Jump

Chapter One

The air was much colder these days. The crisp winter wind sliced into my skin, turning my cheeks and nose red. It was my favorite time of year though. Classes were out and people were leaving to visit family. The school felt much quieter and empty. I typically spent my time in the courtyard, basking in the sun and reading. Some days I would practice small spells or try my hand at poetry. I wasn't very good but that didn't stop me. A few students sat outside with me. The ones who did not have family to visit or didn't care to. Since most teachers were gone, we were able to get away with a lot more than usual, so, many of the students drank fire whiskey or smoked herbs. I did not care for most of that though. I found myself staring off into the distance as I thought about my mom. I only stayed at school on breaks because ever since my father died, my mother has not been the same. I tried so hard to be there for her, but she grew cold and distant to the world, including my brother. We always write letters to her though, wishing her a merry Christmas, but never getting any in return. She most likely never read them. The sight of my brother walking towards me brought me back to reality. He had a smirk on his face and his wand in his hand.
"Fynn, what have you gotten into now?" I asked him, returning the smirk.
My brother has a habit of always getting into trouble, but he was a great student in all his classes, so I did not mind him having a little fun. Besides, he was my older brother so what could I really do to stop him?
"Ah my darling sister, the only trouble I am in is falling madly in love."
He plopped down next to me on the bench and laid his head in my lap. I rolled my eyes at him and let out a laugh.
"Who is it this time?" I asked.
"STILLSTONE!" I heard a voice boom through the corridors. "YOU LOW LIFE, NO GOOD, MOUTH BREATHER!"
"Gotta go sis, love ya!" He perked up quickly, kissed my cheek and took off in the opposite direction in which he had originally came from.
I watched him scurry off and when I turned to face the corridor to see who was coming, I saw Malfoy stomping towards me. He was dressed in a fitted black suit, like always, his golden white hair slicked back, and his bright grey eyes filled with rage, locked on me.
"Where is he?" He muttered.
"I'm sorry, where is who?" I asked innocently.
"Do not play stupid with me, Stillstone. Your god damn brother!" He grew irritated.
"Draco, you assume I keep tabs on my brother and know where he is every second of every day." I stalled. "Besides, even if I knew where he was, do you really think I would tell you?" I giggled.
"Your low life brother has been hounding my date to the yule ball to go with him. I want to teach him that what is mine, is mine and I do not share." He shouted.
"Oh, so Fynn has been flirting with Pansy again huh? Did you ever think that maybe he does it because she returns the favor? Maybe your little puppy- sorry, maybe your little MUTT isn't on as tight of a leash as you think she is."
I know what I said was mean, but I hated Pansy. I have hated her since year one. She thinks that just because she comes from money, she can treat the rest of us as slaves. She thinks she's queen of Hogwarts just because she's Malfoy's arm candy. Malfoy's face grew red, and I couldn't tell if it was from the cold or anger. I took a step back and placed my hand on my wand. He took a step forward and his eyes followed my hand down, watching me wrap my fingers around it. He shot his eyes back up to mine and a smile grew on his face. My stomach dropped and a lump grew in my throat. Malfoy was a little bitch, but he had anger issues and wasn't above violence. I have known him since we were kids. Our fathers were very close, so Draco was always at my house. When we were younger he was happy, but it seems that through the years he has grown cold to the world.
"You think your words hurt me? You think I actually care for Pansy? That she is more than just a toy I keep in my sheets to please me. I just want to find your brother and teach him a lesson, that what is mine is mine and no one will take my things from me." He whispered, inching closer to my face.
I swallowed hard and my body began to go numb. I could feel my heart begin to thump in my chest. I took a step back and realized I was pushed up against the bench. It caused me to fall backwards. I caught myself and sat back down. I slowly looked up at Malfoy standing over me with a smile still on his face. He was peering down at me from under his long eye lashes that had caught a few snowflakes in them.
"You know Quinn, you look good from this angle." He grumbled without breaking eye contact.
"DRACO!" My brother shouted. "This is between you and me, leave my sister out of it."
I blinked a few times, trying to gather my thoughts. What just happened? I managed to gather myself enough to look at my brother just in time to see Draco's fist making contact with his face. I quickly stood up and rushed over to them. Fynn had fallen on to his back and I bent down next to him.
"Draco you twit, what is wrong with you?" I shouted.
At this point everyone in the courtyard stood up and were either slowly leaving or crowding around to see what the commotion was about. My brothers lip began to bleed, and he raised his hand to wipe the blood from his mouth. He glared up at Draco and pushed me away so he could jump to his feet.
