Bejeweled: A Draco Malfoy Fanfic

08. Okay But We Might Be Kinda Cute Together

"Too shy to say, but I hope you stay." - billie eilish

———————————————————————————

The next day, Ivy noticed Draco was absent from Potions for the third day in a row.  She reminded herself that he had only had two pearls: the one Dean had given him that day in the corridor, and the one he had hidden from her on the very first day of school. At least, as far as she knew - surely he hadn't collected the other two pearls by now, had he? She fingered the pearl ring in her pocket, grateful for the strange girl that had given it to her. He had two, and she had one; there were two left to find. Would he know that she had gotten a hold of a pearl herself?

"Miss Stillwater, I asked what you would get if you added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" asked Snape.

Ivy snapped out of her thoughts, grateful that nobody had laughed at her misfortune - it seemed half the boys in the class fancied her anyway. Hermione's hand shot into the air. Thankfully, Ivy remembered the answer.

"You'd get a sleeping potion, if I remember correctly." she answered. "It's so powerful, it's often referred to as the Draught of Living Death."

"Tut, tut. Ten points from Gryffindor, Stillwater - and the next time I ask a question, I'd prefer if you answered it the first time."

The rest of the class was rather uneventful, as Snape had assigned them to read chapters from their spell book. After a few minutes of reading, Neville had snuck up to Ivy's desk, handed her a folded slip of parchment, and stumbled over his shoelace on his way back to his seat, costing Gryffindor another ten points.

"What's the parchment say?" whispered Ron, nudging Ivy with his elbow. Harry and Hermione overheard, and leaned in as Ivy opened it for them to read together.

Will you go to the Ball with me? Circle one:  Yes  /   No

Harry and Ron sniggered. Ivy sighed and pocketed the note, not grateful for the reminder that she had decided to Hunt instead of attending the ball.

After class, she decided to look for Draco, promising Harry, Ron and Hermione that she'd meet them later at dinner. Deep down, she was beginning to grow worried about him; he looked worse and worse each time she saw him, and even those sightings had become increasingly rare. She refused to acknowledge these feelings, however, and reminded herself that she was on a mission - she needed to find the rest of the pearls, as well as find a way to steal the ones in Draco's possession. Anything to keep him from winning that wish.

At last, she was at the Entrance Hall, and quietly opened the doors and descended the marble steps, once again outside on the castle grounds. For some reason, a gut feeling had told her Draco would be here. And there he was, in front of the lake. He was sitting on the ground, legs outstretched, leaned against a tree and facing the horizon, with his back towards Ivy. She considered approaching him, but she had never seen him so peaceful. She didn't want to intrude.

"How long are you going to stand and stare at me, Stillwater?" His voice was small, and he sounded tired.

"O-oh, um..." she stammered. She left her friends to look for Draco, and now that she found him, she wasn't sure what to do next. A few moments passed, and she did what felt most natural. "May I come and sit with you?"

"I'm not going to stop you."

Ivy shyly made her way down to the bank of water, and awkwardly sat down a good distance away from him.

"Sit next to me, will you? I'm not going to bite," he murmured.

She moved to sit next to him under the tree, and for the first time, got a good look at his face. His right eye was bruised, there were scratches lining his cheeks, and his nose was crusted with blood. He was clutching his left arm, where a dark stain was slowly spreading.

Ivy let out a sharp gasp and immediately began tearing a strip of cloth off the sleeve of her robes to bandage his wound.

" Draco, you look terrible, we need to get you to the hospital wing! Who did this to you? Where have you been?"

He managed a weak smile and allowed Ivy to tie the cloth around his arm and tend to his injuries. "I'm fine, Stillwater, honestly. It's just a couple scratches, don't be so dramatic." He pointed to his cheek. "Don't touch the scars, will you? I want to keep them. They make me look heroic." He laughed quietly and winced, clearly in great pain.

"There's nothing heroic about what you're doing! I know you've been Hunting, that's why you're skipping classes and meals, and that's why you look like this." She remembered what Hermione said, about how none of this was worth it. "It's not worth it, Draco."

He shook his head in disagreement. "I saved a girl from one of the Hunters. A first year Hufflepuff girl, she found this," he held up a crown with a pearl encrusted at the top, "and a seventh year tried to take it from her. Nearly killed her, but I intervened. First years shouldn't be Hunting. This whole game... it's not right."

Ivy was stunned. Not only by the fact that Draco now had three pearls, but by the fact that he had saved someone's life, and that he had enough decency to realize that it was wrong for little children to be participating in such a dangerous game. Maybe he wasn't such a villain after all.

"That-... that's really..." She struggled to find the words to express her thoughts. "That was a really good thing you did, Draco. I mean it."

He looked down into his lap, turning the crown over and over in his hands. It was obvious that this was not something he heard very often.

"Do you think I'm a bad person?" he murmured after a few moments.

Ivy reached over and caressed his cheek, and Draco looked up to meet her eyes.

"Be honest," he pleaded.

"I think you've been through some bad things," she said softly. "And I think those bad things led you to make some bad decisions."

Draco's eyes flickered to Ivy's lips, and she read the temptation in his expression.

He closed his eyes and leaned in closely, resting his forehead against hers.

"You didn't answer the question, Ivy."

Her heart fluttered and she felt herself blush. He had never called her by her first name before. Come to think of it, she had never heard him call anyone by their first name. Instead of answering, however, Ivy leaned her head against Draco's shoulder. He reached over and wrapped his arm around her, bringing her close.

"Tired, are you?"

"Don't worry about me. Does your arm still hurt? I still think we should go see Madam P-"

"Shhh." Draco closed his eyes and shook his head. "I don't want that."

Ivy looked up at him. "What do you want, then?"

"To be here with you."

She smiled and closed her eyes too. The question was out before she could stop herself. "What's your wish, Draco? If you found the rest of the pearls... what are you going to wish for?"

But Draco had fallen asleep.

a/n: imagine falling asleep with draco's arms wrapped around u?? I'm so jealous of ivy i wish i was ivy