As expected, although I was on time, Draco was there before me.

He was just way too over-punctual, which always made me feel bad, even if I wasn't late.

It was now early May and if you met after dinner it was more than possible to meet other students.

After all, the sun was up for longer and it was not so cold.

And so it was indeed when I came into the courtyard, besides Draco standing under the tree there were two other groups of students there.

"Bit crowded here", he laughed as I reached him.

I nodded.

"I know a place by the lake where I'm sure no one is", I suggested, alluding to Neville's bench.

Draco followed my cat form so we wouldn't have to face any prying eyes.

As soon as we were out of the castle I transformed back and that's when I noticed Draco's gaze.

"Is something wrong?", I asked sheepishly.

"No, you just amaze me every day."

He walked beside me in silence for some time and the longer he did so and the further we got away from the castle the more I worried if something was wrong.

"How does it feel?", he cut the silence and I didn't know what to do with myself for a moment.

"What?", I asked confused about his question.

"The transforming, how does it feel?"

No idea what it felt like.

"I don't know. Just Normal.

When I do it purposefully I don't really feel anything but when it happens uncontrollably it's rather liberating.

It kind of bundles it up and calms me down.

Does that make any sense?"

"Probably less for me than for you", he laughed.

The rest of the way around the lake I told him about my day with Hannah, skilfully omitting what else had happened between her and Neville yesterday after the ball.

When we finally arrived, I dropped onto the bench and Draco sat down next to me.

Spring had now taken all the cold with it and the forest behind us was a lush green and the flowers in the meadow in front of us were sticking their heads up to take in the last rays of the day.

"Really pretty here", Draco observed.

"Neville showed me this place. Just don't tell him I took you here."

"For that, he'd have to listen to me when I say something first and not just stare at me crossly."

I had to laugh.

Yes Neville really wasn't on Draco's good side, which would make it hard to tell him about our relationship at some point.

"Has my jacket finally become your property?", he asked with a smile on his lips.

"I thought about it, but no, you can have it back."

Now that I was thinking about the jacket, another question came to mind that I wanted to have clarified.

"The note in the pocket, that was the Amortentia essay wasn't it?"

He nodded.

"But that was months ago."

"Yes, it was."

Months.

He'd had these feelings for me for months.

And these months referred to almost half a year.

I had lasted just one month and even that one had driven me to the brink of despair.

And in the end, I had been the one to collapse under it all.

I had even avoided contact, whereas he had never treated me differently.

Or had he?

"But I'm not pure-blooded", I voiced my greatest insecurity.

Until now we had both just sat next to each other looking out at the water but now he turned to me and looked at me almost crossly.

"Don't you dare.

You've never given a shit about what someone's blood status is, now don't start with yourself."

He was really angry.

But that was exactly what I wanted to know. If I was going to get involved in this, which I had long since done, then I needed to know that it didn't matter at all that I wasn't pureblood.

"But...", I tried to formulate my question more precisely but Draco brushed me off.

"There is no but. I hated myself for a long time for having these feelings for someone when I wasn't supposed to, but you were the one who convinced me otherwise.

The one who made me realise that my beliefs were wrong."

"Do you remember the question you asked me on your birthday?", he added.

"Do you think it's possible that a moment, a small detail, maybe even a trifle can change your whole outlook on life?", I quoted myself.

Of course I remembered this question because it was on my mind every day.

"For me, that little detail is the way you look at me. As if I was like everyone else. Like I'm not the bad person I am."

"You're not a bad person", I protested, crossing my arms in front of my chest sourly.

"That's your opinion."

And that was the end of that discussion, because I had nothing more I could or wanted to say in response.

It would take time, if it ever came to pass, for him to see himself as I did.

This was not the kind of conversation I had expected to have on my first more or less date with my boyfriend but maybe we had to.

Maybe this was exactly what needed to happen for us to make it work.

And I wanted it to work so badly.

And then an idea came to me.

I jumped up from the bench, took off my shoes while running and ran into the lake.

The water was super cold, but I tried not to let it show.

"What in Salazars name are you doing?

The water must be freezing!", laughed Draco who had now also stood up from the bench and was walking towards me.

"I've completely lost my mind. What does it look like?"

"Come back out of there, you'll catch cold."

"You come in if you dare", I goaded him, knowing he couldn't refuse a challenge.

He hesitated.

I wanted him to loosen up a bit, to stop being so serious. That had been enough seriousness for now, now I just wanted to have a bit of fun and if I was completely honest, I enjoyed teasing Draco enormously.

"Are you scared Malfoy?", I taunted him, splashing water in his direction with my foot.

I didn't even hit him in the slightest but it had the desired effect.

Draco took off his shoes, rolled up his shirt and joined me in the water with careful steps.

"This is really bloody cold", he cursed as soon as his feet touched the water.

"I know but if you want me to get out of here you're going to have to get me first."

And with that I dived down.

Cats and water had never been the best combination and even for me water wasn't exactly the element I preferred but it was worth it.

The cold water soaked through my clothes within seconds and my breath caught for a moment. It was really freezing.

"Are you out of your mind?", Draco scoffed as I resurfaced.

"You really scared me. I don't even want to know what all lives in this lake. Now please come out."

