The sun met the horizon when Dahlia's enchanted journal warmed beneath her slackened hand.
She opened her eyes as the gentle glow greeted her. She reached behind her for Draco, only to be newly disoriented as her hand dangled off the edge of the small mattress. She had nearly forgotten she was at Hogwarts — without him for the first time.
She groaned and rolled onto her back as she wiped her eyes. She wondered what Theo was doing up so early as her journal continued to glow serenely. Regardless, she was eager for his response. He hadn't replied to the warning she wrote last night, and she knew he had read it as the words had drifted into the page to be all but forgotten.
She sat up, placing the journal on her knees as she opened it to read his message:
I will find answers. Please tell me you are okay.
Dahlia quickly answered:
I'm okay, just shaken, but I'm safe now.
Theo hesitated as a moment passed with a blank page before more words appeared:
I met another seer tonight while I was out shopping for a pet.
Dahlia was too intrigued not to answer:
And what did she have to say? And a pet? I thought you hated cuddles from furry beasts.
He wrote quickly as if he had waited for her to ask so he might smoothly answer:
The old bat said you were lovely, and maybe I've missed holding you far too much — so much that I've sought out the comfort of such cuddles from beasts.
Dahlia inhaled quickly as her eyes skimmed over the casual mention of missing the innocent intimacies of their relationship. She knew he wanted her to write back and tell him that she missed him just as much — and she did. She just wasn't sure if it was wise to let him know that as he was quickly morphing into someone she didn't recognize.
She must have hesitated for too long to reply as more words appeared:
Do you want to know why I've stayed up till sunrise?
Dahlia held the quill to the parchment, gut twisting. She knew this was somehow a ploy, a riddle. She could imagine his velvet tone and smirk as he spoke the words, begging her to guess his next move.
Theo didn't wait for her to ask why he might be up so late, though. She could picture him wanting to whisper these words against her mouth:
Are you in bed, Dahlia? Did you sleep in nothing but my shirt tonight?
She stilled with a thrill of surprise, not daring to answer. Dahlia's mouth fell open as she read:
I can't stop myself from thinking about how you taste. I'm in the very bed we shared now. Do you remember? You said you never wanted to be without me when I made you come on my cock.
Dahlia slammed the journal shut, but she knew it was too late as the words had slowly begun to fade. He would know she had read them. She couldn't respond — she wouldn't. However, she did open the journal when it glowed again.
Can't resist? Is your heart racing like the first night I got on my knees for you?
Is that only for me, love? Am I the only one who makes your heart race?
Dahlia couldn't help but shift beneath the covers as her cheeks reddened. The words formed and disappeared, letting Theo know she was on the other end. A piece of her questioned if he was doing this to gauge just how much of her heart he still had.
Her eyes were glued. She couldn't help. He continued on, knowing she was reading.
I know how quickly you get wet for me and how impatient you are to skip the fun and get on my cock. Am I the only one that makes you that fucking needy, baby?
Did you know from the first moment I buried my tongue in you that no one else would be good enough?
She was tempted to slam the book closed, but the words kept coming. He was relentless in his own need to know that she craved him.
Are you resisting touching yourself? I would give anything to watch.
Does it please you to know that I would crawl for a lick of you right now?
The things I would do to have your sweet mouth take all of me again.
Dahlia was practically vibrating with either need or horror. It felt so wrong after how things had fallen apart, then fallen back together with Draco. The more he teased her, the more her mind raced, and skin slicked.
It could never be like old times — he wasn't sorry. Before she could think twice, she quickly wrote across the entire page her own repeating mantra in her mind:
I love Draco.
She held her hand to her heart, thinking her response would make it stop — dull the building need and cruel reminder of their shared moments.
Theo didn't miss a beat as he continued to fill the page with his desires as if she hadn't responded at all, denying her truth.
No one fills you like I do. Makes you shake to the bone like me.
No one can ever love you as much as I do.
