stars • d.m

3.4

It was the morning after the Yule Ball when Padma Patil and Cedric Diggory were sitting in the great hall eating breakfast. Estella Raney walked in with a beaming grin on her face that was quickly noted by her best friends.

"Oh look she's finally awake," Padma teased, "it's almost like I haven't seen you in years."

"Well I can't help that you were asleep when I came back last night," Estella replied.

"Trust me, you would've been too if you had Ron Weasley as a dance partner," said the Ravenclaw.

"Well it certainly does seem like one of you had a good night," Cedric said smiling.

"I mean, she did come back late," Padma mentioned.

"Oh shush, nothing really happened. We just talked a lot," Estella began to explain.

"And danced gracefully," Padma added teasingly as she grabbed Cedric's arms to mimic the action.

"And gazed into each other's eyes," Cedric continued, also mimicking the action.

"And kissed," Estella stated.

"WHAT?!" Padma shouted, dropping Cedric's arms.

Students sitting around the three turned their heads to look at the source of the shouting.

"Yeah I'm not acting that one out," Cedric said.

"Why are you so loud?" Estella asked while looking back at the eyes looking at them.

"You kissed Draco Malfoy?" Padma whispered, leaning in.

"Yeah," Estella answered blushing, "we were walking around and ended up in the astronomy tower. Then we talked about the snow and stars, and it just all felt so right in the moment. So, we kissed."

"Why is that cute? Why am I finding that cute?" Padma asked seriously.

"Because it is," Cedric answered.

"There have been butterflies in my stomach ever since," Estella admitted.

"So it's official huh?" Cedric asked.

"Yeah," Estella started, slowly nodding and smiling, "I think it is."

Estella watched as Cedric's smile grew. She looked over at Padma who was sitting with bright eyes and a sealed mouth as if something was about to bust out of her mouth.

"What?" Estella asked.

"I'm just so happy for you," Padma let out.

"Thank you, Padma," Estella replied before looking towards the Hufflepuff, "Cedric, how was your date?"

Cedric began to blush before saying, "It was the best night of my life. There's just something about the way her hand fits in mine."

"Ugh, don't get me wrong. I'm happy for both of you, but I'm forever going to be jealous that I didn't have a fairytale Yule Ball experience," Padma said sighing dramatically. The other two chuckled while reaching to rub her arm.

As time went on, Padma and Estella listened to Cedric talk about the second task. While he was explaining the egg, a Slytherin came up and tapped Estella on the shoulder. She turned around to see their hand stretched out holding a note.

"Thank you," Estella said, taking the note.

The girl nodded and walked away as Estella opened the note.

Estella,

Last night was unforgettable. You were so stunning and I find that I can't stay away from you. Meet me in the courtyard before class? If not, we'll find each other eventually.

Sincerely,
Your Draco

Estella felt even more butterflies erupt in her stomach as her smile somehow grew bigger.

"Loverboy calling for you?" Padma teased.

"Yes," Estella replied looking up from the note, "I'll see you two later, yeah?"

"Of course," Padma answered.

"Tell him we said hi," Cedric added as Estella stood up.

"You can tell him Cedric said hi, I'm not warmed up to him like that yet," Padma stated.

Estella jokingly rolled her eyes as she waved and walked away. Upon arriving at the courtyard, Estella spotted the Slytherin laying in the grass eating an apple with his eyes glued to a book.

"What are you reading?" Estella asked, startling the boy only to have a sense of familiar comfort to wash over him.

"I'm trying to do a bit of extra studying before this exam," Draco replied as he sat up.

"Is it true that you're actually Hermione Granger's academic competition?" Estella asked while sitting next to him.

"Is that what they call me? Well, I guess I've been called worse," responded Draco.

"You've also called others worse," Estella pointed out.

Draco felt guilt at the bottom of his stomach. This was not the perception he wanted Estella to have of him. He would do much more thinking on it later, he decided. He was going to become better.

To steer back to her question, Draco answered, "I don't view Granger as competition. My father certainly does and tries to make me see it that way as well. However, I don't work hard to beat her, it's more to satisfy him."

Estella stared at the boy who eventually caught her eyes. She could not imagine what it was like to have a father like Lucius Malfoy.

"What?" Draco asked frowning.

"Draco, I," Estella said while fumbling over her words, "I believe you should work to make yourself proud."

Draco took in the words and pondered over them for a minute. He did not even realize that his statement came out the way it did. All at once, he wondered if he even made his father proud despite his efforts. Estella had a point though. No one ever told him that he deserves to be proud of himself. He had spent his whole life trying to make others proud of him that he never thought to make himself proud. This was more that he decided to think about later. Most importantly, he thought, was that he wanted to make Estella proud. 

"Ahem, anyway, enough about me. How are you today?" Draco asked, changing the subject.

"I feel very happy," Estella replied smiling, to which, Draco smiled back.

"You make me feel like the only star in the sky"

A/N:

Too cheesy of a quote? Whoops! But anyways, no quote credits to give here. Thought of that cheesiness all on my own :)

BUT HEY GUYS!

I know I made an announcement talking about dedicating more time to this book (which I'm still gonna try to stay true to), but let me just say, having a computer give out at the beginning of a 98% online semester in the middle of a pandemic is not easy.

But we are BACK. And I'm also very inspired to write more (given the rising hype around Draco right now). So yeah! This isn't the best chapter but it is something. Don't worry, I still have a LOT planned for this book.

With that said, I hope you enjoyed and continue reading :)