Hogwarts, A Love Story (A Draco Malfoy Love Story)

Dementor! Dementor!

Towards the end of lunch Neville approached their group looking quite dishevelled. They looked at him concerned, until he explained that he had been trying to do some reading in preparation for their next class, Care of Magical Creatures. Unfortunately the textbook that had been set was determined to bite the hands (or clothes or shoes or face) off of the person who opened it. There was a moments silence before the whole group burst out laughing, Neville joining in after a second. He knew that they were not being nasty and could see the funny side to the story, even though he was more nervous than ever about his class.

As Winter and her friends got up to leave her eyes automatically glanced over at the Slytherin table. Draco was standing behind the table, casually leaning against the wall, watching her. When he caught her eye he smirked and beckoned her over. Winter hesitated, but her desire to see what he wanted overrided her fear of what her friends would think if they saw her. She said goodbye to Fred and George and then told her friends that she would catch up.

Draco caught her eye again and then walked out into the Entrance Hall. Winter walked quickly towards where he disappeared, slightly nervous that she was about to be caught red-handed talking to Draco Malfoy - Talk about social suicide! However no one stopped her and she managed to get out into the hall without detection. Draco was standing there waiting for her, with that self-satisfied smirk plastered on his face.

"I don't know if you're keeping score Winter, but that's the second time today that you've ditched your friends for me. Thinking about joining the dark side?" He asked with another smirk. Winter rolled her eyes at him but inside she was thinking about what he had said. Perhaps she was doing the wrong thing after all.

"I don't think walking to class with you counts as 'ditching'" Winter said confidently, although inside she was still confused.

"Come on! You'd look good in green." Draco teased as they started walking towards class. Winter blushed and giggled nervously, causing Draco's smirk to become so big it was hard to look at. She thought about what he had said, about being on the 'dark side'. She didn't like to think of him that way. Suddenly it occurred to her that it wasn't just her ditching her friends, he was spending a lot of time with her too.

"So what about you Draco? Finally got sick of your lame friends and want to find out why Gryffindors are so cool?" She teased him. He glared at her and she met his gaze, mimicking him until he had to laugh. They were both still laughing when they approached the goup of milling students waiting for class to start.

The whole group fell silent as they saw the two of them together. Winter swallowed nervously as she noticed the clear divide between the Gryffindor and the Slytherin students. She suddenly wished she wasn't standing quite so close to Draco. That this had not occurred to her earlier was beyond belief. She was an intelligent person! How had she not realised how awkward it would be when they got to class!?? It had only been 10 minutes since she realised how damaging being seen with Draco could be.

Winter hesitated, not sure what to do now. She didn't want to hurt Draco by walking away from him as if his kindness meant nothing, but she also didn't want to keep standing there awkwardly while everyone stared at her. A glance Draco's way showed her that he was equally as unsure.

"Winter! Over here!" Harry called, his tone more demanding than friendly. Winter frowned slightly. She looked over at Harry and sure enough he had a look on his face that screamed 'I expect you to obey'. She didn't like that he was being controlling, but then maybe she should just comply with what everyone wanted. Even more confused, she glanced back at Draco.

"Wait a second, you ditched us for this git?" Ron exclaimed, clearly outraged. Draco's mouth twitched as if he was fighting a smile at the word 'ditched'.