Draco
.
.
"WHAT?! Who? And when?"
"Astra Taylor. Three days ago." replied Draco proudly to Theo, who had his mouth wide open.
"Well done Dray!" chuckled Blaise happily as he continued to eat his breakfast.
Theo turned to him, still offended:
"Because you knew about it?"
"I'm the one who advised him to see Astra." answered Blaise.
"What about me? Why didn't you advise me?!"
"Because you never gave the impression that you were interested in sleeping with anyone? I'm a matchmaker, not a divine."
Theo turned back to Draco, his eyes still wide with surprise.
"Does that mean I'm the last one who hasn't?" he asked, suddenly sullen.
"No, you still have Crabbe and Goyle." said Draco with a laugh.
"That should be fine, I'm still more attractive than those two! No ?"
He looked up pleadingly at his two friends who laughed harder.
"No?!"
"We can't tell you, we're not girls!"
Theo nosed his plate and grumbled. He had dropped his Daily Prophet on the table when he heard Draco's confession, and seemed to have forgotten he was reading an article as it had shaken him so much.
"And was it good?" asked Theo to Draco after a few seconds.
Just as he was about to answer, Pansy arrived at the table, and without knowing why, he remained silent. He didn't want to expose the details of his first time in front of her for fear of embarrassing her. Theo must have been thinking the same thing because her arrival put an end to his questions and he dipped his spoon into his bowl of milk without another word.
Draco turned to Pansy, who hadn't greeted them when they arrived, and he was surprised to see that the top of her face was covered by a hood.
"Uh... Pans'?"
"What?" she asked, a little aggressively.
Theo and Blaise were also looking at her now, as baffled as Draco.
"Are you okay?"
"Perfectly fine. Why?"
"Are you going to tell us why you have a hood on your head?"
"Hm?" muttered Pansy as she helped herself to some breakfast.
"Pansy, did you really think you could come to the table like that without being asked what's on your head? After all this time hanging out with us every day?" asked Theo, amused.
"Isn't that my jumper, by the way?" asked Blaise who was looking at the hoodie with a frown.
Pansy muttered something that Draco didn't understand.
"Excuse me?"
"Leave me alone!" she said a little louder. "I just look awful, that's all."
"Aside from thinking you weren't going to be asked, do you really think McGonagall will let you into her Transfiguration class with a hood covering your face? Did you think you were a Dementor or something?" continued Theo.
Pansy sighed in annoyance and finally removed the hood. Her fringe, which was usually perfectly combed, were now so long that they were falling right over her eyes. Theo, Blaise and Draco stopped laughing at the sight.
"I put potion on my hair every day to keep it silky." she explained in a small voice. "And this morning I wanted to put some on my fringe, which was messed up, but I forgot that the potion also makes your hair grow and... I don't know how to reverse the effect."
"Why don't you ask Snape? He seems to know a lot about hair potions." said Blaise, who was trying hard to hold back his laughter.
"Very funny, Zabini." she said, giving him a dark look. "I asked Daphne, she said she would help me. And she also said I looked like one of those Scottish cows, so I walked out of the dormitory." she added, annoyed.
She heard Draco stifle a laugh and turned to him, her fringe swinging in front of her eyes with her movement:
"Stop laughing!"
"How do you know if he's laughing? You can't see anything." said Theo, who waved a hand in front of her.
Pansy tried to push her blindly without success, which made them burst out laughing.
"You guys are as vile as Daphne!" exclaimed Pansy as she left the bench. "I'm going back to my dormitory, at least no one saw me there!"
And off she went, pulling her hood firmly back over her head. Draco was laughing out loud, he watched her walk away with a firm step and imitated her to Theo and Blaise who were laughing so hard they were clutching their ribs. Then Crabbe and Goyle walked into the Great Hall, passed Pansy who walked past them and took a seat next to Draco:
"What's wrong with her? And what's with that face?" asked Crabbe.
