Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
"Hayley, wake up already!" I heard someone shouting, I rolled over, my head facing the ceiling as I kept my eyes squeezed shut. At some point in my sleep, I'd kicked my comforter to the foot of my bed, and now, my legs (that went on for miles) felt the ache of the cold.
I opened my eyes slowly, still groggy from sleep. Whoever was waking me up shouldn't be, it took me time to recuperate after a ball.
The posse at the foot of my bed was the least I was expecting.
"DRACO! Bloody Hell, mate! What are you doing in here?" I replied, pulling my blanket up to cover my body. I was wearing a pair of short shorts (the kind that barely counted as being shorts) and a thin-strapped tank top. I was barely clothed.
Not only Draco was in my room, all the boys from last night—Crabbe, Goyle, Flint, Urquhart, Blaise all stood around my bed.
"I told you I'd come and get you when the weather was good enough for quidditch," He replied innocently.
"So you barge into my bedroom in the middle of the night—" He cut me off, rolling his eyes.
"It's past ten, Hayley. It's hardly the middle of the night."
"Who let you in here?" I asked, feeling it was the more obvious question. It was improper to say the least that six boys had found their way into my bedroom. Regardless of the fact that it was technically morning. I was still asleep.
"Well, your mother let us in the house. I explained to her what was going on and she suggested that I come rile you from sleep myself." He replied smirking.
"I hate you, Draco—have I ever told you that?" I replied, narrowing my eyes as I tried to set up and keep myself covered at the same time. This was a feat harder than I would have believed.
"It's been six years since you have, but I find that your infliction is just the same and that I'm not in the least offended." He replied, putting a hand over his heart, "You're too nice to truly hate me."
"If I wasn't so indecently clad I would get out of this bed and kick your arse." I threatened.
"Oh, whatever, you're too much of a girl now to do that."
I narrowed my eyes, a growl slipping from my mouth, "You didn't just say that," I hissed between clenched teeth, "I might be girlie-er than I once was, but I can still kick your arse. And now, please, if you'll go wait for me in the foyer I'll be right down." I waited until they all left my room, the door shutting with a satisfying click behind them, I bound from the bed and ran to the door, but I was not fast enough, Draco opened it back up.
"And by the way, Bennett," I did not like the way that they were all eyeing my body, I felt so self-conscious. So...mentally raped, "We're playing a real game. It'll be seven on seven." He looked thoughtful for a moment, "And bring a change of clothes. Who knows what we'll be doing afterwards."
He turned, shutting the door before opening it widely...again.
"Oh, and Uther Verne, determined to create the world's next biggest quidditch team, the Venice Asps, comprised solely of purebloods is going to be playing with us. So bring your best game."
"What?" I snapped, "Uther...Verne?"
"Yes, and your friends from last night—Caradoc Nevelson and his friend, as you know him, Viktor Crumb are also joining us."
"I'm the only girl?" I snapped, raising my eyebrow. Leave it to men to be gender centric at all times...
"Yes, you're the only girl who I believe is talented enough to keep up," It was a weird, sort of half comment. For myself, I was proud, my inner self boasted. For my sex, I was greatly offended.
"You haven't seen me play in six years." I insisted, "You don't even know what I'm like now."
He looked over my body, and my skin squirmed, how I wanted to cover myself with a sheet, "You have well defined quidditch muscles," See, he was not actually checking me out. Why would I think after all this time he might still have feelings for me?
Why did I want him to?
"That doesn't mean anything," I hissed, "You stupid men and your inability to let women play quidditch."
"Hey, the holyhead harpies have enough girls for the whole league," He insisted. Outraged, I picked up a shoe I found in the floor and aimed for his head. The door swung shut before I even had a chance and collided, with an audible shudder against my door.
I stomped to my closet, trying frantically to figure out one wears when they are playing quidditch with a bunch of boys (no doubt horny boys, which made it even more difficult). I did not want anything too tight or too revealing, obviously. I picked out a pair of gray sweat pants and a white racer back tank top (hey, I'm still a girl. And as far as the whole deal went with showing patronage to Slytherin—I did not even go to Hogwarts. Who even knows that is what house I'd be in?). Then, searching my closet for a small tote, I shoved a pair of jeans, and a silk black v-necked wrap shirt into the bag, along with a pair of black sandals.