Dahlia quickly stood and tiptoed to the bathroom. She shut the door quietly and started a shower — nearly cold, she decided.
Her pulse was thrumming more than she wished. She paced while running her hands through her hair. She stripped and stepped beneath the cascading water to clear her mind.
She wanted to be stronger than this — she really did, but all she could imagine was Theo in nothing at all, hair soaking wet and pushed back in the steam of his shower.
Dahlia couldn't help it as she leaned against the wall, all too desperate. She hesitated, knowing it was wrong for her to give in to him like this before she slid her hand between her legs.
This was what he wanted, but he never had to know.
She pictured the droplets of water dripping lower and lower down his flexed chest with the flush of sex on his hollow cheeks. He would groan her name as the muscles of his arms coiled with the need to pump harder, thinking of her, too.
She held her breath from making a sound as the water chilled her back, hardened her breasts, and her release began to build.
She thought of Draco's arrogant smirk and how sweet it might feel to have him towering behind her now. He wouldn't allow her to touch herself like this. No, he would spin her around, fall to his knees, and push his tongue inside her. She would grip his hair as he looked up and told her that he knew better, and he always would.
He would watch her from below as he kneeled, worshiping her with his rough hand and precise movements as she came at his will. He always told her, time after time, that he loved watching her mouth open as she found a world-blurring high that only he could give. Her bones would give out, but he would keep a biting grip on her hip, pinning her to the wall.
Dahlia took unsteady breaths — she was so close, nearly shaking as she clawed the wall of the shower. She imagined Theo watching on as Draco almost fucked her that night he had used his time-turner. Draco had stuck his fingers in her mouth, wondering how it might feel to have her suck any piece of him. Theo was so demented, she wondered if a part of him might have liked watching — knowing she had let him touch her, then still chosen him at the end of the night.
Draco had touched her like she was exquisitely priceless, but Theo had fucked her against that same wall like he owned her, always finding his release within her if he could manage just to prove that she would let him. She thought of his sculpted, golden chest — her tongue upon him as she peered up at his lovesick face with half-moon eyes.
She thought of Draco dragging his hot breath up her chest. Draco always took his time, assessing and pleasing her every need as if she were his goddess.
"Tell me I know better," Draco would make her repeat as he deepened himself within her against this very wall. He did know her desires almost better than she did.
"Tell me I'm better," Draco would demand, licking up the column of her neck, going deeper than she had known. Dahlia held her breath, release breaking as she pictured Theo's own words falling through Draco's lips, written in a cocky grin:
"I know what pleases you best. I know how to make you come undone for me."
As the last shiver beat her bones, Dahlia let her head fall back beneath the water. With the turn of the handle, it warmed to cleanse her fully.
While the journal had become poison to her touch, it was a lifeline in Theo's hands. What kept her sick, kept him alive with a dying flame. She just hoped the good flame would burn with the brightness of a hero before his poison killed her entirely.
As she reopened the journal, Dahlia decided to be relentless, too. A telling wet drop from her hair smudged the parchment, then disappeared to the other end.
Come back, she wrote once more.
The smudge of his sweat came through first, then his reply:
I'm so truly sorry, my Dahlia. I will not.
She bit her lips into a thin line, hating a waste of potential.
You can never have it all, my Theo.
— — — — — — — — — —
The castle grounds were all too quiet without the bustle of students. The trees rustling in the grey morning were all that could be heard.
Perhaps it's quiet enough to hear the mermaids sing, Dahlia thought.
"Can I ask you something serious?" Juliet's soft voice danced behind her.
"Yes?" Dahlia answered as she chucked a rock, skipping it across the freezing waters of the Black Lake. The January ice was proving to be impenetrable in some spots.
"Now that you and Malfoy are together-"
Dahlia turned with a shameful smile, interrupting her. "I'd rather you get in the habit of whispering that instead of announcing it loudly."
Juliet didn't share her laugh.
"Are you going to help him mend the vanishing cabinet?" She mumbled.