Theo immediately stopped laughing:
"Nothing, she got the wrong potion. If you make any comments to her, I'll stop doing your homework."
They ate their breakfast, then went to Transfiguration class. Pansy didn't show up for class, but Draco had expected that. She was so careful to make sure her appearance was always perfect that the slightest deviation could send her into a state of panic. She probably considered this incident of fringe as an illness that justified her absence. Draco would not be surprised to see her in the hospital wing if Daphne did not find a solution.
So he spent the class with Theo, which seemed to last for hours as the subject of the day was so boring, and then they went out to Charms class. They took several corridors where all the students were waiting in front of the rooms in groups, and it was therefore difficult to circulate normally.
They had been walking for about ten minutes when Draco heard Theo whisper:
"Strange..."
Draco turned to him, but Theo looked like he was talking to himself rather than anyone else. He was staring intently at a group of second years in front of them, but Draco couldn't see what was so strange about it.
"What?" he asked Theo, who ignored him.
Draco turned back to the group Theo was inspecting, and suddenly saw Granger pushing her way through them to get past. She sped across the corridor, her hair more disheveled than ever, her cheeks flushed, and with a small stack of books clutched to her chest.
"Granger? Is it only now that you realise how strange she is?" said Draco with a mocking laugh.
But Theo still didn't answer. He stared stubbornly at Granger, until she disappeared from their sight. He seemed to be deep in thought, so Draco didn't press him, even though he was very curious about it. Blaise hadn't followed anything of this exchange, too busy pushing the students who were in his way to walk properly.
It wasn't until he had been sitting in the Charms class for about fifteen minutes that Theo finally spoke:
"I wasn't talking about Granger when I said 'strange', I was talking more about why she was there."
It took Draco a while to realise that Theo was talking to him, as if they were continuing a conversation they had just had. Perhaps he hadn't realised that they'd already arrived in class and seen Granger a long time ago. Besides, Charms class was in a terrible state: the students had to perform the Lumos Maxima spell, which meant that Draco was blinded by overly bright lights in front of him.
"Huh?" he asked Theo absentmindedly.
"Granger." he said, which got Draco's attention for good. "Don't you feel like she's here all the time?"
He frowned:
"Uh... Yeah, I don't know?"
Draco was surprised to see that he wasn't the only one watching Granger. The thought of Theo doing the same irritated him.
"I was looking at the rankings yesterday to see if I'd managed to overtake Granger, but she's still first, in every subject." Theo began to explain.
"Hasn't that been the case since, like, first year? You have to let it go. Even when she was petrified, she was still able to..."
"I'm not talking about that!" interrupted Theo. "I looked at the subjects, and I saw that she had taken all the options!"
"And?"
"That's impossible! We see her every Monday in Arithmancy class, yet she also has Divination and Muggle Studies at the same time, and she has perfect grades in all three!"
"Well, she's cheating." said Draco with a limp shrug. "We already knew that."
"And what's even stranger..." continued Theo without taking into account what Draco was saying, "Is that I see her everywhere. And earlier, I even saw her coming out of History of Magic class with Potter and Weasley, and then all alone in a third floor corridor..."
"Theo, I..."
"When there's no way she could have been there that quickly, and besides, the Gryffindors didn't have classes on the third floor at all at that time!"
Millicent Bulstrode then managed to produce enough light to successfully burn Draco's retinas right in front of them. He waited for the white spots to dissipate with a grunt, but Theo didn't even seem to notice, still focused on Granger's actions. He wasn't even holding his wand to pretend to work anymore, he looked like he was silently calculating something.
"What do you mean?" resumed Draco. "Do you think she's Apparating or something? Didn't you say yourself that no one can Apparate within the Castle walls? Besides, she hasn't even got her licence yet. You're delusional, Nott."
Theo did not answer, but raised his head when Flitwick said, a little annoyed:
"Mr. Nott? Can you show me your progress?"
