no?
He placed his lips on Trinity's and kissed her softly. He placed his hand on the back of her neck, feeling her melt into him. The Amortentia worked wonders.
In Trinity's opinion, he pulled away too soon. She kept her eyes shut for a few seconds longer, hopeing to feel to warmth of his lips on hers once again, but when she opened her eyes, Draco had gone. Her heart ached when she glanced around the library and found that he wasn't there.
Trinity sighed before turning back to her parchment, gently pressing two fingers to her tingling lips, her heart fluttered.
Draco growled at himself as he stepped into the corridor outside the library. What was wrong with him? There was a girl in there, who wasn't off-limits to him, dosed up on Love Potion, who just threw herself at him...and he ran away?
He ran a hand through his tousled hair as he made his way towards the Slytherin common room. Not only did Draco prefer Trinity when she was her normal, shy self, but he was frustrated with her. Why wasn't he her type when she wasn't affected by the potion?
He stormed his way into the common room and up the stairs to his dorm. Once there, he collapsed onto his bed.
The good thing about the Amortentia was the fact that Trinity was attracted to him. Attracted? Merlin! She was head over heels for him! But the bad thing was that she wasn't herself.
'What's wrong with me?' He thought. 'I should've just taken advantage...what stopped me?'
There was a knock on his door.
"What?" He called, a little snappier than expected.
Blaize entered, rolling his eyes as he did so. "I'd just like to let you know," he began, "that I'd like to make another bet with you."
Draco raised one platinum eyebrow. "What kind of bet?"
The tone of interest gave Blaize permission to enter the room. The dark haired Slytherin closed the door behind him and sat in the chair in the corner of the room. "It's actually on our previous bet."
Draco growled, "I told you that bet was off-"
"-Maybe for you, but you know I never back down." Blaize smirked, "I bet one hundered galleons that I'll worm your mate into bed within the next three days."
Draco scoffed, "good luck with that." He put his hands behind his head and leant back against his headboard. "She's so dosed up on Love Potion I think she'll be seeing me as a mirage anytime soon."
Zabini looked suprised, "you used Amortentia?" He snickered, "I would never have thought you'd be that desperate, Malfoy."
The blonde growled again and sat up, "I'm not desperate. What's wrong with your mate anyway? Daphne Greengrass is fine."
"Yeah, but...you've slept with her."
Draco shrugged, "what do you expect? She is a Slytherin, you know. I've slept with the majority of the girls in our year."
Blaize got to his feet and walked to the door. "Think of it like this Malfoy: you've slept with my mate, I'm just making things even." The dark haired boy smirked as he left the room, closing the door behind him calmly.
Draco sat up. One thing he could do to make sure the Amortentia wore off the raven haired Gryffindor quickly was to brew a hate potion. If he sent her another bunch of Dancing Daisies with the potion on it, then Trinity would put them in the same vase as the flowers with the Love Potion on. The two scents would then interlink and cancel each other out - making just one bunch of flowers. Unless Draco just kept the Love Potion going for another few days until Blaize lost his bet?
But that would mean dealing with a Gryffindor version of Pansy and that was even worse.
Draco groaned, deciding that he was just going to have to keep an eye on Trinity for the next three days - and that meant keeping her at an annoyingly close proximity. At least it'd keep the real Pansy away. Unless...Draco sat up, Professor Slughorn had supplied the Weasley with an antidote to Love Potion one year - perhaps he could give Draco some.
The Slytherin leapt off his bed and made his way out of the Slytherin common room. He had only just gone past the library when a voice caught his attention.
"Drakey!" Pansy called.
'Crap.' He thought. Perhaps if he carried on walking she'd leave him alone.
As Draco rounded the corner, he cursed again when he ran into the raven haired Gryffindor. He'd knocked her to the floor and was debating wether or not to help her to her feet or not. The tapping of heeled shoes was getting closer, and Draco knew it wouldn't be very long until Pansy found him.
If he didn't hide with Trinity, then she'd follow him and give away his hiding place. He grabbed her forearm - but was suprised when she pulled away from him. He frowned, wasn't she on Amortentia?
The raven haired Gyffindor got to her feet quickly, "sorry," she said, "I wasn't looking where-" He clamped his hand over his mouth when the footsteps grew louder, and Draco pulled Trinity into an alcove behind the lion statue.
He put a finger to his lips to let Trinity know that she had to be quiet. He peered out from behind the lion statue to see if Pansy had gone, and when he saw her disappear down the next corridor, Draco pulled Trinity out from behind the statue.
"Where're we going?" She asked.
'We?' he thought. Draco rolled his eyes, of course he should've known she'd want to go with him. "To see Professor Slughorn." He replied, pushing open the door to the Potions classroom. "Professor?" He called.
There was a rustling of papers from one of the cupboards, and it wasn't long until a round, bald head peered around the side of the door. "Hello, there!" Slughorn greeted them cheerily. "Can I help you with anything?"
"Yes actually." Draco began, "we seem to have a..." he looked down at the raven haired girl as she interlinked her arm with his, wrapping her arms around his one tightly - as if to never let go. "Problem." He finished, looking up at the Professor.
Slughorn frowned, "and that would be?"
Draco sighed, "do you have the antidote for Amortentia?"
The Potions Professor chuckled and trotted over to his storage cupboard. He rumaged around for a while, completely oblivious to the two students. Draco sat down on one of the desks, gently pushing Trinity away as he did so. The raven haired girl took his arm again and rested her head on his shoulder - much to the Slytherin's annoyance.
"Ah!" Slughorn exclaimed, "I've found it. The last one - I must brew some more." He handed the vial to Trinity, "drink this, Miss Riddle." The Gryffindor reluctantly detached herself from her blonde Prince Charming and took the vial, tipping the contents down her throat.
She wiped her mouth and handed the empty glass back to the Professor. "She'll be alright in a moment, Mr. Malfoy."
"Thank you, Professor." The Slytherin stated as he began to walk out of the classroom. He left Trinity behind, maybe it would be best if he wasn't there when she remembered things that she had said and done whilst under the influence of the Love Potion...
Thank you to my wonderful reviewers and alerters :) Please review and let me know what you think :D x