"It's ok Quinn. He is just mad that Pansy wants to be with me. She finally sees what a twat this boy is and wants a real man."
Just then Pansy came running into the courtyard and stopped dead in her tracks when all three of us turned to look at her. She glanced between Fynn and Draco as she slowly walked towards them. Draco turned to face her, expecting her to rush to him but instead she ran to my brother.
"Fynn! Are you ok?" She gasped.
I hated her but it did feel good to see the look of betrayal on Malfoy's face. My face must have shown what I was feeling because Draco looked at me and his face grew red again. However, this time I knew it was from embarrassment. He opened his mouth but struggled to get any words out. He shook his head, shoved his hands in his pockets and turned around and stomped off. I may not get along with him, but I felt for him. Like I said we grew up together. We used to get along very nicely. It wasn't until year two when we started to hate each other. In all honesty I didn't hate him. He began to be mean towards me and I thought he hated me, so I tried to act tough, but I truly did miss our friendship. I guess those days were over though. I remember in year one, we were both so excited to be in Slytherin together. My brother was never really close with us, but he was glad to be a part of Slytherin as well. We always hung out together in the Slytherin common rooms and walked to all our classes together. Over breaks I would even spend most of my time with him, either at school or visiting  his mother at the Malfoy Manor. Everything changed in year two. He never spoke to me and anytime he did it was full of anger. I could never figure out what caused our friendship to  change. I always blamed it on puberty. Boys are weird. I found other friends and even spent more time with my brother. I just moved on, I guess.
I glanced at my brother who was staring at Pansy. She was kissing his hands and crying. My stomach flipped and I rolled my eyes. I looked back towards Draco. He was still storming off. When he reached the other side of the courtyard, he turned and looked back at me. His expression had changed. He looked tired. Not sad or angry, just tired. He made eye contact with me and then quickly turned back around. As he turned the corner, I walked off in his direction but by the time I had reached the corner, he was gone. I looked back at my brother and Pansy. They were now sitting on the ground together, she had her legs over his and they were slowly kissing. It made me sick. I decided to head back to Slytherin common rooms to take a nap. There wasn't anything else to do and I was not about to hang around and watch my brother snogg Pansy Parkinson.
I walked down the hall listening to the sound of my shoes on the stone walkway. It was frightfully cold but I didn't mind. It reminded me of home. Fynn and I used to love the cold because that meant It was going to snow soon. Every year, when it snowed, father would take us sledding. We used to sled down the tallest hills we could find and when we were done, we would warm up by the fire with mugs of hot chocolate and listen as our father would tell us stories of all the great adventures he would go on. My father was the greatest person I knew. He loved my mother and us very much. I remember the last thing he said to me before he left on the night that he died.
"Be good my snowflake."
My father was a death eater. When most people think of death eaters, they think of darkness, but my father did not choose to be a death eater. He was forced into it. He was told that if he didn't do as he was told then my mother would be killed, and my brother and I would be sold off. He hated Voldemort, and so did I.
I turned the corner to enter the common rooms when I bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm sorry." I said looking up. Malfoy.
"Watch where you are going Stillstone." He mumbled.
"I said I was sorry." I snapped.
He rolled his eyes and pushed on past me. I could still see the tired expression on his face. I placed my hand on his forearm and stopped him.
"Hey. Are you ok?" I whispered.
He looked back at me from the corner of his eye. His eye looked up past me and I turned my head to see a few people staring at us. I looked back at him, and he looked back down at me. He jerked his arm away from me and kept walking.
"Malfoy." I said but he kept walking. "Malfoy!" I raised my voice.
He didn't stop. Whatever. Brat. I rolled my eyes and headed to the washrooms. I was tired and wanted to take a nap but needed to take a shower first. I stopped in my dorm and grabbed a pair of underwear, a sports bra and my Slytherin sweatpants. I figured after my nap I could go get a jog in. I made my way out of the dorms and back into the common rooms. There were a few of my friends lounging around so I stopped to chat with them for a moment before heading to the showers. I made it out into the hallway and noticed it was empty. It didn't bother me though, this school was huge and during the holidays it wasn't uncommon to find yourself in hallways or large  rooms that were empty.
Once i was done showering I quickly dried off and got dressed. I slipped on my underwear and sweats and pulled on my sports bra. After my shower I wasn't feeling so tired anymore so I decided to go on my run and then go get some food. I stepped out of the washroom and immediately could hear someone walking towards me. I looked up and could see Malfoy coming right towards me, his eyes locked on mine. I gulped and placed my hand against the door behind me. He didn't look mad, but he still looked tired. Man did he ever sleep?
