Liquorice Honey (A Draco Malfoy x Reader fanfic)

14: Lonely Home Library

(Y/N) didn't even need to be invited to Harry's next Quidditch game; she was there, although she felt obliged to cheer for Slytherin. Gryffindor went home with the cup, much to her concealed delight, and then it felt like the year began to speed by. The Golden Trio were constantly busy with Buckbeak's case (the poor creature was condemned by that vile rat Malfoy), and so she found herself sinking back into the reading regime she'd been following before she came to Hogwarts. Which was, really, to simply do nothing but read; in the corridors, at meals, everywhere. But there was one major difference.

She didn't have someone reading over her shoulder back at home.

While he may have been leaving her alone in the way of arguments after the Quidditch supporting tussle, (Y/N) constantly felt Draco's presence behind her, subtly looking over and reading the odd line from her book, obviously too haughty to come over and ask about it. She'd already forgiven him for the last big issue (although he didn't know that), and, as her friends were constantly busy with this that or the other, she was rather lonely. She wouldn't have minded his company; hell, when he wasn't being argumentative, he was even relatively nice to be around, and she sure as sugar wanted to be around him. She'd admitted how much she liked him all the way back at Christmas, and he'd kissed her the year before on the train...the poor girl felt like she was going to burst if he didn't make contact with her. It was on one of these strangely lonely weekend days that she finally racked up the courage to ask, ''Hey, uh, do you want to read it with me? I mean, you keep on watching me read over your shoulder, so...'' She was met with a huff of disgust. ''Me, read with Furball Weasley? What do you think I am, a demented little child?'' (Y/N) rolled her eyes, muttering, ''Okay, do what you want...'' and going back to her book. Days began to pass, she lost sleep over being almost positive she heard a werewolf...and then, suddenly, the end of the year was upon them.

There were only two days left, and on the former of these days, she received a letter from her father. One that made her gasp in happiness.

''Dearest daughter!

I've been in correspondence with one of your friends for a couple of weeks (lovely boy, if I may say so), and, although I would usually decide against letting such traitorous people look after you, it appears to be the will of the world to let this happen.

I've already sent an owl to the Malfoys telling them about the change of plans, and I've sent dear old Aphrodite over to the Weasleys telling them you'd be more than happy to accept their son's kind offer of looking after you.

Yours truly, absolutely,

C. Silverlie''

She smiled happily, even making a happy noise as she read her father's letter (he was always one to be swayed by 'fate'), getting even happier after she realised that he had at least some level of liking towards a family he had but two years ago called 'blood traitors' every other week. She immediately ran from her bedroom to try and thank Ron profusely; it took her a second to realise she could probably just find him in the Great Hall. She did. He spotted the (h/c) girl in the tiny crowd of people almost immediately, mostly because of her hastily thrown on, rather 'unusual' looking jumper. ''Hey, (Y/N), what did he say?'' She ran over at top speed, panting like a dog within seconds, ''He said yes! I don't know how you managed to convince him, but he said yes!'' All three friends looked very pleased at this revelation. ''So...that means I can visit your manor now, right?'' (Y/N) rolled her eyes, blushing at Harry and Hermione's now very interested expressions. ''Yep, I guess you can, but it isn't very interesting. It'll just be me, Amorita and Wisp there; you have all of your siblings to spend the summer with—'' Ron didn't look at all upset by the 'it'll be boring' aspect; neither did the other two, for that matter. ''I suppose you have a lot of expensive textbooks and things laying around if you live in a manor, (Y/N). I could learn so much from books I haven't yet got—'' (Y/N) nodded, mumbling with a smirk, ''Father's away, so my manor's pretty much free real estate for me.'' She couldn't help but notice Harry's slightly downtrodden expression; she decided to change the subject. ''Hey, uh, what happened with Black after all? I heard a lot of rumours about you three but—'' Harry lit up like a Christmas light with expensive new batteries. ''It's a long story, but he's innocent, and he's my godfather. He even said he might save me from the Dursleys...'' (Y/N) listened intently as he detailed every single thing that happened, including the fact that Black was the one who gave him the godsend that was his Firebolt, and she truly was happy that he had someone he could call real family now. Seconds after he finished, Amorita sprung from seemingly nowhere, along with Hermione's cat, Crookshanks. The two looked like they'd just come back from some intense mission in the depths of the castle. ''There you are, Crookshanks!'' Exclaimed Hermione as she picked up her pet from the floor. Amorita, who looked deeply annoyed about having her friend stolen, jumped up onto (Y/N)'s shoulder and made a rather angry looking face at Hermione, somehow. She sighed and then said, ''Well, now that my guardian arrangements are sorted out, I may as well go and start packing.'' After managing to drag Amorita away from Crookshanks hissing and spitting, she got back to her dormitory and stuffed as much as she could into one case, sighing as she had to go for another one from the cupboard. She kept a copy of one of her books about the dormitory to read on the train the next day, and then spent the rest of her day trying to get her things together. It felt like it took all day, as she rolled into bed early that night and was asleep almost instantly.