Chapter 27

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My heart is so full of you I can hardly call it my own.

- Liana Radulescu

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Eden leaned back into the cool, stone window sill above her bed. Faye had shown up in their dorm about an hour beforehand, and Eden had been debating asking the three of them to study in the library. However, everytime Eden imagined herself asking, the thought of their surprise was so overwhelmingly frustrating that she kept quiet.

"Are you going to finish that?" Francesca's voice drew Eden from her thoughts and she looked up at the danish she'd been holding still for Merlin knows how long. "If you want one then the containers over there." Eden pointed to her night stand and Francesca hurried away to snatch one up. Eden paused. "Uhm." She coughed. "Do you want to study in the library?" She cleared her throat.

Perhaps she was overreacting and perhaps Draco had been wrong to suggest this--after all, she did speak with them when Faye visited her dorm, but she supposed it wasn't the same when they usually did different things. "Sure, Eden, but we don't have any exams." Faye smiled. Eden hadn't thought of that. "There's the Defense Against the Dark Arts homework." Eden suggested, and Faye and Francesca exchanged a look before replying in unison: "Sure."

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Three hours after Eden had visited the library with Faye and Francesca, her D.A.D.A, Charms and Potions homework were all complete, along with some very early study for her N.E.W.T's at the end of the year. She and Francesca had just finished dropping Faye off at her own dorm, when Draco Malfoy appeared beside them without a word.

Eden caught his eye silently, and he simply shrugged before Francesca glanced up in surprise. "When did you get here?" She gaped. "Not ten seconds ago." Draco hummed from the other side of Eden. "Are you here to start a fight with Eden?" Francesca's expression was laced with gleeful mischief. Always so delighted in the chaos, Eden sighed to herself. "No." Draco chuckled and Francesca nearly drew back. "Why are you here then?" She frowned and Eden suddenly recalled that her friends were not, in fact, updated on her peculiar relationship with Draco.

"It's dinner soon." Was Draco's response, which only seemed to trouble Francesca further. "Are you going to eat Eden for dinner?" Francesca's eyes widened before a devious little smile surfaced on Draco's face. "It'd be more of a dessert." He glanced at Eden and she went rigid. "I heard a story on the radio once about cannibalism." Francesca's eyes slid nervously between Eden and Draco. "It's illegal."

"He's not going to eat me, Fran." Eden rolled her eyes at Draco, who gave her a look that said: 'Well, not in the way she's thinking.' "Oh, then why is he here?" Francesca's confusion only grew, and yet, Draco's eyes held no judgement or pity for her naivety. He caught Eden studying him, and smiled a little. I'm trying, he seemed to say.

"Draco eats dinner in the kitchens sometimes, too. I assume he's here to escort me." Eden responded for him. "I am." Draco nodded, and the bewilderment on Fran's face was truly something to behold. "Are you... friends?" She whispered the last word. Eden and Draco exchanged a look at that. "Good question." Eden swallowed. "A good question with a complicated answer that we will be discussing after dinner." Draco grinned, even as Eden's stomach plummeted.

Eden wasn't sure what they were, nor was she sure what, exactly, Draco wanted them to be. She had thought a great deal on it over the last few days since their first kiss, but just because she wanted something in particular didn't mean that Draco was on the same page.

"Well, dinner doesn't start for another twenty minutes. Are you going to be coming to our dorm?" Francesca interrupted the whirling thoughts in Eden's mind. "Most likely." Draco looked to Eden, who shrugged--mostly because she wasn't sure if she could speak. "You can see our plants!" Francesca lit up, though Draco had already seen their dorm before.

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