"Draco?" I asked.
He stopped right in front of me, without breaking eye contact. He didn't say a word, but it looked like he was searching for something to say.
"Are you ok?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"Why do you keep asking me that?" He grumbled.
What does he mean why do I keep asking him that?
"I- I just- " I stuttered.
"Spit it out Stillstone." He snapped.
I blinked and could feel anger growing in my stomach. I was trying to be nice to him and he is still being a twat to me. I rolled my eyes and pushed past him.
"Forget it. Never mind." I stated.
I could hear him sigh behind me.
"Wait." He whispered. "Do you want to go get some food with me?"
I stopped in my tracks.
"Okay" I answered.
Draco pulled his wand out of his pants pocket and waved it in my direction.
"Multicorfors" He said.
I looked down and noticed my sports bra changed into a sweater that matched my sweatpants. I looked back up at him as he turned to head to the great hall. I followed behind him. As we walked, he kept his head down and didn't say a word or look at me. All I could hear was the sound of our shoes on the stone walkway. I kept trying to think of why he wanted me to come eat with him. We haven't eaten together In so long. We haven't done anything together in so long. We reached the great hall and when we stepped inside it was nice and warm. It smelled of fresh bread and fruits. There were a few people scattered around the tables, but it was mostly empty. We walked over to Slytherin table and sat across from each other. Draco quickly began placing food on his plate before I even had a chance to sit down. I stared at him for a moment, waiting to see If he would look up at me but he never did.
"Draco?" I questioned. Still nothing.
"Draco!" I raised my voice.
He sighed.
"Yes Quinn?" He whispered in defeat.
"Why did you want me to come eat with you? We haven't done anything together in so long and after this morning it seemed as if you still didn't want to be my friend." I queried.
He stopped putting food on the plate and handed it to me. I looked at it with confusion on my face before slowly reaching up and taking it from him. I placed it on the table in front of me and studied the food on it. Bread, grapes, cheese and cranberry sauce on the side. He remembered my favorite snack. I looked back up at him and he was staring down at his own plate, slowly chewing on a grape.
"Draco, are you going to answer me?" I asked softly, staring at his face.
"Its not that I didn't want to be your friend anymore Quinn." He stated with softnessin his voice. "I got busy, between school and helping my father, I had no time for friends."
"You sure had time for Pansy." I mumbled under my breath.
He shot a look at me that made my stomach tighten.
"I was just fucking her." He snapped.
I dropped my look back down to my plate. This was weird. I missed spending time with Draco, but this felt different. He was more distant and colder. Not the funny, charming boy I used to know. I know we have gotten older but that doesn't mean he has to be so rude all the time.
"Well, what changed? Why do you have time for me now?" I asked.
He took a deep breath in and went back to eating his grapes.
"I don't know." He said flatly.
I felt like we were getting nowhere but honestly, I didn't care. It was nice to be spending time with him again. Even if it felt awkward.
"You didn't have to punch him you know." I said, still not looking up at him.
"Yes I did."
I finally looked up at him and he was staring at me. I gave him a small smile, but he didn't change his expression.
"Why did you come after me?" he asked.
"What?"
"After I hit him, why did you come after me? Why didn't you stay with him?" He said still staring at me.
"How did you know that? You were gone by the time I got there." I answered.
He didn't say anything. He just stared at me. I didn't know what to say, mainly because I didn't know the answer.
"I don't know." I finally spoke. "I guess I just felt like what Pansy did was crappy and I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Why do you still care about me? After how rude I have been to you." He said softly.
He finally broke eye contact and looked back down at his plate. I reached my hand across and placed it on his. His eyes shot over to our hands and then up at my eyes.
"Draco, I've never stopped caring about you. You were my best friend for so long. You don't just forget that." I said softly smiling at him.
He pulled his hand away and looked back down. A look of confusion grew over my face when suddenly I heard a voice behind me.
"Draco, Sweetheart, can we talk?" Pansy asked.
My face got hot, and I could feel anger rising up inside my chest. I stood up and turned around to face her.
"Fuck off Pansy. We're talking." I said.
Suddenly Draco scoffed and he stood up. He walked around the table and wrapped his arm around Pansys neck.
"I knew you would come back." He said loudly.
"Draco-" I started to say.