I walked into my bathroom, scrubbing my face clean before using my wand to pull most of the curl from my hair to make putting it into a ponytail easier.
I finished getting ready, lacing up my green puma's and grabbing my bag (wand stowed inside) and broom—heading out my door. I immediately stopped, turned around and grabbed my Holyhead harpies hat, laughing to myself as I shoved my ponytail through it. If they thought there were too many girls in the quidditch industry, I would make sure that they would not forget the fact that I was a girl.
Or the fact that that they'd been beaten by a girl....
Which, it was needless to say—whoever I played against would lose. I am just that good.
I took the stairs two at a time whistling to myself.
"Nice Hat," Flint remarked, I looked up. He was the furthest most out of the posse that had formed at the foot of the stairs, piling into the foyer. Most of the guys didn't notice I'd turned up, flint must have been watching for me. Which was flattering and creepy at the same time.
At the sound of his voice, the other boys looked up, "Look who finally stopped primping in the mirror."
I laughed, "Everyone knows that you primp more than I do, Draco." I countered. It was true when we were kids. I had been a tomboy for my entire youth. It was France and my grand mummy that brought out the girl in me. If you had tried to put me in pink years ago, I would have kicked and screamed the entire time.
He blushed, and Crabbe and Goyle hissed a chorus of 'Ooh's'.
"If you ladies are done fighting, I'd suggest that the two of us haul arse back to Draco's." Urquhart commented looking pleased with himself. Draco wasn't recovering so easy.
I didn't care, though.
"I have a very important question to ask—Why was it necessary for all six of you to come to my house to get me? Why not just write me?" I inquired, moving to the front door with the boys.
"We came because it'd be faster than writing." Flint replied, instantly striding next to me. He was very persistent...
"And, the boys were already at my house and Mum didn't want me to leave them there without me." Draco finished, "Are we far away to apparate yet?"
"You know my parents, I don't think they'd mind if we apparate here even though it's not technically out of the privacy bubble thing yet." I replied, stopping in my tracks. And looking at them, a sudden realization hitting me. "I've never apparated to your house, Draco. I haven't been there in almost seven years..."
"That's alright, You can side-along with me." He replied, with a soft shrug, "Though it'd probably be best if you give your broom to someone else." Five boys jumped over themselves to have the task to take my broom with them as they apparated back to Draco's house. The one who looked the least enthused was Crabbe.
"You can take it Crabbe, don't break it! Or I'll kill you." I threatened, narrowing my eyes as I handed over my firebolt.
"She's serious, too." Draco replied. I laughed, he wasn't exactly right...I wouldn't kill someone over my precious, best model yet and limitedly released—
Oh wait, I would.
"Let's get going, guys." Draco replied, and we heard audible cracks until Draco and I were the only two people standing there. He looked at me, a lopsided smile, "Well, uh, let's do this."
"What am I supposed to do? Just grab your hand or something?" I asked, flexing my fingers. I was unsure of what touching Draco's hand would do to my mental stability. I took a step towards him, the wind blowing around us. I could feel hairs lifting in my ponytail, I could see the hair slide across Draco's forehead and instantly—I was hit by the smell of his cologne. The most delicious smell I'd ever smelt on a man...
Classifying Draco as a man was both foreign and strange to me...but it's truly what he was now.
"Maybe you should wrap your arms around my waist," He suggested, "That way we don't lose any part of you." I burst out laughing—of course Draco would have grown into a ladies' man...I'd seen the making of that in him as a child. It was quite fitting, "You think that's funny?"
"Perhaps," I replied, my lips twitching upwards into a telling all smile, "Perhaps I'm laughing at the fact that you think that you're so suave." I replied, he looked offended at this jibe but I continued anyway, "And besides, Draco—are you honestly making a move on me? Boobless Bennett. C'mon, don't kid yourself."
I do not know if I said that because that is what I believe or if that is what I need to believe.
I mentally 'face palmed' myself.
Six years is a long time. I cannot possibly still feel what I felt for Draco now as I did then. I didn't even know if he was that same little boy.
"I wasn't hitting on you," He argued, and I could tell from the air of his speech that things had gotten awkward. Neither of us said anything for a moment, the silence only bloomed.