Dahlia froze, rock in hand, as she prepared to toss it. Her shoulders fell as she turned to face her friend.
"I had promised myself not to help him," Dahlia muttered.
"Had?" Juliet stepped forward with narrowed eyes.
"Had. I've been reconsidering it the longer I've had to think over Dumbledore's chosen words from when I met with him in his office," she admitted.
Dahlia dropped the rock and pulled her school cloak tighter.
The Hogwarts Express would be arriving soon, and they would be expected in uniform for the feast — which Dahlia didn't plan to attend.
"There is also little I wouldn't do to keep Draco from harm," Dahlia added.
Draco would catapult to the moon to hear her admit such a thing.
"But Dahlia, I don't think that's what Dumbledore meant. He could have meant to work to solve the reasoning behind your bond, not work together to solve the mystery of the cabinet that will lead to his own death."
Dahlia shook her head. "It was in his eyes, Jules."
"Dahlia," Juliet snorted. "He's ancient. What if his eyes are just like that permanently? He's rarely not ominous."
Dahlia sighed. "What have you told Harry?"
"Nothing," Juliet emphasized while crossing her arms. "All I've said is that Malfoy has always had a terrible crush on you — even though I'm sure he'll never trust my word again since you strolled along Grimmauld Place with him."
"You can call him Draco, you know?"
"I know. I'm trying not to like him too much since he's the enemy."
"That's not fair," Dahlia grinned, softening her defensive tone.
"Dahlia," she sighed.
Juliet threw her hands in the air and spun around in the eerie silence where student's voices should have fallen. Dahlia didn't have to be reminded that they had been forced to return to Hogwarts early as there was a target on her back.
"Life's not fair," Juliet finished with a morose grin.
The wind blew between them as they fell into a questioning silence. Dahlia shifted, turning back to wonder where the headmaster might be now within the castle walls. Her heart couldn't afford to lose anyone more.
"I won't help Draco with the cabinet if that's what you wish, but I won't stop him from succeeding either," Dahlia sighed.
"That's fair," Juliet compromised with a sad nod.
"Please don't tell Harry," Dahlia shook her head. "I don't know what's going on between you-"
Juliet held up her hands, quickly shaking her head.
"There's nothing between us, and I won't."
"He asked about you and Lucas before the break," Dahlia admitted.
Juliet rubbed her face before leaning against a barren tree.
"Only because he's concerned..."
"About Lucas?" Dahlia asked, taking a seat on the bench below the sickly branches.
"Mad-Eye Moody told him about Lucas's mother. He's worried about me spending so much time with him."
Dahlia tilted her head, perplexed. "His mother? I thought his parents were both aurors."
"They were," Juliet sighed. "Until his mother got put on a case that drove her mad. She's disappeared."
Dahlia gasped and sat straighter. "Why have I never heard about this?"
"It's abominable. What she did, Dahlia. It's not likely to be repeated often." Juliet shook her head.
"Tell me," Dahlia pushed.
Juliet kicked off the trunk of the tree, her golden brown hair catching the wind as she took a seat next to Dahlia on the bench. "She was put on a case to catch wizards who were reanimating the dead-"
"Necromancers?" Dahlia's mouth fell open in shock.
Juliet nodded. "She caught them and confiscated their spellbooks and anything worthwhile. Lucas said she was insatiable for knowledge — she was also a Ravenclaw. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Perhaps the drive for endless knowledge breeds the worst villains."
Dahlia shifted, thinking of how she had ripped the blackest of magics from the earth and welded it into herself.
"she became obsessed with it, learning from the necromancy books she had taken. She struck a deal with the dead and gave her soul for a son as she couldn't conceive. Bodies started disappearing afterward. His own father was sent to arrest her at their country estate, where she had been living — separated. She gave birth there amongst soulless creatures, or so his father reported. She escaped arrest and hasn't been seen since."
"How do you know this?" Dahlia whispered, mind reeling.