"Shut it Stillstone. I have other stuff I'd rather be doing than sitting here stomaching this garbage with you." He said smirking down at Pansy.
My stomach dropped. What the hell just happened? Pansy flashed a nasty smile at me then looked up at Draco. They turned around and began walking off together. I watched in confusion as they basically skipped out of the great hall hand in hand. I sat back down and finished eating. I put a grape in my mouth and pushed the rest of it away. I wasn't hungry anymore. I stood up and made my way out of the great hall and headed outside to the quidditch practice fields. I said the spell and changed my shirt back to a sports bra and began stretching. After I stretched, I stood up and began lightly jogging around the track. My light jog turned into a run and before I knew it, I was sprinting. I could feel the cold air against my bare skin and filling my lungs. My long blonde hair was whipping my back and sides of my face with every step I took. None of that bothered me. What did bother me was the fact that Draco can be nice to me when no one is around then go right back to being nasty. I knew him way before Pansy. I knew him better than Pansy would ever know him. Why does he treat her like that? He should treat me like that and treat Pansy like the low life frog root that she is. Eventually I had to stop running. I couldn't breath anymore and I needed to catch my breath. I leaned over and placed my hands on my knees. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. Finally, once my breathing was steady again, I stood up and began to head back to the school. I needed another shower. I had not planned on running so hard I broke out in a sweat, but I needed to get my frustrations out.
Halfway back to the school grounds, Oliver Wood caught up to me.
"Hey Quinn, I saw your workout back there. Hope you are hitting the showers because I can smell you from my broom!" He teased.
I punched him in the arm and laughed.
"Shut it Wood." I smiled.
Oliver and I became friends last year. Yeah he is In Gryffindor but he was cool. I also did not follow the whole pure blood, blood traitor bull shit that most Slytherins did. Fynn and I thought it was stupid.
"Hey Quinn, I wanted to ask, are you going to the Yule ball?"
Oliver was not shy and he didn't get flustered easy so it was no surprise he would be able to come right out and ask me.
"Yes, I planned on it." I blushed.
"Okay well if you didn't have a date yet, did you want to go with me? Doesn't have to be serious or a date but I figured it would be better to show up with someone." He smiled.
"Yeah that sounds nice." I replied.
He smiled again and nodded at me turning back to the fields and running back for practice. I continued to the showers. Once I reached them, I went in and turned on the hot water. I walked back to the sink and stared at myself in the mirror. My hair was wet and sticking to my face and my chest was glistening with sweat. Steam began to fill the bathroom when suddenly there was pounding on the door. What in the hell? I walked over and pulled the door open to see Pansy standing there.
"Occupied." I said flatly, raising an eyebrow.
She pushed in past me and rolled her eyes. I slammed the door behind her and whipped around.
"Pansy, are your ears full of Gilly weed or are you just stupid?" I shouted at her.
She began taking her clothes off and walking into the shower. I scoffed and decided I would just come back later. I did not want to be here with her around, especially not naked. I left the washroom and began walking back to my dorm when Draco came storming down from the boy's washroom. He had on grey sweats that said Slytherin down the side in big black letters, no shoes, and no shirt. His blonde hair was wet and stringy, and he had a towel hanging around his neck. His chest was chiseled, and his abs were very prominent. His v cut was sharp, and his shoulders were muscular. My cheeks grew hot once I realized he was watching me stare at his body. I cleared my throat and kept walking back to the dorms.
"You not gonna shower Stillstone? You're covered in sweat." He stated with a smirk on his face.
I rolled my eyes and kept walking. He didn't get to treat me the way he did and think I would go back to talking to him.
"Stillstone?" He raised his voice. "Stillstone what the hell is your problem?"
I still didn't stop.
"Quinn!" He shouted.
I stopped in my tracks and turned around. I quickly started walking back towards him waging my finger at him, which caused him to take a step back.
"First of all Malfoy, you don't get to talk to me now after I tried to be nice to you and you treated me like shit for Pansy Parkinson, of all people, also you may wanna tell your girlfriend that she needs to learn some manners and when someone is in the middle of trying to shower, she does not get to just walk in and push them out!" I began to shout.
"She is not my girlfriend." He said lowly.
"Fine, your TOY or whatever the hell you called her!"
"No. She's nothing to me. We broke up." He said.
I turned to face him, and he was looking directly at me, almost like he was waiting for me to say something, but all I did was turn and walk away. I had nothing to say to that. It's not like I cared.

Truth is, I did. I always have. I've been in love with Draco Malfoy since first year.