Theo picked up his wand, formed the perfect gesture and whispered "Lumos Maxima." The tip of his wand lit up and all the students on the opposite benches covered their eyes: it was the brightest beam anyone had produced since the beginning of the class. Theo waved his wand a second time to turn it off and looked, composed, at his teacher.
"Very good, very good." said Flitwick, jotting something down on a piece of paper.
"How did you manage to do that, Nott?" asked Goyle, on the other side of Draco.
"You're holding your wand backwards, you idiot." said Blaise.
Draco corrected his action several times, and until the end of the class, Theo remained silent.
Hermione
.
.
Hermione felt as if she was permanently jetlagged. As a result of using the Time Turner, she had little idea of how much time had passed and had to constantly look at the clock or the sky in the Great Hall to remember the time of day. Classes were exciting, and she loved studying optional subjects, but fatigue and the constant distortion of time made her amorphous.
Time passed both strangely slowly and unnaturally quickly.
Without realising it, December arrived. This year, her parents asked her directly if she wanted to come for Christmas or not, as they were going to spend it in Edinburgh with Hermione's grandmother. So she sent them a refusal, once again blaming her impressive amount of work. And, unlike the previous year, it was true: Hermione had never worked so hard, the lines of her study schedule were overflowing.
The only prospect of comfort Hermione was looking forward to was another planned visit to Hogsmeade on the last weekend of term. Unfortunately, Harry still couldn't make it, but Hermione was still happy to go again with Ron. The village was beautiful, the history fascinating, and it would probably be Hermione's only day off since October.
The night before, she was working at a table in the Common Room, as she did every night, when Ginny sat down opposite her. Hermione put her quill to one side so as not to appear rude as she continued to write, and looked at Ginny. She too had grown since the previous year, she was nothing like the shy first year girl. Her red hair was matted and fell on either side of her face, showing off her hundreds of freckles that spread across her nose and cheeks.
"Hi Hermione!"
"Hi, Ginny."
"How do you work in a racket like this?" asked Ginny.
She waved her hand at the rest of the Common Room, which was very busy on this Friday night: Seamus and Ron were playing wizarding chess, shattering the pieces with each move, Fred and George were trying out firecrackers, and music was blaring from several phonographs on the tables. Hermione was the only one working.
"I don't like silence." Hermione said simply. "I like it when there's noise around me to work, except in the Library."
"If I could work as hard as you do, my mother would shower me with gifts." Ginny remarked, glancing down at her parchments. Then she widened her eyes as she read the title of one of them, "Arithmancy?! Hermione, you have five more options? How do you sleep?"
"I manage my time well." she replied quickly. Then, to change the subject, she asked, "And you, how are your classes going?"
"It's fine. When you have six brothers talking about Hogwarts since I was born, it's easier." she replied.
Suddenly, Ginny's cheeks flushed and she looked down, fidgeting with her hands:
"Hermione, actually... I came here to ask you something." she said in a low voice.
"Ginny, if this is about my classes again, I swear I'm fine, I love what I'm learning..."
"No, it's not that." said Ginny.
Hermione noticed at that moment that she was now crimson and avoiding her gaze.
"Oh." said the brunette. "Okay, I'm listening?"
"I wanted to know... Here, I'm just jumping in... I... I noticed you spend a lot of time..." stammered Ginny.
Hermione couldn't hide her surprise. She had just found the previous year's Ginny again, all intimidated.
"Yes?" asked Hermione encouragingly.
"You spend a lot of time with Harry, and my brother. Ron. I wanted to know if... you were in a relationship with Harry?" she blurted out.
Hermione grimaced:
"Ew! No, I'm not."
"You're not... In love with him?" asked Ginny, looking up at her with hopeful eyes.
"No! Absolutely not. He's my best friend. I love him, but I feel absolutely nothing for him. Why?"
"Because... Let's just say I wasn't too sure, and I wanted to check."
"You have feelings for him?" asked Hermione, who already knew the answer.
Ginny's cheeks had turned so red that they would probably explode any minute now.
"Yes." she said in a tiny voice. "But I don't dare tell him. In fact, I don't even dare talk to him."
