PRECEDENT : Draco Malfoy II

55

In June, I'm not able to pin down Draco. I try to catch his attention in classes, but he will shake his head. I've got his birthday gift ready to go, wrapped tightly and hidden in a compartment I've made inside my trunk. He won't appreciate how I've messed with space magic to create the storage space, subtly hidden.

It's a nice gift. Books, muggle ones, since he always says muggles couldn't possibly understand wizarding life and politics. I think it's not even just possible, but certain. He's so out of touch with muggle culture that he really shouldn't assume what people like my parents do and don't know.

The books are good. I might even be able to convince him to read one of them.

I'm using Professor Burbage's room, crunching for my transfiguration exam, since I'm always doing less than perfectly in the class. Justin Finch-Fletchley is here with some of his other muggle-born friends, cramming as well. Cleve Lace is here, doting on Sally-Anne, hugging her from behind. Megan Jones is not so subtly flirting with Justin, but I think he's oblivious. I pull my head up, massaging my temples. It's better than the library, which is so quiet all I can hear are my anxious thoughts at the summer that awaits me. Somehow, it's still too loud in here.

"Do you have your alchemy notes on you?"

I look up at the sound of Draco's voice. Cleve Lace shakes his head at Draco, who stands in the doorway, not fully crossing the threshold into our space. Sally-Anne peers at me, and I assume Cleve has told her that I'm in alchemy too. Draco looks over at me, and holds the gaze for a second longer than typical.

I stand to my feet, at attention. He's never done something this public. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong.

"Lisa's got mine," it's a lie, but Cleve doesn't really hang around us and I don't think he even cares enough to ask.

Megan, Sally-Anne, and Justin all knew who attacked the muggle-borns at the end of fourth year, and they didn't say anything to anyone about it. I don't think they gossip much. All of them look wide-eyed. Maybe they'll see me as a sacrificial lamb. I hear the way they get teased by Theo Nott and Pansy Parkinson. None of them are going to mention this if they think Draco's about to cause trouble.

"She's in the library," I finish the thought.

"I need the notes from the week I was in the hospital wing," Draco says.

Then, I nod. I grab my bag and duck out into the hallway. I lead him, trailing behind me. Nobody is in the halls right now, but my heartbeat echoes through my body. I hear it in my ear, rushing, gushing. So, I duck us into the muggle studies storage room. We've been here before, so long ago. When he was following me then, I didn't care who saw me.

He shuts the door behind him. I turn to look at him. He lurches towards me, colliding into me. I feel my knees start to give but he wraps his arms around me and pulls me into him. Dipping me, he kisses me. I move my hands to his neck. His pulse jumps through his skin at me. He stumbles further into me, until I back into a shelf. Objects crash to the ground beside me, and I gasp.

"Draco," I whisper.

He takes his wand from the pocket of his trousers and mutters a silencing charm. Then, his hands find me once more, his wand clanging to the ground. My mind hasn't been this quiet in so long. I can feel his breath on my face, hot, heavy. Draco pins my hands above my head, holding them against the shelf. It jolts and more things fall.

My nails dig into his back. I stutter out his name, trying to find it. The firelight in the room glows on his skin, and he doesn't look ill for once. He burns. One of his hands abandons mine, finds purchase under my shirt. I'm still, pinned, his knee between my legs, holding me against the shelf. My hands undoing the buttons of his shirt, trace the scars, fading on his chest. I kiss him and kiss him and I have to consciously try not to slam my head into the shelf behind me.