This consequently made things even more awkward...if that were possible.
"Uh, So let's get going." Draco finished, beckoning me forwards. I hesitantly (and very awkwardly) wrapped my arms around his waist. He responded immediately, wrapping his arms around me, creating a barrier around me.
And I, the girl who didn't need anyone's—specifically any man's protection, suddenly felt as if she needed the safety of Draco's arms for the rest of her...
Oh, Fuck. I stopped that train of thought off dead, and squeezed my eyes shut.
"One, two, three," I felt the familiar sensation of being grabbed and squeezed into a tight shape, feeling the air pressure around my limbs, but I didn't feel as if I moved at all. Then it all stopped. I remained in the same place, my eyes still shut and still unmoving. His grip didn't loosen, and we just stayed frozen like that.
As if somehow, the past could go away, and I knew that is what I wanted. But is that what he wanted? Surely, he had to have a girlfriend...
"Draco, Let the poor girl go," I heard a woman's voice suggest. Blushing, I dislodged myself from his arms, embarrassed at my moment of weakness, "Oh, Hayley! You came after all!" I smiled, nodding at Narcissa, "Well this is a pleasant surprise. It is nice to have a girl in the house again."
Did that mean that Draco did not have any girls over...?
I tried not to laugh at that.
"What are you doing this afternoon?" Narcissa asked, regarding me with a bemused expression.
I looked at Draco and raised an eyebrow.
"Don't ask me, I haven't the slightest idea." He replied.
She laughed lightly, "You're having tea with me on the veranda, then Hayley. I won't take no for an answer."
"Okay, then. I'm having tea with you on the veranda," I replied as sweetly as I could.
"Will you stop hitting on my mom so we can go join the guys in the back yard?" Draco asked.
"You're just jealous because I'm not hitting on you." I countered, sticking out my tongue childishly, and just like that we were six years in the past.
"Why would I be jealous of that? You don't even count as a girl," He replied, smirking at me. It grinded every bone in my body.
"Draco Archibald Malfoy—do I have to wipe that smirk of your face—" I threatened.
"What, girlie girl? You're going to kiss it off of me?"
I narrowed my eyes, "You wish. I'm going to smack it right off your face if you do not stop smirking at me."
"Geeze, Someone took their drama pill this morning." He replied with a lisp, flipping his hand out and putting the other on his hip.
I looked at him with a bemused expression. I felt myself laughing before I could make myself stop, "Do you have anything that you need to tell me, Draco?"
"That was purely for old times' sake. You will not see me do that again, and if you tell anyone that I did it, I swear, I'll knock you off your broom." He threatened, his voice icy.
"Someone took their bitch pill this morning," I replied, pushing through the back doors, and into the huge lawn the Malfoy's possessed, seeing the glittering pond in the far off distance, all the trees and lovely flowers.
"Who brought the girl?" One guy asked, laughing, looking around at the boys next to him for a similar reaction.
"Is the little miss really playing with us?" Another I didn't recognize leered at me, a twisted smile on his scarred face. I narrowed my eyes and looked at him with scorn.
"This girl brought her school team to winning the house cup six years in a row, single handedly," I replied, "This little miss," I continued, my temper truly starting to get the best of me, "won two of those as a chaser, one as a beater, one as a keeper, and two as a seeker." I put my hand on my hip and flipped my ponytail, probably looking more like a girl than ever. I tried squaring my shoulders to intimidate them (a feat hard to do at 5'3") "Not only that, but this little miss won MVP all six years on all positions." A few of the guys snickered as I said 'positions,' I sighed at the inability of the male mind to function.
"So you're going to bring it?" The man with the scar running from his eyebrow down to his jaw looked at me, his eyes were crazy. Almost as crazy as his jet black hair that stuck up in random directions as if he had just gotten off a broom stick...
So he was one of those kind of boys...
I put my other hand on my hip and looked him straight in the eyes. He was a stocky build, and only a few inches taller than me, "I already have."
"That's great, I'm Uther Verne," he held his hand out.
I put my hand in his and instead of giving him time to bring it to his lips and kiss the back, I shook his hand with a firm grip, "Hayley Bennett."