He was standing just in front of me now and was up to his knees in water.

He held out his hand to me and that was clearly his fault, because if he hadn't done that, I might not have gone that far and not even considered what I was doing now.

I pulled him down to me by his arm so that we were now both underwater in the icy cold lake.

He came back to the surface splashing and I had to start laughing, that's how funny I found his shocked expression.

"You'll be the death of me, Scamander", he laughed.

That was the first time he'd called me by my real surname and I think now he'd really started calling me by every conceivable form of my name.

But he said it like it was the most normal thing in the world, like I had never been Harper to him.

We were now standing in front of each other, both knee-deep in water, and I admired how beautiful he looked when he laughed.

I grinned at him, then took another step towards him so that our faces were almost touching and I whispered, still with a smile on my lips, "I hope not."

And then I kissed him.

If he was surprised by this kiss, he didn't let on.

His lips felt warm despite the cold water around us.

I don't think I would ever get tired of kissing him.

The feelings he aroused in me were overwhelming, almost to the point that I thought my animagus might respond to positive emotions after all.

Which, fortunately for me, he didn't, because I didn't want to have to concentrate on anything else at that moment but the feel of Draco's lips on mine and his hands on my back.

Suddenly he lifted me up and I squealed in fright, interrupting our kiss.

Instinctively I wrapped my legs around his body and so I was more or less sitting on his arms, which still held me.

But as abruptly as our contact had ended it was back again and Draco pressed his lips to mine.

This time he was demanding and I was sure he wouldn't flinch this time because I kept going.

I wanted this so much, wanted to be everything to him as he was to me.

Carefully I licked his lower lip and this time he actually opened his mouth a little and let himself go for it.

I let my tongue slide into his mouth and bumped against his.

There was no word in my vocabulary to describe this.

I pressed myself even closer to him.

At some point we broke away from each other because we both needed air to breathe.

But even more than air to breathe, I needed the feeling of being loved by someone right now.

While Draco caught his breath, I began to kiss along his jawline.

Which got me exactly the reaction I wanted.

He growled contentedly and dropped his head back into his neck.

I would do anything to be loved by this man if I had to walk into freezing water to do it.

It didn't matter, as long as he never let go of me.

As I kissed him and moved from his jaw down his neck, I realised something.

This was day one, maybe day two if you counted yesterday, and I was already completely addicted to him.

Dependent on the way he made me feel and the way he looked at me.

I had been abandoned too many times, had gone without feelings like this for too long and now I was going to claim them.

From Draco.

And I knew how dangerous that was, knew it would kill me if it didn't work but I had to.

For myself.

This wasn't to make anyone proud or to prove anything to anyone, this was for me, just me.

I nibbled on his neck and I knew there was a chance he would come to class tomorrow with the same red bruises on his neck as Hannah had but it didn't matter.

"Flo", he mumbled my name under my touch, making it clear that it wasn't just me who needed this.

"Flo please stop", it was a soft plea between heavy breaths but I didn't stop, I couldn't, I didn't want to.

This was good, why should I stop?

"Flo please", he repeated himself, more seriously this time.

And this time I stopped.

I looked at him, hoping to see something in his eyes that would tell me what I had done wrong.

But he had closed his eyes and so refused to answer me.

At least his eyes did, because his mouth answered my unasked question.

"You are madness but please don't be so quick."

I didn't understand and just looked at him questioningly.

Finally he opened his eyes and there was the glow again.

The glow I had seen yesterday.

"If you keep this up, I guarantee you'll lose your virginity in this meadow, if not right here in the water.

And that's not what I want, nor what you should want."

Directly the blush rose to my face.

Perhaps I had indeed exaggerated.

"I'm sorry", I muttered guiltily.

"You shouldn't be sorry, not at all and your effect on me will pay off sometime but not here and not now."

Yeah, maybe this really wasn't the place or the time.

"Can we now finally get out of this fucking cold water?", he laughed.

"Will you finally let me down, then?"

"Not a chance, if I don't carry you, you'll never get out of this cursed lake."

And with that he waded through the water while I was still sitting on his arms.

As soon as he had set me down on land he pulled out his wand and dried me and my clothes.

Then he did the same to himself and grabbed his shoes, which he had lost on the way to the lake.

He brought mine too and gave me a nasty look until I had them back on.

"Satisfied?", I asked with a grin.

He held out my jacket, which I had left behind when I jumped up from the bench.

He didn't have to look angry at me for that, I would have put it on of my own free will.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, I was a bit cold, even though my clothes were dry again.

"Now I'm satisfied", he declared as I zipped my jacket up to the top.

All the way back I thought about how things would go with us now.

How much would change and what these changes would mean in our respective lives.

It was clear to me that the relationship between Min and me would suffer, it already had, but my friendship with Neville would also be put to the test.

But it was worth it.

Draco was worth it.

But what really worried me was the impact this relationship would have on Draco's life.

I didn't know much about his family and especially his father, but what I did know was that he had never been a good father to Draco, had forced the mark on him and had possibly even been violent towards his son.

And he spoke even less of his mother, so I hadn't been able to get a picture of her yet.

Hopefully I wasn't already making Draco's life harder than it already was.