"I found forbidden books on necromancy in Lucas's bookbag. It put a strain on anything between us for a while. Dark magic — it scares me. Around a month or so ago, he finally told me about his mother and why he was interested in such magic. He thinks his soul is cursed."
"I could imagine," Dahlia muttered. No wonder she had been sparse in providing any details on what exactly was going on between them.
"I'm sorry, Jules. I'm happy you told me. You know you can trust me with anything," Dahlia mumbled, taking her friend's hand.
She nodded. "It's still complicated between us. Speaking of soul curses, though, Harry told me that Theo believes what you and Draco share is only a curse."
Dahlia's head fell back in frustration. "Trust me, I know. Theo told me directly one night, and Xavier sent an owl yesterday to confirm that, as well. He met with Theo before I was ambushed at Grimmauld Place. Xavier said Theo looked tired and wanted me to know..."
Dahlia huffed as she paused to pull out the exact letter from her pocket. Dahlia cleared her throat to read the note aloud:
" He loves you terribly. He will be back sooner than you think. He also said that he knows you cannot help it (fucking Draco) and that he forgives you (for fucking Draco) kind of-ish, for now. His body language suggested otherwise.
Dahlia glanced at Juliet. "Thank god he clarified I was fucking Draco, or I never would have known," she added.
"Is that it?" Juliet asked.
"No," Dahlia sighed, looking back to the note.
"On a mood scale of 1-10 terrorized first-years, I would guess eight children thrown into the Black Lake in a fit of sudden rage when no one is looking. With the sincerest luck, XG. "
"Theo does seem like the type to bottle it all in then..." Juliet made an exploding motion with her hands.
Dahlia shook her head. "Like I need this weird permission from Theo to be with Draco. He practically dumped me in the woods to go commit felonies," she scoffed.
"Do you still love him?" Juliet mumbled.
"Of course I do," Dahlia answered all too quickly. "He was everything I wanted. He's just — lost."
Dahlia looked down at her hands, knowing the truth.
He's not who I thought he was, she thought.
— — — — — — — — — —
It was late afternoon when Alexander finally decided to make an appearance and grace Theo with his presence. He said nothing as he strolled into the wood-paneled drawing room dressed casually in black. He grunted in exhaustion as he took a seat in a brown leather chair.
With a narrowing of the eyes, he lit the jade fireplace.
Theo didn't turn from the French windows as he stood shirtless, watching his new Hebridean Black dragon emerge over the snarling Wolfwood forest in the distance for a sunset flight. He wondered when she might return and if he would need an explanation for the sudden loss of farm life as she feasted. He wasn't entirely sure the cloaking spell would be enough for the muggles, nor was he sure he cared.
Theo sensed his brother's confusion as he also glanced out the window at the massive black beast taking flight. Her black opalescent scales glowed iridescent in the fading sun. Alex tensed as he lifted his head from the back of the chair.
"Theodore, why the fuck is there a dragon on our property?"
Theo swirled the remaining amber liquid within the fire whisky bottle he lazily held in his hand. Getting drunk had been his only purpose for the day, as he hadn't planned on catching the Hogwarts Express. Plus, Dahlia had been quite the mood killer this morning with her open admittance of loving Draco.
It was all so ridiculous, but he would fix it all soon enough.
"You don't like her?" Theo asked, not bothering to turn to face his brother.
"That's not an answer," his brother grumbled.
"You told me we needed a dragon." Theo pointed to the large shadow quickly drifting over the manor. "I got us a dragon. I'm sick of wasting time."
Theo finally turned to face Alex with a nod. "And you've been gone for days — apparently off murdering my girlfriend." Theo paused, assessing Alex's darkened eye circles and sickly complexion. "And you look like shit."
His brother didn't so much as flinch as he sat straighter, casually throwing an ankle over his knee.
"I don't know what she told you, but the Dark Lord ordered me to patrol that particular tunnel leading in and out of Hogwarts. She's lucky it was me and not others."
Theo shook his head, grinning maliciously in disbelief. He glared straight and true into his brother's eyes.
