dragonfly || d.m. [✔]

birthday,

[T/W: Smoking. ]
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a r i a  s t u n n i n g s

I sat on the ledge of a window in the 'Charms' section of the Hogwarts Library, a cigarette hanging from the corner of my mouth, rings of smoke polluting the clean, night air. I was waiting for Draco to arrive, whiling my time away with a smoke in the meantime. "Tutoring session at ten o' clock," I told him. It's nine-fifty nine right now.

The door swings open and I am greeted by the smell of French Cologne. 

"Hey," he says gently, taking a seat beside me. I immediately motion for him to get down again, the proximity making me nervous. He complies.

"So . . . you smoke?" he asked me, hands half hanging out of the pockets of his sweat pants, his standing posture stubornly poor. 

I nod slightly.

"Can I have one?" he asked, the night air thickening with tension as I don't speak. "Please?"

These cigarettes are extremely special to me. Why? My brother, a few minutes before he was executed, passed these to me as I stood beside him. He said that he'd stolen them from another guard and had hoped to finish smoking them one day. He now realized that he could only do it in another life -- perhaps the next -- and decided to give them to me in this life. They were of one of the finest brands of cigarettes, a luxury for either of us. Even as he took his dying breath, he was smoking a cigarette from the packet I held now, a lazy smile on his lips.

I only used these occasionally, using the more local ones at other times. Still, I gave one to Draco. I don't know why, I just know I did.

The cigarette hung from his lips as he looked out of the window and spoke, "I've never been rejected before. What am I expected to do now?"

I snort as I answer, "Nothing. Just learn Charms from me, I guess."

He walked towards a table and sat down, patting the space opposite to him. "Sit."

I sat, a certain tension hanging in the air as I opened my textbook. "Page three-ninety-four, there's a Charm on healing werewolves from their own scratches. Professor Flitwick hinted that it might appear in the exam. Are you aware of the method of this Charm?"

"Although I consider myself as a guy having a degree in the subject of charming people, I haven't tried it on werewolves yet, so, no."

I scoff and continue teaching him and the night wears on, moonlight filtering the room. Draco was a pretty good student once you get the pretentious filter of him. Charms came easily to him.

At around midnight, Draco looked at the time and proceeded to freak out. "Oh damn- It's twelve!" 

I looked up too, "Oh. Well, you'd better pack up."

Draco raised an eyebrow, "What about you?"

"I'm packing too, obviously," I said, rolling my eyes. But really, I wasn't. I was just going to pick up my Charms book and stroll down the corridors of Hogwarts -- it wasn't like I could sleep anyway.

Draco looked at me suspiciously but nodded along. After we'd finished, I made sure that he walked out first before leaving. 

". . . So, bye," he said.

"Yeah," I said.

"Yeah."

I watched him turn around and turn at the corner. Then, my hands slowly crept into my pocket and pulled out my packet of cigarettes -- the local one. I lit it, holding it between my middle and index finger, and walked off into the darkness.

Soon, I came to the corridor I wanted to go to. It was a huge hall, with only uniformly positioned pillars separating from the sanctuary of the starlight. The shadows danced along with me as I walked across the corridor, finally taking a seat at the ledge of a pillar in the corner. 

The smoke rings make their way into the sky and I stare up at the Pole Star, a certain feeling of serenity embracing me.

"I knew you were lying," a familiar voice said -- Draco.

"Malfoy? I thought you left?" I said, showing my irritation. Can't a girl be alone?

He sat down beside me, and I shifted away. He fingered the cigarette packet beside me and pulled one out. "I probably shouldn't," he said and smirked. "But I'm a rebel." 

Two pairs of eyes sitting in the darkness of the school, smoke ring after smoke ring joining each other and polluting the night air, we sat there in silence for the longest time.

Suddenly, my phone rang. "Theo, with a '<3' sign beside it," Draco read out.

I bite my lip and take the call, "Hello?"

"Hey, Aria?" Theo's voice said on the other end. In the past few days that Draco and I have been avoiding each other (mostly me), Theo and I got pretty close. Sharing numbers type of close.

"Hi," I say.

"Are you . . . free, this Saturday?" he asked.

I felt pretty sure of what was coming after this but said, "Yeah."

"Cool. Wanna go out with me? To Hogsmeade?" he said. He sounded a bit too confident for my liking, but Draco was staring at me with piercing grey eyes, obviously waiting to judge my reaction. He could probably hear every word of Theo's. 

So, for Draco -- the guy I supposedly hate's -- sake, I said, "Yeah."

I could hear the smirk in Theo's voice, as he said, "Cool."

As I ended the call, I saw Draco's eyes droop slightly. He seemed to have been hoping for me to answer in negative.

"El," he said, "You remember the night you left?"

"Yeah. It was my birthday the next day."

"Well, it has already crossed midnight tonight," he informed me.

"Yeah, I know."

He rolled his eyes. "How daft can you be? Happy birthday, Libelle."

My eyes widen in surprise. "It's my birthday?"

"Yes!" he tells me. 

I smile and he smiles back, but his eyes are still kind of sad. "I wanted to give something to you," he said. "Can I?"

I'm in two mind for a second, but then my curiosity gets better of me. "Okay . . ."

He holds out his arm for me to take, and I do, and we apparate. 

I gasp at what lies before me. There, in the midst of a meadow, lies what seems like a zoo of my favorite creature -- fireflies.