Tainted Love

Hogwarts

DRACO

It was, simply put, not the most cohesive group. Six of them, including Draco himself, had their hands attached to the Portkey, which was a particularly smooth stone.

Iris stood beside him, sleep in her eyes and her hair in a ponytail; Tracey and Sebastian were across from her, both as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as usual. Then Theodore, who looked much too formal for the occasion (though Draco supposed anyone could accuse him of the same thing), and Daphne, his new girlfriend, who the jury was still out on.

It was strange that, out of all these people, Iris was the one Draco was closest with. The rest had gone to school with him for seven years, sat at the Slytherin table and traded insults over covert firewhiskey shots. But after that - during that, really - they had faded from his life.

While Iris, American, younger than him, a stranger to him a year ago, had exploded into his life with such force that he had no choice but to make room for her, to wrap himself around her. If he had a choice he would've done the same.

It was at her bidding that he was here today, his stomach twisting uncomfortably, jacket whipping in the wind as they landed on the green.

It was a warm day, the end of April now, and Tracey insisted that they showed Iris the place she'd heard so much about from everyone she'd met in London - Hogwarts. It was Spring holidays, and, even though the students weren't in session, the castle was off limits. Theodore had used whatever influence he had left to get permission to land on the side of the Black Lake without being immediately apprehended by Hogwarts authorities.

As soon as they touched down, Sebastian was racing towards the water, ripping off his shirt and plunging into its depths, waves frothing up behind him.

"How's the temperature?" Tracey called from the shore.

Sebastian shivered back, grinning, and flopped back beneath the surface, swimming out towards where the Slytherin towers disappeared under the water. Draco remembered studying in their common room and seeing legs thrashing around with the fish beyond the glass. Sebastian and his group were always swimming, touching the windows, blowing kisses to the girls huddled around the fire.

Draco always thought himself too sophisticated for that, but now he wished he had a little bit of Sebastian in him. He felt as though he might have missed out on something when he was younger, some sort of call for youth that had run him by.

He had wanted to be more mature than his peers. After a while, he was forced to be. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Iris laughing at Sebastian's attempts at flips and handstands. She liked that, he knew, pointless fun. Did she miss that in him?

But his fleeting doubt dissipated as Iris absentmindedly grabbed for his hand. Tracey had set up shop on the lakeshore, toes drifting in shallow water as she lay out on a conjured towel, the sun beaming down on her skin.

Theodore and Daphne sat down too, a ways away from Tracey. Their feet in the water, they turned towards each other, laughter running from their lips as easily as Sebastian made his way further into the water.

Draco wondered whether Iris might mind having Daphne around. He was all too aware of her history with Theodore - surely, even if she didn't want to admit it, seeing him so happy with someone else would touch a nerve. But she hardly seemed to notice.

"Want to walk around?" He asked her.

She nodded. "Show me all the sights."

There weren't many sights to see at the lakeshore, but Draco led her through the trees to a clearing where he and Pansy had met up a couple of times in seventh year. The memory was less painful and more of a simple fact. It was true; it had happened; he could do nothing to change it.