I Knew You Weren't
Chapter Nine
Kylie made her way downstairs as everyone was sitting down to breakfast. As Bill and Mr. Weasley gave her small sympathetic smiles, she assumed Molly had told them everything. She returned the smiles and walked into the kitchen to grab a drink.
After filling her glass in the sink, she turned to walk out and jumped at the shock of seeing Bill leaning against the doorframe. "You doing alright?"
"I've had better days." Kylie shrugged, leaning against the counter. She sat her glass down and crossed her arms.
Bill stepped forward and reached for Kylie, brushing his thumb against the small, fading scar on her lip.
"Don't be doing things like that. Your wife might get jealous." Kylie winked.
"Nah, she knows you're like my sister."
Kylie placed her hand over her heart and feigned disappointment. "Oh, you wound me, William."
Bill could only chuckle. "You should have told us. We would have gotten you out of there."
"It's not your problem. I was fine. I mean, fine when she wasn't home, at least. I didn't want to burden anybody."
"You wouldn't have been a burden. You know that. Mum would have been more than willing to take you in."
Kylie gave a small smile. "I'm a big girl, William. I went to school. I had a job when I was home so I could make my own money. I was fine."
"Oh, of course. You look completely fine. Showing up here with a busted lip, a black eye, and a Malfoy. Completely fine." Bill gave Kylie an amused look.
"I can take care of myself."
Bill reached forward and pulled Kylie into a hug, pressing a kiss on the top of her head. "Let us know if that changes."
Kylie broke the hug and smiled. "Hey, I'm a strong, independent woman that doesn't need a man to help her."
Bill raised an eyebrow and Kylie laughed.
"I will let you know."
She exited the kitchen with her cup and grabbed a plate from the table. "Is it alright if I just take some food upstairs?"
"Of course, it is, dear." Molly stood up and took the plate from Kylie and began filling it as full as it could handle. "Here you go. We'll open presents in a couple hours. I'll come get you when we're ready."
"Oh, no. It's fine. Really."
"Then, I'll come get you." Bill spoke up from the door to the kitchen.
Kylie rolled her eyes and Ron mumbled under his breath. "Something you'd like to share, Ronald?"
All eyes were on Ron and he blushed a deep crimson. "No. Nothing."
Kylie nodded to everyone and made her way back to the stairs. She heard the stomping of feet behind her and groaned as Ginny grabbed her arm, pulled her into the closest room, and shut the door behind them.
"What's going on with you and Malfoy?" Ginny demanded, crossing her arms.
"What are you talking about?" Kylie asked, placing her plateful of food on the nightstand.
"When I got back to the room last night, you were gone. I went to look for you and couldn't find you. There's only one room I didn't look in because you couldn't possibly be that stupid. But you never came back."
"Why does it matter if I was in the room with him?" Kylie sighed.
"Are you fucking Malfoy?"
"You're fucking Harry!" Kylie stated, exasperated.
"That's different! He's not..." Ginny trailed off.
"What? He's not Draco?"
"I've tried to be nice, for your sake. Because he's your friend. But he's still Malfoy. Nothing changes that. Nothing changes everything he's done."
"You obviously haven't talked to Harry, then. You have no idea what you're talking about." Kylie sat down in a nearby chair and groaned. "Look. Promise me you won't say anything. It's not my place to be telling you."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I promise."
"They tortured him. Lucius, Bellatrix, the lot of them. They used him for practice. Lucius beat him. He's got the scars if you want proof."
Ginny's arms dropped and her eyes fell to the floor. She shoved her hands in her pockets and did an awkward shuffle with her feet. "Oh."
"I thought you might be a little more understanding after we found him half-dead trying to cut off his Dark Mark. But I guess not."
"I didn't mean-"
Kylie cut her off. "To answer your question, no. We aren't fucking. But we understand each other. I'm not exactly sure what we are, but we aren't fucking." She reached forward and took Ginny's hand. "Gin, you have to understand the fact that you don't understand what it's like. And I am so grateful that you don't understand. You have such a wonderful family that has so much love to give. Enough that they can love each child equally and still has some left over for the unloved ones. You have a mum who takes in the stray ones, like Harry and I, and treats them like her own. I will be forever grateful, as your best friend, that you haven't experienced life the way that Harry, Draco, and I have."
Ginny chewed her lip and gave Kylie an extremely guilty look. "I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say besides that."
