Ortum Infernum [d.m]

Chapter Seven

Draco's room was located on the third floor of the west wing. It seemed to be cut off from the main house because it felt isolated and cold.

Draco had been surprised by her request but as always he was quick to appease her. He led Odette through the dimly lit corridors by the hand, lighting up the oil-lamps on the walls with a flick of his wand as they went.

This part of the wing was sparsely decorated, unlike the rest of the manor house. There weren't any elaborate wall pieces, fancy furnitures or paintings of disparaging ancestors. Even the wallpaper seemed to be a little more modest and out-dated.

Draco led her through a wooden door which was engraved with his initials. The moment she stepped into the space, Odette's eyes drank in her surroundings. She could feel her heart race with excitement at seeing Draco's bedroom for the first time.

She had always wondered what his room would look like. But the actual sight of it caught her by surprise. Just like the rest of the west wing of the third floor, it was sparsely decorated.

It was equiped with the bare necessities. A four-poster bed was set up near the window, flanked by two nightstands. A wooden wardrobe sat in a corner while a desk was pushed up against a far wall next to a medium-sized bookcase. A doorless display cabinet showcasing some odd trinkets was stuffed into another corner.

The room would have seemed as though it wasn't being lived in, if she hadn't noticed the small traces of Draco scattered all about.

The bookcase was almost overflowing with books, mostly of Alchemy and Ancient Aritifacts—both of Draco's favourite topics. Some of them were stuffed in between every nook and cranny they could find, while others were stacked haphazardly on top of each other.

By the windows near his bed, at least a dozen paper cranes were suspended from strings of varying lengths. Odette beamed up at him when she noticed a familiar one made out of old parchment. It was folded from her used Potions notes. Her handwriting decorated one of its wings and part of its body.

That was the first origami crane she taught Draco to fold, back before they had their first date. She reached up to touch the closest one to her, which was folded from a page of a book. The edges and folds were perfectly uniformed.

"I had some practice," Draco said with a hint of a smile.

There was a coat thrown over the desk chair without a care and the desk was an organised mess. Stacks of books, scrolls and parchments occupied most of the desk space. A few bottles of ink, quills and wax seal stamps cluttered in another corner among some unopened letters.

In the middle of the desk, sitting near the ink bottles, was a framed photo of her. Odette smiled as her cheeks bloomed scarlet. She remembered when Draco had asked her for it, before the last term break. In return, she had a photo of him by her nightstand—looking dashing in his Slytherin robes before a quidditch match, half-smirking.

Next to it was another photo frame, housing an animated picture of Draco and herself from their first date. They were cuddled together under tartan quilts with her head tucked against the crook of his neck. Instead of watching the spectacular astral phenomenon, they were watching each other.

A third year by the name of Colin Creevy had taken that photo of them. It was one out of the many other photos taken that night of the meteor shower for the school paper. But Odette had never seen the results other than the one printed in the papers, of the Ravenclaws with the telescope and the night sky streaked with meteors.

Draco came up behind her, his alluring scent enclosing her in a heavenly capsule.

"Where did you get this?" she asked, smiling sweetly up at him.