𝐴𝑅𝑅𝐴𝑁𝐺𝐸𝐷 | 𝐷𝑀

~ F I F T E E N ~

Lilith waited a day until she sent Harry a letter, telling her everything about her engagement and telling him that if he had any other questions to address them to Ginny, who at this point knew everything. Lilith could already imagine how Harry would want to talk to her face-to-face about this and try to talk her out of it, and Ginny would have to slap him on the back of his head to remind her that it wasn't her choice. She was a bit anxious about how Harry would see her when they returned to Hogwarts but tried to push those thoughts aside, reminding herself they were best friends.

As for Ron and Hermione? Well, Lilith could only hope Ron would not cause a scene when he found out. She knew Hermione would voice her support for Lilith's family decision so she wasn't too worried about her reaction. Should she write Ron a letter? Maybe. But would she? No. Maybe she'll invite him over for tea, seeing as Ginny and her were not able to eat lunch because of Ginny's dramatic behavior.

"Jones, I'm talking to you," Draco glared at Lilith as she kept looking down on the page of her book, which she hadn't turned in a couple of minutes.

When she realized someone was calling for her, Lilith lifted her gaze from her book and looked at Draco, "Oh, I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

"Your sister has been trying to get your attention," he sighed and pointed to Maya who was standing behind Lilith with a frustrated expression on her face.

She turned her head to look at her sister. Lilith stood up from the couch she was sitting on and made her way around to look at her sister, "Maya, dear, I'm so sorry. What is it?" Lilith knelt down to look at her sister since her head was down.

"I wanted to play with you," she responded with a shaking voice, making her sister feel even worse than she did for not paying attention to her in the first place.

Lilith didn't like seeing her sister sad, even if it was because she wanted to play, "Well, we can still do that. Let's go outside, yeah?"

At her proposal, Maya's head shot up and her sad expression changed from that of frustration to happiness, "Can we play hide-and-seek?" Maya asked.

"Yes, of course, but let me go change then. Wearing a dress won't do me any good," she chuckled.

"But I want to play now," Maya whined, making her sister sigh in defeat, "And I want him to play," the youngest witch pointed to Draco who was standing with his hands behind his back, listening to their conversation.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Draco spoke up before Lilith could say anything, "I'll just stay here and read my book," he lifted the book resting on the couch to show them.

"Malfoy, please," Lilith stood up and walked behind his sister and placed her hands on Maya's shoulders, "My sister wants to play with you," without making an obvious plea, she glared at Draco and forced him to play.

"Fine," he said as he placed the book down and brought his hands to his hair, moving it to the side. Lilith stared intently at his movements and almost bit her lip, wanting to touch him again, just like that night in her kitchen. Maya grabbed her sister's arm and walked to Draco, also reaching for his arm, "You owe me," he whispered to Lilith and she sent him a simple eye roll before Maya had reached the door leading to the garden and opened it, letting go of the Slytherin's arms.

"Okay," Maya cheered, "I'll count to ten and you go hide." Sending Draco a pleading look to play along, Lilith nodded in agreement and her sister started counting down.

"Ten," Lilith started running towards a bush at the end of the garden. The garden was huge so reaching the end in less than ten seconds was near impossible but she still tried. "Nine," Lilith was getting closer to the bush she was aiming for. "Eight," if it wasn't for Lilith's running steps, she would've been able to hear the other pair of feet following her. "Seven," a couple of more feet and she would reach the bush. "Six," in case Lilith didn't make it to the bush, there was a white bench made of marble she could hide behind. "Five," Lilith was starting to get tired from her sprinting. "Four," her steps started to slow and at some she wanted to stop completely. "Three," but someone grabbed her arm and pulled her to run faster. "Two," Draco started running in front of Lilith, still holding her by her arm, urging her to keep running just a little longer. "One," with the last couple of steps being more like hops, Lilith and Draco reached the bush right on time, "Ready or not, here I come."