"Why? He's perfectly normal. You don't have to stress about it."
"I know, it's just... I don't know. Have you ever been in love?"
"No." replied Hermione snappishly.
"It's hard to be reasoned when you're feeling all these things at once. I'd like to sound interesting and confident, but when he's around, I chicken out and feel like I'm pathetic."
"I'm sure that's not the case." Hermione said to comfort her. "And you're a very interesting girl, in time I hope you'll manage to relax in his presence and realise that he's lucky to know you. And don't worry, he's not interested in anyone at the moment."
"Okay." replied Ginny who had stopped fidgeting with her hands. "Thanks, Hermione."
"No problem."
Ginny then dipped her hand into her pocket and handed her a Galleon with a small smile. Her blush had completely subsided, in the space of about ten seconds:
"Would you mind picking me up some Chocolate Frogs, in Hogsmeade? If I ask Ron, I'm sure he'll forget."
Hermione agreed with a smile, and Ginny got up to go and sit on one of the sofas in the Common Room with some friends from her year. Hermione returned to her Defence Against the Dark Arts essay, which had recently been taught by Snape because Lupin was ill.
She reread her texts several times and completed her essay with a graphic of the phases of the moon. Even though Snape was strict with the Gryffindors, she hoped to get a good grade, because she had really gotten into it, she had even read a few more books on the subject.
She continued to write for a good half hour, before putting her final mark on it, and then she reread her whole paper. The characteristics of werewolves, a bit of history, the moon, transmission, dangers...
She was consulting the lunar calendar when suddenly a thought popped into her tired mind. She frowned and reread the calendar, then the text in her textbook that explained the phenomenon of werewolves transforming during the full moon.
Hermione was wide awake now, clutching the textbook tightly as she read at full speed. Fatigue, paleness, pained posture, absences...
Everything matched.
Professor Lupin was a werewolf.
Draco
.
.
Theo's questions about Granger hadn't helped, Draco was watching her even more than before. Now that he knew there was something wrong with her hectic schedule, it had given Draco a valid reason to study her. Whenever he passed her somewhere, he noted her movements in his head, and had quickly realized that Theo was right.
Whenever he passed from one class to another, Granger was there. Sometimes she'd be heading for the Herbology greenhouses, then the next week at the same time he'd find her next to the Library, or with Potter and Weasley going to lunch. He had become obsessed with her, as had Theo, who also watched her as if she were a Potions textbook.
The fact that Theo was so interested in Granger had a positive side and a negative side for Draco. The upside was that he'd found someone to share his hobby with, and didn't feel as guilty about watching Granger like that. The downside was that Draco often felt little pangs of jealousy when he caught Theo's gaze wandering towards her. He was so used to looking for her in a crowd or just examining her every move that he couldn't imagine Theo doing the same thing.
He had developed all sorts of mental theories about what Granger was up to in order to attend several classes at once. He'd studied potions that could multiply, or take on the appearance of someone else, but it didn't add up. Theo had also looked into the matter, and he was opting for a spell, or a Transfiguration. Draco had to admit that Theo was much more invested than him, he spent his time trying to understand how it was possible.
He often told her that it was to understand and denounce her, so that he could surpass her in the rankings. Draco sincerely hoped that was true.
Without realizing it, Draco had almost put his work and his own friends aside so he could focus on Granger. He didn't know why it intrigued him so much, but he realized how much he had left behind when he saw that Pansy's suitcase was no longer beside his bed one night in November.
"Why isn't Pansy's suitcase in the dormitory anymore?" asked Draco aloud as he searched for it.
Blaise slowly lowered the Quidditch magazine he was reading, lying in bed, to give Draco a curious look:
"Didn't you notice she wasn't coming around anymore?" he asked, almost amused.
Draco considered. Now that he said it, Pansy hadn't actually come to sleep in his bed for at least three weeks. Draco had been so obsessed with figuring out what Granger was doing to be in multiple places at once that he hadn't realized he'd been sleeping alone for some time.