"Did you tell the Dark Lord about the passages? Did you try to capture her? Or-"
"You trust her word over mine?" Alex interjected. He sneered at the disloyal insinuation.
"Don't put me in that position," Theo fired back.
Alex rolled his teeth across his tongue, contemplating what to make of his brother's response.
Theo slammed the nearly empty bottle of whisky on the side table next to his brother. He stood tall, towering over his chair.
"I know you do not approve of Dahlia, but you don't know her, and I will kill you myself if I find proof that you have harmed her."
Alex winced as he brought a tattooed hand to rest behind his black curls.
"I only fired back at Dahlia in self-defense," he replied, cool and bored. "She cast first — with foreign magic. She used silver hellfire, I might add. I wonder where she might have learned that?" Alex snarled.
"Not from me, I assure you. That is Malfoy's spell," Theo answered as he picked up the whisky bottle once more. "Did she hurt you? You look awful."
"No," he shook his head too quickly. "Nothing I can't manage."
He waved off Theo's question entirely, attempting to drop the subject.
Theo cast his eyes down to the newly restored maroon carpet. He had been restoring the majority of this manor in his spare time, hoping to build a life here.
"Did you write to Dumbledore?" He mumbled.
"Yes," Alex sighed. "I wrote as your legal guardian to inform him that you wouldn't be returning."
His face twisted with sourness. "However, Narcissa Malfoy had already sent word stating that you are under her care. She has arranged for your safe arrival if and when you wish to return to Hogwarts at any time."
Alex shifted with another sneer as if he hated to be undermined. A smile played effortlessly at Theo's lips. He loved Draco's mother nearly as much as his own. The notion that she wished for him to return — thought his choices were mistakes — almost had Theo itching to pack his trunk.
"I want to go back," Theo mumbled barely above a whisper.
With his guard lowered and thoughts whisky-touched, Theo's heart suddenly filled with doubt. The words of a mother had shifted his perspective. The right answer had always been so simple. The right thing to do wasn't always just out of reach. He wasn't doomed to take the wrong roads.
Alex stiffened, then stood. "I need you here, Teddy. It's all just a waiting game at this point between Devereaux and the Order, and I can help you with the time-turner."
"You don't need me," Theo slurred with sudden clarity. "I shouldn't have to do this!"
"I know," his brother whispered, squeezing his bare shoulder. "And I know it isn't fair, but I do need you — more than anyone."
"Why?" Theo shook his head. "This shouldn't be my problem yet. Why do you need me?"
Alex inhaled sharply as he looked anywhere else but Theo's pleading gaze. He scrunched his face before finally admitting the truth of why he had returned.
"Because I'm dying."
— — — — — — — — — —
Dahlia hid in the shadows. She sat perched, tucked away in an arch beneath the new moonlight within the Viaduct Courtyard as she waited patiently to spot her favorite flash of silver hair.
She thumbed her charmed galleon in her pocket, hoping Draco had made it back to school safely. She didn't admit to herself that she was also holding out hope that she might see Slytherin's favorite quidditch player returning home by some sudden act of divine intervention.
She spotted Harry entering the Great Hall with Ron Weasley. She only hoped Professor Slughorn would free her from tutoring at the start of the new semester. She knew he had far too many questions that she couldn't answer truthfully.
Her nerves softened as the light of the candles brightened in a spit of energy that could only be explained by nature's need for natural balance. Her soul sensed the reunion before her skin was met with his timeless touch.
"I thought we were meeting in the Astronomy Tower?" Draco whispered, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. He had found her first, even in the darkest shadows.
Dahlia quickly twisted around and wrapped her hands around her neck. He lifted her up as he squeezed her tightly. She breathed in his scent — the call of the universe — before wrapping her legs around his middle.
"I love you. I didn't realize how much I missed you," she mumbled into his neck.
"This might be the first greeting I've received from you without a disgusted look on your face. Maybe I should make you miss me more often," he chuckled with a smug grin.
