Mei Potter, Year Four | Twin from America

Chapter Thirty One: Overdue

          I was banging my head on the table at breakfast. It's been a month since the Yule ball and spring was upon us.

          "Mei. Stop it," Harry scolded.

          Dean kissed my head when he opened his birthday gift. It was a picture of us after one of their Quidditch matches last year. A paper crane flew to me, it was from Draco.

'Darling,

Please come to see me in the library at noon.

Your Draco'

          I looked up at him with a smile. I put the note away. It was only 10am and I hated waiting. I went to the library and went to my nook. Draco came early as well.

          "Couldn't wait, could you?" I asked him.

          He laughed, "No, I know you and I knew your friends expect me here at noon now. And I missed you since New Years"

          He really is smart. He held me, people knew we were together and I was happy. I blushed remembering how we spent New Years together. On December 31st, Draco and I wore out matching rings and spent the countdown in the Astronomy tower. We slowly danced as Draco was humming. He held me close and my head was on his shoulder. He was taller and I felt safe with him. At midnight we soulfully looked into each other's eyes and shared a kiss. I haven't felt this way about anyone else, it was different from being with Fred.

          "Any luck with the egg?" he asked.

          I shook my head, "No. Charlie doesn't know either. It's not an animal he's ever heard of."

          He began kissing my ear, "You know, you were so beautiful when we first met."

          I blushed and offered my neck to him instead. He began kissing lower down my neck.

          "You weren't mad that I kissed you before knowing your name?" I asked.

          He laughed softly, "No, darling. I'm glad it was you. You taught me something last year."

          I hummed, "Mmm?"

          He kissed my cheek, "You were right. Your name didn't matter. It still doesn't. I'm serious about you. Even if you were a mudblood, even if you were a Weasley, I still like you, Mei."

          I kissed him, "That means so much to me, Draco. Thank you. I like you, too."

          Before noon, we both left and I went to see Hagrid. Cedric was coming from the Black Lake and we greeted each other.

          "Hey, baby," he teased me.

          I blushed, "Hey, babe."

          He leaned down to me, "You can keep my robes if you like them so much."

          I stuck my tongue out at him.

          "Mei, I owe you a date. Do you have swim clothes?" he asked.

          I looked at him, "Yeah, I do. Why?"

          He looked shy, "Wear them tonight at dinner and meet me at the prefect's bathroom door at 7pm."

          I nodded, "I will."

          Then he said something funny, "Bring your egg, ok?" and he left.

          I spent the afternoon with Hagrid. We talked about dragons and Fluffy. He told me he had a big spider friend in the Forbidden Forest as well. I learned that there were unicorns and centaurs in there too. I really missed out on a lot here. It was getting dark and I headed to the common room. I pulled out a one piece swimsuit I had but it barely fits now. It was obvious under my clothes but I didn't care. I put the egg in my bag and went down to eat dinner. If Cedric plans on swimming then I'm not going to eat a lot. The twins and I haven't spoken much since the Yule ball and I was fine with it. I got to bond more with Dean, Seamus, and Neville. Over spring, they wanted to teach me different things, like Quidditch. Around 6:30pm, I headed out to the prefect's bathroom. He met me on time and took me inside. I covered my eyes so Cedric could put on his trunks.

          "You can look now," he teased.

          He was in great shape. I started taking off my clothes and he blushed and started the bath. I got the egg out of my bag and told him I wasn't opening it. He got in the water and pulled me in. We sat next to each other.

          "I've never shared a bath with a boy before, let alone a Hufflepuff boy," I nudged him.

          He laughed, "You wonderful girl, pass me your egg please."

          I gave it to him and he told me to hold my breath and go under the water. I held my breath and we both went under with the egg. He opened it and it sounded sweet.

          "Come seek us where our voices sound, We cannot sing above the ground, An hour long you'll have to look, To recover what we took," the egg sang sweetly and ominously.

          We both came up for air.

          "Mermaids! There has to be mermaids in the Black Lake!" I said excitedly as I grabbed his face.

          He laughed and put the egg in my bag, "You're smart, Mei."

          I pulled myself out of the bath to sit on the edge so that my feet stayed in.

          "Mei? I heard you were bitten by a dragon. We didn't get to watch other competitors in their task," he sounded concerned.

          "Well, um, yeah I was. Charlie had to suck out the venom and Professor Snape gave me a tonic," I told him.

          He was shocked, "What? Where?"

          I blushed, "Just don't stare too long."

          I spread my legs and showed him my inner thigh.

          He blushed and glanced at it, "It must've hurt."

          I went back in the water, "Yeah, it did. But I'm ok now."

          He brought up my left hand.

          "Mostly ok," he reminded me.

          We started getting out of the bath and got dressed.

          "Hey, Cedric?" I asked.

          "Hmm?" he replied.

          "Thank you," I said.

          "Hey," he started, "I owe you for the dragons. You really helped me, Mei."

          We took a stroll to the kitchens and got hot chocolate. We talked for hours before having to go back to our common rooms.

          "Goodnight, you wonderful girl," he said as he kissed my cheek outside of the portrait.

          "Goodnight, Hufflepuff boy," I kissed his cheek and headed inside.

          It took a year to get this date and it was worth the wait. I fell asleep holding his robes again, his scent slowly fading.