"What? Why?"
Blaise shrugged vaguely:
"I don't know, she doesn't sleep here anymore, she's probably back in her bed in her dorm."
Draco couldn't believe it. He knew for a fact that Pansy hated sleeping alone, ever since she was a child. Whenever she had the opportunity, she slept next to someone, she always had. Since their second year at Hogwarts, she had even made a habit of sleeping in Draco's bed every night. The next day, at breakfast, he confronted her:
"Pans', why don't you sleep in our dormitory anymore?"
The dark-haired girl, who was eating a piece of toast, stopped eating with a frown. She had managed to shorten her fringe after two days, so she was back to her usual self but avoided using the potion every day in case of side effects. She used to have fun doing sophisticated hairstyles with her black bob, but her hair was now always the same: straight and flat, with no tricks.
"It's been almost a month. Why are you only asking me now?" she asked, a little annoyed.
"I don't know, I saw you took your suitcase off..."
"I'm sleeping with Daphne." she said dryly.
Draco lowered his voice a little to address only her and not be heard by the rest of the Slytherins who were eating:
"If it's because of the prefect who walked in on Halloween, don't worry, he didn't tell the teachers..."
"No, it's not about the prefect." she said before continuing her toast.
Draco arched an eyebrow, but didn't argue. He wondered what Pansy was hiding from him, but he was a little ashamed that he hadn't noticed earlier that she'd pulled away from him a bit, so he preferred to wait until she was ready to tell him. Draco returned to his bowl of porridge, and just then, Theo called out to his right:
"Fucking hell, she's got a Time Turner!"
Draco growled:
"Huh? No, it's been three weeks since she's been..."
"I'm not talking about Pansy, you idiot! Look!"
Draco looked in the direction Theo had pointed and saw that he was pointing at Granger. Any questions about Pansy's absence vanished and he bent down slightly towards Theo to listen to him without anyone around them intercepting their words:
"I just saw a golden glow around her neck, and I finally figured it out. She has a Time Turner, a kind of necklace that allows you to advance time by a few hours. Everything fits! That's how she follows three options at the same time, goes backwards each time, and we pass her in the corridors!"
Theo was overexcited at his discovery, fidgeting on the bench like a child who had just been given a present. Draco had a harder time understanding, but as he looked closely at Granger, he did indeed see a golden necklace around her neck, hidden by her robes.
"I'm going to the Library to do some research." Theo announced. "Want to come with me?"
Draco agreed and so they skipped History of Magic class to learn as much as they could about the Time Turners. Theo seemed to know a lot about the subject:
"I'm so stupid, of course it is! Why didn't I think of this before?" he said as he walked over to one of the shelves in the Library.
He picked up a specific book from the shelf, and opened it at the table where he often studied to show Draco the paragraph. As he read it, he realised that Theo was right. This object allowed Granger to attend several classes at once, and to take certain corridors to avoid running into his double, or triple, in the same place.
Draco now understood why he seemed to see her everywhere, it was because she was literally everywhere. Besides, Granger had been looking exhausted lately, and traveling through time so frequently like this must indeed be tiring.
.
.
.
If Draco had been intrigued by her before, he had become completely obsessed now. He spent his time studying her, guessing what she was doing, trying to discern what she was saying in class, and understanding her schedule. Fortunately, she didn't seem to have noticed Draco spying on her in this way.
He couldn't stop himself, ever since he knew she was using that Time Turner, he'd made up his mind to turn her in and stop her from doing it. In reality, it didn't make much difference to his life if she did, but he still wanted to trap her as if his life depended on it.
Theo, on the other hand, was slowly letting go. After finding out what made Granger work the way he did, he'd stopped caring and was working twice as hard to try to get past her without the Time Turner. Unfortunately, that meant study sessions at the Library almost every day, so Draco hardly saw him anymore.
So he was the only one who knew about the Time Turner in Slytherin, and he felt like he was keeping a very precious secret that threatened to burst every time he saw Granger's focused face between classes.