"You wouldn't dare," she quipped, slapping his arm.
"I wouldn't," he answered quickly. He gave her a fleeting kiss before he placed her firmly on the ground.
"Race you to the Astronomy Tower?" Dahlia bit her lip coyly, holding her hand up with curling fingers as if threatening to apparate at any moment.
Draco took her hand and stepped closer with a sobering expression. "I don't think that is wise anymore."
Dahlia angled her head, pushing for an explanation. The candlelight from the nearby sconces flickered across his face in a dance of star-crossed fate, reaching and pulling for the other flame.
"People should see us, Dahlia — and not romantically. It's a bit too curious for us to both disappear during the feast."
Dahlia took a step back and crossed her arms.
He quickly continued, sensing her brimming distress. "I don't think it is wise for people to whisper that we are together. The news will spread like wildfire and quickly leak outside the castle walls. I don't want the wrong people to suspect that I have not been loyal to the Dark Lord by protecting you. No one can suspect that my mother chose to keep you safe that night."
"It's splattered across gossip columns that we might eventually marry," Dahlia scoffed.
"And that is why we can't afford any more rumors until we have a plan."
Dahlia hesitantly nodded. It was not what her heart wanted, and she hated how pragmatic this had become. Draco pulled her into his chest, unable to stand the slightest dissatisfaction when it came from her eyes.
"I don't need you to protect me," she muttered into his chest, simmering with disappointment.
"I know," Draco snorted. He tilted her chin skyward. His stormy eyes remained steadfast in his love despite his words.
"This doesn't change how much I love you, and this isn't forever. I think I might have an eventual solution."
"I'm only agreeing to this for your mother's sake," she mumbled with a sigh.
"Thank you," he replied smoothly. "I will make it up to you."
He leaned down to find her lips, but Dahlia pulled back with a sly grin.
"There seems to be quite a crowd just outside these shadows. I wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong impression..."
His eyes lowered to her lips. "No, we wouldn't want that."
Draco leaned over her, trailing a hand up the front of her thigh with a smirk. "We wouldn't want anyone to suspect that I touch you like this."
Dahlia shook her head, closing her eyes as she drowned in his touch. She slapped his hand away as he brushed beneath her skirt, almost to her hip.
His smirk vanished. "You're going to make me miserable, aren't you?"
"Yes," she nodded with a proud grin.
She kissed his cheek before disappearing entirely into the shadows.
— — — — — — — — — —
[Monday, January 5th, 11:06 PM]
I love you, my Dahlia, and I am safe. Good luck tomorrow.
— — — — — — — — — —
A fist landed on the Ravenclaw table with a strong thump, and a presence suddenly hovered all too close. Dahlia jolted, dropping her butter knife, and reached for her heart before turning to find a familiar pair of glacial eyes set on her.
"Good morning, Dahlia," Xavier grinned, far too chipper for seven o'clock in the morning.
Dahlia picked up her butter knife and pushed the flat side against his forehead to distance his face from hers.
"Scare me again, and find out what happens," she threatened.
"Don't tempt me, Aldair," he replied smoothly but took the hint.
He threw his legs over the bench and took a seat next to her, leaning onto his forearms as he shoved her gently.
"Get my letter? I told you I would send word immediately after his departure, and I kept my word."
"Should I say thank you? For being an honest man for once in your life?"
"Ouch, doll. Look at the last woman who threw repeated insults at me," he pointed towards Eloise as her copper waves swayed and glimmered in the morning light as she approached the Ravenclaw table.
"I love you, El." He smiled and reached up as her face hung above his. He pulled her down for a morning kiss.
"What are we talking about?" Eloise asked.
"Xavier's letter regarding Theo's visit," Dahlia answered, raising a hand while she chewed.
"Why did Theo want to meet with your family in the first place?" She asked after swallowing.
Xavier grinned, happy to be the one with gossip for once. "My father said Alexander requested dragon powder — a fucking load of it."