"You don't have to. Just... Draco gets it. And as shitty as it sounds, it's nice to have someone that knows what it's been like for me. So, please, just let him be my friend. No more passing judgement on past actions."
Ginny just nodded as Kylie pulled her into a hug.
"Can I go eat my breakfast now?"
Ginny gave a small laugh. "Of course. Go ahead."
The pair broke their hug and Kylie picked her plate up. Ginny opened the door for her and gave a small nod as Kylie headed up the stairs.
Less than a minute later, she was opening the door to George's room. "I come bearing gifts!" She said, holding the plate up.
"That took a bit longer than I expected it to." Draco said as Kylie sat down next to him.
"Well, Bill stopped me in the kitchen to see if I was alright. And then Ginny stopped me to get onto me for sleeping in here last night."
"Oh, I get it." Draco said, picking up a piece of bacon.
"Get what?"
"You and Bill. That's why Weasley hates you. You guys had a thing." Draco raised a curious eyebrow.
"What? No. That's absurd."
"Your eyes practicality started twinkling when you said his name." Draco chuckled.
"Okay, fine. I've...had a crush on Bill since I met him when I was 13. During Christmas break, fourth year, he caught me out back behind the garden drunk and cutting myself. He helped me clean up and sat out there with me drinking for a while. We may have snogged a bit. We regretted it as soon as it happened and we've never spoken about it. No one knows about it." Kylie shrugged. "Ronald is still holding a grudge because I dated Fred for a year and a half, before they left school, instead of dating him."
"Working your way through the family, then? You have a thing for gingers?" Draco shook his head, laughing.
"I do not have a thing for gingers! I've only dated one Weasley."
"And snogged one." Draco pointed out.
"Fine. And snogged one. But I happen to have an eclectic taste in dating. I dated Dean Thomas for almost a year and... I dated Cormac Mclaggan for, like, a week." Kylie stuck her tongue out in disgust. "He's a terrible kisser. And I also dated Seamus, Oliver Wood, and Lee Jordan."
"Your definition of eclectic is very narrow. All of those mentioned were Gryffindors."
"What can I say? I like my men brave and chivalrous." Kylie rolled her eyes. "Arizona was a Hufflepuff. And I dated a girl from Ravenclaw. I have eclectic taste. Although... you, sir, are my first Slytherin."
"Should I be honored?" Draco asked, taking a bite of toast.
"I dunno. Are you?"
"A little." Draco gave a shy chuckle. Something that most people weren't used to seeing from the usually pompous boy. "You must think I'm brave and chivalrous. So, there's that."
"Brave? Possibly. Chivalrous? You're working on it."
"Possibly brave? Just possibly? Really? Thanks. Arse." Draco gave Kylie a look that very closely resembled a very shoddily-practiced stink eye.
Kylie winked. "You're incredibly brave." She leaned forward to kiss Draco, but pulled back when Bill knocked and opened the door.
"Presents soon. Neville and Luna are on their way."
"Thanks." Kylie replied, blushing slightly at almost being caught kissing Draco.
Bill nodded and shut the door behind him.
"I have a present for you, but I left it at school. I didn't think I'd be seeing you and I wanted to be there when you opened it."
"I didn't get you anything." Draco replied, sheepishly.
"That's okay. We didn't really talk about gifts. Speaking of, we should head down." Kylie went to get up but Draco didn't move.
"I think I'll sit this one out. There's nothing down there for me and they don't want me here anyways."
Kylie stood up from the bed and grabbed Draco's arm."Molly will have made sure there's something there for you. And I don't give a fuck what everyone else thinks. Molly said you could be here and that's what counts."
Draco groaned. "I don't want to go." He said, whining like a child.
Kyle pulled his arm and got him off of the bed. She pulled him close to her and he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'll give you an extra special Christmas gift later if you go down there."
"Mm, and what kind of gift would that be?" Draco leaned forward and kissed Kylie quickly.
"If I tell you, it won't be a surprise." Kylie winked. "Come on."
"This gift better be worth it." Draco mumbled as Kylie took his hand and dragged him out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
Xxxxx
A/N: So, I was on the HP Wikia the other day, hitting the 'random page' option and pulling up random articles within the Wikia, when an interesting one popped up. Apparently, there is, in the HP universe, an Australian Quidditch player (a beater, to be exact) named Kylie Meadows. Totally coincidental that it's what I named my OC. I was kind of cracking up when I saw it.