Hermione
.
.
"Hermione? Hermione?"
Ron's face broke into her mind: was she in a meadow? Or in her dormitory? Or on her bench, at home?
"Hermione!"
She felt a hand push her and she opened her eyes painfully. At first she didn't recognize where she was, and she had to blink a few times to realize that the smell of wood she smelled was from a table she had laid her head on. Hermione stood up, her neck aching, and pushed back the strands of hair that had stuck against her forehead.
"Hmm? Ron?" she muttered.
Her still blurry vision adjusted a little and she saw Ron standing next to her. He had a small smile on his face. Hermione looked around, and realised that she had fallen asleep in the Library. Madam Pince was turning off the torches on the walls to plunge it into darkness.
"Mione, it's Friday night." Ron said quietly. "Didn't you have better things to do than fall asleep on your notebooks?"
"Oh no, I didn't have time to finish my essay... I have to turn it in by Thursday, and I still have the Astronomy map to complete, and the Muggle Studies chapter on radios to read..."
Ron put his hand on Hermione's shoulder to stop her from continuing to speak:
"Hermione, that's enough. You're working too hard. You've missed dinner! Harry and I were worried. Come on, let's get you home, and you'll get a good night's sleep."
"But my chapter..."
"You can read that in your sleep." he said, sweeping his books away with a wave of his hand. "The radios, Hermione! Your father has one at home, you already know about them. Come on."
"Well... All right."
She had no choice anyway, she could practically hear the librarian's impatient heels echoing around her. Ron helped her pick up her books in a long pile, then when she tried to grab them, he took them before her:
"You're not going to carry that, you'll ruin your back."
"Thanks, Ron."
They walked to the exit. The Library was now empty, and completely dark, which made it look a little creepy. Hermione realised that she was freezing. Madam Pince now let her drink teas when she was reading at her favourite table, but it had been too long since the last one she had sipped one.
Her legs were shaking. And when she passed the stained glass windows, she saw her face and gave a little cry of surprise. Her hair was so scattered that it had no structure, just a big clump of curls that had gotten worse with her nap.
"God, I look awful." she said, turning away from the reflection.
"Nonsense, you're not awful." said Ron with a small laugh. "You're just overworked! Seriously, Mione, the pace you're setting for yourself is inhuman, anyone else would have thrown in the towel a long time ago if they were you!"
"But I like what I study..."
"Maybe, but your studies don't like you. You look exhausted, you can barely stand."
Hermione didn't reply, but couldn't help but grunt a complaint as she began to climb the stairs. It wasn't until she reached the sixth floor that she spoke again:
"How did you know I was here?"
"At the Library?" he wondered. "You think I don't know you?"
"No, not there. At this very table."
"Well, it's your favourite, isn't it?"
Hermione arched an eyebrow. She didn't know that Ron had noticed that detail, the fact that she sat at the same table every day was largely one of the things he usually never noticed. He continued:
"When I saw that you didn't come to eat, I immediately thought you were there. Sometimes, you don't see the hours go by, so I thought I'd come and walk you into the Common Room, and I found you lying on your table."
"Thank you for waking me, you're much more delicate than Madame Pince." she said with a yawn.
"If she lets you drink tea next to her precious books, then you must be her favourite Hogwarts student."
The whole Castle was decorated for Christmas, which made the atmosphere even more festive and warm than usual. They entered the Common Room and Hermione and Ron both sat down next to Harry, who was facing the fireplace and managed to warm Hermione up.
"Ah, there you are." said Harry simply as he saw them arrive. "Hermione, are you hungry?"
He handed her an apple and she thanked him by biting into it, then made herself some cinnamon tea. Ron threw a blanket over her so she wouldn't catch a cold, and she rested her head on the armrest, listening absentmindedly to Harry and Ron's voices. She was almost sleeping again when Ron shook her:
"Hermione, you're really exhausted! Go and rest in your bed!"
