Make Me Fall

7. OWLs

Today I enter my fifth year at Hogwarts. My OWL year. It's different from how I thought it would be. Mainly because You-Know-Who, well... The Dark Lord, as father said I should call him... Is back. He's keeping quiet, trying to make it seem as though Harry and Dumbledore are making everything up. I wonder if their side is fighting back. "Their" side. I wonder where that came from. I suppose I'm on the Dark Lord's side. I just don't know. It scares me.

I close my diary and head down to breakfast. Things are tense at the Gryffindor table after the spat between Seamus and Harry last night. Harry is fuming while Seamus and Dean sit at the other end of the table, talking quietly. I sit down next to Hermione.

"Hi," I say. She smiles at me.

"Hi, how were your holidays?"

I think of my almost-kiss and smile.

"Good," I tell her, "yours?"

She sighs and rolls her eyes.

"I spent most of them cleaning," she says. She glances behind me and frowns. I follow her look and see Draco approaching.

"What does he want?" Ron snarls.

"Probably to make some vague threats," Harry scowls.

"Probably to talk to me," I snap, standing up. Draco reaches us and smiles. I smile back, feeling nervous. We haven't been alone together since the almost-kiss. We had his mother watching us like a hawk for the rest of the party and we didn't see each other after that.

"Hi," I say shyly.

"Can we talk?" he asks.

"Sure," I nod. I follow him out of the hall and into a broom cupboard near the stairs. He motions for Crabbe and Goyle to keep watch.

"This is cosy," I say. He blushes a little.

"I wanted to make sure we're alone this time," he says. I feel my cheeks heat up.

"Oh... Why?"

Draco smirks his confident, in-control smirk that I only ever see at school. He leans on the wall, trapping me in the corner. He leans down and runs his nose down my cheek. I get goosebumps.

"What are you two doing?"

I hear McGonagall's voice from the other side of the door.

"Step away!" she commands.

"Crap," I groan. Draco step away from me as the door flies open. McGonagall stares at us.

"We were just talking," I say quickly. She raises an eyebrow and regards me scathingly.

"In a broom cupboard? Do you think I came down in the last shower?" she asks, "out, both of you. Ten points from Gryffindor and Slytherin. If I catch you in a broom cupboard again, it'll be fifty and a detention."

We slink out into the grounds for Care of Magical Creatures. Draco takes my arm and turns me to face him.

"We can't catch a break, can we?" he breathes, his voice low. I laugh quietly and shake my head. He runs his thumb over my lower lip.

"Next time," he says with a wink. He takes my hand and we walk down to Care of Magical Creatures together. I wonder if this means we're dating now.

***

"So, you're going with Draco."

Lavendar sits down on my bed. Parvati sits down on the other side and they both look at me expectantly.

"Uh, I don't know," I reply honestly. They exchange a glance.

"You've been walking around holding hands all day," Parvati says, "are you a thing or not?"