Mine

[35]

"Are you going home for Christmas break?" I asked Draco. We were sat side by side on a couch in the Slytherin common room, working on homework. Winter break was just under two weeks away, and we hadn't even discussed our plans, though I was sure Draco knew I was going home, or at least assumed as much.

"No, I'm just going to stay here." Draco said with a shake of his head.

"Why?" I asked, even though I had an inkling as to why. I assumed Draco didn't want to go home, but for all I knew maybe his mother had requested he stay here.

"It's better for me to be here." Draco said, his tone holding an edge as if warning me to leave it at that.

"You should come home with me." I said suddenly, the thought popping in my head as quickly as it came out of my mouth.

Draco looked at me for a moment, his mouth slightly agape in surprise at my idea before his features darkened and he shook his head. "I can't."

"Why not?" I asked. "Grant is bringing Penelope home for break."

"Penelope and I are very different." Draco snorted, though there wasn't an ounce of amusement in his voice.

"Draco, come stay with me and my family for Christmas break." I said quietly, much more seriously this time.

Draco's eyes flicked over in my direction, a look of longing, but a hint of pain, in his eyes. "I wish I could..." He said lowly.

"So then come." I said, watching him carefully. "Don't stay here alone. No one would ever assume that you're at my house. You could tell your parents that you're here, it's not like they're going to show up to check up on you. And my parents have a series of protections set up around the house. We'd have warning before anyone broke in, if that's what you're worried about."

Draco seemed to be considering it for a moment before he shook his head sharply, his eyes going blank of all emotion so that I was unable to read him.

"Come home with me, Draco." I said once again, softly this time.

"Gemma..." Draco sighed, closing his eyes and dropping his head back against the top of the couch.

"Fine, let me ask my parents if they're fine with it before you make a decision." I said.

"You can't write to your parents." Draco said, his eyes widening slightly as he furrowed his eyebrows. "You do realize mail is being monitored, don't you?"

I waved him off, unbothered. "Obviously. That's why my family has come up with a secret code so that we can discuss matters undetected."

"Wait, really?" Draco asked. "That's genius."

"Thank you. It was my idea." I beamed proudly, flashing him a smirk. "I'll send them a letter during dinner and then if they say no, then there's your easy way out. If they say yes, I'll let you come to your own decision without badgering you."

* * *

I was thinking it could be nice if we took Christmas break to learn about Dragons. They come off as such lonely creatures. Grant told me that Penelope would be joining us over break. Why not also invite the idea of a Dragon into our home?

I attached the piece of parchment with my note to Leila's leg, telling her to bring it to Brooks Manor. Draco was Latin for the dragon, being the name of the dragon constellation, so we had made the codename for Draco, "Dragon". Anyone with knowledge of Latin terms could catch onto the idea of Dragon meaning Draco, but it was unlikely. Especially in the context I'd written. I just hoped that my parents would understand what I was implying, though I figured based off of my last sentence, they would. Now I just had to wait and hope they'd say yes. I knew that there were many reasons for them to reject the idea, but at least I had asked before simply just showing up with him. I knew that my parents had put a variety of protection spells in place, and if Draco's parents were under the assumption that Draco was staying at Hogwarts, there would be no reason for anyone else to think differently. Except the students on the train who would see him, of course. But I could figure something out for his excuse of being on the train, if we got so lucky that it came to that.