She nodded, gave the rest of her tea to Harry, wished them a good night and went up to her dormitory. Lavender and Parvati had not yet returned. Hermione took a long shower to wash her hair, and sank under the thick duvet of her bed which was warmed by a hot water bottle. Just as she was about to turn off the light and close the curtains, Crookshanks jumped into her bed and rolled against Hermione's stomach, purring softly.
She thought back to when she had fallen asleep in the Library, gently stroking her cat. The text she had been reading was not at all interesting, and she had felt a lingering gaze on her for many minutes. When she had looked up, she had seen Theodore Nott, on a table a little further away, immersed in a large brown book. The look had been Draco Malfoy's, right next to him. He had been staring right through her, and hadn't looked away at all when she had stared back. His cold grey eyes made her feel as if he could read her, it was quite disconcerting.
Lately, he'd been looking at her a lot, and she couldn't say why, but it made her curious. She had pretended to read some more, but couldn't remember how she had managed to fall asleep on the book like that.
Hermione fell into the abyss of sleep for the third time that evening, and strangely enough, she could still feel Draco Malfoy's stubborn gaze on her, as if he had marked her.
Draco
.
.
Since he had slept with Astra, Draco attended Slytherin parties more often. Before, he had never taken the time to observe the parties and had been content to sit further away, or to go to the dormitory. But now that he was more integrated into it, he liked to spend his Friday and Saturday evenings in that particular atmosphere.
He had also managed to get Pansy to come. At first she had refused, but after several attempts she had finally agreed to attend once or twice. That December, she went to all the weekend parties, including the ones Draco wasn't at. Daphne, Tracey Davies and other girls Draco didn't know were often there too. Theo, on the other hand, rarely attended, and usually sat at one of the more remote study tables in the room so as not to be disturbed by the music.
There was only a week left before the holidays, and Draco had done nothing in class. He was so focused on Granger's schedule that he hadn't studied at all, and he was nowhere near the top twenty students in the school. Sincerely hoping that his father would be too busy to pay attention when he returned, Draco preferred to spend his last weekend of classes partying rather than studying like Theo.
He sat down on one of the sofas in the Common Room, whose green window lights added to the Christmas atmosphere with the Christmas trees everywhere. Blaise handed him a green goblet and answered Draco's question before he even asked it:
"Cherry mead. Taste it, let me know how it goes."
Draco took a sip of the spiced drink, which turned out to be excellent. He had never drunk too much alcohol before, even though his father had once given him a taste of wine. Since he was attending this kind of party, he was beginning to appreciate certain alcohols. He had no idea how the Slytherin students managed to get so many bottles of alcohol on the tables.
Blaise sat down next to him and moved his head slightly in time with the music. A few girls were dancing in front of the huge fireplace, and there were clouds of green smoke that made the atmosphere a bit stuffy. Draco loved this atmosphere.
The party had been going for at least two hours when Draco spotted Pansy in the crowd of students. He motioned for her to come and sit next to them, and she did so after slipping between the dancers.
"There you are!" called Draco over the music. "Didn't you come to eat?"
"Nah, not hungry." she said without looking at him.
She had on fishnet tights that showed off her long legs, which several boys in the room had already noticed.
"Where have you been?"
She shrugged.
"Nothing, I was here, dancing!"
She burst out laughing and Draco noticed that she smelled like the alcohol he was drinking. He arched an eyebrow, but said nothing. More languid music started, and some of the dancers automatically paired up to dance closer together. Draco watched them curiously.
They were mostly fifth years and up, and some were even kissing, not at all embarrassed to be in the middle of a room full of other students.
Pansy shifted her position on the couch, revealing even more of her legs under her short skirt, but did nothing to hide them and instead pulled out a square, grey package that Draco had never seen before. To his surprise, she opened it and took out a long white rod with a greyish tip, which she wedged between her two black-make-up lips.
Then she took her wand from her pocket, lit the end and lit the cigarette, sucked in and blew out grey smoke.