The Mirror Shows Me You (Draco Malfoy)

4- Pressure

I was right about Draco being skilled in potions and I was also right to ask him for help. So far my cauldron hadn't started smoking or exploded yet, right away I was doing better now than in class.

"I put two of these in now?" I turned my head away from my book to face Draco. His watchful eye was much like Snape's, each glance held a bit of disapproval following my every move.

"Well isn't that was it says in the book?" Draco snapped. I read the same line over again, nodded and tossed in two shriveled pieces from a vial.

"Don't just throw them in there carelessly!" He ran his finger across a paragraph in the book beside me, "did you miss this part after where it said to immediately stir the mixture with minimal pressure?"

My former ideas of a perfect work vanished as a snapped my eyes away from Draco and back to my cauldron. "Sorry Draco, I didn't see it I'm-" His hand shot out and grabbed mine.

"Do you not know what immediately means?" He guided my hand in small circles, making sure the spoon wasn't gliding too fast through the potion. "And I never said you could call me Draco." His voice was cold again.

"Sorry....again," I tried to keep my hand still so I wouldn't make too much contact with his. "Malfoy then, did I mess it up completely?" Nodding my head to the potion.

"No." He said it flatly, not a bit of reassurance in his voice. "You're lucky I grabbed you when I did." He sharply squeezed my hand, not too hard to cause my any pain but hard enough for me to know that he was the one who took time out of his day help me.

Once the potion was evenly mixed and had began to shift to its final color, Draco took his hand away from mine and distanced himself again. Without the pressure of his grip my hand felt cold, like it was missing something.

"Next week then." Draco started grabbing materials off of the desk, making sure there wasn't any remnants of our presence. As quickly as he was picked up he turned briskly to leave.

"Did I do well?" I said, my voice hitting his back as he reached the door.

Without turning around he replied, "I think you mean did I do well. I saved you there at the end." Before I could agree he was gone, leaving me all alone in a dark classroom.
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I sighed as I backed my way into the Gryffindor common room, keeping my eyes glued to the space outside the door to make sure no one had seen me come in.

"Well?" My heart jumped a bit and I turned to see Harry, Hermione, and Ron eyeing me suspiciously.

"Jesus christ, don't sneak up on me like that!" I forced my yell into more of a whisper.

"Oh because you're one to tell someone about sneaking around," Harry teased. "Besides you told me you hadn't made plans with Malfoy yet, liar!"

"Well," I stared down at my shoes, "I didn't want you guys to try and stop me." Which was true, but I also was trying to keep anyone from trying to tag along.

"Bloody hell y/n, we already know we wouldn't have been able to anyways! Stubborn as always you are." Ron laughed at his own joke.

"We only wish you had told us you'd gone, Neville said you were acting weird before you went off to your dorm. He asked someone to check on you and they said you weren't there, worried him sick." Hermione's voice reminds me of being scolded.

My chest burned a little, did I really worry Neville too bad? I really should have just said I was going. "I'll have to tell Neville I'm sorry, next time I'll tell you before I leave okay? Plus you guys will cover for me then!" I said as I pushed a closed fist between the three.

"Is that some sort of handshake?" Harry swapped glances between Hermione and Ron, who just smirked.

I lowered my fist, "alright so Hogwarts doesn't do fist bumps, I'll work on that." I pointed a finger at each of the trio, "None of this. Draco stuff. Leaves this group."

"Alright then understood," Harry agreed. "But next time you tell us before you go out yeah? I don't think you want to know what usually happens when we go out after dark."

"Understood." Pulling my potions supplies out from my coat I nodded towards my friends, "goodnight then."

"Goodnight y/n!" Three voices whispered back as a climbed my way to my dorm.
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"Bloody hell," barely letting the whisper past my lips, I turned to face the small beam of white moonlight that fell onto my bed. Each ray left the dorm basked in a dark shade of grey. Grey. My mind flashed to his eyes again.

"You're lucky I grabbed you when I did."

His words bounced through each wall in my mind, with each syllable I saw a glimpse of his grey eyes, felt again the pressure of his hand on mine.

"Bloody hell." It felt like a natural phrase now. I couldn't sleep because I was being tormented with thoughts of Draco Malfoy. The same boy who my friends warned me about, the same boy who had me sneaking into classrooms after everyone was asleep, the same boy who took my breath away with a simple squeeze of my hand.

Tucking my arm under the covers, I tried to forget how the pressure of his hand felt. Then again my mind wondered, focusing this time on the crawl of his breath down my back as he studied me while I worked. His hands, his breath, his eyes. My entire head was fogged with him.

"Shit."

A loud thump broke me from my trance, I looked up to see a fellow Gryffindor with a spilled glass on their bedside table. At least now I wasn't thinking of Draco.

Hopefully that meant I could fall asleep.
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