Get Out Alive // Draco Malfoy

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I took a deep breath as I went outside and enjoyed the cool night air on my face. I looked up at the moon for a moment and listened to the silence outside the castle. No students, no one to harass or interrupt me.

Slowly I made my way to the lake, where for some reason the Durmstrang ship was no longer visible - probably submerged overnight - and walked along the shore. I remembered the spot a little further out where I met Hermione and where there was a beautiful view over the lake and the countryside and decided to go there.

I was grateful that Fred and George had told me so much about the various secret passages in Hogwarts - one of their great passions - because without this knowledge, I wouldn't have had a chance to sneak out of the castle, not after curfew.

In the beginning, I enjoyed being by myself but spending a lot of time alone meant you had a lot of time to think about all sorts of things. In my case it was guilt and anger and I didn't know who I was angrier at... Myself? At everyone else? My brother?

I sighed loudly as I sat down on one of the large stones on the shore of the lake, took a stick and scribbled shapes on the ground with it. Hours had passed in which I thought about the situation, feeling worse and worse. I kept trying to convince myself that everything would go back to normal and that everyone just needed some time, but I knew that it wouldn't.

Besides the problem that obviously everyone but the actual people involved were mad at me, I was trying to figure out how I felt. My head kept telling me that Fred was the better one for me. He liked me for who I am, made jokes with me and not about me, was nice, incredibly funny and insanely good looking. I just knew I would have a good time with him, even though I was surprised he wasn't mad at me. After all, he couldn't have overheard about Malfoy, especially after Peeves apparently wrote a song about it and floated through the corridors singing it.

Malfoy on the other hand... Well, he was Malfoy. The mysterious blond boy who had a soft side he didn't like to show - and he was damn good looking. Even though he often acted like the ultimate idiot, there was something about him that magically attracted me and made my heart beat faster. However, it was clear to me that he was not good for me and any interaction between us brought only chaos. Not only were Ethan and Lia mad at me now, but also all the whispering in school where rumours spread far too quickly... and then there was Parkinson, it wasn't nice having to share a dorm room with a girl who was totally into Malfoy and had nothing but venomous looks and stupid comments for me. Therefore, the only logical consequence was to end things with Malfoy, for good.

Determined to leave Malfoy behind me forever, I took a deep breath and admired the beautiful view one last time. The moon shone brightly in the sky and reflected in the lake, hardly a cloud to be seen. But by now it must have been past one or two in the middle of the night and I was getting tired.

Just as I was about to get up and sneak back to my dormitory, I heard a rustling behind me, which made me wince. I quickly pulled out my wand, whispered "Lumos" and held it in the direction the noise was coming from. Mentally, I was already prepared to either be caught by a teacher and have detention for the rest of my life, or to see some strange creature that hopefully didn't want to kill me.

"I thought you'd notice me earlier. It's got quite cold by now," Malfoy said quietly as he stood up and patted the dirt off his clothes. Apparently he was sitting behind me the whole time, leaning against one of the trees. I said nothing to him and just looked at Malfoy. He was wearing grey sweatpants and a dark sweatshirt - very different from what I was used to seeing him in. His hair hung messily in his face and seemed almost white in the moonlight. His eyes shone brightly and his face looked even more striking than usual in the sheer light.

"How did you know I was here anyway," I asked him, confused.

"Followed you... How did you know you could sneak out from behind that statue?", Malfoy countered me with a question.

"Fred and George.", I said simply. Malfoy nodded and silence fell between us.

It took a few more seconds before the awkward silence was broken. "I need to talk to you," we both said at the same time, which made me look at Malfoy in surprise. One of the corners of his mouth twitched upwards briefly, "You first." he said patiently, with an expectant expression on his face.

"Alright, you go first," I replied, for I was curious as to what he might have to tell me. Besides, he would hardly tell me if I gave him my opinion.

"Ok, alright... you know, lately, that's been inappropriate of me. So always making stupid comments around your brother or in the Great Hall or Common Room where I knew it would annoy the others and especially you and just start more rumours because of it... but Weasley not being your type, I still stand by that." he rambled as a slight smirk crept onto his lips and for the first time I felt like he was being honest with me.

For some reason, I couldn't help but smile too. "Was that an apology just now from Draco Malfoy, Prince of Slytherin himself?", I joked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm certainly not going to say that out loud... and I'm not going to repeat myself either," he said sternly but the playful undertone in his voice was impossible for me to miss.

"I'll take that as a yes," I said with a shrug, eliciting a soft laugh from Malfoy.

Silence reigned between us again briefly but this time it was comfortable, which was why I winced a little when Malfoy spoke. "Now it's your turn. What did you want to tell me?"

"Peeves overheard about the kiss -" I started to tell him but was directly interrupted by him.

"That's what I thought. There were a few people talking about it in the common room. But after I didn't comment on it and just asked if people really still believed what Peeves kept telling them, everyone was quiet again pretty quickly. Besides, the bloody Baron was around, you should have seen how quickly he was gone. He's probably giving Peeves trouble now."

"So you actually use your brain sometimes. I didn't expect that from you, Malfoy." I laughed, shaking my head.

He rolled his eyes but couldn't help a giggle. I watched him and sighed softly. I guess that was it for my firm conviction.

Apparently Malfoy heard my sigh, because he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but decided to say nothing more about it and leave it at that.

"We need to be more careful," I said suddenly, surprised at myself and wondering where this had come from now. I felt ashamed of myself, not being able to muster the courage to end the whole thing before it even started, after all I had set out to do. However, it was the least we could do if we didn't want to get caught again. I wouldn't survive any more arguments with Ethan or Lia.

"I agree. Doesn't everyone have to know what or rather who I do in my spare time." Malfoy grinned peevishly as he said this, while I pretended to gasp in surprise, as if he hadn't just read my mind.

"Don't be so dramatic." he said rolling his eyes, "We should just meet out here all the time... there's never anyone here, especially at this hour."

"All right, then," I agreed. "And when?"

"Let's say two or three days a week," he suggested.

"Ambitious... Make sure I don't get bored," I said jokingly.

"Oh Anna, trust me... you won't."