Chasing Shadows || Draco Malfoy x OC

Year 4- Ch. 75

Early Sunday morning, Céline got out of bed, feeling slightly drained, she wasn't sleeping well. It was too much information that took her the rest of the evening  and through the night to process.

There were so many questions running through her mind about Mr. Crouch, Professor Snape, and her parents. She looked at the window of her room, and saw that the lake was still pitch black. Meaning that the sun still hadn't come out yet. She quietly made her way to the common room with her fluffy throw blanket, unable to go back to sleep.

Plopping down on to one of the leather couches, she let out a deep sigh. She curled up in her blanket, soaking up the warmth of the fireplace. She sat there in silence for a while, staring into the fireplace, deep in her thought, when she heard someone clear their throat.

She jumped a little at the sudden noice and when she looked, she saw Draco. Seeing him, standing by the arm of the couch, felt familiar. Maybe because this is something that had happened before.  There was always something about Draco, when it was just the two of them, that made her feel comfortable and safe.

"What are you doing here at this hour?" He asked, in a soft tone. She looked at him, wearing a black jumper over his black silk pajamas.

"Couldn't sleep.." she said.

He looked at her for a moment, as if deciding on something. With a sigh, he came around the couch and sat next to her. He leaned back against the couch and crossed his arms, looking at her.

"did you... want to talk about it?" Draco asked, awkwardly, not being able to fully look at her. Céline could tell he wasn't accustomed to listening to other people's problems. But at the same time, she felt like he always kind of listened to hers.

Though this time, everything thing going through her mind, isn't only her problem. She knew she wouldn't be able to tell him anything that had to do with Harry. Céline sighed.

His head finally turned to her, "is it because of Diggory?" Asked Draco, his jaw ticked at the thought of Cedric Diggory being the one that is keeping her from being able to sleep. She looked at him a bit surprised.

"Oh.. er—" she stuttered, Céline honestly had even thought about Cedric all evening because of everything else.  She remembered her encounter with him yesterday at Honeydukes. It had been two weeks since they had ended their relationship and can truly say that she's been fine. "No, it's not because of him. I actually can't say why..."

His body fully turns to her and his mouth forms a frown. "You're not getting bullied again are you? It's not those girls from your old school, causing you problems?"

Céline reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, "no, Malfoy, I'm not. I haven't seen them since before the second task."

"If they do ever come-" Draco started.

"I will come to you guys for help, as I have promised Daphne and Harry. I promise you too." She said softly. They stare are each other for a moment before he looked away.

They sat next to each other in a comfortable silence for a while, before Draco finally looked over to her to see if she had fallen asleep. She looked like she was in deep thought again.

"Aren't you tired?" Draco asked. He wanted to ask her what she was thinking about, but instead blurted this out. She looked at him and smirked.

"You know I could ask you the same thing, Malfoy." She said to him.

"Draco." He said. She looked at him confused.

"What?"

"I'm the only one you call by their last name, stop it." He said. "You only call me Draco when you're mad at me and it's very irritating."

"Oh.." she looks away and he could see her cheeks flush a little. She began to fiddle with her fingers. "Honestly, I think I only use your last name in front of you... now that I think about it, I say your name normally when I'm talking about you."

"That doesn't make it any better." He looks at her with his eyebrows furrowed, but with no anger in his tone.

"Well I'll start calling you by your first name when you started calling me by mine." She said.

"Céline." He said in a low tone.  She looked at him a bit surprised at her name coming out of his mouth. She wasn't sure if it was the first time he's ever really called her that. She could help her cheeks from burning hotter.

He leaned in a bit closer, never looking away from her emerald green eyes.

"Your turn, Céline." He said.

For some reason, Céline couldn't look away from him, and she knew he's always had that kind of effect on her. But she didn't know why.

"Draco." His name came out off of her mouth almost in a whisper, his eyes darted to her lips for a second and back to her eyes. His hand lifted toward her face, and ever so slightly brushing his knuckles across her cheek as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"That wasn't very difficult, was it?" He said, matching the same volume as her. Céline felt her stomach twist and her heart tighten. She forced herself to look away, clearing her throat. And as if out of his own trance, Draco looked away too.

Céline sprung up from the couch, holding on her blanket, "we er— should probably go back to our rooms." She said, not being able to look at him, but she felt his gaze on her face.

"Yeah... we should." He said. With that, Céline quickly started to walk away, as she made her way to the middle of the stairs she stopped.

"Good night... Draco." She said to him, before continuing down the girls dorms, leaving Draco sitting there, with a small smirk on his face.

Céline would go back to her room, know she was definitely not going to be able to get sleep after that. It only added more to her mind  that night, by the time the light shined through the Black Lake into her dorm room, she groaned. She didn't get an ounce of sleep.

She begrudgingly got out of bed and got ready for her day. By the time she got done, her friends had woken up and got out of bed as well. Once ready they all headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

She was eating her breakfast when she spotted all the owls coming in with mail, she never receives anything from her parents, unless it's to remind her to not do anything foolish. A familiar Eagle owl landed on the table next to her plate with a parcel. She knew it was Draco's owl, but when she looked next to her the seat, it was empty.

"Hello, friend. We meet again." Céline said gently to the owl, that looked at her for a moment as if trying to recognize her. "Is that for Draco?"  She pointed to the parcel and then looked around to see if she could find him anywhere. "He's not yet come up for breakfast, if you want, you can leave it here and I'll hand it over to him."

And as if the large owl understood, she released the parcel from its talons. Céline quickly grabbed a biscuit from her plate and handed it over, to which the owl happily grabbed it.

"Go ahead and rest in the owlry if you need to." Céline smiled at it. The own then spread its wings and took off again.

"You're an owl whisperer now?" Daphne teased. Céline laughed.

"I just think they're so pretty, I'm thinking of getting one. But I don't know yet. I don't know if my parents would let me."

Suddenly she felt someone sit next to her, she turned her head and saw Draco looking at the parcel in front of him and then to her.

"Your owl just dropped it off." Céline said to him, he looked back to the parcel and opened it. It was a bag full of sweet and cakes his mom usually sends him. He grabs a chocolate from the top and hands it over to Céline.

"Céline." He said and immediately her cheeks flushed. She grabbed the chocolate and stuffed it into the pocket of her robes.

"Thank you." She said, not being able to look at him.

"And mine?" Daphne asked, eagerly sticking her hand out, giving him a sweet smile.

"Doesn't seem like there's enough to share, Greengrass." He said curtly. She looked down at the pile of sweets in front of him that was mostly definitely enough to share with everyone around him, and then looks at him again in disbelief.

"Right." She said, incredulity.