"What for?" Eloise asked dubiously.
A book slammed on the table next to Dahlia. As Dahlia startled again, her butter knife fell to the floor.
"Fucking hell," she muttered.
"What are we talking about?" Draco asked as he swiftly took a seat next to Dahlia. It appeared he saved his best air of arrogance for their first day of classes. His uniform was pristinely pressed, and he smelled as if he had bathed in cologne.
"Alexander Nott bought dragon powder from his father," Dahlia answered casually.
"Didn't say what it was for, but obviously to blow something up — completely decimate whatever it is intended for by the amount requested. I don't even know how you would light that much dragon powder from a safe distance. I actually don't think it's possible."
"You look...well groomed today," Dahlia mumbled to Draco.
Draco briefly paused as he was reaching to gather his breakfast before composing himself. It was a far cry from the usual morning greeting he had grown accustomed to over the break.
"Your hair looks decently brushed," Draco chirped, a hint of a smirk dancing.
Dahlia grinned. "Your mother sent me a care package. There were hair ribbons in it. She said my mother used to love wearing them."
Dahlia popped a piece of croissant into her mouth as Draco avoided the sight of her lips.
"My mother doesn't send me shit anymore," he mumbled bitterly.
Dahlia leaned against the table and tilted her head. "Am I the favorite child now?"
She grinned victoriously as Draco finally gave in and smiled for her. He reached for her hand beneath the table to squeeze it tightly.
"I love you," he murmured.
"Dahlia," Xavier called, gathering her attention once more. "Theo said he met with your father."
Dahlia choked while Draco stiffened ever so slightly beneath his cool exterior. His grip on her fingers tightened.
"What for?" Dahlia rasped.
"Who knows? He didn't say. You could always write to your father to find out," he replied, raising a crisp brow to suggest he was quite curious to find out, as well.
"Not happening," Dahlia grumbled.
She looked towards the front of the hall where Professor Flitwick was beginning to wave the students out to head to their classes.
"Shall we?" Dahlia sighed.
She pulled her hand from Draco's with a soft smile before she stood.
Xavier followed her out of the Great Hall as she strolled to Advanced Potions without Draco. He threw an arm around her casually. Dahlia narrowed her eyes at his innocent expression.
"Dahlia, don't think these updates on Theo are free," he laughed softly.
"I will bash your pretty skull in if that's a threat," Dahlia replied, unamused.
"And I would probably like that very much. All I ask in return is for some insight." He reached over and poked her forehead.
"Insight into what exactly?" Dahlia sighed, shoving her book bag into his empty hand. It's the least he could do if he insisted on following her to class.
He took it without question as he slung it over his shoulder. "Just business needs. Nothing too difficult, I would imagine," he answered nonchalantly.
Dahlia narrowed her eyes as she stopped abruptly in the middle of the busy hall.
"Beg for it." She crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin.
"If you want my help, grovel for it."
Xavier shifted awkwardly with a bashful grin, surprised by her request. He quickly recovered as he cleared his expression and shoved his hands in his pockets, almost waiting for Dahlia to admit that she was joking.
Dahlia lifted her brow as she waited impatiently.
Xavier slumped over and lowered his voice once it dawned that she was serious.
"You're just as sadistic as Theo? You know that?"
"Why else would Draco love me?" She answered sarcastically.
"Now ask me properly..."
He glanced around nervously at other students passing by. Dahlia snapped her fingers and pointed to the ground. He angled his head in question as to ask if that was really necessary. Dahlia nodded eagerly.
He sighed before coming to a knee before her.
"Dahlia Aldair , the beast of my nightmares, please, if you would be so kind as to assist my business needs in the way of the arts that only you have mastered. I would be so forever grateful."
Dahlia placed her hands on her heart and smiled sweetly.
"Now tell me a secret," she whispered as if it was a small price.
"I am terrified of you," Xavier quickly admitted, deadpan.
"Excellent!" Dahlia held her hand out. "We have a deal."