Cynical // Draco Malfoy

Sixteen

"I know something's wrong you can't hide it from me!" Ginny hated seeing her closest friend so upset. Normally they would have been having a blast going to the Three Broomstick's Inn, Zonko's and their favorite, Honeydukes. Of course Grayson put on a smile and enjoyed herself, just not to the extent her friend knew she could.

"I already told you! Pansy is just being annoying."

"Not just annoying, incredibly rude and she's making you feel insecure."

"It's okay, I think I can deal with it."

"I'll go tell Draco myself and make him make her stop. He would."

"It doesn't matter she's not just going to stop she's in love with him in like a weird way."

"But what if she actually hurts you? Like has some breakdown and snaps.."

"Well then I guess that'll be a sad day.."

Watching all the couples walk by holding hands and being all lovey made her wonder where Draco was at this moment. She only had to get back to Hogwarts before dark and there was still plenty of time until that. Her and Ginny had basically done everything and it being just the two of them they weren't having as much friend as they had hoped to. The redhead talked of heading back early once she helped her friend find her 'boyfriend'.

"I honestly just want to head back too..."

"No! You're not ditching him on Valentine's Day."

"I'm just so tired and-"

"Oh no. If I have to go find Malfoy all by myself I will. Let's go." Ginny grabbed onto the girl's wrist beginning to drag her about. Her only plan at this moment was to start retracing their steps until they found him.

His blonde hair clearly stood out from the other Slytherins. They were all in a circle, laughing about something which probably involved a rude topic. Any chance they got they would talk smack about others- especially Gryffindors.

The two friends shared a nervous glance with neither of them actually wanting to interrupt. But before they could turn in the other direction Draco caught sight of Grayson and smiled. He hadn't seen her in a few days and almost didn't expect her to come find him.

"I'll see you guys later." Draco interrupted Goyle. When his friends saw why he was leaving them they scoffed. Their leader behaved the same towards and around them but whenever Grayson was involved he was much different. They couldn't believe he actually liked the girl he was being forced to marry.

"You're going soft, Malfoy." Crabbe called but he ignored the statement and kept walking towards her.

Ginny decided to leave the two so she scurried off when he got to them. She bade her friend goodbye.

"Happy Valentine's Day... Ready?"

"Y-yeah." she blushed as Draco grabbed her hand leading her in the direction of the tea shop.

"You're positive you wanna go and watch me suffer-"

"Oh shut it!" Grayson didn't want Draco to see something was wrong. She tried to shake away any troubles she was feeling and plastered on a smile so he wouldn't catch onto anything. It was Valentine's Day and she never got to spend it with someone so she wanted to make the most of their time...

"The guys are never gonna let this down.."

"You'll just have to deal then." she smirked going up onto her toes to peck his cheek.

They were led to a table near the corner, amongst the gaudy decorations. People were shocked to see a Malfoy walking into the tea shop, most Slytherins wouldn't go there... His partner on the other hand thought it was adorable in there and was smiling. If it was going to hurt his reputation then so be it.. he was happy with her.

Draco held Grayson's hand from across the table listening to her ramble on about school. If you let her she could go on talking about the smallest of things, and he could see she was nervous sitting there... Suddenly the golden cherub hovering over the table threw some pink confetti over them.

"Bloody hell..." Draco muttered wiping the obnoxious papers from his jacket.

"Aww that's so cute!"

He scoffed, "oh cute sure."

"Oi it's Valentine's Day you have to be nice to me!" she joked.

"--- Here you two dears go. One coffee and a tea." Madam Puddifoot herself placed the kid's drinks in front of them.

"Thank you!" the young asian girl was very excited for her tea, and as the hot liquid poured down her throat she found herself impressed. Being used to traditional Japanese tea this was a lot different but still good- not what she was expecting from this place.

"Actually not bad..." Draco muttered,

"I know... anyways how have your last few days gone? I sorta just realized I've been ranting about myself.."

"They've been fine. Pretty much the same with classes, warding off Pansy, dealing with my idiot friends, idiot people here at school in general."

Grayson rolled her eyes not surprised from his answer, "You're such a nice guy, wow."

"I'm glad you've noticed." he chuckled, "god we're sarcastic with each other aren't we?"

"I guess so, but I think it's fun." she giggled. Having a playful relationship with someone was always interesting and she was sure it allowed her and Draco to get closer. It was the type of person he was with his attitude.

"Would you like your gift now?"

"Sure, then I'll give you yours."

Raising an eyebrow he said mockingly, "so much for no gifts."

"Aish shut it."

Of course he had been unsure of what to buy her, needing to correspond with his mother for help. Buying gifts for girls was something he had never done, before so everything he knew of Grayson went right out his head and he would find himself staring at the wall thinking of possible ideas.

Having kept the gift's box in his jacket pocket he took out the white wrapped gift. She carefully unfolded the edges nervous on what he got. Her mouth fell slightly agape at the perfume bottle she held in her hands. This was one of the most expensive perfumes in all of England, she remembered how much her mom wanted it for her birthday...

"Oh my god I love it, thank you." she grinned giddily.

"Oh thank god.. I remembered one day when you went on a tangent about how things smelled and-"

"It's perfect I love this.." taking a whiff she closed her eyes as the sweet scent of rose and vanilla filled her nose. The fact Draco picked up on a conversation they had awhile ago was unbelievably impressive.. Now going into her bag she reached in and grabbed her perfectly wrapped box, "now I may have to explain the story behind this but yah..."

In the box in a protective layering was a small porcelain statue of an oriental dragon. It was hand painted with whites, reds, indigos, greens, blues and gold. A smile came to his lips as he felt it's fragility in his hand, the lights shining off the shimmering gold. Something told the boy that there was massive meaning behind this beautiful gift.

"My favorite place in Japan is Kanazawa, and this statue was made there.. my grandmother sent me it when I told her about my gift problem," Grayson giggled nervously, "but since we're going to be together you deserve to have a small part of what I love, with you. And hopefully one day I could take you there."

"Thank you. Now every time I see this it'll remind me of you." in public at that, he leaned forward pressing his lips to hers making her eyes go wide, face red.

It was a quick kiss but he pulled away with a smirk. No one seemed to notice being submerged in their own personal indulgences, luckily. The two kids who were slowly falling in love with each other but were well okay with it.