star shopping ✰ d.m.

CHAPTER TWENTY

The next five days ran pretty smoothly for Arabella. The idea that soon she would be learning Defense Against the Dark Arts properly helped to lift her spirits quite a bit, along with knowing that if not for her and Hermione, it would not be happening. She and Dean were also talking a lot more now that they had the secret defense group in common, but Seamus had noticed and had gotten the idea that they were plotting against him. This led Arabella and Seamus to have a spat in which Arabella kindly reminded him that the world did not revolve around him.

Friday evening after classes, Draco and Arabella had agreed on spending some time together, though because it was so nice out and probably would be one of the last times they had nice weather until spring, they went out onto the grounds, eventually settling under a tree near the lake. Instead of sitting down, however, Arabella decided to wade in the lake despite the cool temperature.

"Belle, that water has got to be freezing," Draco said, watching her.

"It's nice," Arabella lied. It was far from nice. Her feet were already going numb.

"You know there's a Giant Squid in there, right?"

"Draco, it's shallow right here. Squids, especially of the giant variety, do not hang out in the shallow bits of a la- woah!" She lurched forward as if something had grabbed her around the ankle intending on taking her down. Draco's eyes widened and he made to get up and grab her, but stopped when she began to laugh and gave her a look. "You're so easy! You should've seen your face."

"That wasn't funny," he said seriously, looking away from her smile so he wouldn't be tempted to do the same.

"It was too."

"Was not."

"Draco," she pouted when he still would not look at her. She saw the corners of his mouth twitch as he held back a smile. "Hey! I saw that! You can't ignore me forever!" After a few moments, Arabella had had enough. She reached down into the water and used her arms to splash him.

"Hey! That's cold!" he laughed.

"Then pay attention to me!" She crossed her arms and made a pouting face at him. He couldn't help but laugh; she looked like a child.

"All right, then, come here." He motioned her over with his arms held out to her.

She dropped the pouting child act as her face split into a wide smile, making her way over to his side. She sat down beside him and leaned into him as he wrapped an arm around her.

"That water was really cold," Arabella confessed. "I would not recommend getting in it."

"Exactly why I didn't."

"Or you were just scared."

"And of what would I be scared of?"

"The Giant Squid."

"I am not scared of the Giant Squid. It passes by the windows in the common room almost every day."

Arabella's eyes widened in amazement as Draco continued to tell her about the Slytherin common room and dormitories. She made a mental goal to see it for herself before graduating.

Fifteen minutes later, they both heard familiar voices drifting over from the distance and looked over to see Ron, Harry, and Hermione settling themselves under a tree a long way away from them. None of them noticed the two watching them for a good minute until Hermione looked up. She said something they couldn't hear and then the boys followed her gaze.

"Just smile and wave," Arabella said, doing just that in the trio's direction. Only Hermione returned it, though rather awkwardly.

"I am not going to smile nor will I wave," Draco said stubbornly. He was scowling at them, and Ron and Harry were scowling right back.

Arabella sighed, letting her hand drop to her side. "Boys," she muttered. Knowing what she had to do in order to distract Draco, make Ron and Harry look away, and lighten the mood, she put a hand on the side of Draco's face and gently directed him to look at her before pulling him into a kiss. They kissed until they heard grumbling in the distance and pulled away to see the trio leaving. "See, easy as that."

Draco turned back to her with a mischievous grin. "So whenever I want them to leave me alone, I just kiss you?"

"Mhm."

"Well, I'm certainly not going to object to that."

Arabella laughed. "Of course you wouldn't."

A little while later, after much more kissing, Arabella got an idea. "Do you wanna sneak out tonight?" she asked him. When all she received as an answer was a questioning look, she said, "Oh, right. I forgot you're a prefect now."

"No, that's not what I meant," Draco said. "I'm just wondering where that came from."

"Well... I haven't been out after dark since third year, and every time I have been, it was never enjoyable. Except for that very first time - kind of - but that was ruined by someone." She gave him a look.

"To be fair, I did get detention for that."

"Yeah, so did I, you gargoyle. We saw Professor Quirrell drinking unicorn blood straight from the poor beast and ran away screaming, remember?"

"I didn't until you reminded me."

"Anyway, as I was saying, I would really like to break the rules and actually enjoy it for once instead of serving detention or nearly getting killed. Preferably I would like to stargaze, I haven't done that in a very long time. And, now that I no longer hate you and feel the compulsive need to hex you every time I see you-"

"That's comforting."

"-I would like you to join me. As long as we're smart about it, it should be fun and we won't get caught."

Draco seemed to consider it for a moment. "All right. It's a date."

"Fantastic. Now, we should probably get back inside. Our shady spot is getting less and less shady by the minute and I'm ginger, so..."

After looking at her for a moment, Draco began to laugh.

"It is not funny. I burn really easily and it hurts! Stop laughing! Draco - what's your middle name?"

"I am not telling you that."

"Just tell me."

"No. You are perfectly capable of guessing. It's not that difficult. In the meantime, I'll just leave." He gathered up his things and began to leave casually.

"Wait! Don't you walk away from me! Draco! Get back here!" She shot up from her spot and began to run after him towards the castle.

Sitting with Evelyn somewhere else on the grounds, Ginny watched her sister chase her boyfriend with a concerned expression. "Why did the one sister I got have to be mad?" she questioned.

[word count: 1146]
[written: 7/2/20]
[published: 7/14/20]
I always finish writing at midnight for some reason-