Always / Draco Malfoy

Chapter 18

Narrator's POV:

Christmas Eve approached quickly there was a noticeable buzz in the air at Hogwarts it seemed as though everyone was incredibly excited for the ball. All week long students had been receiving parcels via owl with suits and dresses. Hermione, Ginny, Chloe, and Aurora had even convinced Professor McGonagall to take them to London and let them go shopping. They had all found jaw-dropping dresses including Professor McGonagall, Aurora's dress, in particular, was stunning. Beautiful floor-length, emerald green, silk with lace detailing around the corset and small lace straps that fell off the shoulder.

The night of the ball the girls snuck Chloe into the Gryffindor dorms so all the girls could get ready together. They were all jumping across the beds giggling and screaming gossiping about their dates having the time of their lives. After spending hours getting ready one by one they all left to go meet their dates.

Aurora was the last to leave making sure her makeup looked lovely and that her hair which she had styled half up half down with framing pieces was curled correctly. Giving herself one last glance in the mirror and using a charm to make her emerald heals more bearable to walk in she made her way to the great hall. The common room was empty and so were the halls she was only ten minutes behind Hermione who had left just before Aurora.

Aurora's POV:

Feeling the anxiety bubbling inside me I was completely out of focus nearly tripping over my own feet. Taking in a deep breath I came to a halt at the top of the stairs looking down I saw Draco, Blaise, Pansy, Harry and Ron. The first person to notice me was Ron he let out a rather loud," bloody hell," which caused everyone in that area to look my way. Gasps filled the air and I let a small smile appear on my lips but when my eyes finally met Draco's it grew wider. He looks extremely handsome in a suit and his facial expression was fantastic, his jaw was slack slightly and eyes glinting. After a few seconds, he caught himself quickly and ran to the top of the stairs offering me his arm so I could walk down the stairs safely. Once we reached the bottom he went behind me to sort out the train of my dress before coming to face me again leaning his head down to place a kiss on my lips.

"Darling you look absolutely breathtaking," He mumbled dragging his gaze up and down my body causing a rose blush to form on my cheeks.

"You don't look so bad yourself my love," I replied before he reached for my hand taking his with mine and guided me to the hall, passing Harry and Ron I offered them both smiles and waves.

The evening was going wonderfully Draco and I had been dancing all night and I knew my feet would regret it in the morning but nothing was stopping me now. As we were slow dancing we overheard a younger boy tell his friends it was snowing and immediately Draco gave me a look lacing his fingers with mine and beginning to take off running out of the hall.

Running through the corridors that were dimly lit it felt like everything was going in slow motion, even the faint music from the hall seemed to be slowed down after a few minutes we reached the doors to the courtyard with a flick of his wand he opened the doors. It was like a winter wonderland light snowflakes were falling from the starry sky and the ground was covered in a thin layer of snow. I felt Draco tug at my arm and I let my feet take me following him to the archway that overlooked the black lake, we stood there for a while admiring the views faint music playing in the background.

"You must be freezing here," Draco spoke looking at my body which had been shivering though it had gone unnoticed by me till he pointed it out. He wrapped his blazer around me helping me put it on quickly falling back into a comfortable silence before he continued,"You might want to look in the left pocket," my hand immediately went digging into the pocket, and sure enough there was a black velvet box upon opening it I found a beautiful emerald ring with crescent-shaped moons on either side and a plain silver band ring next to it.

"Draco it's the most beautiful ring I've ever seen but my goodness it must have cost you a fortune why ever did you buy it for me and the silver one is that yours?" I exclaimed my mouth ajar staring at the stunning ring.

Draco went to grab the box taking the silver ring out first and grabbed my right hand," I know how much you love me wearing rings so I thought to give you one of mine and buy you one since well it's silly really," He paused and I shook my head that whatever he was to say would not be silly my eyes still trained on the ring before he went to grab the emerald ring placing that above the silver one, " Some people call me the Slytherin Prince and since everyone knows your my girlfriend I suppose you will be my princess and that means you deserve a fitting ring and next to that you'll have my ring so even when I'm not with you you'll always have me there,"

Before I knew it happy tears formed in my eyes and I found myself jumping in the arms of the blond boy, who effortlessly picked me up arms around my waist as he looked up at me a glint in his eyes. As he placed me down he gave me a kiss offering me his hand to take us back inside the warmth of the castle engulfing us like Mrs. Weasley's knitted blankets.

The walk back to the great hall went too quickly but it was peaceful. Not for long, when we approached the hall before the great hall we heard a commotion, rounding a corner we found Ron and Viktor arguing with Hermione and Harry watching. Whatever Ron said to Viktor caused him to punch him straight in the face it knocked the life out of Ron who stumbled backward before running toward Vicktor.

Draco immediately ran from my side joined by Harry to pull the two boys off one another once that was successful Viktor stormed off. Hermione had tears in her eyes as she began yelling at Ron," You always ruin everything Ronald! Maybe just maybe if you had plucked up the courage to ask me I would have said yes, now both of you go to bed" She instantly ran up the stairs behind her and I knew I couldn't leave her so I quickly ran to the boys giving them menacing looks which caused them to scamper off.

Turning to Draco I quickly took off his blazer and gave him a kiss," I have to go, my love, you understand she needs me," He nodded to me placing a kiss on my head before I turned on my heels to take off behind her.

" Bye darling let me know how it goes I love you," The instant I heard the three words I halted in my tracks making sure I had heard him correctly, I replayed them in my head like a record. I turned around a huge smile on my face running to him to give him a big hug," I love you too Draco Malfoy." I could hear him release a sigh of relief before he mumbled something about me needing to go so I went and began hunting for Hermione.