Pawns | A Draco Malfoy Love Story

Chess

I felt more refreshed that day than I normally did when waking up so early. Despite not sleeping very long since I had went to the Room last night, I felt energized. I didn't even yawn once which caught the attention of my best friend.

"Bella?" she said, poking me with her finger like I was some specimen under examination. "Blink twice if you need help."

"Shut up," I laughed, slapping her hand away as we descended the spiral staircase.

"You're not a morning person, it's just weird," she said as she faked a shudder at the apparent weirdness of seeing me so awake.

At the landing, we were greeted by Harry and Hermione so we all walked to breakfast together. I could overhear both Ginny and Hermione trashing Ron; Hermione insulted him for being stupid enough to stay with Lavender this long, while Ginny insulted his birth.

"Listen," Harry began, "I didn't mean to annoy you yesterday at breakfast."

"It's alright, really," I said truthfully. I had forgotten that I was even annoyed with his constant analysis of Draco because I was too busy being happy that things went smoothly last night. "Maybe just don't be so obsessed with Malfoy from now on," I joked, though it wasn't really a joke - I needed him to give Draco some space so that I would get some as well.

For a second he looked like he was about to protest. But instead he nodded and smiled.

"I wanna tell you about my meeting with Dumbledore," he said, changing the topic.

As we walked into the Great Hall, he told me that Dumbledore showed him a memory of Tom Riddle and Professor Slughorn in conversation. He told me how the memory had been tampered with and that he was now tasked with getting Slughorn to reveal what actually happened between him and Voldemort all those years ago.

"Quite a task," I said, taking a spoon-full of oatmeal.

"Yea," he sighed. "But you know, Slughorn really likes me. The Half Blood Prince really helped me in that regard so maybe I can do it."

"Maybe you can," I said giving him a reassuring smile and placing my hand on his shoulder. "What's your plan?" I asked as he reached his hand up to place it on mine.

"I'll talk to him during potions today," he said at last.

*

More than two weeks had gone by but Harry hadn't yet succeeded. It was now mid January, colder than ever. Most Gryffindors had gone to bed early today because Quidditch practise was tomorrow morning. The following weeks would be the start of Apparition lessons and so people would be in bed early for those too.

I snuck out once everyone had left the common room to go sleep. I had also seen Draco last Friday as well, and we then decided then that we'd continue to meet once a week, preferably Friday's because it was the most discreet.

I stood in front of the wall and it materialized almost instantly. Stepping in, I was greeted with a big smile. He walked over to me and we exchanged pleasantries. Things between us felt like they were becoming more and more natural; Last Friday was more comfortable than the Monday in which we initially agreed to try this whole "friends" thing, and that Monday was definitely more comfortable than how things had once been. I smiled at the thought of the progress so far.

We both sat down on the couch across the fire place. I sat cross legged with my back again the armrest while he sat facing forward. We talked for maybe twenty minutes about our classes and school in general. He would be learning how to Apparate soon, something I told him I was envious of. He laughed and offered to teach me one day, perhaps in Hogsmede since he couldn't teach me within the walls of Hogwarts.